Technology news

The Crown fans are eating well this week. This time, we get to devour a delectable glimpse at Season 4's portrayal of Princess Diana in her iconic wedding dress.
Played by new talent Emma Corrin, the show debuted her look as Princess Di on Wednesday, Sept. 30That photo drop also delivered our first scintillating tease of national treasure Gillian Anderson as the equally iconic Margaret Thatcher.
Here's Corrin in a recreation of the famed dress.A first glimpse of Princess Diana’s wedding dr

The first episode of Saturday Night Live Season 46 came and went. But the poignant message that Megan Thee Stallion's performance spotlighted should sit with us forever.
On Oct 3., Megan kicked off her debut SNL performance with her hit song, "Savage." But that wasn't all. She not only did so in front of a graphic that read "Protect Black Women," but also broadcast two quotes from Black activists during an interlude in the song. 
After fake "gunshots" appeared to destroy the backdrop, it wa

If you've been struggling with a fresh set of technical issues since the mid-September launch of iOS 14 and WatchOS 7, Apple's got some potential fixes for you to try.
In a newly published support article, Apple runs through a list of issues that users of the new operating system updates have faced in recent weeks. These include missing or inaccurate data in health apps on iOS and WatchOS, those same apps not loading, and increased battery drain on iPhone and Apple Watch.
In all, there are seven

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has confirmed it’s working on a new feature, currently dubbed “Birdwatch,” that could let the Twitter community warn one another about misleading tweets that could cause harm.There’s an awful lot we don’t know about the idea, including whether Twitter will actually release it to the public or how it might work in its final form, but enough has leaked out that we do have a pretty fair glimpse — which, we understa

In one of the first good plot twists of 2020, the #ProudBoys hashtag has become a thing of beauty.
On Sunday morning, #ProudBoys was trending on Twitter, but not for the reasons you'd think. Though the hashtag has recently been used in tweets pertaining to the far-right, Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group called the Proud Boys — which Donald Trump recently shouted out at the first presidential debate — members of the LGBTQ community decided to redefine the meaning of "

The other week TechCrunch’s Extra Crunch Live series sat down with Accel VCs Sonali De Rycker and Andrew Braccia to chat about the state of the global startup investing ecosystem. Given their firm’s broad geographic footprint, we wanted to know what was going on in different startup markets, and inside a number of business-model varietals that we are tracking, like API-focused startups and low-code work.
As with all Extra Crunch Live episodes, we’ve included the full video belo

This is good news for efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 but bad news for thousands of theater employees.
After Variety reported that all Regal Cinemas in the U.S. could close as soon as the coming week, Regal parent company Cineworld confirmed that it's a plan being considered but no decisions have been made yet. The move would also potentially include the "temporary closure" of Cineworld's UK locations, as the original report also suggested. Cineworld is the largest theater chain in the U.

Is Donald Trump working hard or hardly working?
That's the question on the minds of Americans after the White House released two photos of Donald Trump on Saturday, which reportedly show the president hard at work in his hospital suite at Walter Reed Medical Center. Trump was admitted to Walter Reed on Friday night following his positive COVID-19 diagnosis. 
The photos, taken by Joyce N. Boghosian, show Trump with a Sharpie in hand, looking down at several pieces of paper. In one photo he's

After taking five consecutive business days off from my work laptop — and to shout at my personal laptop while losing games on Dominion online — I am back. I missed you. And while The Exchange’s regular columns were off this week (Friday aside, which you can read here), there’s still a hell of a lot to talk about.
First, a new website. If you click here, you’ll be taken to a sortable list (spreadsheet? database?) of startups with Black founders. Dubbed The Black Fou

If there's one word that can perfectly describe Jaime Harrison in his first debate against Sen. Lindsey Graham, it's "prepared."
On Saturday, Harrison — South Carolina's Democratic Senate candidate — spent the debate masterfully discussing key issues such as the Supreme Court nominee, COVID-19, and more with the Republican senator. But Harrison didn't stand out solely for his words. His actions, one in particular, also made quite a statement. 
Though social distancing was enforc

