Technology

A few days ago, Tag Heuer posted a teaser for a Super Mario-themed watch. You might have assumed that a Swiss-made mechanical timepiece was in the works, but now the news is out: it’s actually a limited edition version of Tag’s Connected Wear OS smartwatch. Tag Heuer seemingly hasn’t released details itself yet — its website is still counting down to a July 15th announcement — but Engadget, TechCrunch, and WorldTempus have all posted stories with the device’s key features. The hardware itself appears to be identical beyond some light cosmetic tweaks to the 45mm case, including an M-for-Mario logo on the crown, and it comes with two straps: one with perforated red rubber alongside one with red rubber and black leather. The watch is said to use a “gamification rewards system” with greetings ...

Twitter says it has permanently suspended a “small number” of fake accounts it mistakenly verified just weeks after re-launching its public verification program, the Daily Dot reports. The blunder came to light after data scientist Conspirador Norteño discovered six verified accounts which had been created recently on June 16th. None of them had posted a single tweet, and two used what appeared to be stock photographs for profile pictures. “We mistakenly approved the verification applications of a small number of inauthentic (fake) accounts,” Twitter told the Daily Dot in a statement. “We have now permanently suspended the accounts in question, and removed their verified badge, under our platform manipulation and spam policy.” The incident suggests that Twitter’s verification process is ha...

Space billionaire Elon Musk bought a ticket to space from fellow space billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, The Wall Street Journal cites a company spokesperson as saying. Musk, CEO and founder of SpaceX, had the Virgin Galactic ticket before Branson’s flight to space on Sunday, a person familiar with the purchase tells The Verge. It’s unclear where Musk stands in Virgin Galactic’s line of about 600 other prospective SpaceShipTwo passengers, but the ticket itself is an extension of his apparent friendship with Branson that contrasts with all of the sass and pettiness this month from Blue Origin, the other top space company founded by the space industry’s other super-rich billionaire, Jeff Bezos. It’s also seen as a friendly endorsement of Virgin Galactic’s rocket-powered plane. B...

On the same day we learned that Fortnite is adding a LeBron James skin to its metaverse, the PR machine for Space Jam: A New Legacy cranked out a different batch of digital collectibles. However, instead of directing viewers to a gloriously aging 90s-era website, they had to use NFTs. Launching July 16th on HBO Max, Space Jam: A New Legacy follows Michael Jordan’s 1996 movie by transporting LeBron James into a digital world full of cartoons and other Warner Bros. properties, so the marketing fit makes more sense than it might appear. The difference here is that instead of merely slipping toys into fast food kids’ meals or tossing out limited edition physical cards, there’s a hope that interest in the family-friendly flick will spur the collection of non-fungible tokens. The Space Jam tie-i...

Tokyo, Japan‘s Shinjuku district has just received a new protector in the form of a giant 3D calico cat. Situated just across the street from the JR station, the large car is actually a massive 150-sqm digital billboard by Cross Shinjuku Vision. Since its testing phase, the giant calico cat, or Kyodai Neko (巨大ネコ) as fans are calling it, has brought in a constant stream of onlookers as they patiently wait for the cat to make an appearance. Kyodai Neko can be seen in various poses looking down at passersby and in catnap mode. The magic is in the large, curved 4K display, as well as the viewing angle and the height of the building. This form of a wrap-around display has already been spotted in numerous cities across Asia and will most likely become the new standard in outdoor advertising. 今日の...

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, bought a ticket to fly aboard Richard Branson‘s Virgin Galactic spacecraft, according to The Wall Street Journal.  A spokesperson for Virgin Galactic told The Journal that Musk had purchased a ticket for an undisclosed amount of money to make the journey into space. According to the report, it’s unclear when Musk will fly. Tickets for a Virgin Galactic spaceflight have sold for $250,000 USD each. In an interview with the U.K.-based Sunday Times, Virgin Galactic’s billionaire founder confirmed the purchase, saying: “Elon’s a friend and maybe I’ll travel on one of his ships one day.” On Sunday morning, ahead of his company’s inaugural fully-manned flight, Branson tweeted a photo of himself and Musk, saying: “Big day ahead. Great to start the morning w...

