Technology

A new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Facebook spent more than $23 million last year on security for CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook’s annual reviews of company security “identified specific threats to Mr. Zuckerberg,” according to a proxy statement filed Friday. “He is synonymous with Facebook, and as a result, negative sentiment regarding our company is directly associated with, and often transferred to, Mr. Zuckerberg,” the proxy says of the Facebook CEO’s role. The company’s annual review of security programs showed the costs of protecting Zuckerberg and his family rose in 2020 mainly due to COVID-19 travel protocols, increased security coverage during the 2020 US election season “and other periods with increased security risk,” as well as rising costs for s...

NASA engineers have decided to delay the Ingenuity helicopter’s debut flight on Mars to at least Wednesday, April 14th, after running into a minor computer glitch during a rotor spin test late Friday night, the agency said on Saturday. The tiny craft is healthy, but engineers need some more time to review telemetry data from the unexpected hiccup before proceeding. Ingenuity, a mini four-pound helicopter that arrived on Mars February 18th attached to NASA’s Perseverance rover, was initially slated to carry out its first flight test late Sunday night (or, mid-day Mars time). The first bits of data on whether the flight attempt was successful was expected to come early Monday morning, around 4AM ET. But data from a high-speed rotor test carried out on Friday showed the test sequence “ended e...

Photographs of people getting triumphantly vaccinated against COVID-19 are all over social networks, as are announcements of upcoming appointments, first and second injections, and how well (or badly) they reacted to the vaccine. Like births, weddings, and graduations, the act of getting your Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson injection has become a cause for public celebration. So don’t you want something to mark the occasion? A souvenir of the first indication that you can begin to think seriously about hugging your relatives, entering a store without tension, and even <gasp!> eating comfortably in a restaurant? Sites such as Etsy, Zazzle, and Redbubble are overflowing with T-shirts, hats, and buttons proclaiming “Fully Vaccinated,” “Hug me, I’m vaccinated,” “Vaccines cause ...

Logitech said Friday it is discontinuing its line of Harmony universal remotes, ending years of speculation that the devices were on their way out. Models that are currently in stock at retailers will be available while supplies last, and the company says it will continue to provide support and service for the Harmony remote “as long as customers are using it.” “While Harmony remotes are and continue to be available through various retailers, moving forward Logitech will no longer manufacture Harmony remotes,” according to a blog post on Logitech’s support page. “We expect no impact to our customers by this announcement. We plan to support our Harmony community and new Harmony customers, which includes access to our software and apps to set up and manage your remotes. We also plan to conti...

An Australian judge has ruled that Epic’s lawsuit against Apple in Australia will be temporarily suspended as the two sides prepare for a trial in the US, Gizmodo Australia reported. Apple had asked for a permanent stay of the case in Australia, arguing that the US and Australia cases were very similar, and that the matter should be settled in the original jurisdiction of the United States. The two companies are fighting over Epic’s battle royale game Fortnite, and the fees Apple charges. In August, Epic set up its own in-game payments system, effectively circumventing Apple’s App Store payments and avoiding the 30 percent surcharge Apple collects on App Store purchases. Apple then removed Fortnite from its iOS App Store for violating its rules. Epic fired back with an antitrust lawsuit se...

Comics have never been bigger: with Marvel TV shows, DC movies, and indie adaptations growing by the day, comic books have never been more prominent in pop culture. This biweekly Verge column recommends comic series new and old, whether you’re a longtime fan or a newcomer. Comics can be pretty depressing these days. Existential drama, dark storylines, and epic battles for the fate of the galaxy are all regular occurrences. But on the other side of the spectrum is Check, Please, a heartwarming hockey comic that’s the feel-good equivalent of a slice of warm apple pie. What is it? Check, Please is a webcomic / graphic novel by Ngozi Ukazu. It’s set across the four years of college for Eric “Bitty” Bittle, a gay NCAA hockey player at the fictional Samwell University. He is also a baking vlogge...

Acting NASA administrator Steve Jurczyk said Friday that under President Biden’s budget request, the agency’s Artemis mission has a new goal: in addition to landing the first woman on the Moon, it will also send the first person of color to the lunar surface. So far, the only Earthlings to touch the Moon’s surface have been white men. “The president’s discretionary request increases NASA’s ability to better understand Earth and further monitor and predict the impacts of climate change,” Jurczyk said in a statement. “It also gives us the necessary resources to continue advancing America’s bipartisan Moon to Mars space exploration plan, including landing the first woman and first person of color on the Moon under the Artemis program.” [embedded content] Biden’s 2022 budget request includes $...

Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel to the ’80s classic Top Gun starring Tom Cruise, will now premiere on November 19th, according to Deadline. It was previously slated to open on July 2nd — which itself was a delay from December 23rd, 2020. Maverick’s delay is the latest shift in this summer’s movie slate, which, like last summer’s, has been impacted significantly by the COVID-19 pandemic. Disney delayed Black Widow from a May release date to July 9th and is also opting to make it available as a $30 Disney Plus Premier Access title the same day. The company also made Pixar’s Luca a Disney Plus exclusive and said Cruella will be a Disney Plus Premier Access release when it hits theaters on May 28th. MGM delayed No Time to Die, the next James Bond movie, from April 2nd to October 8th. Universal P...

The podcasting world’s been waiting and watching for Apple to debut a full-blown revenue-producing podcast business. Spotify and other tech giants have been making moves in the space — signing exclusivity deals, acquiring companies, and generally trying to dominate the market. Yet, Apple has stayed mostly quiet, despite operating one of, if not the most, popular podcast apps on the market. Recently, however, it’s started to dabble in creating its own shows. This week, Apple premiered a new investigative nonfiction podcast looking at US Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who was charged with committing war crimes. The show, called The Line, serves as a complementary but separately reported program to a forthcoming Apple TV Plus show of the same name. Anyone hoping this might signal Apple’s broader ...

In the latest virtuoso move to promote his hit song “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” Lil Nas X posted a lo-fi remix of the track to YouTube channel Friday evening. According to his Twitter, it’s his birthday, and it seems he has given us all this gift in celebration. The video, which has the full title “Lil Nas X – MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) but it’s lofi and something you can study to lol,” is honestly perfect. It sounds exactly like something you’d hear on Lofi Girl’s channel; if it ever gets slipped into the rotation on the channel’s iconic “lofi hip hop radio – beats to relax/study to” video, I wouldn’t bat an eye (ear?). Lil Nas X’s video even has five anime drawings of iconic looks from the rapper, clearly taking inspiration from the famous anime girl that is the fac...

Firefox will no longer support Amazon Fire TV or Echo Show devices starting April 30th, Mozilla announced on Friday (via Android Police). “You will no longer be able to install [Firefox] on FireTV, receive security updates, or be able to reinstall the app if you uninstall it starting on April 30, 2021,” Mozilla said in a support document. “If you have Firefox set as your default browser on Echo Show, you will be redirected to Amazon Silk for web browsing starting April 30, 2021.” Mozilla first brought Firefox to Fire TV devices in December 2017, giving Fire TV owners a way to watch YouTube in the midst of a bitter feud between Google and Amazon. In July 2019, however, Google brought the YouTube app back to the Fire TV, giving users one less reason to use Firefox. The Mozilla-made browser f...