Technology

Microsoft is planning to automatically add HDR support to more than 1,000 PC games. The software maker is now testing a new Auto HDR feature on Windows 10, which works just like it does on the latest Xbox Series S and X consoles. Enabling Auto HDR will add high dynamic range (HDR) to a large number of DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 games, as long as you have a compatible HDR monitor. “While some game studios develop for HDR gaming PCs by mastering their game natively for HDR, Auto HDR for PC will take DirectX 11 or DirectX 12 SDR-only games and intelligently expand the color / brightness range up to HDR,” says Hannah Fisher, a DirectX program manager at Microsoft. “It’s a seamless platform feature that will give you an amazing new gaming experience that takes full advantage of your HDR monitor’...

On March 18th, a four-hour version of director Zack Snyder’s original vision for Justice League will hit HBO Max. Early reviews are mostly littered with praise for the movie, calling it a win for fans of Snyder’s other superhero films (Batman v Superman, Man of Steel). Others acknowledge that, hey, at least it’s better than the original film released in 2017, which was spliced together by Joss Whedon after Snyder had to step back from the project to cope with the sudden death of his daughter. Whether the movie lives up to people’s expectations or not, the very existence of it — the marketing behind it, what it represents to fandom as a whole — is a turning point for online fandom. A quick reminder of what the last four years have consisted of from various corners of the internet: after Jus...

A rover on the Moon has metal wheels that can flex around rocky obstacles, then reshape back to their original form. On Earth, surgeons install tiny mesh tubes that can dilate a heart patient’s blood vessels all on their own, without mechanical inputs or any wires to help. These shape-shifting capabilities are all thanks to a bizarre kind of metal called nitinol, a so-called shape-metal alloy that can be trained to remember its own shape. The decades-old material has become increasingly common in a wide range of everyday applications. And in the next decade, the metal will face its most challenging application yet: a sample return mission on Mars. Nitinol, made of nickel and titanium, works its magic through heat. To “train” a paper clip made of nitinol, for example, you heat it at 500 deg...

Intel has hired Apple’s former “I’m a Mac” actor Justin Long to create new ads praising PCs. Long starts each commercial with “Hello I’m a… Justin,” with the typical white background you’d find on Apple’s Mac vs. PC ads from the 2000s. Naturally, the ads focus on Mac vs. PC again, with Long mocking Apple’s Touch Bar, lack of M1 multiple monitor support, and the “gray and grayer” color choices for a MacBook. One even goes all-in on Apple’s lack of touchscreens in Macs or 2-in-1 support by mocking the fact you have to buy a tablet, keyboard, stylus, and even a dongle to match what’s available on rival Intel-based laptops. Another ad also points out that “no one really games on a Mac.” [embedded content] The return of Justin Long in Mac vs. PC ads for Intel comes just months after Apple...

Unagi, maker of stylish electric scooters, is bringing its nascent subscription service to more cities. After testing out its $40-a-month service in small parts of New York City and Los Angeles, the Oakland, California-based company is expanding its service area in both cities, while also bringing it to seven new markets, including San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, Phoenix, Miami, and Nashville. Helping fuel its growth, the company also just closed its first round of fundraising for $10.5 million, led by the Ecosystem Integrity Fund with participation from Menlo Ventures, Broadway Angels, and Gaingels, among others. Flush with cash, Unagi plans on adding more cities in the months ahead and is eyeing a launch in Europe as well. “We understood that there are a lot of people who have fear of co...

Samsung has warned that it might not be able to ship a Galaxy Note phone in 2021 after all, citing difficulties in launching two flagship phones in one year, in comments at its annual shareholders meeting reported on by Bloomberg. “[The] Note series is positioned as a high-end model in our business portfolio,” said mobile chief DJ Koh. “It could be a burden to unveil two flagship models in a year so it might be difficult to release [a] Note model in 2H. The timing of [the] Note model launch can be changed but we seek to release a Note model next year.” The comments came as Samsung sounded the alarm about a global semiconductor shortage, saying that its business will likely be affected next quarter. The potential delay or cancellation of a 2021 Galaxy Note is apparently separate, however; K...

Riot Games is closing an investigation into whether CEO Nicolo Laurent harassed or discriminated against former employee Sharon O’Donnell, saying it found “no evidence” of the claim. “After review of the results of the investigation,” Riot said in a statement, “there is no evidence that Nicolo harassed, discriminated, or retaliated against Ms. O’Donnell. The Special Committee has also expressed its full confidence in Nicolo’s leadership, that no action against him is warranted, and that he will continue to operate as CEO.” The Washington Post reported the news earlier today, and Riot posted an overview of the investigation’s conclusions as well as a letter from Laurent. The Post also reports that Riot asked a court to speed up legal proceedings for a suit filed by O’Donnell earlier this ye...

Uber will classify around 70,000 drivers in the UK as workers and give them some benefits after losing an appeal at the Supreme Court level in February, following a years-long legal battle over their employment status. Drivers will still not be considered full-time employees, but they will receive a minimum wage, holiday time, and will be enrolled in a pension plan starting on March 17th. The decision in February was one of the biggest wins yet for drivers, and for gig workers writ large, in the UK. But that victory came just a few months after voters in California approved Prop 22, a ballot measure that reversed a previous decision to classify drivers as employees. And despite repeated claims that classifying drivers as employees would make things more expensive for customers, all the maj...

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Cricut is changing its recently announced plan to require a subscription to get the full use of its crafting machines for precisely cutting paper and other materials. Following backlash from crafters and fans who rely on its machines, Cricut CEO Ashish Arora apologized for the decision, and announced that the company will postpone the requirement for a subscription and give unlimited uploads to all users with a registered Cricut device purchased before December 31st, 2021 — for the lifetime of their machine. Without an upload limit, crafters will be able to use Cricut and its required Design Space app as usual. They can create designs in the app or third-party software like Procreate, and then format it to be cut out of materials like paper, fabric, vinyl, and even wood using a Cricut mach...

Starting April 1st, users setting up a new iPhone in Russia will see a screen that allows them to automatically install apps that are officially sanctioned by the Russian government, in compliance with Russian law (via Engadget). The law in question was passed back in 2019, and requires smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and smart TVs sold in Russia to come pre-installed with specific apps made by Russian companies by April 1st, according to Russian news site Vedomosti. (The law was originally set to go into effect in July 2020, but was pushed back to April 2021). Vedomosti also says that apps won’t be installed if users don’t want them. Apple confirmed to The Verge that it will comply with the law by giving the users the option to install the apps when activating the phone. Which ap...

Sony has announced that the PlayStation 5 will get DVR functionality in Japan by way of a new app that’ll work with its Nasne tuners. The app will be called Torne (pronounced to-ru-ne) and should be available later this year. Torne was originally a TV tuner add-on for the PS3 that was released in 2010 and allowed you to save broadcast shows to your console’s hard drive and transfer them to a PSP or PS Vita. It was followed by Nasne, which added its own storage and worked more like a NAS drive, with the recordings available through a mobile app. Sony stopped selling Nasne in 2019, but last year Japanese peripheral manufacturer Buffalo announced that it’d take over the product and release Buffalo-branded versions, with the first models set to ship this spring. The new Nasne still looks like ...