Lead Hacker

Roblox went down Thursday evening | Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images After an outage that began Thursday evening, Roblox appeared to be back online Sunday evening. The company said in a tweet at about 4PM ET Sunday that it was “incrementally bringing regions back online.” Quick update as we work to get things back to normal. We are incrementally bringing regions back online. — Roblox (@Roblox) October 31, 2021 The problems began October 28th around 7PM ET, when the platform first reported it was having issues, and said it was “ working hard to get things back to normal .” Some speculated that the outage was caused by a cross-promotion with Chipotle that went live about a half hour before the problems began, but the company said the outage was “not related to any specific experiences or partnerships on... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/31/22756186/roblox-back-online-outage-weekend-chipotle

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge An investigation by The Financial Times found that Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube lost around $9.85 billion in revenue following Apple’s changes to its privacy practices. Last year, Apple announced the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy that requires apps to ask permission to track users’ data. The policy went into effect in April , barring apps from tracking users if they opt out. Facebook notably criticized the move with a full-page newspaper ad , and thanks to the FT ’s report, now we know why company leaders were so frustrated. According to the report, Facebook lost the most money “in absolute terms” when compared to other social platforms due to its massive size. Meanwhile, Snap “fared the worst as a percentage of its... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/31/22756135/apple-app-tracking-transparency-policy-snapchat-facebook-twitter-youtube-lose-10-billion

Photo by Evan Blass ASUS may be releasing a successor to the ROG Flow X13, the convertible laptop that doubles as a gaming PC. Evan Blass ( @evleaks ), a reliable leaker, tweeted out a photo of the ROG Flow Z13 — at a glance, it looks fairly similar to the new Microsoft Surface Pro 8 . If the leaked ROG Flow Z13 is anything like the X13, we already know how it may perform. The X13, a convertible laptop, can be connected to ASUS’ external graphics card (eGPU) called the XG Mobile , which we found to boost the lightweight convertible’s performance . + ROG Flow Z13 (not to be confused with Flow X13) pic.twitter.com/DLH7fmNHVt — Ev (@evleaks) October 31, 2021 The eGPU also serves as a USB dock with a number of ports, transforming the 13-inch convertible into a... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/31/22756198/asus-surface-pro-competitor-dock-external-gpu

A leaked image that shows a Lenovo ThinkBook Plus with a second screen next to the keyboard. | evleaks Reliable tech gadget leaker Evan Blass (@evleaks) on Sunday posted an image to Twitter that showed a 17-inch Lenovo ThinkBook Plus with a second screen to the right of the keyboard. The screen looks like it is being used to draw or write on a color image on the laptop’s main screen, and appears that the computer would include a full keyboard and a large trackpad along with an extra-wide display. The image also shows what looks like a pen or drawing stylus, giving further credence to the idea that it’s meant for drawing. Have you guys seen this yet? 17-inch ThinkBook Plus from Lenovo... pic.twitter.com/OElc5ZM3pb — Ev (@evleaks) October 31, 2021 There weren’t any further details about the image, which Blass posted as part of a thread... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/31/22756221/leaked-lenovo-thinkbook-image-second-screen

Rosamund Pike stars in The Wheel of Time | Amazon Prime Video I’m close to giving up on The Morning Show ; the latest episode spends a lot of time building up to a twist that makes very little sense given the season so far. They only have three episodes left and a lot of plot to push forward. Luckily, Succession is getting good and juicy with the Roy siblings choosing sides, and I’m also getting caught up in Maid , mainly because of Margaret Qualley’s strong performance as Alex. So much to watch, so little time. We’re heavy into the sci-fi and fantasy realms in this week’s roundup, but there’s a little fashion and murder-mystery as well. The Wheel of Time We’ve seen a few glimpses of The Wheel of Time series based on the books by Robert Jordan, but this latest trailer shows us the beginning of... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/31/22752499/new-trailers-wheel-of-time-witcher-lightyear-house-of-gucci-netflix-amazon-apple

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Google Home, the companion app for Google’s smart home products, is changing the way users interact with photos on the app and on Nest Hub devices. 9to5Google first noticed the changes, which include a revamped Photo Frame settings menu. Now, when you use Google Home to change the displayed album while your Nest Hub is idle, you’ll see a carousel-style UI that gives you the option to choose from curated groups of photos, categorized as “Select family & friends,” “Recent highlights,” and “Favorites,” 9to5Google reports. Scroll past that, and you’ll be able to see all the albums that you’ve created. A preview window appears at the bottom of the page, and you can swipe through the preview carousel to see how your pictures will look when... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/31/22755754/google-home-redesigned-photo-frame-settings-menu-weather-frog-display

To go bags, to go bags everywhere. Chipotle is a pioneer of the fast assembly-line restaurant format, where you get in line and guide a human worker through the process to build your meal while you watch. It’s a foolproof system, or so I thought before I checked out this investigative story by MarketWatch revealing how Chipotle is handling the growth of online orders in a pandemic world. Once I read the accounts of various Chipotle employees interviewed in the MarketWatch article, I was stunned by what they really go through. One employee detailed the struggle with the onslaught of online orders: “People would just stare at us, angry,” he said. “Orders were coming in faster than they could be made. We would frequently see orders of 75, 80, 90 items within a 15-minute... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/31/22753447/go-read-this-story-online-orders-employee-burn-out-chipotle-workers-fast-food

Photo by Olly Curtis/MacFormat Magazine/Future via Getty Images Apple has apparently pulled its 21.5-inch Intel-based iMac from shelves (via MacRumors ). Its discontinuation doesn’t come as much of a surprise, now that Apple is transitioning from using Intel processors to its in-house M1 chip . The 21.5-inch iMac was still available after Apple’s October 18th Unleashed event — it didn’t appear to go missing until sometime this week, according to MacRumors . The $1,099 21.5-inch iMac, which came with a 2.3GHz dual-core 7th-Gen Intel Core i5 and an Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640, is no longer found on the list of available iMacs on Apple’s online store . A “Buy” button also doesn’t appear for the 21.5-inch iMac on Apple’s product comparison page. We reached out to Apple to confirm the changes, but didn’t... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/31/22755641/apple-pulls-21-inch-intel-powered-imac

Image: Throwboy A company called Throwboy is back with another Kickstarter for a collection of pillows shaped like classic Macs, following its 2018 line of Apple-inspired plushes . It’s fittingly called The Iconic Pillow Collection 2, and features pillows shaped like soft versions of Apple’s Lisa, iBook, and both the cheese grater and cube flavors of Power Mac. For Apple history buffs who want to spruce up their living or bedrooms, it may be a campaign worth investigating. In its original collection (which featured pillows shaped like the Finder icon, original Macintosh, and iPods), Throwboy tactfully didn’t mention specific computer names, and it refrained from doing so this time around as well. The Lisa-shaped pillow is called the 1983, the iMac... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/31/22753620/mac-apple-plush-pillow-computer-kickstarter-ibook-power-mac-lisa

An inspired musician can use pretty much anything as an instrument, but this just-in-time for Halloween cover of the Ghostbusters theme song goes in an unexpected direction. Device Orchestra is dedicated to posting music videos recorded solely with the sounds of common household devices. It’s the work of a Finnish YouTuber who’s been creating gadget-powered covers since 2014 (via Wikitubia ). This time, Device Orchestra busted out 14 gadgets for its composition — including electric toothbrushes adorned with googly eyes. One electric toothbrush with pipe cleaners for arms stands front and center, belting out the familiar chorus in a tone comparable to a musically-inclined bumblebee. It might be the star of the show, but it has plenty of... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/30/22754538/device-orchestra-ghostbusters-theme-halloween

Nikon’s Z9 pro mirrorless camera has no mechanical shutter, relying solely on an electronic shutter. | Image: Nikon Nikon recently announced its new flagship camera, the Z9 . This camera represents Nikon’s first mirrorless camera fully geared towards professional photographers and hybrid shooters, with a huge spec list designed for use in the demanding fields of photojournalism, sports, nature, birding, and any other use-cases that call for a camera that shoots incredibly fast at high resolution. The $5,500 Z9 is also Nikon’s first camera to omit a traditional mechanical shutter, allowing it to achieve new levels of speed and autofocus performance. Faster speed is great, especially for sports photographers. But it’s interesting to think about where this technology could be used to take traditional-style cameras in the future. This might be the first... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/photography/2021/10/30/22751514/nikon-z9-sensor-tech-full-frame-mirrorless...

