Technology news

Earlier today, Snapchat launched a filter that was supposed to honor Juneteenth. It was then promptly removed, because, well, the approach was stupid. Set to a background of the Pan-African flag, the filter prompted users to ‘smile,’ — already looking dicey here — after which virtual chains would are broken. The company was called out for the tactless design after digital strategist Mark S. Luckie showed off the ‘feature’ in the tweet below: This Sn

HBO Max is here, and gives fans access to previously hard-to-stream Studio Ghibli hits, every Harry Potter movie, and a little sitcom known as Friends. It has also given many popular rom-com movies a new platform.
The streaming service's expansive library features many longtime swoon-worthy movie favorites as well as modern romantic classics. We're here to highlight some of the biggest rom-coms across the decades. While a few of the films below can be accessed via HBO Go and HBO Now (explained h

Alex Wong/Getty Images Facebook has removed a manipulated video posted on President Trump’s account after receiving a copyright complaint from the rights owners.The manipulated video shows a black toddler running away from a white toddler, with a CNN chyron reading “terrified toddler runs from racist baby.” The original video, which went viral last year, sees the total opposite, with the two toddlers running toward each other on the sidewalk so they can hug. The video was crea

Alex Wong/Getty Images Facebook has removed a manipulated video posted on President Trump’s account after receiving a copyright complaint from the rights owners.The manipulated video shows a black toddler running away from a white toddler, with a CNN chyron reading “terrified toddler runs from racist baby.” The original video, which went viral last year, sees the total opposite, with the two toddlers running toward each other on the sidewalk so they can hug. The video was crea

Planning on going to the movies when theaters reopen? If it’s an AMC theater, you’ll need to wear a face mask.
On Friday, the world’s largest movie theater reversed course and decided to make patrons wear masks.
The reversal came after “an intense and immediate outcry from our customers,” said AMC in a statement. AMC had said the day prior that it would not require masks.
“Accordingly, and with the full support of our scientific advisors, we are reversing cour

Ford has changed the debut of its 2021 Bronco once again because its planned July 9 reveal falls on the birthday of O.J. Simpson, one of the iconic SUV’s most infamous passengers
The automaker tweeted Friday that it has moved the unveiling to July 13.
The reveal of the all-new Bronco lineup will now happen on Monday, July 13. This is instead of July 9. We are sensitive and respectful to some concerns raised previously about the date, which was purely coincidental.
— Ford Motor Compan

Juneteenth is a holiday at Tesla and SpaceX now, but it's not that simple. 
Elon Musk announced the company policy on Twitter on Friday. Also known as Freedom Day, the holiday commemorates the day Major General Gordon Granger and Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas with federal orders that the state's enslaved people were declared free. The day has not only come to symbolize the end of slavery in the United States, but also the continued fight against systemic oppression of Black peopl

As best we can guess, life started on planet Earth about 3.5 billion years ago. Unfortunately, so did death. And the reaper remains undefeated. About 99 percent of all species that ever lived are now extinct. There’s almost no scientific reason to believe humans won’t join them in a relatively insignificant amount of time. I say almost because, if we try really hard, we can conceive of a theoretical, science-based intervention for death. Let’s call it a “quantum respawn.

Photo by Ben McCanna / Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has announced that its members are voluntarily suspending operations out of US ports through September 15th, 2020. Its members include Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Norwegian Cruise line and as CNBC notes, the extension goes beyond the CDC’s July 24th “no-sail” order. Carnival had previously announced it intended to resume operations in the US on August 1st

Despite what you may think with so many parts of the U.S. reopening, the coronavirus pandemic is far from over.
Case in point: Apple is now closing some of the very stores it had recently reopened due to new spikes in COVID-19 cases.
According to Bloomberg, 11 Apple stores located in Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina are once again temporarily shuttering due to the virus. The company’s decision to close these stores comes amid record high increases of coronavirus cases a

Apple today confirmed earlier rumors that it plans to shut down re-opened stores in four states.  Impacted locations include six stores in Arizona, two in Florida, another two in North Carolina and one in South Carolina.“Due to current COVID-19 conditions in some of the communities we serve, we are temporarily closing stores in these areas. We take this step with an abundance of caution as we closely monitor the situation and we look forward to having our teams and customers back as s

Snapchat apologized for its insensitive Juneteenth filter that asked users to smile to break chains and removed it from the platform on Friday. 
Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. Celebrated on June 19, it marks the day Major General Gordon Granger and Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, with federal orders that declared enslaved people free. 
It carries extra weight this year as protests against systemic racism this month have amplified calls for it

Hulu is partnering with IMAX to exclusively carry 16 of the technology company’s documentaries in the United States, including A Beautiful Planet, Destiny in Space, and Into the Deep — but none of the titles will be available in 4K.A spokesperson for IMAX tells The Verge that “Hulu is not planning on showing the documentaries in 4K,” but a press release notes that many of the films heading to Hulu have been remastered. Other streaming services, like Disney Plus, have offe

