Latest Technology

Image: Endlesss Collaborative music-making app Endlesss is now available for iOS . The app’s been in beta for quite a long time , so newcomers will find that there’s already a community using Endlesss and sharing and discussing projects on the software’s dedicated Discord server . Even though Endlesss is a music-making app, it’s not really meant for making complete songs. It’s a collaborative “virtual musical hangout with a live chat room” that lets multiple users build and change loops of music in real time. Just select a project and start tapping out drum patterns and melodies to change up someone’s loop. You can make stuff just for yourself, but the social aspect is encouraged. Open loops where anyone can remix layers on the fly sounds like a recipe... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2R1savV

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Some days yield more deals than others, and today is one of those days. Starting things off are the Master & Dynamic MW07 Plus truly wireless headphones , which are seeing their first big discount at Best Buy. Normally $300, they’re $240 . In my review, I enjoyed their noise cancellation effect and fantastic sound performance, and they have a unique look. I considered the high price as one of their biggest weaknesses, especially since the AirPods Pro accomplish similar results for $50 less. But now that price is less of a factor (yet, these are still fairly pricey), they might be worth checking out. Peak Design’s 20-liter Everyday Backpack might not be the most useful thing to buy during a pandemic, given that most of us are... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3dIuhOO

Jumping back into a 100-hour game is a hard sell. Atlus released Persona 5 — a JRPG about teenage vigilantes with supernatural powers living in Japan — in 2017. Now, it’s created an enhanced version: Persona 5 Royal, a version that addresses the original’s problems, with new characters and gameplay tweaks. It is a natural progression, an elegant and noticeably improved version of an already great game, that also serves as a reminder of the simpler time during which it was created. The core of Persona 5 Royal remains the same: a high school kid arrives in a new city after a run-in with the law. His efforts to lie low and live a normal life are disrupted as he, and several of his fellow students, discover that they have the power to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2UNp5kh

Al Bello/Getty Images The cost of sports coming to a standstill around the world because of the novel coronavirus is somewhere in the billions of dollars. The leagues have lost revenue, and the cable networks have lost hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising revenue from not having games to carry. And sports fans have lost a sense of normalcy; for the first time in memory, there aren’t any major games airing for people to watch. But fans are still able to recreate a sense of normalcy by watching old games. And so streaming platforms, typically defined by general entertainment like movies and television, are having their big sports moment. “Normalcy is escapist,” ESPN host Mina Kimes told NPR . “That sounds crazy and contradictory, but I think it’s true... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3az9lb1

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of its beloved Mario, Nintendo is going to release multiple Super Mario classics on Switch. from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/2UJe6rO

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images As the social distancing efforts push everything from school to socializing into video chat, networks have seen huge surges in traffic — and new anxieties over how digital networks will stand up under the strain. So far, both carriers and the Federal Communications Commission insist that the country’s networks are capable of bearing the strain, particularly given the voluntary throttling instituted by many of the most bandwidth-heavy services . But recent deregulatory efforts have left the FCC with ambiguous authority over those networks, making it uncertain whether the commission will be able to intervene if federal action is needed. In a call with reporters Monday, senior FCC officials were optimistic about how the nation’s networks... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2UvKz67

Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images As the coronavirus spreads around the globe, it has mutated in tiny, subtle ways. Those mutations aren’t cause for concern , and so far, don’t appear to be making the virus any more or less dangerous. But scientists can use those slight changes to track the virus from person to person, and location to location. “If we identify a new outbreak cluster in one state, and there’s a question of whether it’s related to a previous cluster or not, the small mutational changes can help you figure out if they’re connected,” says Patrick Boyle, a synthetic biologist at Ginkgo Bioworks. The coronavirus is made up of around 29,000 building blocks of genetic material called nucleotides. Like other biotechnology companies and labs, Ginkgo has the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3axBsHN

Part of a 3D printed face shield sits on a 3D Printer | Jenny Sabin, Jenny Sabin Studio “We’re doing everything we can, and every single visor counts” Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3dKjcwU

