Technology

On October 14th, Apple fired a leader of the #AppleToo movement for allegedly failing to comply with an internal investigation. The employee, Janneke Parrish, has been working behind the scenes for months to organize fellow employees who’ve faced harassment and discrimination. Now, Apple appears to be cracking down on those efforts — under the guise of trying to stop internal information from leaking to the press. In September, Apple fired Ashley Gjøvik for allegedly violating her confidentiality agreement. Then, it placed software engineer Cher Scarlett on medical leave. Both Gjøvik and Scarlett have filed claims with the NLRB. Parrish’s lawyer, Vincent P. White of White, Hilferty and Albanese, tells The Verge that Parrish plans to sue for wrongful termination and will also be filing a ch...

The International Space Station was unexpectedly tilted on Friday after a test firing of thrusters on Russia’s Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft continued longer than expected. First reported by the New York Times, the personnel aboard the ISS were never in danger according to a statement from Russia’s Roscosmos space agency. Ground teams for NASA and Roscosmos were able to regain control of the station about 30 minutes after it lost positioning control at 5:13AM ET. But it’s the second such incident aboard the ISS within the past year, and it occurred with a craft that is supposed to return to Earth early Sunday morning. The incident started when cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky was testing the engines aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, which is docked with the station. A NASA spokesperson told the Times tha...

There’s still no firm release date for the delayed Analogue Pocket (outside of the broader “December 2021” window that the company last provided in September), but Analogue is looking to whet players’ appetites with the next best thing: a deep look at AnalogueOS, the new custom software that will power the Pocket whenever it does actually arrive. As one might expect for a retro gaming device, AnalogueOS features a minimal, pixel-art style design that’s meant to get you into games as easily as possible. But Analogue is taking its goal of making the ultimate retro gaming device seriously. There’s a new “Library” feature, with a massive database that the company has built from the ground up with the goal of serving as a comprehensive historical archive for retro gaming. Players will be able t...

Earlier this year, Dbrand started selling matte black PS5 side plates that it called Darkplates, and when it did, it baited Sony right on the product’s info page to “Go ahead, sue us.” We got our hands on some, and they look exactly like you expect, making the sides of your PS5 black instead of white. They even have their own tongue-in-cheek take on the PlayStation icon microtexture. As of Saturday, though, you can’t buy Darkplates anymore, as Dbrand has removed them from sale after (perhaps unsurprisingly) receiving a cease and desist letter from Sony. (If you visit the Darkplates site right now, it just shows a list of news articles, including ones from The Verge). Dbrand shared the letter with The Verge, which we’ve included at the bottom of the article. Sony raises a few grievances in ...

You can’t always take Busta Rhymes literally, and sometimes you shouldn’t take his questions seriously at all, but a tweet from this morning about NFTs is solidly in line with the disturbing reality of 2021. SHOULD I BUY A HOUSE… or.. A LINK TO A PICTURE OF A PIXELATED MONKEY — Busta Rhymes (@BustaRhymes) October 15, 2021 I won’t give you, or Busta, any help with your investment or trading decisions. However, understanding that some NFTs are a link to a picture on a server that could change or disappear is information worth knowing before you spend your hard-earned cryptocurrency on a digital collectible. And yes, Busta Rhymes is talking about crypto and NFTs for the same reason almost anyone else is. Just like every TV network, sports league, and comic book publisher, he has a few of them...

Moscow launched “Face Pay” on Friday, a facial recognition payment system implemented in more than 240 Mosmetro stations, “the largest use of facial recognition technology in the world,” officials claim (via The Guardian). The service relies on stored photographs to validate metro payments, an obvious privacy concern given the previous uses of facial recognition technology by the Russian capital’s law enforcement. Face Pay requires metro riders to upload a photo and connect their bank and metro cards to the Mosmetro mobile app. With everything uploaded, all you need to do is look at the camera posted above the turnstiles to make it in time for your next train. Moscow authorities expect 10 to 15 percent of riders to use Face Pay “regularly” in the next two to three years, the hope being les...

One year ago yesterday, I wrote how MagSafe could be the biggest reason to buy an iPhone 12. I believed it, too. It looked like Apple had cracked the code to effortlessly accessorize the iPhone and even add modular new capabilities. The company showed its pricey new MagSafe cases and wallets seemingly snapping into place, plus faster wireless charging. The future looked bright. But if you became an early adopter like me, you might have wound up disappointed. As Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman points out, two of Apple’s first overpriced MagSafe accessories are already out of date. First, we just learned Friday that Apple’s $129 MagSafe Duo Charger can’t fast-charge an Apple Watch Series 7. Second, Apple has already replaced the $59 MagSafe Leather Wallet with a better version that you supports Find...

We’re just a few days away from Google’s October 19th launch event for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, but if you want an early look at what to expect, you might want to check out this big thread of leaked images from prolific leaker Evan Blass. The thread includes what appear to be official renders of both phones, images of cases, and some photos of people using the phones — and it’s that last category of images that were the most interesting to me. Ever since early rumored renders of the Pixel 6 lineup hit the web, I wondered exactly why Google decided to make the massive camera bar across the back of both phones. It never really appealed to me, and since the bar isn’t flush with the back of the phones, I’ve been worried it’s going to make them wobble when laid on a desk. Check out those ca...

The U.S. has now overtaken China as the largest miner of Bitcoin, according to new data from the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI), the U.S.’ average monthly hashrate share — or computational power required to mine Bitcoin — as of July represented 35.4% of global Bitcoin mining efforts. Kazakhstan was second in average monthly hashrate share with 18.1% as of July, followed by Russia with 11.2% and Canada with 9.5%. China previously represented the largest average monthly hashrate share at 34.2% in May of this year, according to CBECI. However, the government has steadily been cracking down on Bitcoin mining, effectively banning all cryptocurrency mining and trading in September. “Virtual currency-related busin...

Apple on Friday opened up orders for its Apple Watch Series 7, the latest edition in its wearable lineup. The Series 7 offers a larger 41mm display, and with it, a new keyboard option and customized watch faces, in addition to faster charging and greater durability. The biggest update to the watch is an advanced display with more screen area, thinner borders and a refractive edge that allows the screen to appear as though its wrapping around the watch. This is particularly noticeable with the new Contour watch face — a delightful Dali-esque design that enhances the watch’s contoured screen. The display is also always-on, making it truer to watch form, and is now up to 70% brighter indoors for easier viewing. The UI of the watch has been updated to take full advantage of the larger screen, ...

A Saudi human rights activist has filed a lawsuit against Twitter, alleging that the company hired two people who spied on behalf of the government of Saudi Arabia and accessed his personal information. Ali Al-Ahmed, head of the human rights advocacy organization Institute for Gulf Affairs, has frequently been critical of the Saudi government. Twitter, Al-Ahmed claims, did not have the right to disclose or share his private information under its own privacy policy and should have done more to protect his information. He names two men in the suit who were indicted last year (.pdf) by federal prosecutors for working as agents of the Saudi government while working for Twitter several years ago. Al-Ahmed also claims in the lawsuit that his Twitter account was suspended in 2018 without explanat...