Technology

Another CES is in the books. Going all-virtual meant that it was a smaller show than usual — and since it was already a show that’s been on the decline in terms of influence for a few years now, we could feel it. Still: there were some big stories to follow and things to learn about what’s coming up in consumer tech. That’s the thing about CES: most of the time the best technology shown off here is conceptual, wildly expensive, a long way off in the future, or all of the above. We’re interested in it not because we expect to find it in a store next week, but because it informs the things we’ll find in stores over the course of the next two years. Also, we’re interested in it because gigantic screens are dope, especially when they bend. This year I think there are a few big trends to keep a...

Short-term rental site VRBO does not plan to cancel reservations in the DC area during the inauguration next week, even though competitor Airbnb has already done so. First reported by BuzzFeed News, VRBO said in a blog post Friday afternoon that it was “encouraging hosts to cancel bookings during this time,” if they believed a guest was violating its policies, but stopped short of a blanket cancellation. Following the January 6th attack on the Capitol that left six people dead, DC-area officials said in a joint statement that they were “encouraging Americans not to come to Washington, D.C. and to instead participate virtually” in the inauguration. VRBO acknowledges in its blog post that officials were “reporting the potential for violence and armed protests” in DC and state capitals in the...

Last year, we opened our awards for the annual Consumer Electronics Show by saying “oh, what a difference 12 months makes.” One year later we can confidently say again: oh, what a difference 12 months makes. It’s been a challenging year, and we weren’t sure what to expect coming into this CES. As the COVID-19 pandemic began to shut the world down early last year, events started to be canceled in a trickle — and then in waves. Scientists and experts told us the world wasn’t going back to normal for possibly years, so there was no way CES 2021 was going to happen as usual. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which runs CES, is optimistic the show will be back in 2022 — but that’s a big “we’ll see.” But even without a global pandemic, CES was always going to change. As big tech compani...

Some Twitter employees have set their accounts to private and scrubbed their online biographies over concerns they may be targeted by supporters of President Trump, the New York Times reported. In addition, some Twitter executives have been assigned personal security as the company reckons with its decision to bar one of its loudest voices. Trump’s @realDonaldTrump account was permanently suspended from Twitter January 8th, “due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter said in its statement. The president told supporters at a rally just before an attack on the Capitol January 6th they would “have to show strength,” and “fight much harder,” encouraging them to walk down to the Capitol. Trump tweeted that Vice President Mike Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should hav...

Driving around a car that looks like it’s made from the fabric of space is now slightly more possible, as demonstrated in this modified black paint job that DipYourCar applied to a Mitsubishi Lancer. The resulting car, spotted by Gizmodo, absorbs 99.4 percent of light, but features speckled luminescent spots that make it look like the night sky. The project required the use of Musou Black paint made by Koyo Orient Japan and the application of HyperShift, pearlescent particles used to create shiny finishes on cars. After some tinkering with paint thinner, the final result is stunning, even if it is as fragile and impractical as DipYourCar suggests. [embedded content] The effect is reminiscent of Vantablack, a light absorbing material made from carbon nanotubes. Wild applications of Vantabla...

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Medium has announced its acquisition of the social-based ebook company Glose. Glose is a platform where users can buy and read books, then share notes and highlights with friends. In the press release announcing the acquisition, Medium CEO Ev Williams says that the company “look[s] forward to working with the Glose team on partnering with publishers to help authors reach more readers.” However, as Engadget notes, once the integration is complete, Glose’s library “won’t be included in Medium’s $5 monthly and $50 annual subscriptions.” What the integration between Glose and Medium will actually look like is still a little unclear. In an interview with CNN Business, Glose CEO Nicolas Princen raises the idea of readers being able to jump from an article into a book. “The vision is to create an...

In October, the FAA took a major stride towards letting increasingly smart drones fly themselves, letting Skydio’s self-flying drones inspect any bridge in North Carolina for four years, as long as humans first verified those bridges were clear. Now, the US airspace regulator is taking an even bigger step: American Robotics says it’s become the first company allowed to operate drones without needing a human pilot or an observer anywhere near the aircraft. It’s not quite as big a deal as you’d expect from the company’s press release or The Wall Street Journal’s headline “FAA Approves First Fully Automated Commercial Drone Flights,” because humans still need to be part of the equation: FAA documents show that American Robotics will still need to assign a human to each and every flight, who’l...

When times are tough, the sitcom is a refuge. Like late-night talk shows, the multicamera sitcom is one of the oldest formats in television. It’s affordable and efficient for the people who produce it, and comforting and familiar to viewers. Problems are introduced and solved in 30 minutes or less, usually with the realization that they were never that big of a deal in the first place. Characters have signature tics and catchphrases we love them for; in time, they come to feel like our friends. The best of the bunch are syndicated long enough that we’re able to introduce them to our children. What a pleasant thing it is, to retreat into the uncomplicated pleasure of a sitcom — a half-hour white lie to tell ourselves whenever the real world feels like a little too much. Perhaps this is why ...

Apple has started work on a foldable phone, and it’s begun prototyping foldable screens internally, according to Bloomberg. A final device is likely still years away, the report says, and Apple is working on just the display for now — not the rest of the phone it would attach to. The initial prototypes sound similar to the foldable screens we’ve seen used by Samsung, Motorola, and others. Bloomberg says Apple is looking at making foldable screens with a “mostly invisible hinge” that could unfold to around the size of the iPhone 12 Pro Max. The report says that several screen sizes are being discussed, however. Under-display Touch ID is reportedly still in testing for 2021 Apple hasn’t publicly indicated any interest in making a foldable phone, though the company rarely signals its interest...

Apple has turned off users’ ability to unofficially install iOS apps onto their M1 Macs (via 9to5Mac). While iOS apps are still available in the Mac App Store, many apps, such as Dark Sky and Netflix, don’t have their developer’s approval to be run on macOS. Up until now, there was a workaround that allowed the use of third-party software to install the apps without having to use the Mac App Store, but it seems like Apple has remotely disabled it. When we tried to install an unsupported app on an M1 Mac running macOS 11.1, we got an error message saying that we couldn’t install it and should “try again later”. You can see a screenshot at the top of this article. Mac users have been used to having more freedom in what programs they’re able to run According to 9to5Mac, the message on the mos...

Facebook won’t let people create events that take place “in close proximity” to the White House, the US Capitol building, or any state capitol buildings through Inauguration Day, the company announced on Friday. The move builds upon Facebook’s previously announced Inauguration Day preparations aiming to prevent the platform from being used to organize a violent event like the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. Facebook is also doing a “secondary review” of all inauguration-related events and will remove those that violate the platform’s rules. The company is also continuing a policy that blocks pages and accounts based outside the US from creating events located in the US. That policy was first put in place for the US presidential election. Facebook has come under scrutiny for allowing ...