Technology

Uber is partnering with a cannabis retailer in Canada to allow cannabis purchases via its Uber Eats food delivery platform. The arrangement does not include delivery of weed orders, however, but makes it possible for users in Ontario to order products from Tokyo Smoke in a dedicated section on the Uber Eats app. For customers in Ontario, in the Uber Eats app, select either the “cannabis” category or search for “Tokyo Smoke.” After confirming their age, the customer is directed to the menu of a Tokyo Smoke store in the area to place their order, which Uber says will be filled within an hour. The consumer then picks up their order at the Tokyo Smoke store. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in April that the company would take a look at cannabis delivery “when the road is clear.” In February, t...

TikTok is expanding its presence on TV screens in a major way. After initially launching in North America on Amazon’s Fire TV platform, the TikTok TV app is today available on Samsung and LG smart TVs — plus Android TV devices, including the Chromecast with Google TV. Whereas the massively popular mobile app is intended for “little bursts of joy,” TikTok says its big-screen software is optimized for “a TV home-viewing experience, making it easy to watch content from our For You and Following feeds on the big screen. This includes the most liked and viewed videos across a huge range of categories, from gaming and comedy to food and animals.” There’s a Discover section in the TV app, as well. TikTok videos can be up to three minutes in length. Beyond North America, TikTok has been available ...

With more Moon missions planned for the near future, NASA is now hoping to construct a nuclear power plant on the natural satellite in order to sustain human life. According to reports, the American space agency will be partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy’s top nuclear research facility in Idaho to develop plans to build a nuclear reactor that it can send up to the Moon by the end of the decade. The team is now inviting submissions for ideas on how to create this power plant, and NASA says that the plans should include everything from a uranium-fueled reactor core and a way to harness that into usable energy to a thermal management system and a distribution system that can provide no less than 40kW of electric power for at least 10 years. “Providing a reliable, high-power system ...

Meta has now announced the delay of full end-to-end encryption for both Facebook and Instagram‘s messaging service, pushing back the launch of a feature currently already being used by its other instant messaging program WhatsApp. “We’re taking our time to get this right and we don’t plan to finish the global rollout of end-to-end encryption by default across all our messaging services until sometime in 2023,” Meta’s head of safety Antigone Davis told the Sunday Telegraph. “As a company that connects billions of people around the world and has built industry-leading technology, we’re determined to protect people’s private communications and keep people safe online.” The delay comes following pressure from certain government officials and organizations that argue encryption would be the “fr...

Bobby Kotick is still the CEO of Activision Blizzard, despite a Wall Street Journal report that detailed Kotick’s history of harassment and abusive behavior while also saying he knew about allegations and incidents of abuse within the company for years. The WSJ claims that some employees asked in meetings if Kotick would step down Kotick has reportedly told executives that he may consider stepping down if the company can’t fix its toxic work environment “with speed,” according to the WSJ. Sources close to the situation told the WSJ that Kotick met with Activision Publishing and Blizzard Entertainment leaders last week. His status as CEO was addressed, as executives said some employees won’t “be satisfied” until Kotick hands in his resignation. During the meeting, Kotick allegedly expressed...

One of the biggest esports events in the world will be spread across four North American cities next year. Riot Games has announced that the 2022 edition of the League of Legends World Championship will take place in New York, Toronto, Mexico City, and San Francisco. The announcement was made ahead of an NBA match between the Warriors and Raptors at the Chase Center in San Francisco. Riot says this will be the first-ever multi-country edition of its annual competition; it’s also the first to take place in North America since 2016. Things will start out with the play-ins portion of the event in Mexico City (the Liga Latinoamerica competition arena), followed by the group stage and quarterfinals in New York (the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden), semifinals in Toronto (Scotiabank Arena)...

X Labs, formerly known as Google X and now operating under parent company Alphabet, is employing robots it created to clean its facilities. Hans Peter Brøndmo, the research and development facilities’ Chief Robot Officer, said in a press release on Friday that X is now “operating a fleet of more than 100 robot prototypes that are autonomously performing a range of useful tasks around our offices.” The project, termed Everyday Robots, is working to expand its pilots to some of Google’s Bay Area campuses. “For the last several years, my team and I have been working to see if it’s possible to teach robots to perform useful tasks in the messy, unstructured spaces of our everyday lives,” Brøndmo said. “We imagine a world where robots work alongside us, making everyday tasks — like sorting trash...

El  Salvador, the first country in the world to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender, is now building a “Bitcoin City” that is being funded by Bitcoin-backed bonds. President Nayib Bukele, a vocal supporter of the cryptocurrency, said during the “Feel The Bit 2021” event in the town of La Libertad that the ambitious project will initially be funded by $1 billion USD in Bitcoin bonds. Part of the money raised will go towards infrastructure costs while the other half will be reinvested in Bitcoin. ¡El Salvador será el primer país del mundo en tener una #BitcoinCity!Estará entre la ciudad de La Unión y Conchagua. Las personas podrán vivir en La Unión pero trabajar en la #BitcoinCity. Pronto empezarán a ver todos los beneficios, cuando el desarrollo y la inversión llegue. pic.twitter.com/21b...

Meta — Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp’s parent company — doesn’t plan to roll out end-to-end encryption (E2EE) by default on Messenger and Instagram until 2023, first reported by The Guardian. The company merged Messenger and Instagram chats last year, as a part of its plan to create a unified messaging system across all of its platforms. And while messages sent through Messenger and Instagram can be E2EE, that option isn’t turned on by default — and likely won’t be — until sometime in 2023. WhatsApp already supports E2EE by default. Meta wants to keep users safe while still “assisting public safety efforts” In a post in The Telegraph, Antigone Davis, Meta’s head of safety, attributes the delay to concerns about user safety. Since E2EE means only the sender and recipient will see their ...

Welp, The Morning Show season two finale was a messy disappointment much like the rest of the season. I think Linda Holmes’ recap at NPR really nailed why a season that seemed full of promise never hit the mark, mostly because it couldn’t quite figure out what it wanted to be. The latest season of Succession has yet to steer me wrong, however(and we learned this week that there is a fun Verge-related Succession backstory). This week’s round up is heavy on the sci-fi, which was unplanned but makes for some nice symmetry. [embedded content] The Expanse The sixth and final season of the sci-fi drama is on the horizon, and is a disappointingly short six episodes. It has a lot of work to do and from the looks of the trailer, wastes no time getting down to business, and the episodes must be jam ...

Spotify has stopped shuffling albums by default following a request from Adele, according to a report by BBC. Previously, when viewing an album on Spotify, you’d see a small shuffle icon within the larger “Play” button. This indicated that Spotify would begin playing the album’s songs in a random order, which isn’t always what users would expect (or want) it to do. Now, when you hit “Play” in Album View, songs will play in order — that is, as long as you have a Premium subscription. You can still enable shuffle mode by toggling on the “Shuffle” icon when viewing an individual track. This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry! We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened...