The Verge

Image: 9to5Mac Apple has been rumored to be working on new over-ear headphones for years, and we might have just gotten a vague idea of what they look like, thanks to an icon found in the first developer beta for iOS 14.3 by 9to5Mac. You can see the icon at the top of this post.And here’s another look at the icon, apparently from a video in the Find My app in the beta found by MacRumors contributing writer Steve Moser.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple has been staring down the barrel of numerous antitrust investigations this past year, after app developers like Spotify and Rakuten accused the company of unfairly advantaging Apple’s own apps ahead of theirs. But Apple is apparently working on a new feature that might address at least one of the common concerns, by proactively suggesting third-party apps (apps that Apple doesn’t make) to iPhone and iPad users when they first set up their devices. Will Apple suggest Spotify alongside Apple Music? That could be on the table.9to5Mac spotted the feature in the new iOS 14.3 beta, and it seems pretty clear from the accompanying text that the feature is designed to satisfy countries who take a dim view of Apple’s current stance. “In... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Many Mac users reported that their computers have been running slower than usual on Thursday — including a number of Verge staffers — with apps launching slowly or not at all, alongside other Apple service issues.It appears that the problem is due to many people rushing to download macOS Big Sur, which was officially released today, which in turn seems to have crashed Apple’s OCSP (online certificate status protocol) service — which is used for several key aspects of macOS, including validating digital certificates for both Apple and third-party software on the Mac, as Ars Technica reports.

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge It’s been a good two years for the Nintendo Switch. According to Nintendo, the gaming tablet has been the bestselling console in the US for 23 straight months. And according to data from the NPD Group, it just had its best October ever, moving 735,926 units of both the Switch and Switch Lite in the US. The company says that represents a 136 percent increase compared to last year. To date, the Switch has sold 22.5 million units in the US, and last week Nintendo revealed that more than 68 million units have been sold globally. “We’re excited about our momentum,” says Nick Chavez, Nintendo of America’s SVP of sales and marketing.Chavez puts the company’s big October down to two main factors. One is a better supply of stock; this year in... Continue reading…

The BioNTech headquarters. | Photo by Abdulhamid Hosbas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Pfizer and BioNTech announced this week that their vaccine was 90 percent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in clinical trials. The data is still preliminary and hasn’t been examined by independent researchers, but it’s good news for both this specific vaccine and for the other coronavirus vaccines in the pipeline — especially the ones that are based on the same genetic technology.“It’s extremely encouraging, in my view, not only for the Pfizer vaccine, but broadly speaking for the platform,” says Ross Kedl, an immunologist at the University of Colorado.Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine is made from genetic material called mRNA. mRNA carries instructions inside of cells and tells them to build proteins. The vaccine includes a... Continue reading…

Photo by Manfred Schmid / Getty Images Facebook has lost its appeal in a landmark online speech case, as Austria’s Supreme Court determined that it must remove comments that are defamatory in Austria worldwide. The comments, which must be blocked while an injunction is active, insult Austrian Green Party politician Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek.Austrian news outlet Der Standard reported the news earlier today. It echoes a similar ruling from the European Court of Justice, which handed a defeat to Facebook late last year. Glawischnig-Piesczek originally sued Facebook in 2016, arguing that a series of insults — including calling her a “lousy traitor” and a member of a “fascist party” — damaged her reputation.But the comments would likely be protected speech in some countries, and... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is pushing back against claims its platform is helping promote and spread misinformation surrounding the 2020 US election, saying its most popular videos related to the election are from “authoritative” sources. YouTube also claims it takes measures to stop the spread of videos containing false or misleading claims by not surfacing them in search results or through its recommendation engine.“Like other companies, we’re allowing these videos because discussion of election results & the process of counting votes is allowed on YT. These videos are not being surfaced or recommended in any prominent way,” YouTube wrote from its YouTubeInsider account in response to a tweet from Bloomberg journalist Mark Bergen, who criticized the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The US Commerce Department says it will not enforce an order that would have forced video sharing platform TikTok to shut down, according to The Wall Street Journal. The government cited an injunction from a federal judge in Pennsylvania last month who wrote that the Commerce Department had likely overstepped its authority when it tried to ban transactions on the platform.The government has cited concerns about national security, as TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance.According to an unpublished rule from the Commerce Department, the agency is complying with the terms of the judge’s ruling. Its prohibition of TikTok transactions “has been enjoined and will not go into effect, pending further legal developments.”Reuters’ David... Continue reading…

