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Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Earlier this week during Apple’s earnings call, CEO Tim Cook said that the iPad had experienced its most successful June quarter in nearly a decade. And now IDC is out with its latest worldwide shipment figures that underline Apple’s commanding lead over the tablet competition. After refreshing the iPad Air in 2020 and launching an upgraded iPad Pro earlier this year, Apple is next expected to update the iPad Mini . IDC estimates that Apple shipped 12.9 million iPads in the second quarter. Its nearest competition is Samsung, which hit 8 million shipments. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S7 tablets offer fantastic hardware and punchy OLED screens, but they remain hamstrung by Android’s less-than-stellar selection of tablet apps. Lenovo, which... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/31/22603371/apple-ipad-tablet-shipments-samsung-amazon-q2-2021

Image: Google Google has recently been selling a combo-package of the Stadia Controller and 2020 Chromecast as a limited-time promotion. But as spotted by 9to5Google , the company has now made the pair a permanent bundle that it’s calling the “play and watch” package. For $99.99, you get both the controller and streaming dongle. That’s a savings of $19 compared to buying both products separately. Google is also promoting the Chromecast ethernet adapter as a recommended accessory; if you want the absolute best Stadia experience, it’s probably a smart buy — and it’s a mere $9.99 ($10 off) when purchased alongside the bundle. In an effort to clear out inventory of the old, puck-shaped Chromecast Ultra, Google is discounting its Stadia Premiere Edition... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/31/22603498/google-stadia-controller-chromecast-play-watch-bundle

Photo by Bernd Muller/Redferns The official video for Rick Astley’s 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up” has surpassed 1 billion plays on YouTube. The song became a lasting part of internet culture thanks to the Rickroll meme and reached the impressive milestone a couple days ago. Astley took to the video’s comments to share his gratitude, saying “amazing, crazy, wonderful!” In a video posted to Instagram, he added “the world is a wonderful and beautiful place, and I am very lucky.” With some songs having crossed as many as 7 billion views in recent years, the 1 billion club isn’t quite as prestigious as it once was. But the achievement goes to show the staying power of the Rickroll prank. The video hit daily views of 2.3 million on April Fools Day, according to B... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/31/22603429/rick-astley-never-gonna-give-you-up-1-billion-youtube

Nanoleaf’s canvas light panels are easy to set up and can display more than 16 million colors. | Image: Nanoleaf If you like your lighting to be on the adventurous side, rest assured that Nanoleaf’s canvas light panels aren’t made to be subtle. The touch-sensitive squares are flashy and versatile, with the ability to display more than 16 million colors and a modular design that lets you place them in a variety of patterns. The bright LED panels also work with all the major smart home platforms, and can cycle through a number of preset colors or respond to sound when in “Rhythm Mode,” a feature that’s just as suited for the ambient noise outside your bedroom as your favorite record. Right now, Costco members can purchase Nanoleaf’s Canvas Light Panel smarter pack with nine panels and everything needed to get started for $50, one of the better prices... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/good-deals/2021/7/31/22601889/nanoleaf-canvas-light-panels-razer-nari-essentia...

Image: Telegram Telegram has announced the latest new features and improvements making their way to the popular messaging app. Video is the focus this time around. After launching group video calls last month , those sessions are now able to tally up to 1,000 viewers. The maximum number of people able to participate and broadcast to the video call remains at 30, but you can have quite the audience now for “anything from online lectures to live rap battles,” according to the company. Video messages will also now come through at a higher resolution, and you can tap them for a larger view of the clip. When recording your own video messages, Telegram says that audio from your device will now keep playing as you do so, “so you can now sing along to your... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/31/22603331/telegram-group-video-calls-1000-viewers-new-features

Illustration by Ari Liloan for The Verge Digital fan clubs are turning into single-purpose social networks Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/22589460/kpop-fan-cafe-weverse-universe-lysn-bts-idol-fandom-group

