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Showing posts from October, 2021

Roblox is back online after an outage that lasted three days

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Roblox went down Thursday evening | Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images After an outage that began Thursday evening, Roblox appeared to be back online Sunday evening. The company said in a tweet at about 4PM ET Sunday that it was “incrementally bringing regions back online.” Quick update as we work to get things back to normal. We are incrementally bringing regions back online. — Roblox (@Roblox) October 31, 2021 The problems began October 28th around 7PM ET, when the platform first reported it was having issues, and said it was “ working hard to get things back to normal .” Some speculated that the outage was caused by a cross-promotion with Chipotle that went live about a half hour before the problems began, but the company said the outage was “not related to any specific experiences or partnerships on... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2ZQ4WAm

Apple’s app tracking policy reportedly cost social media platforms nearly $10 billion

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge An investigation by The Financial Times found that Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube lost around $9.85 billion in revenue following Apple’s changes to its privacy practices. Last year, Apple announced the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy that requires apps to ask permission to track users’ data. The policy went into effect in April , barring apps from tracking users if they opt out. Facebook notably criticized the move with a full-page newspaper ad , and thanks to the FT ’s report, now we know why company leaders were so frustrated. According to the report, Facebook lost the most money “in absolute terms” when compared to other social platforms due to its massive size. Meanwhile, Snap “fared the worst as a percentage of its... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3Bu5k4p

Leaked images show ASUS may be releasing a Surface Pro competitor that docks to an external GPU

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Photo by Evan Blass ASUS may be releasing a successor to the ROG Flow X13, the convertible laptop that doubles as a gaming PC. Evan Blass ( @evleaks ), a reliable leaker, tweeted out a photo of the ROG Flow Z13 — at a glance, it looks fairly similar to the new Microsoft Surface Pro 8 . If the leaked ROG Flow Z13 is anything like the X13, we already know how it may perform. The X13, a convertible laptop, can be connected to ASUS’ external graphics card (eGPU) called the XG Mobile , which we found to boost the lightweight convertible’s performance . + ROG Flow Z13 (not to be confused with Flow X13) pic.twitter.com/DLH7fmNHVt — Ev (@evleaks) October 31, 2021 The eGPU also serves as a USB dock with a number of ports, transforming the 13-inch convertible into a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3pWbVCC

Leaked Lenovo Thinkbook Plus image shows a second screen next to the keyboard

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A leaked image that shows a Lenovo ThinkBook Plus with a second screen next to the keyboard. | evleaks Reliable tech gadget leaker Evan Blass (@evleaks) on Sunday posted an image to Twitter that showed a 17-inch Lenovo ThinkBook Plus with a second screen to the right of the keyboard. The screen looks like it is being used to draw or write on a color image on the laptop’s main screen, and appears that the computer would include a full keyboard and a large trackpad along with an extra-wide display. The image also shows what looks like a pen or drawing stylus, giving further credence to the idea that it’s meant for drawing. Have you guys seen this yet? 17-inch ThinkBook Plus from Lenovo... pic.twitter.com/OElc5ZM3pb — Ev (@evleaks) October 31, 2021 There weren’t any further details about the image, which Blass posted as part of a thread... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3w2JdAT

New Trailers: The Wheel of Time, The Witcher, Lightyear, House of Gucci, and more

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Rosamund Pike stars in The Wheel of Time | Amazon Prime Video I’m close to giving up on The Morning Show ; the latest episode spends a lot of time building up to a twist that makes very little sense given the season so far. They only have three episodes left and a lot of plot to push forward. Luckily, Succession is getting good and juicy with the Roy siblings choosing sides, and I’m also getting caught up in Maid , mainly because of Margaret Qualley’s strong performance as Alex. So much to watch, so little time. We’re heavy into the sci-fi and fantasy realms in this week’s roundup, but there’s a little fashion and murder-mystery as well. The Wheel of Time We’ve seen a few glimpses of The Wheel of Time series based on the books by Robert Jordan, but this latest trailer shows us the beginning of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2ZxvQwx

