Technology

Apple’s rocky rollout of iCloud password sync on Windows has hit another bump: you can no longer download the version of the app that allowed syncing passwords from your Apple devices with your Chrome web browser on a Windows PC (via Windows Central). Version 12 of Apple’s iCloud for Windows app released last week with supposed support for the feature, but the Chrome extension to make it work wasn’t available until two days ago. Now, version 12 is gone from the Windows Store, with version 11.6 taking its place. Weirdly, the changelog on the Windows Store still says that the password syncing functionality is present. However, upon downloading, the app shows the version as 11.6 in the top right. We verified this for ourselves, and you can see there’s no password sync option in our first scre...

A new engineering and design startup called Silk EV headquartered in Italy’s venerable Motor Valley is more than just another attempt at making an electric hypercar. It’s also the latest arrow in the quiver for China’s massive Belt and Road project, though the first that deals with electric cars. Silk EV announced on Tuesday that it will co-develop an “ultra-luxury hypercar” called the S9 in the home region of Lamborghini and Ferrari with First Automobile Works (FAW), China’s original state-owned automaker. The S9 will be part of the Chinese automaker’s longstanding Hongqi brand, which means “red flag” and was once exclusively made for high-ranking Chinese government officials before becoming more widely available. The two companies didn’t release any specifications about the S9, or any ph...

Huawei will announce a new flagship foldable phone later this month, according to a Weibo post on the company’s official page. Based on the name, the Mate X2 sounds like it should be a more substantial followup to the original Mate X than Huawei’s last foldable phone, the faster and slightly tweaked Mate XS. Unless Huawei is being deliberately cryptic, the teaser image for the Mate X2 actually suggests that the phone could possibly switch to a different folding screen design with the flexible panel on the inside, like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold line. The previous Mate X phones had a single panel that wrapped around the outside when closed, like Royole’s Flexpai devices. Otherwise, there’s not much in the way of details on the Mate X2 yet. It’s likely that it’ll have the same Kirin 9000 proces...

Sony shipped 4.5 million PlayStation 5 units worldwide in 2020, as revealed by information published alongside the company’s latest earnings report. The number highlights Sony’s current ability to mass-produce the console, which has been extremely difficult to buy since its launch in November. Demand for the PlayStation 4 dropped dramatically year-on-year, with 1.4 million units shipped in the October-December quarter — a 77 percent decrease from the previous year. Sony actually managed to sell fewer PS4s in the holiday quarter than it did from July to September. PS5 is being sold at a loss Sony’s gaming business overall performed much better than a year ago, with 40 percent higher revenue of 883.2 billion yen ($8.4 billion) partly driven by PS5 sales. Operating profit was up by 50 percent...

SpaceX’s latest Starship prototype launched on Tuesday, soaring miles above its South Texas facilities in a successful flight demonstration before exploding during the landing attempt. It’s the second failed landing in a row, after a previous prototype, SN8, launched and failed to stick the landing in December. This week’s launch demo — one of many in the books already — follows weeks of tension between SpaceX and the Federal Aviation Administration, which approves test launches like this one. During its high-altitude test launch with SN8 two months ago, the company violated its FAA launch license. This triggered an investigation that held up today’s SN9 flight and frustrated SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, The Verge reported last week. SpaceX launched the thing anyway In a statement Tuesday morning...

Apple just yesterday released its latest update for macOS Big Sur with improved Bluetooth reliability and a handful of bug fixes. And today, it’s rolling out the first beta of macOS Big Sur 11.3, which will bring further refinements to Safari, Reminders, Apple Music, Apple News, and other apps. This update will also try to improve the experience of running iPhone and iPad apps on M1 Macs, which can still be a little awkward at this early stage (and without a touchscreen display). iPadOS apps will now appear larger than before — if your screen size allows for it — and beta testers will find a new preference pane for iPhone and iPad apps that’ll let them better personalize the “touch alternatives” keyboard commands. Touch alternatives allow for “keyboard alternatives for tap, swipe, and drag...

