Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
With large portions of the country under shelter-in-place orders due to the coronavirus outbreak, I’m betting Easter plans for most folks look a lot different now than they did back in the bygone era of March. Seemingly with this in mind, Google rolled out several holiday-themed Easter eggs, per tradition, including an Easter Bunny that…
Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano erupted in a spectacular fashion on Friday, personifying what many of us on lockdown probably feel like doing some days. And although it’s best you weren’t anywhere near it, you can see the eruption in these amazing videos and marvel at the power of Mother Nature. Per the Jakarta Post, the…
The U.S. on Saturday reported that deaths due to covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, had reached more than 20,000. This means that the U.S. has surpassed Italy as the country with most deaths associated with the outbreak in the world. America is also the global leader in confirmed cases with 514,415, or more than…
After 50 years of continual invention and innovation into making computer chips faster, Moore’s Law isn’t as dead as it seemed. Researchers have figured out a way to make silicon glow, according to a new report from Wired. That means instead of doubling the amount of transistors in computer chips every two years, it now…
Discord’s testing a new noise suppression tool to help prevent background noise like barking dogs or the deafening clatter of a mechanical keyboard from drowning out people’s voices. In a blog post Friday, the popular chat service announced its partnership with Krisp, a service and standalone app that uses machine learning to recognize and quiet…
The PS4 has this annoying problem of refusing to install or update games, even if it says you have enough space. Because of the way the device handles installs and updates, you need to have at least double the amount of space available. As the PS4 downloads a game update, it also makes another copy…
When Verizon first announced it was not only waiving late fees but tacking on offers of free high-speed data for low-income households hit by the current pandemic, it seemed like a welcome bit of good news amidst a news cycle that’s anything but. Now, it looks like that sigh of relief might’ve been premature—as detailed…
Elon made it sound like a breeze. It started on March 18th with a casual tweet to a fan promising that Tesla would make ventilators “if there is a shortage,” setting off an avalanche of replies educating him that there was, already, a shortage. Within hours, Bill de Blasio tweeted “New York is buying!”; within…
At 10 a.m. ET Friday, Instagram started rolling out the ability to see and respond to direct messages in a browser instead of having to open the app. And while this might be nice change for influencers and Instaholics, I can’t help but think this does nothing to address the otherwise atrocious experience you get…
As the global coronavirus pandemic continues to spread and testing remains criminally limited, Apple and Google have announced a partnership to roll out contact-tracing technology to track the spread of covid-19. And Apple is promising that privacy is baked in from the start. Forgive our skepticism, but we’ll believe it when we see it. Apple…
Ammon Bundy, the militia leader who led a group of armed ranchers to take over Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016, has a bold new plan to get himself and a bunch of people thrown in jail again: organize a mass defiance of pandemic stay-at-home orders. Bundy led a group of far-right extremists to…
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Amazon has begrudgingly rolled out safety measures, seemingly more in response to negative media attention than concern for their workers. Those social distancing measures thankfully now include trusting associates to record their own work hours. Anecdotally, some warehouses had attempted to implement staggered shifts, to mixed success. Apparently those methods were…
A day after the Los Angeles Times reported that Amazon employees have filed complaints with the state of California asking for a workplace safety probe, Amazon has announced that it’s building a covid-19 testing center for “small numbers of front line employees.” It amounts to throwing a press release on a wildfire, after weeks of…
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will run out of money by the end of September if Congress doesn’t provide emergency funding, according to Postmaster-General Megan Brennan, who gave a private briefing to some members of Congress on Thursday. The news comes as the Postal Service is hemorrhaging cash from the coronavirus pandemic and hundreds of…
Apple TV+, the tech giant’s foray into the streaming wars, may not have the library to match some of its rivals. But Apple is making some of its series and films available for free anyhow. If you haven’t taken it’s $5-per-month subscription service for a spin just yet, now’s your chance. Apple TV+ launched last…
Over the past couple months, there have been a number of rumors about Google’s upcoming midrange phone. But now, a new round of leaks has supplied us enough info to paint a nearly complete overview of the Pixel 4a. The latest comes from 9to5Google, which spoke to a source that has apparently confirmed a lot…
There’s really only one good use for a mobile device in portrait mode: playing digital pinball games. Even on a much smaller scale, simulated pinball can be mindless fun, but to maximize the experience you need this Nintendo Switch accessory that adds proper arcade flipper buttons to the portable console. Japan’s Far East Pinball is…
As unemployment claims spike across the country, it’s no surprise that state websites have struggled to keep up, with systems crashing under the load. The problem is particularly bad in New York, where shuttered businesses and layoffs have resulted in a 16,000 percent increase in phone calls and a 1,600 percent increase in web traffic,…
After a long day of work, I was looking forward to flying to Lazy Egg, my virtual island in Nintendo’s new Animal Crossing game. What I found was a tropical paradise under siege. Players from across the internet were pounding at my island’s door. For over an hour, they came flooding in, effectively crashing my…
The city of Daegu, South Korea reported no new cases of the coronavirus on Friday, the first time that’s happened since February after spending months as the country’s epicenter for covid-19. Daegu identified its first case on February 18 and South Korea quickly rolled out a massive testing regime in the city to identify and…
