Technology

Netflix is developing an anime adaptation of the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series, according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter. The adaptation doesn’t have a series order yet, THR says, and there aren’t any details about when it could hit the streaming service. Bryan Lee O’Malley, who created the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels, one of the writers and executive producers for the adaptation, reports THR. Edgar Wright, who directed the 2010 film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, will also reportedly be serving as an executive producer. If the series gets the green light, animation would be done by the animation studio Science Saru, which produced two shorts for the Star Wars: Visions anime anthology released in September. This potential anime adaptation isn’t the only recent Scott Pilgrim re...

Doodles, a colorful NFT collection that has been gaining traction since its October debut, sold a rare Doodle this week for 296.69 ETH, or about $1.1 million USD at the time of sale. The collection, made up of 10,000 images by artist Burnt Toast, opened public sales on October 17 and has since exploded in value on the secondary market. Each NFT features variations of 100 unique traits, including faces, hair, hats, body and backgrounds. Doodle holders also gain access to coordinating the Doodles Community Treasury and can vote for different experiences, campaigns and activations. On Wednesday, NFT collector Pranksy bought Doodle #6914 — which features one-of-a-kind gold ape traits — for a record-breaking 296.69 ETH. The enthusiast has 71 Doodles in his collection of over 30,000 NFTs. The cu...

Samsung is arguably leading the charge on folding phones, and even though the first Galaxy Fold got off to a rocky start, last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 were impressive devices that delivered on the promise of how handy a device with a folding screen can be. But the company isn’t stopping with those form factors; at CES 2022, it showed off a bunch of prototype folding devices that could hint at foldables to come. Take the Flex S, a multi-foldable device that can stretch all the way out to a triple-wide screen. Or the Flex G, a pocket-sized device that folds inward to protect the screen. There’s a device with a right rail that slides out to add some screen real estate. And Samsung even showed off a 17-inch folding laptop that’s not unlike the one Asus announced at CES (though Asus...

Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook) has announced a new version of its Privacy Center, which it says you can use to learn about how it collects and uses data and figure out how to navigate the myriad privacy and security controls available. It says the current version of the tool will have categories covering security, sharing, collection, data use, and ads. While it seems like a good tool to have around, it does feel more like Meta is putting the onus on users to make sure its apps work for them. Meta says that this version of the Privacy Center (it’s had various things called privacy centers in the past) is currently available to “some people using Facebook on desktop” but that it “will roll it out to more people and apps in the coming months.” According to the blog post, there...

Late last year, movie studios seemed set on returning to theatrical premieres for all movies for the first time since the pandemic started, but now Disney has announced a change of plans for an upcoming family flick, Pixar’s Turning Red. Instead of coming to theaters on March 11th, now it “will premiere exclusively in homes worldwide” on Disney Plus, but still on March 11th. There’s no plan for a Premier Access video-on-demand setup like the company arranged for Mulan. Instead, it will be available to all subscribers in the same way that Pixar’s last two animated features, Soul and Luca, were (the Disney Animation production Encanto premiered in theaters for Thanksgiving, with a 30-day run that saw it arrive on Disney Plus in time for Christmas). Disney Media & Entertainment Distributi...

Satechi has announced a charger with some interesting specs: it has four USB-C ports capable of supplying 165 watts of power at once, and it will sell for $120. It’s capable of pumping out 100W of power for a single device and can even do that while charging one or two other devices, depending on the power they draw. That’s impressive, given that the 120W Anker brick we wrote about last month (which also had four ports) wasn’t capable of doing the same — it could only charge at a 60W / 30W / 20W split, where the Satechi can do 100W / 30W / 30W. It can also provide two devices with 60W and give the third 45W if you’re more into charging a few lighter-weight computers at a time — for example, maybe a 13-inch MacBook Pro, a Chromebook, and a MacBook Air. The back of the charger lays out the v...

Tinder is developing a new feature called Swipe Party that will allow users to invite friends online to help them select dates. The upcoming feature was first discovered by Dutch blog Gratisdatingtips and has not yet been officially announced, though Tinder has confirmed that it is currently in the works. According to coding details on Tinder’s mobile app, Swipe Party will require users to allow access to their device’s camera and microphone so that friends can “see and hear you while vetting prospects,” according to TechCrunch. Additionally, the feature would let users join a session by providing their phone number, which would need to be confirmed with a code, as well as their name and date of birth. The feature builds on the already popular in-person activity of swiping throug...

Twitter has announced that it is testing a new feature called “Tweet Takes” that allows users to post both photo and video reactions to tweets instead of standard, text-only quote tweets. Twitter said that the new feature is currently being tested on iOS. Users with access to Tweet Takes will see a new “Quote Tweet with reaction” button in the retweet menu. There, users will be guided to a screen that embeds a copy of a given tweet onto a photo or video, which can be taken in the app or selected from a user’s camera roll. Tweet reaction videos can now start on Twitter! Testing on iOS: when you tap the Retweet icon, choose “Quote Tweet with reaction” to create and customize your very own Tweet Take –– a reaction video (or photo) with the Tweet embedded. pic.twitter.com/1E30F8rKYh — Twitter ...

Today, let’s talk about a little-discussed story that I worry could someday have big implications: the encrypted messaging app Signal’s introduction of anonymous cryptocurrency payments, and the opportunity it could create for regulators around the world who have been looking for an excuse to eliminate end-to-end encryption altogether. A year ago, Platformer was the first to report that Signal was considering adding cryptocurrency payments to the platform, and it started with MobileCoin. Signal CEO Moxie Marlinspike has served as an adviser to the MobileCoin cryptocurrency, which is built on the Stellar blockchain and is designed to make payments as anonymous as cash. As Wired described it in 2017, “the idea of MobileCoin is to build a system that hides everything from everyone.” Last year...

Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ), the annual week-long speedrunning marathon for charity, kicks off on Sunday, and if this year’s schedule is anything to go by, the event promises to be another exciting event of jaw-dropping gaming. The lineup for this year has a great mix of old and new games that players will try to beat as fast as they possibly can. I’m personally excited to see Chicory: A Colorful Tale beat in 35 minutes, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart finished in just over an hour and a half, and the original Halo finished in an hour and 17 minutes on Legendary. Some of the races look like they could be great to watch, too, like the 26-minute three-way Diddy Kong Racing race. (Will they beat Wizpig? Tune in to find out.) And one of the final runs could be one of the event’s best: the ...

CES was supposed to be in person this year. The Verge and countless other outlets had hotel rooms confirmed and airlines booked. Companies teased cool gadgets that would have made CES feel exciting again after the muted all-digital affair of 2021. But COVID surged and CES saw massive cancellations. Some companies pivoted to digital booths, others canceled keynotes, and a few just withdrew altogether. CES even announced it would end a day early. The return to normal CES might have heralded never materialized. But something else happened: the news that came out of CES actually got us excited. For the last two years we’ve ruminated on what the point of CES even is. In 2020 we said CES was “a lot of show with not much very substance,” and in 2021 that statement was still on our minds. But afte...