The Verge

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge It’s more important than usual to update to the latest version of Chrome. Version 88.0.4324.150 of Google’s browser released on Thursday fixes a vulnerability which the search giant says is actively being exploited in the wild. The update is rolling out now across Windows, Mac, and Linux.Google isn’t providing specific details about the CVE-2021-21148 vulnerability “until a majority of users are updated with a fix.” But ZDNet notes that the date Google says the bug was reported on (January 24th) is just one day before Google’s Threat Analysis Group publicly disclosed a hacking campaign that appeared to be relying, in part, on an unpatched vulnerability in Chrome. It said government-backed hackers based in North Korea had set up a blog... Continue reading…

Xiaomi has announced its latest phone concept: a “quad-curved waterfall display.” This means that the unnamed phone’s screen not only has deep 88-degree “waterfall” curves on the left and right sides, but on the top and bottom as well, leaving no room for ports or buttons. Xiaomi says this is intended to “extend the limits of the display to infinity” and enable “a true, port-free unibody design.”The obvious question is how that could possibly work at the screen’s corners, and based on the promotional imagery it looks like Xiaomi is simply leaving them blank with small, rounded cutouts. Not quite infinity, then, but still a neat trick — although for people who already don’t like the comparatively modest curved displays on phones like the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Baltimore, Maryland city officials have unanimously voted to end the city police department’s spy plane surveillance program, according to The Baltimore Sun (via Vice). Sorry, wait, the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) had a spy plane program?Yes, and it was called AIR, which stands for Aerial Investigation Research. The program was run by a company called Persistent Surveillance Systems (super friendly name), and it used airplanes and high-resolution cameras to capture what was happening in a 32-mile square mile area of the city. It also started out as a secret, with the police department paying for it not with city funds, which would be subject to public scrutiny, but with funding from two Texas billionaires.The BPD admitted to... Continue reading…

The Thunderbolt 4 dock is littered with useful ports | Razer If you’ve been hunting for a Thunderbolt 4 dock for your new laptop, Razer has a new option for you to consider, simply called the Razer Thunderbolt 4 Dock. It’s loaded with ports, and of course, Chroma RGB lighting, too. Razer says it’s USB4 compliant, so it’ll be compatible with the next wave of fast peripherals and devices. It’s available for preorder through Razer for $329.99, which seems competitive for what it offers.Taking a trip around this understated, matte black aluminum dock, its front hosts a fast UHS-II SD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a single Thunderbolt 4 port to plug straight into your computer. On the back is where you’ll find most of the ports, including a barrel jack for its 135W power source, three... Continue reading…

Image: Razer Razer’s latest mechanical keyboard, the $250 Huntsman V2 Analog, looks similar to the company’s previous models, but the biggest differences lie in the switches. This model’s optical switches support adjustable actuation (the amount of movement required to register a press), allowing for near-endless customization through Razer’s Synapse software.Perhaps the most appealing feature of these keys is that, instead of being limited to the usual on / off nature of key actuation, they can be programmed with analog inputs to emulate a controller’s joysticks for smoother, variable levels of movement and control. You’ll be able to program the keyboard so that pressing a key down slightly will make you walk slowly in game, while pressing it... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge With the upcoming release of iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4, Apple will let you use your Apple Watch to authenticate and unlock your iPhone while you’re wearing a mask. But if you want to try the feature now, you can, as Apple has released public betas for both iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4.Before these releases, people using iPhones with Face ID while wearing a mask could only unlock their phone by entering in their passcode manually, which can quickly become a hassle. But with the new updates installed, if your Apple Watch is unlocked (which it most likely is if it’s sitting on your wrist) and as long as it’s nearby, when you try to unlock your iPhone while wearing a mask, you’ll feel a little buzz from your Apple Watch and your iPhone should... Continue reading…

