Technology

Juul has agreed to settle its first state lawsuit over deceptive business practices with North Carolina, a move that will limit the vaping company’s marketing claims and placement of products in stores. Under the settlement, Juul will no longer use marketing strategies geared toward young people, including most social media marketing campaigns, advertising near schools, and sponsoring sporting events or concerts. The company also cannot use models under 35 years old for advertisements in the state, and it’s required that Juul products are sold behind the counters of stores, according to The News & Observer. Juul will also pay a $40 million fine to the state. “North Carolina is now the first state in the nation to hold Juul accountable for its instrumental role in sparking the epidemic ...

The alternative social network Parler and representatives of former president Donald Trump were reportedly considering an idea to make Trump an active member of the platform after he left office, but Parler apparently pushed back on one key part of the proposed arrangement: the platform did not want to ban Trump’s detractors, according to an excerpt of Michael Wolff’s upcoming book about the last days of Trump’s presidency published in New York Magazine. Here’s what was going on, according to Wolff: One curious point of consideration for the [Trump] family [the morning of January 6th] — prescient of the events that would shortly unfold — was a follow-up to a discussion initiated some months before by aides and family. Trump representatives, working with Trump-family members, had approached...

With Dolby Vision gaming HDR technology available on Xbox Series X and Series S consoles, some TV owners have noticed that suddenly there’s a new setting to worry over. While some HDMI 2.1-equipped 4K displays could handle 120Hz, and some can support Dolby Vision for gaming, at first there weren’t any that could do both things at once. Now LG has confirmed it’s the first manufacturer with Dolby Vision HDR at 4K 120Hz support on some of its TVs, just a couple of weeks after owners noticed it arriving in updates. The 03.15.27 firmware enables the feature on C1 and G1 2021 OLED TVs, and today LG says support is on the way for other premium TVs in its 2021 lineup. Additional premium models in LG’s 2021 TV lineup such as OLED Z1 series, QNED Mini LED QNED99 series and NanoCell NANO99 series TVs...

Amazon Music Unlimited customers can now score several months of Disney Plus for free, and the offer extends to new subscribers as well as existing users. Amazon announced Monday that existing Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers in the US and Canada can activate three months of Disney’s streaming service for free through a new promotion. New Amazon Music Subscribers, meanwhile, will be able to access six months of Disney Plus through the offer. Amazon’s ad-free music streaming service costs $8 a month or $80 annually after a trial period. It is separate from Prime Music, the music service bundled with an Amazon Prime subscription. But where Prime Music has a catalog of roughly 2 million songs, Amazon Music Unlimited’s library comprises roughly 75 million songs and podcasts. The promotion is...

If the internet has looked a little empty to you over the last day or so, check to see if your browser is using AdBlock or Adblock Plus. According to several users, ad blockers have inadvertently wiped out the content they’re looking for on a number of mainstream sites. It’s unclear exactly what caused the problem, but the issue should either resolve itself or it can be fixed by going into settings and requesting an update for your filter lists. In an email, the Adblock Plus support channel confirmed the problem “has already been fixed” without going in depth about what it was. Several posts on social media pointed to a recent change in filtering that works in other blockers but was interpreted by Adblock Plus to block content tagged as “media.” There’s no public statement available from t...

Google-owned YouTube will have its name on a new live event venue in Inglewood, California, part of the new Hollywood Park mixed-use development, the companies announced Monday. YouTube Theater will be a 6,000-seat performance venue, which will host concerts, comedy shows, YouTube creator events, esports competitions, and community shows. Financial terms of the multiyear naming rights deal were not disclosed. The development is the site of the former Hollywood Park Racetrack and part of the same complex as SoFi Stadium — where the Rams and Chargers play — and American Airlines Plaza. Hollywood Park also houses 3,000 apartments, a 300-room hotel, and an 890,000 square-foot retail area. [embedded content] “YouTube Theater will drive the uniqueness of YouTube by combining physical, ‘in real l...

