Technology

The Nintendo Switch with an OLED screen isn’t even a month old, but the company is already talking about some kind of successor to its wildly popular console / handheld hybrid — although vaguely. In a presentation to investors, Nintendo hints toward some of its plans in an extremely unspecific way. The company plans to “continue to expand its business around the core concept of creating unique integrated hardware-software products,” which I’m taking to mean that the company will (brace yourself) make more video games and video game hardware in the future. On the slide, which you can see for yourself on page 41 here (PDF), Nintendo also has a timeline of some of its hardware efforts and specifically includes its “next gaming system” slated to release at an undefined 20XX date. (So sometime ...

It’s been a long time since I’ve been surprised by Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I played the Nintendo Switch game regularly for the first year it was out, checking in virtually every day to see how my village was progressing. I experienced every holiday and special event and spent my evenings catching fish and tending to my gardens before bed. But, despite a handful of updates, I eventually got bored. There’s only so many sea bass you can catch before it becomes monotonous. I haven’t touched the game in eight months (as my villagers have been quick to point out), but the latest, biggest, and final update has really sucked me back into island life. Perhaps the most surprising part of this is that I haven’t even experienced the most notable parts of the update yet. I haven’t purchased the ...

Microsoft has fixed several Windows 11 features failing to load after an expired certificate was discovered earlier this week. Some Windows 11 users haven’t been able to open apps like the Snipping Tool, touch keyboard, or emoji panel since a certificate expired on October 31st. Microsoft warned Windows 11 users about the problems earlier this week and has now released an out-of-band update today. The issues also affected voice typing and the getting started and tips sections of Windows 11. Microsoft started testing a patch for the problems with Beta and Release Preview testers of Windows 11 late yesterday and has now released the fix for all Windows 11 users today. Microsoft is releasing an Out-of-band (OOB) update (KB5008295) today to completely resolve a set of issues affecting the Snip...

Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, may branch out into physical stores, The New York Times reported. The company rebranded to its new moniker last week as Mark Zuckerberg announced his vision to build out the metaverse. Internally, Meta has “discussed opening retail stores that will eventually span the world,” The Times wrote, citing company documents and people with knowledge of the matter. “The stores would be used to introduce people to devices made by the company’s Reality Labs division, such as virtual reality headsets and, eventually, augmented reality glasses, they said,” according to The Times. Opening physical stores would be an interesting move for the company, given that the futuristic metaverse is based on the concept that thanks to new technology, objects no longer ...

Uber will be relaunching its Uber Pool service, or at least a version of it, sometime in the future. The low-cost carpooling service, which was shut down in March 2020 due to the pandemic, would pair up to three riders in one vehicle based on the proximity of their destinations. Speaking to The Verge, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that the company was “launching an Uber shared pool product.” “We have been investing for years in a high-capacity product, which is looking more and more attractive as it relates to a unit economic basis, where that can bring the price significantly lower,” she continued. The return of Uber Pool would potentially seek to remedy the recent hike in Uber prices, which have risen 20 percent compared to last year, per The Verge. Over the pandemic, many drivers left...

If you need a powerful iPad with plenty of storage and a gorgeous display, Amazon and Best Buy are selling the 512GB, Wi-Fi version of the latest 12.9-inch iPad Pro for its lowest price yet. Normally $1,399, the retailer is selling it for $1,249 instead. In Dieter Bohn’s review, he deemed this the best and nicest iPad out there. Powered by Apple’s M1 processor, the 2021 iPad Pro is a speed demon and it comes with features like Thunderbolt connectivity, Wi-Fi 6 compatibility, Apple Pencil support, as well as Face ID unlocking. As we noted yesterday, if you’re looking for something cheaper and smaller, Apple’s 2021 11-inch iPad Pro (128GB, Wi-Fi) is also on sale, selling for $699 instead of $799 at at Best Buy and Amazon. Apple 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2021, Wi‑Fi, 512GB) $1,250 $1,400 11% off Ap...

