The Verge

SN10 standing upright after landing | SpaceX SpaceX’s latest Starship prototype landed on Wednesday for the first time after carrying out a high-altitude test flight in Texas — but exploded minutes later on its landing pad. The rocket, an early test version called SN10, demonstrated a few complex dances in mid-air before clinching a soft touch down, aiming to nail a key milestone in Elon Musk’s campaign to build a fully reusable rocket system.After aborting an initial launch attempt earlier in the day, the prototype lifted off at 6:14pm ET and soared 6 miles above SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas facilities. Unlike the last two tests with SN8 and SN9, which launched successfully but exploded on their landing attempts, SN10 stuck a lopsided landing on a slab of concrete not far from its... Continue reading…

Image: Peak Design Peak Design, a maker of fine bags and accessories, has a problem: Amazon appears to have copied its popular bag, the $99.95 Everyday Sling, with its own $32.99 Amazon Basics Camera Bag. It was even called Everyday Sling until Peak Design’s video. Rather than do anything drastic, yet, Peak Design decided to make a video about what customers “gain” by purchasing Amazon’s version.The video presents Peak’s case clearly: the bags are similarly shaped, with pockets, labels, and straps in the exact same places. As someone unfamiliar with Peak Design’s bags, if I wasn’t paying attention or didn’t read “Peak Design” on the label, I’d probably mix them up. Image: Peak Design The Amazon Basics Everyday Sling on the left... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Samsung has submitted paperwork to Texas officials, requesting a billion dollars in tax incentives to make Austin the future home of the company’s $17 billion chip factory, as noted by Bloomberg and reported last month by the Austin American-Statesman. In the documents, which were filed in January, the company says it plans on bringing 1,800 permanent jobs to the factory over the first 10 years, with an average starting salary around $66K.In return, Samsung is asking for a break on its property taxes: it’s looking for a 100 percent break on its payments to Travis County for 20 years, which the company estimates would save it roughly $718 million, and a 50 percent break on the taxes to the City of Austin for five years, with an estimated... Continue reading…

Image: Apple The YouTube app on older Apple TV models has officially been discontinued as of today. If you have a third-generation device (the 2012-era model that predated the modern tvOS-based set-top boxes), you’ll only be able to stream YouTube through an iOS device using AirPlay starting today, as noted by 9to5Mac.While the news has been known for a while, the change highlights a key issue with the Apple TV ecosystem. Namely, that it’s been nearly three and a half years since Apple has last updated its streaming box hardware.If you own the old model with the now defunct YouTube app, your only Apple-made options are the 2017 Apple TV 4K or what Apple now calls the Apple TV HD, the older model from 2015. That’s particularly problematic, given... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple has added a service that lets you automatically transfer photos, videos, and albums from your iCloud Photo Library to Google Photos (via MacRumors). The feature has a support document outlining the procedure, which simply entails going to privacy.apple.com, logging in, and going through the “transfer a copy of your data” process. Apple says the transfer will take between three days to a week.Some things won’t transfer: Apple says shared albums, smart albums, photo stream content, live photos, some metadata, and media that isn’t stored in your iCloud Photo Library won’t come along for the ride. The part about Live Photos is especially eyebrow-raising. iPhones take Live Photos by default, and Apple doesn’t make it clear if the... Continue reading…

The San Diego Zoo. | Photo by Daniel Knighton/Getty Images Several great apes at the San Diego Zoo received two doses each of a COVID-19 vaccine in February, National Geographic reports. The lucky recipients are four orangutans and five bonobos, who were distracted with treats as they got their shots. One of the orangutans is Karen, the first ape to undergo open-heart surgery in 1994.Ape vaccination is a welcome development at the San Diego Zoo, where a troop of eight gorillas tested positive for COVID-19 in January. The sick gorillas were symptomatic but have now recovered, according to the zoo. They’ll likely join their orangutan and bonobo compatriots in vaccination later in the spring.developed by a veterinary pharmaceutical company after the first recorded case of COVID-19 in a dogThe... Continue reading…

