Technology

Not everyone who buys Rivian’s R1T electric pickup truck will drive it over basketball-sized rocks two miles above sea level. But that experience can be had on the North Fork Swan River trail in Breckenridge, Colorado, which is where the buzzy Amazon and Ford-backed startup gave The Verge and other media outlets one of the first chances to experience the R1T — a sleek, $67,500 luxury four-by-four for affluent-but-still-outdoorsy types that is finally shipping to customers after multiple delays. For those casually keeping up with the boom in electric vehicles, the R1T may ring a bell: it’s the truck that was announced to much fanfare at the 2018 LA Auto Show by Rivian, which had previously been operating in stealth mode since 2009. The company has since pounced on the excitement and anticip...

Woven Planet Holdings, a subsidiary of Toyota, acquired Renovo Motors, a startup that makes operating systems for autonomous vehicles. It’s the latest acquisition that aims to accelerate Toyota’s mission to develop autonomous vehicles with connected software. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Toyota established Woven Planet in January 2021 to invest in and develop mobility with artificial intelligence. Since then, the company has been on a shopping spree, acquiring Carmera, a firm that provides real-time, high-definition maps and data for driverless vehicles, and Lyft’s Level 5 autonomous vehicle division. Renovo converted a DeLorean with an electric powertrain and then did autonomous donuts with it Renovo, which is based in Silicon Valley, makes operating systems that integrate a...

TikTok has reached over 1 billion monthly active users according to a recent announcement from the social platform. Officially launched in August 2018, the app has seen astronomical growth in recent years, so much so that the number of active users has increased by 45% since July 2020, when it had a reported 689 million users. A recent blog post from the social platform read: “At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. Today, we’re celebrating that mission and our global TikTok community. More than 1 billion people around the world now come to TikTok every month to be entertained as they learn, laugh, or discover something new”. ByteDance, the Chinese company behind the app, saw its earnings double last year — thought to be as a result of COVID-19 — as its revenue jumpe...

Logitech’s MX Keys Mini is a compact, platform-agnostic wireless keyboard that lacks the numpad found on the standard MX Keys. It costs the same amount at $99.99 despite its smaller size, yet there might be enough additions to make this one the preferable option (you know, if spending $100 on a keyboard is feasible). Logitech added a dedicated emoji key to the top row of Mini’s function keys that lets you add some personality to your messages, in addition to a voice dictation key and a mic mute key that mutes on a system level, not per application. Joining them on the function row are media and volume keys, along with an option to adjust the brightness of the keyboard backlighting. [embedded content] The MX Keys Mini charges via USB-C and can flip between three Bluetooth devices via keys t...

Big foldable-focused improvements are on the way for Android, if leaked code analyzed by XDA Developers is to be believed. Previous reports have suggested that this year’s Android 12 is going to be followed by a minor revision, which is expected to be called Android 12.1 based on previous naming conventions. XDA’s analysis suggests this update may deliver a host of improvements for how the operating system handles large foldable-sized screens, including offering a better split-screen UI, a lockscreen that makes better use of horizontal space, and a new taskbar that makes it easier to use multiple apps at once. They’re helpful additions that should reduce the need for manufacturers like Samsung to build their own foldable-focused UI improvements on top of Android for their own devices. View...

Popular image-sharing site Imgur has been acquired by MediaLab, a Santa Monica-based firm that describes itself as a “holding company of consumer internet brands.” The company owns a number of B-list tech and internet services, including messaging apps Kik and Whisper, lyrics annotator Genius, and viral video aggregator WorldStarHipHop. Imgur, which currently claims some 300 million users, says the move will help the company “keep the main Imgur team focused on what we do best: creating the best place for community-powered entertainment online.” In a blog post, the company said “Imgur’s journey is far from over” and that MediaLab is committing to “investing more resources in engineering and community.” MediaLab has bought a number of also-ran brands with sizable communities What exactly th...

The fallout from The Wall Street Journal’s Facebook Files series continues. On Sunday, the company published a point-by-point rebuttal to the Journal’s story on Instagram’s effects on teenage girls — and then on Monday morning, the company said it would “pause” plans to build Instagram Kids while it consults with more outside groups. A Senate hearing looms on Thursday. I spent the weekend talking to people in and around Facebook about the situation, and today I want to talk about what I think the company ought to do. Inside Facebook, some people I’ve spoken with are feeling exasperated. They argue that the Journal series uses relatively few data points to paint Facebook in the worst possible light. To them, it’s more evidence of bias from a press working to bring the company to its knees, ...

In the hopes of developing more direct methods of creating artificial intelligence which is capable of replicating human brain function, South Korean tech giant Samsung has now proposed a new method of building them: by copy and pasting actual brains. Essentially a process of “reverse-engineering the brain,” Samsung researchers have come up with a potential way to copy and paste a map of a brain’s neuron wiring onto a 3D neuromorphic chip utilizing a massive network of solid-state memory. The data capture would be able to record exactly where these neurons connect with each other as well as the strength of those connections. If achieved, scientists say these new systems would boast greater flexibility in learning and understanding new concepts and changes in conditions, as well as pave the...

Following the official launch of the Apple iPhone 13, consumer electronics repair specialist iFixit has now delivered its teardown of Apple‘s new flagship phone. Taking apart the device to reveal the internals that makes it function, iFixit stumbled upon a peculiar situation when it tried replacing the 120Hz display. After employing a series of workarounds, the experts found that Face ID on iPhone 13 models that have undergone third-party display repairs would no longer work. iFixit notes, “right now, if you replace your screen, Apple kills your Face ID, unless they control the repair,” the issue could be tied to matching serial numbers on the display and iPhone 13 device itself. Speaking to a licensed Apple repair technician, Apple support has stated that the issue is simply a bug and tha...

The European Union is planning on enforcing a rule that will create a universal charging solution for all phones and small electronic devices. The European Commission (EC) has proposed all smartphones sold in the EU to utilize USB-C chargers in the efforts of reducing waste. However, tech giant Apple has recently spoken out against the policy, claiming that the move would hinder innovation processes. Being that Apple holds a large piece of the smartphone market and use its own custom charging port, the company’s devices would evidently be affected. In a statement, Apple told the BBC, “We remain concerned that strict regulation mandating just one type of connector stifles innovation rather than encouraging it, which in turn will harm consumers in Europe and around the world.” While most And...

LG’s various OLED offerings include some of the most well-received models across the industry. The C1 OLED is one of these universally praised panels, and it comes in a variety of sizes to fit people’s preferences and home theater setups. Now, some C1 models have received their biggest discounts yet, which may please those with a penchant for large TVs. Amazon, for instance, currently has the 65-inch C1 for $1,797 and the 77-inch model for $2,997, which factor out to be $703 and $500 off, respectively. For roughly the same price, you can also get either TV with a $100 streaming credit at Costco or a $50 Visa gift card at BuyDig. These are the lowest prices to date on each of these large displays, both of which feature 120Hz refresh rates and Dolby Vision HDR compatibility, as well as suppo...

Nintendo has confirmed plans to expand Super Nintendo World, its recently opened theme park at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, with a new Donkey Kong area. The news doesn’t exactly come as a surprise — construction already appears to have been underway for some time. Imagery released by Nintendo confirms that, as speculated, the Donkey Kong zone will indeed be accessed through a large round door that already exists in the park, which is currently almost entirely Mario-themed. The zone will be a significant addition that increases Super Nintendo World’s overall size by about 70 percent, according to Nintendo. A map showing the location of the new Donkey Kong area within Super Nintendo World.Nintendo The Donkey Kong zone will include “a roller coaster, interactive experiences and themed me...