The Verge

Microsoft now has 145 million people using its Microsoft Teams communications app. This is another increase of 26 percent since Microsoft revealed Teams usage had jumped during the pandemic to 115 million daily active users in October 2020. Usage of Teams has spiked over the past year, with businesses continuing to flock to services like Teams, Slack, and Zoom.To put the 145 million figure in perspective, at the beginning of the pandemic, Microsoft had around 32 million daily active users of Microsoft Teams. That jumped to 75 million in a matter of weeks, and these numbers have more than doubled since even the early days of the pandemic. It’s an impressive amount of growth, just as Microsoft has been aggressively pushing businesses to... Continue reading…

Photo by Jonathan Kozub/NHLI via Getty Images Live hockey is coming to HBO Max, thanks to a new seven-year deal between the National Hockey League and WarnerMedia’s Turner Sports. The news may come as a bit of a surprise, as, only a few weeks ago, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar said sports would not appear on HBO Max in 2021.Alongside HBO Max stepping into the sports streaming spotlight, Turner Sports also announced that TNT and TBS will air the Stanley Cup three out of the seven years outlined in the deal. (Specifically, WarnerMedia’s channels will air the championship series in 2023, 2025, and 2027, according to the NHL.) The remaining years will be hosted by Disney’s ESPN Plus and ABC, as part of the sports league’s other major streaming deal, now that its contract with NBC is... Continue reading…

Image: Joe Rogan In a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the world’s most popular podcaster suggests that healthy young people don’t need the COVID-19 vaccine, contrary to the advice of health professionals trying to stem a pandemic that’s killed more than 3 million people.Rogan said he believes “for the most part it’s safe to get vaccinated” and that his parents are vaccinated. But then he adds: “But if you’re like 21 years old, and you say to me, ‘Should I get vaccinated?’ I’ll go no.” The remarks were highlighted by Media Matters, which published a transcript of Rogan’s April 23rd conversation with fellow comedian Dave Smith.A source close to the situation says Spotify reviewed this Rogan episode and left it live because he doesn’t come off... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has denied a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) request to expand its collection of social media account information from people entering the country, saying that the DHS hadn’t proved the information collection was practically useful. The DHS was mandated by former President Donald Trump to collect and surveil visa applicants’ social media accounts, but President Biden rescinded the executive order requiring it, a fact that was cited in the rejection.According to the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, the DHS’s proposal would have required 30 million applicants to include their social media accounts on immigration or foreign travel forms, expanding the measures... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge During the height of the pandemic last year, Google was the rare tech giant that actually saw a revenue decline — the first in the company’s history — but only by 2 percent. To say Google has now recovered would be the understatement of the week: Alphabet’s just-released Q1 2021 earnings show it raking in a stunning amount of cash this spring, nearly as high as the all-time record revenues and profit it set last quarter.Alphabet’s filing (PDF) shows revenues of $55.3 billion, nearly as much as the $56.9 billion it pulled in Q4 2020, alongside $17.9 billion in profit compared to $15.2 billion. That’s also 34 percent more revenue year over year, though that’s admittedly comparing to March 2020 when the effects of some pandemic shutdowns... Continue reading…

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge Microsoft posted the third quarter of its 2021 financial results today, reporting revenue of $41.7 billion and a net income of $15.5 billion. Revenue is up 19 percent, and net income has increased by 44 percent. Once again, Microsoft has seen strong growth for Surface, Xbox, and cloud-related services.The PC market isn’t slowing down, despite a global chip shortage, and Microsoft is benefiting from this once again. Windows OEM revenue has grown by 10 percent, reflecting the strong consumer PC demand. Windows non-pro OEM revenue also grew 44 percent, and only Windows OEM Pro revenue declined by 2 percent.This is surprising growth for Windows over all, and reflects the pandemic demand we’ve seen for laptops and PCs over the past year.... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Google’s Nest Wifi bundle that includes one router and one Point (Google’s name for an extender) costs $189 at Adorama, which is one of the lowest prices we’ve seen yet for this model. You can get this deal until Saturday, May 1st by adding the offer code EXTRAOFF80 at the checkout screen (located under the payment section). To put that price in context, the router alone usually costs $169 and the additional Point is priced normally at $149. In other words, this is like getting the Point for just $20.Like in most mesh Wi-Fi systems, the Nest Wifi router and extender differ in a few ways, so you’ll want to plan how you arrange them accordingly. The router has two Ethernet ports (one of which will be used by your internet modem), and... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday granted SpaceX approval to operate 2,814 Starlink satellites in lower orbits than originally planned, handing a win to Elon Musk’s satellite internet project. The decision delivered a partial defeat over its competitors, like Amazon and OneWeb, which sought to thwart the tweak over concerns it would create harmful frequency interference and ramp up risks of satellite collisions.The FCC found that allowing lower orbits for Starlink satellites “does not create significant interference problems.” Lowering the orbits, it said, allows SpaceX to make “safety-focused” changes to the constellation, like being able to more quickly discard any dead or broken satellites by steering them toward a... Continue reading…

