Technology news

This afternoon, NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are scheduled to start their journey back to Earth inside SpaceX’s new Crew Dragon, bringing an end to their historic flight to the International Space Station. If all goes to plan, the two will splash down in the Crew Dragon off the western coast of Florida on Sunday afternoon.
Getting back to Earth from orbit is no easy task, and the two astronauts have a long trip ahead of them before they’re back on solid ground. Once Be

Documentaries are able to offer a glimpse into real life in a way that fictional films cannot. Though both types of movies can educate viewers on important societal issues, provide insight into rarely talked about subjects, and show someone else's point of view, documentaries' roots in reality give them an authentic quality that is difficult to match in a film. So while it's always fun to settle down with a sappy rom-com or gritty drama, you should consider adding a few non-fiction films to your

You know how in 2020 you'll just be living your life, stressed about money and your job and stuff, then all of a sudden you're trapped in an alternate dimension '90s sitcom that you thought was just some wholesome escapism you could enjoy for, like, one goddamn second? 
Lol same.
OK, so maybe that's not your exact experience. But it is close enough, and also the plot of one episode from HBO Max's new animated comedy show, Close Enough (heh see what I did there?). What it's really emblematic

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Talks between Microsoft and TikTok parent company ByteDance were paused after President Trump voiced his opposition to the deal, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. And while the deal does not appear to be dead, both parties are reportedly trying to get a handle on where the Trump administration stands, and if it plans any future action against the Chinese-based video sharing app.President Trump told reporters Friday he was planning to ban TikTok f

The TechCrunch Exchange newsletter just launched. Soon only a partial version will hit the site, so sign up to get the full download.
Welcome back to The TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter for your weekend enjoyment. It’s broadly based on the daily column that appears on Extra Crunch, but free. And it’s made just for you.
You can sign up for the newsletter here. With that out of the way, let’s talk money, upstart companies and the latest spicy IPO rum

There are plenty of reasons to get behind Netflix's new variable playback speed settings, but "let viewers bend time to their will" isn't one of them.
The new feature, which the company started testing back at the end of 2019, has started rolling out in the Android version of the app. It lets viewers tweak the speed of what they're watching, to make it go either slower (0.5x and 0.75x speed) or faster (1.25x and 1.5x speed).
While it's only out for Android right now, Netflix intends to test the

So you're watching a fun video on YouTube. Neat, good for you. 
You've seen a moment you really like, and you want to convert that fun little moment from YouTube into a GIF. I get it, pal, GIFs can be fun.
Don't be embarrassed if you don't know where to start. Creating an animated GIF from YouTube is easy and I've broken the process down into 10 very simple steps. 
OK then, let's do it. 
1. Pull up your YouTube video and copy the link
For demonstration purposes, I'm choosing the "

I know it's the weekend and you want to relax, not have your brain pretzeled. I know. But I saw this and now I must share it. 
Do you remember the dress? You know — the viral blue or yellow dress? Or better yet, how about Yanny vs. Laurel? Well, a new viral auditory illusion hit the internet over the weekend. Green needle vs. brainstorm. Just watch.
Different coworkers have had different reactions to this viral TikTok. For me, the sound definitely changes depending on which word I'm r

Is Apple preparing to take on the mobile payment company, Square, Inc.? A recent purchase suggests as much.
Apple has reportedly acquired Mobeewave, a Montreal-based tech startup that empowers tap-based payments. It works like this: a vendor with the app installed can turn their near-field communication-equipped (NFC) smartphone or tablet into a contactless payment terminal.
So unlike Square, which depends on a card reader for payments, Mobeewave's technology can accept payments from NFC-equippe

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge GeForce Now users can sync their Steam libraries to their accounts with Nvidia’s new Game Sync feature. Compatible games will appear in the My Library section of Game Sync, Nvidia announced.
The “bring your own game” cloud service, which launched its paid tier earlier this year, allows users to play games purchased through other platforms— including Steam, the Epic Games STore, Battle.net, and Uplay— in the cloud. But searchi

We could use a little soothing during the pandemic and boy, did this video of a doberman meeting a butterfly do it for me. 
This good, large pup, named Titan, seems amused by the delicate yellow butterfly flapping around his head. Does Titan try to chomp the little critter? Sure. But, he doesn't get it, even as the butterfly repeatedly lands on its snout. Seriously, it just keeps coming back for more.
Right as the video cuts out, you can hear Titan's person telling him, "You've got a new be

TikTok said Saturday it has no plans to leave the U.S.
Of course it may not be totally up to the company after President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that he intended to ban the uber-popular short-form video app. It's not clear if he has the power to do so, especially if a rumored TikTok sale comes to pass.
Still, TikTok's U.S. General Manager Vanessa Pappas posted a video Saturday saying the platform didn't intend to disappear from the states. 
"We're not planning on going anywher

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok parent company ByteDance has reportedly agreed to sell its American operations to prevent the Trump administration from banning it in the US, according to Reuters.It was not clear Saturday whether the deal would involve Microsoft, or whether it would stave off a ban. The administration has threatened to ban the video-sharing app for several weeks; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on July 7th a ban was “something we’re looking at.&rdq

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple has acquired a startup with technology that could turn iPhones into mobile payment terminals, Bloomberg reported. Montreal-based Mobeewave has tech that requires only an NFC chip to work, allowing users to tap either their smartphone or a credit card to another phone for payment processing. NFC chips have been included in iPhones since the iPhone 6. And while Apple Pay lets shoppers tap their iPhones to pay at a retail store, adding Mobeewave could