If you’re invested in the story of Master Chief, Cortana, and the fate of the Halo universe, you might want to keep your head down and start muting some keywords on social media until Halo Infinite arrives later this year — because vast spoilers for the game’s entire story are now floating around on the internet. Note: we’ll be keeping this post spoiler-free, though . Halo Infinite creative director Joseph Staten confirmed on Twitter that Microsoft accidentally leaked “a small number of Halo Infinite campaign files” when it launched the game’s first multiplayer beta yesterday on July 29th , saying it “can ruin the campaign experience for everyone.” Leaks like this are painful for the dev team and can ruin the campaign experience for... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/30/22602811/halo-infinite-story-spoiler-leak-cortana-technical-preview

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge More disturbing allegations of Activision Blizzard’s reported culture of sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination have been reported in recent days, following a huge lawsuit filed against the company by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) last week . Details in these stories may be challenging to read, so we are prefacing them with a content warning for descriptions of sexual harassment . On Thursday, The New York Times posted a story of extremely distressing accounts of Activision Blizzard’s culture. Here is one from Shay Stein, a former customer service employee: Ms. Stein, 28, who worked at Activision from 2014 to 2017 in a customer service role, helping gamers with problems and glitches, said she... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/30/22602655/activision-blizzard-employees-accusations-allegations-lawsuit

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter is holding a competition in hopes that hackers and researchers will be able to identify biases in its image cropping algorithm — and it’s going to be handing out cash prizes to winning teams ( via Engadget ). Twitter is hoping that giving teams access to its code and image cropping model will let them find ways that the algorithm could be harmful (such as it cropping in a way that stereotypes or erases the image’s subject). Those competing will have to submit a description of their findings , and a dataset that can be run through the algorithm to demonstrate the issue. Twitter will then assign points based on what kind of harms are found, how much it could potentially affect people, and more. The winning team will be awarded... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/30/22602553/twitter-image-cropping-algorithm-bias-competition-bounty-def-con

Decentralized social network Mastodon now has an official iPhone app. The nonprofit behind Mastodon launched the app on iOS today, supplementing an existing web version and several third-party apps for iOS, Android, and other platforms. The app is free and offers a similar feature set to Mastodon’s core service, although it doesn’t include Mastodon’s broad local and federated timelines. Mastodon describes the app as particularly geared toward getting new users on board the nontraditional social platform. As we’ve outlined before , Mastodon looks similar to Twitter but is built around independently run communities (and the ActivityPub protocol) rather than a single central network. You can create your account on a community of your choice... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/30/22602275/mastodon-decentralized-social-network-official-ios-app-launches

A rendering of what the “Victorian Big Battery” will look like when completed. | Image: Neoen A Tesla Megapack caught fire today during initial testing of a highly anticipated new utility-scale battery in Victoria, Australia. Luckily, there were no injuries or disruptions to the local electricity supply, CNBC reports. The blaze posed no risk of spreading to the nearby community, according to Bloomberg , but it did trigger a toxic smoke warning for residents who were told to stay indoors, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The cause of the fire is still unclear. JUST IN: Fire crews are currently on the scene of a battery fire at Moorabool, near Geelong. Firefighters are working to contain the fire and stop it spreading to the nearby batteries. https://t.co/5zYfOfohG3 #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/HAkFY27JgQ — 7NEWS Melbourne... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/30/22602411/neoen-tesla-megapack-fire-victorian-big-battery

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, Nilay and Dieter bring back Verge managing editor Alex Cranz and Verge news editor Chaim Gartenberg to chat about the headlines. It’s earnings week once again. Unsurprisingly, all of the big tech companies made a lot of money this past quarter. Our podcast crew dives into the numbers behind the profits of Google, Microsoft, Samsung, Amazon, and Apple and what it means for each business’s future goals. The show also dedicates some time to discuss Intel’s business. Chaim leads the discussion after writing a... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/30/22602434/earnings-apple-intel-nothing-earbuds-vergecast-podcast-460

Smoke rises over the mountains in Lytton, as firefighters battle the fires in British Columbia, July 6, 2021. | Photo by Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images The devastating heatwave that struck the Northwest US and southwest Canada in June was “the most extreme summer heatwave” ever recorded in North America, according to a new analysis from nonprofit research group Berkeley Earth. That’s based on the magnitude of the heatwave, or how much warmer it was than normal. Record temperatures in the region reached roughly 20 degrees Celsius (or 36 °F) hotter than average in June. Canada recorded its hottest temperature ever on June 29th when the village of Lytton in British Columbia reached an astonishing 49.6 degrees Celsius (121 degrees Fahrenheit). Typical temperatures there in June are closer to 20 to 30 degrees Celsius (68 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit). The consequences of that heat are... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/30/22602208/june-he...

