Technology

As of Thursday morning, a huge Facebook group called “Stop the Steal” was organizing rallies and fundraising to challenge election results across the US. The group accumulated more than 300,000 members in the less than 48 hours it existed before Facebook removed it on Thursday afternoon. “In line with the exceptional measures that we are taking during this period of heightened tension, we have removed the Group ‘Stop the Steal’ which was creating real-world events,” a Facebook company spokesperson said in a statement. “The group was organized around the delegitimization of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from members of the group.” “We have removed the Group ‘Stop the Steal’ which was creating real-world events.” The Stop the Steal group, created on Wednesday, ...

Uber is still getting pummeled by COVID-19. The company lost $1.1 billion over the last three months, with its adjusted net revenues down 20 percent compared to Q3 of 2019. Gross bookings in its ride-hailing division, or the amount of money it takes in before paying drivers, fell 50 percent year over year. It’s a steady improvement over the second quarter, in which Uber’s ride-hailing business was down 73 percent year over year. But there was no mistaking the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the company’s core transportation business. Uber brought in $2.8 billion in adjusted revenue. Meanwhile, gross bookings in its Uber Eats delivery business grew 134 percent year over year, thanks to increased demand for food and grocery deliveries. It wasn’t as grim a quarter as the first three mon...

Razer, best known for its gaming PCs and accessories, has announced the Razer Book 13, a new laptop for business and productivity. You’ll be able to buy it sometime in November, starting at $1,199.99. From the outside, the Razer Book 13 doesn’t look all too different from the Blade Stealth 13, Razer’s 13-inch gaming laptop. It has the same Razer logo on the lid, the same per-key RGB keyboard, and the same compact, minimalist build. But Razer has made a few tweaks that could make the Razer Book a better choice for school or office work. The one I’m most excited about is the 16:10 screen, which adds a bit of extra vertical space compared to the Blade Stealth (and many other consumer laptops). The most recent Dell XPS 13 has the same aspect ratio, and I definitely notice the extra room while ...

Twitter has taken action against another tweet from President Donald Trump, this time falsely claiming that votes arriving after Election Day are ineligible. “ANY VOTE THAT CAME IN AFTER ELECTION DAY WILL NOT BE COUNTED,” the tweet reads, in apparent reference to the ongoing tallying of mail-in votes in a number of states. Twitter has added a label underneath the tweet that reads simply “some votes may still need to be counted.” “a potentially misleading claim about an election” State election rules commonly allow for ballots to arrive after Election Day, provided they bear an eligible postmark. There is also a significant number of in-person votes still being counted, so simply discarding late-arriving mail ballots would not halt the ongoing vote counts. As in previous cases, the tweet wi...

There are a few deals we posted yesterday that are worth repeating again today. Notably, you still have a chance to get Apple AirPods wireless earbuds for $100, which is the lowest price yet. These normally cost around $120. Amazon is one of the retailers offering this deal, and if you’re a Costco member, you can nab the deal online or in-store if you’d rather shop there. It’s worth noting that this AirPods model ships with a wired charging case, not the $160 set that includes a wireless charging case. But given that they’re the same product, charging case aside, this is a great deal to jump on today. AirPods $100 $160 38% off Prices taken at time of publishing. Ring’s Floodlight Cam is also available in white.Image: Ring Before I get to more excellent deals from yesterday, here’s a new on...

Electronic Arts has confirmed details on how some of its most popular titles will perform on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S when the next-generation consoles launch next week. Games including FIFA 21, The Sims 4, and Apex Legends will all get varying degrees of performance boosts when running on the new hardware, either through free upgrades or simple backward compatibility. Star Wars: Squadrons appears to be getting the most comprehensive makeover for the new Xbox consoles. There’ll be a mode that prioritizes visual quality, including better lighting and higher resolutions coming in at dynamic 4K at 60fps on the Series X and dynamic 1440p at 60fps on the Series S. Another performance-focused mode drops the new lighting model but runs at 120fps at the same dynamic reso...

Hello again, friends. The Processor newsletter is back after a not-so-brief hiatus caused by the absolutely frenetic pace of hardware reviews this fall and a special run of Vergecast podcast episodes about those reviews. I’m really proud of those podcasts and if you haven’t caught them, I think it’s worth going back to give them a listen. The big consumer tech news this week is Apple’s announcement that it will hold a ‘One More Thing’ event for November 10th. The going assumption — which I share — is that Apple will unveil the promised first Arm-based Apple silicon-powered Mac, mostly likely a laptop. In this very newsletter I’ve opined a few times on why this transition could be tricky and how Microsoft’s rougher ride in a similar transition could provide some lessons for Apple. Since the...

Nintendo shipped 6.86 million Switch consoles between July and September, increasing its numbers by more than 40 percent year-on-year and reaching 68.3 million units sold since its launch in 2017. That’s impressive growth for the company, since this quarter last year was a strong one — it saw the launch of the cheaper Switch Lite variant, boosting Nintendo’s shipments by more than 50 percent on 2018. The Switch figure is also an improvement on the previous quarter, when Nintendo shipped 5.68 million systems. Animal Crossing: New Horizons was a major sales driver then with more than 10 million copies moved, and continued to sell well this past quarter with more than three and a half million units. It’s now sold 26.04 million copies overall, making it the second best-selling Switch game behi...

WhatsApp is introducing a new disappearing messages option this month. The feature will allow WhatsApp users to enable disappearing messages on chat conversations between friends, to automatically delete messages after seven days. Anyone can enable the option in individual chats, and group admins will be able to enable disappearing messages in group chats. “We’re starting with 7 days because we think it offers peace of mind that conversations aren’t permanent, while remaining practical so you don’t forget what you were chatting about,” says a WhatsApp spokesperson. “The shopping list or store address you received a few days ago will be there while you need it, and then disappear after you don’t.” Photos and videos will also be deleted with disappearing messages Disappearing messages will a...

Google has weighed in on concerns from new Pixel 5 owners over a visible gap between the display and the body of the phone, with the company confirming in a support thread that the gap is “a normal part of the design of your Pixel 5,” and therefore not something to be concerned about. Additionally, the support thread (spotted by 9to5Google) addresses what many users were most concerned about — whether that gap would compromise the Pixel 5’s water resistance (one of the key differentiators between it and the cheaper Pixel 4a), but Google says that the gap will have “no effect on the water and dust resistance or functionality of your phone.” It’s not clear how widespread the display gap issue is on Pixel 5 devices. As various user responses in the support thread show, some devices appear to ...

Amazon is hosting a mini-sale right now on most of its Fire tablets with up to $70 in potential savings available through November 8th. The tablets discounted here are all ad-supported, which means they will display sponsored screensavers on the tablet’s lock screen. The sale includes the Fire HD 8 line, with the base model down to $55 on Amazon, knocking $35 off its normal retail price. If you want the option to have wireless charging and a little more RAM, the Fire HD 8 Plus is also $35 off, marking it down to its lowest price ever of $75. Amazon Fire HD 8 (2020) $55 $90 39% off Prices taken at time of publishing. Amazon’s 8-inch Fire HD tablet line with 32GB of storage (plus microSD support). The base model is down to $55 at Amazon or $75 if you are looking for the Fire HD 8 Plus, which...