Technology

Sony is pulling Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store and offering full refunds for anyone who bought the game from the digital storefront, the company said on Thursday. If you want to start the refund process now, Sony says to visit this site and sign into your PlayStation account to submit a request. However, later on Thursday evening, Sony said it is “aware some users are experiencing issues” accessing the refund form. If you’re seeing issues, you may want to try again later. Cyberpunk 2077 has already been removed from the PlayStation Store for a few Verge staffers on their PS5s, and the game doesn’t come up in a search for “Cyberpunk 2077” on the web version of the store. Following older, online listing links to the game will show its store page, but with the option to wish list i...

Microsoft president Brad Smith warned that the wide-ranging hack of the SolarWinds’ Orion IT software is “ongoing,” and that investigations reveal “an attack that is remarkable for its scope, sophistication and impact.” The breach targeted several US government agencies and is believed to have been carried out by Russian nation-state hackers. Smith characterized the hack as “a moment of reckoning” and laid out in no uncertain terms just how large and how dangerous Microsoft believes the hack to be. It “represents an act of recklessness that created a serious technological vulnerability for the United States and the world,” Smith argues. He believes that it “is not just an attack on specific targets, but on the trust and reliability of the world’s critical infrastructure in order to advance...

A stunning new report from the Los Angeles Times details how toxic jet engine fumes can leak into airplanes’ air supplies, sickening passengers and crew — and the airline industry has known this was a problem for several decades. The Times reports that one pilot told colleagues the situation was “the tobacco and asbestos of aviation.” A Times analysis of NASA safety reports from January 2018 to December 2019 identified 362 fume events that airline crew members reported to the agency, with nearly 400 pilots, flight attendants and passengers receiving medical attention. “Fume events” occur when heated jet engine oil leaks into the air supply, causing toxic gases inside the plane. Airlines and airplane makers are aware that fume events have potentially serious problems. People can get quite s...

Twitter has begun testing its Spaces feature, the voice-based chat rooms it first announced last month. In the thread announcing the test, the company said a very small group of users would be given the ability to create Spaces, but that in theory anyone could join them — though who would be allowed into any given space depends on the user who created it. Twitter outlined last month how the first people to be given access to Spaces would be women and people from other marginalized communities, groups who are more likely than others to be subjected to abuse and harassment when trying to engage in conversations in regular, comment-based discussions on the platform. aye we’re live! what up y’all, we’re the team behind Spaces––a small experiment focused on the intimacy of the human voice...

An independent committee of experts recommended that the Food and Drug Administration authorize the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for people 18 and older. This is the second COVID-19 vaccine to go before the committee — the first, made by Pfizer and BioNTech, was authorized last week. The agency is expected to issue an authorization for Moderna’s vaccine within a day or two. “This is a really opportune time for us to move science forward,” said Hayley Gans, a committee member and professor of pediatrics at Stanford University Medical Center, during the committee’s deliberations. The evidence available for benefits of the vaccine outweighs any issues, she said. “That really supports us being able to, with the pandemic in the background, really move forward, and finally provide a safe and effecti...

Diablo Immortal didn’t make a great first impression. It was announced at Blizzcon in 2018 when most fans were expecting the next mainline Diablo title, not a free-to-play spinoff for smartphones. Since then, Blizzard has been very quiet about Immortal (though Diablo IV was eventually announced). That’s starting to change. Ahead of a technical alpha that’s set to kick off soon, I was able to play through the early stages of the game. And while I can’t speak to every aspect, one thing was immediately clear: this feels like a proper Diablo game. A mobile version of Diablo makes a lot of sense. There are already countless clones and Diablo-inspired titles on smartphones, while the Nintendo Switch version of Diablo III proved just how fun the series is to play on the go. There’s just something...

When it comes to finding a device to use to read your ebooks, you have a few options to choose from. You can always buy a tablet or simply use your smartphone, but those devices are multipurpose and can be used for a ton of things, like surfing the web or doom-scrolling through Twitter. If you are looking for something to strictly read books, e-readers, while a niche piece of tech, is designed to store all of your books in a virtual library with no other functionality. Amazon has dominated the space for years with its Kindle products. Right now, there are three Kindle models you can choose from, each with pros and cons. Below, we’ve listed each of the current Kindles available for purchase. Sometimes, there isn’t a deal for one or, in some instances, all of the products. In that case, we’v...

The leaks are coming faster as we near 2021, which is when Samsung is expected to announce a new batch of smartphones. We’ve seen glimpses of what the flagship Galaxy S21 might look like, and thanks to serial-leaker OnLeaks / Steve Hemmerstoffer, it seems we have our first look at the top of the budget-friendlier A-series. These alleged renders of the Galaxy A72 5G hint that, at least on the outside, the changes from its A71 predecessor are subtle. The Galaxy A72 5G appears to offer a 6.7-inch display like its predecessor.Photo by Steve Hemmerstoffer / OnLeaks The images show a 6.7-inch display with a centered hole-punch camera, which is consistent with the A71. That device used a very nice 1080 x 2400 pixel Super AMOLED Plus panel. The A72 appears to offer three rear-facing cameras plus a...

If you’re still hoping to secure a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X / S before the end of the year, Walmart is giving you another shot to purchase one of these next-gen consoles. Today, the retailer confirmed that it would restock the consoles at 12PM PT / 3PM ET on December 17th. When you visit the product pages for the PlayStation 5 or the Xbox Series X / Xbox Series S, you should see a message showing that a restock is confirmed for today. Due to these consoles’ high demand, they will likely sell out quickly, so if you want one, don’t hesitate to bite the bullet and hit purchase. PlayStation 5 Prices taken at time of publishing. Sony’s flagship next-gen console, priced at $499.99. Compared to the $399.99 PS5 Digital Edition, this console includes a disc drive, allowing you to play digital...

Instagram is announcing two new features to help combat COVID-19 misinformation: users in areas with surging cases will see a link to their local health authority at the top of their feed and anyone searching for vaccine information will also be directed to credible health sources. These measures will be taken in addition to the social network blocking hashtags that contain vaccine misinformation, which also got a mention in announcement tweets. The features come as many platform companies take steps to keep coronavirus misinformation from spreading at a vital time for the US, as health institutions struggle with record hospitalizations and the first of the approved COVID-19 vaccines start to roll out. Second, in addition to removing widely debunked claims about the COVID-19 vaccines, when...

2020 has been a year, not least because much of the world pivoted to remote work. Industries that typically rely on in-person connections, like fitness and religious institutions, found themselves having to engage their audiences through live streams. Ad revenue disappeared from influencers and YouTubers, who are used to working remotely so long as they make money. Fashion influencers whose livelihoods depend on peddling an image of beauty and aspirational clothing were without events to attend or reasons to get dressed. Everyone needed to adapt. In this piece, we look back on a few people we previously interviewed this year to hear how their remote transition has gone — do they anticipate staying remote? What have they learned from this challenging year? And will we collectively agree to ...

Facebook has reversed a change to its News Feed algorithm that prioritized authoritative news sources, even though some employees asked that the “nicer” News Feed become permanent, according to The New York Times. Following a sharp increase in misinformation on the platform in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 US presidential election, Facebook changed how it weighed the quality of news sources based on a “news ecosystem quality” (NEQ) score. Outlets including the Times, NPR, and CNN saw Facebook traffic rise, while more partisan sites that published incendiary or misleading news about the election saw Facebook traffic decrease. CEO Mark Zuckerberg had authorized the change to the News Feed in the days after the election when it became clear that unverified stories about election fraud a...