Technology

IBM is splitting into two public companies, with a spin-off handling the firm’s legacy IT infrastructure work, allowing IBM to focus on new high-margin businesses, particularly cloud services and AI. The 109-year-old company announced the news this week, which follows CEO Arvind Krishna’s longterm plan to streamline the sprawling business. Krishna took the reins of IBM in April 2020 after working on its $34 billion acquisition of open source software firm Red Hat from 2018 onwards. Red Hat’s software is key to IBM’s new hybrid cloud offerings. The split is just the latest divestment of unfavorable businesses in IBM’s long history In a call with analysts, Krishna presented the split as the latest in a long line of divestments by IBM, as the company has sought to find more profitable ground ...

Including deals happening outside of Amazon, too Contributors: Verge Staff Amazon Prime Day 2020 is upon us, beginning at 12AM PT / 3AM ET Tuesday, October 13th, and lasting through 12AM PT / 3AM ET Wednesday, October 14th. You know the drill: Amazon is discounting a bunch of products, including tech, for its annual Prime Day that’s exclusive to people who are signed up for Amazon Prime. It usually takes place in July, but the global pandemic is the likely culprit as to why it was pushed to October. Whether you’re just browsing the wares or hoping to get all of your holiday shopping done before Black Friday and Cyber Monday come around, we’ve gone deep on the deals to provide the best offers available. You’ll find some of the lowest prices on gaming accessories, 4K televisions with OLED pa...

French audio tech company Devialet is known for its outlandish speakers, and now it’s getting into portable audio for the first time with a new pair of wireless earbuds. The company says its Gemini earbuds have been designed with “pressure balance architecture” for optimum sound quality. The Gemini buds offer three levels of active noise cancellation, a two-level transparency modes, and a feature that adapts the equalization to your ear in real time for consistent sound quality when on the go. Devialet’s Gemini app will also scan your ear to help find the right bud tip size. The earbud design is unmistakably reminiscent of Devialet’s iconic Phantom speakers, though obviously at a much smaller scale. Devialet says the buds should last eight hours on a charge, or six hours with ANC enabled, ...

The Roku Channel, Roku’s free streaming service that offers more than 100,000 ad-supported titles and 115 live TV channels, is now available to Amazon Fire TV users, the company announced today. And while it may seem odd that The Roku Channel would live on Fire TV devices — Amazon and Roku are direct competitors in set-top-box hardware — it might actually make a lot of sense. Neither Amazon nor Roku truly rely on hardware sales to boost their TV brands. Amazon’s gadgets have always been a gateway to Amazon’s services, and the company may just need more content to offer its Fire TV on top of its existing channels. Meanwhile, Roku makes the majority of its revenue through advertising and subscriptions, which is a big part of why it took so long for NBCUniversal’s Peacock to roll out on Roku....

Google is planning to build a gigantic new “Downtown West” campus in San Jose, and the company has shared renderings that give an idea of what that space could look like (via CNBC). Google intends to make the approximately 79-acre area feel less like a traditional corporate campus by creating a mixed-use development with office space, housing, parks, retail space, and more. One render is the image we’ve included at the top of this post, which represents something Google is calling the “Gateway.” The proposed space would have a plaza for pop-up events as well as an amphitheater that could be used by both Google and the broader community. Below is a render for a peaceful-looking area called the Creekside Walk, a walkway near a the VTA light rail corridor which would be “inspired and framed b...

When it comes to pre-built desktops, I’ve nearly bought an Alienware Aurora several times over the years, because the company’s toolless upgradable chassis and bang-for-the-buck has been pretty hard to beat. Now, the Alienware Aurora R11 and R10 Ryzen Edition have also become a way to get Nvidia’s extremely hard to find RTX 3080 and 3090 GPUs — and they’re like no RTX 3080 or 3090 you’ve seen. The boards and cooling have been tweaked by Alienware itself to be shorter than any RTX 3000-series card we’ve heard about yet, at just 267mm (10.5 inches) in length, the better to fit into smaller cases like the Aurora R11. Believe it or note, Nvidia’s own RTX 3080 Founder’s Edition is actually one of the smallest cards on the market at 285mm (11.2 inches) long, and this is even shorter. Plus, Alien...

