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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla is recalling 130,000 cars due to an issue causing the CPU in vehicles’ infotainment systems to overheat during fast charging, potentially making the car’s touchscreen malfunction or go completely blank (via The Associated Press). The electric car maker started rolling out an over-the-air update (OTA) on May 3rd to fix the issue on affected vehicles, which include the 2022 Model 3 and Y, as well as the 2021 and 2022 Model X and S.“During fast-charging or preparation for fast-charging, the infotainment central processing unit (“CPU”) may not cool sufficiently to prevent higher than expected temperatures, which may cause the CPU to slow processing or restart,” the recall notice from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration... Continue reading…

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images I have been told to blog about Senator Josh Hawley’s new copyright bill, and I do this with nothing but the greatest reluctance. Normally, I love talking about copyright! I’ll talk about copyright all day long! [Ed note: And she does.] But writing this post is agony, because the thought of giving this absolutely asinine piece of legislation any attention is killing me on the inside.This is a deeply unserious bill. There is not a line in it that is meant to pass muster. It is knowingly in violation of the Constitution, and an insult to the democratic process.In brief, the bill is targeted at the Walt Disney Company, also known as,

Image: Google TV Last fall, Google announced a key improvement to devices running its Google TV front end with personalized access so that each user in a home could have individual profiles with their own recommendations and Assistant responses. In December, that feature was delayed until “the coming months,” and it’s still nowhere to be found; however, 9to5Google reports glanceable cards for Google TV’s ambient mode screen saver that were also announced at the same time are starting to roll out.When they were announced in October, Google showed a version of the UI (the picture above) with large personalized cards scrolling across the middle of the screen. They could display information like weather, sports scores, and news or toss in shortcuts to... Continue reading…

Image: Canoo Canoo, the struggling electric vehicle startup, thinks it’s about to run out of money. In stark terms, the company reports that it only has enough cash to last another quarter and is unsure whether it will be able to stay afloat beyond that.“As of the date of this announcement, we are reporting that there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” the company states in its first-quarter earnings report.“there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern”Canoo was founded in late 2017 when former BMW executive Stefan Krause left then-struggling EV startup Faraday Future. Krause and some of the other executives who co-founded Canoo — which was then called... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge AT&T says it’s the first carrier to deploy location-based routing for 911 calls across the country, a feature that allows the company to transmit wireless emergency calls to the correct call center based on a device’s GPS location. As announced in a press release, AT&T says the feature should enable the carrier to accurately locate and route 911 calls within 50 meters of where the call was placed.AT&T previously routed calls based on the location of the cell tower that picked up the call signal, an area that could cover up to a 10-mile radius. This means a call center miles away — or even a whole town over — could receive your call, potentially delaying the time it takes for emergency services to reach your precise location. In theory,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google’s Michele Turner discusses how Matter started and where it will take Google Nest. Continue reading…

They’re featured in a new limited time mode that kicks off on May 11th. | Image: Activision Activision is adding a wild crossover to Call of Duty: Warzone — the giant monsters Godzilla and Kong will appear in a new limited-time mode that kicks off tomorrow, May 11th.In the new mode, called Operation Monarch, players will compete to be the last team standing as Godzilla and Kong roam the island. While the monsters “usually don’t get too aggressive,” at certain points during a match, they might “become enraged and recklessly attack” in a “Titan Frenzy,” according to a blog post by Activision’s James Mattone.“After receiving a Titan Frenzy alert, an Operator has two options: tactically withdraw (run away) from these dangerous creatures or attempt to suppress them by dealing direct damage,” Mattone says. If you do enough damage... Continue reading…

Westworld season four teaser image | Image: HBO HBO’s puzzle-filled robot show that always packed extra sides of hedonism and murder is close to making its return, as fans apparently dug up a teaser trailer for season four of Westworld before its scheduled debut.HBO media relations director Chris Godefroy confirmed it was an Easter Egg set up for dedicated fans, and as we’ve seen ahead of previous seasons, there will be more to come. You can watch it right here on HBO’s YouTube channel (via Reddit), to see that many of our android friends, foes, and friends who didn’t know they were androids will continue to have roles to play. This link showed up on Thrillist’s Instagram story over a picture of NYC, teasing a setting in the upcoming season.On Tuesday HBO made the news official,... Continue reading…

