Technology news

Image: Warner Bros. The Matrix is headed back to theaters for one week to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the sci-fi classic. Specifically, it’ll be screened in the 135 Dolby Cinema AMC theaters around the country, from August 30th to September 5th.
Technically, AMC is a few months late here — the film, which was written and directed by sibling duo Lana and Lilly Wachowski, was released on March 31st, 1999 — but given that the film came out so long ago, there are likely plen

Getty Images Members of YouTube’s LGBTQ community have raised concerns about their videos being demonetized seemingly because they fall under queer categories, but CEO Susan Wojcicki says that’s not the case.Demonetization and poor recommendation of LGBTQ content are two areas that Wojcicki spoke about at length with popular vlogger Alfie Deyes in a recent interview. Wojcicki said that YouTube does “not automatically demonetize LGBTQ content” and that YouTube’s mon

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The new Switch Lite and the slightly improved Nintendo Switch have each appeared in photos at the FCC. And, as you’d hope, they’ve both been thoroughly dissected, so we can get a closer look at what Nintendo seems to have changed from the original model (and what it hasn’t).Nintendo claims that battery life is improved in the Switch Lite relative to the original Switch. And hours of additional battery life is also the only really tan

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tinder’s former marketing chief is suing the app’s parent companies and former CEO over claims that the company wrongfully terminated her employment after she went public with sexual assault allegations. Rosette Pambakian claims in her lawsuit that former Tinder CEO Greg Blatt sexually assaulted her after a Tinder holiday party in 2016 in an employee’s hotel room, the cost of which the company covered.
Much of Pambakian’s story has

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon is indirectly causing third-party sellers to raise prices on their products if those products are listed on competing storefronts at lower prices, according to a report from Bloomberg. This is potentially anti-competitive, and it may become a central piece of evidence in the federal government’s ongoing antitrust investigations into US tech companies.Amazon is not going so far as to openly demand its third-party sellers raise prices, accordin

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon is indirectly causing third-party sellers to raise prices on their products if those products are listed on competing storefronts at lower prices, according to a report from Bloomberg. This is potentially anti-competitive, and it may become a central piece of evidence in the federal government’s ongoing antitrust investigations into US tech companies.Amazon is not going so far as to openly demand its third-party sellers raise prices, accordin

Google is displaying shoppable results and sponsored ads for high-capacity drum magazines, even though it is against the company’s policy to advertise gun parts that enhance the functionality of a weapon. A Google search for “.223 100rd” (short for round), the same type of magazine used by the Dayton massacre shooter, displays sponsored results on the right side of the page, with more links leading to buyable products on the Shopping tab.
As noted by Pinboard developer Maciej C

SpaceX is getting into the rocket ride-share business, giving companies the opportunity to launch bundles of small satellites into orbit on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket. Up until now, SpaceX has mostly focused on launching heavier, bus-sized satellites to space or bulky cargo capsules to the International Space Station. The new program, called the SmallSat Rideshare Program, will offer operators of tiny satellites more flexibility when launching to space.
Typically, small satellites &mdas

Following two mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, this past weekend, a familiar cycle is playing out: lawmakers and government officials offer thoughts and prayers, yet take no action to prevent future tragedies. Manifestos are dissected and distributed online. Fingers are pointed everywhere besides gun control — and, once again, the blame has landed on video games.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Fox & Friends that video games “dehumanize individuals.&r

Kyle Connor with his Tesla Model 3 | Kyle Connor In mid-July, a family from Switzerland broke the US record for fastest cross-country trip in an electric vehicle, completing the New York-to-California journey in a long-range Tesla Model 3 in just 48 hours and 10 minutes. Little did they know, they’d only get to hold that record for three weeks.The concept of using electric vehicles for coast-to-coast “Cannonball Run” speed trials is fairly new, and only started gaining popular

BitChute YouTube has terminated the account of a 14-year-old creator who is known for hateful, anti-Muslim videos after a recent video seemed to call for violence against gay people, BuzzFeed News reports.
The 12-minute video, called “Pride and Prejudice,” came from far-right YouTuber Soph. It focused on the LGBTQ community and included a line of threats at the end of the video. The video also asked viewers to blame Soph in “your manifesto,” a reference to online documen

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple’s 2019 MacBook Air is $899.99 at Best Buy. This is $200 below its normal price, and it’s the best deal that we’ve seen so far. This model recently released, and it features a True Tone display that can adjust to the ambient lighting in a room.According to our review, this laptop is a nice upgrade if you have an older MacBook Air. The current MacBook Pro will be a better fit for power-hungry applications, since it has a quad-core processo

