Technology

Microsoft is rethinking its Cortana assistant, announcing that it will shut down the current iOS and Android apps, end Cortana support for the Harman Kardon Invoke smart speaker, and remove the original Cortana functionality from the first-generation Surface Headphones starting in 2021. These changes are still a few months away, but it marks another big step for Microsoft in pivoting Cortana away from a Google Assistant or Alexa alternative to a more specialized, productivity-focused assistant — changes the company has already started making on the Windows 10 version of Cortana earlier this year. (To that end, Microsoft also put a September 7th date on the already-announced sunsetting of third-party Cortana skills for Windows.) Microsoft will focus on its productivity features Instead, Mic...

President Donald Trump intends to sign an order that would direct ByteDance to sell its ownership of the US-based video-sharing app TikTok, according to Bloomberg. The order, which could be announced as soon as Friday afternoon, would employ the Council on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to force ByteDance to divest, similar to the process undertaken against Grindr’s Chinese investors last year. Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News that the Trump administration was “certainly looking at” banning TikTok in the country, stopping short of explaining exactly how it planned to do so. “We are taking this very seriously. We are certainly looking at it,” Pompeo said at the time. “With respect to Chinese apps on peoples’ cellphones, the United States w...

The Verge is a place where you can consider the future. So are movies. In Yesterday’s Future, we revisit a movie about the future and consider the things it tells us about today, tomorrow, and yesterday. The movie: V for Vendetta (2006) directed by James McTeigue The future: In V for Vendetta, a lot has gone wrong very quickly, and it doesn’t seem like there’s much to be done about it. The film is set in 2020, and London is now under the authoritarian rule of the fascist High Chancellor Sutler (John Hurt), the leader of the extremely Nazi-looking Norsefire party. The parallels to real-world 2020 are alarming: the “St. Mary’s virus” has unleashed a pandemic on the world, crippling the United States (which doesn’t really factor into the film’s London-centric plot) and sending it on a path to...

It didn’t surprise James Gilmore to hear that the NBA was turning to smart rings to help manage the risk of COVID-19 inside its “bubble” at Disney World, where the league hopes to finish the rest of the season. “The NBA, and the NBA Players Association, has been at the forefront of embracing wearable technology for individual players,” says Gilmore, an assistant professor who studies the use of wearable technology in daily life at Clemson University. All players inside the bubble have the option of wearing an Oura ring, normally marketed as a sleep and activity tracker. Health data collected by the ring, the league says, will be used to flag changes that could indicate someone has symptoms of COVID-19, even if they don’t feel sick. The catch: it’s not clear if the Oura ring can actually do...

Twitter has suspended the account of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke for “repeated violations of the Twitter Rules on hateful conduct,” a spokesperson confirmed to The Verge on Friday. “This enforcement action is in line with our recently-updated guidance on harmful links.” Duke joined Twitter in September 2009, an archived version of his page shows, and his account had more than 53,000 followers. YouTube suspended several white supremacists’ channels last month, including Duke’s, for violating its hate speech policies. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which describes Duke as a neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier, says Duke “built an international reputation as the American face of white nationalism and pseudo-academic anti-Semitism.” The Anti-Defamation League says Duke has been active in...

This weekend, two NASA astronauts are slated to return home to Earth inside SpaceX’s new passenger capsule, the Crew Dragon. It’ll be the first time that the Crew Dragon carries passengers back to the planet’s surface, ultimately proving if the vehicle can safely transport people to space and back. Veteran astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will be aboard the spacecraft. The duo made history at the end of May when they launched to the International Space Station inside the Crew Dragon, marking the first time a privately made vehicle carried people to orbit. The launch heralded the return of human spaceflight in the US. The last time people flew to orbit from the United States was in 2011, with the last flight of the Space Shuttle. For nine years, NASA relied on Russian rockets to get a...

