Technology news

Photo by Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images A group of Senate Republicans introduced a new bill Tuesday aimed at chipping away some of the protections provided to social media companies through Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.The Online Freedom and Viewpoint Diversity Act, introduced by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), would strip away the liability protection provided by Section 230 if a platform restricted access to content without providin

Need to tell your co-workers you’re taking lunch? Slack will now let you pick from your last five custom statuses so you don’t have to type them (and find the right emoji) over and over again.That’s it, that’s the news — but it’s already becoming a most welcome feature at The Verge, let me tell you.Except perhaps for the shaming:slack did not need to come for me like that. it's called work/life balance ✨ pic.twitter.com/31o4LZAZUq— kaitlin (@kaitl

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Google-owned mapping app Waze will now let you send directions from your computer to your phone.
The process to do so was pretty straightforward in my brief testing (my personal phone is an iOS device). First log in to Waze on your phone, and then log in to Waze on a desktop browser by scanning a QR code with your phone’s camera. Then, use the browser to get directions to where you want to go, and you’ll see a button to save those directio

Image: Vizio The Apple TV app is now available on Vizio SmartCast TVs to customers in the US and Canada, Vizio announced today. With the app, you can access your library of movie and TV show rentals / purchases and also stream Apple’s original content if you’ve got an Apple TV Plus subscription. Vizio TV owners can redeem a three-month free trial of Apple TV Plus, but only if they’re new to the service; this promotion expires on October 16th. (Apple TV Plus normally costs $4.9

DNX Ventures, an investment firm that focuses on early-stage B2B startups in Japan and the United States, announced today that it has closed a new $315 million fund. This is DNX’s third flagship fund; along with supplementary annexed funds, this brings its total managed so far to $567 million.
Founded in 2011, with offices in San Mateo, California and Tokyo, Japan, DNX has invested in more than 100 startups to date, and has 13 exits under its belt. The firm, a member of the Draper Venture

Image: Evan Blass LG’s upcoming “Wing” smartphone is expected to be a dual-screen device with a swiveling mechanism, and the screen that flips around could be surprisingly thin, as shown in new leaks of the phone.
Take a look for yourself in this video — when this person, who appears to have the phone, shows a side profile of the device, you can see that the rotating screen appears to be quite thin:The video also gives us a good look at the Wing’s swiveling mechani

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings is still confident that 2021 will see more Netflix originals released than this year, but he is acknowledging that with the pandemic affecting production, especially in the United States, it won’t be as many as previously predicted.Hastings sat down with many publications ahead of the launch of his new book, and one question that repeatedly came up is how Netflix is fairing with production on titles moving slower or stop

Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge Samsung and SK Hynix will reportedly stop selling components to Huawei as the Trump administration tightens sanctions on the Chinese phone maker. According to Chosun Ilbo and other Korean news outlets, the companies will suspend trade on September 15th, the day a new set of rules limits dealing with Huawei.
These sanctions were introduced in August, following a string of other restrictions implemented since last year. They ban non-American companies from selling

On the heels of new filings from both Sumo Logic and JFrog, Snowflake, a venture-backed unicorn looking to go public on the strength of its data-focused cloud service, set an initial price range for its IPO.
The $75 to $85 per-share IPO price target values the firm at between $20.9 billion and $23.7 billion, huge sums for the private company. Its IPO could raise more than $2.7 billion for the startup.
Snowflakewas last valued at around $12.5 billion when it raised a Series G worth $479 million e

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple will seek damages against Epic Games for allegedly breaching its contract with the iOS App Store, in a new escalation of the two companies’ ongoing legal fight. The allegation was entered on Tuesday, alongside counterclaims for unjust enrichment and tortious interference with Apple’s relationship with its customers.
Apple is seeking monetary damages as part of the claim, although the precise amount is not specified in the filing.
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Google has officially announced Android 11, and the new operating system is already rolling out to Pixel phones. In honor of the release, Google has created a statue that you can view in augmented reality on any Android phone. Dave Burke, Android’s VP of engineering, tweeted a picture of the virtual statue earlier this afternoon.Android 11 starts rolling out today! Incredibly proud of our team for everything they've done, especially with what 2020 has thrown at us.https://t.co/q6ppGqDWVC p

Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for TurboTax The Federal Trade Commission is actively investigating Intuit, maker of the popular TurboTax tax preparation software, according to a new report by ProPublica. The case was revealed in a public court filing, in which Intuit sought to limit the scope of the investigation.
The investigation centers on TurboTax’s “Free File” product, offered free of charge to most Americans in exchange for the assurance that the IRS would not deve

