Technology

I always enjoy this time of the year. Usually, I take some time off of work and use it as a golden opportunity to tackle my ever-growing backlog of games. With the year wrapping up and a ton of great games already available (and even more coming over the next few years), it’s truly a great time to be a gamer. Today’s deals spotlight an incredible deal for PS4 and PS5 owners, a sale on Dell’s 27-inch 1440p gaming monitor, plus a few deals on some great headphones and wireless earbuds. Get two years of PlayStation Plus for less than $60 If you were one of the lucky ones to grab a PS5, I recommend taking advantage of this PlayStation Plus subscription deal at Eneba.com. Normally $60 through Sony, it’s just $32. However, if you want the most bang for your buck, I strongly advise picking up two...

TV was a constant companion in 2020. With most cultural institutions shut down, the small screen still managed to provide us with a deluge of new things to enjoy and talk about — far more than any one person could ever watch. In fact, at times this year, I found it difficult to watch anything — or at least, anything new. My habits were often fickle, and I danced across shows new and old; I started many and finished few on my journey to get lost in something. And so even in this extraordinary year, the usual caveats apply. I am but one person, and I cannot watch all television. Here, in no particular order, are the shows that stayed with me, long after I turned off the set. Dare Me While the show premiered in 2019, the rest of Dare Me’s 10 episodes aired in 2020, and each of them was among ...

Facebook is stepping up its campaign against Apple’s privacy changes with a second full-page newspaper ad today. This new ad claims Apple’s iOS 14 privacy changes “will change the internet as we know it,” and force websites and blogs “to start charging you subscription fees” or add in-app purchases due to a lack of personalized ads. It follows a similar full-page newspaper ad in the The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the Washington Post yesterday. Apple is planning to make changes to iOS 14 early next year that will require developers to ask for permission to gather data and track users across mobile apps and websites on an iPhone or iPad. Apple revealed how iOS 14 users will be prompted to opt into tracking in apps this week, noting that developers like Facebook can explain to u...

Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Pro have leaked again, this time in a full 360-degree animation courtesy of Evan Blass. The latest @Evleaks drop gives us our best look yet at how Samsung’s latest true wireless earbuds will look from every angle. Rumored to arrive alongside the Galaxy S21 in January, Samsung’s followup to the Galaxy Buds Live and Galaxy Buds Plus has already leaked in three different colors: black, violet, and silver, again courtesy of Blass. All three Galaxy Buds Pro color options.Evan Blass The Galaxy Buds Pro are expected to feature active noise cancellation, that should be much improved over the open-ear design of the Galaxy Buds Live. The Pros will also feature a beefier 500mAh battery according to an FCC filing. Samsung is rumored to be hosting an Galaxy S21 launch event on Jan...

Facebook is notifying Messenger and Instagram users in Europe that some features are temporarily unavailable. A small message has appeared in both the Facebook Messenger and Instagram apps for European users this week, noting that some features aren’t available to “respect new rules for messaging services in Europe.” Facebook doesn’t outline exactly what features will be missing, but the company does reveal on its support pages that polls on both Messenger and Instagram are currently unavailable in Europe, alongside a lack of stickers in Instagram and no personalized replies on Messenger. Other missing features may include a lack of certain file sends on Messenger, missing nicknames, or the ability to share AR effects in DMs on Instagram. Facebook’s warning in Instagram DMs. Facebook has t...

Twitch will no longer allow streamers and commenters to go around calling one another “simps.” The term — a recent favorite in the Twitch community that nominally refers to men who seem desperate for a woman’s attention — will be banned when used as an insult under Twitch’s upcoming revamp of its harassment policy. “Incel” and “virgin” will be banned as insults, too, Twitch COO Sara Clemens said during a live-streamed town hall this afternoon. The new policy, first spotted by esports consultant Rod Breslau, will go into effect on January 22nd. It also includes stricter rules around sexual harassment and seems to give Twitch more leeway to ban streamers and commenters who make offensive comments. Twitch is also rejecting emotes that include “simp” The policy overhaul comes after Twitch was ...

One of Canada’s astronauts will be sent around the Moon as part of a partnership between NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), NASA announced today. The two organizations have formally agreed to collaborate on building a lunar space station called the Lunar Gateway. The Gateway is just one part of NASA’s larger Artemis program, which is focused on landing a woman on the Moon by 2024. A Canadian astronaut will participate in NASA’s planned Artemis II mission, and the CSA also has a seat on a future flight to the Gateway once it is complete. By joining the Artemis II mission, Canada will become the second country to have an astronaut fly around the Moon, the CSA says. Canada currently has just four active astronauts, and the CSA has not announced which will be participating in this partn...

Zoom will be lifting its 40-minute meeting limit for free accounts globally in recognition of several upcoming holidays, the company confirmed to The Verge. The limits will be removed in recognition of Hanukkah, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and Kwanzaa. The company similarly lifted its 40-minute limit last month for Thanksgiving Day. Here’s exactly when Zoom will be removing the 40-minute limit: 10AM ET Thursday, December 17th, to 6AM ET Saturday, December 19th, for the end of Hanukkah 10AM ET Wednesday, December 23rd, to 6AM ET Saturday, December 26th, for Christmas Eve and Christmas 10AM ET on Wednesday, December 30th, to 6AM ET on Saturday, January 2nd, for New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and the end of Kwanzaa Normally, meetings with three or more people ho...

Twitter will no longer automatically show the quote tweet prompt when you try to retweet something starting on Wednesday, the company announced. The change to the way retweets worked was first implemented in October ahead of the 2020 US presidential election. Twitter’s aim with the change was to encourage people to tweet and amplify information more thoughtfully. “We don’t believe that this happened, in practice,” Twitter said in a series of tweets. “The use of Quote Tweets increased, but 45 percent of them included single-word affirmations and 70 percent had less than 25 characters.” Twitter also saw a 20 percent decrease in retweets and quote tweets while the automatic quote tweet prompt was in place. The increase in Quote Tweets was also offset by an overall 20% decrease in sharing thro...

The Lizzie McGuire Disney Plus series is officially dead, according to an Instagram post from Hilary Duff. The series was reportedly going to feature an adult Duff reprising her role as Lizzie in her 30s, navigating a career in New York, and dealing with more “adult” themes. “It’s been an honor to have Lizzie in my life,” Duff wrote. “I know the efforts and conversations have been everywhere trying to make work, but sadly and despite everyone’s best efforts [the reboot] isn’t going to happen.” The new Lizzie McGuire series’ original showrunner Terri Minsky was fired by Disney over “differences” in creative direction only two episodes into production, Variety reports. Following Minsky’s removal, work on the show was halted completely in January 2020, with the future of it unknown. Disney ha...

Apple has responded to Facebook’s critiques of its upcoming privacy changes by saying that is “standing up for our users,” in a statement shared with The Verge. Facebook has been criticizing the company ahead of a future iOS update that will require users to give their permission for apps to collect data about them. Facebook took out full-page newspaper ads today attacking Apple, claiming that the changes will “limit businesses’ ability to run personalized ads and reach their customers effectively.” Here is Apple’s full statement: We believe that this is a simple matter of standing up for our users. Users should know when their data is being collected and shared across other apps and websites — and they should have the choice to allow that or not. App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14 does n...