Google Home app gets new Photo Frame settings and possible Weather Frog display option

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Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Google Home, the companion app for Google’s smart home products, is changing the way users interact with photos on the app and on Nest Hub devices. 9to5Google first noticed the changes, which include a revamped Photo Frame settings menu. Now, when you use Google Home to change the displayed album while your Nest Hub is idle, you’ll see a carousel-style UI that gives you the option to choose from curated groups of photos, categorized as “Select family & friends,” “Recent highlights,” and “Favorites,” 9to5Google reports. Scroll past that, and you’ll be able to see all the albums that you’ve created. A preview window appears at the bottom of the page, and you can swipe through the preview carousel to see how your pictures will look when... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3pSA5hj

Go read this story about how online orders are burning out Chipotle workers

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To go bags, to go bags everywhere. Chipotle is a pioneer of the fast assembly-line restaurant format, where you get in line and guide a human worker through the process to build your meal while you watch. It’s a foolproof system, or so I thought before I checked out this investigative story by MarketWatch revealing how Chipotle is handling the growth of online orders in a pandemic world. Once I read the accounts of various Chipotle employees interviewed in the MarketWatch article, I was stunned by what they really go through. One employee detailed the struggle with the onslaught of online orders: “People would just stare at us, angry,” he said. “Orders were coming in faster than they could be made. We would frequently see orders of 75, 80, 90 items within a 15-minute... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3EAnq6D

Apple quietly discontinues the 21.5-inch Intel-powered iMac

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Photo by Olly Curtis/MacFormat Magazine/Future via Getty Images Apple has apparently pulled its 21.5-inch Intel-based iMac from shelves (via MacRumors ). Its discontinuation doesn’t come as much of a surprise, now that Apple is transitioning from using Intel processors to its in-house M1 chip . The 21.5-inch iMac was still available after Apple’s October 18th Unleashed event — it didn’t appear to go missing until sometime this week, according to MacRumors . The $1,099 21.5-inch iMac, which came with a 2.3GHz dual-core 7th-Gen Intel Core i5 and an Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640, is no longer found on the list of available iMacs on Apple’s online store . A “Buy” button also doesn’t appear for the 21.5-inch iMac on Apple’s product comparison page. We reached out to Apple to confirm the changes, but didn’t... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3EwwUjl

Mac-shaped pillow makers are back so you can cover your couch in computers

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Image: Throwboy A company called Throwboy is back with another Kickstarter for a collection of pillows shaped like classic Macs, following its 2018 line of Apple-inspired plushes . It’s fittingly called The Iconic Pillow Collection 2, and features pillows shaped like soft versions of Apple’s Lisa, iBook, and both the cheese grater and cube flavors of Power Mac. For Apple history buffs who want to spruce up their living or bedrooms, it may be a campaign worth investigating. In its original collection (which featured pillows shaped like the Finder icon, original Macintosh, and iPods), Throwboy tactfully didn’t mention specific computer names, and it refrained from doing so this time around as well. The Lisa-shaped pillow is called the 1983, the iMac... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3BHZ5dD

Listen to Device Orchestra cover the Ghostbusters theme using electric toothbrushes and a steam iron

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An inspired musician can use pretty much anything as an instrument, but this just-in-time for Halloween cover of the Ghostbusters theme song goes in an unexpected direction. Device Orchestra is dedicated to posting music videos recorded solely with the sounds of common household devices. It’s the work of a Finnish YouTuber who’s been creating gadget-powered covers since 2014 (via Wikitubia ). This time, Device Orchestra busted out 14 gadgets for its composition — including electric toothbrushes adorned with googly eyes. One electric toothbrush with pipe cleaners for arms stands front and center, belting out the familiar chorus in a tone comparable to a musically-inclined bumblebee. It might be the star of the show, but it has plenty of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3mtPPFx

