Technology

If your iPhone 11 isn’t responding to touches, it might be eligible for a free fix from Apple. The company has launched a replacement program for iPhone 11 displays that stop responding to touches “due to an issue with the display module.” Apple says that “a small percentage of iPhone 11 displays” are affected. Devices affected by the issue were manufactured between November 2019 and May 2020, Apple said, meaning not every phone is affected. If you’re seeing the issue on your iPhone 11, you can check to see if your phone is eligible for the program by plugging its serial number into a box on Apple’s website for the replacement program. If your phone is eligible for replacement, you can find one of Apple’s authorized service providers to help, make an appointment at an Apple retail store, o...

Lots of objects look good stuffed into a pair of Crocs. Strange things you wouldn’t expect, like mini plastic bowls of ramen, beaded butterflies, or, like in Jillian Maddocks’ case, a pile of pistachio green foam with a cherry on top. Maddocks started selling her take on Jibbitz, a Crocs-specific word for charms that stick into the shoes’ holes for decoration, as part of her 323 apparel line. She repurposed materials she already had lying around — foam she uses to make headbands, fake cherries, and seashells — and ended up designing charms that make the Crocs look like a wearable sundae. “I’ve sold more [Jibbitz] than I sold everything else this year, which is really weird and funny and exciting,” Maddocks says. She guesses she sold around 100 total pairs in the three months they were live...

When the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available in the United States, officials’ first challenge is getting the people in the door for their shots. Then, they’ll have a second problem: making sure they come back again to get a second dose of the same vaccine. With two two-dose vaccines headed for authorization, the logistical challenges of a vaccination program are only magnified. “You don’t want to have someone get the first dose of one brand of vaccine, and a second dose of another,” says Ben Moscovitch, project director of health information technology at The Pew Charitable Trusts. Assuming the Food and Drug Administration authorizes the vaccines after they review the data later this month, states will start to receive shipments of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine on December 15th, and the M...

Amazon’s decision to fire warehouse worker Courtney Bowden violated labor laws, according to charges filed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last month and obtained by BuzzFeed News. Bowden was advocating for better working when the company abruptly let her go. Bowden was one of many workers fighting for paid time off at Amazon warehouses as the coronavirus pandemic intensified. While the company said it was rolling out increased safety measures, workers continued to get sick and executives became increasingly hostile to employee organizing efforts . In March, Bowden was fired over an alleged incident with her supervisor. Bowden’s termination came at a time of unprecedented demand for Amazon services. Throughout the spring, the company struggled to keep up with rising orders, ev...

Chrome OS 87 is rolling out now, and it adds a few nice features to help you while browsing the web and when using Bluetooth accessories (via 9to5Google). One new addition in Chrome OS 87 is tab search. I typically have dozens of tabs open at any given time, so I could see how tab search might be a really handy way to find something I’ve lost in the process. Google is also adding tab search to the desktop version of Chrome, though the company said in mid-November that the feature would be coming first to Chromebooks and to other desktop platforms “soon.” Here’s what tab search looks like.Image: Google Chrome OS 87 can also now show you the battery levels of Bluetooth devices that you have connected to your computer (such as wireless headphones) in the Settings and Quick Settings menus. I o...

A Ditto chair is on its way to Japanese retailers. It exists somewhere on the spectrum of big gut Pikachu and a bean bag chair, and, according to PokéJungle, it costs roughly $250. The whole situation is a nice lavender and appears very, very squishy. Just behind your seated body looms Ditto’s eternal smile. As a pokémon, Ditto’s whole schtick is imitating other pokémon. It turns into anything it wants, albeit with the same unnerving, wide-mouthed smile of its blubbery purple form. You’ll notice I did not say true form because I humbly submit that it’s this Ditto chair. While likely not canon, it should be. I’m right about this. No questions at this time. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving yo...

With the restrictions around travel and in-person events, Epic canceled the 2020 edition of the Fortnite World Cup back in April. Now, the developer says the esports spectacle won’t be taking place in 2021 either. “With so much still unknown about what is practical and safe, we do not plan to hold in-person events in 2021, including a Fortnite World Cup,” the company explained in a blog post. “We will continue to provide online competitions throughout 2021 with the hopes that physical events, in some form, can return at some point in the future.” The first — and so far, only — Fortnite World Cup took place in 2019 at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York. The three-day spectacle culminated with 16-year-old Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf winning the solo competition and $3 million in prize money. It was ...

President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming COVID czar, Jeffrey Zients, is facing new scrutiny over his corporate ties — particularly a two-year stint on Facebook’s board of directors. But the Biden transition team confirmed to The Verge that Zients liquidated his Facebook stock earlier this year and will retain no equity when he officially begins his White House role. Zients joined the Facebook board in May 2018 in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal but declined to seek reelection to the board when his term ended in 2020. Securities and Exchange Commission filings show he was compensated with $100,000 in cash and just over $300,000 in stock awards for his work chairing the board’s Audit & Risk Oversight Committee, which met 13 times in 2019. Crucially, the last of his restricted sto...

ReedPop and Penny Arcade, the organizers of the PAX gaming conventions, announced on Friday that they plan to resume PAX East, West, and Unplugged in 2021. Organizers are planning to hold these events as long as it’s safe to do so. The organizers announced that they have no plans to hold PAX South next year, but the show will return in 2022, while information on PAX Australia will follow “in the coming weeks.” As far as the other PAX conventions go, locations remain unchanged, but the dates for PAX East, typically held in March at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, have been pushed back to the summer. Its last in-person convention was held in February With support from local governments and health officials and “pending improvement in the global COVID-19 situation,” the gaming co...

Fitbit is contacting some owners of its Sense smartwatch to offer replacements after discovering a bug affecting its electrocardiogram (ECG) readings. Users on the Fitbit forums have reported receiving emails from the company, warning that their devices are affected by an unspecified “hardware issue.” Fitbit has subsequently confirmed to The Verge that the issue specifically affects its ECG functionality. The emails ask affected users to return the smartwatch to Fitbit, and says they will be given a replacement device free of charge. Along with stress detection and temperature tracking, the Fitbit Sense’s ECG app is one of its major differentiating features compared to Fitbit’s other recent smartwatch; the Versa 3. The ECG feature is meant to allow the watch to read the wearer’s heart rhyt...

Google Podcasts is finally getting a feature that’s already standard across most listening apps: private RSS feed support. The head of product for Google Podcasts, Zack Reneau-Wedeen, made the announcement on Twitter today and shouted out some networks that are especially reliant on private feeds, including Patreon, Slate, Red Circle, and Supercast. To access the feature, tap over to the activity tab in the bottom right-hand corner and slide over to the Subscriptions tab, then tap the plus symbol. You’ll then be prompted to add by RSS feed. You can see the entire process below. This is a relatively standard feature that’s helped prop up the podcasting business for creators. On Patreon, for example, members often pay for access to a subscribers-only feed. To access that content, the creator...