Technology news

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Fortnite disappeared from the App Store last week as part of developer Epic Games’ big legal and regulatory showdown with Apple, but the battle royale hit is not gone entirely.If you’ve never downloaded the game before, you’re pretty much out of luck for now — and we recommend avoiding any of the eBay listings that appear to be popping up to hawk iPhones with the game installed for as much as $10,000. That sounds suspect. Those who have

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Airbnb has filed documents to begin its initial public offering, the company said on Wednesday. Airbnb’s securities registration filing remains confidential, but it has been submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission, beginning the process that will ultimately allow everyday investors to purchase shares in the company for the first time.
The company has yet to determine the specifics of the public offering, including share price and the

Image: Mediatonic While the world writhes in the clutches of a seemingly never-ending wave of chaos, one Twitch streamer’s heartwarming struggle to win a game of the new battle royale sensation Fall Guys is a story we can all happily rally around.Timothy “TimTheTatMan” Betar, a streamer best known for playing popular battle royale games and his tight friendships with other well-known names in the Fornite and adjacent communities, has been struggling to claim a crown since the

Call of Duty: Warzone may have somewhat overshadowed the rest of the Call of Duty franchise, with the battle royale racking up 75 million downloads as of this month — but of course Activision also wants to develop a new flagship Call of Duty campaign, and its name has just been revealed as Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War.That’s according to the official YouTube teaser you can watch above, which leaves us with many, many questions, primarily 1) what does the game actually look like, 2

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Fossil has released a new update for its Gen 5 Wear OS smartwatches that add a variety of features to the watches that aren’t part of standard Wear OS, including sleep and VO2 max tracking.The bulk of the new features Fossil is adding here can be categorized as improvements for activity tracking, with the update promising better real-time fitness tracking (like heart rate, pace, distance, steps, and calories) at half the power consumption by off

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook has conducted its biggest purge yet of the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy movement, announcing on Wednesday that it has removed nearly 800 groups related to the topic in its latest moderation sweep.The removals coincide with a new, broader moderation policy detailed in a blog post published today regarding how Facebook handles borderline violent content, with a specific focus on QAnon and “US-based militia organizations.” Now, the social

Photo by Philip Cheung for The Verge In a podcast interview Wednesday, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi rejected the notion his company is capable of employing all of its drivers in California, as a state judge has ordered it to do.“We can’t go out and hire 50,000 people overnight,” Khosrowshahi said on the Pivot School podcast hosted by Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway. “Everything that we have built is based on this platform that... brings people who want transportation or de

On Tuesday, comedian Hasan Minhaj announced that after two years and six seasons, Netflix canceled Patriot Act. Despite the unexpected axing, it’s a symptom of a larger ailment: streaming can do many things better than traditional broadcast television. Late-night shows are not one of them.Patriot Act is different from a Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon-type program or even some of the other more timely shows Netflix tried to get off the ground, including The Break with Michelle Wolf and

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook is making it easier for users to find Black-owned businesses on its platform. The new feature is part of the company’s ongoing initiative, announced in June, that aims to aid Black communities.
Admins that manage a Facebook page for a Black-owned business will have the option to self-identify. There is no badge or label that will be displayed to represent these types of businesses on Facebook. Instead, this will allow a business to appear i

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A Facebook policy executive out of the company’s India offices has filed a criminal complaint against a journalist, Awesh Tiwari, alleging his critical post he published on the social network constitutes sexual harassment, criminal intimidation, and defamation. Yet the complaint produces no evidence Tiwari engaged in such conduct, according to a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and many press advocates are seeing it as an atte

All those iPhones add up to 12 zeroes.
Apple's market value keeps inching up and up, and now, nearly six months into the pandemic, it's worth $2 trillion. That's $2,000,000,000,000.
Apple is the first publicly-traded U.S. company to hit that high of a valuation, followed closely by Microsoft and Amazon. Notice it's all tech companies hitting or nearing record-breaking valuations, mostly because these digital-first companies have taken advantage of the recent shift to remote work and learning. Mi

Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Tom Perez addresses the second night of the virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention at its hosting site on August 18, 2020 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  | Photo by Brian Snyder-Pool/Getty Images Joe Biden recommitted to ending fossil fuel subsidies following backlash from environmentalists. On August 17th, the Democratic National Committee quietly removed language calling for an end to the subsidies from a draft document, HuffPost first reporte

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Lucid Motors announced that its forthcoming all-electric sedan, the Lucid Air, will be the “fastest charging electric vehicle ever offered.” The company claims the Air will have the capability to charge at rates of up to 20 miles per minute — which translates to 300 miles in about 20 minutes.This charging time is possible by using a 900-volt charger with a peak charging rate of over 300 kW. By comparison, Tesla’s V3 Supercharge

