Latest Technology

Microsoft is quietly refreshing its Surface Book 2 base model today. The software giant is introducing Intel’s latest 8th Gen quad-core i5 processor for the 13-inch Surface Book 2 model , and keeping the existing dual-core 7th Gen model at a discounted price of $1,299. The refreshed quad-core model will be priced at $1,499, and includes an i5-8350U which bumps the processor’s maximum boost clock speed up to 3.6GHz. The new mid-range Surface Book 2 will also include 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. The processor is the only significant change, but it should make a big difference for performance. We saw impressive jumps in performance from quad-core Surface Pro 6 models compared to the dual-core chips used in previous models. Microsoft has... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2UkJrTH

On March 8th, The Wall Street Journal published a damning report about caregiver platform Care.com, which found that it put the burden on users to evaluate its caregivers, that it didn’t conduct full background checks or vet the daycare centers that were listed on the site, and that in some instances, providers were unlicensed and even were responsible for deaths of the children in their care. In a followup report published today, the WSJ says that the company removed “tens of thousands of unverified day-care center listings” prior to the publication of that initial report. The original report found that there were “about 9 instances” in the last six years where a provider was listed on the site had a criminal record, and then committed... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2OFQmBK

Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg ended his months-long, facetious war with Bollywood powerhouse T-Series today by issuing a music video with a series of personal confessions and accusations against his rival. The video, “Congratulations,” accuses T-Series executives, including chairman Bhushan Kumar, of multiple misdoings. Kjellberg references a Times of India article , which reported that Kumar is currently being investigated for “alleged evasion of huge tax and siphoning off hundreds of crores to foreign countries to purchase properties in the names of his employees.” The Verge has reached out to T-Series for comment. Kjellberg also reveals that T-Series reportedly sent him a cease and desist letter following the release of his original... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2YD9gOa

The parent company of restaurants such as Planet Hollywood, Buca di Beppo, and Mixology has confirmed that it experienced a security breach after security researchers found more than 2 million stolen credit card numbers being sold online. KrebsOnSecurity says that it contacted the company in February after it discovered “strong evidence” that customer credit card and debit card numbers were being sold online. Hackers used “malware installed on its point-of-sale systems” to steal 2.15 million credit and debit card numbers, expiration dates, and some cardholder names from restaurant locations in 40 states. Earl Enterprises says that the breach took place between May 23rd, 2018 and March 18th, 2019, and that “the incident has now been... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2CHsad9

New York governor Andrew Cuomo and the legislative leaders have announced that they have reached an agreement on the state’s 2020 budget, a provision of which includes a ban on single-use plastic bags, making it the third state to adopt such legislation. Lawmakers will vote on the budget deal later today. The provision will effectively ban the single-use plastic bags that are found in grocery stores, which often make their way into waterways and oceans. The New York Times says that the ban goes into effect in March 2020, and will prohibit stores from providing the bags to customers, although there are some exceptions, like bags for newspapers, wrapping produce or meat, and take-out. The provision also allows cities and counties to opt-in... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2HYp9sF

Vonnegut’s classic is the weirdest book to become required high school reading. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2V3eVL8

In today’s digital age, it can sometimes feel like hardware has taken a back seat to the software that drives devices. Button of the Month is a column that looks at some of these buttons and switches on devices both old and new to appreciate how we interact with our devices on a physical, tactile level. Shopping on Amazon is a vastly digital experience. Until the last few years , there hasn’t been a physical way to go and buy things from Amazon. For the overwhelming majority of Amazon purchases, there’s still no checkout lane, no aisles to browse, no physical interactions at all — famously, the company’s “One Click” software removes nearly all barriers between wanting something and buying it. Amazon’s now-defunct Dash buttons — small,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2OAc6yM

Following the revelation that the The National Enquirer had obtained intimate texts and images between Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanches, Bezos ordered an investigation into who was behind the data breach. In a post on The Daily Beast , Bezos’ security consultant Gavin De Becker says that his team of investigators have “concluded with high confidence that the Saudis had access to Bezos’ phone,” although he says that they haven’t been able to to link that access with the data that the Enquirer claimed to have. In February, Bezos released a remarkable post on Medium , saying that Enquirer and its parent company, AMI, had attempted to extort and blackmail him with images that he had texted to a woman with which he was having an... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2TQO040

