Technology news

Daimler must have wanted to upstage Tesla in the electric truck games, and took advantage of a world stage to do so.The German vehicle giant announced Tuesday at the Tokyo Motor Show the E-Fuso Vision One, an electric heavy-duty truck it says is capable of up to 217 miles on a charge after hauling 11 tons. It’s part of a plan by the Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus division of Daimler to electrify all of its large vehicles in the future, a solution for hauling companies in cities that are set

Reddit has shut down several Nazi and white supremacist subreddits after a policy change banning material that “encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence or physical harm against an individual or a group of people.” The news was posted earlier today in Reddit’s moderator news forum, and commenters noted that at least 10 subreddits have been banned since then, including r/NationalSocialism, r/Nazi, and r/DylannRoofInnocent. Reddit is also banning anything that glorif

Lexus is the latest automaker to leap into the fray of highly automated driving, announcing that its “Highway Teammate” advanced driver assist system (ADAS) will be available in 2020. The system, which offers “automated driving from entrance ramp to exit ramp on motor-vehicle-only roadways,” is featured as part of the sleek, glowing LS+ concept that Lexus is showing off at the Tokyo auto show this week.Highway Teammate will “enable automated merging, lane changes an

GUEST: We live in exciting times of unprecedented progress. Automation has a significant role in propelling human advancement, and digital transformation is the new status quo.
RPA, AI, and cognitive machine learning technologies are in the hands of business leaders as they command a new digital workforce. But as we cut costs and focus on error-free transactions and new service models, there are human workforces — our people — to consider.
Business leadership is on the frontlines of

Microsoft today released a new Windows 10 preview for PCs with additional settings and improvements to the Microsoft Yahei font. This build is part of the RS4 branch.
Windows 10 is a service, meaning it was built in a very different way from its predecessors so it can be regularly updated with not just fixes, but new features, too. Microsoft has released four major updates so far: November Update, Anniversary Update, Creators Update, and Fall Creators Update.First up, Ease of Access has been rev

President Trump will put a new program in place that could accelerate and increase the number of drone tests across the United States, according to a new memorandum released by the White House. The Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot program, as it’s called, will allow US cities and states to partner with tech companies to draw up at least five trial programs around the country over the next three years. Each program will have to be reviewed by the Federal Aviation Administration.T

Influential tech industry figure Robert Scoble has refuted allegations of sexual misconduct in a combative blog post. In the scathing 2,500-word statement, Scoble says he was misquoted by former partner Shel Israel, who said Scoble had confirmed the reports were “mostly true” and that he would be canceling his public activity for the rest of the year. Instead, he accuses four women of using “grains of truth to sell false narrative” about his behavior. He also excoriates T

Seagate has doubled the capacity of its latest hard drive and is announcing a 4 terabyte drive for the Sony PlayStation 4.
The Seagate Game Drive can store more than 100 games. Available today, it sells at retail for $130. The external storage device has about eight times the 500GB drive that comes with a PS4.
The Game Drive’s USB 3.0 connection has high speed and is compatible with any generation of PS4 (System Software version 4.50 or higher). It runs off USB power, so you don’t ne

Mitsubishi may not resonate with many people when it comes to cars, but the name “Evolution” might if you’re a fan of rallying or gaming or Vin Diesel movies.
The Mitsubishi e-Evolution Concept is the Japanese automaker’s vision of a high-performance crossover SUV that doesn’t sound too far-fetched. After all, there have been plenty of electrified SUVs, even from Mitsubishi: its Outlander PHEV is one of the most popular plug-in hybrids.But the e-Evolution, shown Tue

Google today launched Android Studio 3.0, the latest version of its integrated development environment (IDE), with new features like app profiling tools to quickly diagnose performance issues, support for the Kotlin programming language, and new wizards for accelerating development using the latest Android Oreo APIs. The company today also started rolling out the first developer preview of Android 8.1 Oreo with Android Go optimizations, a new Neural Networks API, and a few smaller enhancements i

In recent years, horror author Joe Hill has emerged as a major presence on bookstore shelves. The son of horror legend Stephen King, he’s forged his own career with a string of best-selling novels. His comic series, Locke & Key is currently being adapted into a TV series for Hulu.This week, Hill published his latest book, Strange Weather, but it’s not a novel. Instead, it’s being billed as four distinct short novels — Snapshot, Loaded, Aloft, and Rain — each of

Two months ago, Verizon implemented a change to all of its unlimited data plans that placed limits on the quality at which users could stream video. The company split its unlimited plan into two tiers, with the cheaper option restricting video streaming to 480p resolution; a higher-priced $85 “Beyond Unlimited” plan tops out at 720p video on smartphones (and 1080p on tablets). The new restrictions immediately applied to all plans and Verizon customers had no way of opting out if they

