Technology

Social networks contain multitudes. One day you’re writing about internal dissent over the company’s ability to uproot influence campaigns and election interference; the very next, you’re watching a live stream of the same company’s foray into virtual reality helmets and designer mixed reality glasses. At a company with as many interests as Facebook has, different days call for different kinds of stories. And so today’s edition will be a lot different from yesterday’s. This is all a roundabout way of saying that I talked to Mark Zuckerberg about Facebook Connect. The event, which was previously called Oculus Connect, gives the company an annual opportunity to discuss the latest advances in next-generation computing platforms. Facebook has sometimes faced doubts over why a social network wo...

Sony ended its presentation today with the long-awaited price and release date for the PS5 — but stopped short of telling gamers when and where to buy one, until a tweet seemed to make things clearer: pre-orders would begin tomorrow on September 17th. Or so it seemed for an hour or two. Now, it’s become an utter mess. Perhaps eager to capitalize on the demand, retailers quickly turned the pre-order situation into a free-for-all, opening the floodgates a day early and allowing the quickest and savviest buyers to swoop in. Some called or walked into their local GameStop to secure a pre-order a day early, or seemingly lucked out with one of Walmart’s listings for the PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition. Walmart even gleefully tweeted that it was pushing the console out ahead of schedule: Soon, GameSt...

Sony revealed the PlayStation 5’s price and release date ($399 for the all-digital version, and $499 for the one with a disc drive, both out on November 12th), as well as the company’s six launch titles that will be available at release. That’s not a huge lineup, and you might be wondering if you can play some of your PS4 collection on your new PS5 as more games become available — and fortunately, it seems like there’s a good chance you will. The new console is “99 percent” backward compatible with the PS4 games the company has tested on it so far, Sony PlayStation boss Jim Ryan said in an interview with The Washington Post. In March, Sony said it believed the “overwhelming majority” of PS4 games would be backward compatible with the PS5, so hearing that “99 percent” should work on the new...

Sony’s PlayStation 5 opened pre-orders today, and it’s an utter fiasco so far — there was no communication about when, where, or how to get one without competing with scalpers. But perhaps we can help you get your hands on Nvidia’s new RTX 3080 graphics card, a GPU that finally powers 4K 60fps gaming or better for $700? Truth be told, we don’t know when precisely these orders will begin, but it should be sometime between now and the end of day tomorrow, since September 17th is launch day. But we do know where you might want to look: Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg all have dedicated landing pages that list all the cards they plan to sell — though do note that they’re mostly third-party designs from the likes of EVGA, MSI, and Gigabyte, each with different coolers than the ones you’ll find on ...

Sony has confirmed its PlayStation 5 first-party launch lineup, as well as confirming some details around PS4 versions of its exclusive titles and how the transition from current-gen to next-gen will work. In a blog post published after revealing the price of both of its upcoming consoles (the standard for $499.99 and the digital edition without a disc drive for $399.99), Sony says it has six launch titles confirmed for the PS5 on November 12th. Here’s the full list, including pricing and confirmation for the first time that Sony intends to raise the price on some exclusive titles by $10 to a max of $69.99: Astro’s Playroom (Japan Studio) – pre-installed on PS5 Demon’s Souls (Bluepoint Games / Japan Studio) – $69.99 Destruction All Stars (Lucid Games / XDEV) – $69.99 Marvel’s Spider-Man: M...

Alongside the reveal of the PlayStation 5’s $399 and $499 price tags and November 12th release date, Sony also announced how much the various accessories for the upcoming console will cost. The most important price is that of Sony’s new DualSense controller, which will cost $69.99 for additional gamepads. That’s a $10 increase compared to the $59.99 MSRP for the DualShock 4 — apparently all the fancy haptic feedback technology and adaptive triggers that Sony is adding don’t come cheap. And the charging station, which can recharge two DualSense controllers at once, is set to cost $29.99. Meanwhile, the Pulse 3D wireless headset — which will support Sony’s big push for 3D audio — is set to cost $99.99, while the PlayStation 5’s media remote will cost $29.99. Lastly, the HD Camera, which feat...