Image: Roku Roku is today announcing the latest software update that’s coming soon to Roku streaming devices and Roku TVs. Roku OS 9.3 will expand the company’s voice command system to include Spanish language support. Spanish-speaking users can now use their voice to launch streaming apps, search for something to watch, or control media playback. In Canada, the UK, and Ireland, Roku Voice is also being improved to understand more natural speech and “new ways to find entertainment such as searching by a selection of popular movie quotes.” Image: Roku Additionally, Roku says its voice-initiated search results are getting more visual. “Roku voice search results will now be presented in a more visual, easy to browse display with... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/340Ex0I

Image: Grammarly Grammarly, a service designed to give you advice on improving your writing, is getting an add-in for Microsoft Word’s Mac app, as well as for Microsoft Word online. Previously Mac users had to use a native Grammarly app or online Grammarly Editor, or else rely on the service’s browser extension. The service already has an add-on for Microsoft Word on Windows . The announcement means Grammarly will be able to offer writing suggestions without you having to leave the Word document you’re writing on a Mac or in a browser. Suggestions will appear to the right of the page, and you can click them to have them automatically apply to your writing. As well as helping with spelling and grammar, Grammarly is also designed to help you make your... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2USqqpJ

The first Fitbit after the company was acquired by Google last fall looks... well, like every other Fitbit that came before it. And it’s apparently intentional, as the company wants to expand on one of its most popular fitness trackers that’s long due for an update. The Fitbit Charge 4 is pretty much exactly as the leaks ahead of its official announcement teased : it’s essentially the look and feel of the Charge 3 with built-in GPS, Spotify control, and other high-end features typically found on Fitbit’s smartwatches like Fitbit Pay, app notifications, smart wake, and an SpO2 sensor . The $149 tracker has a battery life of up to seven days, or up to five hours with continuous GPS use. Up to seven days of battery life, or five hours with... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2QZ16xn

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge Google has officially stopped selling its Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL smartphones, as spotted by Android Police . The product page for the phones now simply redirects to the Google Store’s homepage, with Google confirming that it has sold through its inventory (although the phone do remain available, for now, at third-party retailers like Best Buy or Walmart.) The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL were announced and released in October 2018 , with the phones praised at the time for their larger displays, excellent cameras, and clean design. The phone’s camera in particular still holds up against many of the best smartphones on sale today, although the Pixel 3 and 3 XL suffered from the same issues most of Google’s Pixel phone do — slow sales and a lack of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2xyT5bJ

Make sure you do not send any verification code you receive on your phone to anyone, no matter how close that relative or friend might be. from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/2UOawg9

Skype is missing out to Zoom and others during the coronavirus pandemic Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2UUc1tc

Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post As more people bake their blues away while stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, yeast is reportedly becoming harder to find on grocery store shelves. There’s no shame in turning to carbohydrates for comfort in times like these. But what’s one to do when a key ingredient for satisfying that craving is becoming as elusive as a roll of toilet paper? Though baker’s yeast may be dwindling in stores, more and more recipes for making it at home are popping up on Twitter. If baking is your way of taking this moment to learn something new or become more self-sufficient, coming up with your own yeast could be the next survival skill to hone. Baker’s yeast is actually just a fungus that, like me, loves eating sugar. So whether or not it’s... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/39CIJoA

Spotify Spotify’s expanding the rollout of its kids app, just as more kids are at home with nothing to do. The company announced that it’s bringing Spotify Kids to the US, Canada, and France today. The ad-free iOS / Android app is only available to Spotify Premium Family subscribers and features content appropriate for kids ages three and older. Spotify first launched the app in Ireland in October, and since then, it’s made multiple product adjustments, although the app is still considered to be in beta. In the five months since launching, Spotify says the app now has more than 8,000 songs in its catalog, an increase of 30 percent, and 50 percent of that content is localized. The app also features 60 hours of audiobooks and stories, as well as... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2UwSU9W

Game developers are coming around and encouraging indoor play and adding features to facilitate that from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/39wPSGA

