Technology

Apple’s built-in web content filter for iOS and macOS has apparently been blocking any searches containing the word “Asian” for almost a year, and the error is finally getting fixed, according to a new report from Mashable. The issue shows up when you’re using a device that has the “Limit Adult Websites” content restriction turned on. But it’s not just blocking adult websites; it’s blocking almost any searches relating to Asian culture, including “Asian market,” “Asian culture,” and even “stop Asian hate.” The Verge was able to confirm that the above searches were blocked on devices running current versions of Apple’s software (iPadOS 14.4.1 and macOS 11.2.3) with the content restrictions turned on. The searches are blocked on both Safari and Chrome on iOS devices, but Chrome was able to p...

YouTube is facing employee calls to remove a rap song that allegedly encourages violence against Asians, according to a report from Bloomberg. Rapper YG’s “Meet the Flockers” is a detailed description of a burglary — a relatively common trope in rap music — but it opens with a specific reference to Chinese communities: “find a Chinese neighborhood, cause they don’t believe in bank accounts.” In light of the recent rise in street violence against Asians, a group of YouTube employees argued that message was straightforwardly dangerous, ultimately asking the Trust & Safety team to remove the video. But YouTube ultimately declined to remove the song, citing the platform’s exception for “educational, documentary, scientific, and artistic” (or EDSA) content. “While EDSA is not a free pass fo...

Volkswagen of America lied about rebranding to “Voltswagen” in an effort to draw attention to the lone electric vehicle it’s currently selling in the United States, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal have reported. It was a marketing stunt done ahead of April Fools’ day. This all started when Volkswagen of America “accidentally” published a draft version of a press release announcing the change on Monday, which was first reported by CNBC. The company had declined to comment on the report, and spokesperson Mark Gillies repeatedly declined to say whether the name change was a marketing stunt. The automaker, which plead guilty to deceiving regulators about the true pollution levels of hundreds of thousands of diesel vehicles, then published a press release on Tuesday morning saying the chang...

Game of Thrones has often been called out for its near-Shakespearean levels of intrigue and theatrical drama. So it’s not exactly a surprise that the next move for the franchise is to the stage: a new Broadway show based on George R.R. Martin’s popular fantasy series is now in the works, according to a new report from The Hollywood Reporter. The goal is to stage the Game of Thrones play starting in 2023, with plans for productions in New York City, London’s West End, and Australia. Dominic Cooke is set to direct, with Simon Painter and Tim Lawson on board as producers. Coming in 2023 The play is said to be a prequel set during The Great Tourney at Harrenhal, 16 years before the events of Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series (and Game of Thrones, HBO’s blockbuster TV series adaptatio...

Three months after the United States’ COVID-19 vaccination campaign began, researchers are starting to collect data showing that the vaccines are just as good in the real world as they were in the clinical trials testing them. Recent studies have consistently shown that the vaccines don’t just protect against symptoms — they reduce the risk that someone will get infected with the coronavirus, a signal that they’ll reduce the spread of the virus, not just prevent sickness. The Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines were both around 95 percent effective at protecting people against symptomatic COVID-19 in large trials. It was never guaranteed that they’d perform just as well when they were distributed to the general public. Despite the best efforts of researchers to closely mimic the real wo...

Fortnite for the Nintendo Switch is getting a patch that will boost performance in portable and docked modes. Epic Games says the game will run with a more consistent frame rate across the board “with fewer hitches,” though it’s still not 60 frames per second. And while the game will still use dynamic resolution to make visual adjustments on the fly to keep things running as smoothly as possible, the target resolutions in handheld and docked modes have gotten upgrades, too, seeing a 38 percent boost. In handheld mode, the game has gone from 1000 x 560 up to 1170 x 660, which is closer to the Switch display’s 720p resolution. In docked mode, it’ll go up to 1560 x 880 instead of topping out at 1390 x 780. That’s a little closer to native 1080p docked resolution. What this means is that the g...

