Technology news

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images United and American Airlines said Monday that they will temporarily ban passengers who don’t comply with a new industry-wide mandatory mask policy that goes into effect this week.The new policy announced this week by industry trade organization Airlines for America covers United, American, Delta, Hawaiian, Southwest, and JetBlue. Face coverings will now be required on all these companies’ domestic flights, though the trade group left room for ex

On June 6, after over 100,000 Americans had already been killed by the new coronavirus, over a dozen friends went out to party at Lynch's Irish Pub in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., including (incredibly) a healthcare worker. Now, 16 of them have tested positive for COVID-19, reports the local news station News4Jax. Seven employees at the bar tested positive, too.
Doctors, virologists, epidemiologists, immunologists, nurses, and public health experts have emphasized incessantly that spending time in

Photo: DoorDash DoorDash, the high-flying food delivery startup, was sued by San Francisco’s district attorney Tuesday for alleged unfair business practices and worker misclassification. It was the latest legal challenge targeting a gig economy company in California since the passage of the state’s first-in-the-nation worker misclassification law.In a statement, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin accused DoorDash of “illegally” classifying its delivery workers

Image: @Onleaks and Pigtou Renders for an unannounced Samsung tablet, the Galaxy Tab S7 Plus, show that the device could have a big 12.4-inch screen (via 9to5Google). That screen size would make the Tab S7 Plus quite large compared to most Android tablets, though it would be a bit smaller than Apple’s 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
The renders come from leaker OnLeaks and case maker Pigtou and were apparently based on leaked CAD drawings. That means you should take anything about the renders with a

DoorDashis facing a lawsuit from San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin for “illegally misclassifying employees as independent contractors,” Boudin tweeted today. In the complaint, Boudin argues DoorDash misclassified its workers and in doing so, engages in unfair labor practices.
“Misclassifying workers deprives them of the labor law safeguards to which they are entitled, denying workers minimum wage and overtime pay, unemployment insurance and protection from discrimina

Photo by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images A new study analyzing COVID-19 contact tracing apps conducted by Amnesty International has found that Bahrain and Kuwait are using their public health apps as mass surveillance tools.The study analyzed a collection of contact tracing apps, which are designed to inform and monitor physical contact between people in the event someone contracts COVID-19, from 11 countries: Algeria, Bahrain, France, Iceland, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Norway, Qatar

Image: Bose Bose is giving up on its augmented reality project, two years after debuting the idea at SXSW. As first reported by Protocol, employees working on AR at the company have left or were laid off; Bose’s partners were told their apps would stop working in the coming weeks; and the company scrubbed mentions of AR from its website in addition to closing its public AR SDK in April. The main proponent of AR at the company, SVP John Gordon, also left last summer.
“Bose AR didn&rs

Why lease a threatening metal hound, when you can own?
As of today, you can officially buy your very own $74,500 robot dogBoston Dynamics, the company also behind that random parkour bot, announced Tuesday that its four-legged creation is finally for sale. 
The robots, which can lecture parkgoers about social distancing and pull trucks, were previously only available to the public via a "short-term lease." No more. Assuming they place an online order today, any U.S.-based billionaire can ha

Photo by Alberto Pezzali/NurPhoto via Getty Images Microsoft is being a little warier than other companies when it comes to welcoming consumers back to its retail stores. Just today, Apple announced it will offer curbside pickup or appointment-based service at over 70 more stores in the United States this week, including the Fifth Ave “cube” and other New York City locations. 9to5Mac has the full list. Best Buy has also continued bringing more stores back online as cities relax the

Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images Google says it’s banning the sites Zero Hedge and The Federalist from its Google Ads program for racist content. “We have strict publisher policies that govern the content ads can run on and explicitly prohibit derogatory content that promotes hatred, intolerance, violence or discrimination based on race from monetizing,” the company said in a statement to NBC News. “When a page or site violates our policies, we take action. In this

Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images Google says it’s banning the site Zero Hedge from its Google Ads program for racist content — but it reversed plans to ban a second site, The Federalist, after the site removed comments from its articles. “We have strict publisher policies that govern the content ads can run on and explicitly prohibit derogatory content that promotes hatred, intolerance, violence or discrimination based on race from monetizing,” the company said in a

Googleis booting online far-right website The Federalist from its ad platform for publishing content about the ongoing protests against police brutality that violated the company’s rules around content that promotes hate.
As NBC News reports, Google determined that both The Federalist and right-wing website ZeroHedge violated its policy against monetizing content that “promotes hatred, intolerance, violence or discrimination based on race.”
“When a page or site violates o