Image: Frogwares Valve has removed The Sinking City from its digital storefront Steam after the company received a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) request from the game’s developer Frogwares, Vice reports. Frogwares claims that the game’s original publisher, Nacon, hacked and pirated the game and republished it on Steam without the studio’s knowledge.A Valve spokesperson told Vice on Tuesday evening that the company was able to collect “extremely strong evidence to indicate this version of the game was pirated,” and that the version of The Sinking City published on its digital storefront “contains content that Nacon has absolutely no rights to — namely The Merciful Madness DLC.”The Sinking City’s PC version is still purchasable as a... Continue reading…

Your best bet for a budget phone with a stylus Continue reading…

San Diego Comic-Con has announced this year’s show will not go on, at least not in person, and the 2021 Anime Expo has now officially canceled its physical event as well.That’s the second time in 50 years — the first was last year — that Comic-Con has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There’ll still be a virtual event from July 23rd to the 25th, and organizers are planning a three-day in-person convention tentatively set for November, but they’re clear that the full shebang has been postponed until 2022 — and offering refunds and rollovers as appropriate.

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge The Arizona House of Representatives just passed landmark app store legislation in a 31-29 vote on Wednesday that could have far-reaching consequences for Apple and Google and their respective mobile operating systems.The legislation, a sweeping amendment to Arizona’s existing HB2005, prevents app store operators from forcing a developer based in the state to use a preferred payment system, putting up a significant roadblock to Apple and Google’s ability to collect commissions on in-app purchases and app sales. It will now head to the state senate, where it must pass before its sent to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.The amendment specifically prohibits stores exceeding 1 million downloads from requiring “a developer that is domiciled in... Continue reading…

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge Ford has finally shed some light on the scale of the delays it’s experiencing in rolling out its first mass-market electric car, the Mustang Mach-E SUV. After the company announced on Wednesday that it shipped 3,739 Mustang Mach-Es in February — the first full month of deliveries — it told The Verge in a statement that some 4,500 customers will have to wait longer than expected to receive the electric SUV.The automaker didn’t say specifically what’s causing the delay, just that it’s holding back the electric Mustangs “as part of our commitment to deliver a quality vehicle to customers.” Ford previously said in January it was delaying the delivery of “several hundred” of them for quality checks.To help make up for the delay, Ford is... Continue reading…

Antigen tests run at a university in Wisconsin | Photo by David Joles/Star Tribune via Getty Images But the CDC system doesn’t fix the foundational issue Continue reading…

FedEx will spend $2 billion in “initial investments” to become carbon neutral by 2040, the company announced today. The move comes as many of the world’s biggest automakers are also pledging to phase out carbon-emitting vehicles within the next several decades.FedEx claims it is the largest cargo airline in the world, with more than 650 aircraft in operation. As such, it has a particularly large carbon footprint, making its pledge to go completely carbon neutral a uniquely massive challenge.The money will be spent in three key areasThe money will be spent in three key areas: vehicle electrification, sustainable energy, and carbon sequestration. FedEx will also donate $100 million to Yale University’s efforts to devise new ways to... Continue reading…

Microsoft is adding four sports games to Xbox Game Pass in March and April. Madden NFL 21 arrives today as part of EA Play for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, and Football Manager 2021 will arrive tomorrow for both Xbox consoles and PC. NBA 2K1 will also launch on Xbox Game Pass tomorrow and will be available on xCloud game streaming, too.The fourth and final sports addition will be NHL 21 in April, arriving for Xbox console owners with an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. Sports games aren’t the only new additions this month, though. Star Wars: Squadrons is coming in March for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.Microsoft offers three different versions of Xbox Game Pass, and each will provide different levels of access to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Last week, AT&T announced it would be spinning off its TV business — including DirecTV, AT&T TV, and U-verse — in a deal it claimed would greatly benefit the company’s customers, employees, and shareholders. The deal provides AT&T with a $7.8 billion cash infusion to pay down debt and recent wireless spectrum purchases, and a 70 percent stake in the “new” DirecTV. But it also values the entire operation at around $16.25 billion, a massive loss from the $67 billion AT&T paid just a few years earlier for just DirecTV alone.“It’s fair to say that some aspects of the transaction have not played out as we had planned,” AT&T said of the deal, trying to put a good face on a more than $50 billion loss, “such as pay TV households in the US... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony’s latest gaming console, the PS5, is one of many gaming gadgets that are hard to find in stock right now due to mostly online-only sales. If you are trying to get your hands on one, Amazon has restocked both the PS5 Digital Edition and the PS5 consoles right now, while supplies last.Once you obtain your PS5, there are a few items you’re going to want to pick up for your console. Some of the most popular PS5 exclusives right now include Demon’s Souls Remake by Bluepoint Games. Additionally, Final Fantasy VII Remake was a popular game in 2020; it is backwards compatible and a PS5 port is coming on June 10th. If you buy the game now, you’ll get a free next-gen upgrade when that version is available.I strongly suggest buying a... Continue reading…

