Technology news

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Gmail offers you several customizable formats — so many that you can have multiple Gmail accounts and they can all look completely different. For example, you can have all of your emails in one long list, you can separate your messages into multiple tabs, or you can have your inbox split into unread and read messages.
In addition to that, there are several other ways to organize your inbox, from adding a reading pane to coming up with your own categ

Despite record-setting COVID-19 infections, American equities rose today. All major indices gained ground during regular trading, while tech stocks did even better.
The Nasdaq Composite set new 52-week and all-time highs, touching 10,462.0 points before closing at 10,433.65, up 2.21% on the day. Similarly, a basket of SaaS and cloud companies that has risen and fallen more sharply than even the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed this afternoon at 1,908.30 after touching 1,952.39 points. Both results were

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Google Plus, the company’s failed social network, is officially gone as of today. After Google Plus personal accounts were shut down last year, Google announced that it would be replacing the social network for enterprise users with Google Currents. Currents is generally available starting today, and the Google Plus Android and iOS apps have been rebranded to Google Currents to reflect the change (via 9to5Google).
Currents, given its enterprise focus,

Image: Google Google is rolling out a dark mode for its Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps on Android starting today.The tech giant says all Android users will gain access to the dark theme within the next two weeks. Users can activate the dark theme on Docs, Sheets, or Slides by going to the respective app’s settings. Google also says that the apps will automatically use your system theme, meaning if your device already has dark theme enabled, you will not have to enable it manually in these

The future of offices will require “hot desks,” contact tracing and a volunteer task force run by employees to make sure their colleagues are washing their damn hands.
SquareFoot CEO Jonathan Wasserstrum says he’s bullish on the future of office spaces because his startup helps growing companies find office space. Since COVID-19 hit, his firm has spent the past four months talking to tenants and landlords to figure out what’s next.
But as the country reopens, Wasserstrum

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google, Facebook, and Twitter are pausing the processing of data requests from the Hong Kong government as they review a new security law that went into effect on July 1st. Google put its pause into place as soon as the law took effect last Wednesday.“[W]hen the law took effect, we paused production on any new data requests from Hong Kong authorities,” a Google spokesperson told The Verge in an email, “and we’ll continue to review

Despite the slow reopening of the U.S. economy over the past several weeks, online grocery shopping is continuing to reach ever-higher numbers as Americans seem to be in no rush to return to the store. According to new research released today by Brick Meets Click and Mercatus, U.S. online grocery sales hit a record $7.2 billion in June, up 9% over May, as 45.6 million households turned to online grocery pickup and delivery services for a larger portion of their grocery needs.
This figure is high

The U.S. Treasury Department released Monday a highly anticipated trove of data identifying every company that has received a loan of more than $150,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) — a list that includes some of the hottest names in the tech startup world, including Bolt Mobility, Getaround, Luminar, Stackin, TuSimple and Velodyne.
The data, which lists the names of companies that received small business loans over $150,000, was the result of a push for greater transparency

COVID-19 will be remembered for many things — most undoubtedly negative. There are, however, some silver linings among the horrors of the deadliest pandemic in recent memory. Among them, if the sort of human ingenuity that shines whenever the world is faced with a similar crisis.The simple truth of the matter is the world wasn’t prepared for a virus of this magnitude. It’s something that’s played out in country after country, as the novel coronavirus has continued to deva

Alaska's Brooks River, home to the livestreaming bear cams, is the dominion of big, fat bears.
Yet early Saturday morning, when the waterfall where the bears feast was quiet, a gray wolf appeared on the cams and started pouncing on 4,500-calorie sockeye salmon. Bear cam viewers — who are global, devoted, and passionate documenters of all that happens on the explore.org cameras — watched the wolf snag and scarf bounties of fish.
"The bear cam viewers counted the wolf catching about 30

Mercedes-Benz sent out a teaser image and video Monday of its upcoming 2021 S-Class that hints at a sleeker interior that forgoes the bevy of physical knobs and toggles found in previous models in favor of a digital-centric design.
The teasers illustrate a movement in the automotive industry popularized by Tesla to incorporate large touchscreens in new models.
Little is known about Mercedes’ next-generation MBUX infotainment system, which will debut in the 2021 S-Class. It appears, based o

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Bird, the beleaguered e-scooter company, received a loan worth between $5 million and $10 million from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in late April. The company said in its application to the Treasury Department and the Small Business Association that the loan would help it retain 341 jobs. But less than a month later, Bird laid off over 400 employees, or about 30 percent of its staff.But Bird contends that it should

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Bird, the beleaguered e-scooter company, received a loan worth between $5 million and $10 million from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in late April. The company said in its application to the Treasury Department and the Small Business Association that the loan would help it retain 341 jobs. But less than a month later, Bird laid off over 400 employees, or about 30 percent of its staff.Bird was among the names of compa

