Technology

Dell is launching three new monitors next month, and all of them come with a dedicated Microsoft Teams button. Dell claims it has created the “world’s first video conferencing monitors certified for Microsoft Teams,” after Microsoft started certifying displays, webcams, and headsets last year. Three monitors will be available next month, all offering quick access to Microsoft Teams. The button will let Microsoft Teams users quickly launch the app to make and receive video calls. Hands-free commands will also be supported through Cortana and the built-in microphone. Dell’s new Microsoft Teams monitors.Image: Dell This is the first time we’ve seen a Microsoft Teams button on a monitor, but headset manufacturers have been quick to add buttons that support Microsoft’s communications app. New a...

Qualcomm is getting a new CEO: Cristiano Amon, who already serves as president for the company, will replace Steve Mollenkopf, who took over as CEO in 2014. Amon has already served as the public face of the company for some time, presiding over introductions of new products like the Snapdragon 888, making him an obvious choice to succeed Mollenkopf at the helm. Mollenkopf’s tenure as CEO saw Qualcomm face numerous challenges: antitrust accusations, allegations of anticompetitive behavior, and a massive fight with Apple that saw the two companies sever their relationship (before patching things up in a settlement). But he also oversaw Qualcomm’s growth into the juggernaut it is today, one that nearly completely dominates the industry for mobile processors. “I am honored to be named the next...

Just over a year ago, I spent some time in Austin meeting with Google contractors. They had been hired through Accenture to moderate some of the most disturbing content on YouTube: videos that contain violent extremism, including murders and acts of terrorism. Several told me they had either been diagnosed with or were suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. The people I talked with made about $37,000 a year, and several had immigrated to the United States from the Middle East. Many found their working conditions intolerable, but they feared speaking out publicly for fear they would be fired. They were, in short, the sort of people who benefit from membership in a union. But with a handful of exceptions, the labor movement has made few inroads in the world’s most valuabl...

Nintendo has announced plans to acquire Canadian developer Next Level Games, a studio that has worked on some of the company’s major franchises. Next Level is already a second-party partner, meaning it only makes games for Nintendo platforms, but Nintendo says the acquisition will help secure internal development resources and boost collaboration. Next Level is based in Vancouver and is probably best known for developing the second and third Luigi’s Mansion games. Luigi’s Mansion 3 in particular is one of the more technically advanced games available on the Switch, with impressive animation and physics. Other Next Level-developed Nintendo projects include both Super Mario Strikers titles on the GameCube and the Wii, Metroid Prime: Federation Force for the 3DS, and the Wii reboot of Punch-O...

Xiaomi has announced the Mi 10i, a new phone in its 10 series intended for the Indian market and manufactured in the country — that’s what the “i” stands for, apparently. That said, it’s essentially a rebranded, region-specific version of the Mi 10T Lite 5G, which is itself basically the same thing as the Redmi Note 9 Pro 5G. The phone has a 6.67-inch 120Hz 20:9 1080p LCD, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G processor with an onboard X52 5G modem, and up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The battery is 4,820mAh, and Xiaomi says it should charge from empty to full in 58 minutes at 33W. There’s also a headphone jack, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, and an IR blaster. The main camera uses Samsung’s 108-megapixel ISOCELL HM2 sensor, supported by an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera and 2-megapixel macr...

Health departments in many Florida counties are using event management website Eventbrite to schedule COVID-19 vaccine appointments for the public. Officials told The Verge that the platform was the easiest way to get vaccinations up and running quickly during the initial rollout, which has been confusing for residents and inconsistent across the state. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis bumped all adults over the age of 65 to the front of the vaccination line along with health care workers and long-term care facility residents — breaking from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations around vaccine prioritization, which said essential workers should have first access. That opened up vaccine access to over 4 million people in the state while supplies were still limited, c...

Industrial sensor giant Teledyne will acquire FLIR, an Oregon-based company that makes thermal-imaging and night vision technology, the companies announced Monday. The deal is worth $8 billion in a mix of cash and stock. “At the core of both our companies is proprietary sensor technologies. Our business models are also similar: we each provide sensors, cameras and sensor systems to our customers,” Teledyne chairman Robert Mehrabian said in a statement. The companies’ sensors are “uniquely complementary, with minimal overlap,” he added, which could be important when regulators decide whether to approve the acquisition. You probably already know FLIR Oregon-based FLIR makes thermal-imaging and night-vision technology for the military and for industrial and consumer applications — if you’ve e...

Apple has been shutting down loads of retail stores as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to peak — on December 20th, it temporarily closed every single location in California, Mexico, Brazil, and over a dozen in London. Now, as England and Scotland go into a pair of new national lockdowns, Apple is closing all of its remaining stores in the UK. As 9to5Mac’s Michael Steeber reports, that means 18 additional stores are now closed across the UK, including several in Scotland and one in Belfast, Ireland — though it looks like the Belfast store may have already been closed. (Northern Ireland went into lockdown even earlier, on December 26th, shutting down all non-essential shops.) All 18 UK Apple Stores open today will close from January 5. Includes every location in Scotland. Most of the other 2...

As part of its January Pixel updates, Google might have fixed an issue that meant Pixel 5 system sounds could be a lot louder than you might have wanted. Since the Pixel 5’s launch in October, numerous users on Reddit and on Google’s own support forums have reported that Pixel 5 system sounds (like the camera shutter or the sound you hear when you take a screenshot) could be quite loud, even when the phone’s volume was set to a lower level. In the release notes for the January Pixel updates, however, Google says that the Pixel 5-specific update includes “further tuning & improvements for volume level of system sounds.” A few users on Reddit have reported that the system sounds are much quieter after installing the update, though some say that the sounds are too quiet now. The release n...

If you’re Nintendo and you need a bunch of non-playable characters (NPCs) for your soon-to-be smash-hit Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, what do you do? Apparently, you may use your Mii creation tool to generate them. Twitter user and self-proclaimed Mii expert Alice (@HEYimHeroic) has discovered that some of the minor characters in the game’s world (shopkeepers, townsfolk, etc.), are based on Mii characters, and Miis are able to be brought directly into the game — albeit with a fair amount of effort. As with all systems like this, there are edge cases and caveats It’s been speculated before that Breath of the Wild’s NPCs were somehow related to Miis (especially after the discovery that their game files were labeled as UMiis), but Alice’s discovery reveals that Miis can be directly map...

Fortnite developer Epic Games is moving its Cary, North Carolina headquarters across town to a large shopping mall, the company announced. It’s planning to convert the 87-acre Cary Towne Center into its new home base by 2024. Once development is complete, Epic says the site will include recreational and office space, “customized from the ground up to accommodate its long-term growth.” The company says it plans to begin development on the new HQ site this year. Epic purchased the property from Turnbridge Equities and Denali Properties, which bought it in January 2019 as part of a distressed sale after the mall lost three of its anchor tenants, according to the Triangle Business Journal. Turnbridge and Denali planned to turn the site into a mixed-use development named Carolina Yards. Epic’s ...

Games Done Quick (GDC), the charity event series that raises money while expert players blast their way through classic games, kicked off its first 2021 iteration yesterday on Twitch, and the event is running all week for anyone interested in tuning in to this year’s speedrunning spotlights. The January event, typically focused on “awesome” games done quick, is on its second day and has some great titles on the schedule over the next few hours, including speedruns of Dishonored 2, Divinity: Original Sin II, and Diablo 3. Later this week, we’ll see speedruns of classics like Final Fantasy VII, Mega-Man, Metroid, and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. Check out the full schedule here. [embedded content] GDC has been organizing its charity speedrun marathons since 2010, and this year’s ev...