It seemed like AMD and Nvidia were living in a fantasy world. They’d throw out prices like $329 or $479 for a midrange graphics card, knowing you’d actually pay hundreds more by the time pandemic middlemen had their cut. But today, AMD seems to be waking up.With the recently announced $1,099 AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT, $549 Radeon 6750 XT, and $399 Radeon 6650 XT, the company is finally pricing its graphics cards based on the market instead of creating a fake MSRP. When you combine that with the fact AMD graphics cards have nearly come back down to sane prices in general, it means there’s a chance in hell you might actually be able to buy these new ones for the price that AMD is quoting. Image: AMD That’s good —... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge One of the questions about Elon Musk’s pending purchase of Twitter is what will happen to Donald Trump. The former president’s account was banned on January 8th, 2021, “due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” while Jack Dorsey was still the company’s CEO. During an interview conducted remotely during the Financial Times’ Future of the Car conference and livestreamed on YouTube, the current Tesla and SpaceX CEO responded to a direct question about the ban and what will happen when he owns Twitter.With the caveat that “I don't own Twitter yet, so this is not, like, a thing that will definitely happen,” Musk said, “I guess the answer is that I, I would reverse the permaban,” citing a shared opinion with his text messaging... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, is considering restructuring Apple’s services business to redirect more attention to streaming and advertising, according to a report from Insider. In its most recent earnings report, Apple said its services, which include the App Store, Apple Pay, Apple News, Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, and iCloud, added 825 million subscribers and earned $19.8 billion in revenue.As part of the shake-up, Cue has reportedly pulled Peter Stern, Apple’s current vice president of services, off of advertising to focus solely on its services division. Sources close to the situation told Insider that Todd Teresi, Apple’s vice president of advertising platforms, has absorbed Stern’s previous advertising... Continue reading…

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Tesla billionaire and future Twitter owner Elon Musk says he’s “very much on the same page” as the European Union about the Digital Services Act, a package of web platform regulations. Musk appeared in a short video alongside EU Commissioner Thierry Breton to confirm his support for the DSA, which — among other things — requires large platforms to police illegal content and assess the risk of harm their services pose, including from disinformation.“I think it’s exactly aligned” with the future goals for the Twitter platform, Musk said in a short video posted by Breton. “It’s been a great discussion, and I really think I agree with everything you said, really. I think we’re very much of the same mind, and I think anything that my... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The worst thing about my beloved Logitech trackball is the software. Every time my computer restarts the annoying Logitech software pops up and asks me to fiddle with my system preferences. I never do. My trackball works exactly as I need it to, and the software seems to do nothing but vex me.A small company called Ploopy, started by brothers Colin and Phil Lam, has created a trackball — also called Ploopy — that has no annoying software. Instead it relies on QMK, open-source firmware originally created for keyboards that stores all the crucial settings on the hardware instead of the computer.That wasn’t the reason I purchased a Ploopy. It was all the other elements of the open-source trackball that appealed to me: Ploopy’s... Continue reading…

EA is moving on from one of the most recognizable brands in gaming. | Image: EA EA is officially dropping the FIFA branding for its hit soccer video games starting with next year’s release, the company announced Tuesday. The new title for the games will be EA Sports FC.Despite the name change, it sounds as if much of the DNA of the FIFA games will remain the same. “Everything you love about our games will be part of EA Sports FC — the same great experiences, modes, leagues, tournaments, clubs and athletes will be there,” EA’s Cam Weber said in a blog post. “Ultimate Team, Career Mode, Pro Clubs and Volta Football will all be there. Our unique licensing portfolio of more than 19,000+ players, 700+ teams, 100+ stadiums and 30 leagues that we’ve continued to invest in for decades will still be there, uniquely in EA... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge When Barry McCarthy stepped up as Peloton’s new CEO last quarter amid news the company had laid off 2,800 employees, it was clear he had his work cut out for him. Since then, McCarthy has been vocal about shifting the company’s focus from hardware to software. That new direction can be explained by looking at today’s Q3 earnings release, which paints a tough financial picture for Peloton. The company continued to post larger than expected losses, and stock prices subsequently plunged more than 20 percent.Peloton said today that its Q3 losses were $757.1 million, compared to an $8.6 million in losses at this time last year. Meanwhile, revenue slid to $964.3 million from $1.26 billion a year ago. As with last quarter, Peloton attributed... Continue reading…

