Technology

It’s no secret that Amazon owns a wealth of in-house brands that sell everything from affordable tech accessories (Amazon Basics) to e-readers (Kindle). But a new investigation from The Markup sheds new light on just how big this empire has gotten, and makes some troubling allegations about the advantages these brands seem to have over third-party competitors selling on Amazon. It’s a fascinating report that’s well worth a read. For starters, just working out how many brands Amazon owns is a process that required The Markup to analyse public records from the US Patent and Trademark office. According to its reporting, the ecommerce giant has registered or owns over 150 brands, including some where their connection to Amazon isn’t obvious. But more worrying is that some of these brands, as w...

Microsoft originally promised new 3D emoji for Windows 11 and various other products earlier this year. Now the company has gone for a 2D flat look instead, with the new emoji debuting in Dev Channel builds of Windows 11 this week. The style is a lot different to the 3D emoji that Microsoft promised in July, and even in recent tweets from the official Windows Twitter accounts. Microsoft appears to have changed its mind on going 3D inside Windows 11. “For Windows 11 we’re using the 2D versions,” says Brandon LeBlanc, a senior program manager on the Windows Insider team. LeBlanc also says Microsoft “used the wrong graphics” in recent tweets. Microsoft’s emoji was supposed to be more 3D. It’s not clear why Microsoft hasn’t adopted its 3D designs in Windows 11, despite promises to do so, but i...

Despite completing its first fully-manned spaceflight with founder Richard Branson on board back in July, Virgin Galactic has now officially delayed plans of its commercial spaceflights to late 2022. According to an announcement from the company, a recent test has “flagged a possible reduction in strength margins of certain materials used to modify specific joints” in its spacecraft which require “further physical inspection.” In light of this discovery, Virgin Galactic will begin a refurbishment process for both its spacecraft and carrier aircraft, which is expected to last until June to August of 2022, delaying its earliest commercial spaceflight to the fourth quarter of next year. “The re-sequencing of our enhancement period and the Unity 23 flight underscores our safety-first procedure...

After months of hearings and negotiations, pressure is growing in the Senate to pass new laws banning online platforms from giving preference to their own products and services over those of their competitors. On Thursday, a bipartisan group of senators announced plans to introduce a nondiscrimination bill that could reshape Amazon’s online marketplace. The American Choice and Innovation Online Act, led by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), would prevent platforms like Amazon, Apple, and Google from using their dominance to disadvantage other companies and competitors that use their platforms. In June, House lawmakers voted out a bill sharing the same name from the Judiciary Committee. Klobuchar’s Senate version isn’t identical to the House’s, but shares similar language...

Apple has now extended its free repair service for the AirPods Pro from two years to three. The repair program was first introduced a year after the earbuds were originally released in 2019, just as its warranty expired, and offered free repairs or replacements for those experiencing issues with either static or the Active Noise Cancellation feature. More specifically, Apple says that you’ll be eligible if you experience “crackling or static sounds that increase in loud environments, with exercise or while talking on the phone” or “Active Noise Cancellation not working as expected, such as a loss of bass sound, or an increase in background sounds, such as street or airplane noise.” With the new extension, those who purchased the AirPods Pro at launch will have until October 2022 to repair ...

Coinbase is now urging the United States government to establish a cryptocurrency regulator in order to keep the country from falling behind other governments across the globe. In a new policy proposal released yesterday, the crypto exchange platform pointed out that governmental oversight over the digital assets market was necessary. Building upon a similar and recent proposal from one of its investors Andreeson Horowitz, the company said that the creation of a new agency focusing specifically on cryptocurrencies would be ideal as rearranging current financial regulators would not work as they mainly focused on traditional markets. “We started where a lot of people start, which is taking the existing multiplicity of regulators and trying to figure out what minimal surgery you could do to ...

Boeing’s former chief technical pilot, Mark Forkner, was indicted on two counts of fraud and four counts of wire fraud for his role in the Boeing 737 Max debacle. He’s accused of withholding information from FAA evaluators about software on the Boeing 737 Max that was at the heart of two crashes that killed 346 people, That software, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), interpreted the plane as stalling when it wasn’t — causing crashes. Rushed development of the 737 Max required larger, heavier engines that could make it susceptible to stalling in certain takeoff situations. To prevent that from happening, Boeing set up MCAS to automatically pitch the nose down. When the system activated erroneously, pilots were unprepared — MCAS was not present on a previous version...

Block Party, the anti-harassment service that specializes in making Twitter more tolerable to use, is out of beta and available now. Block Party automates the time-consuming process of moderating your Twitter feed, filtering out content from people you don’t want to see for later review and, starting today, blocking accounts that retweet or like a bad tweet of your choice with blocklists. Block Party’s services are available in three different tiers. Free Basic accounts can use Block Party’s moderate filters to catch @mentions and place them in a “Lockout Folder” for later review. Premium accounts, which start at $12 per month, include stricter filters, block lists, a helper view to allow friends or family to review troubling tweets, bulk actions to block or mute multiple accounts in your ...

Apple has hired a former HomePod engineer, Afrooz Family, to head up the team developing HomePod software, according to Bloomberg, which could signal a renewed effort from Apple to make the HomePod more competitive. The company released HomePod software version 15 in September, bringing some welcome features like the ability to use one or a pair of HomePod Mini speakers as the default with an Apple TV 4K. But Apple’s smart speaker line faces stiff competition, particularly from Amazon’s and Google’s speakers that are equipped with their smart assistants. Family left Apple in 2016, where he was a senior audio engineer, to co-found audio company Syng with ex-Apple designer Christopher Stringer. (A Financial Times article about Syng described Family as the company’s “secret weapon.”) Syng’s c...

Clubhouse has a tremendous amount of competition from big companies that want to own the live audio space, but it may be getting out ahead in one specific way. The company’s launching a new Music Mode that could make it a better place to play — and listen — to live music, ahead of Amazon’s reported entry into that space, and as Twitter has begun rolling out “ticketed spaces” where musicians could host shows as well. Spotify has its own live audio app, too. If you’re a musician on Clubhouse, or you love listening to live music on the app, the new Music Mode “optimizes Clubhouse to broadcast your music with high quality and great stereo sound,” according to the company’s blog post. Clubhouse doesn’t say what it means by high quality, but it does also mention that you can now hook up professi...

Deathloop is an incredible game but also one with its fair share of nasty issues, particularly on PC — where some have experienced seriously stuttery performance and a nasty crash just as you’re supposed to crash the game’s penultimate party. Now, it appears Arkane Studios is coming fast and furious with the fixes and a little something extra as well. A new 11GB update can add extra immersion to PC by letting you hear Julianna’s radio transmissions through a connected PS5 controller. Plus there’s brand-new support for Nvidia DLSS, letting you potentially eke out a substantial amount of extra performance if you’re willing to exchange your native resolution for a slickly AI-upscaled version. (The game supported AMD’s rival FSR from the get-go.) The patch (which is 5GB on PS5) also includes “...

There’s a new electric vehicle startup breaking cover in California, making bold claims and teasing pie-in-the-sky ideas while remaining guarded about its founder and origin story. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a story that’s been playing out on repeat the last half-decade. This time, it’s a company called IndiEV, which emerged from stealth mode Thursday with a small prototype electric car called the Indi One that it says will start at just $45,000 — a car it boldly says will launch at the end of 2022. Parts of the script are the same: IndiEV wants to power the Indi One with a scalable lithium-ion battery pack (that can be adapted to fit more affordable or expensive models or future vehicles); It wants to take advantage of the extra room afforded by the simpler architecture of...