Technology news

This was a perfectly ordinary Tuesday, Sony. The biggest news in gaming was supposed to be the new Animal Crossing update. And here you hit me out of the blue with the new controller for the PlayStation 5. Y’all haven’t even shown me the darned console yet, but all of a sudden there’s this gorgeous white-and-black thing on my Twitter and I just can’t. A first look at DualSense, PS5’s new wireless controller. More details and images: https://t.co/SuaUVDkyv

Microsoft is unveiling some significant changes to its Xbox Game Bar on Windows today, including new custom widgets that any developer can build. We’ve seen Microsoft gradually improve the Game Bar with widgets, but it’s now opening it up fully today with a beta SDK to enable any developer to create custom widgets.
It’s a big move that’s accompanied by a new Xbox Game Bar app store within the overlay, allowing developers to create and list custom widgets for people to fin

Photo by Amal KS/Hindustan Times via Getty Images Jack Dorsey, the CEO of both Twitter and digital payments platform Square, said on Tuesday that he will donate $1 billion worth of equity in Square to his Start Small Foundation to fund COVID-19 relief around the world. Dorsey made the announcement in a tweet, revealing that the sum equates to roughly 28 percent of his current net worth, or about $3.6 billion. The announcement marks the most significant philanthropic effort from the 43-year-old

When it comes to Windows laptops, Dell’s XPS 13 is the laptop to beat. But the XPS 15 and XPS 17 are exciting upcoming releases as well, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see them officially announced in the coming weeks. That’s because — if a new leak from a Reddit user is to be believed — Dell has accidentally leaked an image of the upcoming XPS 15 and XPS 17 on the Precision laptops section of its website.We expected Dell to refresh the XPS 15 alongside its 13-in

Image: Nuro Nuro, the self-driving startup founded by two ex-Google engineers, was approved to test its driverless delivery robots on public roads in California. The company is the second to receive a driverless permit in the state.Nuro, which has tested its driverless grocery delivery service in Arizona and Texas, is authorized to test two light-duty delivery vehicles in nine Bay Area cities, according the California DMV. This includes portions of the cities of Atherton, East Palo Alto, Los Al

Sony still hasn’t shown off what the PlayStation 5 will look like, but it just unveiled the controller for its next-gen console: the DualSense, which marks the biggest departure for Sony’s controller design in the 25-year plus history of the PlayStation consoles.The new controller has some big changes on the inside, too: the previously announced haptic feedback (replacing the old rumble technology in previous controllers), and the new “adaptive triggers” that can adjust t

Image: Apple If you have an iPhone or MacBook, then you have probably used FaceTime, Apple’s built-in video and voice-calling app. While FaceTime has always been useful for keeping in touch, it’s become even more important for staying connected with friends and family while observing social distancing measures.You can have up to 32 people on a FaceTime call, so it’s a good video-chatting option if you don’t want to download another app to have a group video call —

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Verizon is canceling scheduled appointments for internet installation and repairs, according to some customers and two Verge reporters with persistent internet issues. The decision potentially leaves Fios subscribers without wired internet at a time when they’re likely relying on it for work and to see friends and family during the COVID-19 pandemic.“We are minimizing our in-home installation work to critical needs to keep our employees and cu

Image: Serato Popular DJ and music production software company Serato has released an update to its Serato Studio DAW, and it comes with a big change: there’s now a free edition. This free edition is feature-limited, but it does let you make, save, and export tracks.
Serato Studio is a digital audio workstation like Ableton or Logic, but it has features that are geared toward DJs and beat-makers. It integrates with Serato’s DJ software so you can quickly make edits or mashups of tra

Image: Motion Twin The excellent indie roguelike hit Dead Cells is coming to Android on June 3rd, according porting company Playdigious. Original developer Motion Twin first announced an Android version of Dead Cells was being developed back in May 2019, when the French studio gave its iOS version a summer release date. (The iOS version of Dead Cells released in August of last year.)Now, Android fans just have to wait a little longer to play the ultra-difficult game on mobile. There’s no

Photo by Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images Over the weekend, a man in North Dakota was arrested for coughing at a local Walmart. The store, like all Walmart stores, was limiting the number of people allowed in at once. The man apparently wasn’t happy to hear that, and intentionally coughed on store employees, the police chief said.
He joins a growing list of people arrested in the US for intentionally coughing in public in the past few weeks, as the accelerating outbreaks o

Apple published support guidelines and a fitting video for health care workers who may eventually use the company’s new face shields. The simple plastic devices are designed to be an added layer of protection for health care workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.Apple CEO Tim Cook announced on Sunday that the company had launched “a company-wide effort bringing together product designers, engineering, operations, packaging teams, and our suppliers to design, produce and