The LG Gram 17 is a lightweight powerhouse. | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Our deals post today has a little something for everyone, from laptops and peripherals to a soundbar that doubles as a 4K streaming device. Kicking things off, we have the 2021 LG Gram 17, a lightweight laptop with heavyweight power. Normally this configuration of the 17-inch laptop runs $1,849.99, but it’s currently on sale for just $1,398.94 at Amazon, nearly matching its best price to date.The LG Gram 17 uses a slim, elegant design but contains some serious power under the hood. The 17-inch display has a resolution of 2560 x 1600 and is powered by an Intel Core i7-1195G7 and 16GB of RAM. The included 1TB SSD offers plenty of space for all of your files and applications as well, but the Gram 17 also has a microSD card reader if you... Continue reading…

Specialized launched a new sub-brand called Globe dedicated to building high-quality electric utility bikes that are designed specifically to replace car trips. Globe will be “an extension of the Specialized brand that will focus on bringing more fun to local living while reducing the number of car, truck, and SUV trips needed for everyday transportation,” the company says.E-bikes are unique among two-wheeled vehicles thanks to their very real ability to replace car trips for the vast majority of owners, especially those trips that are under five miles. Cargo and utility e-bikes in particular excel at reducing car usage thanks to their rugged design and payload capacity. Specialized, the third-largest bicycle manufacturer in the US... Continue reading…

Remember when podcasting becoming a $1 billion industry was a big deal? So quaint. Let’s get into it.Podcasting will be a $4 billion industry in two yearsIt’s the boom times for audio. Ahead of the Podcast Upfronts, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers released their annual joint report on the podcasting business, projecting that the industry will generate $2 billion in revenue this year and $4 billion by 2024.That growth is not just because the number of podcasts and time people spend listening to podcasts are increasing (though that doesn’t hurt). A lot of it, according to executives at IAB, also comes from advances in ad tech that allow advertisers to better target audiences and encourage them to spend... Continue reading…

NASA’s beleaguered InSight lander on Mars has detected a magnitude 5 “marsquake” — the largest one the spacecraft has felt yet since landing on the planet in November of 2018. It’s a major moment that comes during a fraught time for InSight, as the spacecraft’s solar panels continue to gather dust that will eventually bring an end to the vehicle’s life on Mars.InSight’s mission on the Red Planet has been to probe the interior of Mars, primarily by sensing for tremors from the surface. Unlike quakes here on Earth, which are typically caused by shifting tectonic plates, “marsquakes” are thought to be caused by the cooling of Mars over time, which causes the planet’s crust to become more brittle and crack. Equipped with an extremely... Continue reading…

The Slim 7 and 7i can impressively be configured with a 99.99Wh battery. | Image: Lenovo Lenovo’s highest-end gaming laptops for 2022 have been unveiled. The 16-inch Legion 7 and 7i (the “i” denotes Intel CPUs) can be configured with the current best of the best in terms of processors and graphics. The Legion 7 is one of a few gaming laptops that can be configured with AMD’s Ryzen 9 6900HX processor along with Radeon RX6850M XT graphics. On the Intel side, it can be configured with up to Intel’s 12th Gen Core i9-12900HX and with Nvidia’s RTX 3080 Ti graphics card, which has an impressive 175W of total graphics power.In addition to being more powerful, the Legion 7-series machines present a couple of additional upgrades over the 2022 Legion 5 Pro. It has a 1080p webcam instead of a 720p one, and it has a bigger 99.99Wh... Continue reading…

Microsoft will make an adaptive mouse and buttons. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft has announced a lineup of adaptive accessories which are meant to augment or replace the regular keyboards and mice that people with disabilities could struggle to use. The lineup consists of three different devices: the Adaptive Mouse, Adaptive Buttons, and the Adaptive Hub. The mouse and buttons are made to support 3D-printed accessories so you can customize them to work the way you want them to.The mouse core that houses the buttons and sensor is a small, square-shaped puck that’s designed to clip into a palm rest. The “tail” Microsoft makes for the mouse can act as a palm rest. There’s also a thumb rest that you can flip around, letting you use the mouse with your right or left hand. You can also easily attach 3D-printed... Continue reading…