Airbnb has today announced the acquisition of Urbandoor, a platform that offers extended stays to corporate clients. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Urbandoor was founded in 2015, according to Crunchbase. One of the big differentiators between Urbandoor and Airbnb was not only its focus on business travelers, relocation, etc., but also that Urbandoornegotiated directly with multifamily owners rather than renters.
In other words, Urbandoor went directly to big real estate companies such

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Internet hate forum 8chan has gone dark after web services company Voxility banned the site — and also banned 8chan’s new host Epik, which had been leasing web space from it. Epik began working with 8chan today after web services giant Cloudflare cut off service, following the latest of at least three mass shootings linked to 8chan. But Stanford researcher Alex Stamos noted that Epik seemed to lease servers from Voxility, and when Voxility dis

Image: Audi Fresh off the heels of its first serious attempt at electric vehicles, Audi has announced the E-tron scooter, a concept electric scooter that you ride like a skateboard. The four-wheeled rideable can hit a maximum speed of 12.5 mph, weighs 26 pounds (12 kg), and has a range of around 12.5 miles (20 km). Audi plans to release the scooter in late 2020 for around €2,000 (approximately $2,240).
Combining elements of an e-scooter and a skateboard results in a pretty unique-looking r

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Google today pledged to include recycled materials in all of its Made By Google products by 2022. The portfolio currently includes hardware like Pixel phones, Pixelbooks, Google Home speakers, Nest, and accessories like phone cases and charging stands.In an interview with Fast Company, Google said it had begun using recycled plastic in Chromecast devices and used plastic bottles to create the fabric on Google Homes and cases. The move follows Apple&rs

YouTube/Alfie YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki indicated that certain types of commentary videos and online punditry could be in trouble as the company prepares to institute a new policy around “creator-on-creator” harassment. YouTube faced criticism recently after neglecting to take action against one pundit’s channel after he made homophobic comments about another YouTube personality.The company’s current harassment rules aren’t effective enough anymore in the eyes of

The past two decades have been marked by a period of sharp peaks and troughs for Brazil, the largest country in Latin America. On one hand, the country has undergone an impressive economic transformation, which led to Forbes in 2012 naming Brazil “one of the most entrepreneurial countries in the world”. In 2000 Brazil’s GDP was ranked around 11th in the world at roughly $655.5 billion, and today it’s in the eighth position at roughly $2.5 trillion. However in the la

Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images Walmart plans to launch a new video streaming service from its Flipkart subsidiary in India as part of its battle with Amazon, according to a report from Bloomberg. The service will reportedly be free for members of the Flipkart Plus loyalty program, according to unnamed sources with knowledge of the plans. Walmart acquired the Indian retailer in May last year for $16 billion in what was the world’s largest e-commerce acquisition at the time.
Al

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images After two recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, President Trump said his administration would ask social media companies to develop tools that could detect potential mass shooters.While delivering a speech on the recent violence, Trump said “we must do a better job of identifying and acting on early warning signs,” and he suggested social media companies could develop new ways of catching “red flags.”
“Detect mas

Welcome to Hard Fork Basics, a collection of tips, tricks, guides, and info to keep you up to date in the cryptocurrency and blockchain world. Earlier this year, Bitcoin was setting records for 12-month price highs. It’s also been demonstrating market dominance as it affirms its spot as the number one cryptocurrency. But there’s another metric, hash rate, which has been reaching all time highs this year. But what is it? What does it mean? And why do people regard it as a measure of

Photo by Carlos Osorio / Toronto Star via Getty Images The Wii is Nintendo’s most popular home console, selling upwards of 100 million units since its launch in 2006. Of those millions of consoles, 82 million came equipped with one specific game: Wii Sports. Wii Sports and the complementary Wii Fit functioned as a riposte against the generational stigma attached to games, largely dismantling the idea that video games were exclusively tied to a younger demographic. The Wii has even become

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Earlier this year, Samsung released the Galaxy Watch Active, a less expensive smartwatch focused on fitness features. Now, just six months later, the company is launching the Galaxy Watch Active 2, an upgraded and refined version of the original.But confusingly, Samsung isn’t discontinuing the first model, it will continue to sell both versions at the same time at different prices (along with the even older and more expensive Galaxy Watch). The Active 2 wi

Fossil Fossil has announced its fifth-generation Wear OS watch, which is called, appropriately, the Gen 5. And with this new device, Fossil isn’t giving us quite the same song and dance from previous years.Aside from some welcome spec improvements, which I’ll get into below, this is the first Wear OS watch that will be able to take calls from a tethered iPhone. (The feature is already available for Android phones.) Countless Wear OS watches before have been able to alert iPhone user

