Technology

Major League Baseball has announced its latest move to cash in on the NFT craze: official blockchain-based versions of classic Topps baseball cards. Topps is selling the new NFT baseball cards through the WAX blockchain, which the company has used for its earliest blockchain-based collectibles. The first “Series 1” cards will be sold starting on April 20th, with 50,000 standard packs (containing six cards for $5) and around 24,000 premium packs (offering 45 cards for $100) set to be sold in the first wave. Topps is also offering a free “exclusive Topps MLB Opening Day NFT Pack” to the first 10,000 users who sign up for email alerts for new releases. It’s a similar idea to the NBA’s white-hot Top Shot NFTs, which offer fans purchasable video clips (called Moments) in card-like packs. Top Sh...

General Motors is launching a new in-car mapping service for nearly 1 million of its vehicles. The new service is called Maps Plus, and it will be powered by Mapbox, the open-source-based map provider that competes against Google and Here for enterprise deals for customized and in-app maps. In addition to in-car navigation, Maps Plus will also integrate with other popular apps, including music streaming services like Spotify or voice assistants like Alexa, which will appear as individual widgets superimposed over the map. While plotting a destination, Maps Plus will also notify the driver of the current speed limit or if they will need to refuel along the way. Maps Plus is designed for vehicle owners who didn’t purchase the option for in-car navigation when they bought their vehicle Maps P...

Android’s Digital Wellbeing service is getting a new “Heads Up” feature, which will prompt users to stop staring at their phones while walking, XDA Developers reports. The feature appears to be rolling out to the beta version of the Digital Wellbeing app, and one Twitter user reports receiving the feature on their Pixel 4A device. “If you’re walking while using your phone, get a reminder to focus on what’s around you,” says the Heads Up setup page. The reminders include brief notifications with instructions like “Watch your step,” “Stay alert,” and “Look up,” judging by an app teardown last year by 9to5Google. “Use with caution. Heads Up doesn’t replace paying attention,” says Google despite the obviousness of such advice. Nevertheless, the feature seems necessary with distracted walking b...

Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company backed by General Motors and Honda, will launch its first international robotaxi service in Dubai in 2023. The news was announced early Monday by Dubai’s crown prince, Hamdan bin Mohammed. As part of the ride-hailing service, Cruise will use its fully autonomous Origin vehicles, which it first unveiled in 2019. The company does not plan on utilizing its Chevy Bolt electric vehicles that it currently uses as part of its test fleet in San Francisco. The Origin is designed to be a shared vehicle, and when it goes into production, it won’t have any controls typically associated with human driving, like a steering wheel or pedals. Cruise said the goal is to scale up to at least 4,000 vehicles in Dubai by the year 2030. Cruise still intends for San Francisc...

Governments and politicians around the world are using a loophole in how Facebook polices inauthentic activity to fake popular support and harass opponents. An investigation from The Guardian based on internal documents and the testimony of a former Facebook data scientist, Sophie Zhang, shows how the company selectively chooses to take action on this activity. Facebook moves swiftly to deal with coordinated campaigns to sway politics in wealthy countries like the US, South Korea, and Taiwan, while it de-prioritizes or simply ignores reports of similar activity in poorer nations like Afghanistan, Iraq, Mexico, and much of Latin America. “There is a lot of harm being done on Facebook that is not being responded to because it is not considered enough of a PR risk to Facebook,” Zhang told The...

Apple’s next iPad Pro may face supply constraints at launch due to issues in production, according to a new report in Bloomberg. Apple’s suppliers are said to be having trouble with low manufacturing yields for the new Mini LED display rumored to be the key feature of the new 12.9-inch model; one manufacturer has reportedly paused production. Nikkei reported last week that iPad production had been delayed by a shortage of displays and display components, though the publication didn’t specify which models had been hit. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the new iPad Pro lineup is still expected to be announced later this month. It’s possible, though, that the larger model may have a later shipping date. The smaller model reportedly won’t use the Mini LED display, but other upgrades acros...

French lawmakers have voted to ban domestic flights on routes that could be taken in a train ride in less than two-and-a-half hours, Reuters reported. The vote late Saturday comes as part of France’s larger climate bill, which seeks to reduce its 1990-level carbon emissions by 40 percent over the next decade. Last week, France’s government said it would contribute 4 billion euros ($4.7 billion) to recapitalize airline Air France-KLM. The airline warned it is expecting an operating loss of 1.3 billion euros when it reports its first-quarter earnings next month. The airline industry is reeling with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to a sharp reduction in global travel over the past year. “We know that aviation is a contributor of carbon dioxide and that because of climat...

After several senators criticized the company, Apple said on Sunday it would send its chief compliance officer to an April 21st hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the office of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) confirmed. Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook on Friday demanding that the company send a representative to the hearing, saying Apple was refusing to participate. In the letter, Klobuchar and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) say Apple “abruptly” decided not to provide a witness for the hearing on digital markets focused on Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store. “Apple’s sudden change in course to refuse to provide a witness to testify before the Subcommittee on app store competition issues in April, when the company is clearly willing to disc...

Driving the new Mercedes-Benz EQS — essentially, the electric version of the automaker’s esteemed S-Class — almost gave me whiplash. Not because of some driving mishap (the EQS handles wonderfully) but because of how radically different Mercedes’ new luxury EV is from the recent crop of battery-powered vehicles. Mercedes has no interest in minimalist electric car design. The stark, button-less interiors of the Tesla Model 3 are fine for those who want to be reminded of a “completely cleared, black-washed Bauhaus living room,” as a German writer once appropriately described Elon Musk’s mass-market EV. With the EQS, Mercedes is saying auf wiedersehen to the idea of sparsely appointed EV interiors. It has the largest screen, the highest range (so far), the most features, a truly shocking numb...

So yesterday I watched the first episode of the Netflix documentary This is a Robbery, about the 1990 heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and the accents alone made me homesick. For those who did not grow up in the land of dropped R’s: two thieves dressed as cops stole 13 works from the museum, valued at a total of $500 million. The art, which included paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas, and Manet, has never been found and no arrests have ever been made. The museum is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the stolen works. I’m trying to avoid spoilers because even though I grew up in Boston and I’m familiar with the story, a few headlines about the doc have teased that it “solves” the case. Very interested to see the filmmakers’ the...

Google is shutting down its mobile Shopping apps for both iOS and Android and directing users to its web Shopping site instead, 9to5 Google reported. On Friday, Xda Developers discovered that the term “sunset” had been added to several strings of code in the Shopping app, suggesting the apps were being discontinued. A Google spokesperson told 9to5 Google that the apps will continue to function through June. “Within the next few weeks, we’ll no longer be supporting the Shopping app. All of the functionality the app offered users is available on the Shopping tab,” the spokesperson said. We’ll continue building features within the Shopping tab and other Google surfaces, including the Google app.” The shopping.google.com site will remain active. The app allowed users to choose from among thous...

Google reportedly ran a secret project called “Project Bernanke” that relied on bidding data collected from advertisers using its ad exchange to benefit the company’s own ad system, The Wall Street Journal reported. First discovered by newswire service MLex, the name of the project was visible in an improperly unredacted document Google had filed as part of an antitrust lawsuit in Texas. A federal judge has since let Google refile the document under seal. But according to the Journal, “Bernanke” was not disclosed to outside advertisers, and proved lucrative for Google, generating hundreds of millions of dollars for the company. Texas filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google in December, alleging that the search giant was using anticompetitive tactics in which “Bernanke” was a major part. ...