Technology news

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Apple has responded to a Senate letter asking questions about its COVID-19 screening tools. The company sought to allay concerns around an app and website that it launched in late March, built in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the White House. It promises that the tools include “strong privacy and security protections” and that Apple will “never&rdqu

Disney+ is for families, and they've got the butt censorship to prove it. 
Over the weekend, film lover Allison Pregler tweeted about the streaming service's take on the 1984 movie Splash — uncovering a buttocks obscurant disturbingly akin to Tom Hooper's Cats. 
Starring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah as a landlubber and his mermaid girlfriend, the fantasy rom-com shows the pair clandestinely meeting on a beach where Hannah kisses Hanks before sprinting into the ocean. Though clearly

Razer is selling wireless earbuds perfect for Pokémon fans. In addition to Pikachu-stamped yellow buds, the set comes with a charging case shaped like a pokéball. They’ll be launching in China for roughly $120 on April 16th.
Razer’s earbuds, spotted by Gizmodo, will last for about three hours per charge. That’s not very good battery life, but at least the case offers up to five recharges. The earbuds are outfitted with a 13mm driver for your bass needs. While they

Image: Lumberjanes / Boom Studios Netflix has announced a first-look deal with comics publisher Boom Studios for new TV series based on Boom’s comic book franchises, giving the streaming service another avenue for intellectual property based on which it can create new shows.
While not nearly as large as big-name publishers like Marvel, DC, or Image Comics, Boom Studios is still one of the most popular comic book companies in the world, producing major franchises like Lumberjanes, Somethin

Frank, a New York-based student-facing startup, has raised $5 million in what the company described as an “interim strategic round” led by Chegg, a public edtech company. According to Frank founder and CEO Charlie Javice, previous investors Aleph and Marc Rowan took part in the round alongside new investor GingerBread Capital.
The education funding-focused startup last raised known capital in December of 2017, when it closed a $10 million Series A. Frank raised a seed round earlier t

Photo by Adisorn Chabsungnoen / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images COVID-19 research is advancing at an unprecedented speed, but one strategy doctors are leaning on to treat COVID-19 patients looks more antiquated than innovative. In hospitals around the United States, caregivers are resorting to using century-old convalescent plasma therapy — siphoning blood from survivors and reinfusing it into the sick.That’s because the hundreds of research papers published in the past f

PayPal is giving users another way to get their coronavirus relief payment.
The Internal Revenue Service is technically on track to start depositing stimulus checks into qualifying Americans' accounts this week. More than 500,000 people in the U.S. have been infected by COVID-19, and more than 16 million have lost their jobs. 
While the IRS says that most Americans don't have to do anything to get the funds, users of PayPal Cash Plus can get the money sent directly into their accounts. This

Image: thatgamecompany Journey, thatgamecompany’s classic game that first released on PlayStation 3 in 2012, will be available on Steam on June 11th. Journey was previously only available on PC via the Epic Games Store, where it launched last June.
In the game, you play as a hooded figure traveling toward a tall mountain on the horizon, navigating through a number of different landscapes and environments along the way. At times, you might find another player wandering near you. You can co

Instagram Instagram is updating its IGTV app today, likely in the hopes of getting more people to use the service and promote creators making longform videos. The company tells The Verge today that it’s completely redesigned the homepage to feature a creator up top, tailored to each user based on who they follow and whose content the app thinks might be interesting to them. The app is also getting a Discover tab to surface new and relevant IGTV content as well as a hands-free recording mo

Apple is reportedly giving its iPhone lineup a complete revampAccording to Bloomberg,  unnamed sources familiar with the company's plans say Apple is pulling design inspiration from the 2018 iPad Pro.
Instead of the curved design of the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, Bloomberg says the flagship phones will have flat stainless steel edges along with sharply rounded corners. 
That also means the displays will look a lot boxier, similar to the panel on the iPhone 5, rather than corners tha

