Technology

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...

Samsung and South Korean carrier SK Telecom have announced the Galaxy Quantum 2, Samsung’s second phone that features built-in quantum cryptography technology for increased security. It’s the follow-up to last year’s Galaxy A Quantum. The Quantum 2 includes a chip developed by a company called ID Quantique, which says it’s the world’s smallest quantum random number generator (QRNG) at 2.5mm square. It works by capturing random noise with an LED and a CMOS image sensor. According to SK Telecom, the QRNG chip “allows smartphone holders to use services that require security in a more safe and secure manner by generating unpredictable and patternless true random numbers.” Quantum cryptography RNG is considered to be extremely challenging to hack without extensive physical access to a given dev...

Intel could start producing in-demand semiconductors for car companies within six to nine months, CEO Pat Gelsinger said in an interview with Reuters, commenting that the chipmaking is already being discussed with companies that design chips for cars. “We’re hoping that some of these things can be alleviated, not requiring a three- or four-year factory build, but maybe six months of new products being certified on some of our existing processes,” Gelsinger told Reuters. “We’ve begun those engagements already with some of the key components suppliers.” Even if Intel is unable to meet that six to nine month goal, the news highlights the importance that Intel is placing on its new business as a producer of chips for other companies. “We’ve begun those engagements already with some of the key ...

The Epic Games Store gives away free games every week — often good ones — and yet the company has never explained how it’s managed to dole out 749 million copies without going bankrupt. Until now. New documents published as part of the legal discovery process for Epic’s major antitrust lawsuit against Apple were published last week, and between those and a series of tweets from Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, we’re getting our best look yet at how the company’s not quite throwing billions of dollars away. It’s not spending as much as you’d think According to Apple’s “proposed findings of fact” document (credit to Eurogamer for spotting some of this over the weekend), Epic Games is losing cash — hundreds of millions of dollars in “minimum guarantees” it pays many developers to give away their games a...

The PC market had a great first quarter, despite the global shortage of semiconductor chips. Research firm Gartner estimates that shipments of “traditional PCs,” meaning laptops and desktops, are up by 32 percent compared to Q1 2020 (via CNBC). IDC puts the number even higher, estimating 55 percent growth year-over-year. This seems to be the continuation of a trend — the PC market had a great 2020 as well. Both firms agree that the growth is atypical — Gartner says that the growth is the fastest it’s seen since it started tracking the market in 2000, and IDC says that the drop in shipments from Q4 to Q1 is the smallest it’s seen since 2012. The raw numbers are also impressive — Gartner estimates that just under 70 million PCs were shipped, while IDC estimates around 84 million. The return ...