Technology

Apple’s promised Conversation Boost feature that uses the AirPods Pro to make it easier to hear people’s voices is available now (via Macrumors). Support for the new feature was included as part of the same update that made it easier to find AirPods Pro and AirPods Max using the Find My app. Conversation Boost is included as a Custom Transparency Mode in Apple’s headphone accommodations. When the feature is enabled, the beam-forming microphones on the AirPods Pro attempt to isolate voices above any background noise and other conversations. There’s also access to sliders to modify the amplification, transparency, and tone of what you hear. If your AirPods Pro are running firmware 4A400, you can enable Conversation Boost as a Custom Transparency Mode. You can enable the feature for yourself ...

Windows 11 is officially out, but if you’ve got an AMD Ryzen processor, you might want to hold off on updating for a bit: the company is reporting that its chips might have issues with the new OS that could cause performance drops of up to 15 percent in some cases. AMD and Microsoft have found two main issues with Windows 11 on Ryzen. The first is that Windows 11 may cause L3 cache latency to triple. AMD says that the issue could cause 3–5 percent worse performance in most affected applications, while some games (AMD specifically calls out those “commonly used for eSports”) could see performance dips of 10–15 percent. Windows 11 is also having issues with AMD’s “preferred core” technology, which usually aims to shift threads over to the fastest core on a processor. AMD warns that users cou...

Twitch on Wednesday confirmed via Twitter that the company has suffered a major data breach. “We can confirm a breach has taken place,” the company wrote. “Our teams are working with urgency to understand the extent of this. We will update the community as soon as additional information is available.” We can confirm a breach has taken place. Our teams are working with urgency to understand the extent of this. We will update the community as soon as additional information is available. Thank you for bearing with us. — Twitch (@Twitch) October 6, 2021 Twitch released its statement after an anonymous hacker reportedly shared more than 120 gigabytes of the company’s data on an online forum called 4chan. The data included the source code for Twitch’s streaming service, details on how much ...

Two NASA astronauts originally slated to launch on an upcoming flight of Boeing’s new Starliner spacecraft have been reassigned to an upcoming SpaceX flight instead, as delays continue to push back Starliner’s next flight to space. Astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada were supposed to be among the first human passengers on Starliner during its first crewed flights in the coming years. Now, they’ll fly together on SpaceX’s fifth crewed mission to the International Space Station, which is slated to take place in the fall of 2022. Mann and Cassada were first assigned to fly on Starliner in 2018. Mann was supposed to fly on the Starliner’s first crewed test flight, along with Michael Fincke and Butch Wilmore — a critical test to prove that Starliner is safe to carry people. Cassada was slat...

Medical device company Medtronic issued an urgent recall of the remote controller for certain insulin pumps because they’re vulnerable to hacks. It’s possible for someone to copy the signals sent from the controllers to the pumps and deliver or block a dose of insulin, which could be dangerous for diabetic patients using the pumps. In the recall statement, Medtronic said that it wasn’t aware of any situations where this type of hack has occurred. The company was first made aware of the issue in 2018 after an independent cybersecurity researcher found the vulnerability and told users about the problem. That initial alert told users how to disable the remote control feature when they weren’t using it. Now, the company says people shouldn’t use the remotes. “After further review, Medtronic ha...

For weeks, Facebook has stared down mounting anxiety over a leaked internal study about the harmful effects of Instagram on teenage girls — and Tuesday night, Mark Zuckerberg finally responded to the scandal personally. In an open letter to Facebook staff, Zuckerberg scoffed at concerns raised by whistleblower Frances Haugen, doubling down on earlier Facebook claims that the report has been misinterpreted. “If we’re going to have an informed conversation about the effects of social media on young people, it’s important to start with a full picture,” Zuckerberg wrote. “We’re committed to doing more research ourselves and making more research publicly available.” But for researchers who study social media, the internal study that sparked the controversy was mostly confirmation of what they a...

Facebook is slowing down the release and development of some new products and features to make sure they won’t bring more scrutiny towards the company or harm children, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The “reputational reviews” come as Facebook is facing backlash from the public and policymakers after a wave of reports citing Facebook’s own research showing ways Instagram could have a negative effect on teen girls’ mental health. Facebook was also slammed in congressional hearings by whistleblower Frances Haugen, who shed more light on Facebook’s internal research, as well as its business model and algorithms. Some of Facebook’s recent public actions and statements back up the idea that it’s being extra careful right now. In late September, the company announced it’s “pau...

Snapchat on Wednesday announced a new method for its creators to make money on the platform, as part of the company’s push to compete with leading social media apps including TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. Dubbed “Spotlight Challenges,” the new initiative will allow Snapchat users to win cash prizes for producing top-performing Spotlight Snaps with specific Lenses, Sounds or Topics. Winning creators will take home a share of the total prize amount for each Spotlight Challenge, which will typically range from $1,000 USD to $25,000 USD, though the company notes there will be larger amounts for particular challenges. The minimum cash prize a Snapchatter will win is $250 USD. In order to participate, users must visit the Trending Page and select the challenge they would like to enter. The spec...

Buying an upgraded version of a gadget can be complicated. It’s not always immediately clear what’s changed or if those changes are even useful to you; this can happen with iterative phone updates or, more recently, the latest generation of game consoles from Sony and Microsoft. In the case of the latest Switch, though, Nintendo made things easy: all that matters is how much you care about the screen. The new $350 OLED Switch is functionally identical to the version that launched in 2017. It plays all of the same games, has the same interface, and uses the same controllers. Those games don’t have any kind of performance boost; no better frame rates or higher resolution. And aside from some small tweaks — an improved kickstand, a slightly redesigned dock, more storage — the hardware doesn’t...

When Ifeoma Ozoma came forward with allegations of discrimination and racism at Pinterest, she was prepared. She had a list of reporters on deck to share her story. She’d already hired a lawyer. Then she started hearing from other tech workers who also wanted to speak out. “The general lack of awareness around options and resources was shocking,” she says. Now, she’s aiming to fix that. On Wednesday, Ozoma launched the Tech Worker Handbook — a comprehensive online resource to help employees who want to speak out. “Deciding to go toe-to-toe with a powerful and well-resourced corporation is difficult for many reasons,” the website reads. “Access to information about how to find legal counsel, file a complaint with a governmental organization, work with the media, secure personal information,...

Microsoft’s Xbox team is partnering with Adidas to create limited-edition Xbox sneakers. The collaboration will see Adidas produce an Xbox sneaker to mark 20 years since the original release of the Xbox console. The sneakers include the Xbox logo and translucent green details. While this appears to be a limited-edition sneaker that Microsoft will use for giveaways, there will also be a separate Xbox-inspired sneaker available for purchase later this year. “This is just the beginning of our partnership with adidas, and over the next few months we’ll continue to mark our 20th anniversary by launching additional sneakers inspired by past and present Xbox console generations, including the first-ever sneaker available for purchase by our fans later this year,” explains James Monosmith, a marke...

If you think your PC is infected with some kind of malware or you just want to do a scan as part of a digital cleanup, Windows has a built-in security tool that can help you on your way — no third-party software to install or pay for. It’s called Windows Security. Once upon a time, Windows Security was called Windows Defender Security Center, but the app is largely similar. Searching “Windows Defender” in the Start menu will bring up Windows Security, and even now, Microsoft often refers to its actual antivirus scanning as Windows Defender. Microsoft’s built-in anti-malware software used to be thought of as totally worthless, but these days, it can hang with big names like Kaspersky and Avast in independent tests (blocking 99.7% of threats). Microsoft has also been pushing security with Wi...