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra are both $200 off at Amazon, B&H Photo, and Best Buy. This brings the price for the smaller device down to $800, and $1,100 for the Note 20 Ultra. The Note 20 series released less than a month ago, and this price cut is far more appealing than Samsung’s preorder incentives that granted up to $150 in e-gift card credit.Both phones are a match when it comes to having the Snapdragon 865 processor, support for

Amy Johnston is carefully perched against the hip of her co-worker for the day, an animator by the name of Marianne Hayden. It’s a strange scene, to say the least: two grown women in a mismatched embrace, one of them decked out in a Tron-like suit fitted with bright orange and green panels. Johnston slowly wags her legs and rests her head on Hayden’s shoulder. “I loved it so much,” Johnston says. “It was very relaxing. It’s nice to be a baby.”
Johnston,

Image: 9to5Mac Apple’s Tile-like location tracking product has finally entered production, according to a report from Nikkei, meaning you might be able to buy them sometime soon. Rumors about the trackers, which will apparently help you wirelessly locate items they’re attached to like a bag or wallet, have been swirling since last year. They may be called “AirTags,” are apparently designed to work with Apple’s Find My app, and are expected to be small circular disc

Image: EA Sports EA is bringing Colin Kaepernick back to Madden. Starting today, Kaepernick will be available as a QB who can be added to any team in Franchise mode in Madden NFL 21, which was released in late August. He can also be selected in the game’s Play Now mode. Kaepernick hasn’t been playable in a Madden game since 2016, according to The Undefeated.
“Colin Kaepernick is one of the top free agents in football and a starting-caliber quarterback. The team at EA SPORTS, a

When AngelList first launched rolling funds, an investment vehicle that raises money through a quarterly subscription from interested investors, the company looked at it as a bet. But early interest from emerging fund managers indicates that rolling funds might be more of the future of the company, according to AngelListCEO Avlok Kohli.
“Rolling funds are what venture fund structures would look like if they were built in the age of software,” Kohli told TechCrunch.
Since February, ab

Bose hasn’t released a pair of true wireless earbuds since the SoundSport Free in 2017, but it seems the company is about to make up for lost time. Last year, Bose said it was readying two sets of new earbuds — the Noise Canceling Earbuds 500 and 700, still listed on this website — and a new video suggests the launch of at least one of those could be imminent. Bose has apparently reconsidered its branding choices and is reverting back to its signature “QuietComfort”

Photo by John Moore/Getty Images The temperature was in the 70s in State College, Pennsylvania on Friday, but the local school board voted to call a “snow day,” cancel classes, and have students in the town’s public schools stay home. Cases of COVID-19 in the area had spiked, and the school district’s board of directors needed time to decide what to do.No students or staff in the district were sick. Instead, the local increases were driven by outbreaks at Penn State Univ

Photo by David McNew/Getty Images Wildfires have already ripped through a record 2.2 million acres of California this year, making this year’s blazes the most widespread on record. The fires have killed eight people and destroyed 3,300 structures. The second and third single largest fires in the state’s history — the SCU and LNU lightning complexes in Northern California — are burning at the same time.Ridiculously high temperatures for the region set more records over th

Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge Android 11 is officially launching today after months of betas — and it’s getting a wider release than expected, with the latest version of the operating coming today not only to Pixel devices but to phones from OnePlus, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Realme, too.As expected, the final version of Android 11 is now available to download on the Pixel 2, 3, 3A, 4, and 4A. OnePlus has also confirmed that the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro will be getting Android 11 today in Nor

Microsoft made its Xbox Series S console official today after a round of leaks appeared overnight. Now, the company is confirming the new $299 console will arrive on November 10th. That’s the same date that the Xbox Series X is rumored to launch. The trailer also leaked earlier today, confirming support for up to 120fps at 1440p, ray tracing, and a 512GB SSD.
Microsoft hasn’t confirmed full specs for the Xbox Series S just yet, but the cheaper (and smaller) console is designed to tar

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The OnePlus 7 Pro is $430 at Woot, which is $270 off of its usual $699 price. This is a steal, coming in at $20 less than the previous best deal we’ve seen. It’s worth noting that this is the GSM model of the phone, and it will work if you pop in a SIM card from Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, or any other GSM carrier, like Cricket, Google Fi, and others. It doesn’t support 5G service, though.
This phone has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and it

Apple has officially announced its upcoming “Time Flies” event for September 15th, and the company hid a neat augmented reality Easter egg in the event announcement that uses Apple’s ARKit to turn the swirling Apple logo into a floating image of the “9.15” event date.Apple has a long history of creating interesting logos and teasers for its event invitations. The AR element, though, adds an interactive spin on the company’s typical invites, while at the same t

