Technology

LG’s 2020 and 2021 4K and 8K TVs can now turn on Filmmaker Mode automatically when you’re watching content from Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service, LG has announced. Filmmaker mode was launched in 2019 as a convenient way to turn off picture processing features like motion smoothing and image sharpening, which can create a horrid unnatural look often referred to as the “soap opera effect.” LG calls Prime Video’s ability to automatically trigger Filmmaker Mode an “industry first.” It delivers on a promise the company made when it first introduced the setting to its TVs back at CES 2020, when it said it would be offering an API to streaming apps to enable the mode automatically. Although it’s previously been possible to manually turn on the mode via a TV’s settings menu, automatic switch...

Microsoft is updating its PowerToys for Windows with new UI changes for Windows 11, a universal video conference mute, and a find my mouse feature. The software maker has been gradually improving PowerToys ahead of the Windows 11 launch, with a settings interface to match the OS and now changes to its PowerRename feature that better match the Windows 11 design improvements. PowerRename, a feature to make it easier to rename files, no longer looks like it has a dialog box from the Windows 7 era. Microsoft has updated PowerRename with a far more modern interface, and easier to find options for renaming files in bulk. Alongside the design tweaks, PowerToys is also getting two new features with this 0.49 version update. Video Conference Mute debuts with this release, a feature that lets you mu...

Following a historic announcement that Facebook‘s company name will change to Meta in order to better reflect the company’s goals of building out the metaverse, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth announced that the company will also be phasing out its Oculus branding. Virtual reality is currently the most immersive way for individuals to access the metaverse, and with ambitious goals of bringing 1 billion people into VR, Meta wants to make it clear that the Quest product line comes from them. Beginning 2022, the Oculus Quest line will be rebranded as Meta Quest, the Oculus App will be known as the Meta Quest App, and the Facebook Portal video device will be named Meta Portal. Bosworth also announced that the Meta Horizon brand will expand to encompass all first-party immersive social experiences, ad...

There’s good news in the latest version of the White House budget deal: the proposed federal tax credit for new electric bike purchases has survived the most recent round of Congressional bloodletting. Not only that, but it’s been restored to its former glory of 30 percent, after the House of Representatives slashed it to 15 percent. Still, it’s a hugely important proposal for a product that is still struggling to reach mass adoption. If the deal passes in its current form, e-bikes would become significantly cheaper for most Americans. In turn, that could mean a significant change in the transportation options for millions of people around the country. The legislation would offer Americans a refundable tax credit worth 30 percent of a new e-bike’s purchase price, capped at $1,500. All thre...

The company unveiled a new name and vision for the future in its keynote Contributors: Verge Staff Facebook held its virtual reality labs Connect event on Thursday, where CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would be rebranding as Meta and showed off his vision of a metaverse that inspired the name change. During the prerecorded livestream, we saw the company’s plans for Oculus VR, which included a tease for a new high-end headset, the addition of a more customizable home space, and fitness-focused accessories, as well as a VR remake of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. We also got to see a lot of videos that involved virtual avatars going to concerts, playing ping-pong, and more. Since the stream ended, more details have come out about the company’s rebranding, including that the O...

While a portion of the world is currently recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, global shipping is still being largely affected, and Amazon is now prepared to spend billions in order to offset these delays during the upcoming holiday season. In a press release announcing the e-commerce giant’s Q3 2021 results, new CEO Andy Jassy says that Amazon will incur “several billion dollars of additional costs” due to various Coronavirus-related factors that have surfaced over the past year, including labor shortages, slow supply chains across the world, and more expensive shipping costs. “It’ll be expensive for us in the short term,” the Jassy said, “but it’s the right prioritization for our customers and partners.” That said, Amazon has still performed exceptionally over the past quarter, recordi...

Just as Bitcoin reached its all-time high of almost $66,000 USD a little more than a week ago, cryptocurrencies at large rode the wave, and now the world’s largest altcoin Ethereum has also set a new record high. Currently sitting as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, ETH saw an increase of 3.5% earlier today to reach an all-time high of $4,403.93 USD, surpassing its previous record of $4,379.62 USD back in May. Ethereum itself has long been the most used blockchain, with more than 3,000 decentralized apps — referred to as Dapps — running on the platform. The surge in value also coincides with the network’s latest Altair upgrade, which Ethereum 2.0 developer Preston Van Loon announced was successfully activated just earlier in the week. On top of ETH, other altcoins also ra...

Amazon wants to avoid holiday shipping delays as much as you do. The company said today that it plans to spend “several billion dollars” to avoid problems during the holidays, which might extend from product delivery issues to keeping items in stock. The money will be spent on increased pay for workers, heightened shipping costs, and mitigating supply chain issues. “It’ll be expensive for us in the short term, but it’s the right prioritization for our customers and partners,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said today in the company’s third-quarter earnings release. The big spending comes as both a promise and a warning. Amazon’s earnings disappointed investors with a significant dip in quarterly profits from last year. That’s largely due to increased spending across the board — the company spent $3...

Apple today posted strong earnings for its fourth fiscal 2021 quarter, reporting all-time highs for its services and Mac divisions. The company says it took in revenue of $83.4 billion, a year-over-year increase of 29 percent, and earnings per share of $1.24. That earnings number came in below Wall Street expectations of $84.85 billion. CEO Tim Cook told CNBC that supply chain constraints had a clear impact on financial results this quarter. “We had a very strong performance despite larger than expected supply constraints, which we estimate to be around $6 billion,” Cook said, attributing the supply issues to “the industry-wide chip shortages that have been talked about a lot and COVID-related manufacturing disruptions in Southeast Asia.” Apple expects an even greater loss from supply chai...

In the first leaked images of Facebook’s smartwatch, it’s clear: there’s a notch, which is the kind of thing people love to make fun of, and what appears to be a front-facing camera. In the photo, the watch’s screen is off, but the beady little camera eye is clearly visible. The photo, which was first reported on by Bloomberg, was found inside the company’s app for its Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses. The watch, referred to as “Milan” in the code, has a large display like the Apple Watch — but that smartwatch doesn’t have a camera. The picture today may not be a version that consumers ever see, according to Bloomberg. Still, it confirms earlier reporting about Facebook’s work. If this is the same watch as the one we reported on in June, there will also be a second, detachable camera. The fro...