Technology

Streamers took a day off Twitch on September 1st to bring attention to the persistent hate raids that have plagued the platform in the past weeks. While skeptics panned the idea, suggesting that the walkout participants weren’t influential enough to effect significant traffic changes, according to data compiled by Gamesight, a gaming analytics company, Twitch did see a drop in viewership. Gamesight.io In this graph shared with The Verge, Gamesight measured the number of active channels (meaning the number of live channels) and hours watched every day for the last nine days at noon Pacific Time. According to Gamesight’s data, the number of active channels and viewer hours at 12PM PT on September 1st was at its lowest compared to the prior eight days. Here’s a breakdown of those numbers. Dai...

The launch of Super Follows marked the beginning of the end for truly free content on Twitter, and the start of whatever Patreon-infused future lays ahead for the microblogging app. Supporting creators directly with monthly payments isn’t a bad thing, but as app researcher Jane Manchun Wong spotted on Thursday, the way they currently work on iOS is a little weird — each Super Follow subscription is an individual App Store in-app purchase (via MacRumors). You can see for yourself by pulling up the App Store on an Apple device or the web. Twitter currently only lists 10 in-app subscriptions of various prices, each associated with Super Following an individual creator. Wong speculates only 10 are shown because the App Store isn’t designed to show as many in-app purchases as Twitter is current...

This story is part of a group of stories called Only the best deals on Verge-approved gadgets get the Verge Deals stamp of approval, so if you’re looking for a deal on your next gadget or gift from major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and more, this is the place to be. Labor Day deals are finally getting into full swing, with a slew of notable discounts going live on some major hardware and accessories across the tech spectrum. Whether you’re picking up some last-minute gear for school or preparing to hunker down for the fall TV season with your favorite streaming device, this weekend might be the last real opportunity for you to save some serious money on TVs, headphones, and other gadgets until Black Friday and Cyber Monday roll around. To make sorting through th...

Amazon is set to release Amazon-branded TVs as soon as October in the US, according to Insider. The TVs will have Alexa, screen sizes “in the range of 55 to 75 inches,” and will be designed and manufactured by third parties such as TCL, Insider reports. The company is also developing a TV designed in-house, Insider says, but it’s unclear when that might be released. Amazon already has many irons in the fire with TVs — it partners with Best Buy to sell Toshiba and Insignia TVs that run Amazon’s Fire TV software, offers an AmazonBasics-branded TV in India, and has the Amazon Fire TV Stick and Amazon Fire TV Cube, which you can hook up to your TV. But this rumored new Amazon-branded TV could indicate that the company is stepping up its television efforts to take on TV stalwarts like LG and Sa...

Twitter might soon start allowing its users to tip its favorite content creators in Bitcoin. The social network’s head of consumer product, Kayvon Beykpour, responded to a tweet by researcher Alessandro Paluzzi, who first spotted the new feature, with emojis suggesting that the feature would be arriving soon. ⚡️? https://t.co/EumSmM9caR — Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) September 1, 2021 According to Paluzzi’s tweet, the cryptocurrency tips would be handled through Lightening, a decentralized network using smart contracts to enable instant payments. Twitter first announced its Tip Jar feature in May, which allows users to list payment services or platforms that the account is connected to. Currently, the services available in this function include Bandcamp, Cash App, Patreon, PayPal...

Amazon is planning to expand its in-house moderation team for Amazon Web Services, according to a new report from Reuters. Citing two sources within the company, the report says Amazon is planning to develop a proactive threat monitoring capability within AWS, which will seek out prohibited content on AWS servers and remove it before it’s reported by users. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “Companies need to proactively monitor what’s on their platforms” The company has long maintained an Acceptable Use Policy for AWS, which forbids using the service for computer intrusions, spam, or the promotion of violence or other crimes. But enforcement of those terms has been largely reactive, often relying on external user reports to identify prohibited content. While the...

Labor Day in the US is a great opportunity to get deals on many types of tech products. Of course, we’re covering all of the best discounts across categories in our detailed guide to the best Labor Day sales, but we’ve made this post just to focus on the many 4K TV deals happening this weekend. There are deals on value-focused models that make it easy to get started right away with streaming TV and movie content, as well as TVs that have high-end features and a higher cost. The best Labor Day deals on affordable 4K TVs TCL is usually known for TVs that come with Roku TV hardware built-in, but has started more recently to put out models that run on Android TV. Not to be confused with the even newer Google TV-equipped models that have a microphone built into the TV, you can get the 55-inch v...

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman shared more details Thursday about what to expect from the rumored bigger screens coming to the next Apple Watch. Gurman has previously reported that the next watch, which he says will be called the Apple Watch Series 7, will be offered in 41mm and 45mm screen sizes. In his new article, he reiterated those sizes and added that the larger model’s screen will measure 1.9 inches diagonally, up from 1.78 inches on the bigger Series 6, and offer about 16 percent more pixels with a resolution of 396 x 484, up from 368 x 448. Both Series 7 watches will also have thinner borders around their screens, Gurman says. Apple is working on new watchfaces Apple is also working on new watchfaces. One, called Modular Max, will apparently show the time, one small complication, and the...

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo is grounded until the Federal Aviation Administration completes and signs off on an investigation into the company’s high-profile test flight carrying Richard Branson, the agency said Thursday. During that July flight, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo veered out of its approved airspace on its descent toward land, the FAA said. The company “may not return the SpaceShipTwo vehicle to flight until the FAA approves the final mishap investigation report or determines the issues related to the mishap do not affect public safety,” an FAA spokesperson said on Thursday. SpaceShipTwo, a winged suborbital space tourism plane that launches to the edge of space from a carrier aircraft, landed its crew of Branson and three company employees safely. But it wasn’t until this ...

Apple reportedly plans to expand the Apple Watch‘s health capabilities. Specifically, the tech giant has aspirations to implement new monitoring features such as temperature, blood pressure, blood sugar and sleep, reports the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The watch’s original primary health feature was its ability to detect heart rate and irregular heart rhythm. The most recent model, Apple Watch Series 6, was expanded to include ECG monitoring and blood oxygen monitoring as well. The current features broadened the possibilities of health monitoring from an everyday device. The ECG feature specifically is similar to a single-lead electrocardiogram, which can detect heart rhythm. To bring about the newly proposed features, Apple has to implement a new range of watch sensors. Regarding the bloo...

Samsung has just unveiled two new impressive mobile phone camera sensors. First is the ISOCELL HP1, the industry’s first 200-megapixel image sensor with 0.64μm pixels. This sensor brings ultra-high-resolution and low-light performance. Using ChameleonCel pixel-binning technology, the HP1 is able to shift to a 12.5MP image sensor with large 2.56μm pixels by joining 16 pixels as one. The HP1 can also record 8K videos at 30fps without having to crop or scale down the full image resolution. The ISOCELL GN5 sensor revolutionizes mobile imaging with the ability to focus in all directions. This can focus both horizontally and vertically to adjust to pattern changes with the help of one million phase-detecting multi-directional photodiodes. “Samsung has been pioneering ultrafine pixel technologies...