Technology

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Almost every model in Amazon’s Fire lineup of budget-friendly tablets is discounted. The Fire HD 8 is a good value at $60 (usually $90), and even the Fire HD 8 Plus with slightly more RAM and wireless charging support is $30 off; instead of costing $110, it’s down to $80. If you want to step up to a bigger 10-inch screen with 1080p resolution instead of sub-FHD screen, the Fire HD 10 is a better bet. It’s $50 off its usual price, down to $100. Different as these prices might be, all of them have a few things in common that might make shopping easier. They each charge via USB-C and include a charger in the box (though the Fire HD 10 includes a faster 9W charger instead of a 5W charger that’s tossed in with the Fire HD 8). They also all… Continue readi...

A worker in a bucket truck addresses downed power lines along Bread and Cheese Hollow Road in Fort Salonga, New York after a tree knocked them out following tropical storm Isaias | Photo by Steve Pfost/Newsday via Getty Images Massive power outages in the wake of Tropical Storm Isaias could be just a taste of challenges ahead for already vulnerable utilities during an especially bad hurricane season. Isaias revealed how urgently changes need to be made to prevent more blackouts. Isaias knocked out power for more than 2 million customers across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut after barreling through the region on August 4th. Days later, hundreds of thousands are still in the dark, and some might not have power back until August 11th. The governors of New York and Connecticut this week...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings’ Radar tracking technology, which gives advertisers access to anonymized mobile phone data about people who pass by billboards, is launching in Europe next month, the Financial Times reported. The outdoor ad-tracking program has been in the US for four years, but Clear Channel waited to launch in Europe so it could meet the EU’s stricter privacy regulations. William Eccleshare, CEO of Clear Channel’s international division, told the FT that Radar, which he stressed relied on data that was “very well anonymized,” can see and follow people’s movements into a store, follow what they purchase, and look at viewing habits if someone, say, passed by an outdoor ad for a Netflix show. When Clear Channel launched… Continue ...

Facebook-owned WhatsApp appears to be working on new multiple device support with synchronized chat history. WABetaInfo reports that WhatsApp is testing the ability to use an account on multiple devices, including a separate iPad app. WhatsApp currently supports multiple devices through WhatsApp Web, which connects back to a phone account. WhatsApp Web requires a phone to be powered on and connected to the web, but this new multiple device support won’t need to constantly connect back to a phone and will allow people to use WhatsApp on multiple devices simultaneously. Yes, it’s the ability to use your WhatsApp account from 4 devices at the same time.Under development, but it’s great! pic.twitter.com/JYvtMahrag — WABetaInfo… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Mon...

Folding smartphones are slowly making their way into the mainstream. Could foldable e-readers be next? The E Ink Corporation, the company behind the digital paper tech found in the majority of e-readers, is trying to make it happen. The firm’s R&D lab has been developing foldable e-ink screens for a while, and its latest prototype clearly demonstrates the idea’s potential. The video above comes from GoodEReader.com and shows a foldable e-reader prototype developed by E Ink. An earlier version came out in June, but the latest hardware adds a sturdier hinge, five dedicated buttons down the right hand side of the device, and two lightbars positioned at the top of the screen for illumination. There’s also integrated Wacom technology for… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make M...

The W-Touch and W-Type accessories. | Photo: Brydge On August 17th, Brydge will begin selling a new lineup of Surface accessories that have the “Designed for Surface” badge, meaning that they were made in collaboration with Microsoft. The lineup includes keyboards for the Surface Pro and Surface Go, but the most intriguing product in the group is the $99.99 W-Touch standalone trackpad. It’s apparently the first standalone wireless trackpad made for Windows 10. The W-Touch is like a Magic Trackpad 2 that’s built for Windows 10 instead, coated in a striking black with an aluminum build. It has Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity and it supports Precision drivers and multitouch gestures, like pinch to zoom, and multifinger swipes to switch desktops. This trackpad has a large glass surface to… Co...

Microsoft is rumored to be unveiling its second, cheaper next-gen Xbox console this month, and it looks like it will definitely be called Xbox Series S. The Verge has obtained photos of Microsoft’s new next-gen Xbox controller in white, complete with packaging that mentions the Xbox Series S. Twitter user Zak S was able to purchase the controller today, and we’ve confirmed it’s genuine. The new controller was sold on a resale site today, and the side of the packaging notes that the controller works with both Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles. Microsoft has not officially unveiled an Xbox Series S yet, nor has the company even confirmed a white Xbox Series X controller. Xbox Series… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. S...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge As school districts across the country struggle to figure out how — or if— to safely reopen schools to teachers and students, the number of coronavirus cases in the US passed 5 million on Sunday, according to the Coronavirus Research Center at Johns Hopkins University. And according to a Washington Post analysis, the US hit the 5 million mark just 17 days after passing 4 million cases. The US leads the world in the number of coronavirus cases, accounting for nearly a quarter of the 19.7 million cases worldwide. As of Sunday, Brazil was second with just over 3 million cases, followed by India at 2.1 million cases. And the US is at the top of another grim coronavirus list, according to Johns Hopkins, with more than 162,000 deaths. While… Continue...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon has had talks with Simon Property Group about converting some of its mall spaces into fulfillment centers, The Wall Street Journal reported. The conversations started before the coronavirus pandemic, and before the latest wave of bankruptcy filings by mall stalwarts like Lord & Taylor, JCPenney, and Nieman Marcus. It’s a bit of an on-the-nose example of how e-commerce is overtaking the traditional brick-and-mortar retail establishments that used to be at the center of the shopping mall experience. Simon is the biggest mall owner in the US, and looking to fill empty retail spaces, particularly those left behind by former anchor tenants like Sears and JCPenney. Having its fulfillment center warehouses closer to residential areas… Conti...

Toshiba quietly exited the laptop business once and for all last week, ending a 35-year run by transferring its remaining minority stake in its PC business to Sharp. Two years ago, Toshiba sold an 80.1 percent stake of its PC business to Sharp for $36 million, and Sharp renamed the division Dynabook. Sharp exercised its right to buy the remaining 19.1 percent of shares back in June, and Toshiba released a statement August 4th that the deal was completed “As a result of this transfer, Dynabook has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Sharp,” Toshiba said in a statement. The company made the first PC laptop in 1985: The T1100 boasted internal rechargeable batteries, a 3.5-inch floppy drive, and 256K of memory. ComputerWorld’s 20-year… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Money E...

Apple has filed a notice of opposition against a meal prep company because it claims the Prepear app’s cartoon fruit logo— in this case, a pear— is too close to Apple’s own trademarked logo which is, of course, an apple (via MacRumors and iPhone in Canada). The company claims the pear logo would “cause dilution of the distinctiveness” of the Apple logo, and make it difficult for consumers to distinguish between Prepear and Apple’s goods and services, which it argues is a violation of the Lanham Act. The dustup started when parent company Super Healthy Kids filed to register a trademark for the Prepear logo. The Prepear app lets users store and organize recipes, and create custom meal plans. The logo is in the shape of a pear, with a leaf… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make ...

IBM Frances Allen, whose work on computer compiling helped establish a foundation for much of modern computer programming, died on August 4th, her 88th birthday. She was the first woman to win the Turing Award, and the first female IBM fellow. Allen was determined to make the tedious compiling process — converting software programs into ones and zeroes— more efficient. The work became a hallmark of her career. After receiving a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Michigan, Allen took a job with IBM Research in Poughkeepsie, NY, in 1957, intending only to stay until she had her student loan debt paid off. She taught IBM employees the basics of its new Fortran language, later becoming one of three designers for the company’s… Continue reading… You Deserve to Ma...