Image: ESRB The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), which is the organization that rates the content of video games, announced a new label today to indicate that a game will offer in-game purchases of loot boxes or similar types of items that provide a player with randomized rewards.
“This new Interactive Element, In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items), will be assigned to any game that contains in-game offers to purchase digital goods or premiums with real world currency (or w

Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge Google is replacing some Android apps for Chromebooks with Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). A PWA is essentially a webpage that looks and feels like a traditional app.This will certainly be good news for many Chromebook owners. In some cases, PWAs are faster and more functional than their Android counterparts. PWAs also take up less storage and require less juice to run.It’s also no secret that some Android apps on Chrome OS are terrible. Google has struggled

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge AT&T is providing three months of free wireless service on the FirstNet network to physicians and nurses dealing with the coronavirus response in the US, the company announced.
Nurses and physicians in the US and US territories who are already on FirstNet mobile responder plans will get the three-month credit applied automatically to a line of service for a smartphone or tablet. Beginning today, new subscribers also will be eligible for the credit. Nu

The next gift-giving holiday is approaching quickly, and it'll be the first time many of us learn how to give a without seeing that person in person.
You'll undoubtedly be drowned in quarantine-themed Mother's Day gift guides, but there's one really easy item that you may be overlooking: a new TV. If your main concern during this whole thing is about how lonely your mom is, a smart TV could provide some much-needed company. She'll have access to shows that everyone on Facebook is talking about,

Major League Soccer is the latest sports organization to move its games to a virtual format, launching a month-long tournament starring both professional athletes and EA Sports’ FIFA 20 Global Series esports players.The tournament, called the eMLS Tournament Special, will pit 16 MLS teams against each other, pairing an actual member of the team with an esports player for two-on-two matches, according to Polygon. The tournament will operate in a single-elimination format, meaning that when

It's not every day that you find a good MacBook sale, but today is that day. 
While there are other laptop and tablet deals being offered throughout this week, we just had to bring attention to the fact that Best Buy has MacBook Pros on sale for almost $1,000 off. So, if you still need a work-from-home computer, now is a good time to get one.
And if a MacBook isn't for you, here are some more deals:
Laptops $499 and belowAsus ImagineBook — $299.99 (list price $499.99)
Dell Vostro 14 3

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge After all of the hype and a barrage of TV advertising, Quibi tallied over 1.7 million downloads in its first week after launch. CEO Meg Whitman revealed the stat to CNBC’s David Faber this morning, also noting that the median age of Quibi viewers is (so far) somewhere in the low 30s.Quibi, which is exclusively available on Android and iPhone, gives users a free trial period of 90 days, and the company previously said it would “refrain” from dis

The Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank Group said it would lose a staggering $24 billion on investments made through its Vision Fund and bets on the co-working real estate company WeWork and satellite telecommunications company OneWeb.
Ultimately, the company expects the losses to help generate a $7 billion total loss for the technology giant for the year as its ambitious bets on early-stage companies come up short.
Over the past two years SoftBank and its founder Masayoshi Sonhave staked

TL;DR: Stay fit while social distancing with a lifetime subscription to Yogaia Interactive Yoga Classes for $299, a 25% savings as of April 13.Creating a workout routine at home these days can feel like a lot of pressure — especially when everyone on Instagram seems to be bragging about their amped-up regimens. But here's the thing: you don't have to put yourself through intense cardio or HIIT to keep fit. You can get in your daily movement with some yoga. Beyond shedding some calories, it

TL;DR: Learn the fundamentals of cloud computing with the Beginner Cloud Architect Professional Training bundle for $39.99, a 95% savings as of April 13.With a huge chunk of the workforce being forced to do business in their homes, it makes us wonder: if the workers aren't inside their physical office space, why should their technology be? That's exactly why the cloud exists (for those who still don't know). 
For quite a while now, businesses have been migrating their digital foundation to

Photo by Olivier Douliery / AFP via Getty Images The Supreme Court will start conducting oral arguments over teleconference, a major change spurred by the novel coronavirus pandemic. For six days in May, the court will hear cases that were postponed last month, including some related to President Donald Trump’s tax returns. It will also stream a live audio feed — another first for the court.
The court hasn’t set dates for the 10 cases it will hear, but they’ll be schedul