The ridiculous sounds of social sites Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/30/22587544/instagram-twitter-tiktok-accessibility-blind-low-vision

Photo By: Will Heath/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images Elon Musk has had a busy Friday on Twitter. After flatly denying that he has ever spoken to Apple CEO Tim Cook in response to a wild story alleging he demanded to take over as the company’s CEO as part of an acquisition offer, Musk has now tweeted his support of Epic Games’ fight against Apple over App Store policies. “Apple app store fees are a de facto global tax on the Internet,” he said . “Epic is right.” Apple app store fees are a de facto global tax on the Internet. Epic is right. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2021 Epic is currently embroiled in a legal battle with Apple , arguing that its App Store rules, which allow Apple to take a 30 percent commission on many transactions on the App Store, are unfair and anti-competitive. P... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/30/22602231/elon-musk-apple-app-store-fees-de-facto-global-tax-internet-tim-sweeney-epic-games

Tesla CEO Elon Musk reportedly demanded to become Apple’s CEO in a 2016 phone call with current Apple CEO Tim Cook, according to an upcoming book about Tesla. The story, shared by the Los Angeles Times , comes from Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century by The Wall Street Journal reporter Tim Higgins. As the book tells it, Cook suggested to Musk that Apple acquire Tesla, and Musk said he wanted to be CEO. Cook reportedly agreed, but Musk clarified that he wanted to be the CEO of Apple. “According to a former aide who heard (Musk’s) retelling of the exchange,” Cook said “Fuck you” before hanging up the phone. But Musk and Apple have both suggested that the conversation couldn’t have happened because Musk and Cook have... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/30/22602017/elon-musk-tim-cook-apple-ceo-demand-tesla-acquisition

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The sweeping federal antitrust case against Google has given rise to a significant fight over data held by Microsoft, and the company is now facing a subpoena for millions of documents that could shed light on its attempts to compete with Google’s search engine. Having initially cooperated with prosecutors in building an antitrust case against Google, Microsoft could be obligated to produce millions more documents at the request of Google’s defense team. At a status hearing on Friday morning, Judge Amit Mehta heard arguments from both Google and Microsoft on the issue, but ultimately found more information was required before the court could give guidance as to how much internal data Microsoft would be required to produce. “No third... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/30/22601166/us-google-antitrust-case-microsoft-document-discovery

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images Blue Origin’s protest against NASA’s decision to pick just one company to build its first human lunar lander in decades was denied by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the watchdog agency said Friday, also denying a similar protest from Dynetics. The decision keeps Blue Origin’s rival SpaceX the sole winner of NASA’s lucrative Moon lander program and hands a loss to Jeff Bezos, whose space company waged a months-long fight to win the same funding. In a formal protest filed in April, Bezos’ Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics had accused NASA of running afoul of contracting law when the agency shelved their proposals and gave Elon Musk’s SpaceX a lone $3 billion contract to land a crew of humans on the Moon by 2024. NASA... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/30/22602082/nasa-gao-spacex-blue-origin-dynetics-lunar-lander

Photo: Marvel Studios How the team at Digital Domain destroyed a world Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/22601899/loki-lamentis-special-effects-interview-marvel-disney-plus

