Technology

Radiohead is teaming up with Epic Games for Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition — an interactive experience coming to PlayStation 5, PC, and Mac in November as part of the band’s upcoming Kid A Mnesia release. Kid A Mnesia is a commemorative rerelease of Radiohead’s iconic albums Kid A and Amnesiac, along with a third, new album — Kid Amnesiae — of unreleased material from the two original albums’ recording sessions. According to the announcement, the Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition for PlayStation will be an “upside-down digital / analogue universe created from original artwork and recordings” to accompany the rerelease. Given Epic’s recent taste for interactive musical experiences, it’s likely that Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition will offer some sort of experiential new lens into Radiohead’s music, but we’ll fin...

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed a bill regulating how social media companies moderate content. The new law, passed as HB 20 in early September, controversially prohibits banning (or demonetizing or otherwise restricting) content based on “the viewpoint of the user or another person,” whether or not that viewpoint is expressed on the social media platform itself. HB 20 also requires social media services to disclose how they promote and moderate content and mandates transparency reports similar to those produced by Facebook, Google, and other major web companies. If platforms are notified of illegal content, the law requires them to evaluate it within 48 hours, a policy that mirrors at least one proposal in US Congress. (Unlike Congress, however, a state legislative body can’t overrid...

Sony is the latest video game company to put on a big virtual event, and its PlayStation Showcase 2021 didn’t disappoint. It was a chance to show off some of the biggest games coming to the PS5, and while there were some notable absences — Sony still isn’t talking much about the next generation of PlayStation VR — we were able to catch a glimpse of highly-anticipated titles like God of War: Ragnarok, Spider-Man 2, and a remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. There were even a few surprises, like a new Wolverine game. Here’s everything you need to catch up on the showcase. [embedded content] Knights of the old Republic is getting a next-gen remake Sony opened the show with a reveal that’s been rumored for some time: the classic Star Wars role-playing game Knights of the Old Repub...

After a year-long review of millions of e-cigarette–related products, the Food and Drug Administration says it has rejected 946,000 flavored products, prohibiting them from being marketed or sold. It also said that the applications for 4.5 million products were missing materials that the agency required to make a decision. All of those products must also be removed from the market. The FDA said in a statement Thursday that it has reviewed 93 percent of the applications submitted, which included 6.5 million products. It will continue to review the remaining 7 percent of products. Notably, that group includes e-cigarettes made by Juul, a market leader and the company that drew federal attention for its product’s popularity among kids and teenagers, the Wall Street Journal reported. Juu...

A set of 101 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) depicting cartoon apes from Bored Ape Yacht Club just sold for $24.4 million USD at Sotheby’s on Thursday, according to Reuters. The images are part of Bored Ape’s wide-spanning collection of NFTs, which is comprised of 10,000 computer-generated, animated apes, crafted by US-based company Yuga Labs. While the blockchain-backed assets can be viewed by anyone, the NFTs belong to the official buyer, who also becomes a member of an exclusive online club that provides access to various benefits. (To date, those perks have included exclusive merch drops, bonus NFTs and access to an online graffiti board.) The bundle included 101 iterations of the company’s digitized apes, each fitted in various outfits, accessories and facial expressions for their own uniq...

Segway has just unveiled one of the most advanced robotic lawnmowers for your home — the Navimow. Efficient and safe, your yard can be mapped out via the Narimow’s app for a virtual boundary. This boundary can be changed on the fly for situations where large adjustments have been made to the space, like a new flower bed. With a number of sensors, the Narimow is also children and pet safe and has high cutting accuracy thanks to AHRS and four-module GNSS positioning. The Navimow always plans out the most efficient path for the cleanest-looking lawn. Other features include slope climbing capabilities, BladeHalt technology, auto-adjusting blade height, a 54 dB noise level, and an IPX6 waterproof rating. Depending on your specs and lawn size requirements, the Segway Navimow ranges from $1,425 –...