Image: Western Digital If you need compact external storage that can connect to game consoles, PCs, phones, and other devices, there are some options you can get a deal on today. One of them is Western Digital’s latest 1TB My Passport model, available at Best Buy and Amazon. This capacity usually costs $190, but you can get it for as low as $140. You can also save on Crucial’s X8 1TB USB-C SSD, which is $125 at Amazon (usually $140).For context, Western Digital and Crucial each claim up to 1,050MB/s read speeds, but only Western Digital is public with its write speeds of 1,000MB/s. Both of these models also offer a drop-proof build, so your decision might come down to design preference. Image: Activision Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2... Continue reading…

AMD’s Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics card | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge AMD is holding a hardware event today, March 3rd, where the company plans to announce the next graphics card in its Radeon RX 6000 series. This will serve as the fourth GPU in the RX 6000 line, following the GPU’s debut in November.Like the other three cards, the new Radeon RX 6000 GPU will feature AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture that includes real-time, hardware-accelerated ray tracing and variable rate shading.This latest RX 6000 card will likely serve as a competitor to Nvidia’s RTX 3000 series, which recently released a new budget GPU, the RTX 3060. Whether this new AMD GPU will serve as a flagship or a lower-end budget card is yet unknown.WHEN DOES AMD’S EVENT START?It starts today, March 3rd, at 8AM PT / 11AM ET / 4PM GMT.WHERE... Continue reading…

There’s finally momentum in Congress to make serious changes to Section 230 — and not everyone’s happy about it. Last year’s antitrust hearings have given way to a full-court press on regulating big companies like Facebook and Google, and many in Congress see peeling back Section 230 as an easier way forward than GDPR-style privacy regulation or a full-scale antitrust breakup.So on Monday, we hosted an event exploring what those regulations might look like, starting with a keynote on tech regulation from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). After that, we had a panel of three experts — Vimeo’s Michael Cheah, Wikimedia’s Amanda Keton, and writer and strategist Sydette Harry — dig into the details of Section 230 and how the things they care about... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The artificial intelligence boom isn’t slowing yet, with new figures showing a 34.5 percent increase in the publication of AI research from 2019 to 2020. That’s a higher percentage growth than 2018 to 2019 when the volume of publications increased by 19.6 percent.China continues to be a growing force in AI R&D, overtaking the US for overall journal citations in artificial intelligence research last year. The country already publishes more AI papers than any other country, but the United States still has more cited papers at AI conferences — one indicator of the novelty and significance of the underlying research.These figures come from the fourth annual AI Index, a collection of statistics, benchmarks, and milestones meant to gauge... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is slowly phasing out third-party tracking cookies, and today, it’s making it clear that it won’t just replace them with something equally invasive despite the impact the change will have on Google’s lucrative advertising business. In a blog post, Google explicitly states that it “will not build alternate identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web” after the third-party cookies are gone.“Instead, our web products will be powered by privacy-preserving APIs which prevent individual tracking while still delivering results for advertisers and publishers,” writes Google. “Advances in aggregation, anonymization, on-device processing and other privacy-preserving technologies offer a clear path to replacing... Continue reading…

