Technology

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Monday that bars social media companies like Twitter and Facebook from “knowingly” deplatforming politicians. The bill, SB 7072, was proposed in February, weeks after former President Donald Trump was banned from Facebook and Twitter after the deadly right-wing riot at the US Capitol. The law bars social media platforms from banning Floridian political candidates and authorizes the Florida Election Commission to impose fines if these candidates were to be deplatformed. The fines range from $250,000 per day for statewide office candidates and $25,000 per day for non-statewide offices. “This will lead to more speech, not less speech,” DeSantis said during a press conference at the Florida International University in Miami Monday. “Because speech that’s...

Qualcomm has announced a second-generation Snapdragon 7c Arm-powered processor that’s designed to be used inside entry-level Windows PCs and Chromebooks. The biggest change to the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 (the official name) appears to be a clock speed bump, which Anandtech reports is a jump from 2.4GHz to 2.55GHz. And like the original Snapdragon 7c, it offers integrated LTE connectivity so you can connect to cellular networks, and Qualcomm promises it will support “multi-day battery life.” The first device with the chip is set to arrive “this summer,” Qualcomm said in a press release, and Lenovo has already promised to release new devices using the 7c Gen 2 “later this year.” More chipmakers are increasingly making Arm-based chips, which promise better performance and power efficiency. The fi...

Apple is releasing its latest iOS 14.6 update today, and it’s largely focused on audio improvements. This new OS update will allow Apple Music subscribers to enable lossless audio or Dolby Atmos once it’s available next month, and it also debuts Apple Podcasts subscriptions. Podcasts users can now subscribe to content in the app for extra perks like ad-free and bonus content, as well as early access. Apple is also improving the Podcasts app with the ability to mark all episodes as played, recover old episodes, and remove downloads. iOS 14.6 includes a number of other quality-of-life improvements. If you’re an AirTag owner, iOS 14.6 includes the option to add an email address as a contact method for when the item tracker is in lost mode. There’s also Apple Card Family sharing, with support ...

Ford has revealed a version of its new F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck aimed specifically at commercial customers. It’s called the F-150 Lightning Pro, and it starts at $39,974 for a version with an estimated 230 miles of range. Extended-range versions of the truck, which are expected to get 300 miles on a full battery, will start at $49,974. Much like the retail version of the electric F-150, the Lightning Pro stands to win Ford a lot of business as long as the company executes well when the truck starts shipping in 2022. Fleets all over the country are already considering a switch to electric vehicles, either to get ahead of zero-emission guidelines at the state or federal level, or in an attempt to take advantage of what should be a lower total cost of ownership with electric vehi...

Metro Exodus has become one of the first PC games to support the PS5 DualSense controller’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers thanks to a recent patch. Although many PC games already support the PS5 controller’s basic features, with Valve adding support for it to its Steam Input API last year, Metro Exodus now supports its advanced haptics, as well as its trigger features, which add extra resistance depending on what you’re doing in-game. Videos posted by Twitter user @mrdomino_ and VGC’s Andy Robinson show the feature in action, including showing the controller’s right trigger springing back with the recoil from various weapons. It’s nothing new compared to what we’ve seen from native PS5 games like Returnal, but it’s great to see that same functionality replicated on PC. The patch me...

SiriusXM wants to reach the youth, and starting today, it’s going to do so through the cultural cachet of TikTok. Sirius, which owns Pandora and the podcasting company Stitcher, announced a new partnership with the social video app today that’ll bring TikTok-popularized music to the satellite radio provider. TikTok Radio, a new music channel, will broadcast trending sounds through the SiriusXM app, browser, and connected devices. Sirius says tuning in should sound like swiping through TikTok’s “For You” page. It’s also using the partnership to launch a new Pandora series, called TikTok Tastemakers, that’ll involve popular TikTok creators, like Bella Poarch, hosting and curating playlists with their favorite songs alongside commentary. They’ll also promote the shows on TikTok. The partnersh...

