Technology

Missouri Governor Mike Parson is threatening legal action against a reporter and newspaper that found and responsibly disclosed a security vulnerability that left teacher and educational staffs’ social security numbers exposed and easily accessible. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that it notified the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) that one of its tools was returning HTML pages that contained employee SSNs, potentially putting the information of over 100,000 employees at risk. Despite the fact that the outlet waited until the tool was taken down by the state to publish its story, the reporter has been called a “hacker” by Governor Parson, who says he’ll be getting the county prosecutor and investigators involved. According to the Post-Dispatch, the too...

Spotify has been a music streaming option on the PS5 since it launched in November, giving you the option to listen to your favorite music when playing games. Soon, though, the console might get support for another service: Apple Music. The first clue came earlier this week when a Reddit user posted a picture of Apple Music appearing in the PS5’s music menu. The option apparently showed up after they made a new account and tried to link it with Spotify. It seems the app didn’t work, though — the Reddit user also shared a photo of a message that said, “This app is playable only on PS4,” which Eurogamer says is a standard error message when an app isn’t available. A Reddit user’s photo of Apple Music on PS5.image: u/HOLYWARS1990 Eurogamer said it was also able to see the Apple Music option w...

As part of an update to its bullying and harassment policies, Facebook on Wednesday announced it would begin removing “severe sexualizing content” directed toward public figures. In line with the update, the company said that it would take down all profiles, pages, groups and events that sexualize public figures, while also removing all derogatory, sexualized photoshopped images and drawings. Additionally, Facebook will delete negative physical descriptions that are posted on or tagging a public figure’s account as well as “degrading content depicting individuals in the process of bodily functions,” according to Antigone Davis, Facebook’s Global Head of Safety. “Public figures — whether they’re politicians, journalists, celebrities or creators — use Facebook and Instagram to engage directl...

First, there were triangles; then there were squares. Next came hexagons, and now, say hello to lines. No, this isn’t your sixth grader’s geometry homework. It’s the latest addition to smart lighting maker Nanoleaf’s ever-growing catalog of modular LED light panels. The new Nanoleaf Lines are ultra-lightweight, color-changing lights in a bar shape. Backlit, they connect at 60-degree angles to create geometric designs of your choosing, and with dual-color zones, the Lines ($199.99) can add a visual feast to any wall or ceiling. As with Nanoleaf’s Shapes, Canvas, and Elements wall panels, Lines can be installed using pre-affixed, double-sided tape, making it an easy setup — although you’ll want to plan your design before committing. Powered by a large plug with a 14.7 foot cable, each ...

Traffic is hell, but what if the cars clogging up the roadways are all robots? That’s what some residents on one quiet street in San Francisco have discovered, with a seemingly endless parade of autonomous vehicles from Waymo driving down a dead-end street in the city’s residential Richmond district, turning around, and driving away. “There are some days where it can be up to 50,” resident Jennifer King told KPIX 5 in this hilarious scene report. “It’s literally every five minutes. And we’re all working from home, so this is what we hear.” “There are some days where it can be up to 50” Residents are confused as to why the Waymo vehicles — Jaguar I-Pace SUVs with rooftop sensors and high-tech compute systems inside — keep coming, one after the other, sometimes two or three at a time. They a...

Walt Disney World is offering yet another way to make your experience more magical (or more miserable, depending on how you look at it). Set to launch on October 19th, Disney’s Genie service will grant you a number of wishes, including the ability to skip lines — once you pay up. Image: Disney Disney first introduced the service in an August blog post, noting that you’ll be able to access the Disney Genie service through the My Disney Experience and Disneyland apps. The Disney Genie will serve as your personal trip planner and, if you choose the paid option, will let you jump to the front of your favorite rides’ lines via the Lightning Lane entrances. The only caveat is that you can only choose one ride at a time. While this sounds like a handy service to have, it’s the added cost for the ...