Normally $50 a pop, BuyDig is offering a trio of Google Nest Minis for nearly 60 percent off. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Like Amazon’s Echo Dot , the Google Nest Mini is a miniature take on the larger smart speakers that came before it. The compact device doesn’t boast the same sound quality as the Nest Audio , but it's impressive for its size, especially when mounted to a wall or placed in a smaller room. What’s more, it packs backlit volume buttons and many of the same features that have come to define the category, including the ability to answer voice queries, control your smart home, and play music, adding to its overall versatility. If you’re already tapped into the Google ecosystem or are looking for an inexpensive way to strew audio throughout your home, BuyDig is currently offering a three-pack of Google Nest Minis on eBay for $64 , significantly... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/good-deals/2021/7/30/22600005/google-nest-mini-smart-speake...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple is a notoriously secretive company, and a cease and desist letter recently acquired by Motherboard sheds new light on exactly why, arguing that leaks harm accessory makers, consumers, and Apple itself. The C&D order reportedly sent to a Chinese citizen by Apple’s lawyers in China, says that leaks about Apple’s iPhone dimensions could mislead case manufacturers, who might make accessories that are incompatible with the final product. As Apple puts it, “third-party accessory manufacturers may develop and sell mobile phone cases and other accessories that are not actually compatible with the unreleased products.” Motherboard notes that the market for Apple accessories is estimated to be worth almost $20 billion worldwide. “The secret... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/30/22601564/apple-leak-phone-cases-cease-and-desist-trade-secrets

Photo credit should read JULIO CESAR AGUILAR/AFP via Getty Images The Beatles seminal Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is set to receive another Dolby Atmos mix, after producer Giles Martin, son of the album’s original producer George Martin, admitted that the current version “doesn’t sound quite right.” The current mix, produced by the younger Martin in 2017, was made with Dolby Atmos theaters in mind, rather than personal listening via services like Apple Music. “I’m gonna replace it,” the said the two time Grammy winner to Rolling Stone . “It’s good. But it’s not right.” The current Atmos mix of the album was created to coincide with its 50th anniversary in 2017 . At the time, it was designed to be played in Dolby Atmos cinemas at a series of live listening events. But now that it is available... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/30/22601508/the-beatles-dolby-atmos-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-remix-mono-stereo-apple-music

An AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT GPU from Asus | Image: AMD AMD has a new entry-level RX 6000-series GPU: the $379 RX 6600 XT, which is still based on the same RDNA 2 architecture as its beefier cousins, but it offers a more wallet-friendly price point. The new card promises the “ultimate 1080p gaming experience,” for customers who don’t necessarily need a next-gen 4K gaming setup. At a suggested retail price of $379 (AMD isn’t selling its own version of the card), the RX 6600 XT slots at an even cheaper price point than the $479 RX 6700 XT that the company released earlier this year, which targeted 1440p gaming. The RX 6600 XT features 32 compute units, 8GB of GDDR6 RAM, a 2359 MHz base clock, 2589 MHz boosted clock, and draws 160W of power. For comparison, the top-of-the-line RX 6900 XT 80... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22600015/amd-radeon-rx-6600-xt-gpu-1080p-gaming-379-price-release-date

Photo Illustration by Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Following a prolonged standoff between Dish Network and AT&T over licensing terms to carry HBO channels, Dish has reached an agreement with WarnerMedia to offer HBO, HBO Max, and Cinemax. Dish TV customers nationwide will be able to access both the HBO and Cinemax networks today, though they’ll need to subscribe to HBO Max to get linear HBO. To promote the deal, Dish will run a free 10-day preview of the premium networks for existing customers right around the time the Olympics Games will be wrapping up, from August 6 to August 15. Customers don’t have to do anything to take advantage of the preview; the networks will appear automatically. Users interested in subscribing to HBO Max can score a discounted subscription to the service’s... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22600943/dish-adds-hbo-max-cinemax

The Echo Show 5 (left), Echo Show 8 (middle), and the Echo Show (right). | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge When it comes to the Echo smart speakers, Amazon has a slew of devices to choose from, one for practically every occasion. For example, maybe you simply want to add Alexa to a room, or you are looking for an Echo device that will allow you to easily manage your other smart home products. Regardless of the reason, these are the best Echo deals available right now. The best Echo Dot deals Late last year, Amazon released the fourth generation of the Echo Dot , which looks more like a sphere than an actual dot. But if you prefer the previous design, don’t worry: Amazon has not discontinued the third-gen Echo Dot , which still retains the familiar dot shape. During Prime Day, we saw the fourth-gen Echo Dot drop to its lowest price of $25.... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/21546591/best-amazon-echo-deals