Chris Saccais a billionaire today, and he credits his success to having an “unfair advantage” 10 years ago when he first launched his fund.
He thinks women and people of color have that same unfair advantage today, which is why he and his wife, Crystal Sacca, have been investing in “dozens and dozens” of funds, including many led by new managers.
In fact, in an interview earlier today with Axios business editor Dan Primack as part of a virtual event hosted by CB Insights,

SpaceXis hiring experts in Offshore Operations in Brownsville, job ads revealed on Tuesday – and the purpose is to help the company develop and build floating spaceports that will provide launch sites for the company’s’ Super Heavy-class launch vehicles. SpaceX will use these larger rockets to get its forthcoming large payload rockets to the Moon, to Mars – and also for point-to-point travel right here on Earth, according to SpaceXCEO Elon Musk.
SpaceX is building floatin

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Only a couple months after the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint was completed, the enormous combined telecom company has now announced layoffs affecting hundreds of Sprint employees. TechCrunch obtained audio of a conference call that took place yesterday between T-Mobile VP James Kirby and the people who are losing their jobs. It was just one of “several calls held by T-Mobile leadership throughout the day to lay off staff across the organization

Google is partnering with Parallels to bring native Microsoft Office applications and other legacy enterprise Windows applications to Chromebooks. Google revealed the new partnership in a blog post looking at the future of Chrome OS for enterprises. While Chrome OS has long supported Windows desktop apps that are streamed via the cloud through a Parallels, this new partnership means the apps will run virtualized on Chromebooks instead.
Parallels Desktop will be integrated natively into Chrome OS

Retailers like Target, Home Depot, Wayfair, IKEA, and others have embraced augmented reality to help shoppers make decisions about products they’re interested in by visualizing the items in their own homes. Today, Etsy is hopping on the AR bandwagon as well, with the launch of an updated iOS app that uses augmented reality features to help consumers shopping for wall art specifically.
The company says it’s seen an increase in customers shopping for home decor since the start of the C

Neopets The first Neopets animated series will launch in fall 2021, according to JumpStart CEO Jim Czulewicz.
JumpStart acquired the Neopets franchise from Viacom in 2014, and the new TV series is part of the company’s plans to refresh the beloved web game, which has a history that spans over 20 years. In February, Neopets announced that a television series in collaboration with Beach House Pictures and Blue Ant Studios was in production, but little is still known about the upcoming plot

While the pace of layoffs might be slowing down, an extended recession is forcing companies to get smarter about the way they grow. One way to stay lean and stealthy? Have a team that is constantly learning and equally flexible.
Degreedhelps employers do exactly that by connecting employees to learning resources to master new skills. The edtech startup today announced it has raised $32 million in venture capital in a round led by Owl Ventures, bringing its total known raised to $182 million. The

Volkswagen said Tuesday it has invested another $200 million into QuantumScape, a Stanford Universityspinout developing solid-state batteries as the automaker bets on a next-generation technology that will unlock longer ranges and faster charging times in electric vehicles.
Volkswagen’s relationship with QuantumScape, which had early backing from Kleiner Perkinsand Khosla Ventures, actually stretches back to 2012. The two companies formed a joint venture in 2018 to accelerate the deve

Today Salt Security, a startup that helps companies protect APIs, announced that it has closed a $20 million Series A. The Palo Alto-based company secured the new funds from Tenaya Capital, bringing its total capital raised to around $30 million.
The Salt round caught TechCrunch’s eye as it fits reasonably well into a growing trend of API-powered and focused startups raising capital in recent months. On the back of Plaid’s epic exit, and the continued success of Twilio, APIs appear t

In a conference call on Monday lasting under six minutes, T-Mobilevice president James Kirby told hundreds of Sprintemployees that their services were no longer needed. He declined to answer his employees’ questions, citing the “personal” nature of employee feedback, and ended the call.
TechCrunch obtained leaked audio of that call, which was said to be one of several calls held by T-Mobile leadership throughout the day to lay off staff across the organization. The layoffs come

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge You don’t need Google’s own gamepad or dongle to try its Stadia cloud gaming service, particularly now that it works on practically any Android phone — but if you want to fire up Stadia on your 4K TV with a wireless gamepad, you can do that for cheaper now.Today, Google is offering a new Stadia Premiere Edition starter kit for $99, which comes with the company’s Chromecast Ultra HDMI dongle and the Stadia Controller you’l

Seattle gaming convention PAX West will not be happening this Labor Day weekend. Instead, it will shift into a nine-day online conference that takes place in the middle of September, the conference’s organizers announced today.
The new PAX Online will take place virtually from September 12th through the 20th. There will be three channels hosting content “non-stop each and every day,” including panels, concerts, competitions, and esports events. PAX Online plans to offer downloa

