Technology

Walt Disney World is offering yet another way to make your experience more magical (or more miserable, depending on how you look at it). Set to launch on October 19th, Disney’s Genie service will grant you a number of wishes, including the ability to skip lines — once you pay up. Image: Disney Disney first introduced the service in an August blog post, noting that you’ll be able to access the Disney Genie service through the My Disney Experience and Disneyland apps. The Disney Genie will serve as your personal trip planner and, if you choose the paid option, will let you jump to the front of your favorite rides’ lines via the Lightning Lane entrances. The only caveat is that you can only choose one ride at a time. While this sounds like a handy service to have, it’s the added cost for the ...

Google is making it easier to doomscroll through search results by automatically loading newer results as you get to the end of the page. Previously, when you got to the end of a page of Google search results, there was a big “See more” button at the bottom you could tap to, well, see more results. With continuously loaded results, you’ll be able to just keep on scrolling to see more. Continuous scrolling does have some advantages; it’s a lot easier to see more results quickly if you don’t have to consciously make a choice to tap the “See more” button. I can’t say I’m looking forward to this change, though, since reaching the end of a Google search page was often a natural place for me to consider if I had learned enough or if I wanted to seek out more information. With continuous scrollin...

The first table lamp speaker from Ikea and Sonos was a little… strange. With its bulbous, mushroom-esque lampshade, fabric-covered speaker, and a plate beneath it all, the original Symfonisk lamp wasn’t exactly a universal fit for home decor. But the concept of a lamp that also doubles as a capable speaker was in itself a good idea — so the companies are back with their second try at it. The new Symfonisk has a more traditional design, fixes the original’s frustratingly limited bulb compatibility, and has a revamped speaker architecture that does a better job spreading sound throughout a room. Ikea is now selling the base/speaker and lampshade separately; the former costs $140, and you can pick between a glass ($39) or textile ($29) shade. The glass shade — I reviewed the black one — is no...

But can it run Crysis? The answer is now yes, no matter what PC you own. Nvidia is bringing Crysis Remastered to its GeForce Now streaming service this week, alongside Crysis Remastered Trilogy, Crysis 2 Remastered, and Crysis 3 Remastered. The remastered version of Crysis includes ray tracing and DLSS support, which can both be enabled by Founders or Priority members of Nvidia’s GeForce Now service. Crysis Remastered will be available from Steam and Epic Games Store on GeForce Now today, with the full Crysis Remastered Trilogy available at launch tomorrow. Most PCs on the market today can stream ‘Crysis’ The vast majority of PCs on the market today, and even some of the budget gaming PCs that existed in 2007, can run Crysis by streaming it from GeForce Now. Nvidia’s system requirements in...

If the TCL 20S and 20SE phones were on The Price Is Right, you would probably guess much higher prices than their retail ones. With the 20S retailing for $250 and the 20SE going for $190, these sub-$300 4G phones are the real deal. They check all the boxes for what you’d want in a smartphone: they have big and bright screens, large 5,000mAh batteries, 128GB of internal storage, and “good enough” cameras. You even get a free clear silicone case inside each box. TCL certainly knows a thing or two about manufacturing budget 4K Smart TVs, affordable soundbars, and many other gadgets. Heck, it was already quietly producing phones for the likes of BlackBerry, Alcatel, and Palm before starting its own eponymous line in 2020. Now it’s taking those skills building other accessibly priced gadgets to...

TSMC has announced plans to expand its chipmaking efforts with a new factory in Japan during its Q3 2021 earnings call, marking the latest expansion for what’s already the world’s largest chipmaker, via Reuters. But the news comes as the company also cautions that supply will be “tight” for chips throughout 2022 as a result on the ongoing shortage. The new plant is planned to focus on producing chips with older technologies, instead of the bleeding-edge processors that TSMC is best known for providing to companies like Apple, AMD, Nvidia, and Qualcomm. That’s particularly important, given that it’s those older chips — like those found in cars for controlling the airbags and seatbelts or the power management chip in an iPhone — that are the ones having the biggest supply issues. But it’ll s...