The Nikon Z9’s new sensor could be the start of a big shift in photography

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Nikon’s Z9 pro mirrorless camera has no mechanical shutter, relying solely on an electronic shutter. | Image: Nikon Nikon recently announced its new flagship camera, the Z9 . This camera represents Nikon’s first mirrorless camera fully geared towards professional photographers and hybrid shooters, with a huge spec list designed for use in the demanding fields of photojournalism, sports, nature, birding, and any other use-cases that call for a camera that shoots incredibly fast at high resolution. The $5,500 Z9 is also Nikon’s first camera to omit a traditional mechanical shutter, allowing it to achieve new levels of speed and autofocus performance. Faster speed is great, especially for sports photographers. But it’s interesting to think about where this technology could be used to take traditional-style cameras in the future. This might be the first... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3jOFm5y

Roblox has been down for more than a day and it’s not because of Chipotle

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Photo Illustration by Thiago Prudêncio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Roblox has been down for more than a day, with the game and its related website offline for millions of players. The hugely popular game-creating platform first started having issues more than 30 hours ago, at 7PM ET on October 28th. Roblox said it was “ working hard to get things back to normal ,” and that it has identified “the root cause as [an] internal system issue.” It’s not clear exactly why Roblox is still down, but some players have been speculating the outage could be related to a Chipotle promotion in the game. Chipotle is giving away $1 million worth of free burritos on Roblox as part of Halloween event in the game. The experience went live at 6:30PM ET on October 28th, just before the widespread Roblox outage. Still making... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3Bs6FJ1

Facebook puts tighter restrictions on vaccine misinformation targeted at children

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Just as the FDA officially approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for kids between the ages of five and 11, Meta, Facebook’s brand new identity , announced that it’s rolling out stricter policies for vaccine misinformation targeted at children (via Engadget ). The platform previously put restrictions on COVID-19 vaccine misinformation in late 2020, but didn’t have policies specific to kids. Meta says in a new blog post that it’s partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to take down harmful content related to children and the COVID-19 vaccine. This includes any posts that imply the COVID-19 vaccine is unsafe, untested, or ineffective for children. Additionally, Meta will... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3w7hOy0

Global climate talks in Glasgow aren’t very global

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Climate activists “set fire” to George Square, Glasgow, with an art installation of faux flames, smoke, and banners, and giant fire extinguishers, creating a field of climate fire to welcome world leaders to Glasgow for the Cop26 conference. Picture date: Thursday October 28, 2021. | Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images One of the most anticipated rounds of international climate negotiations this decade will go down at a United Nations summit in Glasgow over the next couple weeks. But many representatives from the frontlines of the climate crisis won’t be there: people from islands that may be lost under rising seas, representatives of indigenous tribes, and activists who typically turn high-level negotiations into boisterous events with their demonstrations. The 26th annual United Nations Conference of Parties, or COP26, is the five-year anniversary of the Paris climate accords. Signatories, which included nearly every country on Earth, agreed to limit global warmin...

Minnesota man charged with illegally streaming MLB, NFL, NHL and NBA games for profit

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Feds say a Minnesota man illegally streamed major league sports games | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Federal authorities have accused a Minnesota man with trying to extort $150,000 from Major League Baseball after hacking into its computer system. The US Attorney’s office for the southern district of New York and the FBI have charged Joshua Streit, 30, with illegally streaming content from MLB, as well as from the National Hockey League (NHL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Football League (NFL). The law enforcement agencies said in a news release that between 2017 through August of 2021, Streit operated a website where he illegally streamed the sports leagues’ live games for profit. He gained unauthorized access to the leagues’ websites, and misappropriated login credentials from legitimate subscribers,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3pREFMP

Save on spooky games to play during Halloween and more

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Okay, Deathloop isn’t scary, but the deal on it is scary good. It’s the spooky holiday this weekend, but you probably already knew that since Halloween decorations have likely been up in your town for the last month and a half. But what hasn’t been around as long (and will disappear faster than those decorations) are the deals below. To match the mood, we’re going to share special discounts on scary video games that you need to play if you’re trying to get in the holiday spirit this weekend. Just so you know, Steam’s Halloween sale ends Monday, November 1st, likely at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. Following that gaming-centric section, you’ll find deals on tech gadgets that we think you’ll enjoy. Gaming deals Okay, so Deathloop is far from being a scary game at its core (though it can become quite tense when... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3brJKTM