It may be a cliché, but drone photography really does offer a new perspective on the world. Winners of the 2018 Aerial Photo and Video Contest from SkyPixel (an online photo-sharing community owned by Chinese drone maker DJI) show how. The pictures and videos put architecture, nature, and humanity on display from unexpected heights and angles. The resulting imagery is stunning, and might make you rethink your place in the world. Just consider it for a second. Where are you standing or sitting right now? What would it look like if you could see yourself from a distance? What surrounds you? This year’s winning photo in SkyPixel’s contest was taken by Deryk Baumgärtner using a Mavic Pro (above). It’s typically beautiful, showing the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2HPUOx5

It can be difficult to find time to finish a video game, especially if you only have a few hours a week to play. In our biweekly column Short Play we suggest video games that can be started and finished in a weekend. Before I started playing Vignettes, I was expecting it to be a lot like Gnog , a puzzle game that turned puzzle boxes into toy-like dioramas. Maybe it was because the two games share the same brightly colored aesthetic, centered on an object floating in space. But where Gnog adds a lot to the enjoyment of its puzzles by turning them into toys you can fiddle with, Vignettes goes in the opposite direction: it starts as a toy before turning into a puzzle. Most of Vignettes is predicated on a visual trick. You are presented with... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2UneJJF

Warmer weather is finally peeking through for parts of the US — and for some reason, that’s bringing more opportunities to watch horror films. Jordan Peele’s newest horror film, Us , is still in theaters, while Netflix will start showing rebooted classics like Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D. It’s also made its own zombie apocalypse series, Black Summer, about survivors finding each other at the beginning of an outbreak. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is returning for season 2, with tensions brewing at an all-time high, as Sabrina bounces between her human friends and her magical enemies. That said, even if horror is your least favorite genre, Netflix still has new content for all kinds of moods. Fans of Aggretsuko , a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2OICQ0h

Self-driving cars are trained to be overly cautious, but there may be situations where they need to make high-speed maneuvers to avoid a collision. Can these vehicles, festooned with tens of thousands of dollars worth of high-tech sensors and programmed to drive at grandma-speeds, handle these split-second decisions like a human? Engineers at Stanford University may have the answer . They created a neural network that can enable driverless cars to perform high-speed, low-friction maneuvers just as well as race car drivers. When they eventually arrive, driverless cars will need capabilities beyond those of humans, as 94 percent of crashes are attributable to human error. Researchers say this is an important step in improving autonomous... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2UjdICp

AMC has released the first trailer for its upcoming adaptation of Joe Hill’s horror novel, NOS4A2 . The network also announced that the series will premiere alongside the next season of Fear the Walking Dead on June 2nd, 2019. First published in 2013, NOS4A2 follows the story of Victoria “Vic” McQueen (played by Ashleigh Cummings in the series), who discovers that she has a supernatural ability to find lost things by riding her bike across a strange bridge. She crosses paths with a man named Charlie Manx (played by Zachary Quinto), who kidnaps children to take them to supernatural place called Christmasland, where he feeds off of their souls and corrupts them. Vic was the only child to have ever encounter Manx and escape and those... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2THFnbS

In an op-ed for The Washington Post and Independent.ie , Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that he believes that there needs to be “a more active role for governments and regulators” in order to counter broader threats to society, while balancing freedom of expression. He outlines four broad areas where he feels that new regulation is needed: data portability, election integrity, harmful content, and privacy. Zuckerberg uses the op-ed to lay out his case for each of the four areas, saying that “internet companies should be accountable for enforcing standards on harmful content,” and says that there needs to be “a more standardized approach” when it comes to taking down harmful content across a variety of services. He suggests... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2WwzrEd

The final season of Game of Thrones is almost upon us, and the promotional onslaught for the HBO series is underway. English Heritage, the charity that preserves the country’s historic sites, announced that before the finale premieres, it is posting its own version of the Night Watch on Hadrian’s Wall in northern England — the original inspiration for the wall in George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series. The organization said earlier this month that its members will be decked out in black cloaks and shields, and will be posted at four main Roman sites along the historic structure — Birdoswald Roman Fort in Cumbria, and Corbridge Roman Town, Housesteads Roman Fort, and Chesters Roman Fort in Northumberland. They’ll be in place until the debut... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2I2970I

