Technology news

GoPro figured out why Karma drones worldwide have been unable to fly since the beginning of the new year, as The Verge first reported last week, and has finally released a firmware update that should resolve the problem. The company said early last week that its team was “testing a resolution” and that a firmware update would be released “within the week.”In the first few days of 2020, Karma users around the world started realizing they were having trouble getting their d

Illustration by Ana Kova Injuries like drownings, falls, and assaults could kill up to an additional 2,135 people each year in the US as climate change continues to cause unusual temperature swings. The findings by researchers from Imperial College London, Columbia, and Harvard were published today in the journal Nature Medicine. The connection between swings in temperature — unusual spells of heat or cold — and injuries still can’t be explained, but researchers say that their

Denver Post Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon Workers for grocery delivery platform Instacart are organizing a national boycott of the company next week to push for the reinstatement of a 10 percent default tip on all orders.“We have fought for fair pay, but Instacart continues to lower it,” reads a Medium post published Monday by a group of Instacart workers. “In order to continue fulfilling your orders, we must see action from Instacart.” The group, composed of the drivers and

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig is suing The New York Times over an interview about the MIT Media Lab accepting money from sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Lessig’s defamation suit covers a September 2019 article titled “A Harvard Professor Doubles Down: If You Take Epstein’s Money, Do It in Secret.” He claims the headline misrepresents his interview, where he condemns the donation, but says that “if you’re going to t

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge As Apple squares off for another encryption fight, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella offered mixed messages on the encryption question. In a Monday meeting with reporters in New York, Nadella reiterated the company’s opposition to encryption backdoors, but expressed tentative support for legal and technical solutions in the future.
“I do think backdoors are a terrible idea, that is not the way to go about this,” Nadella said. “We’ve alwa

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Attorney General William Barr today requested Apple’s help in unlocking two iPhones connected to last month’s shooting at a Pensacola naval base, and said that Apple has provided no “substantive assistance” unlocking the phones. The FBI requested Apple’s help unlocking the same phones last week.
In his remarks today, Barr said that the FBI had received court authorization to search both iPhones, one of which had been shot at

Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images In the wake of heightened tensions between Iran and the United States, triggered by the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, social media companies are facing pressure to heavily monitor their platforms, but they seem unsure about where to draw the line.
Most prominently, Facebook-owned Instagram has been removing a slew of posts that mention Soleimani. As Coda Story noted last week, the company seems to be deleting posts from media outlets affiliated with the Is

Spectrum is discontinuing its home security service on February 5th, leaving customers out hundreds of dollars for cameras and other equipment they may not be able to reuse or return.
The company is offering existing security service customers discounts on similar services from Ring and Abode, but apparently is not planning to make its own equipment compatible with other systems or give rebates for equipment purchased.“A number of suppliers that provide the equipment and network service ne

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verg Apple appears to have a new laptop on the way, as the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) has approved a “portable personal computer” from Apple in a filing (via 9to5Mac). Perhaps that new laptop will have the good scissor-switch keyboard from Apple’s new 16-inch MacBook Pro, as every other laptop that Apple sells is still equipped with the company’s less reliable butterfly keys.
According to an image of the EEC approval shared by 9to5Mac,

After failing to grab fans with his portrayal of Joker in Suicide Squad, Jared Leto is trying his hand at playing a Marvel antihero named Morbius for Sony. The first trailer, seen above, shows Hollywood’s former prince of darkness return to his gothic roots for the role.Unlike Marvel Studios movies, which exist under the Disney banner, Morbius is entirely from Sony Pictures, much like Tom Hardy’s Venom. The trailer introduces us to Morbius the Living Vampire (who originally appeared

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A man loosely linked to violent neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen has been charged with participating in a swatting ring that hit hundreds of targets, potentially including journalists and a Facebook executive. John William Kirby Kelley supposedly picked targets for swatting calls in an IRC channel, then helped record the hoax calls for an audience of white supremacists. He was allegedly caught after making a bomb threat to get out of classes.
The Justice Departm

Image: Rockstar Games Rockstar has confirmed that the reason Grand Theft Auto IV is no longer available to purchase from Steam is its reliance on the Games for Windows Live (GFWL) platform, which it says Microsoft is “no longer supporting.” Although people who already own the game on Steam can continue to play it, the game’s “Add to Cart” button has disappeared from its Steam page, preventing users from buying a new copy.
“Grand Theft Auto IV was originally c

