Technology

Twitter is rolling out a new feature that lets any user on the web remove a follower without blocking them, an action also known as a “soft block.” To soft block a follower, head to your profile, click followers, click the three-dot menu next to a follower, and then click the option “Remove this follower.” (You can see what that option looks like in an image from Twitter at the top of this post.) A follower you remove won’t be notified of the change. A soft block is different from a block because it allows a user to still see your tweets and direct message you, but they won’t see your tweets on your feed. That said, when you remove a follower, they can follow you again if they want. The new method is easier than the previous one The feature might be useful if you don’t want to do a full-on...

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen said Monday that she will speak to the platform’s independent Oversight Board at its invitation. “I have accepted the invitation to brief the Facebook Oversight Board about what I learned while working there,” Haugen tweeted. “Facebook has lied to the board repeatedly, and I am looking forward to sharing the truth with them.” Haugen, a former product manager in Facebook’s civic integrity group, leaked a large cache of internal Facebook documents to the Wall Street Journal showing problems within the organization. She appeared on 60 Minutes two days before she testified before Congress that Facebook “repeatedly” misled the public about “what its own research reveals about the safety of children and the efficacy of its artificial intelligence systems as ...

Apple has filed an appeal in response to a ruling in its ongoing legal battle with Epic Games. The tech company went to trial with Epic, the maker of Fortnite, in September. Epic had wanted to install its own version of the App Store on iPhones and iPads, potentially seeking to circumvent the company’s in-app payment methods and the 15% to 30% fees it charges. A federal judge ruled in favor of Apple for nine of the ten counts brought against it by Epic. The judge, however, ordered that Apple must allow app developers to include information about outside payment methods within their apps, which could possibly serve as another way for companies to avoid the App Store’s fees. The ruling is now set to go into effect in two months. In the appeal that Apple filed on Friday, October 8, the compan...

The Nintendo 64 games being re-released as part of the upcoming Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription will run at 60Hz, Nintendo of Europe has confirmed. The news follows concerns reported by Eurogamer that the re-released games, which include classic titles like Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, would run at a reduced 50Hz in European PAL regions. The disparity is a holdover from the days of standard definition TVs which typically used the 50Hz PAL standard in Europe, but the 60Hz NTSC standard in the US. It meant that footage shown on European TVs would refresh 50 times per second, rather than 60 as in the US. This wasn’t a major issue for regular TV content (which typically ran at 30fps in the US and 25fps in PAL regions), but it had a big impact on...

Nintendo’s Switch OLED Model is now available, and even if it’s no Switch Pro, there’s a lot to like about it. But as new owners of the console start enjoying its larger, more vibrant screen, some might also wonder whether they should pay any mind to the classic “risk” of OLED technology: burn-in. In the early days of OLED smartphones, it wasn’t uncommon to find a mistreated demo phone at a carrier or Best Buy that had a ghastly display with home screen icons or a status bar left permanently visible whenever the screen was on. Burn-in could also befall OLED TVs if they were carelessly left on a news channel (with a ticker at the bottom) for many hours. But we’ve come a long way since then. Bloomberg has reported that Samsung Display is supplying the Switch OLED Model’s 7-inch panel, and th...

Google TV is making finding something to watch in a multiuser household a whole lot less chaotic by adding custom profiles, watchlists, and personalized Google Assistant help. Previously, Google TV supported the ability to sign into multiple Google Accounts to be able to use services with more than one account. But content suggestions, the watchlist feature, and Google Assistant functionality were all based on the activity of the primary account holder. With personalized profiles, every user’s recommendations, watchlist, and Google Assistant responses will be tailored to their own interests and activity. A Google spokesperson told The Verge that profiles will start rolling out next month on Chromecast with Google TV as well as Google TVs from TCL and Sony. To streamline the experience, Goo...

Facebook is expanding the Live Audio rooms feature it launched in the US in June to a global audience. In addition to public figures and creators, Facebook is making the feature — a Clubhouse competitor— available to groups as well. When it first launched, Live Audio rooms could be created via Facebook’s iOS app; it’s now added the ability to create rooms in its Android app as well. People will now be able to listen to Live Audio Rooms on desktop, but still have to use a mobile app for creation. Within groups, admins can control who enters an audio room, with private and public options available. The social media giant is also rolling out its Soundbites short-audio feature to more users in the US. Soundbites live in users’ News Feeds; users record a short piece of audio — an anecdote, a jo...

After unveiling his debut book, multi-hyphenate creative and designer Samuel Ross has now officially revealed a collaboration with Beats through A-COLD-WALL*. The collaboration, which first surfaced last month, sees the London-based label take on the Studio3 Wireless headphones, giving them an industrial-inspired design that references its signature aesthetic. The headphones are dressed in A-COLD-WALL* Concrete, with a utilitarian color palette of slate and chalk. Additionally, a black stripe runs down each side of the headphones, with ACW* branding sitting on the sidearms, inner arm and headphone case. The collaboration’s packaging arrives in a similar color palette, and is constructed using recycled wood fiber. Launching the collaboration, A-COLD-WALL*’s Samuel Ross said: “The focus of o...

Google seems poised to announce a new subscription bundle called “Pixel Pass,” which would combine a new Pixel device with an extended warranty and premium subscriptions for several Google services. The unconfirmed bundle has been detailed in a leaked image published by Brandon Lee. It’s unclear how much Pixel Pass would cost, but the documents suggest it will be sold via Google Fi and the Google Store alongside the purchase of a Pixel device. As Lee notes, Pixel Pass appears to combine elements of Apple’s iPhone Upgrade program (which offers an iPhone via monthly subscription payments alongside an extended warranty) and its Apple One subscription services bundle. Pixel Pass could be pitched as a way to simplify access to all these services as well as offering the peace of mind of an exten...

Google says “it’s time” to now bring its mysterious Fuchsia operating system to “additional smart devices and other form factors” beyond smart displays, according to a number of job listings first spotted by 9to5Google. Fuchsia is Google’s newest operating system which was released earlier this year for the company’s first-generation Nest Hub. There’s been a lot of speculation about Google’s plans for Fuchsia, which unlike Android and Chrome OS doesn’t use a Linux kernel (it uses a microkernel called Zircon instead), and whose purpose is still fairly vague despite having been public for over five years. When it arrived on the Nest Hub it was more or less functionally identical to the software that preceded it. The new job listings offer some clues about what’s next for Fuchsia. It’s coming...

Forbes has officially announced its annual list of the 400 richest Americans. The year’s list saw an overall increase in wealth by 40% from $3.2 trillion to $4.5 trillion USD and a raised cutoff net worth from $2.1 billion to $2.9 billion USD. Below is a brief rundown of the facts and figures. For the fourth consecutive year, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos tops the list with a value of $201 billion USD. Following him closely at second is Elon Musk who tripled in net worth since last year to $190.5 billion USD in large part due to the runup in Tesla shares. Taking the third spot is Mark Zuckerberg, who misses the top two spots for the first time in three decades. Bill Gates comes in at number four and Google co-founder Larry Page completes the top five. 51 billionaires dropped from the list incl...

Visual Capitalist recently unveiled their list of the world’s top 100 most valuable brands of 2021. The insights of the report have noted that though must of the 2020 saw many companies experience of the worst declines in sales since the Great Depression, the brands that stand out on top are tech companies. Though many have felt the crippling effects of COVID-19, tech companies like Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft have come out on top. The report takes into consideration the brand’s total financial value and proportional value when ranking the brand value of each compant. For the third consecutive year, Amazon has placed first on the list. Since last year, the brand value for the tech giant has grown 64%, accounting for all areas including its web and subscription services. Apple takes...