Are you ready to carry 150 pounds of solar-powered battery in your backpack? | Image: Jackery Jackery’s Solar Generator 2000 Pro kit is here to bend nature’s will to your desire to take your modern tech lifestyle off the grid. Jackery provides the Explorer 2000 Pro Portable Power Station and six SolarSaga 200W solar panels — you provide the transportation and an employer that lets your work from anywhere.The Explorer 2000 Pro Power Station features 2160 watt-hours of lithium-ion storage capacity and up to 2200W AC output (4400W peak surge) suitable for powering small household appliances. Fully charged, it has enough juice to charge a laptop about 16 times, run a projector for 24 hours, or power an electric BBQ for about 100 minutes. It has eight outlets: three AC, two 18W QuickCharge 3.0 USB-A, two 100W USB-C PD, and one 12V /... Continue reading…

The Viper V2 Pro looks very similar to previous versions, but it’s made just for right-handed gamers. | Razer Razer has delivered a follow-up to its original Viper gaming mouse from 2019. The new wireless Viper V2 Pro is all about shedding off what little excess weight it had before. Like almost every peripheral company, Razer is gunning for the top place with the lightest wireless mouse, and, currently, it holds the crown with its latest mouse. It weighs 58 grams, which is a few grams below the runner-up, Logitech’s G Pro X Superlight. Similarly, the Viper V2 Pro manages this feat without being drilled full of holes to lop off weight. The V2 Pro is launching today for $149.99.Even with a weight reduction, the Viper V2 Pro doesn’t feel compromised in terms of hand feel, performance, or battery life — all of the things that matter most with a... Continue reading…

Tesla produced just 10,757 vehicles at its Shanghai plant in April. | Xinhua/Ding Ting via Getty Images Tesla has suspended most production at its Shanghai factory once again, this time due to issues preventing the company from getting the components it needs to build vehicles, according to a report from Reuters. Sources familiar with the situation told Reuters that the company halted work on Monday because of supply shortages as well.Production at Tesla’s Shanghai plant faltered after city officials reintroduced strict COVID-19 lockdown measures in March, forcing Tesla to close its plant to comply with government orders. Tesla’s Shanghai factory reopened in April, with workers sleeping and eating inside the factory in a “closed-loop system” recommended by Shanghai authorities to stop the spread of COVID-19.Tesla’s sales in China have... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge It has been less than a month since Netflix announced slowing revenue growth and its first subscriber drop in over a decade, and now The New York Times reports that it’s accelerating the schedule on initiatives to turn those things around.Netflix was already openly talking about pushing people who share their account logins to pay more, and once the report came out, co-CEO Reed Hastings changed his tune on ad-supported streaming, saying he would try to figure it out over the “next year or two.” According to the Times, a recent note to employees said executives are now aiming to introduce the ad tier at some point in the last three months of 2022, with a crackdown on password sharing starting in the same window.Disney Plus announced... Continue reading…

The AirPods’ charging case equipped with a USB-C port. | Image: Ken Pillonel Robotics engineering student Ken Pillonel has followed up his USB-C iPhone mod with a modified pair of AirPods with a USB-C port for charging — replacing Apple’s proprietary Lightning port. Although the result is simple (USB-C cable goes in, power goes up), it was an engineering challenge that Pillonel says consumed “pretty much all my weekends for a few months.” It comes around a month after he completed a project that brought a Lightning port to an Android phone.Pillonel plans to release a full-length video explaining the project in the coming weeks, but for now, he’s put out a short clip showing his modded AirPods being charged with the same USB-C cable as a MacBook and his previously modded iPhone. He plans to open source the... Continue reading…

The fourth edition of Fornite’s “Short Nite” film festival is kicking off later this week. Epic Games announced that the event, which features a variety of short animated movies screened in-game, will take place on May 12th. A total of 10 movies are being featured, three of which are world premieres, and Epic will also be selling a popcorn-eating emote for an authentic virtual viewing experience.The original incarnation of Short Nite took place on Fortnite’s party royale island, though it has steadily become more elaborate, particularly with last year’s Halloween-themed edition. This year, there will be nine different custom-built virtual theaters, created in the game’s Creative mode, which players can move between via the discover... Continue reading…

