Technology

Pinterest has been battered with accusations of workplace discrimination for many months, and we’ve followed a large portion of that saga here at The Verge. That includes, most recently, how Ifeoma Ozoma, a former Pinterest employee who accused the company of trying to silence her, helped draft California’s new Silenced No More Act. Today, Ozoma is speaking out in The New York Times about why she believes nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) should not be allowed to keep whistleblowers in check — but Pinterest now says, effective immediately, it will stop making workers sign NDAs that prevent them from talking about such things. That’s the news from Protocol: Pinterest will “not require employees to sign agreements that would prevent them from talking about their personal experiences at Pintere...

Mobvoi is starting to sell the TicWatch GTH today, a $79.99 fitness wearable that features sensors for skin temperature and blood oxygen that are typically reserved for more expensive watches. Mobvoi has generally focused on Wear OS devices in the past, providing a variety of options for Google’s troubled wearable operating system, but the TicWatch GTH seems more like a Fitbit competitor than anything else. The TicWatch GTH has an Apple Watch-esque square body, a noticeably bezeled 1.55-inch screen, and only comes in “raven black.” Mobvoi claims the GTH’s 260mAh battery can last more than a week on one charge, “depending on usage,” and that the watch is also water-resistant up to 5ATM or 50 meters. Despite that, Mobvoi’s website notes that the GTH is not safe for shower use. The TicWatch G...

Anker has announced a new webcam as part of its new AnkerWork line of home office gear. The new webcam, called the PowerConf C300, is a 1080p webcam with a “built-in AI chipset,” which Anker says “provides a high-quality image with accurate color reproduction and unparalleled low-light performance.” The webcam offers three field-of-view options: 78 degrees, intended for closeups; 90 degrees; and 115 degrees, which offers a wider field of view. It also has dual stereo microphones that can pick up your voice. The PowerConf C300 is available at Amazon, Anker.com, and “select retailers,” and it costs $129.99 in the US, €129.99 in Germany, and £119.00 in the UK. [embedded content] Anker also announced a new portable conference speaker, the PowerConf S500. Pricing and availability will be announ...

No matter what you do during your waking hours — work at home or outside of it; commute in a car, a train, or by walking from your bedroom to your living room; or spend your days watching the kids or job hunting — you’re probably spending at least some of that time listening to music. But where do you find that music? And if you already have a site you go to regularly, would you like to try something new? There is a wealth of streaming music services now available to anyone who wants to listen and experiment. Some offer both free and paid subscription versions. Others are completely free. We asked the staff of The Verge to tell us about their favorite music streaming services. Some listen to major outlets such as Apple Music, Spotify, or YouTube Music, while others have discovered lesser-k...

Discord is amping up its restrictions on adult content, with new age gates on NSFW servers and a ban on accessing these servers from iOS devices. Entire servers can now be marked as NSFW if their community “is organized around NSFW themes or if the majority of the server’s content is 18+.” This label will be a requirement going forward, and Discord will proactively mark servers as NSFW if they fail to self-identify. Discord previously allowed individual channels to be marked as NSFW and age-gated. The NSFW marker does two things. First, it prevents anyone under the age of 18 from joining. But the bigger limitation is that it prevents NSFW servers from being accessed on iOS devices — a significant restriction that’s almost certainly meant to cater to Apple’s strict and often prudish rules a...

The first flight of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter was delayed again after running into a glitch in the rotorcraft’s flight control software during tests last week. The mini helicopter remains grounded on the surface of Mars’ Jezero Crater while it waits for engineers to tweak, test, and reinstall the software. NASA said it will come up with a new date next week for the inaugural flight test. Ingenuity, the four-pound helicopter that arrived on Mars on February 18th with its parent rover, Perseverance, is nine days into a monthlong test window that began when its four little legs touched the Martian surface for the first time on April 4th. The helicopter has been going through a series of tests and checkouts before flying, which includes surviving its first frigid night on Mars, unlockin...