A promotional image for Pokémon Go Fest 2021. | Image: Niantic The annual Pokémon Go Fest is back again this summer, scheduled for July 17th and 18th. Last year’s event was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of taking place in person in select cities around the globe. It sounds like this year’s fest will once again happen virtually; developer Niantic describes the event as a “global event.”Niantic didn’t share many other details, though it did tease that this year’s event could be particularly noteworthy. “2021 marks both the twenty-fifth anniversary of Pokémon and the fifth anniversary of Pokémon Go, so trust us when we say you won’t want to miss Pokémon Go Fest 2021!” Niantic said in a blog post.

Starting with SSDs, but soon RAM sticks will be launched. | Acer / Biwin Acer announced in a blog post that it’s getting into the flash storage and memory business with help from a Chinese manufacturer called Biwin. Acer’s brand will be slapped onto each of these SSDs, but it’ll be another company that’s responsible for building them. Even though you’ll see an Acer logo on this storage, it’s Biwin that’ll handle the warranty for these products.Acer isn’t the only major company utilizing Biwin’s hardware. This storage and memory manufacturer also puts out HP-branded products, including portable SSDs, NVMe SSDs, 2.5-inch SATA SSDs, and RAM.The latest partnership aims to release Acer-branded products first in the US, China, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and in the UK. Release dates... Continue reading…

The ZTE Blade 11 Prime features a 6.5-inch display and also supports wired reverse charging. | Photo: ZTE ZTE is offering a feature rarely seen in the budget class of phones: wireless charging. The Blade 11 Prime is on sale now in the US for $192 through Visible and Yahoo Mobile, two MVNOs that use Verizon’s network. It’s an otherwise fairly unremarkable budget device, with a 6.5-inch 720p display shipping with Android 11.In addition to wireless charging, the Blade 11 Prime supports reverse wired charging to provide some power to other devices in a pinch. However, the phone’s 4,000mAh battery is on the smaller side, so the feature is probably best reserved for emergencies. The 11 Prime uses a MediaTek 6762 chipset with 4GB of RAM and offers 64GB of built-in storage. It features 16-megapixel standard and 8-megapixel wide rear-facing cameras,... Continue reading…

Photo by Evelyn Hockstein-Pool / Getty Images One of the scariest concerns about social media is the idea of algorithmic misinformation — that the recommendation systems built into platforms like Facebook and YouTube could be quietly elevating the most harmful and disruptive content on the network. But at a Senate hearing Tuesday titled “Algorithms and Amplification: How Social Media Platforms’ Design Choices Shape our Discourse and Our Minds,’’ lawmakers didn’t appear any closer to finding a solution for the violence platforms like Facebook have internally recognized they cause in the real world.At the top, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said “there’s nothing inherently wrong” with how the testifying companies, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, leverage algorithms to keep users engaged on... Continue reading…

Microsoft is launching its Office and OneNote apps on Amazon’s Fire tablets today. Both apps are available in Amazon’s Appstore, with the Office app combining Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into a single tablet app.Microsoft is no stranger to Amazon’s Appstore, having previously published apps like Outlook, Xbox, and Xbox Game Pass for Fire tablets. This is the first time Office has appeared on Amazon’s tablets, though. Microsoft has essentially taken its Android Office app that’s already available on the Google Play Store and modified it to work on Amazon’s Fire OS — a forked version of Android.Both the Office and OneNote apps will be available on Amazon’s Appstore in regions where Fire tablets are currently sold. Microsoft says it has... Continue reading…

Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines for people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, outlining the situations where vaccinated people can stop wearing masks.People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after the second dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, and two weeks after the Johnson & Johnson shot.The guidelines, announced today by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, give fully vaccinated people more leeway to return to normal activities — recognizing how effective the vaccines are at preventing disease. But they’re complicated, and they ask people to keep track of different mask guidelines for a wide range of situations.“I am optimistic that people will use this... Continue reading…

Secretlab’s Magnus Metal Desk. | Image: Secretlab Secretlab, which you may know for its gaming chairs, is announcing its first-ever PC desk — the Magnus Metal Desk — and the company has a smart solution to help you manage your cables: you’ll be able to attach magnetic cable-management accessories right onto the desk.The company will offer proprietary accessories like magnetic cable holders to keep your phone’s charging cable from slipping off your desk and a magnetic cable sheath that can be attached to one of the desk’s legs. The desk has a cable tray in the back you can use to store cables as well.The Magnus desk doesn’t just use magnets to help hide cables, though — Secretlab is also making a desk mat that attaches magnetically so it will stay in place while you’re gaming or... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Ford announced the launch of a new battery development center in Michigan, the first step toward taking on some of the burden of building its own battery cells for electric cars in-house.The new “global battery center of excellence” will be called Ford Ion Park and will be based in Southeast Michigan. Ford said the purpose is to conduct research on how to go about making its own electric vehicle batteries. A team of 150 experts will work on ways to build EV batteries that are long lasting, quick to charge, and sustainable for the environment. They will also develop a process for making batteries quickly, cheaply, and at scale.There will be “lab scale and pilot scale” battery assembly at the new centerBut Ford Ion Park, which will... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Recent Bose headphones and earbuds have come with a somewhat frustrating requirement: to use the accompanying Bose Music app, you needed to create an account. So if you wanted to, say, customize the noise cancellation of the Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 or QuietComfort Earbuds, you’d have to make a Bose account just to access those important controls.Now Bose is doing away with the needlessly annoying mandatory account. The update notes for the latest version of Bose Music on iOS say “when you set up your Bose headphones and earbuds, you can skip creating an account and get right to enjoying your product.” That’s the way it ought to be. (Bose previously had this help article up for customers with “privacy concerns regarding data... Continue reading…

HTC has partnered with iFixit to make its Vive virtual reality systems more repairable, selling a list of screws, cables, adapters, and other standalone components directly to consumers. In a blog post, HTC says the move is aimed at helping people whose headsets are out of warranty or potentially no longer being sold. iFixit also offers repair guides for the original Vive, the Vive Pro, the original Vive controller, and the Vive Pro Eye.HTC confirmed to The Verge that this is the first time consumers have been able to order many of these replacement parts directly. A few listings, like a $3.99 controller lanyard, wouldn’t be hard to find through other sellers. But VR headsets are specialized and niche devices, so if you want a... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Legal services startup DoNotPay is best known for its army of “robot lawyers” — automated bots that tackle tedious online tasks like canceling TV subscriptions and requesting refunds from airlines. Now, the company has unveiled a new tool it says will help shield users’ photos from reverse image searches and facial recognition AI.It’s called Photo Ninja and it’s one of dozens of DoNotPay widgets that subscribers can access for $36 a year. Photo Ninja operates like any image filter. Upload a picture you want to shield, and the software adds a layer of pixel-level perturbations that are barely noticeable to humans, but dramatically alter the image in the eyes of roving machines.The end result, DoNotPay CEO Joshua Browder tells The Verge,... Continue reading…

Photo: Pixar Animation Studios From the very beginning of Pixar’s Soul, 22 — a soul who refuses to come down to Earth — is cynical. She hates the idea of inhabiting a body or finding her inspiration, instead being content with spending eternity in the “great before,” a space meant to prepare souls for their human lives. Viewers don’t really get a sense of why she feels that way — but that’s about to change in the upcoming animated short 22 vs. Earth.“I didn’t want the short to be a mirror of what she was like in the feature,” says director Kevin Nolting, who also served as lead editor on Soul. “In looking at what the story would be, the interesting thing for me is what makes her who she is in the feature. This is one of those incidents. In the beginning she was one... Continue reading…