Disney is still facing unprecedented challenges in a number of its biggest divisions, including theme parks, but its fourth quarter earnings report highlights an area that hasn’t stopped growing: streaming.On the whole, Disney’s Q4 revenue was better than expected, earning $14.7 billion as opposed to the $14.2 billion expected. A big chunk of that came from Disney’s streaming division, which continues to grow, now boasting just over 120 million subscribers across all its services worldwide. The return of sports also helped generate advertising revenue in its media networks division. It was the parks, experiences, and consumer products division, however, that continued to flail, dropping 61 percent year over year. With Disney’s final... Continue reading…

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks about climate change and the wildfires on the West Coast at the Delaware Museum of Natural History on September 14, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. | Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images ‘Much of the expertise of the federal bureaucracy has fled in horror’ Continue reading…

Today’s existing Google Pixel phones will be the last to come with free unlimited “high-quality” uploads to Google Photos. While the company said yesterday that previous Pixel phones could still upload those photos for free after Google axes unlimited storage on June 1st, 2021, Google confirmed to us that any future Pixels you buy will not come with those free uploads.It’s not the first time Google’s scaled back the Pixel perk. Originally, one of the selling points of the Pixel was free original-quality photo storage, without the compression that Google Photos applied to most uploads in order to offer free storage to begin with. But in June, users will have to either 1) start paying for Google One storage plans after they hit the... Continue reading…

The latest fight over infringing music on Twitch has left streamers stranded on the battlefield Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Today, Amazon filed suit against an influencer and a range of online businesses over an alleged counterfeiting scheme conducted across Instagram and Amazon’s Marketplace platform. According to the complaint filed in federal court in Washington state earlier today, the influencers advertised counterfeit luxury items on their Instagram page to be sold under dummy listings to Amazon Marketplace.In its complaint, Amazon describes the scheme as “a sophisticated campaign of false advertising for the purpose of evading Amazon’s counterfeit detection tools.” A @styleeandgrace Instagram post advertising a dummy Marketplace post, as seen in the complaint. The complaint centers on a Long Island woman named Kelly Fitzpatrick... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge PayPal will now let all users in the US buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies right from their PayPal account. The news came in an update to a press release from last month announcing that the new functionality was on the way (via TechCrunch).I’m seeing the functionality available in the PayPal app. For me, there’s a banner about the ability to buy cryptocurrency right at the top of the main screen, and if I tap that, I can choose to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin. The cryptocurrency section in the PayPal app. PayPal’s support of cryptocurrency is a significant vote of confidence in the digital currencies and could encourage everyday users to adopt them. However, PayPal isn’t the first financial... Continue reading…

Image: Ndemic Creations Plague Inc. — the strategy game about evolving and spreading diseases — received an update yesterday with a new mode that flips the script on its original gameplay. The new mode, titled Plague Inc: The Cure, is developer Ndemic Creations’ attempt to simulate the real-life, multifaceted approach required to stop a pandemic, based on input it received from real experts.The game originally launched in 2012 but surged in popularity this March after news of the COVID-19 outbreak spread across the world. The Cure is a response to our current reality, featuring several stages of containing a pandemic, like researching the disease, using techniques like contact tracing, and developing a vaccine. Ndemic stresses that the game shouldn’t be taken... Continue reading…

Image: Facebook Facebook’s latest take on a signature Snapchat feature is arriving today, and it’s called Vanish Mode. First announced as part of its big September redesign of Messenger, Vanish Mode is an ephemeral messaging mode for both Facebook Messenger and Instagram that will you let you send texts, photos, voice messages, emoji, and stickers that disappear immediately once they’re viewed by other parties and the chat window is closed.Some users may have already noticed Vanish Mode in the chat settings on Messenger, as Facebook has been rolling out it slowly to some users since the redesign was announced two months ago. And on Instagram, some elements of Vanish Mode are already part of the core direct messaging feature set, including disappearing... Continue reading…

YouTube Rewind, the company’s annual end-of-year tribute to creators, trends, and moments that defined the platform, will not happen this year.The company issued a statement acknowledging that “2020 has been different,” adding that “it doesn’t feel right to carry on as if it weren’t.” This marks the first time Rewind won’t happen since YouTube started the annual celebration in 2010. Although Rewind has become somewhat of a joke to the creator community in recent years — it became the most disliked video of all time in 2018 — it’s still a staple of YouTube’s culture, even if people are just using it to dunk on their own videos. To be fair, even CEO Susan Wojcicki admitted they’re a little cringe-inducing.“We know that so much of the... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony’s behemoth of a console promises an exciting new generation of gaming Continue reading…

