Technology

Google’s long-awaited Fuchsia OS is starting to quietly roll out on its first consumer device, the first-generation Nest Hub, 9to5Google reports. Google’s work on Fuchsia OS first emerged in 2016, and the open-source operating system is notable for not being based on a Linux kernel, instead using a microkernel called Zircon. “You don’t ship a new operating system every day, but today is that day,” tweeted a Google technical lead on the Fuchsia OS project, Petr Hosek. While the rollout on the Nest Hub (which originally released as the Google Home Hub before being renamed) begins today, the whole release process will take several months. It’ll come to users in the Preview Program first, before slowly releasing more broadly. We’ve known for a while that the operating system has been tested on...

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney is a man who says what’s on his mind, even if it’ll ruffle a few feathers. And apparently the first thing on his mind, following today’s closing remarks in the Epic v. Apple trial, was chicken dinner. The Epic vs Apple trial has now concluded! I won’t be commenting before the verdict is delivered. Thanks to everyone whose efforts made this possible, and to Popeyes for building a fine restaurant next door to the Oakland federal courthouse. pic.twitter.com/xma2xyRBtW — Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) May 24, 2021 Winner winner, wishful thinking? Perhaps. After all, Fortnite competitor PUBG does love its chicken, and there’s been plenty of time for Apple’s subliminal messaging to kick in! Besides: Never trust your meal choices to a man who leaves his plasma globe on bare ca...

J.J. Abrams has said that a movie based on Valve’s Portal is still in the works, and that a script is finally being written, according to IGN. Abrams is light on details, but says that Warner Brothers is excited about the direction the movie is going in, and that it “feels like that thing’s finally on the rails.” We originally heard about the movie all the way back in 2013, when Abrams and Gabe Newell were on stage together at the DICE Summit. At the time, Abrams apparently told Polygon that the plan was “as real as anything in Hollywood ever gets.” That was eight years ago, so it seems he was right to couch it like that. <img srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6lJw1JcNONqwjILCZpuWHMpdWZI=/0x0:1020×680/320×0/filters:focal(0x0:1020×680):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.c...

MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor tweeted Monday that after a weekend meeting with Tesla CEO Elon Musk and “leading Bitcoin miners in North America,” the group has agreed to form a Bitcoin Mining Council, “to promote energy usage transparency [and] accelerate sustainability initiatives worldwide.” Musk tweeted earlier in the day that the group “committed to publish current & planned renewable usage & to ask miners WW to do so. Potentially promising.” According to Saylor, the group included representatives from Argo Blockchain, Blockcap, Core Scientific, Galaxy Digital, Hive Blockchain Technologies, Hut 8 Mining, Marathon Digital Holdings, and Riot Blockchain. Yesterday I was pleased to host a meeting between @elonmusk & the leading Bitcoin miners in North America. The miners hav...

Sure, “hot-tubbing” sounds fun, but in a court context, it’s just a judge encouraging lawyers to argue — which is how Epic v. Apple ended today. Not with a bang but with a quarrel. In honor of the trial’s final day, a raft of spare lawyers were in the gallery, representing Epic and Apple. But everyone who spoke to the judge — Epic’s Gary Bornstein and the three lawyers who handled the end of the case for Apple, Dan Swanson, Veronica Smith Moye, and Richard Doren — had their backs to the gallery the entire time. Throughout the trial, Epic’s general strategy appears to have been to stuff the record as full of evidence as possible — just in case it’s needed on the inevitable appeal. To do that, Epic sacrificed telling a coherent story. Apple had a clear story and it spent the entire trial ham...

Google has added a way to put a password on your Web and Activity page, which shows all your activity from across Google services, including your searches, YouTube watch history, and Google assistant queries (via Android Police). Without the verification, anyone who picks up a device you’re logged into could see that activity. To activate the verification, you can go to activity.google.com, and click the Manage My Activity verification link. From there, you can select the Require Extra Verification option, save, and enter your password to confirm that you’re the one trying to make the change. The page can be very revealing, but also lets you manage a ton of your data in one place. If you don’t have the verification turned on, visiting activity.google.com will show a stream of your Google a...