Spotify Premium has been added as a perk for AT&T customers who subscribe to the carrier’s Unlimited & More plan. This offer starts on August 6th, and it’s good for six months of service, after which point, customers will have to pay $9.99 per month (the regular price of Spotify Premium) to keep it going.
Spotify joins AT&T’s list of special offers that its subscribers can choose between when they enroll in a plan. Other options include HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz

Throughout history, the sex toy industry has been traditionally dominated by men. The lack of female and non-binary influence in the design of sex toys has led to the idea that it’s a simple game of “one-size-fits-all,” which obviously isn’t the case.  But now, in light of an increased cultural awareness of non-binary gender identities, innovative sex toy designs are making pleasure more accessible for everyone. One company striving to make the sex toy ind

Stop Motion by Michele Doying / The Verge Back to school season is here, and with it comes the need to stock up on the essential things that high school, college, or post-grads will need for the upcoming year. To help you identify what might be helpful for the student or recent graduate in your life, we pooled The Verge staff’s expertise to create a list of great gift ideas.
These things have either served us well or they’re things we wish we had when we were in school or just start

What’s a party without good music and nice sound? Some Bluetooth speakers can become the life of the party, at home or outside. JBL’s Charge 4 portable Bluetooth speaker is one of them. Good news is that it’s selling for just $119.95 instead of its original price of $180. The 30W speaker will produce some booming sound for you to dance to. Plus, it comes with two JBL bass radiators so that you can feel the thump in your soul.  Its rugged design makes i

Iran‘s government has put an end to months of speculation by ratifying a bill that acknowledges that cryptocurrency mining is a legitimate industry. But another recent bill has thrown a spanner in the works as Iran is still refusing to recognize cryptocurrency trading as lawful. While legalizing mining is seemingly a positive move, it’s important to note there are several caveats that clarify the country’s stance with regards to the wider cryptocurrency industry. A bill ratifi

Vivo was the first company to ship an in-display fingerprint sensor in its phones last year. | Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge Apple is planning to reintroduce Touch ID with an in-display fingerprint sensor in its 2021 iPhones, a new report from noted industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has claimed. 9to5Mac reports that the analyst says the technology will be included alongside Apple’s Face ID facial recognition technology in two years time, and that the two security methods will compliment eac

How much do you really know about prison labor?
From the amount of money prisoners get paid to the effect their low wages can have on their families, John Oliver is here to explain it all.
In the segment above from Last Week Tonight, he breaks down the damage the current system is doing to the loved ones of people who have been incarcerated.
"One in three families reported going into debt to pay for phone calls or visitation — which is terrible!" says Oliver. "And that doesn't really set u

Emma Watson has launched a free legal advice helpline with Time's Up for women experiencing workplace sexual harassment in England and Wales. 
According to Rights of Women, the organisation which will provide the advice, this is the only specialist free legal advice line for women in England and Wales who are experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace. 
"It's completely staggering to think that this is the only service of its type given that research has found that as many as one

Finding the best deals on top brands can sometimes be a challenge. You have to search all over the web, and wait for the right time to strike. It can be a painful process.
There is another much less arduous way of securing the best deals, though. You can simply check out this deals round up for all the best offers on a wide range of products. We have done all the searching for you, and found the best deals on laptops, speakers, headphones, and more. 
All the top brands are included in this

The boards of Just Eat and Takeaway.comhave reached agreement to combine their two European food delivery businesses.
The pair of publicly listed companies announced they were in talks to combine their businesses a week ago, saying then that talks were at an advanced stage.
Today they said their boards have reached agreement on the terms of “a recommended all-share combination”, and both will be recommending unanimously that shareholders vote in favor of the merger at respective meet

Image: ZTE ZTE has become the first phone manufacturer to release a 5G handset in China with the launch of the Axon 10 Pro 5G today, reports state-run news agency Xinhau. Announced back at MWC in February, the Axon 10 5G comes equipped with a 6.47-inch 1080p AMOLED display, and will use one of Qualcomm’s first generation X50 5G modems to connect to China’s upcoming 5G wireless network.Although Chinese customers can get their hands on a 5G device starting today, they won’t have

In the aftermath of two mass shootings that took place in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio over the same 24-hour period, the U.S. is still grappling with what needs to be done now — and where responsibility lies.
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke attended a vigil in El Paso on Sunday. He spoke to the community, and called for gun control laws that close background check loopholes and end the sale of assault weapons. 
And then, according to audio posted by CNN's national p