California is close to enacting a first-of-its-kind law that would block Amazon and other companies from punishing warehouse workers who fail to meet certain performance metrics for taking rest or meal breaks. If enacted, the bill, AB 701, would allow warehouse workers to challenge performance goals that many say discourage them from taking bathroom breaks or other rest breaks throughout the work day. The bill was written in response to high rates of reported injuries at Amazon warehouses where performance quotas are algorithmically enforced. The California Senate approved the measure on Wednesday, sending it back to the Assembly where minor changes can be made before it finally lands on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. Newsom has not signaled whether he would sign the bill. “The bill is the firs...

Spotify is rolling out a new feature called “Enhance,” which will automatically spiff up your playlists with recommended songs that (theoretically) fit in with your music’s existing style and theme. The feature works through a new Enhance button that now appears at the top of playlists. Tap it to toggle it on, which causes Spotify’s algorithm to automatically add recommended songs that it thinks will fit into your playlist. Enhance-recommended songs will be marked with a bright green sparkles icon to indicate that they weren’t part of your original list and can be added permanently by tapping the plus button that appears next to the song. Spotify’s algorithm is here to spice up your playlists with new songs Songs added through Enhance won’t replace or mess with your existing playlist songs...

YouTube is cutting the number of subscribers you need to be able to make Community posts in half, the company announced Thursday. Starting October 12th, instead of requiring 1,000 subscribers, you’ll need more than 500 subscribers. In a tweet, YouTube said that will open up the feature to “millions” more channels. Community posts are Facebook-like news or status updates from creators that can be found on a dedicated Community tab on their profile. Sometimes, you might also see them in the Home or Subscriptions tab. The feature was designed to replace the Discussion tab, which will be officially removed from all channels on October 12th, YouTube said Thursday. For creators with fewer than 500 subscribers who want to use the Community posts feature, YouTube says it is “working to bring Commu...

The biggest industrial plant yet to suck tons of planet-heating carbon dioxide out of the air came online yesterday in southwest Iceland. Direct air capture plants like this one have been hyped up lately by world leaders and giant corporations — notably Microsoft — that are looking to erase their legacy of greenhouse gas pollution. This particular operation is ideally located to test the emerging technology. The new plant, built by Swiss company Climeworks, is powered by renewable energy from a geothermal power plant nearby. Climeworks also plans to lock the captured CO2 away in basalt rock formations just three kilometers from the geothermal plant. It’s a storage plan that likely bypasses the need for controversial new carbon dioxide pipelines. “It’s going to be, I think, an interesting t...

Known for his unstoppable and innovative creativity, Hiroshi Fujiwara shows no signs of slowing down on his famous track of collaborations. With an impressive roster that includes Moncler, Maserati and Travis Scott, he is now adding the Japanese household brand Hokkyoku to his seemingly endless list of partners, continuing to tap into every corner of culture to bring Fujiwara’s boundless creativity to life. This time around, the legendary designer takes on technology brand MSI with the Creator Z16 HIROSHI FUJIWARA Limited Edition notebook. The unprecedented laptop collaboration also marks the first time this particular model is reimagined by an outside source. As its name suggests, Creator Z16 is tailored to meet creators’ needs. It also explains MSI’s choice of collaborator, bringing on a...

FTX sold its own NFT, a handwritten graphic that spelled “Test” at $270,000 USD. Dubbed “Testing Testing 123 #1,” the first NFT art produced by the crypto exchange platform’s CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is a test of NFT listing on the FTX US. The minimal piece is “extra rare” as mentioned by the platform’s tweet as it is a one and only piece. The crypto exchange platform has announced earlier in the week to enable users to mint custom NFTs, which are based on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. Since a spamming of pictures of a fish has flooded the submissions, the executive took to Twitter to announce a one-time charge of $500 USD to submit NFTs, later switched to $10 USD due to the strong reaction from the community. Alright, attempt #3: Now, it costs a flat $10 per NFT to mint them, no up-fr...