Technology

iFixit iFixit has gotten its hands on Apple’s new M1-powered MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, which of course is to say that its team has torn the laptops apart to find out what’s inside. And, while the Air and the Pro have set groundbreaking new standards for performance and efficiency, it turns out that this can be attributed almost entirely to the M1 chip rather than any particular design changes. Take the new MacBook Pro, for instance. Here’s this year’s Intel-based model on the left, with the new M1 version on the right: The internal layouts of the two computers are almost identical. iFixit notes that the M1 model uses exactly the same fan component as its Intel predecessor, for example, which really does drive home the M1 chip’s efficiency… Continue reading… You Deserve to M...

Messaging app Go SMS Pro, which has over 100 million installs from the Google Play store, has a massive security flaw that potentially allows people to access the sensitive content you’ve sent using the app. And even though the app’s maker was informed about the issue months ago, they haven’t made updates to fix what’s going on. To give you an idea of just how much information the app leaks, here’s what TechCrunch was able to find: “In viewing just a few dozen links, we found a person’s phone number, a screenshot of a bank transfer, an order confirmation including someone’s home address, an arrest record, and far more explicit photos than we were expecting, to be quite honest,” cybersecurity reporter Zack Whittaker says. Not great. H… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Mone...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge PayPal announced a new fundraising service called “Generosity Network” that seems poised to take on GoFundMe, part of PayPal’s continued expansion into financial services it’s been missing until now. The service allows you to set up a fundraising page and process donations through PayPal’s payment platform. Transaction fees are waived on donations made with credit and debit cards, but according to TechCrunch, PayPal does intend to charge eventually. Generosity Network seems as easy to use as GoFundMe, but unlike the popular platform, it limits the length of campaigns to 30 days and caps the total amount of donations you’re able to collect at $20,000. The service can be used by individuals, businesses, and organizations, provided they… Continue ...

Image: Puffballs United The Internet Archive — the non-profit digital library known for the Wayback Machine — announced that it will now preserve Flash animations and games, ahead of Adobe’s planned demise for the defunct web software at the end of 2020. The Archive will emulate the content so it plays as it used to, preserving critical elements of early internet culture for browsers that can no longer run them. The Internet Archive says you can already browse over 1,000 games and animations that it’s saved, including classics like “Peanut Butter Jelly Time” and “All your base are belong to us”. The organization says emulation is made possible by an in-development Flash emulator called Ruffle that it’s incorporated into its system. While Ruffle’s developers… Continue reading… ...

Image: Rocket Labe After launching one of its rockets to orbit on Thursday, small satellite launcher Rocket Lab successfully brought the vehicle back to Earth and landed it gently in the ocean underneath a series of parachutes. The maneuver was part of an intricate dress rehearsal, meant to practice nearly all of the steps Rocket Lab will take to recover and reuse its rockets in the future. Rocket Lab’s primary rocket is the Electron, aimed at launching batches of small satellites into low Earth orbit. For all of the company’s 15 launches up until now, the Electron has been expendable, with an entirely new rocket used for each new mission. But in 2019, Rocket Lab announced its plans to try to save the majority of the Electron rocket following future… Continue reading… You Dese...

Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images RadioShack’s shambling remains were given another jolt of life today when they were purchased by another company that plans to relaunch the once-great retailer as an online-focused brand. The store’s remains were purchased by Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV), a startup founded in 2019 that’s been scooping up brands from other faded retail giants as well, including Pier 1, Modell’s Sporting Goods, Dressbarn, and more. REV says RadioShack’s website already has “strong existing sales and sales potential,” and the company is “confident” it can further raise awareness of the brand internationally. REV claims it’s successfully turned around other companies it’s launched as online brands. The Wall Street Journal reported that Dressbarn...

Image: Roblox The company behind the hit kids game Roblox is going public after soaring use during the pandemic. The company now has 31.1 million daily users who have spent an average of 2.6 hours per day in the game this year, according to Roblox’s prospectus. Roblox has been around since 2004, but the game nearly doubled its daily users over the last nine months as it’s provided a social space where its players — mostly kids and teens — can hang out while stuck inside. Roblox reported revenue of $588.7 million during the first nine months of 2020, a 68 percent increase over the same period in 2019. The company has spent a lot more money as it’s grown, though. Roblox reported losses of $203.2 million for the first nine months of 2020 — an increase so… Continue reading… You De...

Photo By Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images Kevin Lin, a Twitch co-founder, is leaving the company, he announced in a Medium post on Thursday. With Lin’s departure, the only remaining co-founder at Twitch is its CEO, Emmett Shear — co-founders Justin Kan, Kyle Vogt, and Michael Seibel are no longer with the company. Lin also served as Twitch’s chief operating officer from from April 2008 to January 2018, according to his LinkedIn. Lin wasn’t specific about what he plans to do next. “I am looking forward to spending time with family and loved ones, some sleep and relaxation, some fitness, and of course, a lot of video games,” Lin said in his Medium blog. “I’m so excited to stretch my curiosity and to continue exploring a world where technology is a positive amplifier in our lives&...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Alan Dean Foster, author of several Star Wars novelizations, says Disney hasn’t paid him his royalties. According to Foster, Disney has also asked him to sign a non-disclosure agreement before the company will speak with him. “You continue to ignore requests from my agents,” Foster wrote in a letter published by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. “You continue to ignore queries from SFWA, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. You continue to ignore my legal representatives. I know this is what gargantuan corporations often do. Ignore requests and inquiries hoping the petitioner will simply go away. Or possibly die. But I’m still here, and I am still entitled to what you owe me.” Foster ghost-wrote the… Continue re...

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple has released iOS 14.2.1 with a number of fixes, including for one that the company says will address problems with the lock screen becoming unresponsive on the iPhone 12 mini. The iPhone 12 mini was officially released on Friday, but users reported sensitivity issues with the lock screen shortly after. Some users had problems swiping up from the bottom of the lock screen when trying to unlock their phone as well as issues pressing the flashlight or camera buttons. It’s unclear exactly what caused the lock screen problems, and I haven’t run into any on my iPhone 12 mini that I got on Friday. Apparently, Apple found something it could fix, though, and hopefully this update resolves the issue for those who were having problems. Apple… Continue rea...

Asus Asus has announced its new Chromebox 4, a mini PC that runs Chrome OS. Visually, the Chromebox 4 looks fairly similar to its predecessor (the Chromebox 3). Both are black with the Asus logo in the middle and the Chrome logo in the top left corner. It’s also the same size — 5.85 x 5.85 x 1.58 inches — but Asus has made a big change under the hood. Where the Chromebox 3 was powered by 8th Gen Intel processors, the Chromebox 4 offers 10th Gen Intel processors. Asus says these will deliver “faster, smoother and more energy-efficient performance.” Image: AsusThe Chromebox 4 comes with a new lockable VESA mount and a 65W power adapter. The new Chromebox can include an Intel Celeron 5205U or one of three Intel Core… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are l...

Jonah Peretti, founder of BuzzFeed | Photo by Bodo Marks / picture alliance via Getty Images BuzzFeed and HuffPost, formerly separate, are now one, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Verizon — which previously owned HuffPost, née The Huffington Post — has dumped the powerhouse digital media brand in an all-stock deal. The pairing makes sense. Jonah Peretti, now CEO of BuzzFeed, was a co-founder of what was then called The Huffington Post. In fact, BuzzFeed, which started its life as a company that abused young people to “curate” viral content for ad dollars and hoovered up tons of venture capital in the process, was founded by Peretti in his free time while he was working at The Huffington Post. (The name was changed in 2017 as part of a company-wide rebranding led by former edi...