Technology

Apple bought music recognition app Shazam in 2018, and now it’s integrating it into iOS in another big way — a new Music Recognition feature can identify songs playing around you as well as in apps on your phone. And it even works when you’re listening to music on your headphones. The new feature is available as a toggle in Control Center, but it does require a developer beta of iOS 14.2 if you want to try it right now. That toggle will look like a little Shazam icon, and you just need to tap it for your iPhone to start listening. Image: Apple You could already use Siri to summon Shazam and identify songs playing around you, but being able to identify music in your apps could be handy too — if, say, you’re wondering what song that creator picked for their TikTok or YouTube video. Interesti...

The PS5 pre-order situation has so far been a bit of a mess, but you might just have your next shot to snag a console very soon — Walmart will be offering PS5 pre-orders at 6PM PT / 9PM ET tonight, September 17th. If you want the $499.99 version that comes with a disc drive, click here. If you want the $399.99 Digital Edition, click here. You should be prepared to act extremely quickly, as PS5 preorders at many retailers seem to have sold out within minutes of going live. If possible, be logged in and make sure your payment info and address are up to date in Walmart’s systems, as the seconds spent typing those in once preorders are live could make the difference between you securing your preorder or not. It’s not unusual for a console to be snagged right out of your digital shopping cart. ...

The Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics card was released at 9AM ET, and disappointment began only seconds later. All major online stores in the US are sold out, and there have been reports of brick-and-mortar stores each having as few as 10 units for sale. The end result: eBay scalpers are now trying to cash in, and very few people who want to enjoy the graphics card seem to have actually gotten their hands on a confirmed order. The card is being listed on eBay for many hundreds of dollars — in some cases, even thousands of dollars — over its $699 sticker price. And PC gaming fans are mad, claiming that Nvidia held a sloppy launch just a day after US retailers similarly botched early preorders for Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 5. A list here of filtered eBay listings shows many RTX 3080 cards selling ...

Apple gives you the option of picking new default browser and email apps in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14. But it’s been discovered that, at least in the 14.0 software release, this freedom of choice is only temporary: after a reboot of your device, Safari and Mail will be restored as their respective defaults until you change the setting again. 9to5Mac reported on the issue earlier today. The Verge has confirmed the behavior across several different iPhones and iPads. This is almost certainly a bug and something the company can rectify in a matter of days with an iOS 14.0.1 update. But it’s not a great look given Apple’s current predicament with ongoing antitrust probes. At least most people don’t find themselves rebooting these devices with much frequency. iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 launched yesterday,...

Twitter will start prompting high-profile political accounts to take heightened security measures ahead of the 2020 US election, the company announced Thursday. In a blog post, Twitter said that administration officials, members of Congress, political campaigns, major news outlets, political journalists, and other government officials will be prompted to take enhanced security measures ahead of the election. Over the next few days, Twitter will be automatically turning on password reset protection for these accounts while recommending that these high-profile users turn on two-factor authentication. These accounts will also be required to use strong passwords. “Voters, political candidates, elected officials and journalists rely on Twitter every day to share and find reliable news and infor...

A bombshell report in The Washington Post today details the ongoing feud between the Trump administration and the US Postal Service, and it provides insight into just how lucrative Amazon’s business is for the agency. According to documents obtained by watchdog group American Oversight, Amazon generated $1.6 billion in profit and $3.9 billion in revenue for the USPS in fiscal year 2019, with the postal service delivering 1.54 billion packages for the e-commerce giant. That represented about 30 percent of Amazon’s total volume last year, and, according to the Post, revenue has increased this year. President Trump has complained for at least the last two years — without citing evidence — that the USPS loses “$1.50 on average for each package” it delivers for Amazon. The president tweeted in ...

Nvidia’s new RTX 3080 graphics card went on sale earlier today, but it seems the new $699 GPU is already sold out pretty much everywhere. In the US, Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy, and Nvidia’s own website are either listing the card as being out of stock or only with an option to be notified when a card is in stock. Even stock checking sites like NowInStock.net are coming up empty-handed. Across Twitter, reports are popping up of people attempting to buy the card in person and not having much more luck. One user reported people camping outside their local Micro Center for two days to secure one of the store’s stock of just 11 cards. Another posted a picture of people queuing up overnight outside their local store before its manager was forced to inform a queue of “30-40 people” that they could ...

The Mandalorian was one of the first shows to premiere on Disney’s streaming service when it launched in November 2019, and now it’s the reason Disney Plus won its first Emmy awards. The streamer won five Creative Emmys last night for various visual and audio effects seen in a number of Mandalorian episodes. The Mandalorian won awards for Outstanding Special Visual Effects, Outstanding Cinematography for a Single Camera Series, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series, and Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Program. The event can be watched on the Creative Arts Emmys website. The Mandalorian was nominated for 19 awards in total, including Outstanding Performance by a Guest Actor (for Giancarlo Esposito’s role a...

Nintendo recently revealed a huge slate of Mario games coming to the Switch (and one Zelda spinoff), but today, the company put the focus on some of the third-party titles that will help fill out the console’s lineup. The event included some big-name publishers like Capcom and Square Enix, though many of the games won’t hit the Switch until next year. If you missed the event, here are the biggest and most interesting reveals. [embedded content] Ori is coming back to the Switch today The gorgeous 2D platformer Ori and the Will of the Wisps is coming to the Switch — and it’ll be available later today. There’s even a gorgeous special edition for those who want a physical version of the game. [embedded content] [embedded content] A lot of Monster Hunter Capcom announced a pair of brand-new Mon...

Facebook is launching a new app to let small business owners manage pages and profiles across Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram, COO Sheryl Sandberg announced in a blog post Thursday. The app, called Facebook Business Suite, will merge the back end infrastructure of the three apps so small business owners can receive messages from customers, alerts, and notifications in one unified inbox. It plans to add WhatsApp integration in the future, the company confirmed to The Verge. The app will also let small businesses post to Facebook and Instagram at the same time and provide insights about how ad campaigns are performing on the platforms. Much of this cross-posting functionality already is available for admins of Instagram business accounts linked to Facebook Pages Integrating its services h...

Processor is a digest for what’s happening in the world of consumer technology, with incisive analysis (or maybe just jokes) from Dieter Bohn. Sign up for the newsletter here and check out the Processor video series on YouTube. It is a remarkably good time to be into video games. It’s not just that we’ve got new console launches from Microsoft and Sony. It’s also that Nvidia is invigorating PC gaming with new possibilities as it brings 4K performance into a more achievable price range. And it’s that Oculus has released a new, less expensive VR headset. On top of all that, we see game companies beginning to experiment with new pricing models and methods of distribution. Microsoft has bundled its hardware into a subsidy plan with its game streaming service. Apple seems to want to avoid doing...

Evernote used to be the default in note-taking: the fastest, easiest way to keep track of thoughts across devices. Its fall from grace was slow then sudden (as when four executives left in a single month and the firm was declared to be in a “death spiral”), but a recovery of sorts could be on the horizon. This week, Evernote released a completely redesigned app for iOS and says new apps for Android, Windows, Mac will arrive “in the coming weeks.” The new iOS Evernote app is cleaner and simpler to look at than the old one, and comes with a whole bunch of UI changes and new features. There are now real-time search suggestions, easier ways to organize tags, a new formatting toolbar that suggests your most-used options, greater control of checklists, new options for headers and tables to struc...