Image: Evan Blass Motorola’s planning to make its biggest flagship phone announcement in years on April 22nd, the company announced today. The event will, of course, take place virtually. The company confirmed the date and time with a tweet today, and it will presumably follow up with details as the event nears. The company is expected to announce two devices under new Edge branding.The flagship Edge Plus phone has leaked pretty extensively, mostly because Motorola was originally expected

Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between.
TechCrunch is taking a closer look at a few markets as the world changes. Following our dive into Boston late last week, we’re widening our scope and taking a peek at the state of Utah.
Utah’s startup scene has been in the news lately, with one of its better-known successes Podium raising $125 million, for example. The round valued Podium at around $1.5 billion, a he

Photo by Brent Rose for The Verge Whether you’re looking for a capable action cam for outdoor use or want to upgrade your vlog setup, GoPro’s Hero 8 Black is a recommended option. It’s especially worth considering today as its cost has been cut to $299, which is the lowest price we’ve seen for this model by a wide margin. It’s usually $399 for the camera, and both B&H Photo and Adorama are honoring this deal.
The Hero 8 Black is GoPro’s latest camera, and

On Sunday, small satellite launcher Virgin Orbit did an intricate dress rehearsal of how it plans to launch rockets into space — without actually sending any rockets anywhere. The successful demonstration potentially paves the way for the company’s first test launch sometime this year.
Instead of launching its vehicles vertically from the ground — like most other rocket companies — Virgin Orbit plans to launch them from midair. The company has developed a small rocket cal

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Verizon is launching a new tool to help customers troubleshoot issues remotely, the company announced on Monday. The tool should allow Verizon to support customers without requiring a field technician to step inside their home. Verizon told The Verge it was piloting a “virtual assistant tech tool” last week, and now it’s sharing more information about it.
“This new tool gives us the ability to provide the excellent service our cust

Photo by Smith Collection / Gado / Getty Images New customers signing up for Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods Market home delivery will now need to make it through a waitlist before they can order groceries. Amazon announced the new procedure yesterday, adding that the company is “increasing capacity each week and will invite new customers to shop every week.” Select Whole Foods locations will have store hours adjusted “to focus exclusively on fulfilling online grocery orders durin

Good morning friends, and welcome back to TechCrunch’s Equity Monday, a short-form audio hit to kickstart your week.
Before we jump into today’s show, don’t forget that the long-form Equity that started in the unicorn era and continue in today’s changed world still drops on Friday. We had a blast last week, so make sure to catch up.
That said, there was a lot to go over this morning, so let’s get into what we had to discuss:Global spend patterns are changing,

Oppo has announced its first ever phone with wireless charging. The Ace 2 is the follow-up to last year’s Reno Ace, which still holds the record for the world’s fastest wired charging system in a shipping phone, but drops the “Reno” brand name. (Which is probably for the best, because that lineup was getting impossible to keep track of.)
Oppo is jumping feet-first into the wireless-charging waters, too, with a 40W “AirVOOC” system that should be as fast as any

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Bloomberg has published a new report detailing much of Apple’s product roadmap for 2020, including the four new iPhones that have been widely rumored. Corroborating Ming-chi Kuo’s analysis from last year, Apple is said to be redesigning the iPhone Pro chassis with flat edges reminiscent of the current iPad Pro. Kuo claimed the screen glass would still be slightly curved, while Bloomberg says it’ll be flat.Bloomberg reports that there

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Bloomberg has published a new report detailing much of Apple’s product roadmap for 2020, including the four new iPhones that have been widely rumored. Corroborating Ming-chi Kuo’s analysis from last year, Apple is said to be redesigning the iPhone Pro chassis with flat edges reminiscent of the current iPad Pro. Kuo claimed the screen glass would still be slightly curved, while Bloomberg says it’ll be flat.Bloomberg reports that there