To be clear, the EP 01 do not radiate color like the image illustrates. | Image: DropLabs DropLabs has a new upgraded version of its Bluetooth shoes that rumble your feet with bass, which is not only a product that exists, but they’re apparently popular enough to warrant a second-generation model.They’re now available in a “triple black” color variant, support dynamic tuning for content, and offer an in-app LED color wheel to let you control the lighting on the rear of e

It was September 2018 when I and a group of journalists from around the world gathered on the set of Wonder Woman 1984. But you’d never have guessed it by looking around.Around us, present-day London had been transformed into a busy corner of Reagan-era Washington, D.C., down to the Metro signs pointing the way. Extras zipped down the sidewalks in big hair and shoulder pads. For a moment, it was almost possible to believe the Warner Bros. bus had driven us to another decade that morning.Th

TL;DR: As of Aug. 19, GameStop has several Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite bundles in stock starting at $214.99.After a months-long scarcity, Nintendo's elusive console is creeping its way back in stock online.
We're talking, of course, about the Nintendo Switch, a hybrid system from 2017 that can be played as a handheld device or on a TV. Both the regular Switch and its exclusively handheld version (2019's Switch Lite) have been difficult to track down since early spring thanks to a combination

Zoom announced on Wednesday that its popular video conferencing software, which has enabled many virtual happy hours in the past six months, is coming to smart displays. 
Specifically, Zoom will be available on Amazon's Echo Show, Facebook's Portal, and Google's Nest Hub Max over the next few months.
First up is Portal, which will get Zoom starting in September. It'll use the Facebook video machine's distinctive "smart camera" to keep you in frame if you move around, just like normal Portal

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple has become the first US company to hit a market cap of $2 trillion. It’s an arbitrary milestone but a significant one all the same, testimony to the pandemic-defying performance of the iPhone maker. It’s also been just two years since Apple hit a $1 trillion market cap, meaning the company has essentially doubled in value in just over 24 months.Apple is not the first company in the world to hit the $2 trillion benchmark. Saudi Aramco, th

TL;DR: Stay motivated while working out with the Fitbit Inspire HR activity tracker for $69.95 at Best Buy, a $30 savings as of Aug. 19. If you're the kind of person who prefers to work out with a partner in order to get that extra boost of competition and motivation, you need a fitness tracker. Specifically, you need a Fitbit. 
The Fitbit Inspire HR is on sale for $30 off, giving you even more reason to finish up those outdoor summer workouts strong. 
SEE ALSO: How to cure your p

Big tech companies swear their "commitment to diversity" knows no bounds. 
In reality, many of them employ disproportionately few people of color. Only 5.5 percent of Google and less than 4 percent of Facebook is Black, according to their 2020 diversity reports — compared to 13.5 percent of the U.S. population overall.
The numbers are even worse for high-paying technical roles. Only 9 percent of Apple’s employees were Black in 2018, the last year it released a diversity report.

Getting into PC gaming isn't the easiest thing in the world if you're going to be getting a desktop. There are a lot of parts that you need to consider (like a graphics card, CPU, monitor, keyboard, and more), and sometimes buying cheap ones won't be all that helpful to you in the long run. In other words, it can get complicated.
SEE ALSO: 8 of the best gaming mouse options for improved play
If that sounds a little too overwhelming for you, we recommend starting your PC gaming journey with a gam

Instagram Instagram is expanding its feed today with the launch of “suggested posts.” These posts, from accounts you don’t follow, will show up after you’ve reached the end of your feed and give you the option to keep scrolling with Instagram’s suggestions. Up until now, the feed has been entirely determined by users’ preferences and the people they follow.
For the past couple of years, Instagram has shown users a message when they reach the end of their feed

Thinking back to the last time I accepted a job, I can’t recall actually reading any of the material that was sent over. I think I skimmed some docs to make sure the numbers written down matched what I had been told over the phone, but after that it was a blur of digital signing and emailing and precisely no due diligence from myself.
Not great, really. I bet that your experience accepting new gigs has been somewhat similar. In startups, jobs are offered with exotic types of pay, chock ful

Microsoft is revealing the dashboard and software UI that it plans to use on the Xbox Series X. The software giant is mostly sticking to the same guide and interface that exists on the Xbox One today, with big promises of speed improvements and some new rounded UI elements.
The home section of the upcoming Xbox Series X console should load 50 percent faster than existing Xbox One consoles, and Microsoft has also reduced the footprint of the home screen, guide, and Store so they use 40 percent le