Over the last several months, I have seen a great many comparisons of fabrics that can be used to construct homemade face masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, but I have not seen anyone discuss the use of live snakes. I assume it is because of this crucial omission that a man boarded a UK bus using a live snake as his face covering. Snakes are adorable, so I understand the temptation. However, it is worth considering that a good face mask needs to be made of a breathable material, and a live snake, unfortunately, is not that. Because this man cannot breathe through his snake, which looks to my non-expert eye like a ball python, he is inhaling and exhaling through the gaps around the snake’s body — which means his breath isn’t being filtered at all. “Do not kiss or snuggle with rep...

When internet detectives revealed the PlayStation 5 was going to be huge, we were extremely amused — but even their fancy Photoshops couldn’t completely prepare us for how enormous the PS5 truly is. Roughly half an hour after Sony finally revealed the next-gen console’s price and release date ($399 or $499, November 12th) the company released a full spec sheet that includes the console’s dimensions. And it’s a monster. Quick, what’s the biggest console ever made? Did you say the original 2001 Xbox, or the VCR-sized original Xbox One? Perhaps the 60GB PS3, affectionately dubbed the “Phat”? Wrong. The PS5 is bigger than all of them. Bigger than the Phat According to Sony, the PS5 is approximately 390mm (15.4 inches) tall, 260mm (10.24 inches) deep and 104mm (4.09 inches) wide, making it the ...

Bill & Ted Face the Music feels a bit like a prank. Franchise filmmaking is king now, and because of this, any revival feels cynical by default. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and its sequel, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, are perhaps among the least cynical films ever made: sincere romps through time and the afterlife starring sweet morons who love rock n’ roll. They lack any sort of edge or hint of darkness (even when they go to Hell) and delight in their lack of sophistication. There’s not a lot there, but that’s what makes them charming. This makes the idea of a third film, released over 30 years after the first, feel like a stretch. Yet it might be my favorite movie released this year. I saw Bill & Ted Face the Music at a drive-in theater. It was something my partner an...

Over 20 states aren’t including results from a type of rapid COVID-19 test in their overall case numbers, according to a survey by Kaiser Health News (KHN). The federal government is sending millions of these types of tests all around the country in an effort to keep up with the pandemic. If states don’t release the results from those tests through their public health departments, it creates a blind spot in the overall data. The tests, called antigen tests, work by detecting a small protein on the surface of the coronavirus. They tend work much faster than the tests that look for the virus itself, called PCR tests, although they can be less accurate. According to the KHN survey, 21 states and the District of Columbia don’t report all of their antigen test results. Fifteen states and DC don...

Logitech is launching two new gaming audio products that are built for the just-announced Oculus Quest 2. One of them is called the G333, and they’re Logitech G’s first in-ear headphones pictured above. The other announcement is Logitech’s G Pro wired gaming headset, which is an existing product that will now ship with two 3.5mm cables, one that’s long and another that’s small, suited for when you’re using VR. Logitech says it worked with Oculus to ensure that both will deliver a great experience for virtual reality. Logitech The G333 earbuds house dual dynamic drivers that were made to deliver enough detail in the bass, mids, and highs to “accurately recreate the VR environment.” They will cost $49.99 and ship with three different sizes of silicone tips. The G333 connect via a 3.5mm port,...

Amazon is expanding its Samuel L. Jackson voice skill for its Alexa digital assistant to include tens of thousands more phrases, including much more of the actor’s iconic expletive-filled delivery. The company is also giving Jackson his own dedicated wake phrase: “Hey, Samuel.” The news follows Amazon’s announcement on Monday that it plans to add its next celebrity voice, Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan, for the Indian market some time next year. The Jackson partnership launched last December, allowing Alexa users to pay $0.99 to access the actor’s voice on Echo and other Alexa-enabled devices. Since then, Amazon says consumers complained that the integration was “overly burdensome,” because you effectively had to ask Alexa to ask for Jackson to reply to something. Jackson’s voice library ...