Photo Illustration by Thiago Prudêncio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Roblox has been down for more than a day, with the game and its related website offline for millions of players. The hugely popular game-creating platform first started having issues more than 30 hours ago, at 7PM ET on October 28th. Roblox said it was “ working hard to get things back to normal ,” and that it has identified “the root cause as [an] internal system issue.” It’s not clear exactly why Roblox is still down, but some players have been speculating the outage could be related to a Chipotle promotion in the game. Chipotle is giving away $1 million worth of free burritos on Roblox as part of Halloween event in the game. The experience went live at 6:30PM ET on October 28th, just before the widespread Roblox outage. Still making... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/30/22754107/roblox-down-outage-chipotle-server-issues-status

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Just as the FDA officially approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for kids between the ages of five and 11, Meta, Facebook’s brand new identity , announced that it’s rolling out stricter policies for vaccine misinformation targeted at children (via Engadget ). The platform previously put restrictions on COVID-19 vaccine misinformation in late 2020, but didn’t have policies specific to kids. Meta says in a new blog post that it’s partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to take down harmful content related to children and the COVID-19 vaccine. This includes any posts that imply the COVID-19 vaccine is unsafe, untested, or ineffective for children. Additionally, Meta will... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/30/22754046/facebook-tighter-restrictions-vaccine-misinformation-children

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

Feds say a Minnesota man illegally streamed major league sports games | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Federal authorities have accused a Minnesota man with trying to extort $150,000 from Major League Baseball after hacking into its computer system. The US Attorney’s office for the southern district of New York and the FBI have charged Joshua Streit, 30, with illegally streaming content from MLB, as well as from the National Hockey League (NHL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Football League (NFL). The law enforcement agencies said in a news release that between 2017 through August of 2021, Streit operated a website where he illegally streamed the sports leagues’ live games for profit. He gained unauthorized access to the leagues’ websites, and misappropriated login credentials from legitimate subscribers,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/30/22754062/minnesota-man-charged-illegal-streaming-mlb-nfl-nhl-nba-games-...

Okay, Deathloop isn’t scary, but the deal on it is scary good. It’s the spooky holiday this weekend, but you probably already knew that since Halloween decorations have likely been up in your town for the last month and a half. But what hasn’t been around as long (and will disappear faster than those decorations) are the deals below. To match the mood, we’re going to share special discounts on scary video games that you need to play if you’re trying to get in the holiday spirit this weekend. Just so you know, Steam’s Halloween sale ends Monday, November 1st, likely at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. Following that gaming-centric section, you’ll find deals on tech gadgets that we think you’ll enjoy. Gaming deals Okay, so Deathloop is far from being a scary game at its core (though it can become quite tense when... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/good-deals/2021/10/30/22752472/halloween-spooky-games-deals-playstation-xbox-pc-steam-sale-deal-tech

Google’s software makes the Honor 50 a contender rather than competitive Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/22752483/honor-50-review-108-megapixel-quad-camera-120hz-oled-display

Intel is building dedicated gaming graphics cards, due out in Q1 2022, and we may have just gotten our first look at the big one, the Arc Alchemist. Here are some leaked images from YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead (via Videocardz ): Arc is Intel’s new GPU brand , designed to compete with Nvidia GeForce and AMD Radeon, and the Arc Alchemist is the first GPU in the company’s roadmap that’s actually scheduled to release. The company had previously built the Intel DG1 to test the GPU waters, but that was a comparatively weak card, based on the Xe LP (low-power) graphics architecture, and consumers couldn’t actually buy it. This new card is part of Intel’s Xe HPG roadmap (high-power / gaming) and is said to deliver... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/29/22753512/intel-arc-alchemist-leaked-photos-moores-law-dead-youtube

Illustrations by Alex Castro / The Verge Nintendo is closing its Redwood City, California and Toronto, Canada offices, the company confirmed in a statement to The Verge . Kotaku reported on the closure of the Redwood City offices earlier on Friday. Here is the company’s full statement on the decision: Nintendo of America headquarters are in Redmond, WA, and Vancouver, BC. We are moving more of our employees and operations into those headquarters and will be closing small satellite offices in Toronto, ON, and Redwood City, CA, over time. Devon Pritchard, Executive Vice President, Business Affairs and Publisher Relations for Nintendo of America (NOA), will assume interim leadership of Sales, Marketing and Communications following the departure of Nick Chavez. Ms. Pritchard will... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/22753434/nintendo-closes-redwood-city-offices-california-toronto-canada