GUEST: You may separate your recyclables, take quick showers, and avoid using harsh chemicals, but we all know our individual efforts to save the environment go in vain if others aren’t following suit. Large-scale efforts like Harvard’s crop pollinating robobees and the promise of a driverless future give us hope for widespread adoption of green technologies, but we’re not quite there yet. This means it’s still up to us and our individual efforts to take care of our

Uber is teaming up with British bank Barclays to offer its first branded credit card, the companies announced today. The card offers rewards for purchases at restaurants, hotels, and, of course, Uber rides. You can even apply for the card within Uber’s app starting next month.Uber says it only takes minutes to be approved, after which users can add the card to their Uber wallets. A physical card will arrive in the mail about a week later. The new card has no annual fee and offers a bonus o

Google has released the latest developer preview of Android Oreo. Version 8.1 will be released in December, but Android Beta Program users can test it now. Anyone can also download and install the system images with an unlocked bootloader. The Beta Program issues these updates over the air, although the developer preview is only compatible with the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Pixel C, Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, and Pixel 2 XL.
Obviously, you're well aware of Android Oreo's new features. The new version b

This fall, The Verge is making a choice. The choice is fear! We’ve decided to embrace the season by taking in as many new horror movies as possible and reporting back on which ones are worth your time. We’re calling this series Hold My Hand, as we look at films you might want to watch with a supportive viewing partner. Get comfortable, put the kettle on, check the closet for ghosts, then find a hand to squeeze until the bones pop.
Culturally, we don’t think enough about morbid

With the holidays approaching at a rapid clip, Valve Corporation’s digital game store Steam unveiled new digital gift cards in addition to those available at retailers such as GameStop and Best Buy. These will enable users to send funds to other users’ Steam Wallet.
Users can send a digital gift card using PayPal, Bitcoin, and major debit or credit cards from Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, and JCB. They will not be able to use Steam Wallet funds, however. As of no

As we noted in part one of our interview, Zoe Quinn endured an appalling amount of Internet hatred related to the Gamergate controversy. In response, she wrote a book Crash Override, chronicling how Gamergate almost destroyed her life.
In response, she has created the Crash Override Network, an advocacy group that helps people who are experiencing online abuse.
Quinn faced two years of personal attacks, doxxing, and a continuous spotlight. She was accused of sleeping with journali

Tesla has begun firing employees from its SolarCity business for performance reasons, just over a week after firing hundreds more from its motor vehicle division and in addition to an already announced round of layoffs at the solar power division. Tesla says the terminations are part of a normal performance review process, but half a dozen former employees told CNBC they were blindsided by the dismissals.
Six anonymous employees told the news channel that Tesla’s claim that the firings wer

Harvard’s robot bees have really evolved over the years. The RoboBee project was first unveiled in 2013, when the bots were only capable of takeoff and flying. Since then, they’ve been modified to stick to surfaces and swim underwater, and now their creators say they’re able to dive in and out of water — a big achievement for a tiny robot bee.Getting out of the water is usually pretty easy for humans, but it’s a challenge for anything as small as an insect. The Robo

The Destiny series has finally made the leap to PC, and you know what that means: cheaters. It’s not that difficult to use tools to “hack” PC games to get an advantage, and that could ruin Bungie’s new sci-fi shooter. The studio is trying to stay on top of that problem by banning players, but some people are claiming the studio banned them for no reason.
On forums like Reddit, Destiny 2 players are claiming that Bungie banned them for using harmless programs like the OBS

German automotive parts supplier Continental has developed a new speaker-less audio system for cars it calls Ac2ated Sound. Continental says the new system will reduce the amount of weight traditionally taken up by car speakers by up to 90 percent, using surface vibrations to deliver sound, much like a violin.
Continental’s system replaces speakers with actuators, which are tiny transducers similar to the core of a traditional speaker. The actuators are attached behind panels in the car, a

For weeks, one of the world’s top security firms has been dogged by reports of government espionage. According to a string of reports, Kaspersky Lab’s antivirus software was used as part of a sophisticated effort by Russian intelligence to steal classified NSA documents. The software had flagged classified materials brought home by a luckless NSA contractor, and used the antivirus system to transmit the materials back to Kaspersky’s headquarters in Moscow. When Israeli agents b