Apple has quietly extended a repair program for the AirPods Pro that offers free repairs or replacements for earbuds that have issues with noise cancellation or static. Reddit users (via MacRumors) were first to spot the change to Apple’s support page for the repair program, which now notes that the program covers affected AirPods Pro for three years after their first retail sale, rather than two. The page appears to have been updated at the beginning of October. The support program was originally introduced in October 2020, one year after the original release of the AirPods Pro in 2019. It meant that Apple’s repair program was introduced at the exact point that the warranty on launch units was set to expire. With the extension of the repair program to three years, AirPods Pro bought at la...

Framework, makers of the modular 13.5-inch Framework laptop that’s designed to be easily repaired and upgraded, has launched a dedicated marketplace filled with replacement parts and upgrades for its portable computer. Writing in a blog post, the company said the marketplace is currently focused on replacement parts and expansion cards, but that it hopes to add more customization modules like additional language keyboards later this year, as well as third-party and community developed modules in 2022. It’s an important step for the modular laptop, which has been shipping for a little over two months. After all, the laptop’s 10/10 iFixit score for repairability doesn’t matter much if you can’t get a spare part when a component fails. And who cares if a laptop is upgradeable if there aren’t ...

British audio brand Bowers & Wilkins has launched its all-new Zeppelin wireless speaker which has been reimagined for the modern streaming age. The first Zeppelin was initially introduced in 2007 as the “ultimate iPod docking station”, but this new reimagined take — which has been described as being “more detailed and dynamic than ever” — has been given a complete overhaul for 2021. Taking notes from its long-standing experience in creating speakers for both studios and in the home, the brand’s latest release is a complete stereo system in one component. Complete with quality drive unit technologies arranged in left and right speaker assemblies around a large subwoofer, the Zeppelin offers unbeatable room-filling sound. Arriving in two iterations — one “Midnight Grey” the other “Pearl ...

Privacy is on everyone’s mind these days. Last spring, iOS 14.5 introduced a new privacy feature called App Tracking Transparency that may have made its users happier but did not endear Apple to some other companies — specifically Facebook. The feature is still available in iOS 15, along with some new privacy features. Many apps don’t just track your movements inside the app, but they track your movements outside of the app — in other words, where you go after you’ve left the app. This is why you see ads in Facebook and other apps for products you were just looking at on Amazon or other sites. Before 14.5, you could turn tracking off for all of your apps by going to Settings > Privacy > Tracking and turning off “Allow Apps to Request to Track.” The version that first appeared in iOS ...

I don’t know about you, but I sometimes feel like Twitter is overloaded with ads in my feed. Unfortunately, those ads don’t seem to be enough for the company, though, because it’s testing a new place to show them: right in the middle of conversations. The new ad format is in testing on iOS and Android, and you’ll see ads after the first, third, or eighth reply to a tweet if you’re in the test, according to Bruce Falck, Twitter’s revenue product lead. He shared a GIF of what the new in-conversation ads look like: Starting today, we’re trying something different and testing a new ad format in Tweet conversations. If you’re a part of this test (which is global; on iOS & Android only), you’ll see ads after the first, third or eighth reply under a Tweet. ️ pic.twitter.com/kvIGeYt2vp ...

Offshore wind farms could be coming to nearly every coastline along the continental US. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland today announced plans to auction off leases to developers for up to seven new areas by 2025. That includes waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Maine, Central Atlantic, New York Bight (between Long Island and New Jersey), and off the coasts of Oregon, California, and the Carolinas. It’s a big scaling up of offshore wind in the US, which lags far behind Europe when it comes to deployment. The US’ first commercial-scale offshore wind farm just got federal approval in May. Two existing, smaller operations in US waters have a combined capacity of just 42 megawatts. The Biden administration set a goal of pushing capacity up to 30,000 MW by 2030. Europe, home to a majority of t...