Image: Razer Razer’s new $69.99 Orochi V2 is a wireless gaming mouse that promises extremely long battery life. It can apparently last up to 950 hours on a single AA battery when it’s in Bluetooth mode or up to 425 hours if you toggle its wireless switch to use the 2.4GHz Hyperspeed mode that can deliver lower-latency performance.Alternatively, you can use an AAA battery for a slightly lighter weight. Razer says you’ll get approximately a third of the longevity this way compared to an AA battery. Still, it’s nice that either size of battery can power this mouse for many, many hours. Razer includes a USB-A dongle near the battery slots, which is accessible by lifting up on the mouse’s magnetically attached shell.Available in white or black, or you... Continue reading…

Complete with software features that make it easy to join parties, record, and share video clips Continue reading…

Apple’s latest iPhone update, iOS 14.5, brings a host of new features that customers will likely see and enjoy — better Face ID unlocking when wearing a mask (for Apple Watch users only), new emoji, support for PS5 and Xbox Series X controllers, and more. But the new update also adds a much more important and controversial new feature: App Tracking Transparency. That’s Apple’s name for a privacy feature that’s shaping up to be the company’s next big fight.The change has been a contentious one. Apple originally announced the feature alongside the rest of iOS 14 last June but has delayed the release until now to give developers more time to adapt to the changes. It’s finally live, though, setting the stage for what could be a massive... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Android version of Google and Apple’s COVID-19 exposure notification app had a privacy flaw that let other preinstalled apps potentially see sensitive data, including if someone had been in contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19, privacy analysis firm AppCensus revealed on Tuesday. Google says it’s currently rolling out a fix to the bug.The bug cuts against repeated promises from Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and numerous public health officials that the data collected by the exposure notification program could not be shared outside of a person’s device.AppCensus first reported the vulnerability to Google in February, but the company failed to address it, The Markup reported. Fixing the issue would... Continue reading…

It’s arguably one of the best Mario games, if only because you can turn into a cat. At Amazon and Walmart, you can score a $10 discount on Super Mario 3D World for the Nintendo Switch. This discount brings the cost of the Wii U remake, which includes the new Bowser’s Fury open-world expansion, down to $50. Sales on this title have been rare, since it came out recently. If you’ve done everything in Super Mario Odyssey and are looking for some more 3D-style Mario platforming, this one is worth picking up. Just so you know, this is for the cartridge version.Affordable and fast rarely go together when you’re talking about M.2 NVMe SSDs, but you can get a 1TB model from SanDisk that possesses both qualities today at Best Buy. Its Ultra model is just $100, down from its usual $115 price. Best Buy discounts this model on a... Continue reading…

Image: Dell If I asked most people to name a laptop with a detachable keyboard, they’d probably say “Surface Pro.” But there is a number of Windows alternatives out there, for business users and consumers alike. Dell’s newly announced Latitude 7320 Detachable looks to be vying for the top spot in the enterprise market.Like Dell’s previous Latitude detachable models, the Latitude 7320 Detachable is a powerful Windows tablet with a kickstand and detachable keyboard deck aimed at mobile business users. The 7320’s most significant update is that it includes Intel’s newest 11th Gen processors, up to a Core i7.The new model also has a 3:2, 1920 x 1280 touch display with support for its own stylus (the 7320 Detachable Active Pen). Dell says this is... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge SideQuest has launched an Android app that lets you do the same neat trick as its desktop app: sideload VR content from outside the official Oculus Store onto your Quest or Quest 2 VR headset. The free app, which releases today, lets you browse SideQuest’s offerings and transfer content over Wi-Fi or a USB cable. That means you don’t need a PC to install VR games, demos, and apps from SideQuest’s community.SideQuest’s storefront is full of games and apps that are worth trying. Some that I’ve enjoyed recently include Gorilla Tag, a free game that launched on SideQuest (now available via Oculus’ App Lab for early access titles) that’s gotten some well-deserved attention. You play as a gorilla, and you play tag, but the controls and... Continue reading…

Palladium is a precious metal that is more valuable than gold, and its price has skyrocketed over the last couple of years. In 2018, it was worth nearly $1,000 an ounce. Now, a single ounce is worth nearly $3,000. But as its value has risen, devices that use palladium have become magnets for thieves.The metal is primarily used inside of a catalytic converter, a device that converts harmful emissions such as carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide into less harmful ones before being released into the atmosphere. Since their adoption into the automobile industry in the 1970s, catalytic converters have led to a significant drop in carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide emissions. And the more palladium they use, the more efficient they are at... Continue reading…