Image: Supernatural Meta has announced that the studio behind VR workout game Supernatural will be joining the company, adding to the roster of studios owned by what used to be known as Facebook’s Oculus division. The company says that Within, the company behind Supernatural, will continue to work on the popular fitness app and will also help Meta’s Reality Labs “enhance future hardware to support VR fitness apps.” Meta scooping up Within isn’t necessarily a surprise move: it’s spent the last few years acquiring tons of popular VR studios, like Lone Echo devs Ready at Dawn, the team behind Beat Saber , and others working on projects that some have called the VR versions of Fortnite and Roblox . Given Meta’s focus on its headsets as workout tools... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/29/22753403/supernatural-within-studio-facebook-meta-oculus-vr-fitness-experiences-metaverse

Image: Twitter Twitter is allowing all iOS users to Super Follow select creators . The feature, first released in September and only available in the US and Canada, allows users to monetize their Twitter account and create exclusive content through monthly subscriptions. Twitter first announced Super Follows in February and rolled it out to select creators in September. Within the first two weeks, subscribers had contributed around $6,000, according to SensorTower . It’s Super Following time –– everyone globally on iOS now has the option to Super Follow select creators. — Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) October 28, 2021 Users interested in Super Follows have to meet the minimum requirements, according to the Super Follows policy . They have to be... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/29/22753072/twitter-super-follows-subscription-ios

Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast , where co-hosts Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories. This week on The Vergecast, managing editor Alex Cranz (that’s me), deputy editor Dan Seifert (that’s not me), and senior reporter Alex Heath (also not me) join Nilay and Dieter to talk about Facebook’s big rebranding, expensive polishing cloths , our reviews of the Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, and both flavors of the new MacBook Pro. You can listen here or in your preferred podcast player for the full discussion. Mark Zuckerberg on why Facebook is rebranding to Meta Facebook’s new name is Meta What is the metaverse, and do I have to care? F... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/29/22753317/vergecast-facebook-meta-pixel-6-macbook-pro-review

Image: Roku Roku is launching a new independent developer kit that will allow developers to “experiment with and customize their devices” in personal-use capacities. Roku says it hopes the IDK will lead to innovation around internet-of-things applications, such as connecting a Roku device to a thermostat or game development. Roku unveiled its plans for the new IDK at its online developer summit this week. The company made it clear in an announcement about the IDK that its Roku SDK will remain the primary channel development kit for commercial applications but said that the new developer kit “enables developers to explore the platform’s capabilities and personalize their Roku experience.” The company isn’t quite clear on how developers will use the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/29/22753332/roku-independent-developer-kit-idk

Image: iFixit I can’t say I expected there to be more news about Apple’s $19 Screen Polishing cloth , but here we are. Not only has iFixit given it the teardown treatment and a (perhaps slightly tongue-in-cheek) repair score, but it’s apparently become one of Apple’s hardest-to-get products. And yes, to reiterate, we are still talking about a cloth made to clean your devices’ screens. As noted by The New York Times , the 6.3-inch-sided square of fabric is now backordered, with Apple’s website saying that you won’t get it for 10-12 weeks , meaning it’ll get delivered sometime between January 7th and January 21st, 2022. If you order pretty much any configuration of the redesigned MacBook Pro that the cloth launched with, you’ll get your custom-built laptop... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/29/22753184/ifixit-apple-polishing-cloth-19-repair-backorder

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Two Netflix employees at the heart of the Dave Chappelle controversy have filed labor charges against the company, alleging the streaming giant retaliated against them for engaging in protected activity. B. Pagels-Minor, a Black trans program manager, was fired while organizing a walkout related to Netflix’s support of Chappelle’s comedy special The Closer , which has been widely condemned as transphobic. Terra Field, a trans software engineer, was suspended after posting a viral tweet thread about the issue. Netflix said it fired Pagels-Minor for allegedly leaking confidential information — a charge they have categorically denied. The company said Field was suspended for attending a director-level meeting she wasn’t supposed to, though... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/29/22751847/netflix-employees-dave-chappelle-file-charges-nlrb