Cryptocurrency and blockchain news presents many headlines that are hard to believe, so when a seemingly authentic press release ties a major retail outlet to second-tier crypto, it can take a moment to find out the truth. That was the case with a fake “Walmart takes Litecoin” release in September, and again this morning as PR Newswire published an illegitimate announcement claiming Kroger will start accepting Bitcoin Cash. Because Kroger’s webpage pulls in the releases from PR Newswire, the fake release actually appeared on Kroger.com until it was removed. Kroger has been linked to cryptocurrency but does not accept it as payment. A partnership announced with Lolli late last year allowed users of that rewards program to earn small amounts of Bitcoin back on purchases. Kroger PR confirmed ...

Pfizer’s antiviral pill is highly effective at preventing people who catch COVID-19 from becoming seriously ill, the company said today in a press release. A clinical trial showed that the pill, which has the brand name Paxlovid, cut the risk of hospitalization and death by 89 percent for adults at high risk of developing severe disease when it was given within three days of symptoms appearing. The company said it plans to submit its data to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use authorization “as soon as possible.” This is the second effective anti-COVID-19 pill. The first, developed by pharmaceutical company Merck, cut risk of hospitalization and death by about half. The United Kingdom’s health agency authorized the Merck pill on Thursday, and the FDA’s advisory committ...

Lime announced today that it raised $523 million in debt financing, a sign that investors are feeling more optimistic about the long-term survival of shared electric scooters in a post-pandemic world. Lime must be feeling more optimistic, too, because a spokesperson confirmed that the company plans on going public sometime in 2022. Last September, Insider reported that Lime was hoping to raise up to $200 million in convertible debt from Uber and other previous investors. The scooter company was also reportedly in talks with investment bank Evercore about going public via a reverse merger with a special acquisition company, or SPAC, but Insider says those talks fizzled. Now, Lime says that its most recent funding round was oversubscribed, with $418 million in debt financing led by Abu Dhabi...

Twitter has added a new search button on profile pages that makes it easier to search through tweets from a specific user. Social media consultant Matt Navarra noted that the button had started appearing for a small number of users last month, but now XDA Developers says that the feature has rolled out widely in the service’s iOS app. Being able to limit a search to a single user’s tweets is not a new Twitter feature. You can achieve the same result by using the format “from:[Twitter handle] [search term]” in the regular Twitter search box. So, for example, if you wanted to search my (bad) tweets for every time I mentioned the word “keyboard,” you could tap the search icon in the app and enter: from:jonporty keyboard The new button makes life just a bit easier. It could be helpful if, for ...

In May, a ransomware attack shut down a pipeline carrying 45 percent of the fuel used on the US East Coast. The Colonial Pipeline incident led to panic buying and heightened fears about the threat posed by simple hacks to national infrastructure. Now, the US State Department is offering a bounty of up to $10 million to anyone who can supply the “identity or location” of the leaders of the group responsible — an outfit known as DarkSide. In addition to the $10 million bounty, the state department is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction “of any individual conspiring to participate in or attempting to participate in a DarkSide variant ransomware incident.” What exactly that means isn’t clear. Is a “DarkSide variant ransomware incident” one ...

Despite ever-increasing demand from fans, Apple has yet to create an iPhone with a USB-C charging port, and so robotics engineer Ken Philonel decided to just build his own, and the final product is now worth at least $100,000 USD. Posting the entire modification process up on YouTube, the master’s degree student showcased exactly how he went about swapping the usual proprietary Apple Lightning port with a universal USB-C port instead, giving you a full breakdown of the phone’s internals and how you can make one yourself. After completing the build and having it featured all across the Internet, Philonel listed the USB-C iPhone X for auction over on eBay. While he started by just asking for $1 USD, it’s now sitting at a whopping $100,100 USD with six more days to go. Despite the incredible ...