A photo illustration showing vials of COVID-19 vaccine. (Real vaccines would probably have a whole lot more on the label.) | Photo illustration by Igor Golovniov / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images Vaccine trials have had a weird week. First, there was the exhilarating kickoff of two massive clinical trials for vaccines created by Moderna and Pfizer. Each company is hoping to recruit 30,000 volunteers to test whether its vaccine is effective and safe. This is normal.What’s not no

Microsoft Surface Go 2
$399.99 (starting)View Product
The Good
Lightweight •compact design • Useful kickstand• Bright •sharp display • Solid performance
The Bad
Mediocre battery life when using third-party apps • Thick bezels • Cramped display
The Bottom Line
With a larger display and slightly longer battery life, the Microsoft Surface Go 2 is an excellent choice if you're looking for a flexible device to power you through work during the day and comfortably b

Since your gym is still closed and will be for a while, the world is now your workout space. But for those venturing outside or training in the living room, staring at a screen is the last thing you want after a day of, well, staring at a screen. 
That's why we recommend audio fitness apps. Ethan Agarwal, CEO and founder of audio workout app Aaptiv (full disclosure: I'm an active user on a 259-day streak) wrote in an email that "Zoom fatigue" is real, and that "working out without looking a

TikTok might be looking at a ban in the US soon, as President Donald Trump said he could sign the executive order to block the app by Saturday. According to a report from Bloomberg, Trump told reporters on Friday night that the app will be banned from the country,  “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States.”  [Read: TikTok’s CEO takes shots at Zuckerberg as it aims to continue to survive in the US] He added that he &ldq

South Korean giant Samsung, Apple’scontract manufacturing partners Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron, and Indian smartphone vendors Micromax and Lava among others have applied for India’s $6.6 billion incentive program aimed at boosting the local smartphone manufacturing, New Delhi said on Saturday.
The scheme, called Production-Linked Incentive Scheme, will offer a range of incentives to companies including a 6% financial incentive on additional sales of goods produced locally

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge President Trump has told reporters he’s planning to ban TikTok from operating in the US. “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday night. Bloomberg reports that Trump indicated he’s ready to sign a document to order the ban as early as today, either via an executive order or emergency economic powers.
“I will sign the document tomorrow

White dwarfs explode under certain conditions, but the causes of these events remain a mysterious process. However, the detection of a flash of ultraviolet light from one of these explosions could help answer questions about these stellar eruptions. This is just the second time such a flash of energy has been seen by astronomers during one of these events. It could also help researcher better understand the formation of heavy elements, such as iron, as well as providing a look at one of the gre

President Donald Trump said he could act to ban the world’s most popular short video app TikTok from the US as early as Saturday, according to The Hill.
The president said he could use “emergency economic powers or an executive order” to bar TikTok from the US, he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday.
The news came hours after reports broke that Microsoft was in talks to buy TikTok. Investors are reportedly valuing three-year-old TikTok at $50 billion. In his remark on

Even the hard-charging world of early-stage startups has its share of procrastinators, lollygaggers, slow-pokes, wafflers and last-minute decision makers. If that’s your demographic, today is your lucky day.
You now have an extra week (courtesy of Saint Expeditus, the patron saint of procrastinators), to score early-bird savings to Disrupt 2020, which takes place September 14-18. Buy your pass before the new and final deadline — August 7 at 11:59 p.m. (PT) — and save up to $300

Three of the alleged perpetrators behind the July 16 Twitter hack have now been identified and charged, say prosecutors. Of the three identified by an Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice investigation, one — the alleged mastermind behind the attack — has been arrested. In case you need a quick refresher, on July 16 someone seized control of several prominent Twitter accounts and tweeted a Bitcoin wallet address, promising to give anyone who sent money to it dou

Photo by Christian Charisius/picture alliance via Getty Images In-flight Wi-Fi provider Gogo is laying off 143 people, or about 14 percent of its workforce, as people continue to avoid air travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company previously furloughed 600 workers and cut executive pay in April, and said Thursday that it will “continue certain furloughs and maintain the salary reductions that were previously implemented.”The cuts will come “predominantly from the Compan

Earlier this month, Twitter told investors it’s considering a subscription model as a means of generating additional revenue to support its business. Now we know what sort of value-add features Twittermay be eyeing. In a new survey, the company asks users to evaluate paid features like “undo send” (an alternative to an edit button), as well as other ideas like custom colors, the ability to publish longer and more high-def videos, support for profile badges, auto responses, addi

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google said earlier this year it would join other web browser companies to block third-party cookies in Chrome, and today, developers have their first chance to test a proposed alternative to tracking users across the web: trust tokens.Unlike cookies, trust tokens are designed to authenticate a user without needing to know their identity. Trust tokens would not be able to track users across websites, because they’re theoretically all the same, but t

Three arrests are made following this month’s celebrity Twitterhack, Microsoft may be working to acquire TikTok’s U.S. business and Facebook launches licensed music videos. Here’s your Daily Crunch for July 31, 2020.
The big story: Florida teen arrested in Twitter hack
In a hack earlier this month, high-profile Twitter accounts like Apple, Elon Musk, Barack Obama and Joe Biden were compromised and posted messages promoting a cryptocurrency scheme. Now an investigation by the FB

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple is now the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, passing Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco. As of close of business Friday, Apple has a market valuation of $1.84 trillion, while Saudi Aramco’s is $1.76 trillion, according to CNBC. Apple’s stock, which has been on a largely-steady climb since the end of March, closed up more than 10 percent on Friday following the company’s record-breaking thir

The cloud market is coming into its own during the pandemic as the novel coronavirus forced many companies to accelerate plans to move to the cloud, even while the market was beginning to mature on its own.
This week, the big three cloud infrastructure vendors — Amazon,Microsoft and Google — all reported their earnings, and while the numbers showed that growth was beginning to slow down, revenue continued to increase at an impressive rate, surpassing $30 billion for a quarter for the