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge Ford is increasing its investment in electric and autonomous vehicles to $29 billion, the company’s top executives said in an earnings call Thursday. The automaker had previously committed to spend $11.5 billion on electrifying its vehicle lineup through 2022. Now, Ford says it will spend double that amount, while extending the timeline to 2025.The automaker will spend $7 billion on autonomous vehicles and $22 billion on electric ones. That $22 billion includes $7 billion that the company has already spent since 2016.The automaker will spend $7 billion on autonomous vehicles and $22 billion on electric onesFord said a majority of vehicles it plans on producing will be battery-electric vehicles, but the company also has hybrid and... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Like other online platforms, Pinterest reaped the benefits of an uptick in e-commerce advertising during the holiday season.The image-sharing platform saw a 76 percent year-over-year jump in fourth quarter revenue, to $706 million, the company said Thursday. Pinterest had 459 global million monthly active users (MAUs) in the fourth quarter, up from 442 million in its third quarter.Pinterest said in its letter to investors that its revenue growth was mostly driven by a robust holiday season and product improvements in advertising. It saw a six-fold increase in the number of businesses that used its shopping ads format during the fourth quarter.“We welcomed over 100 million additional monthly active users to Pinterest in 2020, more than... Continue reading…

There’s a great deal to gawk at in Serena Williams’ house, from the perfectly shined wood floors to furniture made of Elmo dolls. But there’s one item that feels out of place in house full of luxury: a cutesy pastel gamer chair. You can spot the oddly pedestrian item in a recent feature from Architectural Digest.There’s no rule that a legendary athlete like Williams needs a bougie, high-end chair that costs more than most people’s rent. But given the other features of her house (see: hidden room and big clear piano), it’s surprising, and a little endearing, to spot something so... average. As Jezebel points out, Williams’ chair — dubiously named “Zeanus Pink Ergonomic Gaming Chair for Girl” because it’s pink, I guess — is shockingly... Continue reading…

Blizzard has two huge sequels in the works, but it looks like neither will launch this year. During its most recent earnings call, Activision Blizzard revealed that it doesn’t expect Overwatch 2 or Diablo IV to be part of its 2021 financials, suggesting both will launch in 2022 or later.Technically, this doesn’t represent a delay since neither game had a specific release date in place. Both Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV were first announced at BlizzCon 2019, and the developer has been relatively quiet since then, particularly about the Overwatch sequel.That said, while the games may be further off than many fans expected, we’ll still likely hear more about them soon. Blizzard will kick off a remote version of BlizzCon on February 19th, and... Continue reading…

When GameStop’s stock price fell by over 50 percent on Tuesday, closing at $90, we weren’t sure if it was going to pick back up or keep going down. It seems we now have our answer, as GME is down another 41 percent, closing today at just $53.50.That's less than the stock sold for the week before it took off on a wild rollercoaster ride induced by Reddit retail investors and an unprecedented social media frenzy. So it seems like we’re not so much in a dip, but on the long, slow ride back to the beginning.When I wrote about GameStop’s stock dip on Tuesday, the stock was down 81 percent from its peak of $483. Now, it’s down 89 percent from that peak. There was always the chance of a rally (and I guess, technically, there still is), but... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) has filed an unfair labor charge against Adecco, a subcontracting firm that provides data center services to Google. The union says managers tried to stop Google contractors from discussing pay, which is illegal. Shannon Wait, a union member and contractor, was suspended after posting about working conditions on Facebook. The news was first reported by Bloomberg.The charge is the first legal action the Alphabet Workers Union has taken to protect employees. Since the union went public in early January, it’s called on YouTube to ban Donald Trump and voiced concern with the treatment of AI ethics researcher Margaret Mitchell, but both of these actions took the form of open letters and had no legal force.N... Continue reading…