It took nearly three years, but Nintendo has finally given you a compelling reason to load up Super Mario Party on your Switch again. The new update significantly adds to the online component — which has been woefully lacking since launch.Thanks to the latest update, Super Mario Party now allows you to play Mario Party, a board game mode where up to four players take turns competing against each other racing across the game board. It also added Partner Party, which is similar to Mario Party but pits two teams of two against each other. This the first time board games support online play. Additionally, 70 out of the 80 mini-games available in the game can now be played online. Before the update, Super Mario Party only allowed you to... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge The senator on the future of antitrust law Continue reading…

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are auctioning off a plethora of team-related memorabilia as non-fungible tokens, the team’s first foray into the world of NFTs. The Golden State Warriors Legacy NFT Collection has two series minted on the blockchain: the Warriors Championship Ring NFTs and Commemorative Ticket Stub NFTs, which were designed by artists’ studio Black Madre.The Championship Ring NFT collection features the Warriors’ six NBA championship rings reproduced as NFTs, with a one-of-one NFT combining all six championships into one NFT. The collection includes:

Dave Bautista in Army of the Dead. | Image: Netflix Netflix released its summer movie lineup on Tuesday, and it’s looking like the streaming service will be jam-packed with new movies in the coming months. The sheer volume should help Netflix compete with Disney, which is gearing up for the July 9th premiere of Black Widow on Disney Plus and in theaters, and WarnerMedia, which is releasing each of its 2021 theatrical titles (such as the new Space Jam) day and date on HBO Max.Netflix sent me a preview of what’s coming ahead of Tuesday’s announcement, and honestly, there were an overwhelming amount of titles to sift through. It seems like there will be a lot to watch! I’ve picked out just a few that caught my eye and compiled them in this post, but if you want to see the full slate, check... Continue reading…

The new Fire HD 10. Amazon is overhauling its tablet lineup today with new Fire HD 10 models alongside refreshed options for kids.The $149.99 Fire HD 10 now looks much more in line with what you’d expect from a modern tablet, with a thinner design and slimmed-down bezels on all four sides. The RAM has been boosted by 50 percent to 3GB, and Amazon says the 1080p screen is brighter than before. It runs on what Amazon describes as a “powerful octa-core processor,” though it’s unclear what — if any — improvement this represents over the 2Ghz octa-core chip that failed to impress us in the last model.Speaking of performance, Amazon is also introducing its “most powerful 10-inch tablet ever,” the Fire HD 10 Plus. This model has 4GB of RAM, a soft touch finish,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Washington, DC’s police department has confirmed its servers have been breached after hackers began leaking its data online, The New York Times reports. In a statement, the department confirmed it was aware of “unauthorized access on our server” and said it was working with the FBI to investigate the incident. The hacked data appears to include details on arrests and persons of interest.The attack is believed to be the work of Babuk, a group known for its ransomware attacks. BleepingComputer reports that the gang has already released screenshots of the 250GB of data it’s allegedly stolen. One of the files is claimed to relate to arrests made following the January Capitol riots. The group warns it will start leaking information about... Continue reading…

Satellite imagery can be seen as inherently trustworthy because of the expense in creating it. | Image: DigitalGlobe via Getty Images When we think of deepfakes, we tend to imagine AI-generated people. This might be lighthearted, like a deepfake Tom Cruise, or malicious, like nonconsensual pornography. What we don’t imagine is deepfake geography: AI-generated images of cityscapes and countryside. But that’s exactly what some researchers are worried about.Specifically, geographers are concerned about the spread of fake, AI-generated satellite imagery. Such pictures could mislead in a variety of ways. They could be used to create hoaxes about wildfires or floods, or to discredit stories based on real satellite imagery. (Think about reports on China’s Uyghur detention camps that gained credence from satellite evidence. As geographic deepfakes become widespread, the... Continue reading…

Spotify’s podcast subscription product will require podcasters to host their shows on Anchor. | Spotify For the first time, Spotify is letting podcasters on its platform offer subscriptions to their shows. The company announced its paid podcast subscription product for the US today, which will initially allow select partners who host their shows on Anchor to charge for content. Twelve independent shows, including Tiny Leaps, Big Changes and Mindful in Minutes, will offer bonus subscriber-only content, and NPR will launch ad-free versions of popular shows. A waitlist will open today, so podcasters can sign up to be included in the expanded rollout in the coming months, which will include international market availability. Notably, no Spotify-owned shows will go behind a subscription wall at first.Podcasters won’t have to pay Spotify... Continue reading…