At WonderCon in Anaheim, California, DC Comics announced that Swamp Thing , its third live-action series its streaming service DC Universe, will premiere on May 31st. The company also provided a first look at its fourth upcoming series, Stargirl , and says that the company’s entire digital comics library will be added to the service for users in April. The streaming service is a one-stop-shop for almost all of DC’s content , and includes access to existing DC film and TV adaptations, comic books, and original live action and animated shows. The first such offering was a gritty version of the Teen Titans, Titans , which premiered in October, while its second, Doom Patrol , came out in February. Its first animated offering, a third season of Y... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2YCZ489

Freshman Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) sent a public letter to Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai last week asking for him to explain the company’s work in China to the public. The letter followed Pichai’s week full of meetings in DC addressing comments made by US defense leaders in March. During a Senate Armed Services Committee meeting in March, General Joseph Dunford argued that Google’s current work in China “is indirectly benefiting the Chinese military.” The comments alarmed lawmakers and on Wednesday, Pichai met with President Donald Trump and Dunford in what appeared to be an attempt to deescalate tension. Hawley asked the initial question that spurred the debate, and after taking note of Google’s meeting, he is now calling for the company to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2HLLvOR

It’s common for couples to question whether their relationship timeline is “on track.” Flowing Data’s new animation will be helpful for answering that question. It shows how quickly Americans today pass through various relationship stages — like living together and getting married — compared to the 1970s. The stages of relationships towards marriage https://t.co/vT9aote2WG pic.twitter.com/aevdhWpUa7 — Nathan Yau (@flowingdata) March 26, 2019 The data comes from 3,510 respondents of the 2017 How Couples Meet and Stay Together Survey that was administered by Stanford University. In general, contemporary couples are moving on a much slower timeline than a few decades ago. In the 1970s, 6 percent of couples were already married five... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2HUpQ7d

The concrete sector’s BIM journey is progressing at different speeds; precast specialists are embracing the technology, but it’s early days for the RC frame sector. Will Mann reports. BIM’s relationship with concrete to date is a tale of two halves. While BIM use on reinforced concrete frame projects has been limited, as CM ’s research with Trimble shows, the precast sector is quickly discovering the technology’s benefits. “Precast is perfectly placed to exploit BIM,” says Matthew Butcher, environmental and technical officer at British Precast. “Precast firms are working in a controlled factory environment, which is ideal for the principles of design for manufacture and assembly.” “The government is prioritising use of offsite manufacturing, and now wants a ‘platforms’ system of standardised components, while major clients like Heathrow are also moving in this direction.” BIM software house Trimble sees exciting digital possibilities for the precast sector. Business manager Ismail

Earlier today, the New Zealand Herald published a letter from Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, addressing how the company is addressing the deadly terror attack in Christchurch two weeks ago. In the letter, she lays out three steps that the company is taking, including that it’s “exploring restrictions” for live video. She described the attack as “an act of pure evil,” and that the company is “committed to reviewing what happened,” and that it’s working with the country’s authorities. In the aftermath of the attack, Facebook says that it removed 1.5 million videos of the attack around the world , with 1.2 blocked “at upload.” In her letter, Sandberg says that while Facebook moved quickly to remove the video and the perpetrator’s account,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2Ujsed9

Apple kicked off this week with its big services event , which included the announcement of Apple TV Plus , its streaming movie and TV service. It’s going to be a huge deal, eventually, once it actually launches. But for now, I’m more interested in another thing Apple announced: an update to the Apple TV “TV” app . With this app, Apple’s goal is to put all your streaming subscriptions in one place — one app to browse and stream everything available to you. That’s the dream, at least, making it so that people don’t have to hop between apps. But for now, not every video provider is on board. And for those that are on board, you’ll have to subscribe to them directly through Apple in order to get all the benefits; otherwise, you’ll still have... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2JRfxCE