Honor X30i: हॉनर का नया 5G स्मार्टफोन हुआ लॉन्च, जानिए फीचर्स और कीमत

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Honor X30 Max: हॉनर का नया 5G स्मार्टफोन हुआ लॉन्च, जानिए फीचर्स और कीमत

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Honor 50 review: lose a Huawei, gain a Google

Google’s software makes the Honor 50 a contender rather than competitive Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2ZFAokI

These might be the first leaked photos of Intel’s Arc Alchemist graphics card

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Intel is building dedicated gaming graphics cards, due out in Q1 2022, and we may have just gotten our first look at the big one, the Arc Alchemist. Here are some leaked images from YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead (via Videocardz ): Arc is Intel’s new GPU brand , designed to compete with Nvidia GeForce and AMD Radeon, and the Arc Alchemist is the first GPU in the company’s roadmap that’s actually scheduled to release. The company had previously built the Intel DG1 to test the GPU waters, but that was a comparatively weak card, based on the Xe LP (low-power) graphics architecture, and consumers couldn’t actually buy it. This new card is part of Intel’s Xe HPG roadmap (high-power / gaming) and is said to deliver... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3jRl4bH

Nintendo is officially closing its Redwood City and Toronto offices

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Illustrations by Alex Castro / The Verge Nintendo is closing its Redwood City, California and Toronto, Canada offices, the company confirmed in a statement to The Verge . Kotaku reported on the closure of the Redwood City offices earlier on Friday. Here is the company’s full statement on the decision: Nintendo of America headquarters are in Redmond, WA, and Vancouver, BC. We are moving more of our employees and operations into those headquarters and will be closing small satellite offices in Toronto, ON, and Redwood City, CA, over time. Devon Pritchard, Executive Vice President, Business Affairs and Publisher Relations for Nintendo of America (NOA), will assume interim leadership of Sales, Marketing and Communications following the departure of Nick Chavez. Ms. Pritchard will... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3vVOJWd

Fitness app Supernatural is becoming part of Meta after Facebook touts VR fitness

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Image: Supernatural Meta has announced that the studio behind VR workout game Supernatural will be joining the company, adding to the roster of studios owned by what used to be known as Facebook’s Oculus division. The company says that Within, the company behind Supernatural, will continue to work on the popular fitness app and will also help Meta’s Reality Labs “enhance future hardware to support VR fitness apps.” Meta scooping up Within isn’t necessarily a surprise move: it’s spent the last few years acquiring tons of popular VR studios, like Lone Echo devs Ready at Dawn, the team behind Beat Saber , and others working on projects that some have called the VR versions of Fortnite and Roblox . Given Meta’s focus on its headsets as workout tools... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2ZCuEIO

All iOS users can now Super Follow on Twitter 

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Image: Twitter Twitter is allowing all iOS users to Super Follow select creators . The feature, first released in September and only available in the US and Canada, allows users to monetize their Twitter account and create exclusive content through monthly subscriptions. Twitter first announced Super Follows in February and rolled it out to select creators in September. Within the first two weeks, subscribers had contributed around $6,000, according to SensorTower . It’s Super Following time –– everyone globally on iOS now has the option to Super Follow select creators. — Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) October 28, 2021 Users interested in Super Follows have to meet the minimum requirements, according to the Super Follows policy . They have to be... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2ZHuaB4

Vergecast: Facebook goes meta and reviews of the Pixel 6 and MacBook Pro

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Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast , where co-hosts Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories. This week on The Vergecast, managing editor Alex Cranz (that’s me), deputy editor Dan Seifert (that’s not me), and senior reporter Alex Heath (also not me) join Nilay and Dieter to talk about Facebook’s big rebranding, expensive polishing cloths , our reviews of the Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, and both flavors of the new MacBook Pro. You can listen here or in your preferred podcast player for the full discussion. Mark Zuckerberg on why Facebook is rebranding to Meta Facebook’s new name is Meta What is the metaverse, and do I have to care? F... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3w06dAQ