Last Tuesday, AnandTech caught OnePlus doing the previously unthinkable — throttling the performance of its new flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 9 Pro. Seeing “inexplicable” slowdown, the publication discovered the phone was diverting a laundry list of popular apps away from its Snapdragon 888’s high-performance cores. The company’s excuse? It was all an attempt to save battery life. Today, OnePlus is doubling down on that earlier statement with a longer forum post, where the company’s argument sounds downright reasonable. “In recent years, the performance of smartphone SoCs has reached a point where their power is often overkill in certain scenarios,” writes OnePlus, blaming Qualcomm for essentially being too good at its job. “With this in mind, our team has shifted its attention from sim...

Verizon wants to help curb those obnoxious “spoofing” calls from similar area codes to your own with a new tool called Neighborhood Filter. Spoofing is the method used by spammers to make a number appear similar to your own so you’re more likely to answer the call. Verizon’s new Neighborhood Filter will allow Verizon customers to send these calls directly to voicemail, as well as any other prefix and area code combinations that the company thinks might be suspicious. The tool is available to Call Filter Free and Call Filter Plus customers through the company’s separate Call Filter app. Call Filter Free costs nothing to enroll and offers basic filtering from those dreaded and persistent spam calls. Call Filter Plus, which costs an additional $3 per month per line (or $8 per month for three ...

Google announced its plans to transition users of its consumer file syncing desktop service, Backup and Sync, onto a new unified app that both consumers and business clients can use called Drive for desktop. Google plans to start onboarding users next week on July 19th, 2021, and encourages people who used Backup and Sync to make the switch by the end of September, before getting locked out on October 1st. Backup and Sync users will have to transition to the new app (a renamed version of Google’s enterprise file syncing software), but business clients who are already using Drive File Stream (aka Drive for desktop) should be good to go, Google says. The goal with consolidating the apps, Google says, is to create “a powerful and unified sync client” with the best features from both consumer ...

ESPN Plus monthly and annual subscription costs will go up beginning August 13th, the second price increase for the service in 2021. The new price hike has made the service’s annual plan increase by about $20 this year alone. A spokesperson for ESPN Plus confirmed to The Verge that the service will hike from $6 to $7, while the annual cost will jump from $60 to $70. Notably, there will be no price increase to the Disney bundle, which costs $13 and includes sister services Disney+ and Hulu. There will also be no change in the cost of UFC pay-per-view. Disney Plus and ESPN Plus have both gotten price increases in 2021. The sports streaming service’s annual subscription cost increased to $60 per year from $50 in January. The company attributed the most recent price increase to increased value...

On Monday, July 12, Venus and Mars will align in a “planetary conjunction” during the half-hour following sunset. Throughout the month of July, Venus — the planet often referred to as the “Morning Star” or “Evening Star” with the closest orbit to that of Earth — has been moving closer and closer to Mars, ultimately towards a “close conjunction.” Now, from the vantage point of Earth, the Evening Star and the red planet will appear “only a finger’s width apart” on Monday night, according to NASA. Mars will be visible a half degree below Venus, while the pair will appear roughly 4 degrees above the west-northwestern horizon after twilight at 9:44 p.m. EDT. Mars will then set first, approximately 23 minutes later at 10:07 p.m. EDT. The two planets will still appear extremely close on July 13. ...

Blake Masters, a close ally to billionaire Peter Thiel and current Thiel Capital executive, launched a bid for the Arizona Senate Monday. As a Republican, he’ll be seeking to take on Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ). Masters joins a growing pool of Republican candidates, including Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and solar power executive Jim Lamon. On his campaign website, Masters champions a total ban on illegal immigration, calling for the government to use “physical walls, surveillance technology, thousands more border patrol agents, and mandatory E-Verify for employers” along the US-Mexico border. Thiel’s Founder’s Fund invested in the border and military surveillance company Anduril, valuing the company at $1 billion. Masters’ website also vows to “take on the ‘big tech’ platforms — the ...