Technology

Thunderbolt 4 is still relatively early on, but that isn’t stopping Intel from working on its next version of the connectivity standard, Thunderbolt 5. And thanks to a hastily deleted tweet from Intel executive Gregory Bryant that was caught by Anandtech, we’ve already gotten a sneak preview at the next-generation Thunderbolt standard, which could offer twice the speed of Thunderbolt 4 while maintaining physical USB-C plugs. The most notable thing on the post was a title for “80G PHY Technology” — referencing a physical connector that offers 80Gbps connections, which would be twice the speeds offered by Thunderbolt 4 (which maxes out at 40Gbps). Photo: Anandtech The next line confirms that the new technology still plans to use USB-C plugs (“USB 80G is targeted to support the existing USB-C...

Blizzard president J. Allen Brack isn’t the only executive leaving the company today after presiding over a culture now accused of fostering “constant sexual harassment.” Jesse Meschuk, the company’s head of global human resources, has also now departed, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson confirmed to Bloomberg and to The Verge. “Jesse Meschuk is no longer with the company,” wrote an Activision Blizzard spokesperson. The company declined to comment further. Meschuk appears to have deleted his Twitter account as well. While Brack oversaw the entire Blizzard brand and was named in the state of California’s lawsuit as an alleged enabler, Blizzard’s human resources department was also allegedly complicit. The lawsuit suggested that employees were “discouraged from complaining as human resourc...

Just five days after Nikola founder Trevor Milton was indicted, in part, for allegedly misleading investors with footage of a moving truck that was secretly rolling downhill, the hydrogen-trucking startup released footage of a newer prototype driving uphill. The startup showed the video during a presentation of its second quarter financial results on Tuesday. (It also published the footage on YouTube.) While it may be a moral victory for the company to show its truck climbing a 12 percent grade hill in light of the more infamous clip Milton once orchestrated, the release of the footage nonetheless came alongside some bad news: Nikola now expects to deliver half the number of trucks this year than it had originally estimated. Worse, the company said global parts shortages could make it toug...

Elon Musk‘s SpaceX is gearing up to launch the first orbital flight test for Starship, the company’s “full stack” deep-space transportation system, from the company’s site in South Texas, near the Gulf Coast village of Boca Chica. In order to provide a successful launch, SpaceX has created a massive booster, dubbed Super Heavy, that is equipped with enough power to launch the Starship prototype into orbit. “29 Raptor engines and 4 grid fins have been installed on Super Heavy ahead of first orbital flight,” the company tweeted on Monday along with two images. 29 Raptor engines and 4 grid fins have been installed on Super Heavy ahead of first orbital flight pic.twitter.com/XHkCZ9VYK4 — SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 3, 2021 Super Heavy will initially utilize 29 Raptors, though future iterations wil...

Amazon is offering $10 USD in promotional credit to shoppers who register their palm prints in its checkout-free stores and link it to their Amazon account. Amazon says it first introduced its biometric palm scanners, called Amazon One, in September as an easy method of paying for products in-store. As of February, the scanners had been implemented in some of its Whole Foods and Amazon Go stores in Seattle and are now available in 50 locations across the United States. In addition, the company says that thousands of customers have already signed up for the service. On its website, Amazon explained that the palm scanning hardware utilizes “proprietary imaging and computer vision algorithms” to capture the palm’s “distinct features on and below the surface, many that are indiscernible to the...

Microsoft has just revealed its newest Xbox controller — the Aqua Shift Special Edition — and it has a striking, shimmery blue finish that makes it perhaps Microsoft’s flashiest controller yet. But the shiny blue color isn’t its only distinctive feature: the controller also has rubberized side grips that have “a unique dual color swirl on every unit,” according to Microsoft. You can get a close-up look at the controller’s shiny finish and one of the grip patterns in a tweet from Xbox: You can preorder the Aqua Shift Special Edition controller now in “select Xbox markets worldwide” for $69.99. For me here in the US, Microsoft’s store shows an August 31st availability date. The Aqua Shift Special Edition joins the many other Xbox Series X / S controllers that have been released so far. Micro...