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Two consoles, a streaming service, and a lot of promises Continue reading…

Pick up these headsets in-game to listen to commentary It’s worth replaying through Half-Life: Alyx from start to finish once more — if only because Valve’s development team just added over three hours of audio commentary to the VR-only game that launched earlier this year. In the commentary mode, you’ll encounter clips at 147 points of interest in the game, covering several corners of development, including design, art, animation, rendering, sound, and more. Valve endearingly shared that the development team in Seattle recorded the commentary “in closets and blanket forts.”Given that these are tell-all tales about the game’s development, you’re going to run into major spoilers. So complete the game once before listening unless you don’t mind spoiling the first Half-Life game to come out in... Continue reading…

Apple has officially released the latest version of macOS: macOS Big Sur (also known as macOS 11.0), which is available to download now assuming you have a compatible Mac.Big Sur is one of the biggest updates to Apple’s laptop and desktop software in years, featuring a top-to-bottom redesign of the interface, icons, and menu bar, a new control center UI borrowed from iOS, widgets (also borrowed from iOS), and a variety of other improvements (see here for the full list). It’s such a big change that Apple is actually moving on from the OS X / OS 10 branding that it’s been using for Macs for almost 20 years.Apple’s also adding some new privacy-focused features, including better tracking information in Safari and new privacy data in the... Continue reading…

Amazon Amazon is making its in-garage delivery an option for more people. The company announced today that it’s expanding its Key by Amazon In-Garage Delivery service to more than 4,000 cities in the US to reach millions of Prime members. The service is coming to New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston, Boston, Atlanta, Phoenix and Washington, DC, as well as thousands of surrounding areas. You can check to see if your zip code is eligible here.Along with this announcement, Amazon says it’s also making in-garage grocery delivery available for deliveries coming from Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods. For now, this is only available in certain areas of Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle.To use these... Continue reading…

WandaVision, one of Marvel Studios’ most anticipated new series, finally has a release date: January 15th, 2021.The news came ahead of Disney’s fourth quarter earnings call. Although WandaVision wasn’t supposed to be the first Marvel Studios show on Disney Plus, with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier undergoing reshoots and delayed to 2021, WandaVision was bumped up. The estimated date has gone back-and-forth, with some suggestion that it would premiere in December 2020. Now, it’s back to 2021.

Photo by Sam March Smart glasses — depending on who you ask — are the future. But if you’d rather not wait for a company like Apple or Facebook to actually sell you a pair, you can do what product designer Sam March did and simply build your own smart glasses from scratch.(March is no stranger to building his own wearable tech, as his DIY smartwatch from last year shows.)Much like the smartwatch build, March has fully documented every step of the process he took in creating the glasses, which feature a connected app and use integrated LEDs to indicate walking directions to a specified location. Photo by Sam March If you do want to build your own pair, it will take a fair amount of technical skill. March’s process involves machining... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Some of today’s best deals are on PC gaming accessories, namely gaming mice. The Razer Viper wired gaming mouse, shown above, is a good option that’s steeply discounted today at both Amazon and Best Buy. Normally $80, it’s $40. This is a step up in terms of specs compared to the other two mice listed below, considering the Viper has faster and longer-lasting optical switches and more DPI sensitivity. It’s an ambidextrous mouse, too, with side-mounted thumb buttons on both sides, so it’s built to accommodate either right or left-handed gamers. Image: Logitech Today’s deal is on the black G203 LightSync, shown all the way to the right in this image. At Best Buy and Amazon, Logitech’s simple but stunning G203... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Over the span of just a few days, console gaming will change in a big way. That’s because both Sony and Microsoft are launching their next-generation consoles in the form of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X (along with the cheaper Series S).As with previous new consoles, a big focus is on power: these machines can play games in 4K, support features like ray tracing, and load gameplay experiences incredibly fast, thanks to SSDs. And with the exception of the budget-priced Series S, they’re also massive pieces of hardware, towering gaming consoles that will likely dominate your living room.But the biggest differences between the next Xbox and PlayStation have little to do with specs; they’re much more philosophical. For the Series X,... Continue reading…