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Samsung Display will stop producing LCD panels by the end of the year. The display maker currently runs two LCD production lines in South Korea and two in China, according to Reuters . Samsung tells The Verge that the decision will accelerate the company’s move towards quantum dot displays, while ZDNet reports that its future quantum dot TVs will use OLED rather than LCD panels. The decision comes as LCD panel prices are said to be falling worldwide. Last year, Nikkei reported that Chinese competitors are ramping up production of LCD screens, even as demand for TVs weakens globally. Samsung Display isn’t the only manufacturer to have closed down LCD production lines. LG Display announced it would be ending LCD production in South Korea... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3bFDIgh

Photo by Avery White / The Verge Even if you would never see yourself buying a gaming laptop, you should take the time to read Monica Chin’s review of the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. There are a lot — I mean a LOT — of remarkable things about this laptop. First and foremost, it is running on the AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS chip, which runs at 35W with 8 cores at 3.0 GHz that can boost up to 4.4 GHz. In context, what that actually means is that it outclasses anything Intel has put into a laptop to date. I’ve been anticipating this release ever since Nilay Patel interviewed AMD CEO Lisa Su earlier this year. She talked big game then, and by all accounts her company has delivered. What’s most remarkable about this laptop is that by gaming laptop standards it is absolutely thin and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3bE5KIT

A near-perfect city bike with innovative ‘Click & Roll’ accessory system Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3arKhCV

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Last week, we talked about the case for the government using location data gleaned from our smartphones to manage the response to the COVID-19 pandemic . Taiwan, Israel, and England have all been using location data in various ways to understand the spread of the disease and, in some cases, enforce orders requiring citizens to isolate themselves. Any such project comes with the risk that temporary infringements on our privacy will become permanent. I expected the debate about location data might unfold over the next few weeks as the coronavirus reaches more communities and its death toll surges. Instead, though, the United States government just went ahead and started analyzing our smartphone location data. The data is reportedly being... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2JvHFb6

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Huawei’s revenue grew by 19.1 percent last year to around $121 billion, but the company says those numbers would be far higher if the United States had not cracked down on its ability to do business. Due to a trade ban initially ordered last May , Huawei is unable to acquire US parts and software or sell its products in the US. That has cut the company out of an important market and hurt its ability to compete outside of China. “The consumer business has been the major business for our growth,” said Vincent Pang, president of Huawei’s western Europe business, in a call with reporters to discuss the company’s 2019 financial results. He called 2019 a “big challenge” for the company. “That gave us a quite a big difficulty.” While Huawei... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2xGxM7R

Sony is the latest movie studio to announce major changes to its release slate due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as reported by Variety . Tentpole movies like Uncharted , Ghostbusters: Afterlife , and Peter Rabbit 2 are all seeing big delays, leaving Kevin Hart’s Fatherhood as the only major title on Sony’s 2020 schedule — and that was itself brought forward to October from January. The upcoming third Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man movie appears to be unaffected; the Far from Home sequel’s release date was already set as July 16, 2021. Sony’s planned July 2020 movies, Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Jared Leto’s Morbius , have both been moved into next March. Greyhound – TBD (from 6/12/2020) Fatherhood – 10/23/2020 (from 1/15/2021) Peter... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3bESOCM

This online library hosts a collection of more than 1.4 million copyrighted e-books that you can access for free, till June 30 at least. from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/2Jsu5pa

Now that people are finding themselves working remotely or setting up virtual parties to chat with friends and family while maintaining social distance, Zoom is quickly becoming the go-to source for those gatherings. But when you spend days quarantining at home, cleaning up for a Zoom call might be the last thing on your mind. Verge reviews editor Barbara Krasnoff has already told you how you can make use of Zoom’s custom background tool to hide messy backdrops or running children and pets. But if you need some resources on what backgrounds to use as your virtual teleconferencing room, here are a few places to browse, plus some of The Verge staff’s favorites. Canva Canva is a design resource service, and it’s offered several free... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2QWp5NH

