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Yelp will now warn customers that they’re looking at a “business accused of racist behavior”—just so long as it’s been racist enough to warrant a mention in the news. The review platform announced in a blog post Thursday that it will place an alert on a business page when a business “gains public attention” such…
The retail apocalypse is here, and the future looks like an antitrust hearing. Not to be outdone by Facebook and Instagram—the now-one-stop-shop for all forms of social media, and also a literal shop—Google, too, is coming for Jeff Bezos’s filthy, unfathomable riches with in-platform e-commerce. Soon after Instagram announced that it’s adding a store and…
Google isn’t exactly a name you associate with urban planning, but newly released renders for its San Jose campus are… pleasantly surprising. Unlike the typical closed-off tech campuses, the Downtown West project looks like an open plan neighborhood that’s actually part of the city itself. In a roughly 40-minute video presentation, Google explained that it…
Last month Apple updated its guidelines for the App Store regarding game streaming with new language that effectively put a stop on standalone game streaming apps. So in an effort to work around Apple’s policies and provide access to Xbox cloud gaming on iPhones and iPads, Microsoft is turning to its one remaining option: the…
The natural assumption is that for a device to wirelessly communicate with another, it needs some basic electronics inside and a source of power. But researchers from the University of Washington have seemingly done the impossible by creating simple plastic devices without batteries, chips, or even wires that can still interact with smartphones and computers.…
If you’ve never heard the name Devialet, that’s pretty normal. It’s a French audio company known for making futuristic-looking wireless speakers with massive sound and equally massive price tags. Think Sonos, but more expensive. This year, instead of launching another $3,000 speaker, the company is releasing some expensive truly wireless earbuds. The Devialet Gemini look…
The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint this week against HCL America that accuses the Google contractor of violating its employees’ labor rights through a bevy of union-busting tactics. The complaint alleges that the company, a subsidiary of the India-based contracting titan HCL Technologies, illegally pressured its Pittsburgh workforce not to unionize and retaliated…
Waymo, the self-driving unit of Alphabet, said Thursday that it’s offering its fully driverless robo-taxis to all customers of its ride-hailing service in Phoenix, Arizona. Previously, the company only afforded its fleet of unmanned cars to a select few hundred people as part of its early rider program beginning in 2017. To start out, the…
Last month, the Food and Drug Administration said Fitbit could have a little treat in the form of clearance for its ECG app. As of today, that app is now live for anyone in the U.S. (as well as some countries in Europe and Asia) with a brand spanking new Fitbit Sense. Before you can…
Let’s state the obvious: Internet in the U.S. sucks. Unless you already have fiber, you’re probably stuck with cable, DSL, or no internet at all because no ISP wants to expand into your area. If you live in a rural area and are lucky to get some form of broadband, you’re probably paying an exorbitant…
The Department of Justice is reminding U.S. attorneys that they are free to break with nearly 40 years of precedent and publicly air unproven claims of voter fraud before the 2020 elections on Nov. 3. Donald Trump is obsessed with voter fraud, and particularly voting fraud by mail. That’s not because there’s any evidence that…
This morning AMD revealed all the juicy details about its upcoming Ryzen 5000-series processors. While I don’t need to upgrade my CPU, or even my motherboard, the leap from AMD’s Zen 2 to Zen 3 architecture appears to be so good that I just might do it anyway. Higher power efficiency, more performance per watt,…
The New England Journal of Medicine has been publishing for a couple of centuries now, and in that time it has never endorsed or condemned a political candidate. That kind of peddling in subjective opinion has been counter to its mission of delivering science-based information. But we live in times when America’s leadership is objectively…
For absolutely no reason, no reason at all, Microsoft dropped a blog today outlining 10 app store principles that “[build] on the ideas and work of the Coalition for App Fairness,” a group of developers and companies that banded together against Apple’s draconian App Store policies. Just kidding. This blog post is Microsoft making a…
The NFC-powered payment cards used to pay for public transit in Taipei, Taiwan, are so popular that not only have other businesses (like convenience stores) started accepting them, they’re also available in endless shapes and sizes, including an official Poké Ball-shaped smartcard that lights up when you’ve successfully made a purchase. Taipei’s EasyCard was first…
A growing number of phones now come with camera apps that are packed with options and settings—all in place to help you get the perfect shot every time. While you might be content to just point-and-shoot your way around, it’s worth at least knowing what these extra features can do, just in case you need…
Public health hazard President Donald Trump has decided that he won’t be participating in a virtual debate, a format which all but ensures that the moderators get a mute button (and also that Trump doesn’t get more people sick). “You sit behind a computer and do a debate,” he told Fox Business correspondent Maria Bartiromo…
The larger the group (or the younger the subjects) the harder it is to ensure that everyone in a photo is looking in the right direction. Should they all be looking at the photographer? The camera lens? At someone else in the shot? With Photoshop Elements 2021, Adobe will let users fix it in post…
Facebook will temporarily disable all ads focused on political and social issues after polls close on Election Day as part of an effort to “reduce opportunities for confusion or abuse,” it said Wednesday. Guy Rosen, Facebook’s vice president of product management, said the company is preparing for what could be one of the most grueling…
A new project by a Canadian techie named Adam Doquiatan aims to teach you to type by asking you to copy great literature. The site, called TypeLit.io, lets you pick from a library of public domain classics—Alice in Wonderland, 1984, and many more—and then shows you the text of each chapter. To complete the exercise…