Verizon’s hotspot plans offer mobile data that can be shared with other devices in your luxury camper van, er, house. | Image: Verizon Verizon has introduced new mobile hotspot plans , with four options to choose from starting at 15GB for $20 per month up to 150GB for $80 per month. They offer standalone and unlimited plan add-on mobile hotspot data that’s ready to be taken on the road. Maybe in a Class B Winnebago Solis with a pop-up sleeping compartment, as featured on Wheel of Fortune , south through the redwoods and along the coast and then on through the painted deserts of the Southwest. What? I said that out loud? I mean, hypothetically. Anyway, the most basic plan, Essential, offers low-band Nationwide 5G and 4G LTE connectivity. The three more expensive plans — creatively named Plus, Pro, and Premium — include Ultra Wideband 5G, which encompasses the very fast,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22600581/verizon-mobile-hotspot-plans-vanlife ...

A screenshot from Destiny 2 . | Image: Bungie Destiny 2 developer Bungie revealed a whole lot of information about the game’s upcoming crossplay support in a blog post on Thursday afternoon . Let’s get this out of the way first: Bungie still doesn’t have an exact date for when you’ll be able to play with your friends on other platforms, but the studio promises the feature will launch “early” in Season 15, which is expected to kick off on August 24th . Season 15 will also bring an important change to ensure you have a persistent identity across platforms for crossplay: a new Bungie Name system. Your Bungie Name will be generated based on the name associated with the platform you play Season 15 on first, and will look something like PlayerName#1234. You can get a better idea of how it... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22600801/destiny-2-crossplay-bungie-name-competitive-pve-voice-chat

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Snapchat is experiencing a massive issue as of Thursday evening, with more than 125,000 users reporting problems on Downdetector . I tried logging into the app on my iPhone 12 Mini, and now the app just crashes every time I try and open the app. Two other Verge staffers aren’t able to open the app, either. Snap acknowledged that there’s a problem in a tweet at 6:51PM ET . “We’re aware of an issue preventing some Snapchatters from logging in,” the company said from Snapchat’s support account. “Hang tight, we are looking into it and working on a fix!” The outage follows a nasty bug from June where a version of the iOS Snapchat app would crash at launch. That bug was eventually fixed in an update released soon after. As always, I highly... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22600902/snapchat-crashing-down-outage-issue-app-login

Photo: Turn 10 Studios Forza Motorsport 7 will no longer be available to purchase from the Microsoft Store or play on Xbox Game Pass after September 15th, 2021, as it’s reaching “end of life” status . The game won’t be completely going away — if you own it you’ll still be able to download and play it, and the multiplayer will still be accessible, but anyone without the game won’t be able to buy the digital version. According to the Forza Twitter account , this is happening because the game’s licenses to use real-world cars and tracks are starting to expire. If you’re a long-time Forza fan, you may have seen this happen before. Games in the series have historically been delisted around four years after their release . Horizon 3 was delisted in September 2020 after... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22600640/forza-motorsport-7-end-of-life-september-game-pass-microsoft

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Robinhood started trading at $38, dropped about 10 percent, recovered, but still closed down 8 percent at $34.90 on its first day of trading. It’s the worst first day among 51 firms that raised as much as Robinhood or more, according to Bloomberg . It’s also bad news for Robinhood’s experiment at offering retail investors a chunk of the IPO. Robinhood’s shares priced at the bottom of the targeted price range of $38 to $42 a share , perhaps because of concerns about volatility or perhaps because Robinhood wanted to ensure a pop for its retail investors. And though Robinhood had said it would allocate up to 35 percent of its shares to retail, only 20 percent actually went to retail, which “indicated less interest than expected,” according to... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22600570/robinhood-ipo-retail-investors

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The first major system update for Sony’s PlayStation 5 is arriving in beta form today , finally letting you expand the console’s 667GB of usable storage by adding your own PCIe Gen 4 SSD as well as testing new UI options and expanding 3D Audio support. But the full changelog also includes a few features that Sony didn’t highlight to press — including a way to easily update your DualSense controller if you press the wrong button! You see, the PS5 currently has a very silly flaw : the only time you can update your controller is when you boot the console. And if you say no or accidentally press the O button instead of X, you can’t trigger that update until 24 hours have passed (or you tweak your PS5’s internal clock to cheat it). But in Beta... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22600654/sony-ps5-beta-software-2-0-update-controller-ps-app-parents

