Technology news

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok’s Android app collected users’ MAC addresses for 18 months in violation of the platform rules, as discovered by a Wall Street Journal investigation on Tuesday. The addresses would have served as a unique identifier for each user’s device, making them valuable for both advertising and potentially more invasive forms of tracking.
By 2015, both iOS’s App Store and the Google Play Store had banned the collection of MAC addresses

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Reddit has banned another community dedicated to posting racist remarks on its platform — but only after co-founder Alexis Ohanian decided to report the subreddit. And not by actually reporting it to Reddit, but instead calling it out in a Twitter thread.Ohanian tweeted out his disgust for the subreddit to his nearly 340,000 Twitter followers after multiple users on Twitter brought it to his attention, with Ohanian expressing that the subreddit shou

Today after the close of regular trading Tesla,a well-known American electric vehicle company, announced that it intends to split its shares 5 for 1. The split announcement comes after a sharp rally in the value of Tesla equity in recent quarters.
The company’s shares quickly rallied on the news, picking up 8% in after-hours trading.
Tesla, ever a controversial company, traded for as little as $211 in the last year. After today’s news the company is now worth $1,485 per share. Worth

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook has expanded its ban on racist writings and imagery, with new rules specifically prohibiting depictions of blackface and statements or images suggesting that Jewish people control the world or major institutions. Facebook already has a broad ban on hate speech, but the company also maintains a detailed list of prohibited language (like comparing a group of people to “insects”) and protected characteristics (like physical appearance) t

Xiaomi The best TVs provide a picture that’s so good, it’s like looking through a window into another world. But — and stay with me — what if your next TV was like a window into, well, whatever’s behind your TV? That’s what Xiaomi’s new $7,000 transparent OLED TV promises. The Mi TV LUX OLED Transparent Edition is a new product announced as part of Xiaomi’s 10th anniversary celebration that, according to the press images, is all about displaying s

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Google announced on Tuesday a number of new features on the way to help make virtual education easier, including updates to its Google Meet conferencing service and a new homework helper tool that just requires a photo from a phone.
For Meet, Google says that a larger tiled view that can show up to 49 meeting participants, which Google first announced in June, will now arrive in September. Google first launched its tiled view for Meet in April with the abil

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On Tuesday, Google beat back a lawsuit over alleged scraping of song lyrics from Genius, a lyrics and commentary site. A federal judge in the Eastern District of New York found that while the claims of scraping were credible, the scraping did not constitute a copyright violation, and the lawsuit was dismissed as a result.
Genius alleged in December 2019 that Google was lifting its lyrics. The scraping was demonstrated by sneaking a clever text watermark i

SlideShare has a new owner, with LinkedIn selling the presentation-sharing service to Scribd for an undisclosed price.
According to LinkedIn,Scribdwill take over operation of the SlideShare business on September 24.
Scribd CEO Trip Adler argued that the companies have very similar roots, both launching in 2006/2007 with stories on TechCrunch, and both of them focused on content- and document-sharing.
“The two products always had kind of similar missions,” Adler said. “The diffe

Microsoft is committing to launching its next-generation Xbox Series X console in November. The company had previously only confirmed a vague “holiday 2020” release date for the Xbox Series X, but at least we know the month now.
Microsoft isn’t providing a specific date, but I have been hearing recently that the first week of November looks like it’s lining up to be the launch time for the Xbox Series X. That could, of course, slip further into November with the uncertain

Microsoft and 343 Industries are making the decision to delay the launch of Halo Infinite to 2021. 343 Industries says the delay is related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, as employees have shifted to work from home and development of large games has been particularly difficult for many in the industry.“We have made the difficult decision to shift our release to 2021 to ensure the team has adequate time to deliver a Halo game experience that meets our vision,” says Chris Lee, st

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek — one of the most influential live-streamers on the internet — has today announced his triumphant, exclusive return to Twitch, the platform that made him famous, after a detour to Mixer that possibly netted him a cool $10 million when the site went dark and his contract got paid out.It’s a big deal. Grzesiek was one of the biggest names on Twitch pre-Mixer acquisition, and him leaving the site last O

No, it's not just your relatives and old high school friends sharing fake coronavirus cures and anti-mask propaganda on Facebook. 
The social media giant admitted the mind-boggling scale of COVID-19 misinformation flooding its platforms Tuesday in a statement to reporters. And, in perhaps what won't come as a surprise to the people who rely on Facebook and Instagram to get their daily news, the sites are drowning in it. 
For starters, the company confirmed it removed more than 7 millio

