Technology

Getting a COVID-19 vaccine comes with a lot of benefits. There’s the protection against a world-altering virus, the ability to travel more safely, and hanging out in people’s houses again. There are also doughnuts. But there’s also a pretty good chance that a vaccine will be accompanied by a few unwelcome side effects. Most of these are pretty benign — like a sore arm or fatigue. Some are more serious, but those are also extremely rare. Here’s a cheat sheet to help you figure out what to expect after your COVID-19 shot. What are some common side effects? Your arm might feel sore after you get the shot, and there might be some redness or swelling near the injection site. There’s also a chance that you could develop a headache, fever, muscle pain, chills, fatigue, or nausea. This is all acco...

It’s another day in 2021, and so of course it’s another day where someone, somewhere is launching an NFT in hopes of making a ton of easy money. This week’s NFT launches were headlined by some big names — M.I.A., Tfue, Spike Jonze — and collectively posed the question: can you still, nearly a month after Beeple’s blockbuster NFT sale at Christie’s, make a stupid amount of cash off these things in part by being in the right place at the right time? The answer, it seems, is mostly yes. And several of this week’s NFT creators were clearly here for just that possibility. Not that this NFT thing was always the exclusive realm of fine art — I present to you this golden Pringles can that raises its eyebrows at you as if to say come and try me — but there’s a clear feeling of function (making mone...

For more than a year, a group of workers in Bessemer, Alabama have campaigned to unionize their warehouse under the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), hoping to force the retail giant to collectively bargain with its warehouse workers for the first time. On Friday, those hopes came to an abrupt end. In a unit-wide election, workers at the warehouse voted against unionization by a more than 2-1 margin, with 738 votes in favor to 1,798 against. It’s a devastating loss for the RWDSU and the labor movement broadly. The union is still fighting the result — filing objections and arguing that Amazon’s campaign violated labor law — but those challenges are unlikely to change the result. After dreaming of a domino effect that could unionize Amazon warehouses across the country, o...

A federal judge has granted the New York attorney general’s request to move a lawsuit against Amazon back to New York state court, Reuters reported. AG Letitia James’ lawsuit alleges that the ecommerce giant failed to protect workers at its Brooklyn and Staten Island warehouses from COVID-19 during the early months of the pandemic, and retaliated against employees who complained about the lack of safety measures. Amazon had sought to have the case moved to federal court, arguing that workplace safety issues were not under James’ purview. The company pre-emptively sued James on February 12th, and James sued Amazon four days later. Amazon then moved the lawsuit to federal court. “Amazon has forced its employees to work in unsafe conditions throughout this pandemic,” James said in a statement...

China has hit Alibaba, one of the country’s biggest online retailers, with a record $2.8 billion (18.2 billion yuan) fine, after an investigation found the ecommerce giant violated China’s anti-monopoly law, The New York Times reported. The fine, which represents 4 percent of Alibaba’s 2019 domestic sales, is three times higher than the $975 billion fine China imposed on US chip company Qualcomm back in 2015. The Chinese government launched an investigation into Alibaba in December to determine whether the company was preventing merchants from selling their products on other platforms. China’s market regulator found that Alibaba’s practices had a negative effect on online retail competition and innovation. Alibaba used data and algorithms to strengthen its own position in the marketplace, ...

We haven’t heard much about Age of Empires IV since it was announced in 2017, but we’ve finally been given a look at the game, which includes the Mongols and Delhi Sultanate as playable civilizations. Microsoft and developer Relic Entertainment showed off a healthy amount of gameplay footage as well as new features and civilizations coming to the series in a “Fan Preview” event. The game also has a release window: fall 2021. The last main entry in the long-running historical strategy series was released in 2005, and the new game looks to build on the formula created by previous entries, while adding features made possible by 15-ish years of technological improvements. That includes the obvious things — like 4K and HDR — to more strategy game-centric upgrades, like new pathfinding that will...

Age of Empires games have always taken place against a historical backdrop, but Microsoft and Relic Entertainment want to take things even further with Age of Empires IV. The game will feature narrated documentaries throughout the campaigns, time period-accurate language and music, as well as art and game design that looks to take inspiration from both world history and the history of the Age of Empires franchise. On release, Age IV will focus on the Middle Ages, having players start with small agrarian villages and build up to castles and kings. While players can experience hundreds of years of history in a single match, the game will also feature campaigns that let players go through real-life stories that span generations. So far, the only one announced has been the Norman conquest star...

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...