If you like puzzles and eerie deserts, but not darkness and horrifying ghouls, Swedish studio Frictional has a new version of its game Amnesia: Rebirth for you. A less stressful “Adventure Mode” is being added to Rebirth today via GOG, Steam, and the Epic Store. The game’s PlayStation version will get Adventure Mode in the coming weeks. Amnesia: Rebirth, released last year, is a strong sequel to the notoriously scary Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Adventure Mode removes encounters with Rebirth’s numerous monsters, as well as special effects that damaged its protagonist Tasi’s mental state. It also adds light to the game’s spookier levels, so players won’t have to ration matches or face the darkness. And Frictional says it’s adding bonus puzzles to Adventure Mode, so while you might spend less ...

Netflix set out goals today to limit the damage the company does to the climate. By the end of 2022, it wants to reach “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions. That means it plans to reduce some of its emissions and find ways to offset or capture the rest. By 2030, Netflix says it plans to cut emissions from its operations and electricity use by 45 percent. That goal roughly lines up with research from leading climate scientists, who have found that greenhouse gas emissions need to fall by about 45 percent globally this decade. But Netflix will eventually need to ramp up efforts to prevent pollution generated by producing and streaming its movies and TV shows. A strategy with a checkered history To meet its deadline next year, the company is primarily relying on offsetting its emissions, a str...

Pokémon Go developer Niantic has unveiled Codename: Urban Legends, which it describes as “a multiplayer demo experience that offers a glimpse into the future of AR and 5G networks.” The game revolves around casting magic spells to kill monsters and rescue allies. It’s similar to Niantic’s previously released games, but the trailer includes a unique feature: multiple players interacting with the same augmented reality creatures from their own phones. Niantic says it’s just a demo at the moment and not for general consumer use. It’s an exciting shift from Niantic’s previously released games like Pokémon Go, and the company says this is largely thanks to 5G. Although its games have had multiplayer elements, for the most part each player exists in their own augmented reality worlds. For exampl...

Here’s the thing about the new $99.99 Nest Hub from Google: it is slow. Compared to almost any other touchscreen device you might own or interact with, the Nest Hub is laggy, sluggish to respond, and has stuttering animations all over the place. The reason for this is because since Google first launched the original Home Hub in 2018 (now known as the Nest Hub), it has regularly been adding more features and more capabilities to the device. While it was essentially a digital photo frame and basic smart speaker with a screen at its debut, the Nest Hub is now capable of being a smart home control center, fancy alarm clock, weather machine, media center, communications hub, and more. It’s a lot of stuff for the processor in this little screen-with-a-speaker to handle. The latest feature that G...

On February 22nd, Jesse Schwarz set an official NBA Top Shot record by buying the most expensive Moment on the platform. The 31-year-old paid $208,000 for a massive LeBron James dunk, in which he leaps over the Sacramento Kings’ Nemanja Bjelica to authoritatively slam the ball through the hoop. Now, you can go onto YouTube and watch a clip of this dunk. A clip of the Moment is even included in the celebratory NBA Top Shot tweet announcing Schwarz’s acquisition. But you won’t own it. Top Shot is part of the world of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, the buzzy new use of blockchain tech that lets people buy and sell digital items by permanently inscribing ownership records. At a high level, you might consider a domain name or an event ticket a non-fungible asset since they’re goods that can’t be...

After spending the last month teasing its new electric vehicle, Kia just laid out a lot of what there is to know about the EV6 — at least for the most expensive models. But it all lines up with what the teaser images, well, teased, which is that the EV6 will be a fun and fast electric car with a refreshingly modest footprint. Due out in “select global markets” in the second half of this year, including North America, the EV6 is the first Kia car that is built to be electric from the ground up. The modestly successful Niro EV SUV? That was, at a high level, a gas car that was retrofit to run on batteries. The EV6, however, is built on what Kia will use to power six future EVs. That same platform, called E-GMP, is being used by parent company Hyundai to power the Ioniq 5 EV and other future ...