Recognizing the need for a more diverse venture capital industry, the Kauffman Fellows program is looking to take steps to train its most diverse class of would-be investors and is adding to its board to foreground diversity and inclusion going forward, the nonprofit said today.
A longtime resource for startup founders and the venture capital industry and a voice for bringing the tools of venture investment to a broader national stage, Kauffman Fellows is bringing diversity to its boardroom with

Americans have trust issues, especially when it comes to information posted on social media.
A poll out Tuesday from Gallup and the Knight Foundation confirmed these views after surveying about 1,500 American adults late last year and another group in March: About 80 percent don't trust big tech companies like Facebook and Google to regulate themselves, but — and here's where things get complicated — most also don't trust the government to take on this duty.
More than 80 percent

Neo Cab is one of the many games you’ll get when you donate to this Humble Bundle Humble Bundle has launched its Fight for Racial Justice Bundle, which contains over $1,200 worth of PC games, comics, and books. Unlike many of its previous bundles that let you choose how your payment is divvied up, this bundle funnels 100 percent of what you pay directly to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Race Forward, and The Bail Project. And when you donate to these organizations, you’re helping in

Looking for a way to get your early-stage startup the massive attention it deserves? Look no further. TechCrunch is highlighting over 30 companies at Disrupt SF. Selected companies will get a video interview with TC editorial that will be shared with the masses. One of the best ways to get in front of thousands of influencers is by exhibiting in Startup Alley during Disrupt 2020. An even better way is to exhibit for free. Take the first step and apply to be a TC Top Pick.
Applying is easy, but e

Image: Hey Hey, the newly announced email service, has a unique product on its slate of offerings: a rare, exclusive two- or three-letter email address, like [email protected] or [email protected] for example (or perhaps just your initials). But it’s going to cost you.As noticed on Twitter and confirmed by David Heinemeier Hansson, the co-founder of Hey parent company Basecamp, Hey considers these shortened addresses “premium” and worth the extra money. For a two-letter address, it will be

This archive is cataloging what New York streets look like throughout every day | images: New York City’s Department of Transportation Since time machines are still not a thing, there’s a new archive that lets you slip into the past to review what was happening at different streets and intersections throughout New York City over the course of a given day.The tool, which records stills from traffic camera footage, is meant to be used by people keeping tabs on police abusing their pow

TL;DR: Get the party started with a Marshall® Stanmore II wireless smart speaker for $279.99, a 30% savings as of June 16. Picture this. You're working from home, it's almost two o'clock, and you need a pick me up. Coffee just isn't cutting it. Instead, you simply ask to hear James Brown's "Get Up Offa That Thing" and are immediately awake and ready to go. Or maybe you're stressed after a Zoom call that went in circles. You ask to hear some Norah Jones and you're instantly at ease. That

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is planning to build its new Chromium-based Edge browser into Windows 10 later this year. The new browser has been available since January, but it has not yet been built into Windows 10 itself. That will change with an update later this year, named 20H2. Microsoft has started testing this 20H2 update with Windows Insiders today, and the company plans to use the 20H2 naming for testers and commercial customers and a more friendly name for consume

For six years, a mysterious group has used forged documents and a network of burner accounts to spread misinformation promoting Russian national interests, according to a new report from Graphika.Dubbed “Secondary Infektion,” the campaign spanned a number of online platforms, beginning on the Russia-based LiveJournal in 2014, and moving to Twitter and YouTube later that year. In the years that followed, the campaign shifted to Reddit, Medium, and even the user-generated portion of Bu

Many U.S. states are lifting some or most of their COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, allowing folks to retain at least some semblance of pre-pandemic life. But not everyone is ready or able to venture outside again. And for those people, Google has a lofty solution.
Public schools in Montgomery County, Va., last week became the first in the world to offer a library book drone delivery service. The idea—allowing kids to access titles even when the library was closed due to novel coronavirus&m

TL;DR: Get an Asus 15.6-inch gaming laptop with AMD Ryzen 7 processor and 512GB SSD for $899.99, as of June 16. Along with this $100 discount, you even save 33% off a mouse when you add it to your purchase. While we still try to wrap our heads around the PlayStation 5 reveal, gamers get to wake up to new gaming deals almost every day. But just because consoles take up most of today's news cycle doesn't mean that PC gaming is no longer en vogue. A good gaming laptop offers customization and

