Technology

The Internet Archive is alerting users when they’ve clicked on some stories that were debunked or taken down on the live web, following reports that people were spreading false coronavirus information through its Wayback Machine. As NBC reporter Brandy Zadrozny noted on Twitter, the site includes a bright banner on one popular Medium post that was removed as misinformation. Its video archive also creates friction by making users log in to see some videos containing false information, like a reposted version of the conspiracy documentary Plandemic. These videos also include critical comments from Wayback Machine director Mark Graham who described the warnings to Zadrozny as an example of the “importance and value of context in archiving.” A post removed from Medium for making unsubstantiate...

Apple released a big update to Logic Pro X today, adding Live Loops, a beat sequencer, a revamped sampling tool, and more. Apple calls it the app’s “biggest update” since the music production software launched under its current name, Logic Pro X, in 2013. The new tools are particularly focused on electronic music, hip-hop, and beat making. The update adds in a pair of music creation tools that have been in GarageBand for several years now that let users quickly start tinkering with beats and sounds. Live Loops allows musicians to create beats out of a series of adjustable loops that can be dragged and dropped around a grid, and a new Step Sequencer feature lets you create beats by programming a pattern that they’ll play on. More compatibility between Logic and GarageBand These new features...

Google is taking one of its biggest steps yet toward permanently phasing out Google Play Music in favor of the company’s newer YouTube Music service. Beginning today, you can finally transfer your entire Google Play Music library — artists, albums, songs, playlists, purchased music, personal uploads, and recommendations — over to YouTube Music with just a few taps. This is a crucial process that some subscribers of Google Play Music have been waiting for before they’re comfortable making the transition that Google wants to see. YouTube Music will be your only streaming music option from the company later this year when Google Play Music is fully shut down. Google isn’t specifying exactly when that will occur, but it says customers will receive plenty of warning ahead of time. There’s a lot...

Google Play Music is going away at the end of the year, leaving YouTube Music as Google’s only streaming music service. But before that happens, you’ve got the chance to transfer over your music library, recommendations, purchased songs, and personal uploads to YouTube Music with just a few taps. This will ensure that you won’t lose any content when Google Play Music is eventually shut down. The transfer process can be done with an Android device, iPhone, or from the web. No matter which method you choose, all of your stuff gets moved over in the background, and you’ll be able to listen to YouTube Music and use the app like normal. With an Android phone or iPhone The process is the same for mobile devices regardless of whether you’re using Android or iOS. Make sure you’ve got the latest ve...

Uber has made an offer to buy Grubhub, with the potential for a deal to be reached as early as this month, according to a report from Bloomberg. The offer is said to be an all-stock takeover that would see Grubhub — currently valued at $4.5 billion — be absorbed into Uber’s larger operation. Uber operates its own food delivery service, Uber Eats, which is a rival of Grubhub. An October 2019 report had Uber Eats with roughly 20 percent of the delivery app market, while Grubhub had 30 percent. Both fell behind DoorDash, which controls 35 percent of the market and is the fastest-growing of the three. Buying Grubhub could catapult Uber from third place to first and give the company a huge advantage over DoorDash and other services. That Uber would want to invest more into its meal delivery off...

Disney is bumping up the release of its recording of the hit stage musical Hamilton by over a year. Instead of the planned theatrical release set for October 15th, 2021, it’ll be out on July 3rd, 2020, as a Disney Plus exclusive. It’s a huge move on Disney’s part. The company is effectively canceling its planned theatrical run for the Hamilton recording — which it reportedly paid a record-breaking $75 million for the worldwide rights to — to turn it into a streaming exclusive instead. The move from theatrical to digital also emphasizes just how much Disney needs content to put on Disney Plus now to keep customers interested in paying that $6.99 per month subscription. Suspended production on some of its most hyped original shows (like Marvel Studios-produced Falcon and the Winter Solider, ...

Spotify first released its Spotify Kids app in October last year, and now it’s introducing two new features to give parents more control over what their kids consume. Starting today, parents can access their child’s listening history and also block specific content. The app is also expanding its rollout to Japan and Germany today, officially making it available in 14 markets. To access the settings, parents need to go to the “Grown Ups” section and select which child’s account history they want to view. From there, they can see their kid’s listening history, which contains every track their child streamed on the app over the past three months. From this same section, they can also select tracks to block by tapping the block icon next to the content. The blocked content is linked to each ch...

SteelSeries has announced the Nimbus Plus, a new controller designed for gaming on Apple devices. The Nimbus Plus improves on its predecessor with some new features, such as clickable joysticks, a claimed 50-hour battery life, and ultra-responsive triggers. Like its predecessor, the Nimbus Plus charges via a Lightning connector and has a Made for iPhone (MFi) certification. The licensing program allows third-party devices to take advantage of features available on Apple’s hardware, such as optimized button mapping. The Nimbus Plus is basically an iOS version of SteelSeries’ Stratus Duo The Nimbus Plus will come bundled with a mount for the controller, which you can use to game on your iPhone easily. A SteelSeries spokesperson told The Verge that the Nimbus Plus “will allow users to play to...

Huawei is rereleasing its flagship phone from last year as the P30 Pro “New Edition.” The device now ships with Android 10 preinstalled, and it’s got a new silver color option that was previously only available on the P40 Pro. Otherwise, this is an identical device to last year’s phone, meaning it has a 6.47-inch OLED display, four rear cameras, and, crucially, comes with a full suite of Google’s apps and services. Emphasizing its compatibility with Google’s apps and services, an image of the phone on Huawei’s German website advertises that the phone allows you to (via Google Translate) “use top-apps as usual,” “use Android as usual,” and get “security updates as usual.” The phone is available in a new silver colorscheme, and Huawei is advertising that it can be used “as usual.”Image: Huaw...

Hackers have registered domains posing as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet-related URLs, according to a new report from Check Point Research. As significantly more people are using these videoconferencing services during the COVID-19 pandemic, the domains could be used to pose as official links, potentially tricking people into downloading malware or accidentally giving a bad actor access to personal information. In just the last three weeks, for example, 2,449 Zoom-related domains have been registered, and Check Point Research determined that 32 of those domains are malicious and 320 are “suspicious.” And in one instance of attempted phishing, hackers sent an email that looks like an official email from Microsoft Teams, but a button in the email to “open” Teams was actually a malici...

LG has a new dual-screen phone on the way, with a main display that swivels sideways to reveal a secondary screen underneath, the Korean Herald reports. The phone, which ETNews reports is codenamed “Wing,” will reportedly have a main 6.8-inch display alongside a smaller 4-inch screen with a 1:1 aspect ratio. It’s expected to cost a bit more than the new Velvet phone when it arrives later this year. This wouldn’t be the first swivel phone that LG has released. Over a decade ago it released several phones using this form-factor, including the LB1500 and LU1400. In addition to their rotating displays, the other major selling point of these “DMB phones” was that they had the hardware to receive digital TV broadcasts. Unsurprisingly the hardware was basic by modern standards. Their main, non-to...

In a likely effort to stop the videoconferencing powerhouse that is Zoom, Google has expanded its Meet communications app to be available to anyone with a Gmail account (previously, it had only been open to those with for-pay G Suite or education accounts). You will be able to meet with up to 100 people and there is currently no time limit; after September 30th, meetings will be limited to 60 minutes. You don’t have to do anything to get the app: it automatically appears in your Gmail app as a small “Meet” section in the left-hand column, right below your list of categories. As is Google’s habit, it is slowly rolling out the app to Gmail users over the next few weeks: a colleague with Gmail reported that he got the app last week, and I found it sitting in my Gmail account over the weekend,...