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Apple announced its second smart speaker to date, the HomePod mini, during its hardware event in October. The device is now available for order for $99. Apple also opened up orders for the iPhone 12 mini and 12 Pro Max, and we’ve laid out all order deals for both phones in a separate article.The HomePod mini is a smaller version of the original HomePod. It features a spherical design with one speaker, and retains the mesh fabric exterior and a small LED display on the top of the device. You can also pair two HomePod minis to use in a stereo configuration. Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Apple’s HomePod mini We have a review of the HomePod mini if you are curious to know our thoughts on it, but if you are... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Ever since the introduction of dual sticks, video game controllers haven’t changed that much. There’s been the addition of share buttons and some ergonomic tweaks, but the way you interact with and experience games is largely the same. That’s what makes Sony’s DualSense controller so interesting.Introduced alongside the PlayStation 5, the DualSense is a controller that looks fairly familiar on the surface. But it’s also one that comes with an enticing idea: that the feelings in your hands can further immerse you in a game. The DualSense’s biggest innovations are new haptic vibrations and rear triggers with variable tension, which can do everything from simulate walking on a sandy beach to let you know when your point guard is tired.W... Continue reading…

Screenshot: What Remains of Edith Finch The developers of What Remains of Edith Finch are releasing a selection of assets from the game for free on the Unreal Engine Marketplace. The release means developers can use environmental models, props, and materials from the game in their work, completely free of charge. The BAFTA award-winning game from 2017 was developed by Giant Sparrow and published by Annapurna Interactive.According to Epic, the asset collection includes over 3,000 meshes, including textures and materials. It covers the Finch’s family home, the main setting for the game, as well as other locations like the beach and the fantasy realm that serves as the backdrop for one of the game’s most memorable sequences.Assets from ‘Infinity Blade’ and ‘Paragon’ have... Continue reading…

Image: Algoriddim Music mixing app Djay is getting an update on the Mac today with support for Apple’s new M1 processor. That makes Djay among the first apps to be updated for the debut slate of Arm-based Macs, which launch next week.The app — full name Djay Pro AI 2.0 — is also getting some major new features, and they’ll be available on traditional Intel-based Macs, too, starting today. The main upgrade is the addition of Neural Mix, a very fun feature that allows the app to automatically isolate the vocals, drums, or other instruments of whatever song is playing. The feature debuted on Djay for the iPad back in June, and it works surprisingly well. Image: Algoriddim A screenshot of Djay Pro AI 2.0’s Neural Mix effects. Now,... Continue reading…

From left to right, NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, and Michael Hopkins, along with JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi. | Photo by Joel Kowsky / NASA Takeoff is scheduled for 7:49PM ET on November 14th Continue reading…

Images: Ford The future of delivery comes with outlets for your power tools Continue reading…

Image: All Turtles Mmhmm, the video presentation app that infuses video calls with Weekend Update-style graphics, is coming out of beta for its grand debut on Mac. The app features free and premium tiers and one exclusive feature for buyers of Apple’s new M1-equipped computers.Mmhmm’s basic premise is that if we’re going to be spending a majority of our time communicating over video calls, then they should at least be more engaging and expressive, rather than simple shared desktops and green-screened backgrounds. Image: All Turtles Presenting slides in Mmhmm. Mmhmm tries to fill that gap by offering users the ability to superimpose a resizable version of themselves over photos, videos and slides and share a live feed of all... Continue reading…

Image: Instagram Instagram’s making major design changes to its home screen for the first time in years. Today, the company announced that it’s adding Reels and Shop tabs to its home screen, a communication of the company’s priorities. The Reels tab will, of course, lead users to Reels, shortform videos similar to TikTok. The Shop tab will surface personalized recommendations, editors’ picks curated by the @shop channel, shoppable videos, and new product collections. Both tabs make it easier for people to find what they want on the platform and go there immediately.The Likes tab as well as the Create tab where people upload photos are moving to the top right-hand corner next to the direct messages inbox.“We don’t take these changes lightly – we... Continue reading…

Staff photo by Derek Davis/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images Classes are still online and for some students, so are safety drills Continue reading…

Image: Sonos After spending years as a platform for showcasing other music and audio services, Sonos entered the fray itself back in April with the launch of Sonos Radio. The ad-supported service offers a large mix of genre-based stations, live radio, and artist-curated spotlight stations. Sonos Radio has already risen to become the fourth-most-listened-to service on the platform, and today, the company is taking things a bit further with the launch of Sonos Radio HD. It’s a $7.99-per-month subscription that will stream select stations in lossless CD quality (16-bit, 44Hz) and allow listeners to skip, pause, and replay songs. All of the Sonos Radio original stations are also ad-free for Sonos Radio HD subscribers. It’s available starting today in the... Continue reading…