Niagara Launcher puts your apps within easy striking distance of your thumb. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge After a couple years of beta testing, Niagara Launcher is now available for download from the Google Play Store. It’s designed to replace the default Android app drawer and home screen grid with a layout that’s easier to access with one hand.You pick your favorite apps to pin on the home screen, and the rest are accessible under an alphabetized list on the right side of the screen in easy striking distance of your thumb. It’s quick and very responsive; you can either tap on the part of the alphabet you’re aiming for or swipe up and down to scroll your list of apps.Niagara also allows you to take quick action from the home screen by swiping across any app to bring up a list of options, like setting a new timer in the clock app or... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Snap says its TikTok competitor, Spotlight, had 100 million users in January 2021, just two months after it launched. The figure would suggest a surprisingly successful debut for the service, which has taken over the rightmost tab inside of Snapchat.“We’re very pleasantly surprised with the momentum,” Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said on a call with investors this afternoon to discuss the company’s Q4 2020 earnings.TikTok likely still has a significant lead on the new service, though. TikTok said it had 100 million monthly users in the United States alone as of June 2020, and signs suggest the app has only continued to grow since then. (On the other hand, Instagram’s leader has said he’s “not yet happy with” Reels, its shortform video... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is considering developing an Android alternative to Apple’s upcoming App Tracking Transparency, a new planned opt-in requirement the iPhone maker will impose on developers that demands they ask for permission to track iOS users across apps and websites. The news, first reported on Thursday by Bloomberg, underscores the increasing pressure on large tech companies, many spurred on by Apple, to take more proactive measures to better protect user privacy.Google won’t say whether it is indeed working on an anti-tracking privacy measure for Android. But in a statement, a Google spokesperson tells The Verge, “We’re always looking for ways to work with developers to raise the bar on privacy while enabling a healthy, ad-supported app... Continue reading…

Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images Voting tech company Smartmatic has sued Fox News, former Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, and TV host Lou Dobbs for spreading a conspiracy theory about the 2020 US presidential election. The New York state court lawsuit says Fox and others deliberately made Smartmatic the “villain” in a false story about fraudulent voting. Since then, it says, employees have received death threats, and clients have balked at the company’s tarnished reputation. It’s demanding $2.7 billion in damages and a full retraction of all false statements.Smartmatic figured heavily in a sprawling and baseless claim that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election. The conspiracy alleged that Smartmatic secretly owned its competitor Dominion... Continue reading…

Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images Home DNA-testing company 23andMe will go public via special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) backed by Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, the companies announced Thursday.“We have always believed that healthcare needs to be driven by the consumer, and we have a huge opportunity to help personalize the entire experience at scale, allowing individuals to be more proactive about their health and wellness,” 23andMe CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki said in a statement.The deal values the company at $3.5 billion, and current shareholders will own 81 percent of the company. Wojcicki and Branson each invested $25 million themselves as part of the $250 million fund formed to take the company public. The deal is expected to close in the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google has apparently blocked The Great Suspender extension from Chrome, with existing users now receiving a message that it has “been disabled because it contains malware.” It’s also been removed from the Chrome Web Store, with any links to it now leading to a 404 page. Some are worried about losing their tabs, but Reddit users have found a way to recover them (via XDA-Developers’ Mishaal Rahman).The Great Suspender was a hugely useful extension — minus the malware, at least — for keeping your browser running smoothly. The tool would automatically shut down tabs that you hadn’t looked at for a while, replacing them with a blank gray screen. Return to the tab, and you could click to reload back to where you were. Given Chrome’s... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram has disabled hundreds of accounts that were stolen as part of online hacking operations designed to gain access to and sell rare and coveted usernames, the company tells The Verge. Both TikTok and Twitter also took action on some of the accounts belonging to the same hackers, reports journalist and cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs.The Facebook-owned platform set its sights mainly on the community surrounding OGUsers, a website well-known for trafficking in stolen usernames and helping facilitate the hacking of these accounts through methods like SIM swapping, which is when a user gains control of someone’s phone number and uses it to reset passwords and take control of social media handles. News of Instagram’s enforcement was... Continue reading…