The LIFX Clean is a smart bulb that can kill bacteria. | Image: LIFX These things take time Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Parler has withdrawn its antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, ending its two-month effort to legally compel the company to reinstate its hosting account. Parler made the decision in a motion filed late Tuesday night in federal court for the Western District of Washington. The company gave no explanation for the move, but reserved the right to refile on similar grounds in the future.Notably, the decision to withdraw came on the same day Parler was due to file an amended complaint in the case. Parler had failed to meet an earlier February 16 filing deadline and received a two-week extension from the court — but with the case withdrawn, that deadline is now moot.Amazon first suspended service to Parler on January 9th, in the wake of an... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Valve is significantly expanding your ability to share games at home and with your friends for free using Steam.One change is the introduction of a Linux version of its Steam Link app, which lets you stream games from a computer to a device with the Steam Link app installed on the same local network. This new Linux version means that you can now stream games from a computer to a Linux-based set top box hooked up to a TV, for example. The app is also available on Android, iOS, and Raspberry Pi.Valve has also rolled out a big update to its Remote Play Together feature, which lets you stream games on your computer over the internet so you can play them with friends. Just last week, Valve introduced a way to let you play games with friends... Continue reading…

Yusaku Maezawa announcing his plan to fly on SpaceX’s Starship rocket in September 2018. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa invited the public on Tuesday to apply for a spot on SpaceX’s Starship in his private mission around the Moon, reaching out to a “wider, more diverse audience” two years after announcing he’d only ride with a select group of artists. The trip is currently slated for 2023, but that date might not hold.“I want people from all kinds of backgrounds to join,” Maezawa said in a video posted Tuesday afternoon, when the contest’s application went live. “It will be 10 to 12 people in all, but I will be inviting 8 people to come along on the ride.”Maezawa, the founder of Japan’s largest online fashion retailer, is worth about $2 billion. He was revealed as Starship’s first signed passenger back in 2018... Continue reading…

Intel may owe quite a bit of cash to a semiconductor company that hasn’t existed for 20 years. A Texas jury has asked Intel to pay $2.18 billion for infringing two patents owned by VLSI Technology, according to Bloomberg.VLSI seemingly rose from the dead in 2019 specifically to sue. The last time it was an independent company was in 1999, when Philips purchased the semiconductor design firm for $1 billion. Its assets later traveled to Philips spinoff NXP (which you may know from its tap-to-pay NFC chips, among other things). NXP will reportedly get some of Intel’s money, too.One of VLSI’s claims to fame was being part of the original project with Apple and Acorn to produce the first ARM processors — and the ARM company — responsible... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Hulu has fully reenabled picture-in-picture support (PiP) on iOS, MacRumors reports, which means half-watching network TV is once again possible for Hulu subscribers on iPhone and iPad devices. Hulu joins a collection of major streaming services that support the feature on iOS, leaving YouTube as the major exception.PiP for iPhones was enabled for Hulu around iOS 14’s original release, but it was later disabled to “work on a few updates to provide the best experience for our viewers,” Hulu said. Now that the feature is back, users can enable PiP mode by starting a show or movie and touching the PiP button to pop the video into a resizable, floating player. Image: Hulu The picture-in-picture button inside Hulu’s... Continue reading…

NASA’s brand-new Perseverance rover is the most advanced machine that’s ever landed on Mars. But when it comes to rovers, “state of the art” is a subjective term. Perseverance is running on none other than a PowerPC 750, a single-core, 233MHz processor with just 6 million transistors that’s most famous for powering the original “Bondi blue” iMac from 1998. It’s the same type of processor that NASA already uses in its Curiosity rover.That may seem like a waste to some. After all, even with the difficulty of buying computer parts these days, surely NASA could have found the budget for something like Intel’s $500 Core i9-10900K CPU (with 10 cores and a max clock speed of 5.3GHz) somewhere in the $2.7 billion cost of Perseverance. But as N... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has opened its audio chat room, Spaces, to Android users, the company tweeted Tuesday.Twitter introduced a limited version of the Clubhouse competitor on iOS in January. While any users of Twitter’s iOS app can join and listen to Spaces, only a few can host them at the moment. Twitter said it was giving Spaces to “a very small feedback group” to start, with women and people from other marginalized groups given priority. Now, users of Twitter’s Android app can join and listen to Spaces as well.