Apple is calling into contention an earlier report from Bloomberg that claimed the company had lowered the accuracy of the face recognition in order to increase iPhone X production yields, calling the report “completely false” in a statement to The Verge.The full statement from Apple elaborates that 1,000,000:1 accuracy it had originally announced is still valid. Depending on how you want to read the statement, it is possible that Bloomberg’s original report — which said

The powerful gene-editing tool CRISPR has been making headlines for its ability to edit DNA, which could one day transform how we fight cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Now, scientists have created a new version of CRISPR that can target and edit a different genetic building block: RNA.
The new tool, described in a study published today in Science, offers several advantages: its edits, for instance, aren’t permanent, which makes gene editing much safer. Researchers showed that t

Stranger Things returns on Friday, and the brands want us to know they’re just as excited as we are to get back to Hawkins, Indiana. The most recent attempt to capitalize on the show’s popularity comes from Lyft, with the launch of “Strange Mode.”On Thursday, October 26th and Friday, October 27th, users nationwide will be able to opt into the mode from 6AM to 6PM, which will change Lyft’s map so that cars are represented by waffles, Christmas lights, trucker hats, a

If you were expecting Game of Thrones-type shows to come from Apple’s original video content push, you’re going to be disappointed. According to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple will not allow its upcoming shows to feature nudity, strong language, or violence. Instead, the company wants to focus on comedies and dramas like This Is Us and Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories that can appeal to a wider audience.The decision, according to Bloomberg, has led producers and partners

Sony surprised the camera world this morning when it finally announced the new Sony A7R III, the long-rumored third iteration of one of the company’s best digital mirrorless cameras. It ships in November, and will retail for $3,200, according to Sony.The A7R III uses a full-frame, 42.4-megapixel sensor, and borrows heavily from the A9, Sony’s ludicrously fast professional flagship that was announced earlier this year. It shoots 10 frames per second (RAW or JPEG) with autofocus tracki

Welcome back to Circuit Breaker Live: the not-quite live edition. In case you missed our show yesterday — it streams live on Twitter every Tuesday at 4PM ET / 1PM PT — we’ve recorded the whole thing and have it ready for playback above. This week, we have Ashley Carman discussing the instant camera revival, Lauren Goode talking about the Apple Watch Series 3 and other wearables, and myself testing out some of the latest smart speakers, including the brand new Echo.
The show is

Konami announced today that Metal Gear Survive is coming out on February 20 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. It will cost $40.
This is the first game in the Metal Gear series that will come out since series creator Hideo Kojima‘s dramatic departure from the publisher in 2015. It’s also one of the first major games Konami is releasing since it decided to focus other endeavors, like slot machines. Metal Gear and the PES soccer series remain Konami’s only active console game f

Patreon is letting users directly link its payment platform to WordPress, MailChimp, and other services. Today, it’s launching an “app directory” of plugins based on its existing API, along with a developer portal that includes documentation for building new tools. It’s part of a major Patreon expansion in the wake of a $60 million funding round last month, and a step toward making the service a full-fledged payment system, not just a crowdfunding site.
Patreon VP of busi

If you're sick of guessing or measuring dimensions to see whether a fancy new couch will fit into a room in your tiny apartment, Target has just introduced a novel way to shop: through an AR feature on its mobile website. The See It In Your Space feature is similar in concept to Ikea's AR app. It's supposed to let customers use their smartphone camera to virtually map out how furniture will look in their rooms.But it doesn’t work like all those other fancy AR apps. You have to twist and po

When producer Yoshiaki Nishimura first talked to director Hiromasa Yonebayashi about the project that would become the animated feature Mary and the Witch’s Flower, Yonebayashi had reservations. “I hesitated a little bit,” he tells The Verge, “because I thought it might be compared to Kiki’s Delivery Service, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, which was also about a young witch.”
It’s a valid concern. The film’s protagonist, Mary, is a forceful redhead wh

Microsoft is no longer making the Kinect, as Co.Design first reported. The motion-sensing and voice-recognizing device for Xbox One and Windows will disappear from store shelves once the current stock runs out.
Microsoft once touted Kinect as an essential component of the Xbox One. Now, as the company prepares to launch the Xbox One X, 4K resolutions and hardware that tops its competitors are the new focus.
The first Kinect launched as a peripheral for the Xbox 360 in 2010. It helped g

Mineral water pods. Think about that idea. I'll give you a second.
A German company called Mitte has created a new, titular device that’s designed to create purified mineral water at home that can be dispensed either hot or cold. It relies on proprietary mineral cartridges, aka pods, to populate the water with various minerals, like calcium, magnesium, and potassium. One cartridge should last for 400 liters, or around 105 gallons, and they vary in price from €40 ($47) to €50 ($58