Photo by Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images At 10AM ET on March 30th, the US Navy’s gigantic floating hospital ship, the USNS Comfort, arrived in New York City where it has been sent to help relieve the pressure on the city’s hospitals that are overwhelmed with coronavirus patients. The Comfort’s 1,000 beds and 12 operating rooms will largely be used for non-coronavirus patients, freeing up much-needed space at the city’s overtaxed hospitals. The ship is typically used to support military campaigns and humanitarian crises abroad, along with earthquake and hurricane relief. Most recently, it was deployed to Latin America, helping countries with inadequate health care systems. It was last stationed in New York City after the 9/11 terrorist attacks where it helped treat hundreds of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/39uLdoO

Image: Stack Overflow Stack Overflow, the popular question and answer site for developers and software engineers, announced a new dark mode today. The company says the mode has been the site’s most upvoted feature request ever . It looks like, well, a dark mode. Here’s a screenshot, provided by Stack Overflow: Image: Stack Overflow You can turn on dark mode by clicking on your profile, “Edit profile and settings,” and “preferences,” the company tells The Verge . Making dark mode took almost a year, but work accelerated on it earlier this year after an engineer had an idea to launch an “ultra dark mode” as a joke at an internal hackathon, the company says . Work on the ultra dark mode contributed to the actual dark mode that’s here today. The... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3avHp86

Fans will get an opportunity to play Riot’s Overwatch -meets- Counter-Strike game Valorant very soon: today, the developer announced that a closed beta will be launching on April 7th. It’s not clear just how big the beta will be or how long it will last, but Riot says that prospective players will need to link their Riot and Twitch accounts to be eligible. “When closed beta activates in your region, watch specific Valorant streams highlighted on Twitch for the opportunity to be entitled for closed beta access,” the developer explains. (Check out the official site for full details.) “We have to focus on the regions where we feel most ready.” The beta won’t be entirely global, at least not at launch. Instead, it will be available to players... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2QR9I9h

Microsoft made a bunch of announcements today that included new features for its productivity apps including Teams and Chromium-based Edge browser from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/2w0vpwr

The tech giant is investing $25 million as direct grants and $75 million as additional marketing spend from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/2xyRClG

LockPickingLawyer (YouTube) Tapplock, a company that makes fingerprint-verified locks, has had a rough time with its locks’ security. The company’s flagship lock, which has been available since 2019, is apparently easy to pop open with a magnet. YouTuber LockPickingLawyer published a video last week showing how he could use a powerful magnet to turn the motor inside the Tapplock One Plus, causing it to open. The entire process takes less than 30 seconds. The Tapplock One Plus costs $99 and features a fingerprint sensor. It also has built-in Bluetooth, so people can unlock it using an app. In response to the video, Tapplock commented: “Wow! Shout out to LPL for finding this exploit. Working on a fix with magnetic shielding, will be back.” This is a commendable... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/39uBu1M

Microsoft is unveiling its new Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions today, which are designed to replace and enhance existing Office 365 consumer plans. Much like the Office 365 Personal and Home subscriptions that exist today, Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans will be available on April 21st, priced at $6.99 per month for Personal (one person) and $9.99 a month for a Family (up to six people) subscription. Both options will include access to Office, and new features will gradually roll out in the months ahead. Microsoft 365 plans add two new features that will roll out in preview in the coming months: a new Microsoft Family Safety app and new features in Microsoft Teams for consumers. The new Microsoft Family Safety app... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2QWEXQp

ICICI Bank has launched banking services on WhatsApp for its account holders and here are all the details from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/2ULZKah

Dominic Toretto’s 1970 Dodge Charger is one of the most iconic cars in the Fast and Furious franchise, and soon, it’ll be available as a Lego set. The model is a part of Lego’s Technic line, which means that it won’t just look cool; it will also include some moving parts. The car comes decked out with a replica V8 engine and a bottle of NOS (nitrous oxide) in the back — which is important if your goal is to try to race a model train to really set up the mood of the first film. Adding Dominic Toretto’s car (which, in case you’ve forgotten, is the one that he was scared to drive until he really needed to at the end of the first Fast and Furious movie) to the Lego family might seem odd. The Fast and Furious franchise isn’t exactly... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/39vsfyr