The upcoming Galaxy A52 5G is shaping up to be a competitive midranger indeed. | Photo by Evan Blass Samsung’s upcoming midrange device, the Galaxy A52 5G, appears to be in line to receive monthly security updates. First spotted by Galaxy Club, the yet-to-be formally announced A52 5G appears on Samsung’s security update page for its monthly update cycle. Along with earlier rumors of high refresh rate screens — and a new leak that suggests the main camera will offer optical image stabilization — this looks like Samsung is taking the A51’s successor very seriously.Samsung generally reserves spots on the monthly update schedule for flagship and higher-end devices. While this isn’t the first time a midrange A-series device has been scheduled for monthly updates, last year’s Galaxy A51 and A51 5G are on the quarterly update schedule.... Continue reading…

Image: Razer Razer’s small form factor Tomahawk gaming desktop is finally available for sale — mostly. The PC’s main appeal, apart from its size, is that you only need to worry about two parts: the NUC and the graphics card. Razer has a listing for a version that comes with just the NUC, which would allow users to slot in a graphics card they already own, but it seems to be marked as out of stock. The version that’s available for sale today comes with an otherwise extremely hard-to-get RTX 3080 Founder’s Edition.If you have the $3,199.99 to spend on the version with the 3080, today’s launch seems like the real deal — you can add it to your cart, and Razer’s site says it will ship the next business day. As for the NUC-only version, it’s still listed... Continue reading…

Image: Devolver Digital Fortnite creator Epic Games is acquiring video game studio Mediatonic, the maker of smash hit Fall Guys, for an undisclosed sum, the companies announced on Tuesday. The deal marks one of Epic’s higher-profile acquisitions of late, following its 2019 purchases of social video app Houseparty and Rocket League developer Psyonix.According to the blog posts and FAQs detailing the announcement, Fall Guys will remain available on Steam for the time being, and the developer is still bringing the game to both the Xbox and Nintendo Switch platforms. Epic and Mediatonic say there are no plans right now to make the game (which currently costs $19.99) free-to-play, as Epic did with Rocket League. Epic later confirmed it plans to make the PC version... Continue reading…

Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, the time-traveling epic that hasn’t quite been a hit at the box office, will come to movie theaters in New York City on Friday, Deadline reported. It gives NYC theaters — which can reopen at limited capacity starting Friday — a marquee film for theatergoers who want to see Tenet on the big screen.The movie’s release was pushed back several times because of the coronavirus pandemic and resulting movie theater closures, making it a litmus test of sorts for summer movies during a rampant pandemic. Warner Bros. released the movie in international markets including Australia, Canada, France, and the UK in August, and some US theaters on Labor Day weekend.But most US moviegoers didn’t seem to think venturing into... Continue reading…

A prototype version of Pokémon Go on HoloLens. | Image: Niantic Microsoft is launching its new Microsoft Mesh mixed reality platform today, and part of the announcement includes a brief demonstration of Pokémon Go running on the HoloLens 2 headset. Niantic has partnered with Microsoft to create this proof-of-concept version of Pokémon Go, demonstrating what might be possible for the game in the future.The demo shows how HoloLens users could spot a Pokémon in the wild and feed it berries ahead of a typical gym battle with another player. There’s a menu that HoloLens users tap to access different parts of Pokémon Go, but Niantic stresses it’s not a dedicated app or ready for consumers yet.“While this demo is not intended for consumer use, it offers an early glimpse into the future evolutions in both... Continue reading…

The Oshkosh-designed mail truck. The new fleet will only be 10 percent electric, though the vehicles can supposedly be converted. | Image: USPS Commercial EV startup Workhorse will have a “face-to-face” with the United States Post Office on March 3rd to find out more about the agency’s decision to have defense manufacturer Oshkosh build the new fleet of mail trucks. Workhorse was the last remaining bidder pitching to build an all-electric fleet, an idea that President Biden supported with an executive order shortly after he took office.“This is not the result we had anticipated or hoped for,” CEO Duane Hughes said on a conference call Monday morning following the release of Workhorses financial results for 2020. “To be clear, we intend to explore all avenues that are available to us.”Asked about the meeting, USPS spokesperson Kim Frum said she has “no information I am able to... Continue reading…

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Update March 1st, 2021 1:49PM ET: The Xbox Series X is sold out at the Microsoft Store for now. But the Xbox Series S and Series S bundle is still available at Microsoft and Antonline respectively.If you are having a hard time finding an Xbox Series X or Series S, you have another chance to buy one. Microsoft’s direct website has restocked both of its next-gen consoles, the Xbox Series X and Series S. Like some other gaming gadgets released late last year, these consoles are extremely difficult to buy, but if you move quickly, you can grab one right now.If you are new to the Xbox console family, Antonline has a compelling bundle for the Series S. For $405, you get the Series S console, an extra controller, plus three months of Xbox... Continue reading…