Image: Nvidia Nvidia is celebrating the launch of Ubisoft’s new entry in the battle royale market, the first-person shooter Hyper Scape, with a pretty solid deal for its GeForce Now cloud gaming platform. Considering Hyper Scape is a free-to-play game but does require a moderate gaming PC (or Sony or Microsoft game console) to play, Nvidia is now offering six months of its GeForce Now subscription and a slew of Hyper Scape cosmetics and battle pass access for $24.95.That way, you can play

Photo by Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images New York Comic Con’s physical presence is canceled this year. The annual convention typically takes place in Manhattan’s Javits Center. Organizers announced today, however, that “it likely comes as no surprise that NYCC 2020’s physical event at the Javits will not be able to run as intended.”
Because of the pandemic, all major events this year — including Google I/O, E3, and SXSW — have come to a stop. Organizers can

For a moment there, it looked like Qualcomm would have to stop forcing phone makers to pay an additional licensing fee for its patents in order to get shipments of modem and processor chips for their gadgets — as a US judge ruled that “no-license, no chips” practice was anti-competitive in May 2019. But today, the Ninth Circuit threw out that verdict entirely, giving Qualcomm a huge win just as we’re entering the 5G cellular era.
According to the ruling (you can see the m

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook is aiming for a more cohesive strategy around digital payments with the formation of a new division, Facebook Financial, that “will run all payments projects, including Facebook Pay,” according to Bloomberg. The unit is led by seasoned Facebook exec David Marcus, who was formerly in charge of Messenger before moving on to focus on the company’s blockchain efforts and Libra cryptocurrency.
He’ll still be overseeing that eff

Twitter Twitter is making its reply-limiting feature available to all users starting today, and it’s for real this time: You can finally say goodbye to the reply guys. The company’s director of product management, Suzanne Xie, writes in a blog post published Tuesday that the feature is part of the platform’s efforts to give people more control over their conversations on the platform.“Sometimes people are more comfortable talking about what’s happening when they ca

OK, this time Twitter means it. 
What has since May been the prerogative of a select few has finally trickled down to the social media plebs. As of Tuesday morning, every Twitter user has the power to dictate who can — and crucially, by extension, who can't — reply to their tweets. 
For a brief moment last week it appeared Twitter had quietly made the feature available to everyone with an update to the iOS mobile app. But alas, it was not to beThe Verge confirmed that the r

According to the Wall Street Journal, Airbnb could file confidentially to go public as early as this month. The same report states that Airbnbcould follow that filing with an IPO before year’s end. Morgan Stanley and Goldman are helping the former startup with its IPOprocess, the Journal writes.
The news that Airbnb’s IPO could be back on caps a tumultuous year for the home-sharing unicorn, which promised in 2019 to go public in 2020. The company was widely tipped to be considering a

TL;DR: Buy the highly rated Sony WH1000XM3 noise-canceling headphones for just $248 at Amazon. This $101.99 discount makes this the lowest price we've seen, but this sale ends after Aug. 11. As we spend more of our lives at home, it's important to tune out those many everyday distractions. Whether for virtual learning or working from home if you have that privilege, one tool that can help is a dependable pair of noise-canceling headphones. And now you can grab one of the most popular models

Image: Nio Chinese EV startup Nio has rebounded from the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, setting a company record for deliveries and revenue during the second quarter of 2020. Buoyed by a return to strong automotive sales in China, a successful rollout of the updated version of its first electric SUV, and a recent $1 billion investment from local government entities, the startup now appears to be on its most solid footing since late 2018.
Nio, which is backed by Tencent, has found that f

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On Tuesday, Facebook announced that it would start banning US news publishers with connections to political groups from using its news exemption within the platform’s political ads authorization system.
Facebook’s new policy defines political outlets as ones owned by a political person or entity, led by a political person, or as an organization that shares proprietary information gathered from its Facebook account with a political person or en

Photo: Instacart Walmart is partnering with grocery delivery platform Instacart in yet another bid to rival Amazon and its growing offline network of Whole Foods stores and same- and one-day Prime delivery. The partnership, first reported on Tuesday by CNBC, means Walmart customers in four pilot markets spanning California and Oklahoma can now choose Walmart’s grocery options when putting together an Instacart order.Instacart already works with major grocery chains like Albertsons, Aldi,

