Technology

Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid The New York Post is back on Twitter, after Twitter updated its policy on policy changes. This story is going to be confusing, but not as confusing as Twitter’s attempts at moderation. To recap: On October 14th, The New York Post published a (contested and possibly part of a disinformation campaign, though this is absolutely not the point I am here to tell you about) story about Hunter Biden, the son of presidential candidate Joe Biden. Very little of the contents of the Post story are pertinent to the discussion we are about to have, except this: some of the materials in it, Twitter alleges, seem to be the result of hacking. Got all that so far? Great, there’s more Twitter suspended The New York Post’s account for six tweets that linked to the story and blocked li...

You’ll have to wait a bit longer for Panic’s odd little handheld: In an update published today, the company announced that Playdate will slip from its original 2020 window and now ship in early 2021. The device is the software developer’s first piece of physical hardware, a handheld with a unique crank alongside traditional buttons for controlling the device. Teenage Engineering co-designed the Playdate and it bears many of the company’s minimalistic touches in a bright, playful yellow. Playdate with final packaging.Image: Panic Panic announced in March that its staff was moving to work from home and that the Malaysian factory producing the Playdate had temporarily shut down. The company says adapting to these issues ultimately led to the decision to push back the launch to 2021. There’s g...

Ubisoft has announced its own backward compatibility list for playing older PS4 games on the PS5 today. Instead of sharing its list of older PS4 titles that will not be supported on Sony’s next-gen console, Ubisoft has flagged the titles on its own website. The French publisher says that the following nine games released for the PS4 will not work on the PS5: Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate Assassin’s Creed: Chronicles Trilogy Pack Assassin’s Creed: Chronicles India Assassin’s Creed: Chronicles China Assassin’s Creed: Chronicles Russia Risk Star Trek: Bridge Crew Werewolves Within Space Junkies Interestingly, these games do not appear on Sony’s PS5 backward compatibility list Interestingly, these games do not appear on Sony’s PS5 backward compatibility list, which currently has ten titles that ...

If you’re looking for some of the wider implications of The Mandalorian’s first season in the new premiere, now streaming on Disney Plus, you’ll probably be disappointed. You’re not going to learn anything about the “darksaber” wielded by Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) or any more about Din Djarin, the eponymous Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) than you already do. His goal this season is straightforward: bring The Child (“Baby Yoda” to everyone online) to its people. And in order to find The Child’s home, Djarin needs to find other Mandalorians. Which is to say that The Mandalorian’s second season begins similarly to its first: a masked man comes to town, searching for someone. Instead of his quarry, he finds trouble, which is a huge headache for him but tremendous fun for us. It is, in other...

Apple’s latest iPhone 12 smartphone appears to be even more difficult for third-party companies to repair, according to a report from iFixit. Specifically, the new phone appears to run into issues if a user replaces the camera module, which renders the cameras almost totally unusable. The issue — first spotted by YouTuber Hugh Jeffreys — doesn’t appear to be a strictly hardware-related problem. As iFixit’s teardown notes, the iPhone 12 is actually a relatively good device when it comes to disassembly and replacement of various key parts. [embedded content] But should you actually swap a camera module from one iPhone 12 to another, it appears that the phone will reject the replacement part, with iFixit describing issues with the ultrawide camera and general issues of unresponsiveness. The i...

TikTok got another reprieve from the Trump administration’s attempted ban today, as a federal judge in Pennsylvania blocked the government from moving ahead with restrictions that would have effectively shut down the app next month. The judge granted a preliminary injunction against a series of bans by the US Commerce Department that were set to go into effect on November 12th. The bans seemingly would have made the app unusable by restricting web hosting, content delivery, and more. TikTok is suing the Trump administration and Commerce Department to block its app from being banned, but this ruling actually came from another lawsuit: three TikTok creators who were concerned that the ban would prevent them from earning a living. The judge sided with their argument that TikTok videos constit...