Microsoft Teams was down and experiencing an outage worldwide for many users for more than two hours today. The issues started at around 6:30AM this morning, and were blocking connectivity for lots of Microsoft Teams users across Europe and Asia. Microsoft says it has identified the root cause for the issues and has put a fix in place. “We’re seeing signs of recovery and will continue to monitor the service.”The connectivity issues were affecting users globally, with some Microsoft Teams users reporting 401 error codes when attempting to access the service via the web. Others were able to see Teams and channels but were unable to send messages. Microsoft also warned that some users “may experience degraded performance with multiple... Continue reading…

ADT’s octagonal blue sign. | Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images Home security company ADT is suing Amazon subsidiary Ring, claiming its recent designs are a “brazen” copy of ADT’s octagonal blue symbol. The firm cites Ring’s blue octagonal outdoor siren as a recent example. In the filing, ADT lists a dozen of its trademark registrations dating back to the late 90s that feature a combination of blue and octagonal designs, and claims millions of its customers display this symbol to show that their homes use ADT’s security systems.ADT claims Ring’s use of blue octagons risks confusing customers and misleading them into thinking the two companies are affiliated or associated. In its filing, ADT says “the striking similarity” is evidence that Ring is trying “to reap the benefit of the goodwill associated... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The European Commission will issue antitrust charges against Apple over concerns about the company’s App Store practices, according to a report from the Financial Times. The commission has been investigating whether Apple has broken EU competition rules with its App Store policies, following an initial complaint from Spotify back in 2019 over Apple’s 30 percent cut on subscriptions.The European Commission opened up two antitrust investigations into Apple’s App Store and Apple Pay practices last year, and the Financial Times only mentions upcoming charges on the App Store case. It’s not clear yet what action will be taken.Spotify has previously claimed Apple uses its App Store to stifle innovation and limit consumer choice in favor of... Continue reading…

Image: Amazon Amazon is expanding its in-garage delivery option today to every city where it offers grocery deliveries. According to the company, that’s now over 5,000 US cities where Key by Amazon Garage Grocery Delivery can be used to have Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods orders left directly in your garage. You can check to see if the service is available near you by entering your ZIP code on Amazon’s site.Garage Grocery Delivery was initially only available in Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles in November 2020, but this expansion should reach even more Amazon customers. Along with living in a supported city, you’ll also need a MyQ-enabled garage door opener or a MyQ Smart Garage Hub to participate.With all of those boxes... Continue reading…

KPRC2 Houston A Tesla Model S that crashed and caught fire recently in Texas, killing two men, may have had someone in the driver’s seat, according to Tesla’s top executives. Their comments in an earnings call Monday contradict statements made by local law enforcement in the immediate aftermath of the crash, and could complicate the efforts by federal crash investigators who are also examining the incident.Lars Moravy, Tesla’s vice president of vehicle engineering, said that company representatives were able to inspect the crash, along with local law enforcement and investigators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Moravy said the company was able to determine that the... Continue reading…

Image: Tesla Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Monday that his company made “significant mistakes” in its solar roof tile project that have led to further cost overruns and delays. The product was originally revealed back in 2016.Tesla is currently still trying to meet significant demand for the solar roof, but has yet to widely roll out the product, Musk said in a conference call with investors following the release of Tesla’s financial results for the first quarter of 2021. Tesla reported $494 million in sales of its energy generation and storage products in the first quarter, but the overall division is still not profitable. Musk’s comments come as irate customers have told outlets like The Verge and Electrek that Tesla is increasing the price of the... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge The Internet Archive, in partnership with George Blood LP, has been working since 2016 to digitize thousands of 78rpm records, some of which were made in the early 1900s. Over 250,000 records have been preserved, and the archive posted a Twitter thread yesterday detailing how each record is cleaned and filed away.

