Technology

Instagram is testing the ability to create posts using the web browser on a desktop computer. The feature was spotted by social media consultant Matt Navarra, who captured some screenshots demonstrating the functionality. Facebook confirmed the test in a statement to Bloomberg. “We know that many people access Instagram from their computer,” spokesperson Christine Pai said. “To improve that experience, we’re now testing the ability to create a Feed post on Instagram with their desktop browser.” Navarra’s screenshots show that you’re able to select aspect ratios, apply built-in filters, and use basic editing parameters within the browser. The feature isn’t appearing for everyone yet, but it’s highlighted in the top right of the screen with a message saying “Now you can create and share post...

Amazon Music is getting more serious about its podcast endeavors. Today, the company announced that it’s acquiring Art19, a major podcast hosting and monetization platform for an undisclosed sum. This means Amazon will now have a hand in hosting podcasters’ shows as well as selling ads against them because Art19 operates an ad marketplace that targets and inserts ads into programming. An Amazon Music spokesperson says nothing will immediately change on the Art19 platform. This is a major step for Amazon as it looks to take on a bigger role in the podcasting world. Amazon Music only started offering podcasts in September last year, as did Audible in October. But in the time since, Amazon Music has acquired Wondery, one of the last major independent podcast networks. Today’s acquisition give...

The city of Baltimore’s spy plane program was unconstitutional, violating the Fourth Amendment protection against illegal search, and law enforcement in the city cannot use any of the data it gathered, a court ruled Thursday. The Aerial Investigation Research (or AIR) program, which used airplanes and high-resolution cameras to record what was happening in a 32-square-mile part of the city, was canceled by the city in February. Local Black activist groups, with support from the ACLU, sued to prevent Baltimore law enforcement from using any of the data it had collected in the time the program was up and running. The city tried to argue the case was moot since the program had been canceled. That didn’t sit well with civil liberties activists. “Government agencies have a history of secretly u...

The ThermoWorks Thermapen is legendary among chefs as the gold standard in kitchen thermometers, affording the fastest and most reliable temperature readings around. And today, the company has revealed its latest model: the $105 Thermapen One, which promises to achieve even faster temperature readings: less than a second (hence the name). ThermoWorks says the new thermometer is the only sub-second instant-read thermometer that can take a “full temperature reading” — technically five full readings in order to reduce uncertainty — without using estimations or predictive algorithms. The company says it spent more than five years developing the new thermometer, which features an improved thermocouple system developed in conjunction with Electronic Temperature Instruments to balance the faster ...

While Microsoft previews its next OS, Google is displaying a new look for Contacts. According to the company this Circles-style extra information is “a new experience for Google Contacts which will help Google Workspace users learn more about their colleagues.” In practice, it displays your organizational chart as a part of the Contacts UI as well as your history with a particular person, including both emails and meetings. Keeping things cleanly organized in order to “easily learn more about your colleagues and stakeholders” sounds good. The only problem is that something makes it feel one step away from the bad old days of the early 2010s, when Google forced Google Plus sorting and feeds onto everyone. Events spam and “Email from Google Plus” were just some of the lowlights. There’s no i...

Microsoft is enabling Xbox developers to utilize AMD’s answer to Nvidia’s DLSS on console games. FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) appeared recently on Windows PCs with the aim of boosting frame rates and maintaining image quality. It’s AMD’s answer to Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and early tests have shown it’s a promising technology that will work across multiple games and platforms. FSR is now making its way to Xbox games, too. Microsoft has started previewing support for FSR in its Game Development Kit for both Windows and Xbox today. “It’s supported on Windows, Xbox Series X and S, and Xbox One consoles,” says Jason Ronald, Microsoft’s director of Xbox program management. “FSR was designed to enable developers to achieve higher frame rates and resolutions with minimal ...

Reddit was down for many on Thursday, but the company has implemented a fix and the site seems to be working normally. While the outage was going on, Reddit would regularly take a while to try to load a page before showing an error screen with error code 503. On its status page, Reddit first reported an “elevated level of API errors” at 5:04PM ET Thursday, but Downdetector showed a huge spike of user reports of problems shortly after. (At their peak, reports surpassed 40,000.) At 6:51PM ET, Reddit said a fix was being implemented, and at 7:18PM ET, Reddit said the fix was in place. What you might see when you try to load Reddit. During the outage, the company also took to Twitter to assure users that its “team of Technical People” was working on the issues. Sounds like some of you are expe...

Microsoft can add ending the day as a $2 trillion company to the list of things it’s accomplished today, alongside announcing Windows 11. That makes it the second American publicly traded company ever to have a market capitalization of over $2 trillion (the other member of the club being Apple, which achieved it in August 2020), according to CNN Business. It’s easy to see how 2020 contributed to Microsoft’s success: the PC market grew by over 10 percent in 2020, according to estimates from IDC and Canalys, and seems to have kept some of that momentum this year. Microsoft also saw success with with its Surface devices, Xbox content, and cloud services — the company says its Intelligent Cloud segment brought in $48 billion alone in its 2020 fiscal year. There’s also, of course, the aforement...

If you own a WD My Book Live NAS, you should immediately disconnect it from your network — users have discovered that their data has seemingly been deleted off the device, with no action on their part (via Ars Technica). In a post on its community forum, WD says that the data loss appears to be the result of “malicious software,” and advises any My Book Live or My Book Live Duo owners to disconnect their devices from the internet to protect their data. Some users on WD’s forum report that their devices appear to have been factory reset, while others report seeing a page requesting a password they don’t know. In most cases, those who have been affected say that all of the data on the device appears to be gone, with their file structure either remaining intact, but with empty folders, or no ...

ADT has settled its trademark dispute lawsuit against Ring, which it brought against the Amazon-owned company because of what it called a “striking similarity” between Ring’s Outdoor Siren and ADT’s blue octagon signs. According to ADT’s press release and a statement from a Ring spokesperson, Ring will stop selling the current design of its Outdoor Siren and release a new version. The Ring Outdoor Siren versus ADT’s sign.Image: ADT v. Ring court filing ADT filed the suit in April, asking a judge for both cash compensation and a halt on Ring selling products that looked like ADT’s blue sign. Neither company mentioned whether there was a monetary amount as part of the settlement, only that they were “pleased to have reached a mutually agreeable resolution.” Currently, Ring’s US page for the ...

ViacomCBS is once again changing up leadership to emphasize its focus on streaming and ensure the success of its streaming services, particularly its late-to-the-party content giant Paramount Plus. The announcement comes just a day after The Wall Street Journal reported NBCUniversal had approached ViacomCBS about joining streaming forces. ViacomCBS announced Wednesday title changes and additional oversight for several of its executives currently overseeing various ViacomCBS content properties, particularly for its recently launched Paramount Plus streaming service. Leadership reorganizations focused on streaming have become standard for major parent companies of recently launched services like Disney Plus and HBO Max — and ViacomCBS has previously seen internal shifts meant to prop up Para...

One of the biggest announcements at today’s Windows 11 reveal was that Microsoft would offer the option to run Android apps on its new operating system, powered by a new “Intel Bridge” compiler that helps those apps run on x86 systems. But despite being an Intel-developed system, Android apps on Windows 11 won’t just be limited to computers with Intel CPUs. AMD and Arm-based processors will also support Android apps. “Intel believes it is important to provide this capability across all x86 platforms and has designed Intel Bridge technology to support all x86 platforms (including AMD platforms),” Intel confirmed in a statement to The Verge. Microsoft further corroborated that Android applications will be available for all silicon providers, including Arm, although the company isn’t talking ...