Technology

Teenage Engineering, a design company that dabbles in everything from synthesizers to helping build the Playdate gaming handheld, has made its first computer case. It’s called Computer-1. It’s a bold orange case that’s made for mini-ITX-sized motherboards, which are reserved for small form factor builds. Like most of the company’s products, it’s not exactly affordable at $195. But that might not be an obstacle if you’re a sucker for a case that’s dripping in color and unique style. The Computer-1 case is made with powder-coated aluminum and has chrome handles, which makes it look a bit like Apple’s most recent Mac Pro desktop chassis. Though, unlike that computer, this case comes unassembled. It arrives in a flat pack, like most Ikea products. Not only will you have to build your computer,...

For the first time in 17 years, Mark Zuckerberg has a new job title. On Thursday, he officially became the CEO and chairman of Meta, the new parent company name for Facebook. The rebrand is about solidifying the social media giant as being about the metaverse, which Zuckerberg sees as the future of the internet. Zuckerberg is staying in control of everything. He told me in an interview that, unlike the founders of Google who stepped aside in 2015 when it became part of a holding company called Alphabet, he has no plans to give up the top job. “I think we’re basically moving from being Facebook first as a company to being metaverse first.” Instead, the change is about recognizing a shift inside the company that’s already taken place. Zuckerberg has been pouring billions of dollars — at leas...

Twitter regularly tests new features ahead of their official rollout, but the company is creating a new way for some people to check out new features before everyone else. On Wednesday, Twitter announced that subscribers to its paid Twitter Blue service will get early access to some new features under a new Labs banner. If you’re familiar with YouTube’s Labs features for Premium subscribers, it sounds like a similar model. Features in Twitter’s program include pinned conversations on iOS, which lets you pin DM conversations to the top of the list, and the ability to post longer video uploads from a desktop computer. You can read more about Labs in a thread from the Twitter Blue account. Like being ahead of the curve? Today, we’re rolling out Labs , giving you *early access* to some new fea...

After months of negotiations, President Joe Biden released the latest version of his Build Back Better framework on Thursday, advancing the landmark proposal into what will likely be its final phase before approval. The plan’s original $3.5 trillion budget resolution now sits at $1.75 trillion, unveiling scaled-back initiatives to tackle climate change and other social services. In its latest budget proposal, the White House’s total investment in fighting climate change remains relatively the same, sitting at $550 billion. What’s changed the most is how those funds will be used: focusing on manufacturing, electric power, and transportation. The White House’s total investment in fighting climate change remains relatively the same, sitting at $550 billion. The new framework includes $320 bil...

One of the core promises of the Nintendo Switch — the ability to easily play multiplayer games on the go — has long been undone by a flimsy piece of plastic. While the original Switch model technically made it possible to whip out the tablet for some impromptu Mario Kart, the terrible kickstand made this impractical at best and dangerous (for your Switch’s screen) at worst. The latest iteration of the hardware finally fixes that — along with the showcase feature, a much-improved OLED screen — and makes the dream of spontaneous Mario Party tournaments a reality, at last. This week Nintendo is releasing Mario Party Superstars, a sort of greatest hits collection for the digital board game series. It includes boards from the early Nintendo 64 games, alongside more than 100 mini-games pulled fr...

The scare is over and the fun can begin. That’s how I tend to think of creative endeavors involving artificial intelligence these days. We’ve moved past, I think, hyperbolic claims about AI making human art redundant and can now enjoy all the possibilities this technology affords. In that light, Shadow Planet — a new album made as a three-way collaboration between two humans and AI — shows exactly what sort fun can be had. Shadow Planet is the creation of writer Robin Sloan, musician Jesse Solomon Clark, and Jukebox, a machine learning music program made by OpenAI. After an off-the-cuff Instagram conversation between Sloan and Clark about starting a band (named The Cotton Modules), the two began exchanging tapes of music. A seasoned composer, Clark sent seeds of songs to Sloan who fed them...

Comcast’s X1 platform has slowly added apps to its library over the years, and this morning on the company’s earnings call, CEO Brian Roberts announced that the Apple TV app would join the roster soon, while Comcast’s Xfinity Stream app will launch on Apple TV devices. Comcast’s tech platform, which already has apps for Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and Disney+ in the US, isn’t just on its cable boxes anymore. It underpins the Xfinity Flex streaming platform, the XiOne streaming set-top box, and new XClass 4K TVs that recently launched from Hisense. XClass 4K TVImage: Comcast Two models of the TV are available, in 43- and 50-inch sizes, for $298 and $348, respectively. Like other smart TVs in their price range — and other devices on Comcast’s platform — they have streaming apps, Dolby Vision H...

Sony’s PlayStation games on Steam are now published by PlayStation PC LLC instead of PlayStation Mobile. Forum posters at Resetera noticed the change yesterday, and it appears the PlayStation PC company was formed earlier this year. It could mean we’ll see Sony use more PlayStation PC branding in the future. Sony has been gradually growing its presence on PC over the past year, after Horizon Zero Dawn arrived on Steam in August 2020, followed by Days Gone in February. Sony is also bringing God of War to PC on January 14th and the remastered Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection at some point in 2022. Days Gone is now published by PlayStation PC. Sony’s head of PlayStation Studios, Hermen Hulst, revealed in June that Sony was still early on in its PC plans. “I want to emphasize that PlayS...

A new support document released yesterday details a “Scale to fit below built-in camera” option in macOS that will forcibly scale apps to only use the display below the notch. It’s a temporary workaround for apps that don’t currently play nice with the notch on Apple’s new MacBook Pros. The camera notch cutout on Apple’s latest laptops was meant to enable a more expansive edge-to-edge screen. But as we saw yesterday, owners of the new MacBook Pro models have seen both apps and the OS misbehave, whereby app menus and status bar items can get hidden under the camera cutout. The scale-to-fit workaround fixes this, but results in the type of large bezels the notch was meant to negate. The scaling feature was demonstrated by artist @Jatodaro on Twitter, showing how checking the box for ‘Scale t...

A group of students in China has now sued Apple for not including chargers in its iPhone 12 sales. According to a report from the Shanghai Law Journal, the students argue that Apple isn’t omitting the charger for eco-friendly reasons but actually wants to both cut costs and promote the sales of its own MagSafe charger. As the group points out, the cable included with the iPhone 12 is a USB-C to Lightning cable which is not compatible with wall chargers that came with previous iPhone models, therefore forcing consumers to either buy a new USC-C wall charger or the company’s MagSafe charger. The students are now asking for Apple to provide a wall charger as well as a fee of roughly $16 USD for breach of contract. While the amount Apple is being sued for is minimal, the sentiment behind ...

The U.S. General Services Administration, a federal agency that manages government buildings and real estate, is selling 4.94 Bitcoin through its clearinghouse website. The GSA Auctions website was developed as a solution to handling surplus federal assets and offers items ranging from furniture and office supplies to airplanes, vehicles and heavy machinery. The site is hosting an auction called “Fall for Cryptocurrency,” which includes 4.94 Bitcoin across five individual lots. The lots range from 0.44 Bitcoin on the lower end to 1.5 Bitcoin on the higher end and are valued at about $300,000 USD combined. The auction is set to close on Thursday evening Central Time, and bids can be placed in increments of $5 USD. GSA Auctions first started auctioning cryptocurrency on behalf of the U.S. go...