Technology

Nite Ize BugLit micro flashlight It’s always a good idea to have a flashlight available. It’s an even better idea to have one that will either stand on its own or wrap around your wrist or any convenient surface. And if it looks like a cute little bug, that makes it the perfect gift for a tech friend. Price: ~$12 Amazon Walmart Chromecast with Google TV This updated version of Google’s Chromecast is an easy recommendation for cheap video streaming. It comes with a remote, but the real draw is the new Google TV interface which tailors content to your taste and even lets you add to your watchlist from a Google search. Price: ~$50 Best Buy Walmart Lego Star Wars: The Child Bring home the cutest TV character of all time in Lego form with the official Baby Yoda set. You may not be a...

Apple has cut off major supplier Pegatron from new contracts following the reveal of student labor violations at some of the Taiwanese manufacturer’s China-based facilities. Bloomberg reports that Apple found Pegatron to be falsifying paperwork in order to cover up violations of Apple’s code of conduct for suppliers. Pegatron is one of Apple’s biggest supply chain partners, manufacturing various products including some of the newest iPhone 12 models. The company is now reportedly on probation, however, and won’t be able to win any new business from Apple until the matter has been resolved. Pegatron falsified paperwork “We have a rigorous review and approval process for any student worker program, which ensures the intern’s work is related to their major and prohibits overtime or night shif...

Amazon is rolling out a new rewards program that gives its Flex delivery drivers easier access to shifts based on the amount of work they’ve done for the company. A spokesperson from Amazon confirmed to CNBC that the Flex Rewards program is in its early stages, but is being rolled out to all drivers in the US. As well as access to shifts, the program also includes access to a cash back debit card, as well as discounts and financial services. Launched in 2015 and now available in over 50 cities across the US, Amazon Flex is a service that allows freelance drivers to sign up for shifts to deliver Amazon or Whole Foods orders. According to CBNC, the new rewards program could incentivize drivers to complete more orders for Amazon, rather than splitting their time with other gig economy service...

Virgin Hyperloop announced that for the first time it has conducted a test of its ultra-fast transportation system with human passengers. The test took place on Sunday afternoon at the company’s DevLoop test track in the desert outside Las Vegas, Nevada. The first two passengers were Virgin Hyperloop’s chief technology officer and co-founder, Josh Giegel, and head of passenger experience, Sara Luchian. After strapping into their seats in the company’s gleaming white and red hyperloop pod, dubbed Pegasus, they were transferred into an airlock as the air inside the enclosed vacuum tube was removed. The pod then accelerated to a brisk 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) down the length of the track, before slowing down to a stop. It’s an important achievement for Virgin Hyperloop, which was founded...

As Election Day came and went and we still didn’t know who was going to win the presidency, many of us ended up glued to our devices last week— moreso than usual— seeking the latest news. Whether it was the obsession with MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki and his map wizardry or the constant updates about how many votes were left to count in Pennsylvania or Georgia, Americans likely spent more time doomscrolling through their Twitter feeds and other apps than they normally do. Depending on who your preferred candidate was, by Saturday morning —when the networks called the election for Joe Biden— your doomscrolling may have turned into gleefreshing— the newly-coined term for manually updating your feed to read good news. On Sunday, we started seeing the updates: the iOS Screen Time feature helpfully l...

Alex Trebek, the longtime host of the answer-and-question game show Jeopardy! has died at age 80, according to a statement from the show. “Jeopardy! is saddened to share that Alex Trebek passed away peacefully at home early this morning, surrounded by family and friends,” the statement posted on Twitter read. Jeopardy! is saddened to share that Alex Trebek passed away peacefully at home early this morning, surrounded by family and friends. Thank you, Alex. pic.twitter.com/Yk2a90CHIM — Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) November 8, 2020 Trebek was born in Sudbury, Canada, on July 22nd, 1940. His career began at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1961. He moved to the US in the 1970s where he hosted game shows including The Wizard of Odds, Double Dare, The $128,000 Question, and The New High Roller...

