Technology

Ahmad Fawad Yusufi, a refugee from Afghanistan and father of three, was shot and killed last month in San Francisco during what police said was a botched robbery attempt. His family says Yusufi, a former interpreter with the US Army who lived in Sacramento, was in San Francisco to drive for Uber, a job which was their sole source of income. The ride-hailing company has said Yusufi appeared to be “offline” at the time of the shooting, meaning he was not on duty, but his brother Ilyas says Yusufi worked all night Sunday driving for Uber, which was his reason for being in San Francisco at the time of the shooting early on a Monday morning. He’s written a letter to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, chief legal officer Tony West, and senior VP for marketing and public affairs Jill Hazelbaker, demandi...

Peter Membrey, chief architect of ExpressVPN, remembers vividly seeing the news of the Log4j vulnerability break online. “As soon as I saw how you could exploit it, it was horrifying,” says Membrey. “Like one of those disaster movies where there’s a nuclear power plant, they find it’s going to melt down, but they can’t stop it. You know what’s coming, but there are very limited things you can do.” Since the vulnerability was uncovered last week, the cybersecurity world has kicked into overdrive to identify vulnerable applications, detect potential attacks, and mitigate against exploits however possible. Nonetheless, serious hacks making use of the exploit are all but certain. “As soon as I saw how you could exploit it, it was horrifying” So far, researchers have observed attackers using th...

The original idea for Amazon’s Echo Show was a large, screen-based device that would offer up relevant, glanceable information for the modern family, replacing outdated devices like bulletin boards, paper calendars, and sticky notes on the fridge. In 2017, Amazon couldn’t quite achieve that vision for a price that a modern family would be willing to pay. So, instead, it released a small, squat seven-inch touchscreen smart speaker that, frankly, did little more than Amazon’s screen-less Echos. But it was a start. And as the Echo Show has evolved over the ensuing four years, the company finally has a device that it thinks fits that original vision: the Echo Show 15. Verge Score 7 out of 10 Good Stuff Solid hardware Very easy to wall mount  Big, bright screen Picture-in-picture function ...

Google has struggled to uphold its recent pledge to stop running ads on content that promotes climate change denial, according to a new report from the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). The new research identified 50 articles that include lies about climate change and that still featured Google ads after the date that Google said they would be banned. Google announced a new policy in October that prohibits “ads for, and monetization of, content that contradicts well-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change.” The new policy was supposed to kick in for Google advertisers, publishers, and YouTube creators on November 9th. “They have not followed through with real action” “In making their initial announcement, Google appears to recog...

It’s that time of the year — when you get free gifts in Fortnite. Developer Epic Games has detailed this year’s big holiday event, where players have two weeks’ worth of daily quests to complete in order to unlock free items. That includes things like a frozen version of Peely the banana — I’m not sure if the ice makes him more or less naked than normal — and a new character called Krisabelle, who is basically a winter-themed version of an existing in-game witch. There are a total of 14 things to collect, and you have until January 6th at 9AM ET to get them all. Outside of all the free stuff, there will also be new items in the shop tonight tied to the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home. That includes the Tom Holland version of Spidey, along with MJ. (This is the second time this year a Ze...

If you go looking for a new Chromebook, you’ll find a lot of traditional clamshell laptop designs and some convertible models with 360-degree hinges. You may also find a couple tablet-first options, with thinner, lighter designs and detachable keyboards. These tablet models run Google’s Chrome OS software but mimic the hardware of Microsoft’s Surface Pro or Apple’s iPad. They often come with a keyboard and case that includes a built-in kickstand. Most support stylus input (using the USI standard, common across many modern Chromebooks); some even come with one in the box. Like a lot of other Chromebooks, many Chrome OS tablets are inexpensive, such as last year’s excellent Lenovo Chromebook Duet. But this year, there are two Chrome OS tablets that aim a little higher, with nicer features, b...

Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service got a huge upgrade this October with its RTX 3080 tier. “Nvidia just kicked Google’s butt,” I declared at the time. My colleague Tom Warren was wowed as well. But if you went to sign up, you might have found yourself facing a preorder page — yes, preorders to effectively rent time on a server in the cloud. Today, that should no longer be a problem: Nvidia now says the RTX 3080 waitlist is gone. To catch you up, Nvidia’s GeForce Now is a bring-your-own-games service that supports many (but definitely not all) of your existing Steam, Epic, and Ubisoft Connect / Uplay PC games, letting you play them over the internet from what’s effectively an Nvidia GPU-equipped gaming PC in the cloud. You can stream them to an aging Windows laptop, MacBook, Android ...

Last week, we reported that game developer CD Projekt was negotiating to settle a class-action lawsuit over the infamously botched launch of Cyberpunk 2077, a game that came riddled with bugs and poor enough performance on consoles that Sony pulled it from the PlayStation Store and many storefronts offered refunds. CD Projekt says those negotiations are now concluded, and here’s how much it’s agreed to pay: $1,850,000 USD. While the settlement will likely have to be approved by a court, it sounds like the lead plaintiffs and their lawyers negotiated for a fairly tiny sum here in exchange for “relinquish[ing] any and all claims against the Company and members of its Management Board.” That’s when you consider that the game had a development budget of over $316 million (according to GamesInd...

Adidas is getting into the NFT game. The apparel company is launching a line of NFTs on Friday, called Into the Metaverse, which will offer buyers access to what’s essentially a very exclusive fan club. NFT holders will be able to purchase special merch drops, and Adidas says members will help to shape what kinds of products and experiences the company puts together for its NFT-owning community. “Adidas is in the metaverse,” Tareq Nazlawy, Adidas’ senior director of digital growth, tells The Verge. “We want to figure out what would be the dopest thing to do in that space and start involving the communities we’re activating through this [NFT] in how we should manifest in the virtual world.” The launch comes after a couple weeks of crypto and metaverse hype from Adidas. The company launched ...

With the holiday season now in full force, Samsung has unveiled its latest Galaxy Tab A8, giving the latest iteration a few friendly upgrades. Joining the long line of budget-friendly Android tablets, the A8 will now carry a slightly larger 10.5-inch display with a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution and 16:10 aspect ratio. A new eight-core CPU now sits at the heart of the device, which the Korean tech giant claims is 10% faster than the previous Snapdragon 662 found on the Tab A7. RAM now comes in at either 3GB or 4GB, with the former being paired with the entry-level 32GB of internal storage while the latter offers either 64GB or 128GB of storage. Of course, you’ll also be able to increase capacity by 1TB through a MicroSD card. For those worried about photos, the Tab’s camera will also get a sligh...

Allergan’s VUITY eye drops have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — used for the treatment of presbyopia. When looking at the numbers, these eye drops could potentially be used by the 128 million Americans with old-age vision impairment that results in the inability to focus on nearby objects. Set to replace the need for reading glasses or surgery, VUITY was tested in two phase-three clinical studies where 750 participants aged 40 – 55 were administered the drops once daily. The results were: better scores on reading charts and improved vision in low light after 30 days. “We are pleased to be able to bring this first-of-its-kind treatment to market sooner than expected for the millions of Americans with presbyopia who may benefit from it,” said Jag Dosanjh, senior vice...

Michael Jordan and his son Jeffrey Jordan have launched a new holding company called Heir Inc. focused on connecting athletes and creators to their fans through web3. “HEIR is on a mission to define a new era of digital culture where innovators and their supporters are empowered and rewarded through web3,” the company wrote on Twitter. According to Variety, the company’s first offering includes a “consumer-facing community platform” called the HEIR app, which closed a $10.6 million USD seed funding round led by Thrive Capital. The founders say that the platform will offer an exclusive Heir token built on the Solana blockchain that will give fans special access to digital assets and first-person NFT drops. According to the platform’s About Us page, fans and athletes can also conne...