At Sega Fes 2019, Sega announced that it will finally release a retro version of its Sega Genesis console later this year: the Sega Genesis Mini (in the US) and the Mega Drive Mini (in Japan). The device will come with 40 built-in games, and will hit stores on September 19th, 2019. According to Kotaku , the Genesis Mini / Mega Drive will have slightly different game lineups when released. The Japanese version will include Castlevania Bloodlines, Comix Zone, Gunstar Heroes, Madou Monogatari Ichi, Powerball, Puyo Puyo 2, Rent-a-Hero, Shining Force, Sonic 2, and Space Harrier II, while the US version will include Altered Beast, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Comix Zone, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, Ecco the Dolphin, Gunstar Heroes, Shining... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2CKZCQm

This week brought a lot of good deals that have come and gone, but a few remain if you’re on the hunt for some savings. The Apple HomePod smart speaker is down to $279.99 at Best Buy this weekend. It’s no stranger to this price point, but it has been about a month since we’ve seen it for this low. The speaker is usually $349.99, and the lowest price recorded for Apple’s HomePod is $249.99. The LG G8 ThinQ will hit shelves on April 11th. Most places are taking preorders for the upcoming Android phone starting at $819.99, but B&H Photo has the best deal on the unlocked version — by far. For a limited time, it’s $699.99 for the phone in gray or black. Apple cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat on Friday, and fortunately, there are... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2I1KeCA

Since the 1980s, bright orange parts of a novelty Garfield phone have been steadily washing up on the Iroise coast of Brittany in France. Nobody knew where the Garfield phones were coming from, and locals had no choice but to continue collecting pieces of the famous fat cat for 35 years. According to the BBC , the mystery was finally solved this week, when a lost shipping container filled with Garfield phones “in a more complete condition than any found before them,” was discovered in a secluded sea cave accessible only during low tide. Residents had long suspected the phones came from a shipping container, but had never been able to find it. Then recently, the anti-litter group Ar Vilantsou declared the phones a symbol of plastic... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2FKmD7B

A video surfaced in recent days of a particularly scary concept — a drone with a shotgun mounted in its airframe. But it doesn’t look like it’s designed to hunt people: the video is a demonstration of a Russian device that’s designed to take on smaller aircraft, namely other drones. The drone seems to have begun development back in 2016 (via Foxtrot Alpha ) from a group of students at the Moscow Aviation Institute. While there have been instances of people mounting firearms (and chainsaws ) to drones, there are some drawbacks — the recoil from a gunshot makes it impractical for actually being an effective weapons platform. According to Defence.ru , the students appear to have solved that problem by developing a stabilizing mechanism to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2UlqNem

Whether you’re shopping for your first iPad, or upgrading from a previous generation, figuring out which Apple-made tablet is best for you can be confusing. That there are a bunch of models out there make it hard. That most of them look similar makes it even more difficult to shop with confidence. Let’s break it down. Currently, Apple sells five different models. In order of most affordable to most expensive, there’s the 9.7-inch iPad, the new 7.9-inch iPad mini, the new 10.5-inch iPad Air, the 11-inch iPad Pro and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Thankfully, your odds at picking a good tablet are greater than 1 in 5. Each of them is a really good tablet in its own way, but it’s important to find the right tablet for you. What does the “right”... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2CKFcGV

They feed data sets into special algorithms to create canvases; they’re showing at art events around the world. Elsewhere, AI art is even ending up at auction. from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/2U4KQ1j

Unexpectedly on a Friday night, Valve has surprise launched a teaser site featuring a brand-new virtual reality headset , called the Valve Index, that appears to be a device of its own making and not one in partnership with its longtime VR partner HTC. The teaser site offers no information other than that the Index’s supposed release date is May 2019. That said, there’s actually an awful lot we can see in that image, and a lot we can piece together from previous Valve leaks . We can see the Valve Index has as many as four prominent wide-angle cameras, strongly suggesting that, like the Oculus Quest and other second-gen VR headsets, it will have inside-out tracking to allow players to move around a room without worrying about placing base... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2CLYxYn

