Technology

A new Google TV feature will allow users to use their Android mobile devices as remotes for those moments when your streaming box’s wand disappears without a trace. Android mobile remote support for Google TV arrives today after the company initially announced the feature during Google I/O back in May. (A spokesperson told The Verge the tool will only be available for Android at this time and did not have anything further to share about future iOS support.) Image: Google Support for a mobile remote should be a tremendous help to those of us constantly losing our wands beneath mountains of blankets and pillows, but it should also streamline processes for things like entering long or complicated passwords, search terms, and titles to films and series. Google said that beyond just Google TV, ...

Google Photos’ Locked Folder feature, which lets you hide sensitive photos and videos from your main library and secure them in a passcode- or biometric-protected folder, is coming to all devices running Android 6 and above. The feature was released exclusively on newer Pixel phones in June. Google hasn’t provided an exact date for when the feature is releasing more widely, noting only that it’s “rolling out soon.” When it announced the feature onstage at Google I/O in May, Google gave the wholesome example of the feature being used by parents hiding photos of a newly purchased puppy from their children. But I think it’s fair to say that most people are going to have very different photos stored in their Locked Folder. I don’t know about you, but in all the times I’ve had to wrench my phon...

Google announced a few updates to Android Auto, including a new dashboard for Google Assistant driving mode. Earlier this year, Google shut down the standalone “Android Auto for Phone Screens” app with Android 12. Instead, Android phone owners are now recommended to use the Google Assistant driving mode available within Google Maps or the native Android Auto interface available in select cars. For Android customers with older cars who use their phones for navigation and other functions, Google Assistant driving mode now includes “glanceable, tappable cards” with music, text messages, and other frequently used apps collected all in one place. Customers will be able to use voice commands like “Hey Google, let’s drive” to open the new driving mode dashboard, reducing the need to futz with you...

Google’s raft of new features coming to Android this fall includes some interesting new accessibility features. There are new facial gesture controls designed for people with motor impairments, as well as a new handwriting recognition feature for Lookout, a Google app that uses a phone’s camera to help people with low vision or blindness. There are also improvements coming for Google Assistant, Digital Wellbeing, Nearby Share, and Google’s Android keyboard. There are two parts to Android’s facial gesture controls. Camera Switches (which has previously been spotted in Android 12’s beta) sits within Android’s existing Accessibility Suite and lets you use gestures like opening your mouth or raising your eyebrows to activate various commands. The second part is Project Activate, a standalone a...

Having already introduced the first trackable smart wallet, tech-brand Ekster continues to innovate with its latest limited-edition collection. Ekster’s signature smart wallet is operated by a click of a button, a feature that releases cards in a staggered way for easy access to all the contents inside. Elsewhere, the brand’s solar-powered tracker keeps tabs on your items at any given time through various apps including Google Home and Alexa on the same network as Apple’s AirTag. The new collection is comprised of two iterations, the first being the Aluminum Cardholder crafted from the same space-grade materials found on NASA’s spaceships. The second version is their Carbon Fiber Cardholder which offers an ultra-lightweight design that is 10 times stronger than steel. Despite its slimline ...

The way that Facebook controls its News Feed is often controversial and largely opaque to the outside world. Now the social network is attempting to shine more light on the content it surpresses but doesn’t remove entirely. On Thursday, Facebook published its “Content Distribution Guidelines” detailing the roughly three-dozen types of posts it demotes for various reasons in the News Feed, like clickbait and posts by repeat policy offenders. That process, which relies heavily on machine learning technology to automatically detect problematic content, effectively throttles the reach of offending posts and comments without the author knowing. There’s still plenty that the guidelines, which Facebook has mostly confirmed in various reports over the years but is just now publishing for the...

A week ago, The Wall Street Journal began to publish a series of stories about Facebook based on the internal findings of the company’s researchers. The Facebook Files, as they are known, lay out a dizzying number of problems unfolding on the world’s biggest social network. The stories detail an opaque, separate system of government for elite users known as XCheck; provide evidence that Instagram can be harmful to a significant percentage of teenage girls; and reveal that entire political parties have changed their policies in response to changes in the News Feed algorithm. The stories also uncovered massive inequality in how Facebook moderates content in foreign countries compared to the investment it has made in the United States. The stories have galvanized public attention, and members...

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, has announced plans to force smartphone and other electronics manufacturers to fit a common USB-C charging port on their devices. The proposal is likely to have the biggest impact on Apple, which continues to use its proprietary Lightning connector rather than the USB-C connector adopted by most of its competitors. The rules are intended to cut down on electronic waste by allowing people to re-use existing chargers and cables when they buy new electronics. In addition to phones, the rules will apply to other devices like tablets, headphones, portable speakers, videogame consoles, and cameras. Manufacturers will also be forced to make their fast-charging standards interoperable, and to provide information to customers about w...

This week marks the release of Sable, a beautiful indie title that looks like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild mixed with a comic from Jean “Moebius” Giraud. It’s not just the game’s art that’s striking, though; the whole experience is accompanied by an excellent original soundtrack composed by Michelle Zauner, the frontwoman for the indie rock band Japanese Breakfast. Ahead of Sable’s launch on Thursday and the release of the official soundtrack on Friday, I got the opportunity to talk to Zauner about composing the music for the game. It has a completely different sound than what you might be used to from her other work, so I wanted to know what it was like to make the music and where she got her inspiration. There was a lot to talk about, including glow worms, pop music, a humongo...

TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has revealed that Apple could be releasing a foldable iPhone in 2024. The report arrives just a few months after he stated that the foldable iPhone will most likely feature an 8-inch QHD+ flexible OLED display and a silver nanowire touch solution that’s supplied by Taiwan-based TPK, although his initial prediction was scheduled for 2023. In January 2021, two prototypes for the foldable smartphone supposedly passed Apple’s internal durability test. Ming-Chi Kuo adds that the tech giant may drop an iPhone in the second half of 2023 with an under-display fingerprint. “However, the foldable design may be the most critical selling point for high-end smartphones by then, so we still need to monitor the contribution of the under-display fingerprint to the shipme...