Tech workers at The New York Times have formed a union under the NewsGuild of New York, and they are demanding voluntary recognition from the paper’s management. The new union, called the Tech Times Guild, represents more than 650 workers from the digital side of the company, including software engineers, designers, and data analysts. Those employees are not included in the editorial union of The New York Times, which represents more than 3,000 reporters and media professionals at the newspaper and is also organized under NewsGuild. The editorial union has historically excluded employees on the digital side of the paper, even as the company has expanded into more ambitious data and digital work. As a result, the Tech Times Guild is seeking a separate bargaining unit, which would negotiate ...

Siri appears to have spilled the beans on the next Apple launch event. MacRumors was first to report that asking the voice assistant “When is the next Apple Event” prompts it to say April 20th. We’ve managed to get the same response, though only on a device that’s associated with a US Apple ID. Apple typically announces its events with invites sent out a week in advance, meaning the news should become official later today. “The special event is on Tuesday, April 20th, at Apple Park in Cupertino, CA. You can get all the details on Apple.com” says Siri. Tapping the link takes you to the standard Apple Event landing page, where the launch isn’t listed. It seems odd that the response claims the event is happening in Cupertino, since this will almost certainly be another of Apple’s pre-recorded...

What makes a smartwatch “smart”? Is it the ability to show you notifications from your phone? What about the ability to track your physical activity and wellness, such as step counts, workouts, and sleep? How about providing you information about your day, such as the weather and upcoming calendar events? Or perhaps it’s the inclusion of a voice assistant on your wrist that you can ask to do things without having to use your phone? Those are the questions I’ve been asking over the past week-plus as I’ve been testing the new OnePlus Watch, a $159 smartwatch and the first wearable from the smartphone company. The OnePlus Watch has all the looks of a modern smartwatch, but as I’ve learned wearing it on my wrist day and night, it doesn’t have all the smarts. Verge Score 5 out of 10 Good Stuff ...

Android’s Google Photos app is being updated with the improved video editing tools that were previously exclusive to iOS. Android Police spotted the rollout, and reports that it appears to be available for both Google Pixel devices and other Android phones. The tools appear to have arrived with a server-side update, though you can try updating to the latest version of Google Photos if they’re not yet live in your app. As Google explained back in February, the new video editing tools include over 30 controls, covering everything from cropping, filters, and color grading options like adjusting contrast, saturation, and brightness. The features were previously available on iOS The video editing tools are arriving on Android as Google’s Photos service is going through some big changes. As part...

The owner of famous movie theater chains Arclight Cinemas and Pacific Theaters has revealed that the theaters will never reopen from their COVID shutdowns, according to Variety. Decurian, the company that operates both chains, gave a dire statement to Deadline: it includes phrases like “exhausted all potential options” and “does not have a viable way forward.” I don’t live in California, and I’ve never seen a movie at either an Arclight or Pacific, but their shuttering hurts me deeply: I’ve always hoped to see a movie at an Arclight and experience Pacific’s Cinerama Dome, and it seems like I may never have the opportunity. (Those aren’t my only movie dreams in distress: the dinner and a show chain I’ve hoped to visit, Alamo Drafthouse, has recently filed for bankruptcy.) I’m aware that mos...

A real lightsaber. How is that possible? It’s probably not, of course. But when Disney Parks chairman Josh D’Amaro ended his April 8th presentation by whipping out a never-before-seen retractable lightsaber — no video evidence, mind — Disney and Star Wars fans went wild online. Speculation ran rampant, much of it pointing to a 2018 patent for a “Sword device with retractable, internally illuminated blade.” I pored through that patent late that evening, and I’ve been trying to figure out a way to show Verge readers how it works ever since. Heck, I even ordered a pair of LED slap bracelets that have yet to arrive. But it looks like I won’t need them, because VR developer Ben Ridout has already done better, brilliantly illuminating Disney’s patented concept with a set of simple animations: Di...