A still from Tesla’s original Sentry Mode video, which has since been deleted. | Image: Tesla Tesla is revamping its “Sentry Mode” security camera feature in an upcoming software update, and perhaps the most notable change is that the company will no longer use the HAL 9000 graphic from 2001: A Space Odyssey when the mode is active, according to screenshots taken by some owners with early access. Instead, as Electrek points out, the cars’ dashboard screens will now show

This week for our Vergecast interview series, Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel chats with Microsoft chief technology officer Kevin Scott about his new book Reprogramming the American Dream: From Rural America to Silicon Valley―Making AI Serve Us All.
Scott’s book tackles how artificial intelligence and machine learning can help rural America in a more grounding way, from employment to education to public health. In one chapter of his book, Scott focuses on how AI can assist with hea

Chrome OS hasn’t always been the best fit for tablets, despite the uptick in 2-in-1 Chrome OS devices out there that can work in tablet-style configurations. But Google’s latest update to its Chromebook operating system is looking to change that with new tablet mode gestures for Chromebooks — ones that look almost identical to those Apple uses on its iPads with iPadOS.
There’s a new gesture to go back to the home screen by swiping up from the bottom of the display, while

First, Facebook launched a dating feature, and now, a small group within the company has launched an app designed for couples. The New Product Experimentation team’s app, called Tuned, encourages couples to create an intimate social network between just each other. From the iOS-only app, they can share their mood, exchange music, and create a digital scrapbook. It’s billed as a “private space” for both people to connect.The app connects to Spotify for music sharing, and a

Netflix is rolling out a series of new tools that parents can use to filter what content their kids see while using the service, including the ability to remove titles entirely.The company is expanding parental control options both for the general section and Netflix’s designated kids portal. The biggest addition is the ability to remove an individual TV series or movie by title. Think of it like a search filter. If a movie like The Matrix is listed as inappropriate for a child user, it wo

The scenes that make The Office special aren’t overly zany but are extremely relatable, like Dwight Schrute making an obnoxious sales call at his desk, while Jim and Pam roll their eyes at their colleague’s behavior. It happens almost every episode: two people, the stand-ins for the audience, acknowledging just how annoying the workplace is.The Office is a show about the random, boring bits of everyday work life and the comedy that ensues from being surrounded by the same people on a

Airbnbturns to private equity for new funding, WhatsApp takes new steps to fight disinformation and another potential COVID-19 vaccine enters human trials. Here’s your Daily Crunch for April 7, 2020.
1. Airbnb turns to private equity to raise $1 billion
Airbnb said Monday that it has raised $1 billion in debt and equity from PE firms Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners, even as the online rental marketplace has seen its business plummet due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Terms of the deal wer

Voice-based social networks and gaming as a new form of identity were among the top emerging trends in consumer social startups, according to an Extra Crunch survey of top social tech investors. Meanwhile, anonymity and dating apps with a superfluous twist were spaces where investors were most pessimistic.
Extra Crunch assembled a list of the most prolific and well-respected investors in social. Many have funded or worked for the breakout companies changing the way we interact with other people.

Early this afternoon Shippo, a shipping software and services company, announced that it has closed a $30 million Series C. The funding round roughly doubles the capital that the firm has raised to-date, from a little over $29 million to just under $60 million.
The round, however, wasn’t put together recently. As is often the case with funding events, Shipporaised its capital a while back and is only announcing it now. According to its CEO, Laura Behrens Wu, her startup started raising its

Photo by Hakan Nural/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images The New York Times has released a new report on the ways the COVID-19 pandemic has changed internet use in the United States. The data provides an interesting insight into the ways the pandemic, and the resulting lockdowns around the country, have altered our relationships with technology.Some of the tidbits won’t shock you. Video chat services like Google Duo, Nextdoor, and Houseparty have all seen large increases in traffic since Janu

TL;DR: Sur La Table is in the midst of its semi-annual cookware sale, where, as of April 7, you can save up to 50% on brands like Cuisinart, All-Clad, Le Creuset, and more.Being stuck at home is a great time to learn how to cook.
At the risk of sounding like one of those people who won't STFU about productivity during isolation, cooking is a skill that can benefit you on a daily basis even once this is all over. Not only does it save money by decreasing the need to eat out, but it teaches you ho

The trees are turning green again, hot coffee will soon turn into iced, and smoothies will once again become everyone's obsession. Besides an air conditioner and a good pair of shorts, a blender is what you'll need for the hot summer days that'll be here soon. 
SEE ALSO: 8 of the best blenders for making smoothies
Whether it's to perfectly mix cocktails, break down your favorite fruits and veggies, or whip up your grandma's famous pasta sauce recipe, a blender will make a ton of your kitche

Facebook Gaming is launching a feature today meant to bring people together virtually while they can’t be in the same place physically. It’s called Tournaments, and it does exactly what it says on the tin.Tournaments will let users create and organize virtual tournaments in a variety of formats, from double elimination to round-robin, and it appears to be intended to mitigate some of the strain of social distancing. (Interestingly, Tournaments was originally designed for live gaming