Technology
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Apple’s Tap to Pay feature lets newer iPhones accept contactless payments
Apple just announced plans to roll out Tap to Pay on iPhone, allowing businesses to use mobile devices as a payment terminal for contactless payments. A Bloomberg report from 2020 noted Apple’s acquisition of a startup, Mobeewave, focused on building this technology, and a rumor from the same outlet in January revealed it was getting close to a rollout. Now, Apple has confirmed the feature, which will take payments from “contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets.” Tap to Pay on iPhone isn’t ready for you to use today but will arrive first in an upcoming iOS beta, enabling the feature on iPhone XS and later models. There are older iPhones with NFC, but at least for now, the iPhone 6, 7, and 8 models are not on the compatible list. Apple says that just like Apple Pay, it ...
NVIDIA’s $40 Billion USD Acquisition of ARM Has Fallen Through
NVIDIA has now dropped its $40 billion USD acquisition of semiconductor producer ARM. Originally announced back in September 2020, the purchase would’ve been one of the biggest within the industry, giving NVIDIA full access to ARM’s technologies in order to expand on its AI computing efforts. The latter’s parent company SoftBank has now cited “significant regulatory challenges” as the main reason why the deal has fallen through, which doesn’t come as a surprise. The FTC filed a lawsuit back in December last year to block the deal claiming that it would be a threat to a competitive market, and other regulators in the U.S., U.K. and European Union have also raised concerns. With the acquisition no longer taking place, ARM is now looking towards an IPO itself as its fiscal year starts in Apri...
Epic won’t update Fortnite to run on the Steam Deck
Epic Games doesn’t plan to update Fortnite so that it runs on SteamOS, according to CEO Tim Sweeney, meaning owners of the upcoming Valve Steam Deck will likely have to install Windows to play the popular battle-royale game. In a series of tweets, Sweeney said that the company doesn’t feel confident about its ability to combat cheating in Fortnite when running on custom kernel configurations. Fortnite isn’t on the Steam store in any case, but Sweeney’s comments rule out a Linux version that could run on the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck uses Valve’s SteamOS, which is based on Linux, and makes use of a compatibility layer called Proton so that Steam games compiled for Windows can run on it. Epic has made its anti-cheat software, Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC), compatible with Linux and Proton, so devel...
UK porn sites could verify age using credit cards or passports in revived plans
The UK government has revived plans for porn sites to verify users’ ages — an initiative that was scrapped in 2019 due to technical challenges and criticism from privacy campaigners. The new rules will be part of the UK’s Online Safety Bill, a mammoth piece of legislation intended to reset how digital platforms are governed in the country. The bill originally stipulated that only porn sites that allowed user-generated content (like OnlyFans) would have to verify users’ ages, but this has now been updated to cover all pornography sites. “Parents deserve peace of mind that their children are protected online from seeing things no child should see,” said digital minister Chris Philp in a statement. “We are now strengthening the online safety bill so it applies to all porn sites to ensure we a...
Peloton is cutting 20 percent of workforce as CEO steps down
Peloton is replacing its CEO and losing about 2,800 jobs among other cost-cutting measures, according to an interview the company gave to the Wall Street Journal. The job cuts amount to around 20 percent of the former pandemic darling’s corporate workforce, but will not affect the company’s lauded roster of instructors or fitness content. Peloton hopes the changes will boost profitability after waning demand for its connected fitness equipment have made it an acquisition target, with Amazon, Nike, and even Apple named as possible suitors. The company, once valued at $50 billion, plunged to around $8 billion last week before takeover rumors began to swirl. Once valued at $50 billion, it plunged to around $8 billion last week Peloton co-founder John Foley is being replaced as CEO by Barry Mc...
This custom Asus GPU keycap even comes with a trio of tiny spinning fans
If you can’t get your hands on a new GPU right now, you could at least have a miniature version sitting at your fingertips. As seen via Tom’s Hardware, a new custom keycap in the form of an Asus ROG Strix brand GPU is now on sale in China. It replaces the right-shift key on your keyboard and comes with three miniature spinning cooling fans (though, sadly, there are no tiny customizable LED lights). It’s not the first novelty GPU keycap we’ve seen. Last year, a custom keycap resembling an NVIDIA RTX 3080 started doing the rounds, and became something of a talisman for gamers struggling to buy the real thing due to the ongoing chip shortage. (And which is now available to buy from places like AliExpress for around $40.) Grid View These keycaps are just novelties, of course, and there’s no in...