The Medium Workers Union is pausing organizing efforts after it failed to win a simple majority of support in an online vote last Friday.“This election did not have the outcome we hoped for, but we’re not going anywhere,” the union said in a statement. “The vote was never to decide whether our union exists, but whether management would recognize us as a bargaining unit.”The final tally was 75 yes votes, 68 votes for no, and seven abstentions, putting the organizers just one vote short of the previously agreed threshold of 76 yes votes. Notably, organizers believe these same votes would allow them to win recognition in a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election due to abstention rules, which would give them 52 percent of the total... Continue reading…

Pixel owners can now access backups and share their recordings on the web. | Image: Google Google’s latest feature drop for Pixel phones makes it easier to share audio recordings, adds better integration for an underwater housing accessory, and wraps up a couple of other updates into a neat little package for Pixel owners. The update is available starting today for some owners of Pixel 3 phones and newer, and it will continue to reach others over the next two weeks.First up, recordings made via the Recorder app will now be backed up at recorder.google.com where they can be shared with anyone. The site, discovered last week by 9to5Google, offers the same transcription and search features included in the app itself. It’s somewhat similar to Otter.ai, a tool for transcribing Zoom meetings.The update also includes better support... Continue reading…

Satellite imagery of Tropical Storm Arthur on May 18th, 2020. | Image: NOAA Next year’s Atlantic hurricane season could begin on May 15th if officials decide this year to move its formal start date up by two weeks. The decision will likely be made this spring, during meetings held by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO).2022 is the earliest that the start date can be officially changed, a spokesperson for NOAA’s National Hurricane Center told The Verge in an email. But come May 15th of this year, the agency will start issuing its Tropical Weather Outlooks, which are routine forecasts that it typically doesn’t start releasing until hurricane season starts on June 1st.The proposed changes come as climate change makes hurricane season more... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple’s 2021 iPhones might finally have a smaller notch and, for some models, faster refresh rate displays, according to a new note from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. He also shared rumored information about other upcoming iPhones, including when we could see a foldable phone from Apple.Let’s start with the iPhone launching this year, which we’ll call it the iPhone 13. Kuo says the iPhone 13 lineup will consist of the same models as the iPhone 12, meaning that despite reports of poor sales of the iPhone 12 mini, the smaller phone could still get a refresh this year (via MacRumors). The two iPhone 13 Pro models will also have 120Hz refresh rate screens thanks to LTPO display technology, according to Kuo, finally bringing the iPhone on par... Continue reading…

A community vaccination site in New York City. | Photo by Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images All three COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States will help save lives and reduce hospitalizations. But the newly authorized Johnson & Johnson shot has some key advantages that experts say could help make the vaccination campaign more equitable.Unlike the first two vaccines, produced by Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can be stored in the refrigerator and only takes one shot to protect people from COVID-19. It could be sent to community clinics, which are equipped to reach people in rural areas or who don’t have regular contact with the health system. Because it only takes one dose, it could help vaccinate people who might be difficult to reach twice, like people experiencing homelessness.... Continue reading…

The word discovery implies there’s something new to find, but I’ve spent the past few weeks steadily making my way through a show that’s been on the air for more than 20 years, thanks to Discovery Plus: House Hunters.Thanks to House Hunters (and House Hunters International, alongside Tiny House Hunters) my days spent inside, working from home and doing nothing but watching TV, have transitioned almost exclusively to Discovery Plus. It exists as white noise in my apartment: the buzzing of couples arguing over whether to pay the full $560,000 for a house in the nice neighborhood closer to the cute bistro or take a chance on the $480,000 home that needs some work but is way under budget emitting from my TV set. From the time I start... Continue reading…

