Technology

Some important details have emerged about Valve’s Steam Deck handheld console-meets-PC — particularly about its target performance level and whether you can actually install your own NVMe SSD to upgrade storage. In a video interview from IGN, Valve stated that the Steam Deck’s 800p display, capable of up to a 60Hz refresh rate, will be targeting 30Hz for gameplay. In other words, the Nintendo Switch comparisons might go a little deeper than the surface, as many games on that platform run well below 60 frames per second. Though, given that most PC games offer a trove of graphical settings to fine-tune, the Steam Deck should be able to achieve smoother gameplay at the cost of graphical quality if you’re willing to knock down a few settings, depending on the game of course. Valve also shared ...

General Motors’ Super Cruise, one of the best advanced driver assist systems on the market, is getting a big upgrade for 2022 and will be available on way more vehicles — including, for the first time, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra half-ton pickup trucks. To test out the new stuff, GMC had me out to GM’s Milford Proving Grounds to play with the new Super Cruise on the facility’s 4.5-mile banked circle track. Security at the facility is tight and our cameras were either confiscated or, in the case of my iPhone, covered in obnoxious red security tape. I soon understood the need for security when I spotted what appeared to be the upcoming 2023 Z06 mid-engined Corvette being tested, a whole bunch of GMC Hummer EV pickups and, curiously, a Tesla Model Y. (GMC wouldn’t say why, but I as...

Apple Increases Production for New iPhone 13, Expects All-Time Popularity Reportedly asking suppliers to build 90 million more units by end of 2021. Jul 15, 2021 13,151 Hypes    Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro Might Come in Matte Black Replacing the iPhone 12 Pro’s graphite colorway. Mar 30, 2021 12,788 Hypes    Take a Look at the Apple iPhone 13 Dummy Models Revealing new camera orientations. Jun 28, 2021 24,578 Hypes    Smaller Notch Design For the Apple iPhone 13 Surfaces Moving towards getting rid of the notch all together. Apr 20, 2021 15,770 Hypes   

The 2020 Summer Olympic Games are set to begin this week in Tokyo, with the opening ceremony kicking off Friday, July 23rd. While NBC and its streaming sibling Peacock will both carry coverage of the Games in the US, the Olympics will be streamable on other services as well. Because it begins at 8PM in Japan, live coverage of the opening ceremony will start at 6:55AM ET / 3:55AM PT in the US. It will be broadcasted live on NBC as well as streamed live on the NBC Sports app and the NBC Olympics website. NBC’s website has a full schedule of additional broadcasts of the event. A spokesperson for Peacock told The Verge that the opening ceremony will not air on the streaming service, however it will carry the closing ceremony. Taking place July 23rd through August 8th, the Olympic Games will be...

Here’s (yet another) argument against using third-party embeds on your respectable website: Porn company 5 Star HD Porn bought the expired domain for video hosting site Vidme, which went out of business in 2017. This means that any websites with Vidme embeds now have porn on them. According to Motherboard, which reported the story first, the list of websites with unexpected porn embeds includes New York Magazine, the Washington Post, HuffPost, and others. And yes, we discovered one such embed on The Verge and have since disabled it. Old Vidme embeds now redirect to a porn site It’s a very extreme example of link rot, which is what happens when online content or images are deleted or otherwise broken, so the links don’t point back to their original targets. We saw another widespread example...

Frankly, now that we’ve seen a leather case for your MagSafe charging puck, it’s all uphill from here. At least Apple’s new $99 MagSafe Battery Pack is something you’ll actually be carrying around and touching on a regular basis, where leather might make it nicer to hold. Perhaps you already have a matching leather case for your iPhone, too? It looks like a nice combo in photos. If you agree, Nomad is currently taking preorders for $30 each, shipping this November. (I blame Apple for only releasing the battery in white.) While you can’t see it in pictures or the description, Nomad tells us it will actually have a hole for the battery’s charging port. One more note: while microsuction tape is much better (reusable, no sticky residue) compared to your traditional Scotch, you should probably ...

Just ahead of the July 4th holiday weekend, a ransomware attack targeted organizations using Kaseya VSA remote management software. The outfit behind the attack, REvil, initially requested a $70 million ransom and claimed to have locked down millions of devices. That was before REvil suddenly went offline on July 13th, disconnecting its servers, abandoning forums, and shutting down a page on the dark web used to communicate with victims. Now, Kaseya says it has obtained a universal decryptor from a “third party” that can restore data encrypted during the attack. The company has not said how it came by this technology, telling Bleeping Computer that it could not confirm or deny any ransom payment had occurred. On 7/21/2021, Kaseya obtained a decryptor for victims of the REvil ransomware att...

Just a couple of years ago, there were concerns that Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, wouldn’t survive as a standalone company. Its stock price bottomed out around $5 after a disastrous redesign that slowed user growth and confused advertisers. The situation is much different now. Snapchat is growing faster than it has since 2017, the year it went public. On Thursday, the camera-based messaging app said it added 13 million daily users during the second quarter, a 23 percent increase from the year-ago period. That means 293 million people use Snapchat every day around the world, up from 173 million this time four years ago. (Twitter reported 206 million daily users in the second quarter, by comparison.) Snap’s revenue also soared 116 percent to $982 million, making it a faster growing ...

Corning has announced a new set of glass composites to protect the ever-growing number of camera lenses on the back of smartphones and capture more ambient light in the process. The new composites, called Gorilla Glass with DX and Gorilla Glass with DX+, offer “advanced optical performance, superior scratch resistance, and durability” according to Corning. Technically, this DX variety of composite isn’t entirely new, Corning offered a version of Gorilla Glass with DX / DX+ for smartwatches as early as 2018. But Corning says making the switch to smartphone camera lens covers added additional challenges because the glass needed to be more scratch-resistant and somehow let in more light, two qualities that can be at odds. Corning breaks down how it achieved both improvements in the video belo...

Motorola is now selling the Moto G100 in the US, after introducing it earlier this year for Latin American and European markets. It comes with midrange specs like a big 5,000mAh battery, 5G, and a 90Hz screen for a $599 MSRP. From now until August 5th, Motorola is offering a $100 discount off the full retail price. There are two important footnotes on the G100’s US carrier compatibility: it’s a GSM-only phone, so will work on AT&T and T-Mobile but not Verizon, and its 5G connectivity is only compatible with T-Mobile’s 5G network. Outside of that, it appears to be a respectable midrange device, if priced a little on the high end. It uses a Snapdragon 870 processor with 8GB of RAM, sub-6GHz 5G, and a 6.7-inch 1080p display with 90Hz refresh rate. Motorola’s US phone releases this year ha...

Intel has struggled recently with getting its more advanced chip architectures out the door, but that might be changing soon. CEO Pat Gelsinger announced today on Intel’s Q2 earnings call that “7nm is progressing well,” and the company is gearing up to announce news on how its “accelerating its annual cadence of innovation with new advancements in semiconductor process and packaging,” at a webcast on Monday, July 26th. The announcement comes alongside Intel’s Q2 earnings, where the semiconductor company managed to beat expectations and bring in $18.2 billion in revenue, up 2 percent year-over-year. Intel is feeling pretty optimistic about the future, too. It raised its 2021 outlook by an additional $1 billion to $73.5 billion, and now expects to achieve revenue growth year-over-year compar...