Technology

Pinterest is launching a search tool to help people narrow their hair inspiration searches by hair pattern. When users search for hairstyles, new filter options — for coily, curly, wavy, and straight textures, as well as shaved / bald and protective styles — will appear under the search bar. The filters should be particularly useful for people of color looking for styles tailored to their hair textures, and Pinterest says they were created with Black, brown, and Latinx people in mind. “Just the simple idea that I don’t have to work twice as hard to find a hairstyle because of my hair type is a game changer,” says Naeemah LaFond, an editorial hair stylist and global artistic director of the Amika hair care brand, who advised Pinterest during the feature’s development. The new feature builds...

Shortly after reports stated that OnlyFans was looking to pivot away from pornography, the social media platform has now launched its on-demand streaming service, OFTV. OFTV will feature free, original content from OnlyFans creators focusing on topics like fitness, cooking, comedy, music and more. These creators will have the freedom to release short and long-form videos, while their viewers can take a look on their phones, tablets and smart TVs. “From the onset of launching OnlyFans, we have been a creator-first platform to give creators further autonomy and power over their content,” Tim Stokely, OnlyFans founder and CEO, said in a statement. “We’re all about giving creators more opportunities to get their content out there and more ways for our community to access it.” The streaming ser...

Google has started to push out the silent upgrade to its new Fuchsia operating system on first-gen Nest Hub devices (known as the Google Home Hub on release), meaning the secretive project will be broadly used by consumers after years of opaque development. The OS, which unlike Android isn’t based on Linux and uses a microkernel called Zircon, was previously made available to some devices enrolled in a preview program back in May. Now, Google has confirmed to 9to5Google that a new firmware update for non-preview Nest Hub devices includes the Fuchsia upgrade, meaning that all first-gen devices should be running Fuschia already or very soon. I just checked the one on my desk — which Google explains how to do here — and sure enough, turns out it’s on Fuchsia right now. You might’ve thought I’...

Towards the latter parts of last year we saw a unique collaboration from ACRONYM’s Errolson Hugh and ASUS‘s gaming sub-brand ROG in the form of an upgraded ROGZEPHYRUS G14 laptop which received a great reception for fans of both brands. Now, ASUS ROG has worked with diamond-selling DJ/Producer Alan Walker on a new collaborative G14 that features a number of custom upgrades to offer a new experience. Asus This release naturally incorporates numerous elements of Walker’s personal interests and the cosmetic touches greet us right off the bat with a reflective belt on the top of the unit alongside a striking spectre blue LED AniMe Matrix display showcasing the artist’s logo. Users will also have the ability to customize this area with new animations, notification options and a virtual pet than...

Amazon has removed two of its Hub lockers from parks in Chicago after public outcry over blocked sidewalks, Block Club Chicago writes. While they offer a convenient place to pick up packages and drop off returns, a locker making a public park less accessible might not be the kind of tradeoff even a devoted Amazon customer is comfortable with. Photos shared by the 33rd Ward Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez make it pretty clear how egregious the placement was, at least in Brands Park. Technically, you could still roll by the locker and get to the rest of the park, but that possibility goes away as soon as someone stands in front to get something out. I’ve spent a good part of my morning handling the placement of an Amazon box at a park in my ward. On this instance apparently it was installed in ...

On Tuesday, Twitter announced that it will begin testing a new reporting feature for users to flag tweets containing possible misinformation. Starting today, users will be able to report misinformation through the same process as harassment or other harmful content, through the dropdown menu at the top right of every tweet. Users will be prompted to select whether the misleading comment is political, health-related, or falls into another category. The politics category includes more specific forms of misinformation like content related to elections. The health category will also include an option for users to flag COVID-19-specific misinformation. The new feature will be available on Tuesday for most users in the US, Australia, and South Korea. Twitter said it expects to run this experimen...

For the first time in many years, August will come and go without the introduction of a new Galaxy Note smartphone from Samsung. Instead, with their lower prices and improved durability, the company is giving its latest foldables — the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 — a firm push into the mainstream phone market. With the Z Flip selling for a penny under $1,000, it’s certain to stand out from the iPhone and Samsung’s own Galaxy S21 devices that cost a similar amount (or more). But for repeat buyers of Notes past and present, it does feel like there’s something missing. We’re talking about the brand that established Samsung as the leading manufacturer of huge phones. Yet the company has completely skipped producing a new Note this year and has tried to explain it away with a simple “no...

Update August 17th, 6:04PM ET: Sony appears to have sold out of PS5 consoles for the day. We’ll make sure to let you know when the next opportunity comes up. Sony began releasing a fresh batch of PlayStation 5 consoles through its online storefront today at 5:15PM ET / 2:15PM PT. Both the $499.99 version of the PS5 that can accept discs and the discless version that costs $100 less are currently available for order, however, there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to purchase one if you make it through the public queue, which can take an upwards of an hour. If you’re unfamiliar with Sony’s ordering process, it uses a slightly better queuing system that automatically places you in line if you’re on its site when the sale goes live. Consoles still tend to sell out quickly, as they have done sinc...

Roku users who’ve been unable to get Charter’s Spectrum TV app through the platform’s channels store can once again do so after months of being unable to download it. Roku announced on its blog today that new and existing users can access Spectrum TV on its devices by signing into the app using their Charter broadband credentials or by signing up for an account through Roku. The agreement resolves an ongoing carriage dispute that resulted in Roku pulling the Spectrum TV app from its store in December. The companies issued a joint statement on Tuesday that both had come to “a mutually beneficial agreement to renew distribution of the Spectrum TV App.” “As a result of the renewal, the Spectrum TV App is now available for download from the Roku channel store,” the companies write. “We are ple...

Intel’s RealSense computer vision tech will soon be going away, as the company is “winding down” the business, according to CRN. If you don’t remember the tech from January of this year, where Intel pitched it as a way to create facial recognition systems, you may remember it from some incredible tech demos (or possibly a few devices, if you were really paying attention). Now that the tech is on its way out, perhaps it’s a good time to look back at some of the cool ways we’ve seen it shown off to remember the good times. CES 2013 — Intel talks about, and demos, what it calls “perceptual computing.” The company pitches its tech as a way to interact with your computer by moving and talking, and the next year… CES 2014 — Intel announces its RealSense 3D cameras, which it says will bring...

Twitter announced Tuesday that select users in the U.S., South Korea and Australia will be able to report a tweet containing possible misinformation. “We’re testing a feature for you to report Tweets that seem misleading—as you see them,” Twitter explained. “We’re assessing if this is an effective approach so we’re starting small.” Those with access to the feature will be able to report a tweet by clicking on the three grey dots on the right side of a post. There, an option reading “Report Tweet” will lead to a new page where users will be able to report content as misleading. Users will be asked to select whether the misleading tweet is political, health-related, or relating to a different category, before specifying further information in their report. Twitter has not disclosed how many ...