Technology

Apple has issued an emergency cybersecurity update after learning of a new spyware vulnerability. According to reports, the vulnerability was discovered by tech research firm Citizen Labs and is described as a “zero-day zero-click exploit” that affects a whole host of Apple devices that run on iOS, macOS and watchOS. The researchers found it while looking through an iPhone owned by a Saudi Arabian activist that was known to be infected by a spyware program from Israel’s NSO Group, who created Pegasus. “This spyware can do everything an iPhone user can do on their device and more,” said Citizen Labs senior researcher John Scott-Railton. Since the discovery, Apple has responded with an emergency update for all affected devices on Monday, also pointing out that it was “aware of a report that ...

Xiaomi has announced a pair of smart glasses called Xiaomi Smart Glasses. A company spokesperson tells The Verge that there’s no plan to actually put them on sale, but Xiaomi has provided enough detail to make the concept product seem somewhat plausible — at least for some point in the future. Xiaomi’s glasses have a relatively conventional form factor, but unlike Facebook and Ray Ban’s just-announced Stories glasses, they actually do have a display that can be used for AR features. Xiaomi says it went with a monochrome MicroLED system because of its “higher pixel density and longer lifespan while having a simpler structure” when compared to OLED. According to Xiaomi, MicroLED “allows for a more compact display, as well as easier screen integration.” MicroLED is a self-emissive display tec...

Many of Logitech’s previous wireless gaming headsets cost more than $100, but its latest is a relative bargain without compromising too much on comfort or features. The G435 Lightspeed costs $80, comes in three colorways, and can connect wirelessly to a PC or PlayStation console via its USB dongle, and to a phone, tablet, or other devices via a low-latency Bluetooth connection (Logitech didn’t share specific millisecond latency specs in time for publication). The headset will be available sometime in September 2021 from Logitech’s site. Its design picks up where the G733 Lightspeed left off, with lots of color, breathable mesh fabric, and plastic all around. There are some differences, both cosmetic and functional. Logitech says the G435 Lightspeed was designed primarily for smaller heads,...

Instagram is testing a Favorites feature, where users can add specific accounts where their posts will be prioritized to rank higher in users’ feeds. Leaker Alessandro Paluzzi has made a tweet about the trial feature by Instagram with screenshots demonstrating how it works: users will be able to add accounts as “Favorites,” and those posts will be pushed at the top of users’ feed. This function gives users more control over the content they prefer to see and helps the platform’s algorithm to understand the interest of users more. Other than manually inputting those accounts, the Facebook-owned platform will also suggest different accounts for you to include on your favorite list. The Favorites feature in the feed is similar to the Close Friend feature rolled out in Instagram Stories, where...

If you made an Nvidia GeForce Now server spit out a confidential list of thousands of games, some never-before-seen, would you think they were legit? Fake? Somewhere in between? That’s not a rhetorical question, because developer Ighor July has found such a list — including games like the PlayStation exclusive God of War seemingly coming to Windows PC via Steam. If you’d like to scan it yourself, SteamDB creator Pavel Djundik published a version to GitHub, too. Here’s a screenshot of what that looks like in the GeForce Now client, according to the developer: There are reasons to believe some of what the list contains might be legit. Nvidia confirmed to The Verge that it’s a real list, although the company claims it’s “used only for internal tracking and testing” and includes “speculative t...

It has been a contentious year for WhatsApp. In January, a simple effort to update its terms of service to enable some commerce features triggered a massive backlash in India, helping its rival Signal to double its user base in a month. In May, the Facebook-owned messaging app sued India over new rules issued by the country’s IT ministry that could break end-to-end encryption around the globe. And just last week, a widely read report in ProPublica drew attention to the service’s use of human reviewers to investigate potential violations of WhatsApp’s terms of service, in part by reading the five most recent messages in any reported exchange. Writing about ProPublica’s story, I took exception to the idea that allowing users to report bad actors is necessarily bad for privacy. (After publica...

Samsung has announced that it’s rolling out a public beta of Android 12 for Galaxy S21 devices, just a few weeks ahead of when we expect the final OS to be officially available for the first time on Pixel phones. Samsung is touting that it is managing to get these betas out earlier every year, though this year it’s only by a week or two compared to 2020. Registration for the beta program will begin on September 14th, the same day the iPhone 13 is announced. Users will need to register in the Samsung Members app to try it — and if Samsung repeats the past, the number of open slots will be limited. It’s only available in the U.S. as of now. The beta is actually for Samsung’s One UI 4, its version of Android. That distinction is important because one of the major changes in Android 12 is how ...

Twitter has committed to labeling tweets containing misleading information about COVID-19 vaccines, but the company says a recent Nicki Minaj tweet which claimed that “the vaccine” made her cousin’s friend impotent does not violate its rules. There is no known scientific evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine could cause a fertility problem in men or women; the CDC dedicates an entire page to debunking those fears. “My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent,” Minaj tweeted to her 22.6 million followers. “His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not bullied.” Tweet by Nicki Minaj While Minaj clearly sugges...

Four people are set to launch to space Wednesday night aboard a SpaceX capsule, and none of them are professional astronauts. Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist, booked the Crew Dragon capsule last year and picked three normal folks to ride with him. It will be the first completely private mission to orbit. Dubbed Inspiration 4, the mission is a multimillion-dollar fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Hospital and — like a lot of recent flights to space these days — an effort to convince those watching from the ground that space won’t be always be exclusive to government officials and the ultra-wealthy. Isaacman’s crew includes Hayley Arceneaux, a cancer survivor and St. Jude physician assistant; Sian Proctor, a geology professor and former NASA astronaut candidate...

Sennheiser’s CX Plus true wireless earbuds aren’t its first pair to offer noise cancellation, but it’s the first time the feature has appeared on its more affordable CX range. At $179, the CX Plus are more expensive than the $129 CX True Wireless announced earlier this year, but they’re affordable compared to the flagship $300 Momentum True Wireless 2. Beyond noise cancellation, the CX Plus also include a transparent hearing mode, which uses their microphones to pass through audio from the outside world when you need to be aware of your surroundings. It’s got an IPX4 resistance to splashing water, two microphones on each earbud, and battery life that stands at a total of 24 hours when the buds are topped up from the charging case (compared to 27 hours for the cheaper CX, and 28 for the Mom...