It hasn’t been a good day for WallStreetBets, as GameStop’s stock has plummeted today. AMC, the community’s other bet, dropped as well. But unlike previous dips, the stocks don’t appear to be rallying. Prices stayed low for the entire trading day, something that hasn’t happened since WallStreetBets became a household name one week ago. When the market closed today, the price of GameStop was $90 even, an 81 percent drop from GameStop’s peak at $483, and a 58 percent drop from its price of $218 on Friday evening. AMC is down too, closing today at $7.82, which is a 61 percent drop from its peak at $19.88. It’s hard to believe that in August of last year, GameStop was trading at $4.50. Between then and last week, some investors bet that the stock was undervalued, driving it up to around $30 a ...

CD Projekt Red has warned players that installing Cyberpunk 2077 mods or custom save files on the PC could pose a security risk (via Kotaku). According to the company’s tweet, there’s apparently a “vulnerability in external DLL files the game uses which can be used to execute code on PCs.” The game’s official mod tools were just released last week. The company warns users not to install files from unknown sources, though as Kotaku points out, that pretty much rules out all mods unless you can read and understand their code. When you’re dealing with a vulnerability that could potentially lead to arbitrary code running on your computer, it’s probably best not to risk it until a fix is available. If you plan to use @CyberpunkGame mods/custom saves on PC, use caution. We’ve been made awa...

Amazon founder and soon-to-be-former CEO Jeff Bezos is stepping down from his role, making way for Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy to take his place, and the company couldn’t be in better shape financially for the big transition. Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon has kept growing bigger during times that have strained many other businesses. In its Q4 2020 earnings release this afternoon, the company reported net income more than doubling to $7.2 billion for the quarter, compared to $3.3 billion for the same period in 2019. Amazon’s full-year 2020 net sales were up 38 percent, to $386.1 billion. There’s a little more to unpack in these Q4 earnings than one might usually see. For 2020, Amazon shifted its Prime Day shopping event from the middle of summer to mid-October, which ...

It was September 2018, while Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was testifying before Congress for the first time, when sitting lawmakers had their first confrontation with the wild nature of the online right. Nearly 90 minutes after the hearing began, Laura Loomer, a far-right internet celebrity, stood up from the committee audience. “Please help us Mr. President before it is too late,” Loomer yelled, selfie stick in hand. She said something about “censoring” and then something about “shadowbanning,” although it was hard to make out the argument. “What is she trying to say?” Rep. Billy Long (R-MO) asked, before pretending to lead a live auction, imitating an auctioneer’s call to drown out Loomer’s voice and forcing her out the hearing room. It was a jarring moment, but as Republicans struggle with t...

Apex Legends is coming to the Nintendo Switch very soon. Today, EA announced that the portable version of its sci-fi battle royale will debut on Nintendo’s tablet on March 9th. Chad Grenier, Apex’s game director, says the new version will include “cross-platform play, our latest seasonal content, and full feature parity with the other versions of the game.” Apex Legends originally launched in early 2019, and a Switch version was announced last June. It’s developed by Respawn, the studio behind games like Titanfall and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The Switch version launches not long after the game’s eighth season, which launches today. To make up for the difference, EA says that “since we’re launching a few weeks after the start of season eight, Switch players will be granted 30 free leve...

It can be difficult to figure out how you’re coming across in a videoconference, especially if you want to make sure everything works before you start the meeting. How is your lighting? Are you sitting too close or too far from the camera? Is your audio okay, are you accidentally muted, or do you sound as if you’re in an echo chamber? Google has now made it easier to check your appearance and your tech before a Meet conference with its new “green room” feature (via 9to5Google). When you start or prepare to join a meeting, in the usual “Ready to join?” window that first appears, you will now also see a small button below your video that says “Check your audio and video.” Just click on that button, and a pop-up window will not only show your video image, but allow you to see (and change) whi...