Roku launches new personal-use developer kit

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Image: Roku Roku is launching a new independent developer kit that will allow developers to “experiment with and customize their devices” in personal-use capacities. Roku says it hopes the IDK will lead to innovation around internet-of-things applications, such as connecting a Roku device to a thermostat or game development. Roku unveiled its plans for the new IDK at its online developer summit this week. The company made it clear in an announcement about the IDK that its Roku SDK will remain the primary channel development kit for commercial applications but said that the new developer kit “enables developers to explore the platform’s capabilities and personalize their Roku experience.” The company isn’t quite clear on how developers will use the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2ZF59X2

Nilay Patel on Facebook’s reckoning with reality—and the metaverse-size problems yet to come 

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge ‘It might well be unsolvable’ Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3mqEBS4

Mastodon puts Trump’s social network on notice for improperly using its code

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Mastodon has sent former President Donald Trump’s company a formal notification that it’s breaking the rules by using Mastodon’s open-source code to build its social network, named Truth. This news comes from a blog post by Mastodon’s founder Eugen Rochko , but others have previously pointed out that the organization behind Truth, the Trump Media and Technology Group (or TMTG), was violating Mastodon’s software license by not providing the source code for the site built on top of it. Trump’s group has 30 days from when the letter was sent to comply with the license or stop using the software, or it could lose the right to do so. While Truth hasn’t officially launched yet, internet users discovered that a test version basically had the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3jRIEVI

FDA clears Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages five to 11

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Photo by Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The Food and Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for five- to 11-year-olds , opening up the shots to a new age group and ending an anxious wait for families of children in that bracket. Children are less likely to have severe symptoms if they contract COVID-19, but they can still catch and spread the disease. Cases and deaths in children peaked in September, which was the worst month for that age group — there were over a million new cases in that group. The authorization makes vaccination available to 28 million new people in the US. Polling in September showed that around a third of parents say that they wanted to vaccinate their five- to 11-year-old children “right away” after authorization. The... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3CzNvm4

AOC calls Facebook a ‘cancer to democracy’ after Meta rebrand

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Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called Facebook a “cancer to democracy” in a tweet on Thursday shortly after the company announced that it was changing its corporate name to Meta to better represent its focus on building the metaverse . “Meta as in “we are a cancer to democracy metastasizing into a global surveillance and propaganda machine for boosting authoritarian regimes and destroying civil society… for profit!” said Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday . Meta as in “we are a cancer to democracy metastasizing into a global surveillance and propaganda machine for boosting authoritarian regimes and destroying civil society… for profit!” https://t.co/jzOcCFaWkJ — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 28, 2021 Ocasio-Cortez is one of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3boJMvy

Adobes new Project In-Between helps you create Living Photos using AI

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As a part of its Annual Design Conference this year, Adobe will demonstrate Project In-Between, which is an AI-based tool that helps with creating living photos. The tool adds a seamless transition between two photos to create an animated end result that can be posted to GIF sites and social media platforms. How does Adobe’s Project In-Between Work? The tool leverages Adobe Sensei AI in order to create a transition between two similar photographs to give you a living photo. Users can also pick the number of transition frames to ensure the animation is as fluid as possible. The new frames created between the two photos (or the in-between frames) can also be accessed while editing. The same tool can also be used to create a slow-motion effect in video clips. What is Adobe’s Project In-Between? While Adobe says that this tool is designed to make the photos taken by your smartphone more interesting, the tool itself is only available on the desktop software. Hopefully, Adobe will offer ...