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Amazon has updated the Alexa app on iOS so that you can access the voice assistant right from your home screen via a new widget. Everyone can use the assistant to remind specific members of your household to do tasks through a new “assign reminders” skill. Due to the somewhat restrictive nature of the widgets on iOS , the new Ask Alexa widget isn’t so much Alexa itself as it is a link directly to the iOS app. But if you have the Alexa widget placed on any of your screens and you’ve already given the Alexa app permission to use your iPhone’s mic, you’ll be able to start making requests with a tap. The Ask Alexa widget in iOS. And now those requests can get a bit more granular. Amazon’s given Alexa the ability to assign... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22600568/amazon-alexa-widget-ios-assign-reminders

Photo: Getty Images As stores reopen and in-person shopping picks back up, the surge in demand for Amazon purchases has finally started to wane — not much , to be clear, but just enough to frustrate investors. From April through June, Amazon saw $113.1 billion in sales of products and services, growing 27 percent year over year. That’s an enormous amount of money, but investors were hoping for a bit more, around $115 billion, and Amazon’s stock has been slipping since releasing the figures in its Q2 2021 earnings report this afternoon. AWS is picking up speed But there was one spot investors are happy to see, and it helps to explain the company’s recent executive shuffle. Amazon Web Services did $14.8 billion in net sales, up 37 percent year over year. That... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22600255/amazon-q2-2021-earnings-aws-andy-jassy

A haze of wildfire smoke and clouds is seen at sunset in an aerial image taken during a flight from Seattle to Los Angeles as Western wildfires, including the Bootleg, Dixie, and Tamarack fires, continue to burn in Oregon and California. | Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images The explosive growth of wildfires in the Western US has spewed smoke across the landscape, creating a growing threat to public health. Driven by climate change, the 2020 fire season was so bad that it doubled the previous record in California for acres burned, and at-home monitoring of the smoke’s effects on air quality became almost commonplace . This year’s season got off to a devastating start and has already darkened skies on the East Coast with smoke from West Coast wildfires. Smoke isn’t your ordinary air pollution. The tiny particles found in smoke can be up to 10 times more harmful to human health than soot from other things like tailpipes and factories, according to research published ...

The Biden administration wants states and local governments to give $100 to “every newly vaccinated American,” the Treasury Department said in a statement today . It’s the latest federal effort to improve vaccination rates as COVID-19 continues to surge around the country, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant. States could use funding from the American Rescue Plan to fund the payments. The administration is not mandating the incentive, but the Treasury Department said it was partnering with the Department of Health and Human Services to help governments roll it out. New York City announced this week that it would give $100 to anyone who got a shot at one of the city-run vaccination sites. “I think when someone says here’s $100... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22600571/biden-vaccine-payment-incentive

Russia’s Nauka module | Roscosmos The International Space Station unexpectedly shifted in orbit on Thursday when thrusters on a newly docked Russian module began firing uncontrollably. The thrusters reoriented the football-field-sized laboratory’s position by as much as 45 degrees, NASA said. The station is back under control, a NASA spokesperson said, and its seven-person crew of astronauts, including three US astronauts, are safe, according to the agency. The erroneous thruster firings from Russia’s Nauka module, a new 23-ton multipurpose laboratory, began at 12:25PM ET, a few hours after it docked to the ISS. Thrusters on another side of the space station, from Russia’s Zvezda service module, fired up to counter the force from Nauka in what NASA’s mission control... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22600306/uncontrolled-firing-from-russian-module-causes-brief-tug-of-war-on-international-space-station