Image: HBO Lovecraft Country starts with a dream. A Black man fights on a battlefield, but we can’t see who he and his fellows are clashing with. The reveal is spectacular: aliens, monsters, and a princess of Mars. The soldier stares down a menagerie of impossible beings from the works of Wells and Burroughs, white writers who only ever thought to send white men off on adventures to face these creatures. In this dream though, the Black soldier is Atticus Freeman, confronting them with som

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge If you’re looking to upgrade your iPad but don’t necessarily need the latest or most powerful version of the iPad Pro, you can save a lot of money on the previous generation of the iPad Pro from 2018 for a limited time. It’s steeply discounted, and what’s better, this model includes support for 4G LTE in addition to Wi-Fi, which is handy if you’re on the go and want to stick a SIM card into it.
The most appealing deal is

Since Netflix started streaming The Office, fans have had a super convenient way to re-watch the classic workplace comedy. But anyone who owns the DVD box sets of The Office will be able to spot some clear inconsistencies between the episodes streaming and those that aired on NBC.
On the latest episode of the Office Ladies podcast, former co-stars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey talked about filming the Season 3 episode, "Traveling Salesmen." But in rewatching it, they learned that the "Travelin

Zoom is expanding to a variety of new devices later this year, with the company announcing that the Amazon Echo Show, Facebook Portal, and Google Nest Hub Max will support the widely used videoconferencing app later this year.It’s a big expansion for Zoom, which has recently started to branch out into its own licensed videoconferencing hardware. And smart displays — with their high-quality directional microphones and built-in touchscreens — are practically designed to be good v

Photo by Phil Esposito / The Verge As the coronavirus pandemic has unfortunately carried on into the beginning of a new school year, many are having to turn their homes into classrooms. Whether conducting class sessions from home is new for you or not, these accessories can make schooling from home easier and, hopefully, a less frustrating experience.
This guide is focused on the small gadgets and accessories that can make the moment-to-moment of each day go seamlessly. And their utility isn&rs

Imgur is launching a subscription service that offers an ad-free browsing experience and new community features, like profile flair and the ability to mute tags across the site. The subscription service, called Emerald, quietly launched on the web in May, and today, it’s being more publicly announced as it comes to Imgur’s Android app. The service will eventually launch on iOS, too.
Emerald costs $5 per month, but it’s not offered through Imgur itself. Instead, Imgur has partne

The SARS-CoV-2 virus took the world by surprise, but by one measure, it arrived right on schedule. The first SARS virus was discovered in 2003; the related MERS virus hit in 2012. Today, we have COVID-19. In other words, novel coronaviruses seem to be making successful jumps to humans very roughly once per decade — and there’s no reason to think they’ll stop after this one.Unfortunately for us, there’s only been so much cumulative progress when it comes to developing anti

BlackBerry has risen from the ashes again.
When BlackBerry Mobile's partnership with TCL ended in February, the brand's survival as a phone maker seemed in jeopardy. But now it has a partnership with OnwardMobility and Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile Limited.
The three companies announced Wednesday that they are releasing a 5G Blackberry phone with a physical keyboard. 
There are no other details about this upcoming device, but the announcement points out that the emphasis will be on producti

So many influencers have joined OnlyFans in the last six months that it's inspired an entire YouTube subgenre of reviewing influencer OnlyFans accounts. 
"I bought Every TikToker's OnlyFans so you don't have to" by Kwite has nearly 1.3 million views. "I paid for Nikocado Avocado's OnlyFans so you don't have to" by hot tea has more than 1.4 million views. "I paid for Tana Mongeau's OnlyFans so you dont have to lol (scam?)" by blair walnuts clocks in at more than 1.5 million views. 
When

You know what’s better than streaming a good martial arts movie over the weekend? Streaming six good martial arts movies over the weekend. There are few pleasures quite like killing an entire day watching dudes get wrecked with expert choreography and just enough emotional motivation, things the Ip Man movies are excellent at. Better yet? You can stream them all on Netflix right now.
The Ip Man movies are a quadrilogy of martial arts movies from Hong Kong director Wilson Yip starring Donni

You might not be familiar with Hercule Poirot. The fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie was originally brought to life by actor David Suchet in the long-running British TV series, Poirot. You'll soon be plenty familiar, though, when this Disney+ adaptation of Christie's novel Death on the Nile arrives in the fall.
The adaptation stars Kenneth Branagh (who also directed and produced) as the famed detective. It's a murder mystery that has Poirot working to unravel what happened w