Photo illustration by Becca Farsace and Grayson Blackmon / The Verge Jenkin Xia knows how hard it can be to launch a gadget in the US. She makes a smart doorbell called Wuuk and crowdfunded it on Indiegogo in 2019, raising more than $900,000. Although many of the backers were excited about the products, others were wary, saying they worried about their data because the team is based in China.Backers wanted to know more about the founders, like where they’re located and their background, she says. “People seem to really care about this, and sometimes the stigma of being a Chinese founder really haunts us,” she says. “For instance, recently we [saw] some backers posted [a question] on Facebook or social media about the name Wuuk, like, what does Wuuk mean?”Some backers thought Wuuk meant “military” or... Continue reading…

Image: Signify Philips Hue bulbs can now adjust their lighting automatically throughout the day when used with HomeKit thanks to an update which adds support for Apple’s new Adaptive Lighting feature. Dutch publication iCulture was first to report on the rollout, and we’ve since verified that the update has started rolling out in the Netherlands, but we’re not seeing in the US yet. The feature works with the Philips Hue White & Color Ambiance and White Ambiance lights, which are available in a variety of form-factors.Once updated, the Hue app shows a message explaining how Adaptive Lighting works. “Lights will choose an appropriate colour for the right time of day. Dimming your lights will result in warmer light,” it says, outlining the new HomeKit... Continue reading…

The PUBG Corporation says it plans to launch a new PUBG Mobile game in India, after being banned in the country in September due to the mobile app’s links to China’s Tencent. At the time of its ban, the game was India’s top downloaded title, with some 50 million users.The South Korean developer said it would create a new Indian subsidiary to oversee the title, and that the game would “maximize data security and cater to local preferences.” The company also pledged to invest $100 million in the Indian “gaming, esports, entertainment, and IT industries,” though it offered no date for when the game might actually launch.India banned a number of apps with links to China due to security concernsThe news, reported by TechCrunch, NDTV, and... Continue reading…

Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for SBIFF David Fincher, the director behind such films as Gone Girl, The Social Network, Fight Club, and Zodiac, says he’s signed an exclusive four-year deal with Netflix. The filmmaker confirmed the news in an interview with French magazine Premiere (spotted by The Playlist) in which he said he has “an exclusivity deal” with Netflix for another four years. He joked that what he works on next will depend on the reception to Mank, his upcoming film that releases in theaters on November 13th, and on Netflix on December 4th.“Depending on Mank’s reception, I’ll either go see them [Netflix] sheepishly asking them what I can do to redeem myself or take the attitude of the arrogant asshole who’ll require making other films in black and white,” Fincher... Continue reading…

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge YouTube has recovered from a seemingly worldwide outage that prevented videos from loading for roughly an hour. During the outage, many Verge staffers were unable to watch videos, and YouTube confirmed at 7:23PM ET that something was going on:

Microsoft’s latest next-gen console, the Xbox Series X (along with its smaller cousin, the Xbox Series S), has arrived. And with it comes a whole bunch of internet con artists trying to meme people into believing the new console is plagued by terrible issues.You might, for example, have seen clips passed around the internet that showcased the Xbox Series X literally smoking. The posts would have you believe the blazing graphics of the Series X are so demanding they can cause an Xbox to catch fire, but the reality is much simpler than Xbox consoles spontaneously bursting into flame. What actually appears to be happening is that people are piping vape smoke into their new $500 consoles to give off the appearance of a fire to troll fans on... Continue reading…

Photo by David S. Holloway/Getty Images United States hospitals were targeted by two major cybersecurity attacks this fall: the first taking down Universal Health Services, a chain of hundreds of hospitals, and the second by a group called UNC1878 threatening hundreds of individual health care facilities all around the country. Targeting health care institutions directly marks a new approach for cybercriminals.“We haven’t seen an incident of magnitude that actually has the potential to harm people, literally all the way up to the point of death,” says Caleb Barlow, CEO of cybersecurity consulting firm CynergisTek. “It crosses a line that I think the entire cybersecurity community just didn’t think was going to get crossed anytime soon.”Many large-scale cyberattacks on... Continue reading…