Apple has rolled out its Apple One subscription bundle, which combines several services — including Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, and Apple Arcade — for a single monthly price. Apple One also includes additional iCloud storage, with the allotment going up the more you pay. Apple One comes in three different tiers: Individual ($14.95 / month): Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, and 50GB of iCloud storage Family ($19.95 / month): Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, and 200GB of iCloud storage Premier ($29.95 / month): Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, Apple News Plus, Apple Fitness Plus (coming later this year), and 2TB of iCloud storage Both the Family and Premier plans can be shared with up to five other people who are linked to your Apple account. Note that only the Pre...

The classic Discord ringtone is going to sound a little different this Halloween. Today, the company revealed a remixed version of the sound effect, which adds some spooky elements to the iconic chime. It’s a short, breezy clip that wouldn’t feel out of place at a haunted house. You can check it out in the clip below, which extends the tune into a six-hour long video. [embedded content] The new ringtone was created by hyperpop duo 100 gecs, though it’s not clear how long it will stick around for. It’s been a pretty big year for Discord as the pandemic has caused millions of people to shift to gaming as a social outlet. Back in June, Discord announced a $100 million funding round with plans to become a more ubiquitous communication tool. More recently, the app saw a huge surge in downloads,...

We’ve been waiting months to see what next-gen games and ray tracing will truly look like on the Xbox Series X. Today, we’re getting a first good look at the next-gen Xbox’s ray-tracing capabilities, thanks to Watch Dogs: Legion. Set in London, the game includes drones, self-driving cars, and lots of historical sites to explore. As it’s often wet and dark in Watch Dogs: Legion, the game also includes a lot of reflective puddles, shadows, and bright neon signs that are perfect for ray tracing. The Xbox Series X enhanced version of Watch Dogs: Legion will include ray-traced reflections, improved shadow quality, and even variable refresh rates. Watch Dogs: Legion running on the Xbox Series X. The Xbox Series X version of the game runs at full 4K resolution and a consistent 30fps with ray trac...

The US is responsible for way more of the plastic polluting the world’s oceans than previously thought, a new study reveals. When it comes to the countries that contributed the most to coastal plastic pollution, the US could rank as high as third in the world, it estimates. “[The US] outsourced our waste problem to developing countries” “Plastic pollution globally is at crisis level,” says Nick Mallos, senior director of the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy’s Trash Free Seas program and co-author of the paper published today in the journal Science Advances. “Most problematic is that rather than looking the problem in the eye, for more than 30 years, [the US] outsourced our waste problem to developing countries,” Mallos says. For years, Asian countries like China and Vietnam have ranked much hig...

Sony is close to finalizing a deal to buy US-based anime streaming service Crunchyroll for nearly $1 billion, according to a report from Nikkei Asia. Nikkei says Sony negotiated exclusive rights to bid for the streaming service and its 3 million paying subscribers earlier this year, and the two companies have now “entered into final negotiations.” Although an asking price is unclear, Nikkei notes that Sony could end up spending “more than 100 billion yen” on the company — around $957 million. Crunchyroll is owned by US telecoms giant AT&T, which has reportedly been looking to offload the streaming service for a while. AT&T is keen to minimize its significant debt load, which totals more than $150 billion. According to a report from The Information, AT&T was asking Sony in Augus...

For a show about a tiny alien, The Mandalorian sure had a huge impact. The first season of the series helped sell millions on Disney Plus, the company’s Netflix-style streaming service, while simultaneously showing how the Star Wars universe could translate to prestige television. It was, to put it succinctly, a hit — one that became even more popular thanks to the adorable Baby Yoda. Er, I mean, The Child. The second season, meanwhile, faces a very different challenge. Not only does it have to live up to the hype generated by season 1, but it’s also releasing at a time when many of the biggest movies and TV shows have been indefinitely delayed due to the ongoing pandemic, making it arguably the biggest entertainment release of 2020. To help you keep track of everything related to the show...