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Uber announced Tuesday that “100 percent” of rides will take place in electric vehicles by 2030 in the US, Canada, and Europe, and by 2040 for the rest of the world. But rather than pay drivers directly to trade their gas-burning vehicles for electric ones, the company will impose an extra fee on trips completed in an electric vehicle to incentivize drivers to make the switch.
Starting today, Uber is launching its “Uber Green” surc

Despite the public markets posting a few days of losses, the IPO wave continues to crest as a number of well-known technology companies line up to float their equity on American exchanges. Most recently we saw e-commerce giant Wish file (albeit privately) and news that dating service Bumble could look to go public next year.
Those bits of news came on the heels of Airbnb filing, again privately, and the public release of IPO filings from Unity, Asana, Snowflake and, key for our work today, Sumo

Apple has announced an event for September 15th at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. Normally, Apple announces new iPhones in September, but this year, there have been rumors of the phones being delayed. Instead, the event’s tagline, “Time Flies,” suggests we’re looking at a new Apple Watch.
The event is taking place later than the usual September announcement for Apple’s fall lineup, likely due to delays caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Apple confirmed that it wouldn&rsquo

Apple has announced its annual iPhone announcement event for September 15th at 1pm ET / 10am PT, where the company is expected to announce its latest slate of iPhones, a new Apple Watch, and a release date for iOS 14.
The event is taking place later than the usual September announcement for Apple’s fall lineup, likely due to delays caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Apple confirmed that it wouldn’t ship its new phones in September during its most recent earnings call.
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Razer Razer’s latest gaming accessory is chewing gum aimed at boosting your focus and reaction time in games. The company teamed up with 5 Gum from Mars Wrigley to make “Respawn by 5 Gum” in three flavors: cool mint, tropical punch, and pomegranate watermelon. The gum is available starting today at $2.99 per 15-stick pack or $27.99 for a 10-pack. It will be available from Razer.com as well as Amazon. Razer previously released a flavored energy drink mix in 2019.
Razer says thi

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Project Connected Home over IP — the ambitious attempt to bring together Amazon, Apple, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance with a unified, open-source smart home platform — has just posted its latest update on the project. The group has announced (in the first major update since the standard was revealed) that work on the project is still ongoing, and it’s targeting a 2021 release, along with the first clear idea of what devices the standard is a

The next Legend of Zelda adventure is coming very soon. Today, Nintendo revealed a new title called Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, which will launch on the Switch this year.
The game, which is being developed by Koei Tecmo, looks to be a successor of sorts to the original Hyrule Warriors from 2014. That game combined the massive battles of Dynasty Warriors with the lore and history of Zelda. The new game is set 100 years before Breath of the Wild, where players can experience the great calami

Last Thursday and Friday’s public market sell-off has stretched into this week, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite off 2.5% this morning. But while tech shares are down broadly to start the holiday-shortened week — and are taking stick for bringing down even broader indices — some well-known technology, and technology-ish companies are suffering even more.
Teslais one such company, with its equities shedding around 17% of its value in early trading today.
The American electri

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Microsoft is reportedly preparing to launch a smaller Surface Laptop later this year. Windows Central reports that Microsoft is preparing a more lightweight version of the Surface Laptop with a smaller 12.5-inch display. This new model will reportedly include Intel’s 10th Gen Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. The smaller Surface Laptop is said to be targeted at students, and it will be running Windows 10 in S Mode.
Microsoft is

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 weekly kickoff that tracks the latest big news, chats about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here — and don’t forget to check out last Friday’s episode.Headline roundup

Frictional Games Early in the coronavirus pandemic, during the ambient dread of New York’s locked-down spring, I realized that I couldn’t put words in a coherent order. I built virtual spaces instead. That’s how I fell in love with the cockroaches from one of my favorite horror games.
I’m talking about Amnesia: The Dark Descent, an adventure gaming masterpiece that turns 10 years old today. Frictional Games’ Amnesia is a Lovecraftian tale that puts players at the m

The verified calls feature allows businesses like banks to display the reason for their call when they contact you. | Image: Google Google has officially announced a new “Verified Calls” feature for its phone app, which is designed to give more information when a business is calling you. Compatible calls will show a company’s name, branding, a small badge to show that it’s verified, and a reason for its call.The feature is coming to the Google Phone app, which typically

The verified calls feature allows businesses like banks to display the reason for their call when they contact you. | Image: Google Google has officially announced a new “Verified Calls” feature for its phone app, which is designed to give more information when a business is calling you. Compatible calls will show a company’s name, branding, a small badge to show that it’s verified, and a reason for its call.The feature is coming to the Google Phone app, which typically