Two security researchers and “white hat hackers” found a trove of unencrypted location, camera, and other data on a wrecked Tesla Model 3, according to a new report from CNBC . And while it’s not a problem unique to Tesla, the example serves as a stark reminder that newer cars can become a security risk for former owners, regardless of whether they’re sold or wrecked. The two researchers say they bought a totaled Model 3 in late 2018. When they accessed the car’s computer, they found unencrypted data from “at least 17 different devices,” according to the report. (The car had been owned by a construction company and presumably used by multiple employees.) That included 11 driver or passenger phonebooks, with numbers, email addresses, and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2UgYHRz

Google made a big goof today when, in what seemed like a relatively minor update to the connected home section of its online Google Store, it accidentally leaked the existence of a new Nest product. In the image, captured before it was taken down by Android Police , you can see Google touting the benefits of the new Nest Hub Max, as it’s called. According to additional marketing images, it seems like the device has a 10-inch HD display, a built-in Nest Camera, and stereo speakers. We don’t have too much else to go on regarding this product, and no information whatsoever on whether it’s an actual product in development (seemingly likely) or when it might be close to getting unveiled (we have no idea). Maybe it’s not a real and it will... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2FKElYP

As we start April so does a new season of anime begin, with this one slated to have over 40 shows airing in Japan. So to help cut through the information overload, we’ve culled the new season down to seven series that should appeal both to anime fans and to newcomers. Most of these shows are available for viewing internationally a day after they air in Japan, thanks to streaming services like Crunchyroll, Funimation, Netflix, and Amazon. If you like superhero action and satire One-Punch Man (Season 2) Saitama is the most powerful superhero in the world, able to defeat anything or anyone with a single punch, but nobody knows who he is. When he’s not being a superhero for fun, he spends most days alone in his apartment, planning for the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2uwGDV5

Facebook has for years explored ways to help improve mobile connectivity and bring more of the population in developed countries get online, ostensibly a humanitarian effort but more of a thinly veiled ploy to bring more people into its app ecosystem. That effort’s most visible projects have been Facebook’s Internet.org initiative, with its Free Basics and Express Wi-Fi offerings for fast-growing smartphone markets, and the discontinued Aquila project , which sought to fly large, solar-powered drones that could beam down internet much like Alphabet’s high-flying Loon helium balloons. But Facebook was working on another method in secret that involved much smaller, bird-sized fixed-wing aircraft that could be used to boost smartphone data... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2FFkngI

Power up Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2zbGMRU

Apple has canceled its AirPower wireless charger, citing difficulty in achieving the company’s “high standards” for the product, via TechCrunch . “After much effort, we’ve concluded AirPower will not achieve our high standards and we have cancelled the project. We apologize to those customers who were looking forward to this launch. We continue to believe that the future is wireless and are committed to push the wireless experience forward,” said Apple SVP of hardware engineering in a statement released to TechCrunch . The AirPower charging mat was first announced during the company’s iPhone X event back in September 2017 when Apple unveiled wireless charging as one of the new features for the iPhone X. At the time, Apple said it would... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2YBnmzq

On Wednesday, a Georgia man pleaded guilty to hacking into the Apple accounts of several famous musicians and athletes and spending thousands of dollars from the victims’ accounts. According to the Justice Department, Kwamaine Jerell Ford, 27, obtained the login credentials belonging to dozens of professional athletes, including NBA and NFL players, as well as famous rappers, through a phishing scheme. Ford sent emails from addresses pretending to be an Apple support representative. The Justice Department did not disclose who exactly was hacked. Apple received what the Justice Department cited as “hundreds” of unauthorized logins from the victims’ accounts. After receiving the login credentials, Ford would attempt to take control of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2JP1jBW

Amazon is apparently looking to follow Roku in building a free app that includes video news updates from TV networks. The Information reports that Amazon has already approached several news organizations and Verizon (owner of Yahoo News and Finance) in hopes of distributing their content through the upcoming app for its Fire TV streaming devices. As part of its free, ad-supported Roku Channel , Roku currently offers news programming from ABC News, Cheddar, Yahoo News and Finance, and other partners. Amazon might try to get a step ahead of Roku by including local news affiliates alongside those nationwide news sources, according to The Information ’s report. That could appeal to cord cutters — assuming they’re not already getting their... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2CNhCtb

