Technology

“Panthers’ Russell Okung Becomes First NFL Player to Be Paid in Bitcoin,” the headline proclaimed — and soon, ones just like it started sprouting up across the web, with sports publications, tech publications, and mainstream media outlets alike jumping to tell how the Carolina Panthers offensive lineman finally fulfilled his spoken desire to get paid in cryptocurrency. Unfortunately, the headline isn’t true. “Not accurate,” an NFL spokesperson tells me, adding that “his people are converting some of the money into bitcoin” after he gets paid in US dollars, just like every other NFL player. More like “NFL player decides to spend half his salary on Bitcoin” Okung’s own team, the Carolina Panthers, also confirmed to The Verge that teams pay their players in US dollars. By that standard, anyon...

For anyone who’s been lucky enough to spend the majority of the pandemic working from home, the idea of escaping the room (or couch) that’s become a makeshift office is probably a relatable one. Enter this series of “escape rooms” built in Google Docs, that let you do just that, inside web software you’ve probably become far too familiar with. ”Part 3” of the game was finally released today, but you’ll never fully escape using Google Docs. “Escape: A Game” by Anthony Smith is styled as a choose-your-own-adventure game set in a series of interlinked Google Docs. You “wake up” from a mysterious dream in a cabin room filling with smoke, and are tasked with getting out. “Part 2” has you do the same thing in a hotel corridor, and “Part 3” that just released today, I won’t spoil for myself or an...

On Tuesday night, McConnell introduced a new bill tying increased stimulus payments to a full repeal of Section 230, according to bill text obtained by The Verge. The bill comes amid new momentum for direct $2000 stimulus payments, and increasing pressure on party leaders to appease President Trump’s escalating demands. Democratic party leaders criticized the inclusion of Section 230 repeal as an effort to scuttle stimulus talks. “Senator McConnell knows how to make $2,000 survival checks reality and he knows how to kill them,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement Tuesday. “Will Senate Republicans go along with Sen. McConnell’s cynical gambit or will they push him to give a vote on the standalone [bill]?” McConnell’s bid for a full repeal of Section 230 comes ami...

You can snag a refurbished set of the Beats Powerbeats Pro, the company’s latest truly wireless earphones, for $90 at Best Buy. This deal is exclusive to the green “moss” color variant shown in the picture above. Looking at new options, the price ranges from $130 to $180 depending on the color you want, so today’s deal is worth jumping on if you don’t care as much about what the headphones look like. And hey, if this shade of green happens to vibe with your look, then even better. Though these are refurbished, they’ve been cleaned and tested by Best Buy. They come with a 90-day warranty, as well as all original accessories including ear tips and the charging case. Beats Powerbeats Pro $90 $160 44% off Prices taken at time of publishing. Beats Powerbeats Pro wireless earphones provide up to...

If you bought a new Windows laptop on Black Friday or received one as a gift, you may be struggling to figure out which apps to download. Never fear. I have scoured the internet, the Microsoft Store, and my own downloads folder to find all the best Windows apps for whatever purpose you may need. You might be surprised how many online services you already use that have their own dedicated Windows app. I find that the main benefit of many Windows apps is to help mentally separate my life. It can get hard to navigate all of my various streaming services, work apps, chats, and social media using Chrome tabs — and it also puts me at greater risk of getting distracted. There are also some services that are significantly better in app form than they are in browser form — and some that only exist ...

The mammoth, last-minute deal that will govern the United Kingdom and European Union’s trade relations going forward post-Brexit has been finalized in the nick of time. But some security researchers have noted some puzzling aspects of the deal, including mentions of the defunct, 23-year old Netscape Communicator email software and recommendations of outdated encryption standards. The mention occurs in a series of regulations concerning “encrypt[ing] messages containing DNA profile information” between countries, which must be done using a specific set of encryption protocols. The open standard s/MIME as extension to de facto e-mail standard SMTP will be deployed to encrypt messages containing DNA profile information. The protocol s/MIME (V3) allows signed receipts, security labels, and sec...

New images and video purporting to show an Apple Watch prototype, concealed by a security case that resembles a tiny iPod, offer a rare look behind the product-development curtain of the notoriously secretive company built by Steve Jobs. First teased a few months ago by Twitter user Apple Demo, this is our first look at the device turned on and running Apple’s own internal development apps on a pre-watchOS 1.0 software build. The video starts by showing what appears to be the original cardboard packaging used to deliver the prototype hardware to testers. “This product is classified as Apple Confidential and is designated an ‘Ultra’ security program,” reads the label. “This prototype MUST be returned when recalled or when your,” says the labelling before being obscured to hide the origins o...

This year marked the introduction of the first Macs to be powered by Apple’s own silicon instead of Intel chips. As is evidenced by our reviews of the M1 MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini, these machines are incredibly powerful and offer wicked fast performance. This is especially true for apps that are designed to run natively on them and take full advantage of Apple’s latest technologies. So in that vein, this year’s Mac apps list is going to focus on some of the software that has already been optimized for this new era of Apple hardware. Last year’s picks remain just as relevant and useful today if you’re on an Intel machine. But if you’ve been gifted (or are gifting yourself) one of these new speed-demon Macs, these are a few great ways of sampling what they can do. We’ve ...

There are about to be way, way, way more DC movies — and some will be released as HBO Max exclusives. Following the release of Wonder Woman 1984 last week, DC Films president Walter Hamada sat down with the New York Times to talk about the studio’s more aggressive release strategy. Starting in 2022, DC Films plans to release up to four films theatrically every year, with one or two extra as HBO Max exclusives. Currently, DC releases about one or two movies a year, and seen mixed success. Birds of Prey and Shazam! failed to perform well, while Aquaman and Wonder Woman saw impressive box office return. In 2019, Warner Bros. also saw tremendous success with Joker — a movie not tied into the greater DC universe that nonetheless became an unexpected hit. Under the new strategy, there will be tw...

LG might be the company that’s most synonymous with OLED TVs, but tonight it’s announcing what to expect from its LCD-based sets in 2021. Like other manufacturers including TCL have already done (and Samsung is expected to soon join in on), LG is adopting Mini LED technology for its premium LCD 8K and 4K TVs coming next year. LG says Mini LED allows for “a giant leap forward in LCD TV picture quality.” The best LCD TVs today have what’s called “full-array local dimming,” where LEDs — in some cases hundreds of them — serve as the backlighting behind the screen. These can be controlled in zones, and each zone can be dimmed as appropriate for dark scenes, which helps improve black levels and contrast. Mini LED changes up the strategy a bit by using much smaller LEDs (but way more of them) for...

The T-Mobile variant of the OnePlus 7T is on sale at B&H for $300, undercutting OnePlus’s own sale at $350. This matches the lowest price the phone has ever been, so if you’ve been looking for a flagship-specced phone at a budget price, this deal may be worth checking out. This being the T-Mobile variant, there are some caveats that B&H lists on its site: The OnePlus 7T is an unlocked T-Mobile variant. It may be used in other parts of the world; however, LTE access may be limited or unsupported, depending on the network. Please choose your country/carrier above to confirm the network compatibility of this phone. This phone may also be T-Mobile branded and come pre-loaded with T-Mobile firmware and applications. The phone was originally manufactured and locked for T-Mobile, but T-Mo...