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Though most of you probably stopped playing the original FarmVille ages ago, if you want to get one last hit of nostalgia, today is officially the last day you can play the game on Facebook. Zynga announced the decision earlier in September, warning the apparently non-zero number of FarmVille fans who still play the original…
In its biggest single-day purge, Apple removed 39,000 games from its China store as part of a crackdown on games without a government license in the country. According to Reuters, the news isn’t a huge surprise. Apple removed roughly 30,000 apps from the Chinese App Store over the summer, and warned more would be removed…
Even though CES 2021 will be completely virtual this year, that’s not stopping LG from being a lil extra with its OLED demos. This year, the company’s setting up not one, not two, but three flashy demos of its 55-inch transparent OLED display. Of the three, the most timely demo is an elaborate sushi bar…
Shortcuts and gestures can help do more with your phone in less time—you just need to know the right ones to use. Thanks to the rollout of iOS 14 and the efforts of third-party developers on Android, you can now access a very helpful new shortcut: tapping the back of your phone to launch apps,…
After the past year’s wall-to-wall cavalcade of death and dreck, it’s not a surprise to see a lot of folks stepping into 2021 with what can best be described as “modest expectations” for the world writ large and their Capacity To Deal with whatever it throws their way. This is the year that we’ve seen…
One of the last large independent podcast networks in the U.S. will soon become a subsidiary of Amazon. On Wednesday, the e-commerce giant announced that it had a acquired Wondery, the podcast publisher best known for successful serialized shows like “Dirty John,” “Dr. Death,” “Business Wars,” and “The Shrink Next Door.” “Amazon Music launched podcasts…
ESPN+ is the latest streaming service to get a price hike. The sports service currently costs $50 per year when subscribers opt for annual billing over monthly. But starting Jan. 8, that price will jump to $60 per year for new customers, the company confirmed to Gizmodo on Wednesday. The good news for existing subscribers…
Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, have agreed to pay out $10 million dollars to a competitor after admitting to hiring a former employee to hack into the rival company’s computer network. According to a statement issued by the Justice Department on Wednesday, the five criminal counts facing Ticketmaster stemmed from a plot to…
This sounds about right: As of Dec. 30, 2020, well over a third of Americans believe wild conspiracy theories designed to sow fear and societal collapse. A poll from NPR and the market research company Ipsos found that a solid 40% of Americans believe that covid-19 was created in a lab in China, 37% are…
A childhood spent obsessing over Batman’s wonderful toys eventually transitions to a disappointing adulthood where you realize those gadgets just can’t exist in real life, even with a billion-dollar budget. That hasn’t stopped many from trying, and JT from YouTube’s Built IRL has come closer than most at recreating Batman’s grappling gun. The project actually…
Apple may have just released the AirPods Max, but it seems Apple is already working on the next addition to its headphone line with a new version of the AirPods Pro that for the first time might come in multiple sizes. The recent info comes from relatively reliable leaker Mr. White who posted some pics…
Security researchers looking to get under the hood of technology in order to improve it received a pleasant victory on Tuesday when a federal judge in Florida decided to throw out Apple’s copyright violation claims against the maker of virtual iPhone software. Last year, Apple filed a lawsuit against the makers of Corellium claiming the…
There are bad ideas, and then there’s building an app to promote secret parties during the worst global pandemic in 100 years. In a move surprising absolutely no one with common sense, Apple has pulled the Vybe Together app from its iOS store, according to the Verge. Vybe Together advertised itself on its now-defunct website…
Fire TV has been due for an update for a minute—a very long minute. With its latest experience overhaul, Fire TV is finally delivering a user interface that stands up to those of rival streaming devices. When Chromecast with Google TV arrived on the scene this year, Google gave other $50 streaming devices a run…
Every new version of iOS comes with a bunch of bugs and issues, some bigger than others, and iOS 14 is no different. Apple will iron out many of these problems with subsequent software updates, but it’s useful to know whether the issues you’re seeing on your own phone are known bugs in iOS 14—and…
Alaska Airlines announced on Tuesday that it will no longer allow passengers to bring emotional support animals on its aircraft for any reservations made after January 11. The airline is the first to ban emotional support animals following new guidance from the U.S. Department of Transportation about what kind of animals should be allowed on…
The cryptocurrency exchange startup Coinbase consistently paid women and people of color less than other employees performing similar jobs, new data from the New York Times has found, exposing a glaring pay gap that’s large even by the tech industry’s miserable standards. According to salary details analyzed by the Times for roughly 830 employees through…
Google is reportedly testing a new mobile search feature that would surface TikTok and Instagram videos in their own dedicated carousel — the search giant’s apparent answer to a growing appetite for short-form video content. The new feature will expand upon a test feature launched by Google earlier this year that nested a carousel of…
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell moved to block consideration of a House-approved stimulus package on Tuesday that includes $2,000 checks for many Americans—an amount sought after by a rising chorus of Republicans and an outgoing President Trump. McConnell moved to mask his desire to limit the relief payments to no more than $600, the figure…
As the company wonders what the future holds for it now that Boston Dynamics is owned by the Hyundai Motor Group, its robots are showing off their impressive capabilities in a year-end video that may also be a ploy to distract humanity from their ultimate goal: total dominance on the dance floor, or the eradication…