The trackpad has to be removed to reveal two of the pull tabs | Image: iFixit Online tech repair guide and parts retailer iFixit has published its latest teardown for the new 2021 MacBook Pro and reveals at least one small win for reparability: the ability to replace the battery pack modules. The battery modules in the new MacBook Pros, much like many mobile devices, are now attached via adhesive strips with pull tabs. This makes it easier to remove them, as long as none of the tabs rip while pulling. The trackpad needs to also be carefully removed to reach the remaining pull tabs. Image: iFixit Batteries in MacBook Pros used to have their own frame or shell, which made them easier to install or remove via screws or locking tabs (although that takes more interior space). Starting in 2012,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/29/22753063/macbook-pro-ifixit-teardown-battery-swaps-pull-tabs

Mastodon has sent former President Donald Trump’s company a formal notification that it’s breaking the rules by using Mastodon’s open-source code to build its social network, named Truth. This news comes from a blog post by Mastodon’s founder Eugen Rochko , but others have previously pointed out that the organization behind Truth, the Trump Media and Technology Group (or TMTG), was violating Mastodon’s software license by not providing the source code for the site built on top of it. Trump’s group has 30 days from when the letter was sent to comply with the license or stop using the software, or it could lose the right to do so. While Truth hasn’t officially launched yet, internet users discovered that a test version basically had the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/29/22752850/mastodon-trump-truth-social-network-open-source-gab-legal-notice

Photo by Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The Food and Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for five- to 11-year-olds , opening up the shots to a new age group and ending an anxious wait for families of children in that bracket. Children are less likely to have severe symptoms if they contract COVID-19, but they can still catch and spread the disease. Cases and deaths in children peaked in September, which was the worst month for that age group — there were over a million new cases in that group. The authorization makes vaccination available to 28 million new people in the US. Polling in September showed that around a third of parents say that they wanted to vaccinate their five- to 11-year-old children “right away” after authorization. The... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/29/22734765/fda-covid-vaccine-5-11-year-old-approve

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called Facebook a “cancer to democracy” in a tweet on Thursday shortly after the company announced that it was changing its corporate name to Meta to better represent its focus on building the metaverse . “Meta as in “we are a cancer to democracy metastasizing into a global surveillance and propaganda machine for boosting authoritarian regimes and destroying civil society… for profit!” said Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday . Meta as in “we are a cancer to democracy metastasizing into a global surveillance and propaganda machine for boosting authoritarian regimes and destroying civil society… for profit!” https://t.co/jzOcCFaWkJ — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 28, 2021 Ocasio-Cortez is one of... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/29/22753046/facebook-meta-aoc-instagram-rebrand-france-haugen-blumenthal

Swiping into new ideas | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Google’s Project Jacquard touch-sensitive fabric technology, first revealed at Google I/O in 2015, now has a way for interested third-party developers to integrate the tech with their own software via the new Jacquard SDK . Previously only a handful of companies signed up for Jacquard, including Levi’s, Samsonite, and Yves Saint Laurent . Now developers can use the SDK to integrate the Jacquard tag, connecting its sensors with their apps to communicate touch and motion data. Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Samsonite’s Konnect-i backpack is one of very few products to integrate the touch-sensitive fibers. Google’s ATAP (Advanced Technology and Projects) team announced its first partnership with Levi’s in... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/29/22752461/google-atap-fabric-tech-jacquard-sdk-released

Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Don’t you love standards? I do, for the most part, particularly when they’re fixing things, and the new VESA Embedded DisplayPort 1.5 (or eDP 1.5 for short) looks likely to do that in future fancy-screened laptops. It’s promising more power savings with adaptive-sync screens, OLED panels, and displays that come with their own embedded memory for the battery saving Panel Self-Refresh (PSR) feature. eDP is the standard for cables and ribbons that connect your high-res screen to the rest of your laptop or tablet, and technically it’s supported all those things before — but they haven’t necessarily played nicely together. For example, I had to turn off PSR when I reviewed the OLED-equipped Dell XPS 15 in 2019 because the screen was... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/29/22752899/vesa-displayport-edp-1-5-panel-self-refresh-oled-adaptive-sync

Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for BAFTA LA Amy Hennig, a former creative director at Naughty Dog who currently leads Skydance New Media, will be working on a new Marvel video game. Skydance describes the game , which is its first, as a “narrative-driven, blockbuster action-adventure game, featuring a completely original story and take on the Marvel Universe” but hasn’t said which superheroes will be featured in the game. The studio also hasn’t shared a release date (or even a release timeframe) and hasn’t said which platforms the game will be available on. Despite how little we actually know about the game, Hennig’s involvement in a story-driven Marvel project is an intriguing proposition. Hennig served as a writer and creative director for the first three Uncharted games, so... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/29/22752875/amy-hennig-marvel-game-skydance-new-media

If on a Winter’s Night Four Travelers. Indie developers are turning pixels into scares Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/22750586/lo-fi-retro-horror-games

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is rebranding its hardware to match its new name. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth announced that the company is phasing out its Oculus branding, including on the Oculus Quest virtual reality headset. Starting in 2022, the Oculus Quest product line will be known as the Meta Quest, while the Oculus App will become the Meta Quest App. The Facebook Portal video device is also getting rebranded to “Meta Portal” sometime in the next few months. “When people buy our products, we want them to clearly understand that all of these devices come from Meta and ladder up to our metaverse vision,” Bosworth’s post reads. That means retiring the name Facebook took on when it acquired Oculus in 2014. “We all have a strong... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22751220/facebook-portal-oculus-quest-meta-horizon-renaming

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Facebook just announced that it will change its company name to Meta . The new name comes with a new logo, a blue M that looks kind of like a pretzel, and now that logo has replaced the iconic thumbs-up Like icon at the company’s global headquarters in Menlo Park. Here are two more images of it, taken by The Verge’s own Vjeran Pavic: Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge It did not take long before people began to pose for photos. Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge A larger group. For comparison, here’s what the old sign looked like: Photo by Yalonda M James/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images The new sign had been teased ahead of its official reveal. At one point,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22751143/facebook-thumbs-up-like-meta-sign-global-headquarters-replaced

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images After months of negotiations, President Joe Biden released the latest version of his Build Back Better framework on Thursday, advancing the landmark proposal into what will likely be its final phase before approval. The plan’s original $3.5 trillion budget resolution now sits at $1.75 trillion, unveiling scaled-back initiatives to tackle climate change and other social services. In its latest budget proposal, the White House’s total investment in fighting climate change remains relatively the same, sitting at $550 billion. What’s changed the most is how those funds will be used: focusing on manufacturing, electric power, and transportation. The White House’s total investment in fighting climate change remains relatively the same,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22751099/white-house-budget-climate-electric-vehicles-ev-tax-credit-deal-manchin-sinema

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter regularly tests new features ahead of their official rollout, but the company is creating a new way for some people to check out new features before everyone else. On Wednesday, Twitter announced that subscribers to its paid Twitter Blue service will get early access to some new features under a new Labs banner. If you’re familiar with YouTube’s Labs features for Premium subscribers , it sounds like a similar model. Features in Twitter’s program include pinned conversations on iOS, which lets you pin DM conversations to the top of the list, and the ability to post longer video uploads from a desktop computer. You can read more about Labs in a thread from the Twitter Blue account . Like being ahead of the curve? Today, we’re... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22751003/twitter-blue-subscribers-labs-early-access-features

Illustration by Samar Haddad The company wants to move past the ‘confusion and awkwardness’ of sharing a name with its main app Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/22749919/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-meta-company-rebrand

Teenage Engineering Teenage Engineering, a design company that dabbles in everything from synthesizers to helping build the Playdate gaming handheld , has made its first computer case. It’s called Computer-1. It’s a bold orange case that’s made for mini-ITX-sized motherboards, which are reserved for small form factor builds. Like most of the company’s products, it’s not exactly affordable at $195 . But that might not be an obstacle if you’re a sucker for a case that’s dripping in color and unique style. The Computer-1 case is made with powder-coated aluminum and has chrome handles, which makes it look a bit like Apple’s most recent Mac Pro desktop chassis. Though, unlike that computer, this case comes unassembled. It arrives in a flat pack, like most Ikea... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22750729/teenage-engineering-computer-1-mini-itx-case-features-price