Second screen in Google Meet. | Image: Google Google is adding a smattering of new features to Google Workspace today, including new tools for categorizing your focus time in Google Calendar and Chat, better ways to join Google Meet videoconferences with multiple devices, and a version of its office suite for frontline workers. It’s also taking Google Assistant for Workspace out of beta and making it generally available.The company is trying to categorize these features as part of a new push for what it calls “collaboration equity.” For Google, it’s a high-minded way of explaining the tools it’s trying to create so people working from home are not put at a disadvantage compared to people working from an office (when people are allowed back into offices, that is).The idea that... Continue reading…

Peter Beck’s Rocket Lab is going public. | Photo by Phil Walter / Getty Images Small launch firm Rocket Lab announced plans on Monday to go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, marking the latest deal in an industry where SPAC mergers are becoming increasingly common. The firm also unveiled a new rocket called Neutron that its chief executive said will be capable of launching humans.The SPAC deal values Long Beach, California-based Rocket Lab at $4.1 billion and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021. Once the merger is done, Vector Acquisition Corporation, the SPAC Rocket Lab is merging with, will change its name to Rocket Lab USA, Inc, and the Nasdaq ticker symbol will be RKLB.“This milestone accelerates Rocket Lab’s ability to unlock the full potential of... Continue reading…

Image: Riot Games Riot Games plans to host two big esports tournaments in Reykjavik, Iceland, the studio announced on Monday.The first will be League of Legends’ Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), which was canceled last year due to COVID-19. MSI is one of League of Legends’ marquee tournaments, pitting top teams around the world against each other. The event will begin on May 6th and end on May 23rd.One day later, on May 24th, Riot will kick off Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Masters Reykjavik, which the studio says is the first live international tournament for the game. Ten teams will compete to earn points toward qualification for Valorant Champions 2021, the global tournament that concludes the Valorant esports season.Like many other esports, League... Continue reading…

Instagram Instagram wants more people to go live at once, so today, it’s launching Live Rooms. The feature, which will be available globally, allows four people to video chat in a live broadcast, compared to the previous limit of two. Instagram’s blog post today says it hopes the feature encourages people to start a “talk show or a podcast,” host a “jam session,” or collaborate with other creators.Going live with more people means the rooms could attract larger audiences. The followers of everyone participating will see the live room and, depending on their notifications, be pinged about it. (Anyone blocked by the active participants won’t be able to join the live, though.)The easy comparison to make here is to Clubhouse, the buzzy social audio... Continue reading…

Sometimes you just want an electric car with decent range, low-key technology, and not much else Continue reading…

Right-wing social media website Gab has reportedly been hacked, and CEO Andrew Torba said on Twitter that “demon hackers” were to blame, using a transphobic slur to describe them.Wired first reported that a hacker, who goes by “JaXpArO and My Little Anonymous Revival Project,” carried out the hack to expose Gab’s users. Private messages from some 15,000 Gab users were used to create a dataset of more than 40 million posts from the site, including private posts. User profiles, some users’ hashed passwords, and passwords for groups also were affected by the hack, which reportedly used a SQL injection vulnerability to siphon some 70GB of data.Activist data transparency group Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets), plans to share the... Continue reading…

Photo by Kena Betancur/VIEWpress via Getty Images Walmart is dropping its $35 minimum order requirement to qualify for its Express two-hour delivery service, the retailer announced on Monday. The move puts Walmart’s e-commerce platform on better footing to compete with Amazon Prime, which has offered customers same-day delivery for certain items in specific markets through its Prime Now service since 2016.Walmart’s Express service promises two-hour delivery of “Walmart’s food, consumables and general merchandise assortment,” which includes produce, pantry items, household essentials, and other products. It typically costs $10 on top of a standard delivery fee ranging from $7.95 or $9.95, but Walmart waives the delivery fee if you subscribe to its Prime-like Walmart Plus subscription.... Continue reading…

Photo by Adam Schultz for White House / Flickr On Sunday night, President Joe Biden released a message of support for unionizing Amazon workers in Alabama, while sternly denouncing anti-union efforts by employers. The message comes in the midst of a contentious union election at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer. And while Biden stopped short of an explicit endorsement of the fledgling Bessemer union, he was broadly enthusiastic about the benefits of collective bargaining.“I made it clear during my campaign that my policy would be to support unions organizing and the right to collectively bargain,” Biden said in the statement. “I’m keeping that promise.”It’s rare for a sitting president to publicly support a union drive, and the statement is careful not to direct workers to vote in... Continue reading…