The Verge Yesterday, streamer Rachel “Valkyrae” Hofstetter posted a short, animated clip to Twitter — of a young girl playing a game that looks a little like Snake — that ended in a date and a time. By now, we know that when a streamer does this, it means they’ve signed (or resigned) a contract to stream on a platform exclusively; for Hofstetter, it means she’s going from Twitch to YouTube. The indefatigable e-sports consultant Rod Breslau had the scoop, whic

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Away co-founder Steph Korey will become co-CEO of her company, rather than moving to its board of directors, according to The New York Times. Last month, following a Verge report that described a “toxic work environment” within the company, Away announced that the CEO position would be taken over by Lululemon COO Stuart Haselden, effective today, January 13th, while Korey would become executive chairman of Away’s board. Now, Korey an

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Amazon’s most recent version of the Kindle Paperwhite is a great value at its regular $124.99 price, but buying one right now won’t set you back nearly as much. The 8GB base model (with Amazon ads baked in) is down to $84.99, which is the same price that hit during Black Friday.Compared to the standard Kindle, which is on sale for $59.99, the Paperwhite has a higher-resolution display — and a properly backlit one at that (compared to

Image: SSL Solid State Logic (SSL) is best known in the audio realm for its huge professional consoles that cost tens of thousands of dollars. But the iconic British company is now hoping to break into home studios for the first time. Ahead of NAMM, it’s debuting two affordable audio interfaces for bedroom producers called the SSL 2 and SSL 2+.
Both interfaces have two inputs and two outputs, are USB-C powered, include two analog mic preamps, and when it comes to audio resolution, have 24

Still: Warner Bros. This year’s Academy Award nominations went as predictably as possible, giving Netflix another run to nab some trophies this awards season after practically being shut out at the Golden Globe Awards.
Netflix took home 22 Oscar nominations, mostly for movies like Marriage Story, The Two Popes, and The Irishman. Martin Scorsese’s three-and-a-half-hour epic received some of the Oscars’ most prestigious awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted

Image: Asus Asus has announced a new Nvidia RTX 2070 graphics card, which has been “specifically designed” for Intel’s new mini gaming PC initiative. The Asus Dual GeForce RTX 2070 Mini measures just under eight inches (around 20cm) long and features a dual-fan design to keep it cool under load. Asus says the graphics card became available worldwide on January 8th. It doesn’t seem to have hit every retailer just yet, but UK retailer CCL Online is currently listing the ov

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge Apple has launched a new replacement program for its iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR smart battery cases, after charging issues were discovered in some devices. According to the company, some of the cases may have a problem where they won’t charge when plugged into power, or may fail to charge your iPhone. If your model is affected, then Apple or one of its authorized service providers will replace it free of charge.
At $129, the battery cases aren’t che

Speaking to us last week at CES, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau confirmed that the company’s next major phones — presumably the OnePlus 8 — will feature screens with a refresh rate of 120Hz. Lau is not one for subtlety, and claimed in a note to us sent later that it would be “the best smartphone display in 2020.” Having not seen it, we obviously can’t say if that claim is more than just bombast.
OnePlus says that it worked with Samsung to develop the OLED screen, and th

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Elon Musk says that Tesla cars will “soon” be able to talk to nearby pedestrians. In a tweet announcing the functionality, the CEO shared a short clip of a Model 3 driving past while its speaker plays a clip saying “Well don’t just stand there staring, hop in.” In his Tweet, Musk says, “Teslas will soon talk to people if you want. This is real.”
We already knew that Tesla has begun adding external speakers to its

The last gadget I checked out at CES 2020 was Asus’ latest Republic of Gamers-branded mouse, which was announced last year and offers a pretty long, potentially compelling list of features. The ROG Chakram is designed for customizability and flexibility, and my overall impression was that most people could probably find a way to make it work for them.
The most prominent addition, literally, is a little analog stick that protrudes from next to the thumb buttons. This is a full-on analog con

HBO’s Westworld will return for a puzzle-filled third season on March 15, the network announced tonight.The network announced the release date with a new teaser trailer that includes a series of ominous moments in the near future that spell apocalyptic disaster. It starts with the impeachment of the 45th president, a second civil war breaking out in Russia, ecological disasters around the world, and a few more events that eventually collapse into one mega issue. Show co-creator Jonathan No