Technology

Zens is expanding its excellent alternative to Apple’s failed AirPower charger, the Liberty wireless charger, with a new model: the Liberty Built-in charger — which, as the name implies, is designed to be integrated directly into your desk itself for an even more streamlined look. The original Zens Liberty charger was released back in 2020 and offered an innovative 16-coil design that allowed you to simply place a Qi-compatible phone or device anywhere on the wireless charging pad instead of having to carefully align charging coils or rely on a MagSafe-style magnetic system. Image: Zens But the original model rather boringly sat on top of your desk, while the new Liberty Built-in charger is designed to be integrated directly into your nightstand or desktop for a more seamless design. It al...

YouTube is adding a new indicator to show when a channel is live streaming on the platform, its chief product officer Neal Mohan has announced on Twitter. It consists of showing a ring with the word “Live” on it around a channel’s profile picture when they’re live streaming, which you can tap to jump straight into the live broadcast. The feature should make it easier to find currently live content as you browse YouTube. If the feature sounds familiar, it might be because it’s already used on a couple of other services. TikTok uses a similar pulsing ring effect on a channel’s profile picture if they’re live streaming when you scroll past their video in your feed. Instagram also shows a colorful ring around the profile pictures of live streaming accounts when they’re shown at the top of your...

BBC News has just published an investigation into Madbird, a supposedly hip design agency led by a charismatic social media influencer called Ali Ayad. But while the company had dozens of real employees across the world, the BBC reports that much of its existence was faked, and used to lure real people into working for months for no pay in the hope of eventually making money after landing big projects. It’s a remarkable story, not least because of the lengths the company’s founder went to create the illusion of a buzzy and successful London-based design agency. Fake employees reportedly bulked out the company’s Zoom calls, and senior employees listed on the company’s website didn’t appear to work at Madbird at all. Even the photos the company claimed to be of its co-founder appeared to be ...

Capcom has announced Street Fighter 6, the next major entry in the iconic fighting game franchise, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. A brief teaser trailer was following the season final of the Capcom Pro Tour, where Kawano defeated veteran Daigo Umehara. The trailer doesn’t show any actual gameplay, but it suggests that Street Fighter 6 will have a more realistic art style than previous games in the series — at least, as realistic as you could expect while maintaining Ryu’s formidable proportions. Capcom says more information on the game will be coming this summer. Capcom will be hoping that Street Fighter 6 has a better launch than its predecessor. Street Fighter V looked and played great when it came out for PS4 and PC in 2016, but it suffered from a dearth of content...

If you’re a sneaker enthusiast and aesthetically tired of your PC setup, Cooler Master has the solution for you. The Taiwananese computer hardware manufacturer will release a sneaker-shaped PC case, dubbed, Sneaker X, that is made to commemorate Cooler Master’s 30th anniversary. It’s difficult to gauge exactly how big the Sneaker X module is, but observing the size of the cooler inside leads one to believe that the unit is certainly larger than the average shoe. The case is based off the work of modder JMDF, which was first exhibited at the ‘Case Mode World Series’ held in 2020. Aesthetically speaking, the Sneaker X looks partly inspired by famous silhouettes recently made by Nike and Balenciaga and will come in three different colorways — blue, light blue and red. [embedded content] ...

Apple is reportedly gearing up to release several new Macs with an M2 chip later this year, according to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter. Gurman expects the company to debut a 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, 24-inch iMac, and a redesigned MacBook Air, all outfitted with the rumored M2 chip. The M2 chip will be slightly faster than its predecessor Apple hasn’t offered any hints about the potential M2 chip, but Gurman thinks its CPU will be slightly faster than the M1’s, and that it will share the same eight-core architecture. Its graphics cores, however, may jump from seven or eight to nine or 10. Come 2023, Gurman thinks Apple may release Pro and Max versions of the M2 chip — just like it did for the M1 chip — as well as announce an M3 chip. It’s been well over a year s...

Former President Donald Trump’s social media app, Truth Social, is expected to make its debut on Presidents’ Day, according to a report from Reuters. In a test version of the app viewed by Reuters, the outlet saw a post from the network’s chief product officer (CPO) indicating the app’s February 21st launch. “By the end of March, we’re going to be fully operational” “We’re currently set for release in the Apple App store for Monday Feb. 21,” the executive — who goes by “Billy B” on Truth Social — reportedly said in response to a beta tester’s question about the app’s public release date. Truth Social has been open to “invited guests only” as early as December, with around 500 beta testers later gaining access to the network. Former Representative Devin Nunes, who now serves as Trump Media ...

On Saturday, attackers stole hundreds of NFTs from OpenSea users, causing a late-night panic among the site’s broad user base. A spreadsheet compiled by the blockchain security service PeckShield counted 254 tokens stolen over the course of the attack, including tokens from Decentraland and Bored Ape Yacht Club. The bulk of the attacks took place between 5PM and 8PM ET, targeting 32 users in total. Molly White, who runs the blog Web3 is Going Great, estimated the value of the stolen tokens at more than $1.7 million. “They all have valid signatures” The attack appears to have exploited a flexibility in the Wyvern Protocol, the open-source standard underlying most NFT smart contracts, including those made on OpenSea. One explanation (linked by CEO Devin Finzer on Twitter) described the attac...

Facebook is the subject of two new Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) complaints filed by Whistleblower Aid, the nonprofit that represents Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, first reported by The Washington Post. The complaints accuse Facebook, now Meta, of misleading investors about its efforts to tackle misinformation about climate change and COVID-19. The complaint alleges a prominent presence of climate change misinformation The first complaint, obtained by The Washington Post, alleges the presence of readily available climate change misinformation on Facebook, making Facebook’s claims that it’s fighting climate denial fall flat. It also contains internal documents detailing employees’ own experiences with climate-related falsehoods on the platform. As noted by The Post, one em...

Apple has released Oldboy director Park Chan-wook‘s Life Is But a Dream — a short film he shot with an iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max as part of Apple’s “Shot on iPhone” campaign. According to reports, the 21-minute film “blends martial arts with romance, dark comedy and pansori,” the latter of which is described by Variety as ”Korea’s traditional musical storytelling technique.” Life Is But a Dream utilizes the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max’s Cinematic mode, macro video, Night Mode, Ultra Wide camera, Telephoto camera, optical image stabilization and ProRes video recording. Starring Yoo Hae-jin, Kim Ok-vin and Park Jeong-min, Life Is But a Dream follows the story of a wedding and a funeral: “An undertaker who needs woods to build a coffin for the savior of h...