Technology

Photo Illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The crush of new hardware to review and discuss is beginning to wind down, but there are a few more gadgets to talk about over the next week. Believe it or not, though, it’s also time to start talking about 2021’s consumer tech. No, not CES, but Samsung. The company is widely expected to hold its Galaxy S21 event in January instead of the usual March. How come? I don’t have any good guesses, but I think I’d be skeptical about COVID-related reasons. Samsung can move remarkably fast in bringing new products to market, but I bet its flagships are planned much earlier than things like the Galaxy S20 FE. Since our perception of time has become cattywampus, I do want to remind you that Samsung’s Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus w...

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station this evening, more than a day after launching to space from Florida. The vehicle’s arrival marks the beginning of the first long-duration mission for the Crew Dragon, a type of flight the spacecraft will perform periodically for NASA over the next few years. Inside the Crew Dragon are NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, along with Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi — all part of a mission called Crew-1. Their spacecraft slowly approached the International Space Station this evening and attached itself onto an open docking port on the outside of the ISS. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is designed to automatically dock with the ISS… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Mon...

Photo by ILMxLab The Void was the poster child for virtual reality arcades, a future that once seemed bright — we covered it numerous times at The Verge, particularly after Disney and ILMxLab chose to bring Star Wars, Wreck-It Ralph and Avengers experiences exclusively to The Void’s arcades. But Protocol reports that The Void is now as close to death’s door as a brand ever truly comes: after defaulting on a loan, Disney has abandoned its partner, the company’s assets have been reassigned to a creditor, and that creditor says he’s planning to sell them off. While new owner Jim Bennett tells the publication that resuming operations might also be an option, the name of his holding company suggests different, as Protocol points out: After getting a loan from… Continue reading… You...

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The Xbox Series X and S launched last week, but if you weren’t lucky enough to have a pre-order or snag one of the few launch-day units, you might be waiting until next year — that’s when there might be enough Xbox supply to easily pick up a new console off the shelf, according to a top Xbox exec. “I think we’ll continue to see supply shortages as we head into the post-holiday quarter, so Microsoft’s Q3, calendar Q1,” said Xbox chief financial officer Tim Stuart at the Jefferies Interactive Entertainment Virtual Conference. (You can read a transcript of Stuart’s full remarks at the conference at Seeking Alpha.) Phil Spencer tried to set expectations about short supply That’s not an altogether surprising statement, as Xbox chief Phil… Continue reading...

Image: Hyprsense Constant updating has turned Fortnite from an early access fort-building game to a popular social space to spend time with friends, but despite that constant iteration, expression has always been limited to the emotes that Epic programs into the game. Conveniently, Epic just bought a company called Hyprsense that can put your facial expressions directly onto a video game character using a simple webcam, which seems like a great fit for Fortnite. For a taste of what that could look like, look no further than this promo for Hyprsense’s own app: Hyprmeet was released in open beta in September and while the app’s no longer available, it’s easy to imagine how nice even a tiny bit more facial expressiveness could be in Fortnite’s… Continue reading… You Deserve to Ma...

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge Huawei has announced plans to sell off Honor, its smartphone business focused on mid-range products for younger consumers. Huawei says the decision “has been made by Honor’s industry chain to ensure its own survival,” following “tremendous pressure” and “a persistent unavailability of technical elements needed for our mobile phone business.” Honor products often rely heavily on Huawei’s own technology, so the company has been equally hit by US sanctions preventing Huawei from doing business with American companies. The V30 line of phones, for example, uses the same Kirin 990 processor that powers Huawei’s P40 flagship devices. Under new ownership, Honor should have more flexibility to develop its products, potentially being able to deal… Continue readi...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Zoom will now let you temporarily pause meetings so you can kick out “Zoombombers” or disruptive individuals, the company announced in a blog post. As Zoom usage skyrocketed during the pandemic, pranksters and hackers found ways to invade Zoom calls and display shocking videos and disruptive content, a practice that has become known as “Zoombombing.” With Zoom’s new security feature, you’ll be able to suspend a meeting to block bad content from being shown and also report the Zoombomber to Zoom. To suspend a meeting, click the Security icon while on a call and then click “Suspend Participant Activities.” When you do, all video, audio, in-meeting chat, annotations, screen sharing, and recording will be suspended and all breakout rooms… Continue ...

Image: Twitch Today, Twitch is rolling out something it’s calling “multiplayer ads” in closed beta. They’re ads triggered by streamers that all viewers watch. (Currently, ads shown to viewers are targeted; these are not.) After one of these ads plays, creators can run a poll for their viewers that awards the streamer bits depending on how many viewers participate. “In true Twitch spirit – we want our creators and fans to have the opportunity to experience everything together, and support their favorite creators along the way,” wrote a Twitch spokesperson in an email. Twitch has been tinkering with its ads a lot this year. Between September and November alone, the company has gone from testing unskippable midroll ads to breaking ad-blockers. … Continue reading… You Deserve to M...

Image: Roblox Lil Nas X performed to an audience of millions across two days and four shows this weekend, playing in a setting that literally made him larger than life: the hit kids game Roblox. The shows gathered 33 million views in total across the performances, which started on Saturday afternoon and wrapped up with a surprise encore performance on Sunday, Roblox told The Verge. The identical shows starred a motion-captured incarnation of Lil Nas X, styled to fit in with a world that shifted to match each of the four songs he performed. It’s a huge number for Roblox, and it puts the game’s ability to hold a concert up there with Fortnite. In April, Fortnite hosted a similarly impressive performance from Travis Scott that drew 45.8 million viewers… Continue reading… You Dese...

Photo illustration by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images Airbnb filed for an initial public offering on Monday, released its prospectus, and indicated it will trade on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol ABNB. The prospectus gives a deep look at Airbnb’s business, particularly just how hard the platform has been hit by the coronavirus pandemic. As part of the filing, Airbnb says its business will continue to be affected by people scaling back travel as the virus continues to spread. Under risk factors, the company said the pandemic “and the impact of actions to mitigate the Covid-19 pandemic have materially adversely impacted and will continue to materially adversely impact our business, results of operations, and financial condition.” The company has seen annual net losses...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A recent ransomware attack on Capcom may have compromised personal data for approximately 350,000 people, the company says. That information includes names, addresses, birthdates, phone numbers, passport info, “HR information,” and more. It includes individuals across Japan and North America. In a post on its website, Capcom says it shut down its systems on November 2nd and began investigating. The company then confirmed “a targeted attack against the company using ransomware, which destroyed and encrypted data on its servers” by an organization demanding ransom money. “Because the overall number of potentially compromised data cannot specifically be ascertained due to issues including some logs having been lost as a result of the… Continue rea...

If you’ve been put off by the astoundingly excellent-for-$349 Google Pixel 4A because it only comes in black, you should know that’s no longer true. In September, we got wind that Google originally intended to offer a baby blue color, too, and you can now officially buy it at Google’s website for the same $349 price — orange power button and all. It’s apparently a limited edition product since Google’s saying it’ll only be available “while supplies last” on its product page. Perhaps that’s why the color didn’t arrive at launch? Image: GoogleA taller image of the Pixel 4A in “barely blue.” Either way, if you want one, now’s probably the time. There are no Google Fi discounts on this one, sadly, so I’m sticking… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looki...