Microsoft is working on a “direct browser-based solution” to bring xCloud to iOS early next year. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the company has been developing a web version of xCloud to run on iOS and iPadOS devices, alongside continuing its work on an app that it hopes will also eventually run on Apple’s platform. Microsoft’s gaming chief, Phil Spencer, revealed the company’s browser-based xCloud work during a recent internal all-hands meeting. “We absolutely will end up on iOS,” said Spencer during the meeting, noting that he “feels good” about the company’s iOS progress. “We’ll end up on iPhones, and iPads with Game Pass.” Business Insider first reported the news of the web version for iOS. Apple has been blocking services like xCloud and Stadia from runni...

Android phones can now notify you when they detect certain sounds, which could notify people who are deaf or hard of hearing about important sounds nearby. If you turn on the feature, called Sound Notifications, you can have your Android phone inform you about some sounds via a push notification, a flash from your camera light, or by making your phone vibrate. Other devices support Sound Notifications as well, including Wear OS devices, which can send Sound Notifications via text notifications with vibrations. And they work entirely offline, according to Google. [embedded content] Google says Sound Notifications can listen for ten different noises: Smoke and fire alarms Sirens Shouting Baby sounds Doorbell ringing Knocking Dog barking Appliance beeping Water running Landline phone ringing ...

If you prefer buying older PlayStation games over the web or on mobile, you may not be able to do that for much longer. Sony has informed developers that it plans to revamp its digital storefront for those versions later this month, removing users’ options to purchase games and DLC released initially on the PS3, PSP, and Vita from a mobile device or PC, Planète Vita reports. Effective October 19th, the PlayStation web store will remove that option, according to Planète Vita and the mobile app’s update will be available on October 28th. Users will still be allowed to make new purchases for PlayStation legacy titles, but they will have to purchase them directly from PS3, PSP, Vita, or PS4 gaming consoles. However, it is important to note that this only applies to new purchases, and any previ...

Tourists to Niagara Falls can now ride all-electric ferries past the iconic waterfalls. The two ferries made their debut in New York on October 6th, fueled by locally generated hydropower. Their batteries can recharge in just seven minutes as passengers climb on and off the vessels. The first vessels of their kind The new boats, operated by Maid of the Mist, are among the first vessels of their kind to navigate US waterways. The first all-electric passenger and car ferry in the US pushed off from the banks of the Alabama River in 2019. These new, non-polluting voyages are part of a global trend toward electrifying passenger vessels. “The electrification of these two brand-new tour boats sets the example that we can electrify our economy which is good for our communities, our health, and ou...

Disney will premiere its next Pixar film, Soul, on Disney Plus this Christmas instead of releasing it theatrically in countries where Disney Plus is available. The film was originally scheduled to be released in theaters in November, but the coronavirus has disrupted theaters — making Disney Plus a safer bet. Over the last six months, Disney has tried to find ways to bring its movies to audiences while bypassing traditional theatrical releases. Disney Plus has become a key distribution method for the the company as theaters remain closed. Soul is the latest film that Disney has moved from its theatrical slate to Disney Plus, following Artemis Fowl, Hamilton, and Mulan, which debuted as a Premier Access title for an additional $30. Soul will not be a Premier title, meaning that it will be f...

Facebook has removed a group of fake accounts tied to Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization caught coordinating a “troll farm”-style social media campaign last month. The company’s latest report on coordinated inauthentic behavior says it banned 200 Facebook accounts, 55 pages, and 76 Instagram accounts linked to Turning Point and a marketing firm called Rally Forge, which is now banned from Facebook. Facebook says it began its investigation after The Washington Post reported on “some elements” of the campaign in September. The operation apparently started in 2018 around the US midterm elections, then reappeared in June 2020 as the presidential election heated up. As the Post described, it focused on leaving coordinated Facebook comments — including ones supporting Preside...