This story is part of a group of stories called Only the best deals on Verge-approved gadgets get the Verge Deals stamp of approval, so if you’re looking for a deal on your next gadget or gift from major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and more, this is the place to be. Samsung is hosting a few discounted bundles at Amazon and Best Buy, one of which includes its Galaxy Z Flip foldable phone and a Galaxy Watch Active 2 44mm smartwatch for $1,380. That’s the normal price for the phone, but the savings come in the form of getting the watch, which costs around $249 right now, for free. Given that there have been very few deals on the unlocked version of the Z Flip, this is a decent value if you were thinking of investing now. This bundle is also active for the Galaxy S2...

Oppo has announced the Reno 4 Pro for international release. It’s a mid-range phone that isn’t a million miles away from sister company OnePlus’ new Nord in specs, design, and pricing. The Reno 4 Pro has a matte back panel with a gradient design and a glossy finish on the quad camera bump. It feels very thin and light by today’s standards, at 7.7mm thick and 161g. The camera bump bears the legend “INNOVATIVE QUADCAM” in capital letters, which is a pretty amusing thing to write on a camera bump, but otherwise this is an attractive device. The phone looks good from the front, too, with a 6.5-inch 90Hz 1080p AMOLED screen with the slightest of curves on the edges. Unlike other curved screens, this panel doesn’t stretch right to the edge of the bezel, which could be a pro or con depending on y...

There are plenty of things I could tell you about Otterbox’s new stand for the third-generation Amazon Echo Dot smart speaker. I could tell you about its “durable materials” or how it’s designed to “securely” hold on to your Echo device. The Amazon listing even claims its “precision-fit, non-slip base” is “engineered for optimal audio output.” But you and I both know that none of that really matters, because what’s really important here is that this base adds little tiny Emmy-nominated Baby Yoda* ears to the sides of your Echo Dot. If you want to pretend that you’re actually speaking to The Mandalorian character every time you ask Alexa to set a timer, then this is (probably) the easiest way to do it. It’s “engineered for optimal audio output,” apparently.Image: Otterbox The stand is made ...

An Irish retailer has revealed that Halo Infinite’s multiplayer mode will be free-to-play and support up to 120fps. Smyths Toys Superstores briefly posted details (Google Cache) about Halo Infinite multiplayer on a promotional page this week before quickly removing them once the internet discovered the references. “The legendary Halo series returns with the most expansive Master Chief campaign yet and a groundbreaking free-to-play multiplayer experience,” read the listing. “Enjoy up to 120 FPS and greatly reduced load times creating seamless gameplay with Xbox Series X.” The listing on Smyths Toys Superstores. Klobrille, an Xbox leaker that accurately revealed previous Halo Infinite details, backed up the claims that the multiplayer mode will be free-to-play. The leaker also claims the are...

Programming note: It’s time for our summer vacation! The stretch between January and today is the longest uninterrupted period we have ever written The Interface, and so we’re taking a break to recharge. We return August 17th. On any other day, the memo that Kevin Mayer published Wednesday might have been the talk of the tech world. TikTok’s new CEO, who was thrust into a crisis over the future of the Chinese-owned app from the moment he took the job, has quickly emerged as the company’s top diplomat. In his blog post, he came bearing economic gifts for the country that is currently blocking his app from federal and military devices, and threatening to ban it completely — as India recently did. Mayer promised to expand a fund for creators from $200 million to $1 billion. He said the compan...

The Federal Communications Commission has approved Amazon’s plans for its ambitious Kuiper constellation, which entails sending 3,236 satellites into orbit to beam internet coverage down to Earth. The decision is a crucial regulatory step that paves the way for Amazon to start launching the satellites when they’re ready. The company plans to send the satellites to three different altitudes, and it claims it needs just 578 satellites in orbit to begin service, according to an FCC document announcing the approval. Amazon said it will invest “more than $10 billion” in Project Kuiper in a blog post. Amazon has not announced which launch provider it plans to use to fly the satellites into orbit yet. While Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also owns the rocket company Blue Origin, the launch provider will h...