Photo by Kelly West / AFP / Getty Images 3D-printed firearms company Defcad has released a trove of gun-making blueprints, only to approved US residents. According to The Wall Street Journal , Defcad is selling access for a $50 annual fee, which director Cody Wilson describes as a “Netflix for guns” model. The company has temporarily released blueprints before. Under the Obama administration, the plan ran afoul of International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) rules that prevent exporting weapons abroad. The Trump administration offered significantly more leeway, but its approval has been tied up in legal battles. Now, Wilson tells the Journal that he’s vetting everyone who wants to access the files, using geolocation and other technical measures to ensure they’re located in... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2UuHxzd

The follow-up to Resident Evil 2 is a lot less substantial Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2Jnn7S7

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge At Best Buy, Amazon’s Echo Show 8 comes in a two-pack for $130, the usual cost for just one of these smart displays. To take advantage of this deal, head to this page and simply add two of them to your cart, and feel free to mix up the colors. The Echo Show 8 earned the distinction of being t he best smart display for most people in our buying guide. Up against the Google Nest Hub lineup, the Echo Show 8 offers the most features, even if it misses out on a few exclusive ones that you can only find in Google’s smart display. It offers good sound, a sharp display, and while it supports video chatting with its built-in camera, you can easily turn off the camera with the privacy shutter. Target is hosting a buy two, get one... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3ayKV1u

Image: @OnLeaks and iGeeksBlog The OnePlus 8 will be announced on April 14th during an online live stream, the company announced today. OnePlus says the lineup will consist of a “full series of 5G devices,” and there will be a handset with a 120Hz display in the lineup, up from the 90Hz displays found on some of its phones last year. Two main devices are expected to be launched at the event, the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro, although recent reports have claimed that they may be joined by a cheaper third device called the “OnePlus Z.” Beyond the official details provided by OnePlus about its new devices, there have been a number of leaks and rumors about what the company plans to introduce in its eighth generation of phones. Reports have claimed that the devices will finally... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3408q18

Asus and AMD have put Intel on notice Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2wEqotT

Acer has announced that it will release a new version of its Aspire 5 laptop this year, powered by AMD’s Ryzen 5 4500U mobile chip. The company has also revealed the release date for its Ryzen-powered Swift 3 . With both lines, Acer aims to provide fairly slim products at an affordable price; reviewers often note that the devices look and feel more expensive than they are. The U-Series, which both laptops incorporate, is designed for ultraportable devices. Acer The upcoming Acer Swift 3 The 14-inch Swift 3 includes the 15W Ryzen 7 4700U, with eight cores, eight threads, and 2.0 GHz base speeds that can boost up to 4.1 GHz. It’s comprised of an aluminum chassis and a magnesium-aluminum lid; the company... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3aFXnfK

TRAI has also sought details of the steps being taken to ensure availability of uninterrupted telecom services to customers on a “priority basis”. from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/39xgTtE

Gocycle’s e-bikes are being offered as part of the plan. | Image: Gocycle Key National Health Service (NHS) workers in London are being offered a three-month e-bike loan to help them commute to work while social distancing. There are currently 20 Gocycle GS loaner e-bikes available, with more brands like Raleigh soon to join. The e-bikes and Abus locks and helmets are being distributed as part of a plan being organized by London-based e-bike retailer Fully Charged. Interested NHS workers can register their interest on this Fully Charged page , which also calls on other bike manufacturers and sponsors to pledge their support. Not only will free e-bikes reduce commuting costs for essential workers, but it will also help them avoid having to travel in close proximity to others on public transit. Transport for... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2QQxBOf

The Indian government has included telecom, Internet services, broadcasting, cable services, IT and ITES under essential services for now from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/3dFXqdC