When Nicole Poindexter left the energy efficiency focused startup, Opowera few months after the company’s public offering, she wasn’t sure what would come next.
At the time, in 2014, the renewable energy movement in the US still faced considerable opposition. But what Poindexter did see was an opportunity to bring the benefits of renewable energy to Africa.
“What does it take to have 100 percent renewables on the grid in the US at the time was not a solvable problem,” Poi

Photo by Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images In an abrupt about-face, the movie theater chain AMC said Friday it would require guests to wear face masks when its theaters reopen, after CEO Adam Aron earlier said it would not.“This announcement prompted an intense and immediate outcry from our customers, and it is clear from this response that we did not go far enough on the usage of masks,” Aron said in a statement. “Accordingly, and with the full support of our scientific advi

Apple is closing several recently reopened retail stores in four US states after a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, Bloomberg reported. A total of 11 stores in Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, and South Carolina will be temporarily shuttered.The company closed all of its stores outside of mainland China in March as the coronavirus pandemic spread. It began reopening US stores in May, with some offering only curbside or storefront service and not allowing customers inside. Stores that did open to c

Just before 8 a.m. PT Friday, Tesla’s head of human resources sent an email telling U.S. employees they could take the day off to observe Juneteenth, the June 19 holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.
Moments later, HR head Valerie Capers Workman clarified that employees who chose to take the day off would be unpaid, according to an email viewed by TechCrunch. CNBC was the first to report the morning emails. The email was sent as workers on the west coast were s

Britain’s contact-tracing shambles suffered another setback today when Apple revealed it didn’t know the country was developing an app with its tech. In an embarrassing U-turn, the UK government announced yesterday that it was dumping its home-grown app for one based on Apple and Google’s decentralized model. Health Secretary Matt Hancock claimed the transition would be simple, as the country had “backed both horses” by testing the two systems before

Comedian Chris D'Elia first noticed Michaela Coletta's Instagram photos years ago, when she was 17, according to the now 25-year-old. He took the opportunity to DM her. 
"He noticed I liked some of his photos on Instagram and immediately started messaging me," Coletta told Mashable. "From my Instagram photos, you could visibly tell I was still in high school." 
In an emailed statement to Mashable, Coletta described behavior she knew to be a pattern. "This man is HORRIBLE," she wrote. "

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge Tesla has told its workers they are allowed to take Juneteenth off as an “excused absence” after some had already showed up for work on the holiday that recognizes the end of slavery in the United States, according to internal emails first reported by BuzzFeed and CNBC. The company also told employees that they would not be paid if they don’t show up.Other Silicon Valley companies like Spotify, Uber, and Twitter had previously announced a

France’s top court for administrative law has dismissed Google’sappeal against a $57M fine issued by the data watchdog last year for not making it clear enough to Android users how it processes their personal information.
The State Council issued the decision today, affirming the data watchdog CNIL’s earlier finding that Google did not provide “sufficiently clear” information to Android users — which in turn meant it had not legally obtained their consent to u

Despite the pandemic, NASA is on track to launch its Mars rover, Perseverance, this July from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Its central mission will be to search for evidence of previous life on Mars. An exciting component of the rover will be a specialized drill that will collect rock and soil samples to be cached on the surface of Mars. If all goes according to plan, the cache will be retrieved by a future mission in 2031 and, for the first time, material from Mars will be brought back to Earth fo

Yellowing leaves, brown tips, dry fronds. Whenever a plant displays its first signs of sickness, I immediately start to think what I might have done wrong. 
Did I give my plant root rot by overwatering it? No, I'm probably under-watering it. Wait, maybe it's just due for a re-pot, or does it just need a little more shade?
Plants have different needs, and react to sunlight, water, and fertilizer in a variety of ways. Learn about their needs, and you might be able to stop the damage in time.

Apple is closing several recently reopened retail stores in four US states after a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, Bloomberg reported. A total of 11 stores in Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, and South Carolina will be temporarily shuttered.The company closed all of its stores outside of mainland China in March as the coronavirus pandemic spread. It began reopening US stores in May, with some offering only curbside or storefront service and not allowing customers inside. Stores that did open to c

Image: Disney Disney Plus has appeared to have quietly stopped offering new subscribers a free seven-day trial of the streaming service, as spotted by French pop culture site Numerama.It the free trial offer seems to be no longer available in the United States — there’s no mention of it anymore on the streaming site, and attempting to sign up for a new account will simply direct users to begin payments immediately for the service.It’s not clear when Disney removed the ability

BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz AG have punted on what was meant to be a long term collaboration to develop next-generation automated driving technology together, less than a year after announcing the agreement.
The German automakers called the break up “mutual and amicable” and have each agreed to concentrate on their existing development paths. Those new paths may include working with new or current partners. The two companies also emphasized that cooperation may be resumed at a later

Just because Wimbledon has been delayed until 2021 doesn’t mean you can’t make your wildest tennis dreams come true in 2020. 
With the goal of creating a bit of cheer during this unprecedented crisis and to give back to fans, The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), organisers of The Championships, have started an initiative to give fans a chance to win their dream Wimbledon experience.
Coined as ‘A Wish From Wimbledon’, the AELTC are asking one simple question: If

Early-stage founders, July 21 – 22 is coming up fast and that means it’s time get ready for TC Early Stage — the virtual startup conference designed with you in mind. We’ve packed this two-day event with more than 50 breakout sessions covering topics and issues early-stage startup founders need to succeed — even more so in these unprecedented times. You have just one week left to buy an early-bird ticket and save $50. Don’t wait — prices increase on June

Photo courtesy Google Google is expanding its .new browser shortcuts to Google Meet, its video conferencing service that the company has heavily expanded in recent months due to a huge influx of users looking to stay connected in COVID-19 quarantines, via 9to5Google.
Like the company’s docs.new, sheets.new, or slide.new shortcuts, typing “meet.new” into your browser will automatically open a new Google Meet session. It’s a small addition, but a useful one for anyone who

Twitter started rolling out a brand new feature earlier this week that allowed iOS users to share recordings as audio tweets.
While lots of people were having a good time testing the new audio feature out, unfortunately not everyone could partake in the fun. That’s because Twitter overlooked a crucial component to this new audio feature: accessibility.With the greatest of respect, Twitter, describing this version of the feature as ‘early’ to make up for the fact that it current

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Snapchat is apologizing for a controversial Juneteenth filter that allowed users to “smile and break the chains,” saying the filter had not gone through its usual review protocols. The filter was panned by critics on Friday morning shortly after its release for its tone deafness, and was disabled by about 11AM ET.“We deeply apologize to the members of the Snapchat community who found this Lens offensive,” a Snap spokesperson said i

The last several months have been full of corporate lip service, as companies have attempted to tailor responses to pressing issues like the COVID-19 pandemic and questions of social justice. Bandcamp, on the other hand, has presented some solid examples of how companies can and should respond during times of crisis.The company has devoted a day a month to waiving fees in order to payout artists struggling as the pandemic has ground touring profits to a halt. It’s a solid gesture from a pl

Guinness World Records has reversed its 2018 decision to strip Billy Mitchell of his Pac-Man and Donkey Kong world records, according to Ars Technica, in what is the latest twist in a long story about the notorious arcade game master at the center of documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.This means that, according to Guinness, Mitchell is once again the first to achieve a perfect score on Pac-Man (totaling 3,333,360 points) and the first to reach 1 million points on Donkey Kong.
Th

Apple’s holding its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) on Monday, and it’s all virtual this time because of the coronavirus pandemic. Another thing that’s different this time is that everyone’s talking about one thing that’s more important than new iOS features: Apple’s transition from Intel processors to ARM processors for its Macs. Rumors of this started a long time ago. In 2018, Bloomberg reported that in a couple of years Apple’s going to use its

If your venture fund was not one of the ten investors that backed Reliance Jio Platforms in recent weeks, you won’t be able to plough cash into the fast-growing top Indian telecom network for at least a few quarters now as it is no longer scouting for fresh deals.
RelianceJio Platforms, which has raised $15.2 billion in the past nine weeks, said today that Saudi Arabia’s PIF $1.5 billion investment on Thursday marked the “end of Jio Platforms’ current phase of induction o

Photo by Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images The AMC Theaters CEO Adam Aron says the chain would not require patrons to wear face masks —where not required by local governments— when it reopens theaters because it “did not want to be drawn into a political controversy,”Variety reported.Aron told Variety he would be “wearing a mask and leading by example,” but thought it would be “counterproductive if we forced mask wearing on those people who believe str

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Snapchat’s controversial Juneteenth filter that allowed users to “smile and break the chains” appears to have been removed from the app. The filter was panned by critics on Friday morning shortly after its release for its tone deafness, and CNBC reports that it’s been disabled. Snap has yet to comment or confirm the status of the filter.
Atlanta-based digital strategist Mark S. Luckie demonstrated the filter on Twitter, calling it

“Eventbriteis in the unique club that nobody wants to be in,” says CEO and co-founder Julia Hartz. “Which is the first affected and one of the most directly affected businesses of the COVID-19 era.”
Hartz, who co-founded the company with her husband Kevin Hartz and Renaud Visage, joined ExtraCrunch Live recently to discuss moving forward when your core business isn’t just threatened, but wiped out completely.
“You never as a founder — at least I never &m