Technology

On Monday, I had a chance to talk with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the company’s plans to build new audio products over the next few months. The occasion for our interview was the opening of Sidechannel, a Discord server I launched over the weekend with some fellow independent journalists. We didn’t know what to expect when we opened the doors, but more than 2,500 people filed in over the first day, and many of them joined us for a lively conversation about Facebook’s rapidly evolving attitudes toward creators. If you missed the conversation, you can find the audio here on Soundcloud. (Skip to 1:10 to get past my welcome message to Sidechannel members.) There’s also a very rough automated transcript up on Otter, if you like your conversations moderately corrupted by errors in machin...

The Polaroid Go, Polaroid’s new $99.99 instant camera seems tiny. In design and functionality, it’s almost like a condensed version of the Polaroid Now launched last year. But it has a few add-ons like a selfie mirror and a longer-lasting battery for the trendier, on-the-go, social media-savvy crowd who are the champions of instant film cameras these days. The Go is 2.4 inches tall, 3.3 inches wide, and 4.1 inches long. Smaller than a breadbox, or the Now, which is over an inch larger in nearly every direction. Along with the mirror and Polaroid’s claims of an improved 750mAh battery, it also has standard features like a self timer (good for group shots), flash, and the ability to do easy double exposures with just a button click. The Polaroid Go’s film is more square than it is rectangula...

Microsoft has started inviting Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers to test its Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) service on iPhones and iPads today. The service works through web browsers, allowing it to also run on PCs and Macs on Edge, Chrome, or Safari. We’ve managed to get an early look at this beta and see how Xbox Cloud Gaming works on an iPhone or iPad. The web interface for xCloud (yes, we’re going to keep calling it xCloud) is very simple to use. It scales across devices like the iPhone, iPad, or even a large monitor attached to a PC to provide quick access to games. Microsoft has even included a search interface, which is something that’s strangely missing on rival service Google Stadia. You don’t need to install any apps or extensions; it works natively in Chrome, Safari, or Edge. All ...

In a press release for Apple’s new Tile-like AirTag tracker, the company has revealed that iOS 14.5 will officially arrive “starting next week” — as spotted by Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern. AirTags go on sale April 30th and will only work with devices running iOS 14.5 or higher. Likewise, watchOS 7.4 and macOS 11.3 will also launch next week, as they support new Apple Podcast feature updates. Apple first launched the 14.5 beta to the public earlier this year in February alongside watchOS 7.4 beta (no word on whether that’s arriving soon, too). Along with AirTag support, it will implement Apple’s new App Tracking Transparency requirement, which mandates that developers ask for permission to track users for ad targeting. The feature was announced last year and met with sharp resistance...

Microsoft is reportedly working on a big overhaul to its app store for Windows. Windows Central reports that the software maker plans to release an updated store later this year that will be far more open to all types of apps and games. This could pave the way for developers to be able to submit any Windows application to the store, including browsers like Chrome or Firefox, and even allow third-party commerce platforms in apps. That’s a big shift for the app store on Windows if Microsoft delivers this rumored overhaul later this year. Currently, the Windows store (or Microsoft Store as Microsoft calls it) requires developers to package their win32 apps as an MSIX and use Microsoft’s own update mechanisms and commerce platforms. Microsoft will reportedly allow developers to submit standard...

If you aren’t sure whether a TV or computer monitor will suit your needs better, why not get a display that’s a little of both? Samsung’s 32-inch 1080p Smart Monitor M5 looks like a monitor with its small bezels and stand, but it has access to TV streaming apps, including Netflix, YouTube, Apple TV, and more without the need for extra hardware. The reason I’m sharing this info today is because it’s $50 off at Amazon, down to $230 (via 9to5Toys). You can find a larger 4K TV for this price, but the M5 has a few other features up its sleeve that might appeal to you. It can be mounted to your wall or a monitor arm, its remote supports Google Assistant and Alexa, and it’s even AirPlay 2-compatible. This model has two HDMI ports, two USB-A 2.0 ports, and built-in speakers. You can read more abou...

Photo: Jake Chessum Before he became an actor, Mads Mikkelsen spent almost a decade as a dancer, a practice evident in the carriage of his characters. Each vibrates on his own frequency: as jittery drug dealers, sweaty butchers, pagan warriors, and worldly cannibals. Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, features one of the rare moments in Mikkelsen’s filmography when he straight-up dances. His character, Martin, has the leaden tread of a man stuck in a midlife crisis. Throughout the film, his friends urge him to show off some moves for old time’s sake, and he resists until the final scene, an ecstatic burst of choreography that pops like a sea spray of Champagne. As an actor in Hollywood, Mikkelsen is better known for playing franchise villains — Casino Royale, Doctor Strange — but he’s perh...

Microsoft is updating Outlook to give companies the option to automatically start or end all meetings early to ensure employees have a break between back-to-backs. New settings in Outlook are rolling out to help reduce the digital overload of working remotely. Companies can set their own scheduling defaults, and they’re fully customizable. That means you could have five minutes blocked off before or after a 30-minute meeting, or 10-15 minutes after hourlong meetings. Individuals can also set their own scheduling defaults, but the company-wide option is the significant change here. Calendar software like Outlook has defaulted to on-the-hour meetings for decades, often inadvertently promoting the idea of back-to-back meetings with default settings that don’t consider the need for a break in ...

Today, we’re expecting a grab bag of new products from Apple, headlined by new iPad Pros. Given the relatively minor spec bumps that we got on last year’s iPad Pros, this time around we’re hoping for a more substantial update. In some ways, it seems likely that Apple will deliver, at least with the larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro. I’m sure the specs will be impressive. But after the release of the first MacBooks with Apple’s own M1 ARM-based silicon, there’s a strange inversion happening. Before, we’d look at a MacBook and wonder why it can’t have the power and battery life of an iPad. Now, I think more and more people are going to join me in looking at the iPad and wondering why it can’t have the flexibility and power of a Mac. In short, Apple’s silicon didn’t just catch the Mac up to the iPad,...

Picture the scene. It’s summer, lockdowns are easing, and you’re ready to venture back out into the world. You’re feeling brave after a year stuck inside, brave enough that you’ve picked out an all-white outfit. You read up on how to make the color work in the likes of Vogue and GQ, but suddenly, disaster strikes. You notice something. “The Verge’s top rated wireless headphones!” you exclaim to no-one in particular, “they’re only available in black, blue, or this weird dork-ass beige?!” It’s ok, don’t fret. Sony is releasing a limited edition of the WH-1000XM4 headphones in all white. Better still, it’s real white, not that orthopedic brown Sony’s being trying to pass off as “silver” all these years. Sony promises these “Silent White” headphones will be “even more stain-resistant,” which w...

Amazon’s latest bricks-and-mortar experiment is, unexpectedly, a hair salon. The company is opening its Amazon Salon in London’s East End Spitalfields area, where it says it will trial “the latest industry technology.” This includes an augmented reality app that lets customers see what different hair styles and colors look like on them before they decide on a change. Unlike the company’s cashierless Go grocery stores (which expanded to London last month), Amazon Salon does not seem to be a beachhead for an industry invasion. “This will be an experiential venue where we showcase new products and technology, and there are no current plans to open any other Amazon Salon locations,” said the company in a blog post. Instead, it looks more like a modest marketing stunt meant to signal the compan...