Illustration by James Bareham / The Verge Facebook has pledged to invest $100 million in the news industry at a time when the ongoing coronavirus pandemic means that accurate reporting is more important than ever. $25 million will be provided in grant funding for local news through the Facebook Journalism Project , while the remaining $75 million will come in the form of “additional marketing spend” to worldwide news organizations. Publishers are expected to be hit hard by the economic fallout of the novel coronavirus outbreak. The advertising revenue that many publishers rely on is being squeezed, as companies slash marketing budgets amidst financial uncertainty. Research firm eMarketer has lowered its growth projections for worldwide media ad spend by 3 percent, S... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3bCmMHv

The Chapter 2, Season 2 iteration made players participate in Fortnite’s longest battle royale season in its history. What happened as a result was that players moved to other games. from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/2vZGsWH

Introduced during I/O 2019, Google had added more things (animals and even planets) to the list since. Also, right now, it’ a great way to keep the kids occupied from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/3ay15Is

Dieter Bohn/The Verge Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Chromebook finally has an official release date. You’ll be able to buy it at Samsung and Best Buy next Monday, April 6th, starting at $999. The device comes in Mercury Gray, or the bolder Fiesta Red that looks bright orange in some settings. It’s the first Chromebook to sport a 13.3-inch 4K OLED display. It also has a more powerful processor than most Chromebooks, an Intel 10th-generation chip. It includes 8GB of RAM (LPDDR3) and a 256GB SSD as well. When we first saw the device back in January , Samsung indicated that there’d be additional configurations available, featuring up to 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD. The company seems to have killed those models, however; the base model is now the only variant available. V... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2WZQL7Y

HQ Trivia is being resurrected just a little over one month after co-founder Rus Yusupov announced that the app was shutting down . A push notification went out to HQ Trivia players letting them know a new game will go live tonight at 9PM ET. The notification was followed by a tweet by co-founder Rus Yusupov confirming the return . A source close to the company confirmed to The Verge the app is officially back, meaning this isn’t just a one-off event. Episodes will begin to air more regularly in the future, but the schedule is currently up in the air as things are figured out., The company has been acquired by a private investor who has asked not to be named, the source also confirmed. First launched in 2017, HQ Trivia briefly became one... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2X3VCW7

Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images On the eve of a planned work stoppage by its shoppers, Instacart said today it would distribute independently-developed hand sanitizer to its shoppers. Instacart shoppers are planning to refuse new orders Monday because they say the grocery delivery company has not done enough to protect them during the coronavirus outbreak. The strike is still on, the workers said in a statement today , calling Instacart’s response a “sick joke.” One of the shoppers’ demands was for Instacart to provide protective gear such as hand sanitizer, but organizers also want the company to add a $5-per-order hazard payment and expand its sick leave policy. “Given the broad supply chain shortages for supplies like hand sanitizer, Instacart worked with a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2UM5H7e

WinFuture.de/Roland Quandt A pair of leaks shows renders for the upcoming OnePlus 8 series that include a slate of new colors, including a purplish-red one called Interstellar Glow. WinFuture and Ishan Agarwal both posted images of the new colors, which also include a Glacial Green and Onyx Black, according to Agarwal. #OnePlus8 Official Renders have leaked! I know what the marketing name for these colours will be: -Interstellar Glow -Glacial Green -Onyx Black Looks amazing in my opinion! What do you think? Source: @rquandt / https://t.co/sd7Pw4nGHg pic.twitter.com/FWMlSuZzii — Ishan Agarwal (@ishanagarwal24) March 29, 2020 It’s not clear whether all the new colors will be available for the OnePlus 8 Pro and the OnePlus 8, but a previous leak showed renders with... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2xtokVr

Photo by James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The Food and Drug Administration has approved the limited use of a process that would clean much-needed N95 protective face masks and allow them to be reused, the agency said in a release . Columbus-Ohio based Battelle uses a “vapor phase hydrogen peroxide” process to decontaminate the masks being used by healthcare providers and others to protect against the spread of COVID-19. Battelle says its Critical Care Decontamination Systems could decontaminate up to 80,000 masks per day. But the FDA is restricting the number of masks that Battelle can decontaminate with its process to 10,000 per day. From the FDA release: Battelle is authorized to decontaminate up to 10,000 compatible N95 respirators per day, consistent with the data provided... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2R9V1OT

