Technology

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Universal Electronics Inc. (UEI) has introduced its version of the notoriously unpopular Apple TV remote “specifically developed and designed” for cable, satellite, and MVPD (multichannel video program distributor) customers, the company announced. The remote uses Bluetooth low energy or infrared to connect with the box, has a microphone to speak commands to Siri, and its universal remote function allows control of TVs and audio devices from any brand or manufacturer. It has backlit keys, which activate via an ambient light sensor, a button to flip through channels, and a mute button, according to UEI. “We’re excited that customers worldwide will soon be able to enjoy this new remote, designed specifically for the growing number of… Continue re...

A volunteer in Los Angeles distributes food to people financially hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. | Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images Celebrating Thanksgiving during a pandemic is weird. It’s more stress, more risk calculations, more staying away from people you’d normally draw close to. It feels sucky and dark and I know there’s a lot of people like me who are going to be so grateful for 2020 to be over. But as much as this year has been the worst, it’s also shown us how we humans can be a lot better when we actually try. This year, I’m thankful for the researchers who have worked carefully and swiftly to develop extremely promising vaccine candidates. They took an impossible task and got it to the finish line in record time. I’m thankful for the volunteers who were willing to enroll...

SpaceX will launch a total of 12,000 satellites it needs for its Starlink space-to-ground internet service | Photo by Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images Beginning at noon PT/3PM ET Saturday, a group of SpaceX engineers working on the Starlink satellite project will answer questions on Reddit about its Better than Nothing Beta program. The ultimate goal of the Starlink program is to provide global internet coverage from space, and SpaceX launched the public beta test last month, after introducing a private beta over the summer. Beta users had to buy all of the Starlink ground equipment for $499 and then pay a $99 monthly fee for active service to participate in the program. An email to those invited to the public beta said users could “expect to see data speeds vary from 50Mb/s to 150M...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the biggest shopping days of the year, a relentless, deals-packed weekend when you can find the best prices on tech products like laptops, 4K TVs, phones, and more. And of course, these good deals are all accessible online. You can count on us to publish the best deals that you need to know about, but if you want to be among the first people to discover price drops on products you’re interested in, you’ll want to get set up with a price-tracking site. We’ve included a few of our favorite examples below, pointing out how each can help you track deals in slightly different ways, with their own special features. All of them are free to use, and once you’ve added products that you’re interested in keeping an… Conti...

A Moderna trial participant has his arm disinfected before before receiving the vaccine. | Photo by Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for The Washington Post via Getty Images Pfizer / BioNTech’s and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines have a lot in common: they’ve both been highly effective in clinical trials, they’re both gene-based vaccines, and they also each require two doses. That last point is pretty standard for vaccines. “If you look at all the FDA approved vaccines, the vast majority will require multiple doses,” says Otto Yang, an infectious disease specialist at UCLA Health. Here’s why some of the most promising coronavirus vaccine candidates are no exception. A vaccine works by exposing the body to a small part of the virus so that the immune system can learn to recognize it. More than one dose m...

Amazon and HBO-owner WarnerMedia finally came to an agreement this week to bring HBO Max to Amazon Fire TV devices, nearly six months after the streaming service first launched. But as part of that agreement, Amazon will be removing HBO from Amazon’s Prime Video Channels selection starting next year, according to CNBC. Amazon Prime Video Channels let you subscribe to individual streaming channels for a monthly fee and watch them on Amazon. But the HBO Prime Video Channel has some differences from HBO Max. HBO Max offers everything you’d get with a normal HBO subscription as well as additional movies, shows, and original series. As WarnerMedia is trying to build its subscriber base for HBO Max, it seems the company wants to remove some… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Mon...

Photo Illustration by Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Airbnb’s chief trust officer Sean Joyce left the company after just six months in 2019 because the former FBI deputy director took issue with the company’s data sharing practices in China, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. For years, Airbnb has disclosed that it shares information such as phone numbers and email addresses with the Chinese government when a user books a rental in China. That happens whether the user is a Chinese citizen or a foreign visitor — a policy that’s required from all hospitality businesses operating in the country. Joyce, who Airbnb hired in May 2019 to protect the platform’s users, was concerned with Airbnb’s willingness to share data. Joyce also objected to the scope...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Employees at Tesla’s Fremont plant are “essential workers” and therefore exempt from new statewide COVID-19 health orders, CNBC reported. The California Department of Public Health says manufacturing is considered an “essential workforce” — and that applies to Tesla’s manufacturing, too. California Governor Gavin Newsom announced new measures such as a “limited stay-at-home order” to slow new coronavirus cases in the state. The rules, which take effect Saturday, prohibit non-essential work and personal gatherings between 10PM and 5AM. The carmaker fought previous, stricter shelter-in-place orders in the spring. In March, Alameda County officials initially told the company it was not exempt from an order requiring nonessential businesses… Contin...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter will transfer the @POTUS account to President-elect Joe Biden when he’s sworn in on Inauguration Day, the company told Politico. Twitter will transfer the account to Biden even if President Donald Trump hasn’t conceded — which he still hasn’t done, despite the election widely being called for Biden earlier this month. “Twitter is actively preparing to support the transition of White House institutional Twitter accounts on January 20th, 2021,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement to The Verge. “As we did for the presidential transition in 2017, this process is being done in close consultation with the National Archives and Records Administration.” Other presidential accounts, including @whitehouse, @VP, and @FLOTUS, will be… Contin...

HBO’s upcoming TV adaptation of The Last of Us just took a big step forward in actually happening: the network has given the show a series order, with series creator Neil Druckmann working as both a writer and executive producer alongside Craig Mazin (Chernobyl). HBO’s Carolyn Strauss, who executive produced both Game of Thrones and Chernobyl, will also serve as an executive producer on The Last of Us. Per the official synopsis, the TV series seems to be adapting the first game in the series: “The story takes place twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal,… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Money ...

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images President-elect Joe Biden is preparing to take over from President Donald Trump, but his transition team isn’t getting the level of cybersecurity support usually provided by outgoing administrations, according to The Wall Street Journal. That could mean Biden’s team is more vulnerable to cyberattacks than if it had the full support and resources of the federal government. Typically, a departing administration would help the transition team with things like setting up government email accounts and making sure those accounts are protected, reports The Wall Street Journal. But the Trump administration has stopped federal agencies from providing that support, leaving the Biden transition team to take care of its own cybersecurity. The team… Continue readi...