Apple launches Safari 151 for macOS Big Sur and Catalina

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With the release of macOS Monterey, Apple reverted to a more classic design for the Safari browser. Now, the company has made the update available to those running macOS Big Sur and Catalina with Safari 15.1. Multiple design changes for Safari 15 Safari 15 brought a new design that unified the address bar and tab bar - a decision that was unanimously disliked by Apple users. To rectify this, Apple offered an option that allowed users to separate the address bar from the tabs, however, this layout was also fairly disliked, with many people calling it bad when compared to other versions of the browser. Now, Apple has decided to keep things simple and revert to the classic design to keep users happy.  How to use the Apple Safari 15 Having said that, it’s important to note that the unified layout is still available, and is the default option for the browser. You have to opt for the classic look to use it. If you want to install the latest version of Safari on your Mac, all yo...

TikTok is testing a new tipping feature for some creators

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok is experimenting with a new tool that allows TikTok users to tip some creators directly on their profiles. According to a video of the tips feature shared this week by TikTok creator Jera Bean , who noticed the feature in-app and applied for approval, any money tipped to creators will go directly to that individual (meaning TikTok won’t take a cut). A screenshot of the application screen stated that in order to qualify for the feature, accounts must be in good standing on the platform, have at least 100,000 followers, meet an age requirement, and agree to TikTok’s tips terms. If creators meet these criteria, they can then apply for the tool — though it's unclear whether everyone who applies will be approved. @jera.bean ✨TIKTOK... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/310uR8L

Facebook’s Meta watch has a camera notch, according to first leaked image

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Image: Bloomberg In the first leaked images of Facebook’s smartwatch, it’s clear: there’s a notch , which is the kind of thing people love to make fun of, and what appears to be a front-facing camera. In the photo, the watch’s screen is off, but the beady little camera eye is clearly visible. The photo, which was first reported on by Bloomberg , was found inside the company’s app for its Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses. The watch, referred to as “Milan” in the code, has a large display like the Apple Watch — but that smartwatch doesn’t have a camera. The picture today may not be a version that consumers ever see, according to Bloomberg. Still, it confirms earlier reporting about Facebook’s work. If this is the same watch as the one we reported on in June ,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3vWeGVi

Will the Oculus Quest still require a Facebook account? It’s complicated

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Facebook (which is now called Meta ) knows a lot of virtual reality headset owners hate logging in with Facebook. Requiring Facebook logins created bad blood almost immediately and even accidentally locked some people out of their Quest VR hardware in late 2020. And at today’s Connect keynote, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg hinted the restriction might be ending. But his comments raised more questions than they answered, and we still don’t know exactly what they mean. Zuckerberg mentioned the changes while talking about work applications for VR. Here’s what he said: “As we’ve focused more on work, and frankly as we’ve heard your feedback more broadly, we’re working on making it so you can log into Quest with an account other than your personal... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3nEfwT5

Google makes waitlists for Pixel 6 Pro because it can’t keep the phone in stock

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales After what seems like an eternity of leaks , teases , and two reveals , the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro are finally on sale. But Google seems to be running very low on inventory, as the company now offers waitlists so you can be notified of when the phone will be available again. Right at the top of the Pixel 6 Pro page on the Google Store , there’s a now banner advertising the waitlist. “Due to high demand, some Pixel 6 Pro models may be out of stock or have long delivery times,” the company says. “Get notified when they’re back in stock, or check out other authorized retailers who may have them available.” The banner includes buttons to join the waitlist and see other retailers where you can try to get the phone instead. After clicking the buy... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3BqDF4v

Here’s an incredible life-size Ghostbusters Proton Pack prop you can actually buy

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There’s a hook for the wand, but it’s sold separately. | Hasbro You’ve always wanted your very own Ghostbusters Proton Pack. Your options have been: find a cheap toy, 3D print, sand and paint your own, pay for someone to do it for you, start with a premade kit, or painstakingly build something even more intricate from scratch. Here’s a sixth way that might be the easiest and most cost-effective yet: pay Hasbro $400 for this incredible-looking thing : Hasbro The pack at an angle, covered in lovely shiny bits. Tactical shoulder and belt straps plus what looks like a lumbar pad. Hasbro says the Ghostbusters Plasma Series Spengler’s Proton Pack is based on 3D scans of the actual movie prop from Ghostbusters: Afterlife , and it’s complete with lights, sounds... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3w1GzLR