Verizon has a new deal for new and existing unlimited plan subscribers starting May 25th: up to a year of Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass, free of charge. Specifically, customers who pay for the Play More Unlimited and Get More Unlimited plans get 12 months of either app subscription service for free, while all other unlimited plans get six months. It’s worth noting that both free options are longer than the ones Apple or Google offer themselves. The $80 per month Play More plan or $90 per month Get More plan (that’s the price for a single line) also come with other benefits to sweeten the deal. Play More comes with an “unlimited” mobile hotspot with up to 15GB of 5G data, the Disney Bundle (Hulu, Disney Plus, ESPN Plus), six months of Apple Music, and 12 months of Discovery Plus. Not qui...

Samsung’s Smart Monitor range is expanding. The company’s line of Tizen-powered smart computer displays now includes a 43-inch 4K M7 model as well as a 24-inch 1080p M5, marking the biggest and smallest Smart Monitors to be made available to date. Samsung introduced the Smart Monitor last year and describes it as a “do-it-all” display designed for both work and entertainment. The screens have built-in speakers and smart TV functionality through Samsung’s Tizen platform, meaning you can run video apps like Netflix directly on the device, as well as remote desktop access and productivity software like Office 365. The Smart Monitors have a remote control that works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Bixby, and there’s also wireless support for DeX, Samsung’s desktop-style environment that runs...

A social media campaign by pro-Palestine activists has pushed down the ranking for Facebook’s app in Apple and Google’s app stores, NBC News reported. The activists are seeking to protest Facebook’s alleged censorship of Palestinian accounts on its platform, and are instructing people to leave Facebook’s app a one-star review. According to NBC News, Facebook is treating the situation as a high-priority issue internally; one software engineer wrote in a post on an internal Facebook message board that “users are upset with our handling of the situation,” adding that the users “have started protesting by leaving 1-star reviews.” Facebook has reached out to have the reviews removed, but so far, Apple has declined the request to remove the reviews. It’s not clear how or if Google responded to t...

Swedish band Wintergatan may be widely known for its Marble Machine music video (which featured a machine dropping marbles to play drums, a bass, and other instruments), but today I learned that they’re building a bigger, better version, and documenting the entire process on YouTube. It’s called the Marble Machine X, and it’s driven by a motor instead of a hand crank, is being built by an entire team of people, and, hopefully will be able to go on tour and be played on stage when it’s finished. Wintergartan also produced a build log of the first machine, but this new project is way grander in scope, offering a deeper look at the creative process that leads to… well, building a massive musical instrument that uses marbles. The band put out eight build videos for the original machine b...

Still reeling from that shocking ending to last week’s Mare of Easttown? Me too! I have literally no idea what to expect in tonight’s episode or from next week’s finale. I can’t say the same for Army of the Dead, a movie I really, really wanted to like but which felt really predictable. I found myself wishing the entire movie could have been as wild as its opening credits. Army of the Dead looks spectacular (except perhaps for the digitally-added Tig Notaro character), but could have done away with a few of the rag-tag mercenary characters and tightened things up a bit. Here are this week’s trailers: [embedded content] Trese This long-awaited adaptation of the award-winning Filipino comic of the same name, Trese is the story of a woman who protects Manila from monsters that are based on Fi...

Once again, Google is hitting the reset button, combining with Samsung’s Tizen wearable operating system for a new wearable OS, tentatively called “Wear.” The company is throwing in the towel on Wear OS. It’s trying yet again, this time with Samsung’s Tizen OS helping to fill in the gaps that Google, for whatever reason, can’t. It’s theoretically good news for Android owners interested in a decent smartwatch — but one that’s damning of Google’s lackluster efforts in the smartwatch space to date. In the years since Google first introduced Wear OS (neé Android Wear), there’s never been a truly good Android-powered smartwatch. Samsung’s Tizen-powered watches have been the best option for years, but they’re ultimately Samsung watches. They still work best with Samsung phones, and while they’re...