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday at the company’s Connect event that the company’s new name will be Meta. “We are a company that builds technology to connect,” Zuckerberg said. “Together, we can finally put people at the center of our technology. And together, we can unlock a massively bigger creator economy.” “To reflect who we are and what we hope to build,” he added. He said the name Facebook doesn’t fully encompass everything the company does now, and is still closely linked to one product. “But over time, I hope we are seen as a metaverse company.” Zuckerberg owns the Twitter handle @meta (whose tweets are protected as of this writing) and meta.com , which now redirects to a welcome page on Facebook that outlines the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22745234/facebook-new-name-meta-metaverse-zuckerberg-rebrand

Microsoft is rolling out Windows 11 to more PCs this week. After an initial launch to mostly new PCs earlier this month, Microsoft is gradually making the free Windows 11 upgrade available to more existing and eligible devices. “The availability of Windows 11 has been increased and we are leveraging our latest generation machine learning model to offer the upgrade to an expanded set of eligible devices,” says Microsoft . “We will continue to train our machine learning model throughout the phased rollout to deliver a smooth upgrade experience.” The Windows 11 upgrade prompt in Windows Update. If you’ve been waiting for the Windows 11 upgrade to appear in Windows Update, you might find the above prompt this week.... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22751036/microsoft-windows-11-download-available-more-pcs-install

Wyze is bringing more AI-powered smarts to its security cameras. | Image: Wyze Smart home company Wyze continues its tradition of making every small to medium-sized home appliance under the sun, announcing a slew of new products this week in honor of its fourth birthday. The most notable are a new smart wall switch , an interesting take on outdoor lighting , and revamped white smart bulbs that can match the sun throughout the day. But what really caught my eye is a new capability coming to its cameras. Using AI, Wyze’s smart security cameras will have the ability to alert a professional monitoring service when they detect a person. That’s one simple and cheap home security system. Wyze is known for its inexpensive smart home products, but what makes the company stand out is that it doesn’t skimp on the smarts to get... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22750594/wyze-cams-monitored-security-smart-switches-price-release-date-specs

A screenshot of the Project Cambria device Facebook is planning a high-end virtual and augmented reality headset codenamed “Project Cambria.” The device, which was teased briefly during Facebook’s Connect keynote, features cameras that pass high-resolution full-color video to the headset’s screens. It’s supposed to include cutting-edge features that Facebook can’t yet include in the Oculus Quest lineup, but there’s no price or exact release date yet — although Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says it’s a “completely new” product that will sit at the “high end of the price spectrum,” and we’ll apparently see the device released next year. The device is focused on mixed reality applications and will include face and eye tracking, something Zuckerberg discussed earlier this year . It’s... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22749008/facebook-oculus-project-cambria-pro-vr-ar-headset

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot | Image: NASA NASA’s Juno spacecraft is revealing the massive structure of Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot, a gargantuan storm that’s been raging on the gas giant for centuries. By passing over the circular storm a couple times, Juno helped scientists confirm that the spot doesn’t just exist on the upper surface but extends hundreds of miles into the planet itself. We’ve long known just how great the Great Red Spot is. The storm’s diameter is about 10,000 miles, or more than 16,000 kilometers, wide, meaning that our planet Earth could fit completely inside the wild tempest. But scientists never fully understood how deep the Great Red Spot was. Was it just a surface-level event, or did it reach deep into Jupiter? Now, thanks to two science instruments... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22749095/nasa-juno-jupiter-great-red-spot-depth

New Twitter Spaces recording option. | Image: Twitter Twitter is now allowing hosts of Twitter Spaces chats to record and share their broadcasts. The feature is starting to roll out to a limited number of Twitter Spaces hosts on iOS and should be available to all hosts “within a few weeks.” The feature lets hosts record a Twitter Spaces conversation and share the recording in a tweet. The new functionality also means that anyone who was late to a Twitter Spaces broadcast will now be able to replay the broadcast once it’s finished if a host has enabled recording. That means tweets that are typically shared to promote Twitter Spaces broadcasts will now include a link to a recording, rather than a note that the Spaces broadcast has ended. Participants will be notified with a new icon that a... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22750341/twitter-spaces-recording-feature-sharing-option