Garmin Updates Its Compact inReach Mini Survival Satellite Device
Garmin‘s compact outdoor satellite messenger has just received an update. Used when you’re in the backcountry without cellphone coverage, the inReach Mini 2 emergency device packs a lot of features like TracBack routing, 14 days of battery life, two-way messaging, location sharing, Iridium satellite network coverage, an IPX7 rating, a digital compass, and 24/7 SOS response. Available in Flame Red or Black, the inReach Mini 2 is available now over at Garmin for $399.99 USD. [embedded content] In other tech news, Apple’s upcoming entry-level MacBook Pro might not carry a ProMotion display. Read Full Article
Google Struck With $2.4 Billion USD Lawsuit After Losing Appeal Over Anticompetitive Behaviour
After losing an appeal in the European Union over an antitrust lawsuit that saw Google hit with a record fine of $2.8 billion USD, the tech giant is now struck with another lawsuit against its anticompetitive behavior in the region. The new filing is brought by Swedish price comparison website PriceRunner and claims that Google has abused its power through its “monopoly-like position” in Europe by favoring its own shopping services over other competitors, influencing consumers to pay higher prices and ultimately harming both. “We are … seeking compensation for the damage Google has caused us during many years, but are also seeing this lawsuit as a fight for consumers who have suffered tremendously from Google’s infringement of the competition law for the past fourteen years and still today...
Watch the first Steam Deck hardware reviews — nearly two hours of impressions
Valve will finally start selling the $400 Steam Deck gaming handheld on February 25th, after a two-month delay — but you won’t have to wait another minute to see hardware in reviewers’ hands. GamersNexus, Linus Tech Tips, and The Phawx have now published extensive impressions to YouTube with the final version of the Steam Deck, giving us their thoughts on ergonomics, performance, battery life, and more. [embedded content] While you shouldn’t take these as final Steam Deck reviews — Valve only let them test specific games, and they had to stay away from the underlying OS — I’m pretty sure you’ll get useful info from each of them if you’re on the fence. For instance, none of them are seeing quite the battery life that Valve’s been promising, which is kind of key for a portable, no? Both Game...
Early Facebook Investor Peter Thiel Steps Down From Meta’s Board of Directors
Early Facebook investor Peter Thiel has now left Meta‘s board of directors after having joined for 16 years. As one of the social media giant’s earliest investors, Thiel injected $500,000 USD into the company back in 2005, joining the board at the time and becoming a key advisor for CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Despite his success as a venture capitalist, he’s had a controversial track record after co-founding Paypal, funding a secretive data-mining company working for various government agencies as well as a lawsuit that led to the bankruptcy of Gawker Media. Most significantly, as an early supporter of Donald Trump, he was present at a 2019 White House dinner where Zuckerberg reportedly “came to an understanding” with Trump’s team that Facebook would not fact-check the president. The New Yo...
FTX Confirms Bitcoin Giveaway During the Super Bowl
Cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX is slated to give away free bitcoins as a part of its ad campaign during Super Bowl LVI. The crypto giveaway takes up a prime spot in Super Bowl ads and aims to draw more and more interest into cryptocurrency. FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried has long wanted to break into the sports industry with cyrpto. At the time of purchasing the ad time in October 2021, he stated, “Sports fans are 2x more likely to know about crypto than nonsports fans. Avid sports fans are nearly 3x as likely.” While it seems like a sweet offer, the campaign does come with a twist. The size of the bitcoin given away will be dependent on what time the ad will run. To put this into perspective, FTX explains on its website, if the ad runs at 9:02 p.m. EST, FTX would give away 9.02 BTC. To ens...
Amazon and Nike Are Reportedly Interested in Buying Out Peloton
Recent reports have indicated that Amazon and Nike have expressed interest in buying at-home fitness company Peloton. After these reports surfaced, stocks for Peloton rose 22% at the beginning of the week. Peloton recently saw a decline in the majority of the shares it had gained in the midst of the pandemic. Reuters confirmed that a source revealed that Amazon and Nike have weighed in on a bid for Peloton. Though neither company has held official talks with Peloton just yet. In the past year, the at-home exercise equipment producer dropped its value from $50 million USD to $8 billion USD. At the beginning of the pandemic, Peloton became a huge hit as people began looking for alternatives to their daily fitness routine. With gyms closing due to lockdown, Peloton was quickly the sought-afte...