Oh hey would you look at that: Twitter and Facebook just did something good. 
The two tech giants took a stand, albeit a temporary one, for their Hong Kong users following the passage of a new restrictive national security law last week. Both companies confirmed to Mashable that, for the time being, they have stopped responding to data requests from Hong Kong law enforcement as they evaluate the law. 
A main point of concern is that the measure, which human rights activists worry is de

Image: Summer Game Fest Even though E3, Gamescom, and other summer gaming events have become online-only or outright canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has already been a lot of gaming news this summer.We finally know what the PlayStation 5 looks like and some of the games coming to the system, for example, and we’ve been given previews of Cyberpunk 2077, Star Wars: Squadrons, the future of Destiny 2, and more. But there are still more events ahead — including another Xbox

Sennheiser M2 | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Audio company Sennheiser received between $2 million and $5 million as part of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), according to newly released US Department of Treasury data. It’s one of many privately held tech companies to receive support through the program, which offers small businesses forgivable loans that can be spent on payroll, rent, or utility costs.
Treasury data indicates that the loan is intended to help Sennheise

Chinese EV startup Byton received a loan of between $5 million and $10 million from the government’s COVID-19-related Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in April, shortly after it furloughed hundreds of employees, according to new data released by the Treasury Department. Byton — which is backed by Chinese state-owned automaker First Auto Works — said in its application to the Treasury Department and the Small Business Association (SBA) that the loan would help it retain 387 job

Chinese EV startups Byton, Nio, and Karma Automotive were among the companies that received the largest loans from the government’s COVID-19-related Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in April, with each receiving loans of between $5 million and $10 million, according to new data released by the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration (SBA).
Byton received its loan shortly after it furloughed hundreds of employees in April. The company — which is backed by Chinese st

In the wake of India’s decision to ban TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps over privacy concerns, Instagram has expanded its TikTok rival, known as Reels, in the region. The test in India also comes only days after Facebook announced its standalone TikTok clone, Lasso, would be shutting down on July 10.
In addition to India, Instagram Reels is live in Brazil, and as of recently, France and Germany. But an Instagram spokesperson hints the expansion may go even broader, without offering

Sequoia Capital India on Monday announced it has secured $1.35 billion from LPs for two new funds as the storied venture firm looks to ramp up its investments in the world’s second-largest internet market and Southeast Asia.
The two new funds — a $525 million venture fund and a $825 million growth fund — will help the VC firm, which operates in India and Southeast Asia through one arm, more comprehensively serve the startup ecosystem in the region, said Shailendra Singh, a

At its best, Pokémon Go blends the real world and the virtual, thanks to its use of location-based gameplay and augmented reality. That sensation really comes across in a new 30-second commercial for the game, directed by none other than Rian Johnson, best known for films like Knives Out and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
The short clip features players literally peeling away the world around them to unveil hidden pokémon, and it was actually produced remotely; the production team was i

It's official: Uber Eats is joining forces with another restaurant food delivery app.
In a deal announced Monday, Uber agreed to acquire Postmates for $2.65 billion. The acquisition was rumored last week after Uber's failed bid to buy delivery competitor Grubhub in June.
Postmates is less popular than Uber Eats, with only about 8 percent of the U.S. delivery market. Combined, Postmates and Uber Eats have about 30 percent of the market, compared to Grubhub's 23 percent. Grubhub was bought by a Du

This morning as the markets rally, shares of Lyftare up 3% while Ubershares are up 6%.
Why is Uber so far ahead of Lyft, its domestic ride-hailing rival that is suffering from the same economic impacts? It appears that investors are heartened that Uber has closed its Postmates acquisition after both firms danced around each other for some time, leading to all sorts of leaks that wound up being not coming true.The Exchange is a daily look at startups and the private markets for Extra Crunch

Drones remind citizens in Seoul, South Korea, to wear masks and observe social distancing guidelines. | Photo: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport South Korea has done a remarkably good job of combating the COVID-19 pandemic. But as experts warn of a second wave of infections, the government has organized an unusual way to both thank its frontline medical staff for their hard work and remind citizens to abide by preventative measures: a drone light show over the Han River in the capi

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Recently, a friend sent me a preview of a book that she was about to have published and asked me to read it. I was delighted — but unfortunately, the copy she sent was formatted as a PDF file. And as many of us know, reading a PDF on a smartphone or even on an ebook reader is a recipe for eyestrain.
I spent a frustrating three days squinting at my screen until somebody reminded me that you can email a PDF file to your Amazon account, and it will

