Technology

Photo credit should read ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images Jeff Bezos named 16 environmental organizations that will get the first chunk of his $10 billion fund for climate action on Instagram today. Collectively, they’ll get $791 million from the richest man on Earth, although Bezos did not specify how much would go to each group. “I’ve spent the past several months learning from a group of incredibly smart people who’ve made it their life’s work to fight climate change and its impact on communities around the world,” Bezos said on Instagram. “I’m inspired by what they’re doing, and excited to help them scale.” The Amazon CEO announced the creation of his personal $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund in February. Support for mainstream environmental groups His fund is equivalent to more than 7 pe...

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge The majority of Black Friday deals will launch the day after Thanksgiving (November 26th) in the US as usual, but the pandemic has shaken things up in yet another way. The best deals will be happening online, with fewer in-person sales for the sake of safety. Better yet, some of those great deals are already available, so you can get started on your holiday gift (or personal) shopping. With this post, we’re rounding up the best early Black Friday deals from retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Adorama, B&H Photo, Newegg, and anywhere else we find deals you should know about. Best Buy is currently running its My Best Buy Early Access sale, where several of its products across various categories are discounted. You will need… Continue r...

An adorable — and powerful — stowaway is currently on board SpaceX’s Crew-1 flight, floating freely inside the company’s spacecraft as it heads toward the International Space Station. A plush Baby Yoda — yes, technically The Child — from The Mandalorian can be seen in live shots from inside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, bobbing about inside the cabin and bumping into the four crew members on the flight. The inclusion of Baby Yoda is part of a long tradition in human spaceflight. The toy is what is known as the flight’s “zero G indicator,” a small object that is used to determine when the spacecraft is in orbit and has reached a microgravity environment. When the Crew Dragon separated from its Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday, the Baby Yoda rose from… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Mon...

After a long battle between Amazon and HBO owner WarnerMedia, the two companies have come to an agreement that will allow Amazon Fire TV users to finally stream HBO Max. Starting on November 17th, people with Amazon Fire TV streaming devices, Fire TV Edition smart TVs, and Fire tablets can load HBO Max directly on those devices. Until now, Amazon allowed HBO customers to access a version of HBO Now, but there was no way to get Max, WarnerMedia’s new streaming service. WarnerMedia’s announcement notes that current HBO subscribers who go through Amazon’s Prime Video Channel option (Channels allows Amazon Prime subscribers to purchase individual plans for certain streamers) will also be able to log into Max for no additional cost. “Our… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Money...

Image: Apple The macOS Big Sur update has been causing some older MacBook Pros to get stuck on a black screen during installation, with no way that users can find to fix it. The issue seems to be most common on late-2013 and mid-2014 models of the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Owners of other Macs have reported Big Sur installation issues, too — and some say they’ve been able to fix those issues — but those two models of MacBook Pro seem to be having the most severe problems for now. The issues were spotted by MacRumors, which saw complaints of frozen laptops in its forums, on Reddit, and on Apple’s support site. There’s no clear indication of what could be causing the problem, and simple ways of fixing it — like resetting NVRAM or booting in safe mode —… Continue reading… You Deserve ...

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Google has started to push out version 8.1 of its Google Camera app to Pixel phones, meaning owners of older devices will be getting some of the functionality from the new Pixel 5. Version 8.0 of the app was previously only available on the Pixel 5, but 9to5Google reports that 8.1 should work on phones as old as the Pixel 2 and 2 XL. The update was first noticed by Kelvin Peralta on Twitter. The app isn’t a total overhaul, but some of the features have been redesigned or reshuffled. New additions include zoom shortcuts along with the “Audio Zoom” ability to reduce background noise. There’s also the new Cinematic Pan video recording feature from the Pixel 5 that helps with smooth panning shots, although it seems this is only being added… Con...

(NASA/Joel Kowsky) SpaceX successfully launched its second crew of astronauts to orbit this evening inside the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. The flight, called Crew-1, marks the first operational mission of the Crew Dragon, as SpaceX embarks on a new era of regularly sending people to and from the International Space Station for NASA. The Crew Dragon took off at 7:27PM ET on top of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Flying inside the capsule are three NASA astronauts — Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker — as well as Soichi Noguchi, from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA. Now in orbit, the crew will spend the next more than a day in space before docking with the ISS on Monday at… Continue reading… Y...

This is what the $400 Smart Monitor M7 looks like. | Samsung Samsung is no stranger to releasing quirky computer monitors, such as last year’s Space Monitor that articulates like the Microsoft Surface Studio desktop. For late 2020, the company is releasing the Smart Monitor, which it claims is the first monitor to combine over-the-top media services, mobile connectivity, and remote PC capabilities. Samsung is releasing the M5 lineup, consisting of a 27-inch size for $230 and a 32-inch size for $280. A 32-inch 4K monitor called the M7 is also coming that costs $400. It’s not as immediately eye-catching as the aforementioned Space Monitor, but it makes up for it with having more features. Like Samsung’s line of TVs, the Smart Monitor runs Samsung’s Tizen OS software and can connect to your W...

The cast of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air reunite for a new HBO Max special | Will Smith TFW you have to work on Sunday but all you want to do is keep bingeing Season 4 of The Crown. I watched the first two episodes and I can’t decide who I love most: Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth, Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher, or Emma Corrin as Diana. Also Josh O’Connor’s Prince Charles continues to be a fascinating not-quite-antihero. Can’t wait to dig in for more (literal) palace intrigue. In the meantime, I did warn y’all a couple weeks back that we were sliding into holiday movie szn, and, among this week’s trailers are a holiday rom-com with Kristen Stewart, as well as an update of a classic YA novel, and a Bruce-Willis-kicks-space-alien-ass offering. Plus the cast of the Fresh Prince are b...

The iPhone 12 mini | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Orders for the new iPhone 12 mini have started arriving for customers, and the team at iFixit did a two-part teardown—of both an EU and US model— to figure out how Apple managed to include 5G hardware and the usual iPhone components into such a little device. The first thing you notice looking at the internal images is the smaller battery in the mini, which measures up to similar iPhone models surprisingly well, iFixit finds, with 8.57 Wh. “That’s more juice than the iPhone SE 2020‘s 6.96 Wh, but understandably short of the 10.78 Wh of the standard 12 it’s stacked on top of,” iFixit notes. It’s less than the 10.78 Wh of the iPhone 12 battery, though. iFixitThe iPhone 12 mini is on the left, the iPhone 12 on… Continue reading&hell...

(NASA/Joel Kowsky) This evening, the first operational mission of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is set to take flight, carrying a crew of four to the International Space Station. The mission, scheduled for 7:27PM ET, marks the beginning of regular crewed missions to and from the ISS for SpaceX as the company establishes a route to space for NASA’s astronauts — and eventually private customers. On board tonight’s flight are three NASA astronauts — Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker — as well as Soichi Noguchi of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. The crew is slated to stay on board the ISS for six months, before returning to Earth inside the Crew Dragon in the spring. NASA’s live coverage of the flight will begin at 3:15PM ET, jut… Continue reading… You D...