Stray. Thanks to games like Florence , Gorogoa , and What Remains of Edith Finch , Annapurna Interactive has steadily become one of the most exciting indie game publishers around. And at its first showcase event, the publisher showed that there’s plenty more in the works. In less than 30 minutes, Annapurna revealed some exciting new partnerships and showed off upcoming games that involve everything from being a cat to hunting demons in heaven. Here’s everything that was shown off. Stray turns you into a cyberpunk cat Arguably the highlight of the event was the debut gameplay trailer for Stray , a game set in some kind of forgotten cyberpunk city in which you play as a lost cat. It looks like a great action-adventure game, albeit one where you can... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22597945/annapurna-showcase-stray-artful-escape-solar-ash-outer-wilds

Microsoft has released the first beta of Windows 11 , available to those enrolled in its Windows Insider Program. Until today, getting access to Windows 11 meant installing the Dev preview , which Microsoft says is for “highly technical users” as it has “rough edges.” According to Microsoft, the beta release is less volatile, with builds being validated by Microsoft (though it’s still probably something you’ll want to install on a test machine or second partition). Of course, to install the beta you’ll need a compatible computer. Figuring out if your hardware will work with the next version of Windows has been notoriously tricky to pin down , but Microsoft’s article about preparing for Insider builds directs people to its system... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22600261/windows-11-beta-release-insider-microsoft-download-test

Image: Apple If a year inside convinced you to shoot your shot at becoming an international DJ, Apple is updating GarageBand for iOS and iPadOS on Thursday with a low-stakes way to start dabbling in the world of remixes. GarageBand’s Remix Sessions lets you try your hand at remixing tracks from Dua Lipa and Lady Gaga with short video tutorials available to watch while you mess with loops. You can access the new Remix Sessions from the Sound Library section of GarageBand. There’s currently only one song for each artist, “Break My Heart” for Dua Lipa and “Free Woman” for Lady Gaga, but the amount of samples and loops each song comes with is surprisingly broad. If you’ve played with GarageBand’s Live Loops before, the experience should be... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22600217/garageband-remix-sessions-lady-gaga-dual-lipa

Image: Marvel Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney over the simultaneous streaming release of Black Widow , which debuted the same day in theaters and on Disney Plus through its Premier Access service. The suit was filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court and alleges that Johansson’s contract with Marvel Entertainment, which is owned by Disney, ensured a “wide theatrical release” of the film. The suit says it’s “well understood” that the agreement meant an exclusive release that would not include streaming. Johansson’s salary was in part based on the box office performance of the film, the suit says, meaning the streaming offer could meaningfully cut into her paycheck. “Disney knew that the cannibalization of [box office receipts] by Disney+ would... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22600396/scarlett-johansson-suing-disney-black-widow-release

The Motorola Edge 20 Pro, Edge 20, and Edge 20 Lite all support 5G and come with a 6.7-inch OLED. | Image: Motorola Motorola is keeping its return to flagship devices running for the second year in a row with today’s global announcement of the Edge 20 Pro, Edge 20, and Edge 20 Lite. The top-end 20 Pro includes a periscope-style telephoto lens for the first time in a Motorola device and includes a Snapdragon 870 processor. All three devices support sub-6GHz 5G, offer 108-megapixel rear-facing cameras, and include 6.7-inch OLED screens with fast refresh rates. They’re due to arrive in August in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. While Motorola doesn’t offer specifics, it says that it plans to bring a 5G Edge device to North America this fall. Image: Motorola The Edge 20 Pro comes in a handsome indigo vegan leather option. P... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22599860/motorola-edge-20-pro-lite-camera-5g-global-launch

Sunisa Lee of Team United States competes on the balance beam during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. | Photo by Amin Mohammad Jamali/Getty Images Figuring out how to watch the Olympics this year has been frustrating. NBC holds broadcasting rights to the Games in the US, so it naturally seized on the opportunity to boost subscribers to its streaming service, Peacock, by making it “the place to flock for the Games’ top moments.” Streaming the Olympics should’ve been as easy as signing up — except it wasn’t. Peacock’s coverage was a problem straight out of the gate. The opening ceremony wasn’t streamed live on the service at all (though the closing ceremony will be), even though it was streamed live on the NBC Olympics website. The service is paywalling men’s basketball, seemingly to boost Peacock’s paid plans. And while live broadcasts and on-demand coverage of most other games and... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22589928/peacock-202...

Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images The NBA and iHeartMedia, which owns iHeartRadio, will be launching more than 20 new co-produced podcasts as part of a multiyear partnership, the two companies announced. The first show is scheduled to debut in the fall. “The new shows will be produced using a wide variety of content from the NBA archives to tell the backstories of some of the greatest moments in sports history, along with a mix of the latest league news, player commentary, insider analysis, and much more,” according to a press release . The lineup could include daily shows as well as limited series, and it may pull from the NBA’s archives of content, according to Bloomberg . “We’ve been looking for the right partner to help bring our archives to life,” David Denenberg,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/29/22600064/nba-iheartmedia-iheartradio-podcasts-partnership

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In May, I wrote here that the child safety problem on tech platforms is worse than we knew . A disturbing study from the nonprofit organization Thorn found that the majority of American children were using apps years before they are supposed to be — and fully a quarter of them said they have had sexually explicit interactions with adults. That puts the onus on platforms to do a better job in both identifying child users of their services and to protect them from the abuse they might find there. Instagram has now made some promising moves in that direction . Yesterday, the company said that it would : Make accounts private by default for children 16 and younger Hide teens’ accounts from adults who have engaged in suspicious behavior, such... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/28/22598856/instagram-child-safety-private-kids-bullying-underage-sexual-interactions

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook will require its US employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 when they return to the office, the company confirmed to The Verge on Wednesday. “As our offices reopen, we will be requiring anyone coming to work at any of our US campuses to be vaccinated,” Facebook’s vice president of people Lori Goler said in a statement. “How we implement this policy will depend on local conditions and regulations. We will have a process for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons and will be evaluating our approach in other regions as the situation evolves. We continue to work with experts to ensure our return to office plans prioritize everyone’s health and safety.” Facebook expects to reopen offices in the US fully in... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/28/22598818/facebook-vaccine-requirement-us-office-employees

Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge The best Chromebook laptop or two-in-one for every Chrome OS fan Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/21296102/best-chromebooks

Apple will be requiring customers and staff at most of its more than 270 US retail stores to wear masks even if they are vaccinated, according to a new Bloomberg report , bringing back a requirement that had been removed starting in June . The change goes into effect Thursday. “After carefully reviewing the latest CDC recommendations, and analyzing the health and safety data for your local area, we are updating our guidance on face masks for your store,” Apple informed workers in a memo obtained by Bloomberg . “Starting July 29, face masks will be required in store for customers and team members — even if they’re vaccinated.” Apple employees who work in its corporate offices have also been told they must wear masks inside of Apple office... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/28/22598686/apple-retail-stores-mask-mandate-requirement

Photo illustration byJakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images You may be switching jobs, or maybe you’ve decided to stop using a specific email account, or maybe you just want a copy of all your email just in case. Whatever your reasons, it’s not a bad idea to back up and export your Gmail and other Google accounts using Google’s Takeout feature. In fact, you can set your accounts to back up regularly, which is a good practice in general. One note: if you’re backing up a company account, you may find that your company has disabled Takeout. There are third-party apps that say they can back up your Gmail, but you should check your company’s policies before you try them out. How to back up your Gmail: Go to myaccount.google.com Under Privacy & personalization, click on “Manage your data &... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/21324801/gmail-download-data-back-up-save-email

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. | Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images If you pay even the slightest attention to tech news, you’ve probably recently seen nonstop criticism of Facebook’s handling of COVID-19 misinformation, along with a barrage of negative headlines tied to a new book about the company called An Ugly Truth . These headlines generally paint the picture of a tech giant that is on the outs with users, advertisers, lawmakers, and its Silicon Valley peers. But as the world’s largest social network showed Wednesday, the reality of how its business is performing couldn’t be more opposite. Facebook said its revenue grew 56 percent in the second quarter to $29 billion, meaning it grew faster during the period than Apple or Microsoft. More impressively, its profit grew an astounding 101 percent to... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/28/22598592/facebook-second-quarter-earnings-29-billion

Photography by Zoe Schiffer / The Verge ‘Until these demands are met, we won’t stop fighting’ Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/28/22598410/activision-blizzard-employee-walk-out-protest-sexism-discrimination-lawsuit