Image: Apple Apple now lets you add augmented-reality lasers, confetti, and more to your Clips videos, thanks to an update to the short-form video app. The feature, called AR Spaces, will let users with LIDAR-equipped Apple devices (so far, that’s the iPhone 12 Pros and iPad Pros from 2020 or later) add room-filling effects that can interact with walls and floors. (If you watched Apple’s April 20th event, you may have spotted a brief look at the update ahead of today’s release.)You can get an idea of what this will look like in action with this GIF taken from Apple’s demo video. Image: Apple The Prism and Dance Floor effects. Apple says that the AR Spaces effects should work with the other effects built in to Clips, such... Continue reading…

Morning commuter traffic backs up on Interstate 80 westbound in Berkeley, Calif. Tuesday, April 6, 2021. | Jessica Christian/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images California is on track to regain its power to set tougher vehicle emissions standards than the rest of the US. The Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it’s reconsidering a Donald Trump-era edict that sought to strip California of that ability. The EPA plans to rescind the Trump decision altogether after a public comment period ends on July 6th, the Los Angeles Times reports. Last week, the Department of Transportation moved to repeal a related Trump-era rule that barred individual states from setting their own tailpipe standards.California has essentially set the tone for the countryCalifornia has been able to set its own tailpipe standards since it was granted a waiver under the 1970 Clean Air Act. At the time, the... Continue reading…

Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images President Biden issued an executive order today to create a new labor task force in support of worker organizing in the United States. The effort will be led by Vice President Kamala Harris.“Despite the importance of unions to our economy and democracy, and nearly 60 million workers today saying they would join a union if given the chance, American workers have faced increasing barriers to organizing and bargaining collectively with their employers,” the order reads.The task force, which includes a long list of cabinet members and policy advisers, will make recommendations on how the federal government can help workers organize and join unions. This could include helping contractors in industries that have been difficult to organize,... Continue reading…

Photo by Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post via Getty Images Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin is fighting NASA’s decision to award SpaceX $2.9 billion to land astronauts on the Moon by 2024. NASA’s Human Landing System program, which funded the development of three rival lunar lander prototypes (including Blue Origin’s), was expected to pick two of those landers in April. But NASA opted for just one — SpaceX’s Starship — because of short funding from Congress.Blue Origin’s 175-page protest, filed with the Government Accountability Office less than two weeks after SpaceX won the contract, accuses NASA of misjudging several parts of its proposal for Blue Moon, the lunar lander it’s developing with a “National Team” of established space and defense contractors: Northrop Grumman, Lockheed... Continue reading…

Image: Capcom Resident Evil Village is nearly here, and Capcom is giving you more time to play a piece of it ahead of launch. The studio originally announced that players on Xbox, Playstation, and PC would have access to a 60-minute demo this weekend for just 24 hours, but after fan criticism, Capcom has extended the demo’s availability to a full week.Village’s final demo will still unlock on May 1st at 8PM ET in North America, but availability will now end on May 9th at 8PM ET, a two-day overlap with the game’s full release on May 7th. Capcom announced the change along with extended time frames for both the United Kingdom and Europe on the game’s Twitter account. Playtime for the demo will still be limited to an hour, though.

Lyft is selling its autonomous vehicle division to a subsidiary of Toyota — the latest in a series of acquisitions that is seeing the world of self-driving cars grow increasingly smaller.Woven Planet Holdings, a subsidiary of Toyota, will acquire Lyft’s self-driving division, Level 5, for $550 million in cash — $200 million of which was provided to Lyft up front. The rest of the money, $350 million, will be paid out to Lyft over five years. The ride-hailing company says it will see an annual savings of $100 million of non-GAAP expenses, which it claims will better position it to ultimately earn a profit. Toyota has also agreed to use Lyft’s fleet data and platform for any commercial service it eventually launches under its Woven Planet... Continue reading…

Image: Tesla Tesla has drawn a lot of scrutiny lately, has run into delays with the refreshed Model S and Model X, and the auto industry is struggling through a global shortage of semiconductors. But none of those things seemed to have much effect on Tesla’s business.On Monday, the Silicon Valley automaker announced its best-ever start to a year, despite not making a single Model S sedan or Model X SUV. That’s thanks in large part to the fact that Tesla continues to increase the number of Model 3s and Model Ys it makes and sells out of its year-old factory in Shanghai, China, validating CEO Elon Musk’s long-standing goal of localizing production in the world’s biggest markets for electric vehicles.As a result, Tesla generated $10.4 billion in... Continue reading…