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is seeing a massive increase in demand for its cloud services during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. “We have seen a 775 percent increase of our cloud services in regions that have enforced social distancing or shelter in place orders,” explains a Microsoft Azure blog post . This increase in demand includes Windows Virtual Desktop usage growing more than three times, and record numbers across Microsoft Teams, Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Live, and Mixer. Microsoft has started tweaking its cloud services accordingly. “To streamline moderation and ensure the best experience for our community, we’re making small adjustments,” says an Xbox support note . “We’ve temporarily turned off the ability to upload custom gamerpics, club pics, and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/39tm0uK

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. Growing up, I played a lot of educational games on the Apple IIe, like Oregon Trail and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? The games that actually taught me things were also the ones that were fun to play, learning how a particular subject aligned with how you needed to think about getting better at the game. The Carmen Sandiego games were particularly good at this: improving meant teaching yourself more about the locations or places in time where the thief could have fled to in order to better discern the clues. In a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3dDP2va

The 2020 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit has been canceled as FEMA officials prepare to use its venue, the TCF Center, as a temporary field hospital for COVID-19, CNBC reports . “Although we are disappointed, there is nothing more important to us than the health, safety and well-being of the citizens of Detroit and Michigan, and we will do what we can to support our community’s fight against the coronavirus outbreak,” Rod Alberts, executive director of the show, said in a statement announcing the decision. As of Saturday Michigan had at least 4,650 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 111 deaths, according to the Detroit Free Press . Tickets for the show will be refunded . The next NAIAS is scheduled for June 2021. N... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2xAmIJK

For all the debate over whether the best coffee comes from a Chemex or a French press or an AeroPress , sometimes you just want to turn on a machine and let it do all the work. We asked 14 coffee experts — baristas, roasters, food-industry professionals, and just plain coffee snobs — what coffee makers out there will give you a good, simple at-home brew without all the fuss. Below are their eight favorite machines for people who think the best part of waking up is having a gadget make their cup. Best overall coffee maker Bonavita Connoisseur 8-Cup One-Touch Coffee Maker According to our research, the Bonavita Connoisseur is respected industry-wide, with four experts recommending the model specifically by name and two... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2vXKGhx

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge US government officials are using cellphone location data from the mobile ad industry —not data from the carriers themselves— to track Americans’ movements during the coronavirus outbreak, the Wall Street Journal reports . The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with state and local governments have received cell phone data about people in areas of “geographic interest,” the WSJ reports. The goal is to create a government portal with geolocation information from some 500 cities across the country, to help ascertain how well people are complying with stay-at-home orders, according to the WSJ . One example of how the anonymized data was reportedly used: Researchers discovered large numbers of people were gathering in a New... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2yfiAip

Photo by Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images for Rent the Runway Rent the Runway, a popular clothing rental brand, laid off its entire retail staff via Zoom yesterday. The company, which primarily operates online, has brick and mortar locations in California, New York, Chicago, and Washington DC. All stores are currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the company is not sure when or if they will be able to reopen. During a Zoom meeting with retail staff, a company executive said the business has been forced to “dramatically reassess” its current operations in order to sustain the business. “All teams at RTR are being impacted in some way today,” she added. “With the current uncertainty and continued government restrictions that are aimed to protect public health during this unprecedented... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3dB94X9

Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York will postpone its April 28th presidential primary election until June 23rd, as the Empire State deals with the largest coronavirus outbreak in the US, the New York Times reports . “I don’t think it’s wise to be bringing a lot of people to one location to vote, a lot of people touching one doorknob, a lot of people touching one pen,” Cuomo said during a news conference Saturday. New York’s primary for state legislative and congressional elections already is scheduled for June 23rd. The Democratic National Committee had warned states that postponing their primaries later than June 9th could result in penalties, including a possible reduction of delegates. Ten states and Puerto Rico have rescheduled their... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2QUBaD7