Many companies have had to scale back car production due to a global computer chip shortage, but CNBC is reporting that the shortages are finally hitting America’s most popular vehicle: the Ford F-150. According to the report, Ford is temporarily cutting the number of shifts in its truck production plants in half: its Dearborn, Michigan, factory is going from three shifts a week to one, and its Kansas City, Missouri, plant is going from three shifts to two.CNBC quotes Ford spokesperson Kelli Felker as saying Ford expects the plants to return to normal operation in a couple of weeks, and the company is “working closely with suppliers to address potential production constraints tied to the global semiconductor shortage.”This isn’t the... Continue reading…

A Lightning to USB-A cable. | Image: Apple Apple’s charging cables aren’t exactly known for their durability. They often fray after a year or two and can even break down to the point where they won’t charge your device at all. (I’ve also noticed they can turn an increasingly sour shade of yellow.) But Apple is apparently working on some ideas to make its cables more durable, filing a patent application for a “Cable with Variable Stiffness.”The patent, first reported by AppleInsider, describes some different ideas for a cable that wouldn’t fray as easily. The methods would give different parts of the cable varying levels of stiffness, while keeping the cable uniformly thick. They would also replace what Apple calls the “strain relief sleeve” — the stiff cap you’ll find at the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Two Google engineers have quit over the treatment of Timnit Gebru, former co-lead of the ethical AI team. David Baker, an engineering director, said Gebru’s dismissal “extinguished” his desire to remain at the company. Vinesh Kannan, a software engineer, said he was leaving because Gebru and April Christina Curley, a diversity recruiter, were “wronged.” The news was first reported by Reuters.“We cannot say we believe in making a more understanding, informed world, and then ignore how our products amplify biases,” Baker wrote in a farewell note to colleagues. “We cannot say we believe in diversity, and then ignore the conspicuous absence of many voices from within our walls.”The departures point to an ongoing conflict between Google... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge If you have been having a hard time finding PS5 or Xbox Series X / S consoles in stock, you have another chance to get your hands on one or both of these next-gen consoles. A Walmart spokesperson told The Verge that the retailer will have the consoles available for purchase today at 3PM ET.Like past restocks, Walmart is selling these next-gen consoles exclusively online through its official website as well as through the Walmart mobile app. It’s unknown when Walmart plans to sell these consoles again in stores, so if you want to buy either console currently, online is the only available method.Walmart told The Verge that it plans to have inventory for the PS5, the PS5 Digital Edition, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S gaming consoles... Continue reading…

Image: Alex Castro / The Verge In an open letter on Thursday, dozens of Democrats called on Federal Communications Commission Acting Chair Jessica Rosenworcel to expand the use of broadband funds for students struggling to stay connected and participate in remote learning.In a letter to Rosenworcel, signed by over 30 Senate Democrats, including Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), they requested that the FCC use E-Rate program funds to connect students with devices and home internet access who are currently unable to participate in online learning as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The E-Rate program provides universal service funding to connect schools and libraries to the internet.“Your prompt action would provide an essential down payment”“We... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon recently told workers at its in DCH1 warehouse in Chicago they had to take 10-hour overnight shifts at a new warehouse or risk losing their jobs, according to a new report from Motherboard.The shifts, known as “megacycle” shifts, typically begin around 1AM and end around lunchtime. The DCH1 warehouse used to have a variety of shifts including an eight-hour overnight shift, a five-hour morning shift, or a four-hour morning shift. But DCH1 is shutting down, the company told workers, and for anyone who wants to move to a new Amazon warehouse the 10-hour megacycle shift is their only option.The shifts are meant to improve efficiency, according to Motherboard, and workers at delivery stations in other cities have already... Continue reading…

Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos speaks to the media on the companys sustainability efforts on September 19, 2019 in Washington,DC. | Photo credit should read ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images People living with Amazon’s pollution see gaps in Bezos’ funding Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Data from multiple COVID-19 vaccines makes it clear that the shots protect against the most severe outcomes of the disease: hospitalization and death. But it’s still unclear how well the vaccines will reduce the risk of chronic, long-term symptoms, which a small but significant number of COVID-19 patients experience.“It’s an incredibly important question that we just don’t know the answer to,” says Timothy Henrich, a virologist and viral immunologist at the University of California, San Francisco who is studying the long-term effects of the disease.“It’s an incredibly important question that we just don’t know the answer to”The various COVID-19 vaccines tested so far, including those made by Johnson and Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer and... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Google is adding heart and respiratory rate monitors to the Fit app on Pixel phones this month, and it plans to add them to other Android phones in the future. Both features rely on the smartphone camera: it measures respiratory rate by monitoring the rise and fall of a user’s chest, and heart rate by tracking color change as blood moves through the fingertip.The features are only intended to let users track overall wellness and cannot evaluate or diagnose medical conditions, the company said.To measure respiratory rate (the number of breaths someone takes per minute) using the app, users point the phone’s front-facing camera at their head and chest. To measure heart rate, they place their finger over the rear-facing camera. ... Continue reading…

Not long ago, Logitech’s Brio webcam (along with almost any other kind of webcam made by reputable companies) was impossible to find. We’re now at the point where you can get $40 off this 4K model through Lenovo, knocking it down to $160 instead of $200. It’s still a big investment, but if you stream or just want to look your best in a meeting, this is one of the best choices out there to suit those needs.Lenovo is currently the only site hosting this deal, so it may not last for long. Xbox Series X / S owners can get $10 off one of Seagate’s 1TB NVMe expansion cards at Newegg. Normally $220, it’s $210 if you use the offer code EMCESEU56 at checkout. This device is useful for storing games that are made expressly for the... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Rad Power Bikes just announced a $150 million investment to expand its retail footprint and improve its maintenance and repair services. It’s one of the largest investments in an e-bike company to date and reflects the growing demand for electric-powered transportation.Investors in this round include Morgan Stanley’s mutual fund, Counterpoint Global; Fidelity Management and Research Company; The Rise Fund, the global impact investing platform managed by TPG; and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, as well as existing investors like Durable Capital Partners LP and Vulcan Capital.“I think overall it’s a really exciting moment for the direct-to-consumer e-bike space and for e-bikes just in general”“I think overall... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge It’s no secret Apple is hard at work on augmented and virtual reality devices, with a report from Bloomberg in January claiming Apple is working on an ultra-high-end, pricey headset that could hit stores in 2022. Now, a new report from The Information sheds new light on what to expect from the potential headset, including a rendering — said to be based on “internal Apple images of a late-stage prototype from last year” — of what the device might actually look like.The Information’s report corroborates several details from Bloomberg’s, including the fabric mesh material that the company is said to be using in order to lighten the weight of the device — and the high price tag. The new report claims the price could reach approximately... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Clearview AI’s facial recognition amounts to mass surveillance and the company should delete the faces of Canadians from its database, Canada’s privacy commissioners said Wednesday.Commissioner Daniel Therrien said what Clearview does — scraping photos from social media and other public sites for use by law enforcement — is “illegal” and creates a system that “inflicts broad-based harm on all members of society, who find themselves continually in a police lineup.”The commissioners released a report that follows a yearlong investigation by several Canadian privacy agencies into Clearview’s practices, which found the company had collected highly sensitive biometric information without consent and that it “used and disclosed Canadians’... Continue reading…

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge Will people saddle up for the ride? Continue reading…

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge A college student Googled his remote instructor and found an obituary Continue reading…

Microsoft Viva is Microsoft’s new push for helping businesses with remote work and a big bet on this new way of life becoming the norm. It’s designed to act as a portal for both employees and businesses to navigate the complexities of working from home. Microsoft is launching Viva today, with parts of the platform rolling out throughout 2021.“We have participated in the largest, at scale, remote work experiment the world has seen,” says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, underlining nearly 11 months of a pandemic that has reshaped how people work, learn, and live. “As the world recovers, there is no going back. Flexibility in when, where, and how we work will be key.”Microsoft Viva isn’t an app or even a service but more of a platform for... Continue reading…

