Technology

Ladies and gentlemen, once again, it’s the weekend — now featuring an extra hour of sunshine, whether you like it or not. On the deals front, Amazon is currently offering the 11-inch iPad Pro in its 128GB, Wi-Fi-ready configuration for $749. That’s $50 off the 2021 tablet’s regular asking price of $799, which matches the price of the 2022 10.9-inch iPad Air with 256GB of storage. The iPad Air may be the new darling of Apple’s tablet lineup, but the iPad Pro still has some extra features worth considering, since they’re the same price today. First off, it has a 120Hz refresh rate screen for smoother scrolling and gaming, Face ID for easier unlocking (the Air uses Touch ID), and a four-speaker audio setup for bigger sound when it comes to time to binge. However, both the Pro and the new Air ...

An antitrust lawsuit filed against Amazon by District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine was thrown out in court on Friday, according to a report by The New York Times. DC Superior Court Judge Hiram Puig-Lugo granted Amazon’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which accuses the e-commerce giant of anticompetitive behavior by preventing third-party sellers from offering lower prices for their products on other platforms, including their own websites. Court records viewed by the NYT didn’t indicate why Judge Puig-Lugo decided to dismiss the complaint. “We believe that the Superior Court got this wrong” “We believe that the Superior Court got this wrong, and its oral ruling did not seem to consider the detailed allegations in the complaint, the full scope of the anticompetitive agreements, ...

Grocery delivery platform Instacart announced Friday that it was joining the list of companies adding a temporary fuel surcharge to customers’ orders, intended to help offset higher-than-normal gas prices its driver-shoppers are paying. In a blog post on its website, the company said it would implement the $.40 per order charge “over the next month,” but not when it takes effect. The post states that “every cent of the new, temporary fuel surcharge will be passed directly onto the shopper” and that it will launch “in the coming days.” Company spokesperson Charlotte Healow said in an email to The Verge that the policy would be in effect for one month after implementation. Asked if the charge would apply to electric or hybrid vehicles as well, Healow said the shopper’s vehicle was not a fact...

Last week, Blizzard revealed plans to start Overwatch 2 closed beta testing in April and attempted to open the door for user sign-ups, but its registration page crashed almost immediately under the strain. Now the developers are talking more about what to expect from the new game and have announced a date for the start of beta testing: April 26th. The delayed development of this sequel is already occurring in the shadow of scandals, lawsuits, and Microsoft’s pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard. So far, the team has been quiet about how things are progressing, but with a date for the beta test set and plans to start season five of the Overwatch League in May using an early build of the new game, it appears that we’re going to hear and see a lot more about Overwatch 2 very soon. This ...

Vimeo has announced that it’s making some major changes to its bandwidth policy, after several creators spoke out about how the company pulled the rug out from under them by demanding large sums of money if they wanted to keep hosting their videos on the platform. The new policies replace nebulous terms with definitive ones, and guarantee that creators will have time to prepare for changes. In a post outlining the changes, Vimeo says that its new cap for monthly bandwidth use is a flat 2TB. Previously, the policy was applied to users who were repeatedly “in the top 1% of bandwidth usage,” which Vimeo itself admits could’ve been more transparent. The company also says that it’ll alert users when they go over that 2TB limit, so you theoretically have time to figure out how to cut back on dat...

Workers at Amazon’s LDJ5 facility in Staten Island in New York City will be voting on whether to unionize with the Amazon Labor Union starting April 25th, according to a report from CNBC. It’s the second Staten Island Amazon warehouse to have a union election scheduled; workers at the company’s JFK8 facility — also seeking to be represented by the ALU— will begin voting on March 25th. According to CNBC, the LDJ5 vote will be in person, and the National Labor Relations Board will tally the results beginning May 2nd. It’s been a long road to this election for workers at LDJ5. The warehouse was initially included in a workers’ petition to the NLRB to hold elections at multiple Staten Island facilities, but the ALU withdrew that petition so it could focus on JFK8. The union later submitted a n...

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has ordered Apple and Google to help block access to the Telegram messaging app within the country, according to Reuters. The sealed order, handed down today, demands Brazil’s telecommunications agency Anatel officially suspend Telegram until it complies with local orders and pays a series of fines. The news follows accusations that Telegram has failed to prevent users from spreading disinformation as it’s become a communications hub for President Jair Bolsonaro. Brazilian authorities threatened to suspend Telegram earlier this year, saying it hadn’t responded to requests to fight false election information. Telegram responded in February by removing three channels from US-based Brazilian blogger Allan dos Santos, a supporter of Bolosnaro...

Google appears to be finally bringing the ability to delete the last 15 minutes of your search history to its Android app. Former XDA Developers editor-in-chief Mishaal Rahman said he was tipped about the feature seemingly rolling out, and a Verge editor has spotted the feature on their phone. We’ve asked Google if it can share any details about the rollout, but to check and see if you have it, open Google’s Android app, tap your profile picture, and look for the “Delete last 15 min” option. This feature has taken some time to make its way to the Android app. Google first announced the feature at Google I/O in May, and it came to Google’s iOS app in July. At that time, Google said it would arrive on the Android version of the app later in 2021, but for some reason, the company seemingly mi...

Telegram’s founder and CEO Pavel Durov has just put out a statement about why Brazil’s Supreme Court is now suspending the app, and the reason is incredible. In the statement, which you can read in full below or on Durov’s Telegram channel, he says it was because his company was checking the wrong email address. “It seems that we had an issue with emails going between our telegram.org corporate addresses and the Brazilian Supreme Court,” Durov says, going on to explain that his company asked the court to send future takedown requests “to a dedicated email address.” But the court didn’t do that, apparently — it kept using “the old general-purpose email address,” and Telegram missed them somehow, and now it’s getting banned, unless the court takes pity. The company says it’s now found those ...