Proprietary corporate data is being accessed from laptops and home PCs that in most cases do not have the same level of firewall and security as in-office setups from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/2WTPfV1

The much-awaited 5G model of the iPhone is going to be delayed due to supply shortage, closed factories etc from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/2vUu1eA

Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Video conferencing app Zoom updated its iOS app Friday to remove code that sent user data to Facebook, Motherboard reports . The update follows Motherboard ’s analysis of the app, which showed it was sending data to Facebook such as a user’s time zone and city, when a user opened the app, and details about the user’s device, even if the user didn’t have a Facebook account. The extent of the data-sharing was not clearly spelled out in Zoom’s privacy policy, according to Motherboard. According to a blog post by Zoom CEO Eric S. Yuan , Zoom implemented its “Login with Facebook” feature using Facebook’s software development kit (SDK) for iOS. On March 25th, the company says it was made aware “ that the Facebook SDK was collecting device... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3bB8EOP

Abbott’s ID NOW system. | Abbott A new COVID-19 test from the medical device company Abbott can return positive results in five minutes — and it can be run in a doctor’s office. The test was approved for emergency use in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration last night. The test uses Abbott’s small, portable ID NOW platform, and doesn’t have to be sent to a central lab for analysis. Instead, it can be done directly in an emergency room or urgent care clinic, which could cut down on the days-long wait time some patients now face for test results. Doctors could take a swab from a patient’s nose or throat and insert it directly into the machine, and have results within 15 minutes (it can take up to 13 minutes if the sample is negative for the virus). T... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2wzE7Cc

WhatsApp has restricted status videos to 15 seconds now. You will no longer be able to upload videos longer than 15 seconds. The earlier limit for status video upload was 30 seconds. from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/343dDFv

Photo: Amazon Studios I’d completely expected to be writing a note this week about how the COVID-19 pandemic has largely shut down trailer production, but it turns out, my assumption was wrong. While things have certainly slowed down, streaming services are almost singlehandedly keeping up the new releases. If anything, this is a great moment for them to debut a new show or series since everyone is stuck indoors. That said, we’ll see how long this lasts. Productions are being shut down for health reasons, and it seems like every major movie coming out in the next couple of months is being delayed. So there may come a point where the backlog of content thins out. I certainly suspect it’ll be a bit before we see any trailers for tentpole films. For now, it’s a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/33QW9vP

Image: OneWeb Space exploration firm OneWeb has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, GeekWire reports , leaving uncertainty about the 74 satellites it has in orbit and its plans to provide high-speed internet from space. In a news release, OneWeb said it plans to use the bankruptcy proceedings to pursue a sale of the company. “While the company was close to obtaining financing, the process did not progress because of the financial impact and market turbulence related to the spread of COVID-19,” according to the news release, which also mentioned that the company was “forced to reduce our workforce.” It did not indicate how many people may have been laid off. Last Saturday, OneWeb successfully launched 34 satellites on a Soyuz rocket from... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3dxgpaa

Curfew passes are being issued only for essential services and here’s how you can get one from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/3dBCZOY

The latest Windows 10 update has a bug that might restrict many apps from accessing the internet entirely and slow down connectivity performance significantly. Don’t update your systems from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/2JqZvvT

With most us working from home now, and self-isolating to stop coronavirus from spreading, there is more than enough pressure on the internet connection at home. from Hindustan Times - tech https://ift.tt/2WQW4GS

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images Google has banned the Infowars Android app from the Google Play store, the company confirmed to Wired on Friday . Google also confirmed the app’s removal to The Verge , and we couldn’t find the Infowars app in a search on the Play Store this evening. The app was apparently removed because of a video posted by radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that, according to Wired , “disputed the need for social distancing, shelter in place, and quarantine efforts meant to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.” Before it was removed, the app had more than 100,000 downloads, Wired reports. “Now more than ever, combating misinformation on the Play Store is a top priority for the team” “Now more than ever, combating misinformation on the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2JhlgOW