One of Google’s biggest hurdles is providing meaningful, long-term support for its products Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google will allow ads for stem cell treatments that are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration — a change from its previous policy, which banned all ads for this experimental category of medical care. The policy update was first reported by Gizmodo and will go into effect in July.The company said in the policy update that it will also allow cell or gene therapy ads that are “exclusively educational or informational in nature,” even if they reference products or applications that are not approved by the FDA. It’s not clear how Google would define “educational” or “informational” or what type of advertisements would be allowed under that umbrella.Stem cell therapy is a broad term for medical treatments that use stem cells,... Continue reading…

It’s been a long wait, but Warner Bros. Games Montreal has just released the most in-depth look yet at its upcoming open-world game Gotham Knights. At the same time, the developer revealed some bad news for PS4 and Xbox One owners.First, the new trailer. The clip, which is just a shade over 13 minutes long, is essentially a guided look at the gameplay, focusing on the characters Nightwing and Red Hood. There’s lots of beating up bad guys on rooftops and zipping between buildings as well as a look at how the investigative elements work. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the video is how distinct the two characters appear to be; having multiple playable heroes is a big hook for Gotham Knights, which also stars Robin and Batgirl.G... Continue reading…

DJI’s smallest and lightest drone is getting a significant upgrade — both in features and price. The newly announced Mini 3 Pro comes with a new design, 4K60 video, a larger image sensor, a larger aperture, obstacle avoidance sensors, and even an option for a bigger battery. But don’t expect it to be as affordable as its predecessor. The Mini 3 Pro costs $669 to start, and that’s the price without a controller. With a controller, you’ll be paying $759 or more, a $300 premium over last year’s Mini 2.What hasn’t changed is that the Mini 3 Pro still weighs less than 250 grams, which means you won’t need to register it with the FAA (with one important exception depending on what battery you choose). There’s also a welcome throwback from the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Match Group, the company behind popular dating apps such as Tinder, Match, and OkCupid, is suing Google over its restrictive billing policies on the Play Store. In its complaint, Match Group claims Google “illegally monopolized the market for distributing apps” on Android by forcing apps to use Google’s own billing system and then taking a cut of the payments.Match Group’s complaint plays off an earlier lawsuit Epic Games filed against Apple in 2020, alleging that Apple engaged in “anti-competitive” behavior by demanding a 30 percent commission on in-app purchases in the iOS app store, among other charges. Although the final ruling was mixed, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rodgers was particularly skeptical of the payment monopoly claims, saying... Continue reading…

The Nacon Rig 800 wireless gaming headset. In 2018, in a bout of curiosity, I decided to review every single wireless gaming headset on the market: 32 pairs to be exact. None of them were anywhere near as comfortable as the Plantronics Rig 800. “The only one so lightweight, so comfortable, I sometimes forgot I was wearing it,” I wrote for CNET.Four years later, I’m happy to say that feeling hasn’t changed.Plantronics no longer exists, after merging with Polycom to become “Poly” and then selling itself to HP. But the Rig 800 is alive and well at French gaming company Nacon. I’ve been trying the 2022 “Pro” model for the past couple of weeks, and it’s hard for me to imagine a more comfortable headset.It still uses the same exact design with a spring-loaded inner headstrap that... Continue reading…

An Arc graphics card. | Image: Intel Intel has provided more details on the release roadmap for its long-awaited discrete Arc GPUs in a new blog post. The company plans to use a staggered approach, which will prioritize system builders and OEMs in China when it comes to its desktop graphics cards. Meanwhile its laptop chips are currently exclusive to Samsung laptops in South Korea, but the hope is to expand to other manufacturers and markets soon.Intel says it’s working with other laptop manufacturers like Lenovo, Acer, HP, and Asus to get their laptops released with its entry-level Arc 3 GPUs “ASAP.” Laptops with the more powerful Arc 5 and Arc 7 GPUs are planned for “early summer.” The company says it had hoped availability would be “broader” at this point, but blamed... Continue reading…

