Technology

Prosecutor Jeffrey Schenk opened his closing arguments in the case against Elizabeth Holmes by talking about a banker. Holmes knew Theranos, the company she founded, was running out of money, and she was on the phone asking her banker to clear a check early. “Holmes had a choice to make,” Schenk said. She could figure out a way to raise funds to keep the company moving, or risk seeing it wither away. And her choice, he said, was to raise the funds through fraud. The prosecution’s closing statement on Thursday was a reminder of what this trial is really about: money, and mostly rich people’s money. Those rich people, who gave their money to Theranos after Holmes pitched them on the promise of the company, are who the prosecutor referred to as ‘victims.’ Their money is what, according to the...

In 2021 LG added an OLED-based monitor for pros to its lineup, and now the company has revealed the follow-up UltraFine OLED Pro monitors it’s planned for 2022. While its first effort was only available as a $3,999 31.5-inch 4K monitor, next year’s version will include a 27-inch variant. Image: LG Naturally, the 32BP95E and 27BP95E still feature the precise lighting control you’d expect from an OLED panel; however, these screens aren’t meant for gaming or even TV and movie watching. The promise LG’s DisplayHDR 400 True Black technology ensures that if you’re editing photos or video, everything looks the way it truly should. They’ll also ship with detachable self-calibration sensors and monitor hoods and use the LG Calibration Studio software to adjust their settings for the environment. Ot...

While Peloton is the most familiar name in connected fitness, Echelon’s bikes are probably the ones you’ve seen before without noticing. Echelon’s bikes are among the first that pop up when you google “cheaper Peloton alternative,” and it’s also the company behind Walmart’s $497 connected bike. (You might also remember them from last year’s Amazon Prime Bike debacle.) Well, now one of Peloton’s biggest rivals is back with a new premium bike — the EX-8S, and it is extremely extra. For starters, the bike sports a 24-inch 1080p curved touchscreen. Echelon says that’s to create a more immersive experience and that the screen itself also flips open 180-degrees for off-bike workouts. It’s also got not one but two light-up flywheels that can be customized by color and lighting pattern thanks to 1...

Update December 16th, 6:44PM ET: 11 minutes after we posted this story, GSC Game World announced it was canceling “anything NFT-related in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.” Guess that explains why the earlier explanation was deleted. Our original story follows. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl developer GSC Game World posted a now-deleted statement on Twitter elaborating on its widely criticized plans to add NFTs to the game. In short, the company said it will be using funds earned from the NFTs to help with development. “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl is truly the biggest and the most complex game we have ever created,” GSC Game World said. “All the funds that we earn during the development process (including the potential income from NFT) will be spent on improving the long-awaited game to ma...

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl will no longer include NFTs, developer GSC Game World announced Thursday. The news arrives after a heavily criticized announcement Wednesday and after the studio posted and then deleted an explanation on Thursday that initially tried to explain it would, in fact, still have NFTs. “Based on the feedback we received, we’ve made a decision to cancel anything NFT-related in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2,” the new statement says. “The interests of our fans and players are the top priority for the team. We’re making this game for you to enjoy — whatever the cost is. If you care, we care too.” GSC Game World had announced Wednesday that it would be partnering with NFT platform DMarket on digital items for the game. One of the NFTs it had planned to offer would have allowed...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has opened an in-depth antitrust probe of Meta’s plan to buy the popular VR fitness app Supernatural, according to a new report by The Information. The probe means that antitrust regulators are starting to scrutinize the-company-formally-known-as-Facebook’s interest in scooping up VR startups, not just its traditional social media acquisitions. According to The Information’s Josh Sisco, Meta’s previous five virtual reality acquisitions, including its deal for the studio behind hit game Beat Saber, weren’t probed by the government because the purchase prices were too small. “But those regulators are slowing down the $400 million-plus Supernatural deal, according to two people with knowledge of the situation,” the report notes. It’s unclear what criter...

