Technology

Facebook will restore news content to its platform in Australia after the government agreed to amend its proposed News Media Bargaining Code. In an update posted today, Facebook’s William Easton, managing director of Australia and New Zealand, said that the company is “satisfied that the Australian government has agreed to a number of changes and guarantees that address our core concerns.” News content will return to the platform “in the coming days,” Easton said. Facebook and Google have been at loggerheads with the Australian government about an upcoming law that will require them to pay publishers for content shared on their platforms. In response to the proposed bargaining code, Facebook took the extreme measure last week of blocking news from being shared on its platform by Australian...

A United Airlines flight experienced a dramatic-looking engine failure just after takeoff from Denver International Airport on Saturday afternoon. UA328, originally headed to Honolulu, quickly circled back to the airport and made a safe landing after the pilots calmly made a “mayday” call to air traffic control. There were no injuries among the 231 passengers and 10 airline staff on board, according to the FAA. Since it’s 2021, the incident was thoroughly captured with both photos and video. Passengers shared video of what looks to be a significant right engine failure, with visible damage, flames, and trailing smoke: That isn’t what I’d want to see looking out the window seat. Engine failures are rare, but do happen. Modern planes are designed so that they’re able to remain in the air for...

Dinosaur Planet is an unreleased Nintendo 64 game by Rare that ultimately evolved into Star Fox Adventures for GameCube. But thanks to the preservationists at Forest of Illusion, it’s now possible to play that unfinished, original title. A build of the game from December 1st, 2000 — well into its development cycle — was retrieved from a disc purchased from a private collector. Screenshots of the game feature Fox McCloud; as noted by Eurogamer, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto was reportedly influential in pushing the developers to shift the game into a Star Fox title. Digital Foundry’s John Linneman uploaded 20 minutes of gameplay, and here you can also see Fox replacing one of the original game’s intended protagonists, Sabre. Forest of Illusion notes that “the game will currently not run 100 p...

As the pandemic drags on, experts are exploring ways to stretch still-limited vaccine supplies to get as many people protected as possible. One idea that’s resurfaced this week involves allowing more time in between the first and second doses of the two-dose vaccines. This time, though, there’s some additional data that suggests it might work. Here’s the idea: two leading vaccines, made by Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna require two doses. But their early data showed pretty significant protection after the first dose. That got people thinking — is it worth giving more people partial protection with just one dose? Or should they stick to the schedule and fully vaccinate fewer people? Back in December, some experts encouraged researchers to set up trials to find out if a single dose of a two-d...

Over at The Markup is an alarming story about a rash of phishing scams that have been targeting gig workers for Postmates. Drivers are receiving phone calls from people claiming to be Postmates employees, who urge the workers to give over their login details — usually under the guise that it’s necessary to keep a driver account in good standing or avoid claims of fraud. Once the scammers obtain that info, they switch the debit card information on the account — Postmates makes weekly deposits of a worker’s earnings, but instant transfers can also be requested — and then drain the balance of everything that’s in there. The Markup has spoken to many Postmates gig workers who’ve been preyed upon with this scam, and others are using Reddit and social media to warn their fellow drivers about the...

Despite its later-than-usual timing and going completely virtual for the first time, yesterday’s BlizzCon keynote brought with it some big news and exciting trailers. It also featured a musical performance from Metallica. The band isn’t new to BlizzCon, having first appeared at the conference in 2014. Viewers on many platforms (including Blizzard’s own Twitch and YouTube channels) heard a performance of Metallica’s 1984 tune “For Whom The Bell Tolls.” Several Twitch streamers broadcasting BlizzCon muted the feed during Metallica’s appearance to avoid any potential DMCA troubles. But on the Twitch Gaming feed that was also carrying the stream, well, things took an amazing turn. Within seconds of the song beginning, the audio was replaced by what AV Club perfectly summed up as “the dorkiest,...