The much-anticipated addition of “Hamilton” seems to have paid off for Disney+. According to new data from app store analytics firm Apptopia, Disney’s streaming service saw a big jump in downloads over the July 4 holiday weekend in the U.S., following the worldwide debut of “Hamilton” on Friday, July 3rd. Between Friday and Sunday, that translated to over half a million new global downloads (752K+) for the Disney+ mobile app, excluding India and Japan. Some 458K+ of

I spend a lot of time trying to personalize every aspect of my laptop: pasting stickers on the top, separating all of my icons into folders on my desktop, and, thanks to a little trick I learned on TikTok, using my favorite GIFs as backgrounds on Google Chrome.It’s a super simple process that makes using Google Chrome feel a little more personalized. All it takes is a few seconds and you go from having a dreary white non-background like this:
to this very good GIF of Marceline performing a

Microsoft is planning to launch its xCloud game streaming service later this year as part of Xbox Game Pass, and accessory makers are getting ready. 8BitDo, a company that specializes in retro and modern alternative gamepads, has adapted its retro NES controller for Microsoft’s Project xCloud service.The tiny Bluetooth controller is designed to be compatible with all Android smartphones and tablets, and it’s officially licensed as a compatible xCloud and Xbox controller. The built-in

HyperJuice’s 100W gallium nitride (GaN) USB-C charger — which the company says is the first of its kind — is now available to buy for $99.99, following a successful Kickstarter campaign last fall.The new charger is only about the size of a deck of cards (the brick itself measures 3.36 x 2.39 x 1.14 inches), thanks to the gallium nitride technology that’s far more energy-efficient than traditional silicon, allowing for smaller chargers that waste less energy.Hyper’s

Facebookand Twitter have confirmed they have suspended processing demands for user data from Hong Kong authorities following the introduction of a new Beijing-imposed national security law.
A spokesperson for Facebook told TechCrunch it will “pause” the processing of data demands until it can better understand the new national security law, “including formal human rights due diligence and consultations with human rights experts.” The spokesperson added: “We believe

TL;DR: Learn how to effectively manage an online store and enter the Amazon marketplace with the Ultimate Amazon FBA and Dropship Master Class bundle for $39.99, a 96% savings as of July 6. People are online now more than ever, which also means we're shopping more online. From toiletries to food to masks to workout gear, most of us are clicking and adding our wants and needs to our digital carts more than ever before. Heck, even grandparents are using Instacart at this point. 
If you'r

TL;DR: Through July 6, Cratejoy is still running its Fourth of July sale, offering 20% off your first box when you use the code JULY4FUN.Fourth of July weekend may be over, but there are still a few sales hanging on for one last day of savings.
If you like subscription boxes, you'll be excited to know that Cratejoy, an aggregator of subscriptions, is running its Fourth of July sale through July 6. You'll save 20% on your first box with the code JULY4FUN.
This sale includes subscription boxes for

TL;DR: Lead your business towards success with the Complete Microsoft Azure eBook & Video Course bundle for $29.99, a 95% savings as of July 6. It's no secret that most industries have been impacted negatively by the pandemic, except perhaps toilet paper manufacturing and cloud computing. If anything, the cloud computing industry is benefiting from the ripple effects of the pandemic, as we spend more time at home and online.
Apple is reported to be enjoying increased revenue from its di

TL;DR: Enjoy up to thirty hours of wireless sound with Resound XL's portable Bluetooth 5.0 speaker for $23.99, a 65% savings as of July 6.Summer is officially upon us, which means it’s time for some outdoor, socially-distanced fun. Whether you’re flipping burgers on the grill, relaxing by the pool, or heading to the beach, everything’s a little better with your favorite music pumping, right? And you deserve better than the speaker on your smartphone. Enter: the Resound XL Porta

Microsoft will hold its Xbox Series X games event on July 23rd at 9AM PT / 12PM ET. The company is planning on showing games made by its Xbox Game Studios, including Halo Infinite. 343 industries briefly teased Halo Infinite in a trailer a couple of weeks ago, revealing that The Banished antagonists are returning for the next big installment in the Halo franchise.
There will be more than just Halo, though. Microsoft has been steadily acquiring game studios, and the company now has 15 Xbox Game S

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Apple’s AirPods Pro truly wireless earbuds are $220 at Verizon, which is $30 off the usual $250 price. Most deals we see for this model usually range from $15 to $20, and saving this much is far less common. Compared to the standard AirPods, this model features active noise cancellation, improved sound, a wireless charging case, and a more customizable fit with ear tips. They will soon also feature Apple’s new spatial audio feature for a more immersi

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
This is Equity Monday, our week-starting primer in which we go over the latest news, dig into the week ahead, talk about some neat funding rounds and dive into the latest big news from the startup world. (You can follow the show on Twitter here, and myself here, if you are so inclined! Don’t forget to check out last Friday’s episode as well. All