RIMOWA has added a matte black AirPods Pro case to its sleek lineup of Apple accessories.  The case is constructed from the same grooved polycarbonate material as its signature trunks and is embossed with the RIMOWA “M” logo. Measuring 2.28 inches in height and 2.5 inches in width, the rectangular body features a discreet opening for the charging port and offers grip-friendly touchpoint details that help keep the AirPods Pro buds locked in place. Additionally, the case supports wireless charging.  Available now at rimowa.com and retailing for $80 USD, the product comes with a two-year warranty. Matching cases for the entire iPhone range and AirPods 1 and 2 are also available. In other news, RIMOWA continues to push design boundaries with their “Vol. 1” capsule collection. 

Dan Ammann, the CEO of Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors, is stepping down, the automaker announced late Thursday. Kyle Vogt, the co-founder of Cruise and its chief technology officer, will take over as interim CEO. Ammann is the latest CEO of an AV company to step aside as the industry struggles to meet its own over-inflated expectations about the future of driverless cars. Earlier this year, John Krafcik announced that he was stepping down as CEO of Waymo after helping lead the company since 2015. GM didn’t provide a reason for Ammann’s departure GM didn’t provide a reason for Ammann’s departure except to say he was leaving to “pursue other opportunities.” A spokesperson for Cruise declined to provide any additional comment. GM acq...

Facebook’s parent company Meta has alerted 50,000 users of Facebook and Instagram that their accounts were spied on by commercial “surveillance-for-hire” schemes around the globe. The users were targeted by seven entities and located in more than 100 countries, according to an update posted on Meta’s news page today. Targets included journalists, dissidents, critics of authoritarian regimes, families of opposition, and human rights activists, the post said. The surveillance was uncovered in a monthslong investigation in which Meta identified spying groups and removed them from the platform. “These companies are part of a sprawling industry that provides intrusive software tools and surveillance services indiscriminately to any customer — regardless of who they target or the human rights ab...

GameStop has announced a special in-store sales event for the hard-to-get Sony PlayStation 5 console, taking place on December 17th. The restock event requires a subscription to GameStop’s Pro membership — which normally runs $14.99 per year but is currently discounted to $9.99 once added to your cart. GameStop lists all its participating retail locations on its site, which spans over 700 stores across the US. While this event is being hosted at many locations, GameStop has indicated that quantities will be limited. According to Matt Swider’s The Shortcut, GameStop will have around 60 disc-based PS5 bundles at participating stores. The bundles will supposedly consist of a PS5 console, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Ghost of Tsushima: D...

R2-D2 Tamagotchi Take a double dose of nostalgia with the RD-D2 Tamagotchi. Your very own droid counterpart to clean, play with, and love. Help R2 learn new skills and unlock mini-games to play. Sometimes the real epic saga is the friend you make along the way. Price: $18 Amazon Amazon Echo Glow The Echo Glow isn’t your traditional Echo device. Amazon’s kid-friendly night light doesn’t feature a mic but instead a dimmable LED that can cycle through 16 different colors with a simple tap of the lens. It can also be connected to another Echo device or integrated with Alexa routines, so your kids will always know when it’s time to brush their teeth and get ready for bed. Price: $30 Amazon BuddyPhones Cosmos Plus The BuddyPhones Cosmos Plus are specifically designed for ...

With time ticking away before shipping deadlines put a stop to your online holiday shopping, Google is highlighting a few new Chrome features that might help you out. Still, it’s not lost on us that these features used to keep track of stuff to help you shop are also useful for the nearly $2 trillion company that makes most of its money from serving up relevant advertisements and making sure shoppers hit the “buy” button. But you will probably use Chrome anyway, so you should know that a new feature in the mobile browser on Android will show updated pricing for items inside your open tabs grid, so you’ll know if the prices suddenly drop. Google says iOS Chrome browsers will get the feature “in the coming weeks.” Google Chrome price tracker on AndroidImage: Google Another handy tool for And...