Seeing a Saturday Night Live sketch title like "superspreader event" might create false expectations in early October 2020, just a couple days after the world learned that Donald Trump has COVID-19. But this isn't a Trump sketch. It's a wordplay sketch.
When a COVID outbreak hits a federal building, and specifically the office that handles legal name changes, the local news coverage turns to chat with people who visited the office. And all of them have terrible names.
This is a joke that only la

Saturday Night Live kicked off its latest season with guest host Chris Rock delivering a monologue that's more call for revolution than late-night comedy.
"I think we need to re-negotiate our relationship to the government," he said, before suggesting that Joe Biden "should be our last president ever." He then dives into the absolute lunacy of installing someone into a job that they're basically locked into for four years, regardless of performance, when any U.S.-born citizen over the age of 35

Saturday Night Live Weekend Update hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che aren't exactly immune from criticism. But Jost nails the absolute lunacy of the situation they were in coming back to the show on Oct. 3 after months away – in the middle of a pandemic, no less – and being just hours removed from the world learning Donald Trump has COVID-19.
Che is also correct that while anyone's affliction with the illness that's rocked the planet is no laughing matter, Trump getting it is funny on

Apple is suing former recycling partner GEEP Canada — now a part of Quantum Lifecycle Partners — for allegedly stealing and reselling at least 103,845 iPhones, iPads and Watches that it was hired to disassemble. “At least 11,766 pounds of Apple devices left GEEP’s premises without being destroyed - a fact that GEEP itself confirmed,” reads a portion of Apple’s complaint, as reported by The Logic (via AppleInsider).
Apple sent the recycling firm over 500,000 iP

At almost four minutes in, I wondered how much time was left in Saturday Night Live's interminable cold open sketch, an expected send-up of Tuesday's trainwreck of a presidential debate. Ten. More. Minutes.
If the joke was meant to recreate the feeling of watching the actual debate, then job well done. This first sketch of the new SNL season touched on all the country's lowest moments from Tuesday – the name-calling, the twisting of topics, the false equivalency drawn between Donald Trump'

A first look at the PS5 | Famitsu Sony has invited a number of Japanese publications and YouTubers to get a closer look at the PlayStation 5. It’s the first time we’ve seen the PS5 hardware outside of leaked images from Taiwan’s National Communications Commission. A variety of publications have now published detailed hands-on images of the PS5, providing a more realistic look at how big the console is and gameplay of titles like Astro’s Playroom and Godfall.
4gamer.net h

TL;DR: Get one step closer to going viral with the Complete TikTok Marketing Masterclass bundle for $30, a 97% savings as of Oct. 4. If you've ever logged on to TikTok, you know it's all about the For You page. Landing there is the difference between your videos getting seen or dying in the abyss.
With the complete TikTok marketing master class bundle, you'll get a crash course in both TikTok itself and how to use it for marketing purposes, no matter what type of business you run.
This bund

TL;DR: Bring your ideas to life with the Complete AppGameKit Game Creator bundle for $29.99, an 84% savings as of Oct. 4. You don't necessarily have to be a coding expert to produce high-quality apps and games. If you didn't go to school to study coding, all is not lost.
This AppGameKit Game Creator Bundle is one way to learn the nuances of game creation, even if you don't have programming experience. The bundle includes seven software instruction packs that cover everything from visual edi

Most large sports events came to an abrupt halt during the pandemic, but one category was not only unaffected but enjoyed accelerated growth: esports. Esports is the competitive playing of video games such as League of Legends, Fortnite and Fifa Football. The audiences for the biggest titles are now enormous. Fortnite alone has around 78 million monthly players and professional tournaments draw in many millions of online spectators. League of Legends World Championship attracted over 100 millio