Pale Blue Dot, a newly outed European venture capital firm focused on climate tech, announced this week the first closing of its debut fund at €53 million.
Targeting pre-seed and seed stage startups, the firm says it will consider software and technology investments with a strong positive climate impact. Current areas of focus include food/agriculture, industry, fashion/apparel, energy and transportation, with plans to back up to 40 companies out of fund one.
Founding partners Hampus Jakobs

TL;DR: As of June 16, you can save anywhere from $40 to $100 on DNA test kits from 23andMe and AncestryDNA.Only three things in life are certain: Death, taxes, and that DNA test kits make exciting presents for almost any occasion. 
Speaking of: If Father's Day has crept up on you, 23andMe and AncestryDNA have your back — both popular DNA testing services are running special deals now through Sunday, June 21. With a mere saliva sample, they'll give your dad a chance to extensively expl

If you’ve tried to rent a Jump bike or scooter in London, Paris, Brussels or Rome over the past few days, you may have noticed that they’ve suddenly vanished, as Fluctuo reported on its Twitter account. The reason is that Lime has closed the acquisition of Uber’s micromobility subsidiary Jump in Europe today, a few weeks after the transaction closed in the U.S.
Jump bikes and scooters are now sitting in warehouses, waiting for Limeto do something with them. Some of them should

Etsy Etsy is giving iOS users the ability to see what art will look like on their wall before they buy it. People can pull up any painting, photograph, or print that’s available on Etsy and project it wherever they want through augmented reality. If an item is available in different sizes, those can be selected and previewed, too. This works on both iPhone and iPad, and the company says it hopes to make the feature available to Android users “as soon as possible.”
Virtual deco

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge In 2020, almost anyone in America has the ability to record and instantly share high-definition video at the press of a button. Smartphone cameras let people share videos of things like vacations and family events. But with increasing regularity, they’re also letting individuals document instances of horrific police brutality and share them with an audience that wouldn’t have otherwise heard about them or wouldn’t have believed it if

The domestic stock market is advancing today on the back of some better-than-anticipated economic recovery data in the United States. While retail spending is still lower compared to the year-ago period, gains in May from April were better than anticipated.
The American stock market, ready to trade higher on any scrap of good news — even news predicated on economic weakness and the need for continued intervention — shot north, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index rising 2.3% to

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is taking another step toward its Meet integration with Gmail today, bringing the videoconferencing service directly into Gmail for iOS and Android. Gmail mobile users won’t need the dedicated Google Meet app to join meetings, and Google has decided to include Meet as a separate, and rather large, tab at the bottom of the main Gmail interface. If you don’t want Meet to appear as a tab, then you’ll have to turn off the Meet integra

In April, Google integrated its video call service Meet into Gmail on the web, making it possible to start or join a Meet call from Gmail with a single click. Now, Google is also integrating Meet with Gmail on smartphones. 
On Tuesday, Google announced it's adding a new "Meet" tab in its Gmail smartphone app. In the tab, you'll see upcoming meetings that you have scheduled in Google Calendar, with the ability to join them with a tap. Meet is now integrated into Gmail on smartphones.
Im

Triumph, the premium British motorcycle brand most preferred by James Bond, is out with a new two-wheeler of a different sort. The Trekker GT is the world-famous motorcycle maker’s first electric bicycle, and, at first glance, it appears to be a highly capable commuter model. It won’t be cheap, though: the bike will be going on sale in Europe, the UK, and the US for £2,950 ($3,318).The bike has a minimalist design, with much of the battery, wiring, and drivetrain tucked inside

TL;DR: Purify your water at the touch of a button with a LARQ self cleaning water bottle for $76, a 20% savings as of June 16. Clean water is not always readily available, but it's nearly always a necessity. So how can we fix that imbalance? How about carrying around your own purifying system? 
LARQ water bottles promise the ability to drink clean water no matter where you are. So fill it up at that public water fountain that looks a bit shady or even from the lake you're hiking next t

Photo by BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images A cheap, common steroid improves survival rates for COVID-19 patients on ventilators, according to a press release from the research team. The drug, called dexamethasone, reduced deaths by one-third in patients on ventilators, and by one-fifth in patients who needed supplemental oxygen, according to the team. It did not help patients who were able to breathe on their own.Steroids like dexamethasone blunt inflammation in the body. Researchers think tha

TL;DR: As of June 16, GlassesUSA is running a few deals including 30% off Ray-Ban lenses, 25% off contacts, and 60% off frames with basic RX lensesThe 60% off deal extends to the SeaClean collection, a newly-launched line of frames made completely out of recycled water bottles.If nothing else, the three(ish)-month period of closed businesses and emergency-only appointments gave all of us a heightened sense of self-sufficiency. We're giving ourselves haircuts, buying expensive toothbrushes to rep