Netflix has dipped a toe in gaming on occasion, with perhaps the hugely-successful “choose your own adventure”-style film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch as the most prominent example. But the streaming giant may be expanding further into gaming with a new bundle for Netflix subscribers, according to several reports over the past few days. The Information had the first report on Friday, writing that Netflix wants to hire an executive to oversee new gaming efforts, and that the company is considering a bundle of games similar to Apple Arcade. (Hours later, Reuters corroborated that a gaming exec is a planned hire at Netflix.) The company has also chosen not to include ads in the games, according to The Information. But The Information also said that Netflix’s plans are still “very much in flux.”...

Are you planning to stick with Google Photos when its free unlimited storage disappears on June 1st? If you’re anything like me, you’re probably still struggling to figure out whether you can afford to procrastinate that decision a little bit longer — and today, Google has made that reckoning a little bit easier. First off, the company’s finally telling it like it is: Google will no longer pretend its compressed, lower-quality photos and videos are “High quality,” something that would have saved me a lengthy explanation just last week! (After June 1st, existing Google Pixel phone owners still get unlimited “High quality” photos, but if you’re on, say, a Samsung or iPhone instead, it’s not like there was ever a “Normal quality” photo that doesn’t count against the new 15GB limit.) Bye “high...

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE (Fan Edition) could be officially launching soon according to a new German product page spotted by WinFuture. The tablet appears to be a renamed version of the previously leaked “Galaxy Tab S7 Plus Lite” that first made the rounds in March 2021. The Galaxy Tab S7 FE is the first Fan Edition of one of Samsung’s tablets, a tweaked version of the earlier iPad Pro-inspired 12.4-inch Tab S7 Plus. While the Tab S7 FE shares the same 12.4-inch screen size as the older Tab S7 Plus, it appears to be using a TFT LCD display, like the 11-inch Tab S7, rather than the OLED found in the Tab S7 Plus. Another cost-saving measure is found in the processor: the Tab S7 FE has a Snapdragon 750G octa-core processor and 4GB of RAM. For storage, the tablet comes with 64GB of UFS memo...

If you’re looking for a behemoth 4K TV with impressive motion handling, solid black levels, and vibrant colors right out of the box, it’s hard to go wrong with the Sony X950H series. Sony’s 75-inch HDR display is not cheap at $2,600, however, Best Buy, Amazon, and BuyDig are all currently offering the TV for $600 off the initial list price, bringing it down to $2,000. The X950H model also sports four HDMI ports, compatibility with both Alexa and Google Assistant, and a host of Android TV features. It’s one of the best deals we’ve seen on Sony’s premium LED in recent months, especially when you consider that BuyDig is throwing in a $100 Visa gift card with each purchase. Sony X950H 4K TV (75-inch) $2,000 $2,600 24% off Prices taken at time of publishing. The X950H is one of Sony’s most impr...

A security unit within the US Commerce Department monitored Americans’ Twitter accounts for posts critical of the US Census and conducted unauthorized surveillance to gather information about US citizens and foreign visitors, according to a fact sheet released Monday by the ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. The Washington Post first reported on the existence of the unit, which is called the Investigations and Threat Management Service (ITMS). According to the fact sheet, ITMS had its operations suspended as of May 14th, after an investigation launched in February by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) showed that the service had conducted “a variety of improper activities dating back to the mid-2000s, involving abuse of authority, mismanagement, and rep...

Police in India raided the offices of Twitter India in Delhi and Gurgaon on Monday as part of an investigation into why tweets about a so-called “toolkit” of information about the coronavirus were labeled as manipulated media, The Indian Express reported. An officer told the media outlet that police had sent a notice to Twitter demanding an explanation for the label on a ruling party member’s tweet, and that it was seeking “information Twitter has about the toolkit and why they chose to give the ‘manipulated media’ label.” Twitter declined to comment Monday. TechCrunch reported that there were no Twitter employees in the offices at the time of the raid, which occurred late Monday evening India Standard Time. Journalist Aditya Raj Kaul tweeted that Twitter employees in India are currently w...