The concept design for the Sonic-themed set. | Image: Lego Lego is announcing a new video game-themed set featuring Sonic the Hedgehog and characters from Sonic Mania. (If you could have told six-year-old me that someday there would be a Sonic-themed Lego set, he’d cry tears of joy.)You can get a look at a concept design for the set, which is themed around Sonic’s classic Green Hill Zone stage, at the top of this post. I love how ridiculous Sonic looks in Lego form, and Doctor Eggman’s towering Death Egg Robot is just awesome.The concept for the set was submitted to Lego by Viv Grannell, a Sonic fan based in the UK, through the Lego Ideas program. Submissions need to receive 10,000 votes before Lego will consider making them an actual Lego set, so it’s no small feat that Grannell was able to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Myanmar’s government has blocked access to Facebook in the country, after users turned to the company’s services to protest this week’s military coup. In a statement given to The Wall Street Journal, Facebook confirmed that the country’s telecoms providers had been ordered to block its services, adding, “We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with family and friends and access important information.” Myanmar’s government has ordered the services to be blocked until Sunday.The block comes after users reportedly turned to the social network to protest after the military ousted elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and detained her along with other members of her party. The WSJ notes that users on... Continue reading…

How to share a workspace in a studio apartment Continue reading…

Perfection, for a price Continue reading…

A $139.95 wireless charger that looks like a cross between a bonsai tree and the decor from 2001: A Space Odyssey might seem like a niche product. But if you have an iPhone 12 and an Apple Watch, Belkin’s ridiculously named Boost↑Charge Pro 3-in-1 Wireless Charger with MagSafe is actually great.Charging Apple devices has gotten more complicated recently, at least for me. Now that the Apple Watch tracks sleep, I’ve been charging it with a messy cable at my desk for an hour or so when I start the day, instead of overnight. And while I prefer to use vertical wireless chargers so I can read notifications as they come in, the iPhone 12 mini turns out to be too small for most stands — the charging coil isn’t high enough on the back of the... Continue reading…

The third-generation Apple TV was first released in 2012. | Image: Apple Starting next month, YouTube will no longer be natively available to stream on the third-generation Apple TV, first released in 2012. 9to5Mac reports that a message is being displayed to users warning them of the upcoming change. The fourth-gen Apple TV HD and fifth-gen Apple TV 4K, the two streaming boxes Apple currently sells, are unaffected.Here’s the full message being shown to users (via 9to5Mac):

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon’s incoming CEO, Andy Jassy, says he’s committed to Amazon’s video game development efforts, in response to a damning report from Bloomberg last week about the problems facing the team. “Some businesses take off in the first year, and others take many years,” Jassy wrote in a staff email seen by Bloomberg, “Though we haven’t consistently succeeded yet in AGS [Amazon Game Studios], I believe we will if we hang in there.”“Being successful right away is obviously less stressful, but when it takes longer, it’s often sweeter,” Jassy continued. “I believe this team will get there if we stay focused on what matters most.”“Being successful right away is obviously less stressful, but when it takes longer, it’s often sweeter”The message... Continue reading…

The Beosound Level is available with wood or fabric finishes. | Image: Bang & Olufsen Bang & Olufsen’s Beosound Level is the Danish brand’s latest battery-powered connected speaker. It supports voice controls via Google Assistant, Bluetooth, and you can also stream to it via the AirPlay 2, Chromecast, and Spotify Connect standards. B&O says the Beosound Level uses a modular construction that it claims will make it usable far into the future. It’s a welcome feature, considering the speaker’s high $1,499 (£1,099) starting price.While many stereos and amplifiers from the middle of the last century can still be used today, the average lifespan of modern integrated audio systems is far shorter. If your music system contains a computer, then it’s inevitable that it’ll eventually become outdated. B&O’s hope is that the modular... Continue reading…

Not the familiar dark blue. The feeling of opening Twitter and noticing that something’s off probably isn’t a new one, but it usually isn’t related to the site’s color scheme. Yet some users (and Verge staff) are now seeing that Twitter’s desktop dark mode has gotten darker, or worse, been changed to light mode.Twitter tells The Verge that the change from blue to black was intentional — it’s part of an update to make the Twitter website respond to the light and dark modes on your OS. Of course, if you miss the dark blue, you can bring it back by going to Twitter’s display settings and choosing Dim mode (instead of the inky black Lights Out or the bright Default), and the site should remember that preference.If your Twitter switched from dark mode to light,... Continue reading…

