Technology

Cyberpunk 2077’s listing on Microsoft’s digital games store now includes a label warning of potential performance issues on Xbox One. “Users may experience performance issues when playing this game on Xbox One consoles until this game is updated,” the warning reads. Players have observed numerous bugs and performance issues with Cyberpunk 2077 since its launch last week, especially on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The dissatisfaction led the company to quickly issue a statement suggesting that unhappy players try to get refunds for the game. Many players had trouble actually getting refunds, though, given Sony and Microsoft’s typically strict policies for issuing refunds of digital games. Since Thursday evening, though, that has changed. Sony began offering full refunds of Cyberpunk 2077...

DJI says people in the US will still be able to buy and use its drones and other products despite being named to the Commerce Department’s Entity List. The Chinese drone giant was named to the blacklist on Friday for “enabl[ing] wide-scale human rights abuses within China through abusive genetic collection and analysis or high-technology surveillance” — most likely a reference to how DJI provided drones and other technology to the Chinese government to be used in its Muslim detention camps in the Xinjiang province. “DJI is disappointed in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s decision. Customers in America can continue to buy and use DJI products normally,” the company said in a statement to The Verge. “DJI remains committed to developing the industry’s most innovative products that define our...

Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto led a video tour of the company’s Mario-themed Super Nintendo World attraction at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka during the company’s latest Direct livestream. The theme park looks to be packed with Mario iconography that will be familiar to Nintendo fans. Even the entrance Mario-themed: you enter the park by walking through a giant pipe that spits you out in the atrium of Princess Peach’s castle that first debuted in Super Mario 64. A smart wristband lets you interact with elements of the park Miyamoto showed how you can you use a special smart wristband, called the “Power-Up Band,” to interact with different parts of the zone. In one example, he punched a question mark block with the hand wearing the device, and the block made the classic Mario coin-collecti...

90,000 Google employees have just received access to free weekly COVID tests. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news that every US Google employee (and its subsidiaries, including YouTube) will be eligible to sign up for a free at-home test. This differs from other companies, like Amazon, which are only offering tests to employees who still have to work in a physical location, like a retail location or warehouse. This is apparently something Google employees are interested in, as the vendor’s website crashed after going live. Employees are promised that they’ll receive the test within two to four days of requesting one, and that they’ll get the results back within two days of the lab receiving it. According to the Wall Street Journal report, Google is paying its partner, BioIQ, $5...

The Food and Drug Administration authorized the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Moderna, which joins the Pfizer and BioNTech product as the second shot available for use in the United States. The vaccine can now be given to adults 18 years of age and older in the US. It was 94 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19 in clinical trials. The Moderna vaccine also protects against cases of severe disease: there were 30 cases of severe disease among trial participants, and all were in the placebo group. Initial data on the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine also hinted that it could protect against severe disease, but data was too limited to reach a definite conclusion. “With the availability of two vaccines now for the prevention of COVID-19, the FDA has taken another crucial step in the fight a...

Members of the United States Space Force will officially be called “Guardians”, according to an announcement Vice President Mike Pence made at an event celebrating the military branch’s one year anniversary. The organization traces the name “Guardians” back to an old Air Force Space Command motto from 1983, “Guardians of the High Frontier,” according to a short post on the US Space Force website. While a distinct entity, Space Force is part of the Air Force per its establishment with the National Defense Authorization Act. [embedded content] As it exists today, Space Force is mostly a rebrand of Air Force Space Command, but with the authority to make decisions independent from the Air Force. Space Force personnel also mostly come from the Air Force, but there’s been notable transfers — lik...

In most contexts, it’s perfectly acceptable to use “approval” and “authorization” interchangeably. But not at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and definitely not when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines. If the topic comes up at your Zoom holiday party, here’s a cheat sheet for the specific uses of these similar terms. Approval — No COVID-19 vaccines have been approved. Approval means the FDA has officially decided that a product is safe and effective for its designated use. The process for approval involves rigorous reviews of all available data on the product and can take several months. Authorization — To speed things up in an emergency like a pandemic, the FDA can grant an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). An EUA, as its name implies, authorizes a product for use during unusually urg...

CD Projekt Red (CDPR) has issued yet another statement regarding the ongoing Cyberpunk 2077 debacle, this time clarifying its stance on retail refunds for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game that have been riddled with bugs and performance issues since launch last week. The developer now says it will honor every refund request it receives between now and December 21st out of its own pocket. “We’ve just started reaching out to people who sent us a message with a confirmation of receipt. We send these emails out in waves, so don’t worry if you don’t receive an answer immediately,” CDPR writes in its new statement, issued via the official Cyberpunk 2077 Twitter account on Friday afternoon. “At the same time, we’d like you to know that our intention is for every owner of a phys...

I like to end each year by surveying you all about your predictions for social networks and the broader consumer internet in the 12 months to come. One, it’s a lot of fun. And two, a year later I get to read the predictions back and feel extremely dumb. Our collective guesses for 2020 weren’t terrible, exactly — we nailed Libra (er, Diem) failing to launch, the rise of Discord, the splinternet accelerating, and a total stalemate on Section 230 reform. But we missed a lot, too: a rise in curated experiences did not cause algorithms to “fade into the background”; a deepfake app did not go mainstream in the United States; and Twitch streaming did not power the rise of Oculus. (But the pandemic sort of did? It powered the rise of Twitch, anyway.) I asked you what you thought was going to happe...

Microsoft is designing its own ARM-based processors for servers and possibly a future Surface device, according to Bloomberg News. The processors will be used in servers for Microsoft’s Azure cloud services and be based around ARM designs, according to the report. Microsoft is also reportedly “exploring” using another chip for some of its Surface devices, but it’s not clear if this will progress into a final product. Microsoft currently uses Intel-based processors for the majority of its Azure cloud services, and most of the company’s Surface lineup run on Intel chips, too. Microsoft has worked with AMD and Qualcomm for custom chips for its Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Pro X devices, showing a willingness to move away from just Intel. Microsoft’s custom chips for Surface devices.Photo by A...

Fortnite’s annual holiday event is back, and this time, it brings a surprise: the return of airplanes. “Operation Snowdown,” as it’s called, lasts from December 18th to January 5th, and it adds the expected to the game, including a snowy map and free unlockables like a soldier snowman called Snowmando. Everyone who logs in before January 5th will also get a free caroling emote. The biggest feature, though, is the return of airplanes. The timing is perfect: planes were first introduced in season 7, back in 2018, which was also a winter-themed update for the game. (There was even a militarized Santa character.) They were later removed, and it sounds like their latest appearance will be short-lived as well. In addition to the new missions and free unlockable cosmetics, the event will also inc...

The holidays are upon us, and we’re just about to enter crunch time for gift-getting. If you haven’t made your selections, it’s possible that gifts might not get where they need to go on time — unless you pay for rush shipping or you take advantage of curbside pickup services. I know that’s a lot of pressure, but if you’re ready to make a few purchases for tech fans in your life, we have a few last-minute suggestions that also happen to be good deals. Depending on the retailer, these might not arrive in time for the holidays, but it’s the thought that counts, right? You’ve got this! Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Google’s latest Pixel Buds wireless earbuds rarely see a discount, but they’re $35 off at online store Antonline. Normally $179, they’re $144 when you enter the code antfarm at ...