Photo: Kyodo / Reuters No, this is not a Halloween decoration someone forgot. This robot — “Monster Wolf” — is actually a bear deterrent. The city of Takikawa, Japan, deployed these robowolves to prevent bear attacks.And yes, bear attacks were something of a problem: 157 people were attacked by bears in 2019. But since the Monster Wolves were installed, no attacks have occurred, The Guardian reports.Black bears’ recent attacks are probably due to a shortage of acorns in the Japanese wilderness, according to conservationists. Bears rely on acorns as part of their pre-hibernation diet, and without the high-calorie nut, they’ve started edging closer to cities to forage for food. Deforestation and growing cities have shrunk the barrier between bear and human... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple has finally introduced its first Macs with processors it designed itself: a 13-inch MacBook Air, a 13-inch MacBook Pro, and a Mac mini. Apple is promising significant performance benefits over Intel processors and, for the laptops, a huge increase in battery life. (To give you an idea of the level of improvement Apple is touting, Apple claims the new MacBook Pro can get up to 20 hours of battery life.)They’ll also be able to natively run iOS apps, meaning Macs will theoretically have a lot more software options right from the jump. But before you turn those exciting promises into a preorder, you should know there’s still a big question mark hanging over the new computers. Image: Apple A render of the... Continue reading…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge You can grab two unlocked OnePlus 8T phones for $1,124 on OnePlus’ website today only. It’s a deal worth highlighting: the OnePlus 8T usually costs $749, but if you buy two today, you’ll get them for $562 each. This deal also includes a set of OnePlus Buds wireless earbuds with each phone at no extra charge. For a phone that was released just a few weeks ago, this is a great deal.The OnePlus 8T is a solid update to the OnePlus 8, released earlier this year, as my colleague Jon Porter points out in his review. Unlike the OnePlus 8, the 8T offers the same 120Hz refresh rate display found on the 8 Pro. The biggest feature for the 8T is the 65W charging, allowing you to charge the phone super fast.There are a few things you may want to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A digital rights activist in Moscow was able to purchase access to the city’s extensive facial recognition system for just 16,000 rubles (approximately $200), as reported by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. After seeing ads for the service on Telegram, Anna Kuznetsova transferred the money along with a picture of herself to a seller. Two days later, she received an extensive report of her movements over the previous month, apparently pulled directly from the police system.Spanning more than 100,000 cameras across the city, Moscow’s facial recognition system is meant to be restricted to law enforcement. It’s unclear how the seller was able to secure access, whether through bribery or a digital intrusion. Two officers were placed under... Continue reading…

Showtime’s Halo TV show is bringing back the original actress for Cortana, the series’s iconic AI. IGN reports that Natascha McElhone, the actress originally cast to play both Cortana and her creator, Dr. Catherine Halsey, is unable to finish her work as the AI due to the pandemic. Longtime Cortana actress Jen Taylor will instead take the role, which she’s voiced since the first game released in 2001.Showtime announced a Halo TV series back in 2018. It stars Pablo Schreiber, Bokeem Woodbine, Olive Gray, and David Sapani, though it’s unclear what shape the show’s story will take. McElhone is still set to play Halsey in the series. Taylor has voiced the role of both Cortana and Halsey in the series as well as Microsoft’s digital assistant... Continue reading…

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Amazon has rolled out the Care Hub, a set of Alexa features you can use to remotely check in on older relatives in their homes. That could be especially useful during COVID-19, when many folks aren’t able to visit their relatives as often as they usually do. Care Hub is free and easy to set up — your relative just needs an Alexa device.Through Care Hub, Alexa can send you alerts when your relative first uses their Echo device each morning or if they don’t use the device by a certain time. You’ll also have access to an activity feed where you can see an overview of their Alexa activity. (Amazon emphasized that this was designed with privacy in mind — you can see the types of activities your relative is doing, but you can’t see things... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook on Wednesday announced an extension on its political advertising ban for at least another month, citing delays in election results due to COVID-19 and unprecedented rates of mail-in and absentee voting. The extension was announced in an update posted to its original blog post on the topic.“The temporary pause for ads about politics and social issues in the US continues to be in place as part of our ongoing efforts to protect the election. Advertisers can expect this to last another month, though there may be an opportunity to resume these ads sooner,” the update reads. “Getting the US election results this year may take longer than in previous elections due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and more people voting by mail.... Continue reading…