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Amazon added a few abilities to Alexa last month, introducing a variety of Super Bowl-related skills and the ability to do home automation on its own, but today the company’s telling us about some new alarm and COVID skills that snuck under the radar.You’ve been able to set custom alarms and alarm sounds using Alexa devices for a while now, but now you can do it with Minion sounds, if you just haven’t been waking up angry enough. The sounds include such classics as “Peep Peep Peep”, “Banana,” or “Boing Boing Boing!” Lovely.There are now a variety of branded alarms available for Alexa, including sounds from Disney, Spongebob, Jurassic World, and Harry Potter. They can be set by saying “Alexa, wake me up to Minions/Jurassic... Continue reading…

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge The quality of Tesla’s cars suffers any time the company dramatically scales up production, CEO Elon Musk admitted in a February 2nd interview. Musk also said that Tesla was making cars so fast near the end of 2020 that it was messing up the paint jobs.Tesla has gotten a lot of criticism for the quality of its cars, especially after it started making them at relatively high volumes with the Model 3 and Model Y. But in the interview with industry analyst Sandy Munro, Musk was unusually candid about quality control problems.“It took us a while to kind of iron out the production process. Friends ask me: ‘When should I buy a Tesla?’ And I’m like: ‘Well, either buy it right at the beginning, or when the production reaches a steady state,’”... Continue reading…

Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images After his social media platform was largely wiped off the web, Parler CEO and co-founder John Matze says he has been fired by his company’s own board of directors, according to a memo obtained by Fox News and The Wall Street Journal and a text message confirmation he sent to Reuters. His LinkedIn page shows an employment end date of January 2021.Parler, of course, is the social network that found itself wholly deplatformed after its role in the January 6th riots at the US Capitol. Both Apple and Google removed the app from their app stores after being unsatisfied with the company’s attempts to moderate the spread of calls for violence. Amazon decided to terminate the company’s AWS website hosting completely. And though Parler did try to... Continue reading…

Photo by Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Amazon plans to install high-tech video cameras in its delivery vehicles in order to better monitor the behavior of drivers as they deliver packages, according to a new report from The Information.The hardware and software will be supplied by Netradyne, a California company behind a platform called Driveri that uses cameras and artificial intelligence to analyze a driver as they operate the vehicle. The camera then gives real-time feedback — including automated suggestions like “distracted driving” and “please slow down” — while collecting analysis that is used to later evaluate drivers during their shifts.The Netradyne cameras record 100 percent of the time and automatically upload footageAn unlisted, week-old video hosted on the... Continue reading…

Today, the fan site Universal Parks News Today dropped a slew of videos from inside Japan’s Super Nintendo World that show what the whole experience of going to the park is like. It’s a cool look at what’s sure to be a very popular post-COVID destination for Nintendo fans. From what I can tell, the park seems stuffed with people and attractions. It looks surprisingly normal, though everyone is wearing a mask. They went on every ride! They tried all the food! It’s guaranteed to make you want to go yourself.What’s a little stranger is the videos show the park stuffed with people, but it’s not supposed to be open yet. The original plan was to open the Osaka park on February 4th, 2021, but a state of emergency was declared. Universal... Continue reading…

If you live in one of the twelve states where Comcast is planning to roll out 1.2TB data caps, we have some moderately good news: you won’t have to start monitoring your bill for extra charges until July. The ISP had planned to start charging customers $10-and-up fees for using more than 1.2TB of data starting this March, but the rollout has been delayed (via The Washington Post). This gives us a few more months until the scourge of Comcast home internet data caps are truly nationwide.The areas affected are in Comcast’s Northeast region: Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Vermont, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, as well as parts of North... Continue reading…