Technology

Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images A California judge ruled that Uber and Lyft must classify their drivers as employees in a stunning preliminary injunction issued Monday afternoon. The injunction is stayed for 10 days, however, giving Uber and Lyft an opportunity to appeal the decision. Uber said it planned to file an immediate emergency appeal to block the ruling from going into effect. Uber and Lyft are under increasing pressure to fundamentally alter their business models in California, the state where both companies were founded and ultimately prospered. At issue is the classification of ride-hailing drivers as independent contractors. Uber and Lyft say drivers prefer the flexibility of working as freelancers, while labor unions and elected officials contend this… Continue...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is going to let you use Chrome apps for a little while longer, as the company on Monday announced an extension to its planned timeline to end support for the software (via 9to5Google). If you aren’t familiar with Chrome apps, they’re apps that you install in Chrome that work similarly to apps that you’d launch from your desktop — like this one for read-it-later app Pocket. But they aren’t widely adopted — Google said that “approximately 1 percent of users on Windows, Mac, and Linux actively use Chrome packaged apps” all the way back in August 2016 when it first announced plans to wind down support for the platform. Chrome apps will work on Windows, Mac, and Linux until June 2021 In January, Google said Chrome apps would stop… Continue re...

Nreal The Nreal Light mixed reality glasses are shipping in Korea alongside Samsung’s newly announced Galaxy Note 20. LG Uplus will sell the glasses as a standalone device for 699,000KRW (around $586), and it’s bundling them with the Galaxy Note 20 or LG Velvet and a 5G data plan for 349,500KRW (around $295). Preorders open on August 11th, and the headsets will be available in stores on August 21st. The Nreal Light (also referred to as “U+ Real Glass”) is a light sunglasses-style headset that tethers to a separate computing device — in this case, the Galaxy Note 20. It uses spatial tracking and projected images to overlay apps onto the real world, and Nreal pitches it as a more spacious alternative to a smartphone when you’re watching videos,… Continue reading… You Deserve to ...

Photo by Christopher Polk / NBC / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images A new analysis by Bloomberg finds that the net worth of Apple CEO Tim Cook has passed the $1 billion mark, officially making him a billionaire. It’s certainly an impressive number, but assuming it’s just over $1 billion, he’s got a long way to go before he catches up to the other CEOs on the Bloomberg Billionaires list. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, tops the list at $187 billion, followed by former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates at $121 billion, and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook at $102 billion. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is only No. 10 on the list, but even he is well ahead of Cook at $68.7 billion. Yes, these are obscene amounts of money, and it’s difficult to comprehend how wealthy Bezos is (especially during a pandemic with a 10 percent ...

The Anker PowerCore Play 6K is one of many controllers without buttons you’ll find on Amazon | Anker Ask almost anyone you know and they’ll probably agree: all good controllers have at least one button. Who might disagree with that? No one you should trust — plus the several manufacturers, including well-known brands like Anker and HyperX, that have started making controllers for your phone that don’t have any buttons at all. These strange new gadgets won’t make controlling games via on-screen controls any easier, though they’re not completely pointless for people who play PUBG and some other mobile hits that don’t have official controller support. They’re mostly power banks with controller grips attached Anker’s PowerCore Play 6K controller is essentially a $36 6,700mAh power bank that’s ...

ABC In November 2017, Black-ish creator Kenya Barris wrote an episode of his Emmy-award winning ABC comedy titled “Please, Baby, Please” that tackled racism in America, ranging from the Charlottesville protests to kneeling in the NFL. Just a week before it was set to air in 2018, Disney shelved it. Now, the episode will finally see the light of day on Disney’s general entertainment streaming service, Hulu. “We were one year post-election and coming to the end of a year that left us, like many Americans, grappling with the state of our country and anxious about its future,” Barris wrote in a statement on Twitter. “Those feelings poured onto the page, becoming 22 minutes of television that I was, and still am, incredibly proud of. ‘Please,… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make ...

Image: Microsoft Microsoft is adding Chromebook support to Minecraft: Education Edition, offering another way for schools to teach virtually this upcoming school year. Designed specifically for a classroom setting, Minecraft: Education Edition provides tools for educators like virtual chalkboards and a Classroom mode that allows teachers to communicate with their students and view where they are throughout the game world. Educators can find user-created lessons on the Minecraft: Education Edition website that cover subjects including history and math. The lessons have players exploring the game’s map, like one that has students going on a scavenger hunt to learn the elements of the periodic table, that help kids learn by playing the game. Minecraft:… Continue reading… You Dese...

David Dobrik TikTok announced the first wave of recipients for its new Creators Fund, a $200 million venture that will pay popular personalities for their content. There are 19 creators in total, including David Dobrik, Brittany Tomlinson, Cheyenne Jaz Wise, Justice Alexander, Michael Le, Marissa Ren, and Ross Smith. While many of the recipients already came from full-time entertainment backgrounds — including Dobrik and Smith, who are popular YouTube creators — many of the selected TikTokers came from non-media backgrounds but were able to build substantial followings on the app. Dr. Fayez (@lifeofadoctor), an emergency medicine doctor, has amassed more than 500,000 followers on the app since starting TikTok in 2019 and is known for “mythbusting… Continue reading… You Deserve...

Photo by Brooks Kraft/ Getty Images Some of the US’s largest tech companies, including Apple, Facebook, Twitter, and Microsoft, are speaking out against Trump’s suspension of guest worker visas. In an amicus brief filed Monday, the companies argue the new restrictions could dramatically affect how the country’s economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. “The President’s suspension of nonimmigrant visa programs, supposedly to ‘protect’ American workers, actually harms those workers, their employers, and the economy,” the amicus reads. In June, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation suspending guest worker entry into the US in response to the unprecedented unemployment levels caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Immigration officials were ordered to deny entry… Continue readi...

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verg The Google Pixel 4 is discontinued, but Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo each apparently had enough stock left to launch a coordinated sale, bringing the 64GB and 128GB models each down $250 off their original prices. Both Best Buy and B&H Photo have the unlocked Pixel 4 with 64GB of storage in “just black” and “clearly white” for $549. Amazon is currently offering the deal for the black phone only. For $100 more, you can get the 128GB model. Sadly, the larger Pixel 4 XL isn’t looped in here. The best deal we saw for the smaller Pixel 4 model was in April when it dropped down to $499. You can technically get that price at Best Buy right now — but only if you’re willing to activate the phone with a carrier when you buy it. If you’re… Continue re...

Disney’s recently acquired 20th Century Fox TV studio is the latest to have the “Fox” name dropped, with the company announcing today that it’ll be rebranding the studio to just 20th Television, as part of a larger rebrand for all of Disney’s TV studios. Additionally, Fox 21 Television Studios is getting renamed to Touchstone Television (a TV brand that Disney stopped using in 2007), as the company works to remove the last traces of the Fox name from its assets. Disney is also using the rebranding to merge ABC Studios and its subsidiary ABC Signature under the ABC Signature banner. New logos and end cards will appear on TV shows this fall, including on episodes of The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, and Bob’s Burgers. Existing… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Money E...