The Xbox Series X and Series S consoles launch on Tuesday, November 10th. Whether you were able to secure one in time for launch day, or if you plan to get one soon, you might want some fresh accessories to snag with your big purchase. First up, controllers. You probably already know that Microsoft’s Xbox One wireless controller is also compatible with the new Series X / S consoles, which is great. However, the older controller model lacks a few features that might make the newer one a worthy upgrade for you. For instance, the revised controller has a dedicated share button for saving clips and screenshots and sharing them online, a USB-C port for charging up Microsoft’s optional $24.99 play-and-charge rechargeable battery, along with a few cosmetic and physical improvements to the d-pad a...

There is no shortage of devices that you can stick on your bedside table to use as a voice-controlled alarm clock. You can, of course, just use your phone, but you can also put a small smart speaker, such as Amazon’s Echo Dot, Google’s Nest Mini, or Apple’s new HomePod mini there and bark commands at it to set an alarm, tell you the weather, or snooze for ten minutes. If you want something more fully featured, devices like the Echo Show 5, Lenovo Smart Clock, or Google’s Nest Hub have full-color touchscreen displays that can play video, show camera feeds, or be used as a digital picture frame. Lenovo’s latest entrant in this space, the $49.95 Smart Clock Essential, sits somewhere in between all of that. It’s a voice-controlled, Google Assistant smart speaker with a simple, black-and-white ...

Sony’s PlayStation 5 launches on Thursday, November 12th. Whether you secured one ahead of launch day or plan to buy one during the holiday season, you might want to consider picking up additional accessories to ensure you get the most out of your brand new console. First, there’s the controller. Every new PS5 includes one DualSense controller. Unlike the DualShock controllers, the DualSense has a two-color scheme and a more ergonomic design. The controller also features adaptive triggers, a built-in microphone, and haptic feedback, with some games taking advantage of the controller’s features to provide more immersion. In addition to working with the PS5, the DualSense can connect to Android devices wirelessly. The controller will also connect wirelessly to a PC if your computer supports ...

About midway through Superstore’s season 6 premiere, a customer at Cloud 9, the big-box retailer that the NBC sitcom is set in, is absolutely livid at the idea that she has to wear a mask in the store. Furious at being asked to mask up or leave, she accuses the floor manager, Glenn (Mark McKinney), of working for Satan. Glenn, a devout Christian, is absolutely horrified: “That is the one person I would never work for!” he responds. It’s funny because it’s true: You have to sell your soul to someone to make rent in America, and there are plenty of buyers who aren’t the literal devil. That said, the non-devils don’t care about you either. As we see in Superstore, the staff of Cloud 9 has been left to fend for themselves in the middle of a pandemic. Like just about everything else in 2020, th...

What happens when an app designed to help people navigate the real world doesn’t match up with reality? That’s what happened recently with a National Health Service contact tracing app in England and Wales, which failed to notify many users that they had been exposed to the virus that causes COVID-19. Like many contact tracing programs, the NHS app keeps track of when a user is close to other people who also downloaded the app. If someone tests positive, the app can send an alert to all their contacts, particularly the ones that they’ve been around the most. The app calculates a person’s risk based on a few factors, including how long they’ve been close to the person who tested positive. If the calculation passes a certain threshold, an alert gets sent, and the person is asked to isolate t...

Netflix is testing a programmed linear content channel in France, Variety reported. The channel, called Netflix Direct, will be available to Netflix streaming subscribers and will provide content from its existing streaming library in a linear format, much like cable and broadcast TV stations do. “Maybe you’re not in the mood to decide, or you’re new and finding your way around, or you just want to be surprised by something new and different,” Netflix said in a statement announcing the new service. It chose France for the launch of Netflix Direct because traditional TV is “hugely popular” there, and people “just want a ‘lean back’ experience where they don’t have to choose shows,” the company said. Netflix Direct rolled out in some parts of France November 5th, and will expand to more part...