I recently found myself entranced by a series of type generators — websites that allow you to create experimental animated type, then transform them into personal pieces of moving art. It’s easy to lose track of time playing with all the settings. And if you get frustrated (and I honestly don’t believe you can because they’re so fun) there are presets you can toggle to help. The mastermind behind these sites is Kiel Mutschelknaus , a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans design, animation, typography, and recently, coding. Mutschelknaus, an educator at Maryland Institute College of Art in their graphic design department, has been working on more than 30 different generators, and he’s published four online so far. He calls them Space... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2V52y12

Goodbye, nosecam Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2Ulbtyl

Drivers on strike, questions about profitability, and the looming specter of autonomous vehicles — what’s up with Lyft’s future? Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2CM4MLU

Google has removed a gay conversion therapy app from a religious group called Living Hope Ministries from the Play Store after vocal protests from a wide range of groups, including thousands of internet users , New York State Senator Brad Hoylman , and most recently, the Human Rights Campaign , as reported by Axios . The removal of the app comes just a day after Google was suspended from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index (which rates workplaces on overall LGBTQ equality) due to Google’s then-refusal to remove the app. Google is the last major tech company to remove the app : back in December, both Apple and Amazon removed the apps from their respective app stores, but the app remained live on Google’s store until this... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2FHZb9Q

A growing proportion of American adults consider vapes just as or even more dangerous than cigarettes, according to a study out today. The findings illustrate just how hard it is to accurately convey the risks of e-cigarettes, especially when public health researchers are still working out what some of those risks actually are. Part of the challenge is that the risk-benefit calculation for e-cigarettes depends on who’s using them. For adult smokers, completely switching to e-cigarettes may actually be less dangerous than smoking combustible cigarettes. But that doesn’t mean they’re completely safe: vapes haven’t been around long enough for us to know what their long-term harms might be, and at the moment, there’s little regulatory... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2OzaPIj

Disney’s 2013 production of The Lone Ranger had some serious problems. Among other things, director Gore Verbinski opted to construct his own historically accurate trains rather than modifying existing ones, or creating one from CGI, which helped send the movie wildly over budget. His version of The Lone Ranger was a poor and ultimately forgettable adaptation, mostly memorable for Johnny Depp’s assertion that his supposed Cherokee heritage and a Joann Fabric & Crafts fake crow perched atop his head gave him the right to play the character of Tonto. The Lone Ranger ’s single saving grace is, ironically, that overpriced train, the focal point of the third act’s thrilling action set piece, set to a wonderful Hans Zimmer arrangement of the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2YwM584

Two months with Respawn’s adrenaline-fueled take on battle royale Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2Ox3pFq

There are so many streaming options available these days, and so many conflicting recommendations, that it’s hard to see through all the crap you could be watching. Each Friday, The Verge’ s Cut the Crap column simplifies the choice by sorting through the overwhelming multitude of movies and TV shows on subscription services, and recommending a single perfect thing to watch this weekend. What to watch The Ones Below , a 2015 psychological thriller written and directed by prolific playwright, theater director, and TV producer David Farr. Clémence Poésy and Stephen Campbell Moore co-star as Kate and Justin, a happily married, upwardly mobile British couple who are about to have their first child when they strike up a friendship with... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2FJvPcA

LG recently announced that its new LG G8 ThinQ will be available starting April 11th to the tune of $819.99 unlocked. You can find it at your carrier for less, if you sign up for a contract, or you can check out B&H Photo’s deal . For the unlocked phone, it’s just $699.99 for the gray or black color variations. Logitech is discounting several PC accessories for Amazon’s Deal of the Day , including mice, keyboards, and webcams. We saw gaming PC accessories on sale earlier this week, and while Logitech has marked down some gaming-focused gear today, you’ll also find casual, office-friendly offerings. One of the best deals is on the Logitech MX Anywhere 2 wireless mouse . It’s rechargeable, is said to work on nearly any surface, and can pair... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2WrcG4y

‘Congestion charging is vital because the risks of gridlock are so great with AVs’ Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2OvkEa0