Google is making it easier to doomscroll through search results by automatically loading newer results as you get to the end of the page. Previously, when you got to the end of a page of Google search results, there was a big “See more” button at the bottom you could tap to, well, see more results. With continuously loaded results, you’ll be able to just keep on scrolling to see more. Continuous scrolling does have some advantages; it’s a lot easier to see more results quickly if you don’t have to consciously make a choice to tap the “See more” button. I can’t say I’m looking forward to this change, though, since reaching the end of a Google search page was often a natural place for me to consider if I had learned enough or if I wanted to seek out more information. With continuous scrollin...

The first table lamp speaker from Ikea and Sonos was a little… strange. With its bulbous, mushroom-esque lampshade, fabric-covered speaker, and a plate beneath it all, the original Symfonisk lamp wasn’t exactly a universal fit for home decor. But the concept of a lamp that also doubles as a capable speaker was in itself a good idea — so the companies are back with their second try at it. The new Symfonisk has a more traditional design, fixes the original’s frustratingly limited bulb compatibility, and has a revamped speaker architecture that does a better job spreading sound throughout a room. Ikea is now selling the base/speaker and lampshade separately; the former costs $140, and you can pick between a glass ($39) or textile ($29) shade. The glass shade — I reviewed the black one — is no...

But can it run Crysis? The answer is now yes, no matter what PC you own. Nvidia is bringing Crysis Remastered to its GeForce Now streaming service this week, alongside Crysis Remastered Trilogy, Crysis 2 Remastered, and Crysis 3 Remastered. The remastered version of Crysis includes ray tracing and DLSS support, which can both be enabled by Founders or Priority members of Nvidia’s GeForce Now service. Crysis Remastered will be available from Steam and Epic Games Store on GeForce Now today, with the full Crysis Remastered Trilogy available at launch tomorrow. Most PCs on the market today can stream ‘Crysis’ The vast majority of PCs on the market today, and even some of the budget gaming PCs that existed in 2007, can run Crysis by streaming it from GeForce Now. Nvidia’s system requirements in...

If the TCL 20S and 20SE phones were on The Price Is Right, you would probably guess much higher prices than their retail ones. With the 20S retailing for $250 and the 20SE going for $190, these sub-$300 4G phones are the real deal. They check all the boxes for what you’d want in a smartphone: they have big and bright screens, large 5,000mAh batteries, 128GB of internal storage, and “good enough” cameras. You even get a free clear silicone case inside each box. TCL certainly knows a thing or two about manufacturing budget 4K Smart TVs, affordable soundbars, and many other gadgets. Heck, it was already quietly producing phones for the likes of BlackBerry, Alcatel, and Palm before starting its own eponymous line in 2020. Now it’s taking those skills building other accessibly priced gadgets to...

TSMC has announced plans to expand its chipmaking efforts with a new factory in Japan during its Q3 2021 earnings call, marking the latest expansion for what’s already the world’s largest chipmaker, via Reuters. But the news comes as the company also cautions that supply will be “tight” for chips throughout 2022 as a result on the ongoing shortage. The new plant is planned to focus on producing chips with older technologies, instead of the bleeding-edge processors that TSMC is best known for providing to companies like Apple, AMD, Nvidia, and Qualcomm. That’s particularly important, given that it’s those older chips — like those found in cars for controlling the airbags and seatbelts or the power management chip in an iPhone — that are the ones having the biggest supply issues. But it’ll s...

Apple has quietly extended a repair program for the AirPods Pro that offers free repairs or replacements for earbuds that have issues with noise cancellation or static. Reddit users (via MacRumors) were first to spot the change to Apple’s support page for the repair program, which now notes that the program covers affected AirPods Pro for three years after their first retail sale, rather than two. The page appears to have been updated at the beginning of October. The support program was originally introduced in October 2020, one year after the original release of the AirPods Pro in 2019. It meant that Apple’s repair program was introduced at the exact point that the warranty on launch units was set to expire. With the extension of the repair program to three years, AirPods Pro bought at la...