SoftBank is reportedly restructuring its robotics business and has already halted production of its Pepper robot, according to Reuters. Robotics is just one of many businesses the large Japanese firm has invested in, but potentially permanently ending production of Pepper is notable because of the robot’s role as a sort of unofficial mascot for the company. SoftBank plans to lay off 330 staff members based in France, the original home of SoftBank’s robotics efforts, and apparently half of the division’s sales team in the UK and the US, Reuters writes. Production of Pepper robots was reportedly halted last year and would be costly to restart, Reuters’ sources claim. We’ve reached out to SoftBank to confirm the details of the report. The Reuters report follows closely after SoftBank’s sale o...

In 2020, OnePlus expanded its product lineup with the midrange OnePlus Nord, and new leaked renders from 91mobiles and OnLeaks have given us a good look at what the rumored next phone in the Nord line might look like. You can see the renders in this video (which I’ve also embedded at the top of this post). The phone, which I will call the Nord 2 (though we don’t know if that might be the official name) looks to take a lot of design cues from the OnePlus 9, particularly with the similar-looking rounded rectangle rear camera module and the hole-punch selfie camera. That rear camera module houses 50-megapixel, 8-megapixel, and 2-megapixel cameras, while the selfie camera is 32 megapixels, according to 91mobiles. As for the screen, 91mobiles reports that the Nord 2 will have a 6.43-inch FHD+ A...

Microsoft is releasing its first Windows 11 preview build today. Windows Insiders can download the Windows 11 preview (build 22000.51) right now, which includes access to the new Start menu, multitasking features, and overhauled Microsoft Store. Unlike the previous Windows 11 leak, this official preview also features an updated File Explorer that replaces the ribbon with a command bar to simplify file management a little more. Most of the Windows 11 visual changes that Microsoft revealed last week will be available in this initial preview. The new Start menu with its centered launcher-like interface is part of this build, alongside rounded corners throughout the OS and improvements to the notification center, volume flyouts, and more. If your PC has an accelerometer, the Windows 11 lock sc...

Samsung has taken the wraps off it and Google’s new unified smartwatch platform at MWC 2021 — sort of. The company isn’t announcing a new Galaxy Watch today, or even what the new platform will be called (it’s unofficially referred to as Wear); those announcements will come later this summer at a proper Galaxy Unpacked event. But what Samsung did show off was a first look at what its new One UI Watch software will look like, and it elaborated on just what the new Google / Samsung partnership could mean for future Galaxy Watches. To be clear: what Samsung is showing of One UI Watch won’t be what all smartwatches built on the new unified Google / Samsung platform look like — it’s an added layer on top specifically for Samsung devices. It’s similar to what Samsung’s One UI does for Samsung’s s...

In a blog post today, Microsoft is making another attempt at clarifying the minimum requirements for Windows 11, which have confused many, especially regarding what generation of CPUs the new OS will support. The post is clear that Intel 6th Gen Skylake and earlier CPUs, along with non-Zen AMD processors, will not meet “principles around security and reliability and minimum system requirements for Windows 11.” That lines up with the company’s original statement that Windows 11 would require Intel 8th Gen Coffee Lake or Zen 2 CPUs and up, but there is some hope for Intel 7th Gen Kaby Lake and Zen 1 users. Where things get confusing again is the news that its first Insider build of Windows 11, which is available today, won’t require TPM 2.0 or specific CPUs. Microsoft will use data from test...

Samsung is hosting a virtual event for Mobile World Congress 2021 on Monday, June 28th, where it promises to share how it’s “reimagining smartwatches.” Along with wearables, the company is also supposed to share news on the latest additions to the Galaxy ecosystem and the work it’s doing to enhance mobile security. At I/O 2021, Google announced that Samsung’s Tizen operating system would be merging with Wear OS to serve as the future software powering smartwatches for Android phones (tentatively called “Wear”). There are no rumors to suggest Samsung will offer an in-depth look at those efforts, but recent leaks show that the company does have a new Galaxy Active Smartwatch in the works it might announce. There’s also a chance Samsung will show off the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Fli...