Illustrations by Alex Castro / The Verge Nintendo shipped 4.11 million Switch consoles in its January-March quarter, bringing its total to 23.06 million for the financial year, just enough to meet its revised forecast of 23 million. The company had originally predicted 25.5 million units for the year, then 24 million, before reaching its final forecast three months ago. The figure represents a 20 percent decline on the previous year’s figure of 28.83 million consoles shipped, with Nintendo citing shortages of semiconductors and other components.Nintendo has now shipped 107.65 million Switch consoles in total since its launch in March 2017. It’s the company’s most successful home console, having recently overtaken the Wii, though if you consider it a handheld system it still... Continue reading…

The US has issued bounties up to $10 million on people affiliated with Conti. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge In the wake of a massive ransomware attack on the Costa Rican government in April, the US government issued a notice last week declaring a bounty potentially worth millions of dollars on people involved with the Conti ransomware used in the hack. Rodrigo Chaves Robles, Costa Rica’s recently sworn-in president, declared a national emergency due to the attack, according to CyberScoop.According to BleepingComputer, the ransomware attack affected Costa Rica’s ministries of finance and Labor and Social Security, as well as the country’s Social Development and Family Allowances Fund, among other entities. The report also says that the attack affected some services from the country’s treasury starting on April 18th. Hackers not only took down... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge People will say all kinds of things about what Bitcoin is: digital gold, the successor to the dollar as a reserve currency, the future of money, whatever. The thing about Bitcoin, though, is that it’s volatile — and thus, risky. And right now, the market is feeling risk-averse. Bitcoin’s price in dollars has fallen by more than a third since January 1st.A drop this dramatic doesn’t have just one cause, though it probably didn’t help that we’ve been exiting zero interest rate policy (ZIRP). For a while, the US central bank had set interest rates quite close to zero in order to stimulate the economy. In that environment, it doesn’t make sense to keep money in your savings account — your savings won’t earn enough interest to keep up with... Continue reading…

If you’ve been paying attention to the latest Sonos rumors, then you already know about its upcoming “Ray” soundbar and plans to launch a voice assistant that prioritizes speed and privacy. While we wait for official confirmation on those, you can add another rumor to the list: posters on the Sonos subreddit have reason to believe they’ll see new colors of the Sonos Roam speaker revealed this week, and now one of our readers points out that a Chilean reseller may have leaked which colors are on the way.Emails sent to subscribers said “something colorful” is on the way with a countdown. Any doubt about what that something may be was eliminated once posters noticed the URL in the email includes “roamcolors_teaser_owners.”As you can see... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook is discontinuing several services that tracked your real-time location — including Nearby Friends, weather alerts, location history, and background location — due to “low usage,” as spotted by 9to5Mac. In a notification sent to people who’ve used the feature in the past, Facebook says it will stop collecting data associated with these features on May 31st and will wipe any stored data on August 1st.Facebook parent company Meta confirmed the news to The Verge. “While we’re deprecating some location-based features on Facebook due to low usage, people can still use Location Services to manage how their location information is collected and used,” spokesperson Emil Vazquez said in an emailed statement.This doesn’t mean that... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple is giving engineers based in China more responsibility in managing its hardware manufacturing processes, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. Before the pandemic, Apple frequently sent US-based engineers to the country to help oversee development, but the report says the company now leans more on China-based engineers given increased border restrictions due to COVID-19.However, Apple’s US-based engineers are still involved with overseas development efforts remotely, according to The Wall Street Journal’s report:

Image: Alex Castro / The Verge On Monday, the Biden administration announced a new partnership with 20 broadband providers, including AT&T and Verizon, to improve their subsidized high-speed internet plans made available to low-income Americans.The move bolsters the Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides a $30 per month subsidy to cover the cost Americans pay for internet service ($75 per month on tribal lands). The program was finalized last November as part of Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law and the $65 billion investment it made to increase connectivity across the country.“Access to the internet is essential for success”“In the 21st century, access to the internet is essential for success. Every person in our... Continue reading…