Instagram is testing out adding a seek bar to videos posted on people’s feeds, finally giving you access to the most basic amount of control over video playback. The feature, which was discovered by app researcher Jane Manchun Wong , could let you skip forward to a point in a video you want to watch, and rewind footage without having to restart a video entirely — you know, like every other video player has allowed you to do since the dawn of time. Instagram already includes this feature for videos posted to IGTV, but amazingly this is the first time we’ve seen it enabled for people’s regular Instagram feeds. Before you get too excited, the service does not appear to be testing the feature for videos posted as part of an Instagram story. ... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2FA8wRg

The new AirPods look and sound familiar, but have a couple new tricks Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2U71NZ9

Over the last few years, game developer Capcom has experienced something of a renaissance after largely struggling during the industry’s push into HD. 2017 saw the release of Resident Evil 7 , which shifted the long-running series to a first-person perspective, imbuing it with a new sense of horror. One year later Monster Hunter World debuted with a seamless, open-world structure that turned a once niche Japanese action series into a global phenomenon. While all of this was happening, Hideaki Itsuno was secretly working on the first new Devil May Cry game in a decade. As he watched his peers’ continued success, the director says that he was largely unaffected by the resurgence of other iconic Capcom franchises. But he admits that it... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2FLGi7h

A rare first edition copy of a Harry Potter book has sold at auction for £68,812 (around $90,000) which Design Taxi notes far exceeds its estimated valuation of £40,000 to £60,000. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was first released in 1998, in an initial run of around 500 copies, and would later go on to sell over 120 million copies worldwide. The first edition of the book is a fascinating historical record when compared to the scale of the global franchise it would go on to spawn. It contains a couple of typos including one on its rear cover where “Philosopher’s” is misspelled as “Philospher’s,” and another where a list of equipment includes a repeated line. It’s an inauspicious start to what would go on to become one of the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2TEyOXz

The ‘Future Pop’ tour is a dazzling collision of technology and choreography Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2FJtvCr

This morning, two astronauts will suit up and head outside the International Space Station for a spacewalk — but the duo isn’t exactly the one the world was hoping for. Originally, NASA had announced that today’s excursion would be performed by the two women currently on board the ISS, Anne McClain and Christina Koch, making it the first all-female spacewalk in history. But due to some last-minute logistics and suit availability on the ISS, a male astronaut, Nick Hague, is taking McClain’s place instead. When NASA first announced that today’s scheduled spacewalk would be conducted by only women, the news was met with widespread praise and excitement. Since the advent of human spaceflight, only 13 women have ever performed spacewalks, and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2uxun6v

With its latest update, Gmail’s iOS app finally lets you customize what happens when you swipe your emails. Five different actions are supported, including archiving or deleting emails, marking them as read or unread, snoozing, archiving, or moving them to a different folder. You can also assign different actions to left or right swipes. The update brings the functionality of Gmail’s iOS app into line with its Android equivalent. Until recently, the iOS app only let you archive or delete emails by swiping, and swiping in either direction would do the same thing. The update comes as part of a broader redesign announced by Google back in January. The functionality is available in the latest version of the Gmail app, which began its rollout... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2OxdB0B

In 2016, ProPublica found that Facebook was allowing advertisers to publish discriminatory housing ads , in apparent violation of the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Civil rights groups, the state of Washington , and the federal government all mobilized in protest, leading to various legal skirmishes. And then, less than two weeks ago, it appeared the long-running issue had been resolved: Facebook announced a settlement with the groups suing it , and said it would eliminate additional targeting options that could let people post discriminatory advertisements. Just when it seemed the advertising discrimination issue was behind us, here comes — Secretary Ben Carson of the Department of Housing and Urban Development ? “Facebook is discriminating... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2YAtjN1

Small satellite launcher Rocket Lab successfully pulled off its first flight of the year out of New Zealand this evening, sending an experimental communications satellite into orbit for DARPA. It marks the third commercial flight of Rocket Lab’s small Electron rocket, and the fifth flight overall for the fledgling company, which just began launching rockets in 2017. Dubbed the R3D2 mission, the flight sent up a small, 330-pound satellite into orbit, designed to test out a new kind of radio antenna. Made out of a type of material known as Kapton, the antenna is as thin as tissue paper, but able to grow in size while in space. The antenna launched on the rocket folded up inside a canister, and now that it’s in orbit, the antenna will... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2WudJkk