Technology

Notability developer Ginger Labs announced today that, in a change of heart, its popular note-taking app wouldn’t eventually require current users to switch to a subscription model. This news comes just two days after the developer announced a new subscription model where current app owners who wanted to keep the same features would be forced to start a $14.99 / month subscription by November 1st, 2022. Notability rolled back its original Monday pricing announcement and today posted an update on its company blog addressing current customers: Everyone who purchased Notability prior to our switch to subscription on November 1st, 2021 will have lifetime access to all existing features and any content previously purchased in the app. This means that current paid users will not have to pay for ...

Nestled in Take-Two Interactive’s most recent earnings report was information that it was charged $53 million dollars for an unannounced title that has been cancelled. “Cost of goods sold included a $53 million impairment charge related to the Company’s decision not to proceed with further development of an unannounced title in its pipeline,” Take-Two said in a press release. The report did not name the title nor the affiliated studio that worked on it. However, according to a Bloomberg report, the cancelled title is from Mafia III developer Hangar 13. The California-based developer also released the Mafia: Definitive Edition in 2020. The Bloomberg report says that according to sources at the studio, the game was codenamed Volt and suffered from a number of setbacks associated with the pan...

When Sonos purchased a privacy-focused voice assistant Snips in 2019, it strongly implied that it planned to build an assistant that would “add to our customers’ ease of use and control” instead of going head-to-head with bigger assistants from other big tech companies. Nearly two years later, we might be close to being using the company’s homegrown assistant, as a Reddit user found code in the Sonos app that appears to show voice commands for Sonos Voice Control (via Protocol). According to the code strings, you’ll be able to do things like play and pause music, adjust the volume, and check your Sonos’ battery. The Reddit user also found what looks to be the logo for Sonos’ assistant and evidence suggesting you’ll be able to have it assistant enabled alongside Amazon’s Alexa but not along...

The Federal Communications Commission has authorized a satellite internet project from Boeing first proposed in 2017. Boeing can now move forward with building, launching, and operating its own broadband internet network from space, joining its main aerospace competitor SpaceX. Boeing’s plan involves placing 132 satellites into low Earth orbit at an altitude of 1,056 kilometers (about 656 miles). Another 15 will be launched to “non geostationary orbit” at an altitude between 27,355 and 44,221 km (16,998 to 27,478 miles). The company says it wants to use the satellites to offer “broadband internet and communications services to residential consumers, government and business users in the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands” while the network gets built out, and on a global b...

Google is reportedly “aggressively” working on winning a contract with the Pentagon, even though some of its previous Department of Defense work sparked major backlash from employees, according to The New York Times. According to the report, Google’s Cloud division has reassigned engineers to work on a proposal for Google to contribute to the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability program, which the DoD describes as an attempt to “achieve dominance in both traditional and non-traditional warfighting domains.” The contract Google is reportedly looking into is one that will open to multiple companies to submit proposals and do work for, and the DoD estimates it could be a multi-billion dollar project. In a document describing what cloud providers will be expected to do, the DoD says that anyone ...

Alexa’s October update introduces a number of new helpful commands that let you start listening to audio in one room and continue listening on an Echo device in another. There are a few different commands for this, and the ones you use will depend on your situation. The first command lets you move audio between groups, also known as the smart speakers that you’ve assigned to specific locations throughout your home. Simply say, “Alexa, move my music to [desired group],” and you can transfer your podcast, radio show, or music to the room that you plan on spending time in. You can also continue listening to audio when you walk out the door — keep in mind that you’ll need a pair of Echo Buds in order for this to work. Once your Echo Buds are connected to your phone, say, “Alexa move my music h...

After Roku announced last week that it will soon remove non-certified channels from its service, it appears the change will close a loophole that allowed apps like Pornhub to exist on the platform. The company announced last week that it would be removing so-called “non-certified channels” by March of 2022. The change comes as Roku introduces new tools for developers, including a new independent developer kit that operates separately from its primary software developer kit for commercial-use channels. It also announced that it’s launching new beta testing capabilities that will allow app makers to run tests on their apps before making the changes live on the service. The independent developer kit will allow developers to tinker with and customize their Roku experience for personal use, suc...

Facebook has designed a system that circumvents the 30% tax Apple applies to in-app transactions. The social media network operates a service in which users can subscribe to receive exclusive content from creators in exchange for a recurring fee. Now, Facebook will allow its creators to share web links that direct users to pay for subscriptions via the platform’s own payments system. Though Apple has banned apps from allowing alternative payment options, with this method, it’s technically not Facebook, but the creator that is sending users to an outside payment system. “As we build for the metaverse, we’re focused on unlocking opportunities for creators to make money from their work,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. “The 30 percent fees that Apple takes on transactions make it...

A collective of anonymous investors on Monday spent $250,000 USD worth of cryptocurrency on an NFT granting the ability to make a trip to Willowbrook, Illinois once a year for a supervised visit with a 2,000-lb tungsten cube. The owners will be able to see, photograph and touch the approximately 14-inch forbidden cube, which is currently a popular meme in the crypto world, on their annual visit. The cube was placed on sale by Midwest Tungsten Service (MTS), a tungsten manufacturer that now sells cubes within the crypto domain, last month. The company said that the aforementioned tungsten was the largest that they could produce and that due to shipping issues, they chose to keep the cube at their headquarters and sell remote ownership in the form of an NFT. “This NFT represents a real-world...

What’s 14.545 inches across, weighs one ton (around 907kg or 2,000lbs), and just sold to a group of anonymous crypto investors for roughly $250,000? Why, it’s the biggest tungsten cube ever to be manufactured by Midwest Tungsten Service of Willowbrook, Illinois. Confused? Yes, that’s understandable. But consider this: tungsten cubes are one of the most popular memes in the world of cryptocurrency right now, a realm where value is defined as much by attention as anything tangible. (Call it the stonk market if you like.) Tungsten, if you’re not familiar, is a metal 1.7 times as dense as lead, and since 2015, nerdy types have been able to buy small cubes of tungsten manufactured by outfits like the Midwest Tungsten Service. Owning one has been a joke on Reddit for years, but in recent months,...

Microsoft is continuing to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Xbox in style this year with a second themed Adidas sneaker: the Xbox 360 Forum Mid, which, as the name suggests, is inspired by the company’s second console. The Xbox 360 design follows the first Xbox / Adidas collaboration, announced in October which took inspiration from the original Xbox console. The Xbox 360 Forum Mid, however, is decked out in the 360’s white, silver, and green color scheme for a 2005-era look, complete with plenty of subtle details that reference the original design. The velcro strap, for instance, is emblazoned with the disc tray from the 360, while the air vents and Xbox button are featured on the outside. Even the heel is designed to look like the memory card and hard drive slots. The shoe will come...