Keywords Studios staffers worked on the newest Star Wars: The Old Republic expansion. | Image: EA The company employing a group of BioWare contractors trying to unionize has reversed a policy requiring the workers to return to the office, according to an internal email viewed by The Verge. The return to office policy was one of the key reasons the contractors, who are based in Edmonton, Canada, and employed by development support company Keywords Studios, had begun organizing. Full-time BioWare staffers are being offered a hybrid work from home option, Keywords Studios employees told The Verge.Previously, the Keywords Studios employees that worked at BioWare’s Edmonton office had been expected to return to the office today, May 9th. But in an email sent on Friday, they were informed that “until further notice please maintain working... Continue reading…

Thanks to web standards. | Image: Michał Gapiński While Tesla’s operating system is known for having tons of built-in features (including the ability to play AAA video games), there’s one capability that’s notably missing: support for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Michał Gapiński, however, has figured out a way to hack support for both into Teslas, using a web browser, two Raspberry Pis, a handful of add-ons and cables, and Android.Gapiński calls it the Android Tesla Project (h/t to MacRumors for bringing it to our attention), and it does what its name implies: provides an Android Auto interface that you can access through the car’s built-in web browser. (Shout out to open web standards, putting in the work as always.) While this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a project like this —... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facial recognition surveillance company Clearview AI has agreed to permanently ban most private companies from using its service under a court settlement. The agreement, filed in Illinois court today, would settle a 2020 American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit that alleged the company had built its business on facial recognition data taken without user consent. The agreement formalizes measures Clearview had already taken and shields the company from further ACLU suits under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).As part of the settlement, Clearview agrees to a permanent nationwide injunction restricting its sale (or free distribution) of access to a vast database of face photographs — many of which were originally scraped... Continue reading…

Image: Asus In 2017, Asus wowed us with an ultra-thin gaming laptop that got thicker when you opened the lid, opening a giant hidden trapdoor to keep its uncharacteristically large GPU cool. But the original Zephyrus also committed the cardinal sin of joining the keyboard-in-the-front club — and the new $2,599 Asus ZenBook Pro 16X OLED, announced today, might finally right that wrong.Instead of lifting the entire laptop like the Zephyrus or, say, lifting a big strip of touchscreen like the ZenBook Pro Duo, the new 16-inch laptop lifts its entire keyboard tray when you lift the lid. Image: Asus; GIF by Sean Hollister / The Verge The lift is mechanically connected to the hinge. Asus says this fancy hinge gives the... Continue reading…

Unlike some earbuds, the Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro come with a wireless charging case. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Now that Mother’s Day is over and you’ve once again proven you’re the best kid a mom could ask for, why not reward yourself with some gadget and gaming deals?The Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro are the latest flagship true wireless earbuds from Anker, and they’re back down to their lowest price of $129.99 at Amazon and Best Buy. One of the best things about this $30 discount is that it extends to all four colors: black, purple, gray, and white. The earbuds provide a lot of value, some quality sound, and even support nice extras like support for multipoint connections and Sony’s higher quality codec, LDAC. The active noise cancellation may not be the best around, but at $129.99, they’re closer in price to the base-model AirPods than pricier... Continue reading…

Electric vehicle startup Bollinger said it has selected its manufacturing supplier to build its forthcoming delivery van. The company will use Detroit auto supplier Roush as a contract manufacturer to assemble its line of all-electric platforms and chassis cabs for commercial vehicles.Bollinger says it will “source and provide all materials” for Roush, which will then assemble the platforms and chassis at its facility in Livonia, Michigan, which is 20 miles from Bollinger’s Oak Park headquarters.“We will be building state-of-the-art vehicles from day one right here in Michigan.”“We will be building state-of-the-art vehicles from day one right here in Michigan,” said Robert Bollinger, founder and CEO of Bollinger Motors. “Roush has... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge These days, more and more official papers are being turned into PDF documents. (PDF stands for Portable Document Format; it is a standard created by Adobe in the early 1990s that allows paper documents to be turned into exact digital copies.) In fact, hard copy paperwork is fast becoming the exception rather than the rule. However, even digital documents have to be signed. You can do it the long way — print those documents out, sign them, and then scan them back into your computer — or you can create a digital signature and place it directly on the PDF.Windows doesn’t offer a built-in PDF signing feature the way a Mac does. However, you can use Windows’ built-in browser, Microsoft Edge, to sign a PDF document. There are also third-party... Continue reading…