TL;DR: Stay protected online with a lifetime subscription to SlickVPN for $19.99, a 98% savings as of Oct. 4. From invasive tracking technology to unstable connections, having your privacy invaded is a genuine concern. But you can put up a shield against the trackers and hackers with a subscription to SlickVPN. 
SlickVPN protects your connection with bank-grade 256-bit encryption and connects you to a gateway in one of over 45 countries — so when you get online, you'll appear to

TL;DR: Mask up with a two-pack of Masksup reusable face masks for $24.99, a 26% savings as of Oct. 4. Masks are non-negotiable these days, but that doesn't mean they have to be ugly.
Masksup Reusable Face Masks come in a fun variety of bold patterns and are built to last. These latex masks have a soft cotton inner layer for comfort as well as an adjustable nose wire, so you can fit them snugly to your face and keep your glasses secure.
Check them out:After you've used your mask a few times,

Need a reason to splurge? There's nothing like some weekend deals.
We've rounded up 27 products, from cool gadgets to camping and hiking accessories to an extremely long-lasting flower, on sale as of October 4.
Yes, it's a wide range of stuff — but then, you have a wide range of interests.
Thor Bottle Opener
Add a splash of superhero flair to your bottle opener with this Marvel-themed option, which is based on Thor's trusty hammer. It's small enough to put on your keychain or slip in your

TL;DR: A one-year subscription to a QuickBooks Essentials Plan is on sale for £224.02 as of Oct. 4, saving you 39% on list price.No one ever said running a business was easy. In fact, a whopping 41% of entrepreneurs say that managing their business is more stressful than raising children, according to a 2017 Bank of America report.
From taking care of day-to-day demands to managing employees to tackling big-picture goals, there’s no shortage of tasks competing for your attention. Wit

Photo by Victor J. Blue/Getty Images Cineworld, owner of the largest chain of theaters in the UK and Ireland and the second-largest in the United States — Regal Cinemas — will reportedly close all its theaters next week, according to Variety, The Sunday Times, and others.Variety reports that all 543 theaters in the US will be closed, which account for the chain’s 7,000+ screens. The Sunday Times reports that it will close all 128 theaters in the UK and Ireland, too.Both say Ja

You would think a dating app that knows your sexuality and HIV status would take thorough precautions to keep that info protected, but Grindr has disappointed the world once again — this time, with a gobsmackingly egregious security vulnerability that could have let literally anyone who could guess your email address into your user account.
Luckily, French security researcher Wassime Bouimadaghene discovered the vulnerability, perhaps before it could be exploited, and it’s now been f

Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge “A big frustration with the Apple TV 4K is about to be history,” my colleague Chris Welch wrote, when we learned that Apple’s premiere set-top box would finally be able play 4K YouTube videos at their native resolution instead of being stuck at 1080p. These days, even a $40 dongle can do better than that.But though Apple’s latest software updates did bring YouTube 4K to the Apple TV 4K, the frustrations aren’t necessarily o

Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge “A big frustration with the Apple TV 4K is about to be history,” my colleague Chris Welch wrote, when we learned that Apple’s premiere set-top box would finally be able play 4K YouTube videos at their native resolution instead of being stuck at 1080p. These days, even a $40 dongle can do better than that.But though Apple’s latest software updates did bring YouTube 4K to the Apple TV 4K, the frustrations aren’t necessarily o

Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge “A big frustration with the Apple TV 4K is about to be history,” my colleague Chris Welch wrote, when we learned that Apple’s premiere set-top box would finally be able play 4K YouTube videos at their native resolution instead of being stuck at 1080p. These days, even a $40 dongle can do better than that.But though Apple’s latest software updates did bring YouTube 4K to the Apple TV 4K, the frustrations aren’t necessarily o

The President of the United States is in the hospital with COVID-19 — and no one can seem to agree on just how sick he really is. Sounds like the perfect job for Birdwatch.
As Americans continue to grapple with media distrust, conspiracy theories, bots, trolls, and general panic amid multiple unprecedented crises, Twitter is once again trying a new method of identifying misinformation. A new feature in development at the social media platform, called "Birdwatch," was first reported by reve