Technology

Ubisoft team leads will now be given bonuses according to “their ability to create a positive and inclusive workplace environment” following widespread harassment allegations. The company announced the changes today during its Q1 sales call as part of a larger initiative to address systemic problems within its studios. “Each time we have been made aware of misconduct, we made tough decisions and we made sure that those decisions had a clear and positive impact,” Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said during the call. “It has now become clear that some individuals betrayed the trust I put in them. I have never compromised on my core values and ethics, and I never will.” In June, workers across the game industry came forward on Twitter with stories of abuse, harassment, and misconduct; several of t...

Ubisoft has publicly committed to keeping prices for new games released on next-gen consoles this fall at $60, the company said in an earnings call on Wednesday. That diverges from the strategy of fellow video game publisher Take-Two Interactive and its subsidiary 2K Games, which are planning to charge an extra $10 for next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions of the upcoming NBA 2K21. “We plan to come with the same price as the previous generation of consoles” were the company’s words, though in reference only to its fall slate of new releases. While this is Ubisoft’s first time saying aloud it will not raise prices for next-gen games released this holiday season, its Xbox preorder pages for games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs Legion already indicated that prices w...

Amid hosts of reasonable fears about the coronavirus pandemic, there’s also one far more dubious threat: “COVID parties.” As Wired explains in a good exploration of the topic, COVID parties (or “corona parties”) are events where people supposedly expose themselves to the coronavirus on purpose. Medical professionals and government officials have periodically warned about these parties, but on closer examination, the reports are usually unverified secondhand reports or outright mistakes. Despite numerous false alarms, however, the parties keep cropping up in news stories and social media. Last week, The New York Times and other outlets reported on a “COVID party” supposedly held in Texas. A recent Vox story about herd immunity referenced “rare but concerning” instances, citing a CNN article...

Samsung has officially announced the 5G version of its Galaxy Z Flip foldable phone. Called the Galaxy Z Flip 5G (naturally enough), the phone is nearly identical to its 4G predecessor. The major changes include the 5G radios, a slightly upgraded Snapdragon 865 Plus processor, and the price: it’s $1,449.99. That’s a $70 premium over the 4G version, which Samsung says will stick around at the same price. The original Galaxy Z Flip was probably the best folding phone I’ve tested — although its part of a small and fairly disappointing group. Although it doesn’t fold fully flat, the Z Flip is well-designed and has proven itself to be more durable than other folding phones (again, a relative assessment). All that said, it was still too expensive to be a mainstream phone: If folding phones are e...

Shopping for a chair to go with your gaming desk is really difficult. According to an informal poll I recently ran on Twitter, finding the right chair to buy came just behind figuring out which PC components to buy for a DIY desktop build in terms of complexity. Unlike components, there are no benchmarks for chairs. Comfort is entirely subjective, and even then it’s hard to find reliable reviews. Plus, most of them look like racecar chairs meant more for looks than ergonomics. So, you could spend a lot and pray that it works out or just get a cheaper chair and funnel the rest of that money toward a GPU upgrade, faster storage, or a bigger monitor. As a usual full-time sitter on an AmazonBasics office chair, I fit into the latter group. Herman Miller, the company responsible for those amazi...

Slack says it has filed an anti-competitive complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission. “The complaint details Microsoft’s illegal and anti-competitive practice of abusing its market dominance to extinguish competition in breach of European Union competition law,” says Slack in a statement. Slack alleges that Microsoft has “illegally tied” its Microsoft Teams product to Office and is “force installing it for millions, blocking its removal, and hiding the true cost to enterprise customers.” “Microsoft is reverting to past behavior,” claims David Schellhase, general counsel at Slack. “They created a weak, copycat product and tied it to their dominant Office product, force installing it and blocking its removal, a carbon copy of their illegal behavior during the ‘browser wars.’ ...

Samsung is hosting an “immersive virtual experience” on September 2nd, following its decision not to exhibit at Europe’s major IFA tech show this year. The 45-minute event, which Samsung is calling “Life Unstoppable,” will include new mobile, TV, and home appliance product launches, as well as wearable and audio announcements. Although it’s one of the bigger exhibitors at IFA each year, Samsung tends to save its smaller announcements for the show rather than unveiling any major new smartphones or wearables. Last year, for example, its biggest announcements were its new Exynos 980 processor which featured an integrated 5G modem, its redesigned Galaxy Fold, and the midrange Galaxy A90 5G smartphone. Considering the event will come less than a month after its August Unpacked event, a similar ...

Apple is planning to introduce periscope telephoto cameras into the iPhone lineup in 2022, according to a research note by TF Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo that was reported on by 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, and MacRumors. Semco, a South Korean company that will reportedly contribute autofocus motors to this year’s new iPhone models, is said to be in line to provide about half of the supply of the periscope optics. Periscope cameras are a way of enabling long focal lengths in devices like smartphones where physical depth is at a premium. They use prisms and mirrors along the length of the device to reflect and focus light onto a sensor, rather than placing the sensor directly behind the lens as with traditional cameras. The technique has largely been pioneered in recent years by Chinese compa...

Rocket League is changing in a big way. Today, developer Psyonix announced that, later this summer, the multiplayer cars-meets-soccer game will be going free-to-play. Additionally, the game will get cross-platform progression, covering elements like cosmetic items, battle pass progression, and competitive rank. Things are also changing significantly for the PC version of the game. When the free-to-play version of Rocket League launches, it’ll be moving from Steam to the Epic Games Store. (Psyonix was acquired by Fortnite-maker Epic last year.) Here’s how the studio explains: Rocket League will also make its debut on the Epic Games Store when it goes free to play. It will be identical to the version on other platforms and will feature cross-platform play with all Rocket League platforms. On...

Snap has launched an investigation into accusations of racism and sexism within the company, anonymous sources have told Business Insider. Per the sources, the independent firm (Seattle-based Williams Kastner) have contacted both current and former staff. The investigation appears to concern stories that ex-employees recounted in a June 9th Mashable article about their experiences working for Snap between 2015 and 2018. Multiple sources told Mashable that they experienced a racist culture during their time at the company, and that leadership disparaged Black representation in media. One employee said they were asked to replace a lead image of Black performers with a “friendlier face.” The same manager told another employee that a story was “too black-heavy” and asked that some snaps of Bla...

Facebook is forming new internal teams dedicated to studying its main social network and Instagram for racial bias, in particular for whether its algorithms trained using artificial intelligence adversely affect Black, Hispanic, and other underrepresented groups. The team will be “tasked with ensuring fairness and equitable product development are present in everything we do,” a Facebook spokesperson tells The Verge. “We will continue to work closely with Facebook’s Responsible AI team to ensure we are looking at potential biases across our respective platforms.” The new equity team — as it’s called within Instagram (a similar team is being formed to study Facebook’s main app and website) — marks a departure for the company, which has historically resisted efforts within the company to stu...

Epic Games’ popular free-to-play title Fortnite has shown that people, especially kids, are willing to flock to attractive virtual spaces to hold meetups and parties as ways to socialize during the pandemic. Many of those kids are likely playing Roblox, too. The company just told The Verge that over half of US kids and teens under the age of 16 play the game — and this week, Roblox is adding its own private space for them to host virtual private birthday parties and social gatherings. Unlike Fortnite’s Party Royale mode, which is a small public island full of activities for the entire community to enjoy, including concerts and movie screenings sponsored by Epic Games itself, Roblox’s “Party Place” is a specific venue for players to host their own events. Party Place is currently in beta te...