Facebook is announcing a new, “more social” home space for Oculus users. Called Horizon Home, it looks a lot like the virtual home that people already have in their virtual reality headsets. But users will be able to invite friends to hang out and watch videos or start multiplayer games together, and they’ll eventually be able to customize their space, although that’s “a little further out.” Horizon Home will launch in an Oculus update soon. Home joins Horizon Worlds and Horizon Workrooms — as well as events app Horizon Venues, previously known as Venues — as part of Facebook’s “metaverse” hub. A video shows users getting pop-up messages inside VR games, as well as on their phones outside VR, then popping into the same virtual space. In... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22750569/facebook-oculus-horizon-home-social-vr-space-connect

Facebook Reality Labs Facebook is adding 2D apps from third-party developers to its Oculus Quest virtual reality platform. The new feature is aimed at giving people more tools to work in VR using the Progressive Web App (PWA) framework. It’s starting with Facebook, Instagram, collaboration app Smartsheet, and email client Spike, then adding Dropbox, Monday.com, Mural, My5, Pluto TV, and Slack in the future. Oculus has supported a 2D browser (which opens as a flat window in virtual space) for some time, and you could sideload 2D apps on the Quest, which runs a version of Android. Some Oculus apps also blur the line between VR and 2D apps: Horizon Workrooms, for instance, will support Zoom calls in the future . Facebook Messenger launched on Quest earlier this... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22748969/facebook-oculus-quest-vr-progressive-web-apps-slack-dropbox-instagram

At this year’s Facebook Connect , the platform revealed something called the Presence Platform, a new way for developers to create mixed reality experiences for the Oculus Quest virtual reality headset. It includes a suite of AI tools for developers that makes the mixed reality experience more immersive, helping to combine the virtual world with physical reality. The system includes three main tool sets: Insight SDK, Interaction SDK, and Voice SDK. Insight, which builds on the the Passthrough API that launched this summer, lets developers overlay virtual objects on the Oculus Quest’s passthrough video feed. Facebook is also adding a system called Spatial Anchors that will let developers “lock” a virtual object to a specific physical area... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22749567/facebook-presence-platform-oculus-quest-mixed-reality-api

Image: EA In the years since Respawn and EA launched Apex Legends , the shooter has carved out its place among a crowded field of contenders. Other games have tried to enter the market and failed to make much impact alongside the other battle royale titans like Call of Duty: Warzone , PUBG , and Fortnite . Still, despite a healthy player base and competitive scene, a new update, dubbed Escape , arrives following one of the roughest seasons since the debut , and it might be exactly what the game needs. Last season’s new character, Seer, drew criticism from many players until Respawn nerfed his special abilities. Then that change led to its own controversy, as players accused the developers of intentionally releasing heroes with overpowered abilities to... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22750879/apex-legends-escape-ash-storm-point-respawn-ea

A lock icon will appear in the Phone app when a call is end-to-end encrypted. | Image: Google In the coming weeks, Google is rolling out end-to-end encrypted phone calls on its Google Fi MVNO, the search giant announced today . When enabled, the feature means that no one, not even Google, can listen in on the contents of a call. Although it’s possible to have end-to-end encrypted audio calls through services like FaceTime and WhatsApp, Google Fi’s new feature makes it the default for regular phone calls. The feature is a little limited in its current form. Google’s end-to-end encryption will only kick in for calls between two Android phones, where both users are Google Fi subscribers. So, for now, at least, iPhone Google Fi subscribers won’t benefit. Google says you’ll know when a call is end-to-end encrypted because it’ll play a... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22750313/google-fi-end-to-end-encrypted-phone-calls-android

Nintendo is now offering a free demo of Metroid Dread , meaning you can try one of the best games of the year at no cost before plunking down the cash to buy the full game. You can grab the demo from Nintendo’s website (click the “Download Demo” link) or on the eShop on your Switch. If you’re on the fence about Metroid Dread , I really recommend you download the demo to give the game a shot. If you’ve played a 2D Metroid , you’ll probably feel right at home, as Dread is an excellent evolution of action and exploration the games are known for. But the game mixes up the formula a bit with tense chase sequences where you’re fleeing from powerful robots called E.M.M.I. The boss fights are also quite good, though there are a few too many of... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22750769/metroid-dread-demo-nintendo-switch