Amid the fluff, Meta showed an impressive demo of its Codec Avatars

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Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook , held a presentation today where it announced its rebranding and showed off what it imagines the future of computing will look like — but amid all the fluff, it actually had some interesting tech demos. The first showed off its life-like Codex avatars and an environment for them to exist in, which the company says was rendered in real-time and reacted to real-world objects. Mark Zuckerberg also talked about the company’s work with neural interfaces that let you control a computer just by moving your fingers. We’ll discuss the demos in just a moment, but it’s really worth seeing them for yourself. You can check them out on the Facebook keynote archive or on Reuters ’ YouTube stream if you prefer... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3jONuTJ

Apple lost $6 billion to chip shortage and manufacturing delays in Q4, Tim Cook says

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple today posted strong earnings for its fourth fiscal 2021 quarter , reporting all-time highs for its services and Mac divisions. The company says it took in revenue of $83.4 billion, a year-over-year increase of 29 percent, and earnings per share of $1.24. That earnings number came in below Wall Street expectations of $84.85 billion. CEO Tim Cook told CNBC that supply chain constraints had a clear impact on financial results this quarter. “We had a very strong performance despite larger than expected supply constraints, which we estimate to be around $6 billion,” Cook said, attributing the supply issues to “the industry-wide chip shortages that have been talked about a lot and COVID-related manufacturing disruptions in Southeast... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3ErNyRm

Amazon will spend ‘several billion dollars’ to avoid holiday shipping delays

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon wants to avoid holiday shipping delays as much as you do. The company said today that it plans to spend “several billion dollars” to avoid problems during the holidays, which might extend from product delivery issues to keeping items in stock. The money will be spent on increased pay for workers, heightened shipping costs, and mitigating supply chain issues. “It’ll be expensive for us in the short term, but it’s the right prioritization for our customers and partners,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said today in the company’s third-quarter earnings release . The big spending comes as both a promise and a warning. Amazon’s earnings disappointed investors with a significant dip in quarterly profits from last year. That’s largely due to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3jLJCmA

Facebook Connect: all the news about ‘Meta’ and Mark Zuckerberg’s VR dream

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Vjeran Pavic/The Verge The company unveiled a new name and vision for the future in its keynote Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3EtP3ya

New Biden plan would give e-bike buyers up to $1,500 in tax credits

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Photo by Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images There’s good news in the latest version of the White House budget deal : the proposed federal tax credit for new electric bike purchases has survived the most recent round of Congressional bloodletting. Not only that, but it’s been restored to its former glory of 30 percent, after the House of Representatives slashed it to 15 percent . Still, it’s a hugely important proposal for a product that is still struggling to reach mass adoption. If the deal passes in its current form, e-bikes would become significantly cheaper for most Americans. In turn, that could mean a significant change in the transportation options for millions of people around the country. The legislation would offer Americans a refundable tax credit worth 30 percent of a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3BiZlzm

With Facebook’s change to Meta, what’s the new Big Tech acronym?

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A collage of Meta logos. | Image: Meta The company formerly known as Facebook just revealed its new name, Meta . And while that change brings a whole lot of questions , there’s one that many of us at The Verge have been pondering for about 30 minutes: how does the Meta name change the acronym used to refer to the biggest tech companies in one fell swoop? Before Thursday, FAANG — Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google — was perhaps the most commonly used one. But that acronym already doesn’t quite work. Google is technically a part of Alphabet now, so there should be a third A. (FAAAN?) It’s missing Microsoft, which is just as mind-bogglingly huge as some of the other companies. And you could argue that Tesla should be part of the acronym conversation, especially now that... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3vS3Dwu

Dropbox clarifies that a native Apple Silicon app is coming in 2022 after forum outrage