Fandango has announced that it will phase out the branding of its “FandangoNOW” streaming service and focus on Vudu as its lone app for rentals and purchases of movies and TV shows. The change means that Vudu will now become the default portal for rentals and purchases on many Roku devices, where FandangoNOW has long been the digital store for movies and TV content. Fandango says the united service will “offer more than 200,000 new release and catalog movies and TV shows to rent or buy, including the largest collection of 4K UHD titles and thousands of titles to watch for free — all with no subscription required.” It’ll also continue to support Movies Anywhere and the high-quality video streams that made Vudu popular among home theater enthusiasts. “By bringing its two services together on...

The first “all-civilian” mission to space is set to blast off on a SpaceX rocket in mid-September, and the process of getting those astronauts trained and (eventually) into orbit will be documented in a new five-part Netflix series called Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission To Space. Announced Tuesday, Countdown is being billed by Netflix as the first documentary series from the streaming company to cover an event in “near real-time.” Netflix says the first two episodes will arrive on September 6th, followed by two more on September 13th. The company says SpaceX is targeting September 15th for the launch, and if that schedule holds, the fifth episode — a “feature-length finale” — will premiere by the end of the month. The documentary is being co-produced by Time Studios and will be directed by...

With Chrome OS’s latest update, Google has announced that its Google Meet app will be preinstalled on all Chromebooks. The announcement is part of the company’s larger push to adapt its operating system for remote meetings. The new feature shouldn’t make too much of a difference to long-time Chromebook users who already have a preferred video-chat platform installed. But for new students receiving a Chromebook for the first time, or other folks who are trying the platform out, it could certainly mean the difference between using Google Meet for meetings and social calls or turning to competitors like Zoom. Google also says it’s made performance improvements to Google Meet’s experience, including “adapting video calls to different network conditions and adjusting video performance during sc...

Amazon and Best Buy are continuing on with their TV partnership that started three years ago. Today, the companies announced new Insignia and Toshiba TVs that run Amazon’s Fire TV software. The latest F50 series improves on previous “Fire TV Edition” sets — Amazon is just calling them “Fire TVs” now — with expanded quantum dot HDR color for a more vivid picture. The new models also feature slimmer bezels, DTS Virtual-X audio from the built-in speakers, and continue to support Dolby Vision HDR. Pricing will start at $599.99 for a 50-inch model, and the F50 series tops out at 70 inches. Between different models and screen sizes (ranging from 24 inches to 75 inches) sold in the US and Canada, there are now over 80 Insignia and Toshiba Fire TVs available. Both are Best Buy’s house brands, and ...

Boeing is set to launch its Starliner astronaut capsule to the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, more than a year and a half after its first orbital Starliner test failed to reach the station and returned home earlier than planned. The mission is a test, and there won’t be any humans on board. If all goes well, it’ll mark a crucial step toward Boeing and NASA’s goal to use Starliner for routine astronaut missions, and a key chance to salvage the aerospace giant’s reputation after years of setbacks and controversies. The test mission, called Orbital Flight Test 2, will launch from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station using an Atlas-V rocket built by United Launch Alliance. Starliner, sitting on top of the rocket, will do what Boeing’s rival SpaceX did with its Crew Drago...

One weekend about a year ago in Balangoda, a misty mountain town outside Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital, Sanjana was supposed to meet a dealer she found on Thriloka Wijaya Pathra, a Facebook group for cannabis users in Sri Lanka. Like many strangers who had connected over Facebook, Sanjana had decided to buy a few joints of ganja (a local word for weed). Then a family emergency happened and Sanjana couldn’t make it. A few days later, another group member told Sanjana that police caught her dealer. Perhaps he was released after a fine. Perhaps he went behind the bars. Sanjana didn’t hear back. “The only thing I know is that this stuff is illegal in Sri Lanka and it can get you in trouble,” Sanjana, now an 18-year-old, recalled to The Verge, while waiting for another dealer to bring ganja g...