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Last week, the Trump administration began to issue executive orders sanctioning Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat, specifically banning “transactions” between US entities and the apps’ parent companies, ByteDance and Tencent.Though there are many questions about how this ban could actually work, the ramifications of forbidding Americans to use a smartphone app sets a precedent for the future of the open and creative internet. Perhaps there

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Mozilla is laying off 250 people, about a quarter of its workforce, and plans to refocus some teams on projects designed to make money. The company will have roughly 750 employees going forward, a spokesperson confirmed.
The coronavirus pandemic “significantly impacted our revenue,” Mozilla CEO Mitchell Bakerwrote in a blog post this morning. “As a result, our pre-COVID plan was no longer workable.”
Mozilla’s operations in Ta

Remember Blockbuster?
The new release aisle. The strange, sweet musk — candy and carpet and cardboard. The impossibility of choosing just one movie. 
Well now, with a little luck, you may be able to experience that nostalgia-filled rush overnight. 
The last Blockbuster in existence is now aon Airbnb and is available to rent. 
Problem is, you've got to be located in Deschutes County, where the last ever Blockbuster is located in Bend, Oregon. Sandi Harding, the store's manage

TL;DR: Best Buy is having a big sale on wireless earbuds, as of Aug. 11.In the Before Times, wireless earbuds were often billed as a must-have accessory for commuting and working out. But we're here to tell you there's no reason that convenience can't be carried over to your new socially-distant, stay-at-home lifestyle: Whether you're working/learning remotely, playing video games, cleaning, gardening, whatever, it's always nice to *not* have to worry about getting tangled up in cords.
SEE ALSO:

Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images For months, President Trump has been teasing some kind of ban on TikTok, keeping the specifics vague and details thin — so when the official executive order came down last week, no one knew quite what to think. The order calls for a complete halt of all US transactions with TikTok’s parent company by September 20th, a severe response to national security concerns that are still abstract. Many observers have sidestepped the alarming implications of t

TL;DR: Keep up with everything that goes on at your door with the Ring Video Doorbell 3 for $179.99, a $20 savings as of Aug. 11. We've all come to cherish our homes in all new ways throughout these past few months, so it's only right that we take care of them to the best of our ability. If you don't already own a home security system, now's the time. 
If setting up cameras in different spots and at different angles sounds a bit too complicated to you, you may want to consider the Ring

Back-to-school shopping has changed a lot over the years. Once ubiquitous Spacemaker pencil boxes — also known as DIY bookmark makers, if you add glue — are now nowhere to be seen. Those big fabric binders have been replaced by laptop sleeves and, while notebooks are still hanging on (especially for colleges students), note-taking on laptops is an increasingly popular tactic, even in elementary schools.
One thing that we never thought would be at risk? Backpacks.
Hear us out: Ba

Image: TCL TCL introduced its new lineup of midrange 5- and 6-series 4K TVs for 2020. Like previous years, they pack in a lot of value, with good design, four HDMI ports, and built-in Roku software that might eliminate the need to buy a streaming device. Importantly, they also pack in complete support for HDR standards, so you won’t be left out of the next HDR-enabled Super Bowl game, whenever that will be. It features what TCL calls the “HDR Pro Pack”, with support for Dolby

Photo by Long Wei/VCG via Getty Images Rumors about Xiaomi’s Mi 10 Ultra have been swirling this week, and the company has now formally announced the product. Xiaomi revealed key features of its anticipated handset in a press release and a series of tweets. “Whatever you can imagine, #Mi10Ultra has it,” the company said.The highlight is that the Ultra supports 120-watt wired fast charging. It has a 4,500mAh battery (the same size as that of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus); Xiaomi

Students: You may not be heading into an actual classroom this fall, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go back-to-school shopping. Whether at home or on campus, there are certain things you'll need to start the new school year off right. Plus, don't we all secretly love the smell of fresh school supplies, anyway? 
SEE ALSO: 8 gadgets to help make distance learning easier for students and teachers
If you can't fathom getting anything done while sitting in that uncomfortable chair that's be

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Teens and young adults who vape are far more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than those who don’t, a new study by Stanford researchers found. A young person who has vaped and smoked cigarettes was seven times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19, according to the study published today in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Someone who only vaped was five times as likely to be diagnosed.Public health officials should be concerned about vaping