The creator of The Oatmeal, Matthew Inman, released a new cat-themed mobile word game called Kitty Letter earlier this week that feels like playing one of his silly comic strips. That feeling was intentional, Inman told me. “My comics have always been rhetorical,” he said. “You don’t interact with the comic, you have no say in it, you’re just experiencing it. So, with [Kitty Letter], I got a chance to introduce some elements where people get to play the comic, and I thought that was a lot of fun.” Kitty Letter has a structure that Inman described as “Scrabble combined with Clash Royale.” Your goal is to beat your opponent by spelling words from a combination of letters at the bottom of your phone’s screen. When you spell a word, you’ll send a small army of cats up an invisible “lane” towar...

This story is part of a group of stories called Only the best deals on Verge-approved gadgets get the Verge Deals stamp of approval, so if you’re looking for a deal on your next gadget or gift from major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and more, this is the place to be. This is the first time in recent memory where several deals we’ve written about through the week are still available. It’s always great when readers have an extended window of time to snag a deal. So, below you’ll find a few of our favorite picks from the week, along with one new exclusive deal for Verge readers. I won’t keep you in suspense, it’s on the Pixel 5. We worked with a partner to secure some refurbished units that are in great condition. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Snag a r...

Aventa is a new electric bike with a secret: its battery is removable despite the clean design. London-based Furosystems just launched the Aventa series of pedal-assist e-bikes into the European market. A more powerful US model is planned for later this year, or early in 2022 if the double whammy of Covid and Brexit creates undue complications. Aventa is sold in three variations, with the first deliveries starting in mid-March. Each model is priced to include all the accessories needed for typical urban commuting: mudguards, bell, luggage rack, kickstand, and front and rear lights. The standard Aventa ships with a 10.4Ah 375Wh battery, hydraulic disc brakes, and full-sized LCD display for €1,799. If you want more range, then you can opt for the Aventa Max, which costs €1,999 and has a bigg...

Anthony Levandowski, a former Google engineer convicted of stealing self-driving car secrets, is closing his artificial intelligence-focused church Way of the Future (WOTF), TechCrunch reports. It’s a somewhat inauspicious end to the church’s goal of pursuing “the realization, acceptance, and worship of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence (AI),” in preparation for the Singularity. Now humanity will be left to deal with rampant AI without the religion’s guidance. Levandowski started the process of shuttering WOTF in June 2020, according to documents filed in the state of California found by TechCrunch. WOTF never had regular meetings or a physical church building. The church’s funds, totaling $175,172, have been donated to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Way of the Future is a thing of...

At Blizzcon 2021, Blizzard revealed the latest glimpse at its upcoming RPG Diablo IV. The cinematic trailer introduced a previously-unannounced character class to the game: the rogue. The other already-announced classes are barbarian, sorceress, and druid. The trailer also provided a nice look at the game’s dark atmosphere, getting particularly gruesome towards the end. You might not want to pierce your ears after watching. Before the virtual convention Blizzard made sure to temper expectations by announcing that neither Diablo IV nor Overwatch 2 would be releasing this year. The action role-playing game has been much-anticipated for some time, as it was originally announced way back at the 2019 edition of Blizzcon. Meanwhile, Blizzard is also hoping to expand the franchise’s reach with an...

Google has fired Margaret Mitchell, co-lead of the ethical AI team, after she used an automated script to look through her emails in order to find evidence of discrimination against her coworker Timnit Gebru. The news was first reported by Axios. Mitchell’s firing comes one day after Google announced a reorganization to its AI teams working on ethics and fairness. Marian Croak, a vice president in the engineering organization, is now leading “a new center of expertise on responsible AI within Google Research,” according to a blog post. “These decisions were made behind our backs” Mitchell joined Google in 2016 as a senior research scientist, according to her LinkedIn. Two years later, she helped start the ethical AI team alongside Gebru, a renowned researcher known for her work on bias in ...