Lead Hacker

Photo by Mario Tama / Getty Images Waymo is ditching its waitlist in Los Angeles, much like it did before in Phoenix and San Francisco , making its fully autonomous vehicles available to anyone who downloads the company’s Waymo One app. There are still some geographic limitations with which to contend: Waymo only operates within 80 square miles of Los Angeles County , which includes neighborhoods such as Hollywood, Chinatown, Westwood, Marina del Rey, Mar Vista, and Playa Vista. Still, it was a sign of the company’s growing confidence in its technology, especially after securing a record $5.6 billion investment round , led by its parent company, Alphabet, to help fund its next phase of growth. Waymo recently said it was conducting 150,000 paid trips and driving over 1... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/12/24293598/waymo-los-angeles-robotaxi-no-waitlist

Illustration by Hugo Herrera / The Verge Current or former Cash App users who have used the service since 2018 have until next week to claim part of a $15 million settlement that Cash App Investing (and owner Block Inc.) reached as part of a class action lawsuit, The Hill reports. The lawsuit alleged that the companies were negligent in responding to their customers after a former employee had accessed user accounts without permission. You’re eligible to claim in the settlement if your account was accessed without your permission or if you have had unauthorized or fraudulent withdrawals or transfers of funds in your account. The eligibility window is August 23rd, 2018, through the notice date of August 20th, 2024. You can file a claim via the settlement notice website for up to... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/11/24293580/cash-app-class-action-settlement-lawsuit-claim-deadline

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images If autonomous vehicles are to go mainstream, they need to go as far as they can to ensure the safety of everyone on the road. And no one is in more need of protection than so-called vulnerable road users like pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists, thousands of whom are killed every year. Waymo, the robotaxi company owned by Alphabet, recently published a new study examining hundreds of these types of crashes involving vulnerable road users, which it is calling “the largest dataset of its kind in the US.” Roughly 40,000 people in the US are killed each year in vehicle crashes. But while automakers have become very good at protecting people inside of vehicles, they have essentially neglected the safety of people outside of them . M... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/11/24290338/waymo-vru-pedestrian-cyclist-injury-dataset

The first part of Wicked, starring Ariana Grande (left) and Cynthia Erivo (right) will arrive in theaters on November 22nd. | Image: Universal Pictures Barbie producer Mattel has issued an apology after customers spotted its Wicked edition dolls listed an adult website on the packaging. The toy merchandise mistakenly directed customers to the homepage of the Wicked Pictures pornographic movie studio, instead of the correct WickedMovie.com URL. “We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this,” Mattel said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter . “Parents are advised that the misprinted, incorrect website is not appropriate for children.” Mattel said that the dolls, which have been released to coincide with Universal’s film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical, are “primarily sold in the US” and that the error was a “misprint.” It’s unclear... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/11/24293395/mattel-wicked-d...

Donkey Kong Country gets a Nintendo Direct showcase on Monday. | Image: Nintendo Nintendo says it’s finally going to show off the long-awaited Donkey Kong Country area of Super Nintendo World in a Nintendo Direct stream on Monday at 5PM ET. It’s an encouraging sign for the theme park expansion devoted to Mario’s first nemesis, the opening of which was delayed earlier this year . Nintendo first confirmed that it was building the area, which will feature a mine cart rollercoaster ride, back in 2021 . Nintendo and Universal Studios showed the region off — or a digital render of it, anyway — earlier this year , and confirmed that when the Orlando, Florida version of Super Nintendo World opens on May 22nd, 2025, it will have all of the same attractions as its Osaka counterpart. As for Nintendo Switch 2 news, well, don’t get... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/10/24293054/super-nintendo-world-donkey-kong-country-area-direct-showcase-theme-park

Photo by Howard Schnapp/Newsday RM via Getty Images Amazon’s next ideas for growing its grocery business could blur the lines between Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh by enmeshing the two businesses’ fulfillment networks in a new set of experiments, according to The Wall Street Journal . Amazon has reportedly started shipping Whole Foods products from 26 Amazon Fresh fulfillment centers and plans to build a microfulfillment center at a Pennsylvania Whole Foods Market and stocking it with Amazon Fresh household goods and groceries. Another part of the plan includes an experimental “Amazon Grocery” inside a Chicago Whole Foods that offers brands and groceries that the upscale store wouldn’t normally carry, according to WSJ . The goal of the tests is to give Amazon customers a way to buy... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/10/24292844/amazon-testing-new-grocery-formats-whole-foods-fresh-one-stop-shopping

Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge Apple has begun selling repair parts for iPhone 16 and 16 Pro phones on its self-service repair store . That includes replacements for commonly damaged parts like cameras, displays, and back glass, and follows the release of official Apple iPhone 16 repair manuals in September, as MacRumors notes . A replacement camera assembly will run you $169 for the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus or $249 for the 16 Pro and Pro Max. And new displays range from $279 to $379, depending on the model. Batteries are either $99 or, for the 16 Pro phones, $119. And if you don’t have the tools, you can always rent out one of Apple’s heavy, specialized repair kits for $49. Taking on a DIY iPhone repair isn’t quite as dicey as it once was, thanks to Apple’s gradual shift... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/10/24292775/apple-iphone-16-pro-max-plus-repair-parts-diy-self-service