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Dropbox will finally be updating its Mac app to natively support Apple Silicon sometime in the first half of 2022, the company confirmed today. A previous forum thread saw Dropbox staffers claim that a native app would require “a bit more support before we share your suggestion with our team.” The months-old thread was resurfaced in a post by developer Mitchell Hashimoto on Twitter ( spotted by MacRumors ), sparking complaints from Dropbox users who were disappointed by the impression that the company would only develop the app if enough customers asked for it. While Dropbox technically does work with Apple Silicon hardware thanks to Apple’s Rosetta 2 software translation layer, it’s not as power or memory efficient as it could be if it... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3mnSwZ1

Facebook’s Oculus Quest will soon be called the Meta Quest

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is rebranding its hardware to match its new name. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth announced that the company is phasing out its Oculus branding, including on the Oculus Quest virtual reality headset. Starting in 2022, the Oculus Quest product line will be known as the Meta Quest, while the Oculus App will become the Meta Quest App. The Facebook Portal video device is also getting rebranded to “Meta Portal” sometime in the next few months. “When people buy our products, we want them to clearly understand that all of these devices come from Meta and ladder up to our metaverse vision,” Bosworth’s post reads. That means retiring the name Facebook took on when it acquired Oculus in 2014. “We all have a strong... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2ZCVQXK

Facebook’s famous thumbs-up HQ sign has been replaced with Meta

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Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Facebook just announced that it will change its company name to Meta . The new name comes with a new logo, a blue M that looks kind of like a pretzel, and now that logo has replaced the iconic thumbs-up Like icon at the company’s global headquarters in Menlo Park. Here are two more images of it, taken by The Verge’s own Vjeran Pavic: Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge It did not take long before people began to pose for photos. Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge A larger group. For comparison, here’s what the old sign looked like: Photo by Yalonda M James/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images The new sign had been teased ahead of its official reveal. At one point,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3vXAUXk

White House unveils $1.75 trillion budget package with billions for climate

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Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images After months of negotiations, President Joe Biden released the latest version of his Build Back Better framework on Thursday, advancing the landmark proposal into what will likely be its final phase before approval. The plan’s original $3.5 trillion budget resolution now sits at $1.75 trillion, unveiling scaled-back initiatives to tackle climate change and other social services. In its latest budget proposal, the White House’s total investment in fighting climate change remains relatively the same, sitting at $550 billion. What’s changed the most is how those funds will be used: focusing on manufacturing, electric power, and transportation. The White House’s total investment in fighting climate change remains relatively the same,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3CkqUJX

Twitter will let Twitter Blue subscribers try some new features early

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter regularly tests new features ahead of their official rollout, but the company is creating a new way for some people to check out new features before everyone else. On Wednesday, Twitter announced that subscribers to its paid Twitter Blue service will get early access to some new features under a new Labs banner. If you’re familiar with YouTube’s Labs features for Premium subscribers , it sounds like a similar model. Features in Twitter’s program include pinned conversations on iOS, which lets you pin DM conversations to the top of the list, and the ability to post longer video uploads from a desktop computer. You can read more about Labs in a thread from the Twitter Blue account . Like being ahead of the curve? Today, we’re... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3CwjxiQ

Mark Zuckerberg on why Facebook is rebranding to Meta

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Illustration by Samar Haddad The company wants to move past the ‘confusion and awkwardness’ of sharing a name with its main app Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3vVvVGD

Teenage Engineering’s new PC case is gorgeous, expensive... and bendable

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Teenage Engineering Teenage Engineering, a design company that dabbles in everything from synthesizers to helping build the Playdate gaming handheld , has made its first computer case. It’s called Computer-1. It’s a bold orange case that’s made for mini-ITX-sized motherboards, which are reserved for small form factor builds. Like most of the company’s products, it’s not exactly affordable at $195 . But that might not be an obstacle if you’re a sucker for a case that’s dripping in color and unique style. The Computer-1 case is made with powder-coated aluminum and has chrome handles, which makes it look a bit like Apple’s most recent Mac Pro desktop chassis. Though, unlike that computer, this case comes unassembled. It arrives in a flat pack, like most Ikea... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3vSfeeW