Technology

Antitrust regulators and consumer advocacy groups are increasing their scrutiny of Google’s planned acquisition of fitness tracker firm Fitbit. Google announced it was buying Fitbit last year for $2.1 billion and said it hoped to complete the deal some time in 2020. But it’s possible the acquisition will be delayed over fears about the search giant’s increased access to sensitive data from Fitbit’s hardware, including users’ heart rates, their fitness activity, and their sleep patterns. The EU has sent 60-page questionnaires to Google and Fitbit’s rivals The Financial Times reports that EU regulators have sent 60-page questionnaires to Google and Fitbit’s rivals, asking them to assess how the acquisition will affect the digital healthcare space; whether it will disadvantage fitness trackin...

Fortnite’s Party Royale will air an in-game showing of We The People on Saturday, part of a series of conversations around race in America, the company announced Friday. The program, hosted by Van Jones of CNN, will include journalists Elaine Welteroth and Jemele Hill, and musicians Killer Mike and Lil Baby. The group will hold a discussion about systemic racism in media, culture, and entertainment. To watch We The People, launch Fortnite on Saturday morning, and select Battle Royale game mode. Enter the Party Royale playlist and go to the Island’s Big Screen. The event will get underway at 9:46AM ET, and will re-air several times throughout the day Saturday. Epic Games debuted Party Royale in April, a separate non-violent social space from the main Battle Royale island. It’s hosted virtua...

We already knew that Horizon Zero Dawn, long one of the PlayStation 4’s prized exclusives, would be making its way to PC. And now we know precisely when that will happen: the game will be released on August 7th. It’ll be sold through both Steam and the Epic Games Store for $49.99. Guerilla Games, the Sony-owned developer behind the hit title and its upcoming PlayStation 5 sequel, released a new trailer today for the complete edition of Horizon Zero Dawn. The video lays out a number of features and improvements coming to the PC version, including ultrawide display support, an unlocked framerate, dynamic foliage, deep graphics customization settings, improved reflections, and expanded controller options. It all looks fantastic in this 90-second trailer, which also shows an in-game benchmark ...

Seventeen! This laptop has a 17-inch screen. It also weighs 2.98 pounds. It’s very unusual to see a 17-inch laptop under four pounds — let alone under three. Couple that with a $1,499 starting price (our model currently goes for $1,699), and you’re looking at a pretty niche target demographic. For that niche, though, this laptop tracks. LG hasn’t reinvented the wheel; the 2020 Gram 17 is largely an iterative update to the 2019 model. The company has made some key improvements: the chassis and keyboard layout have received minor tweaks, the battery is bigger, and there’s a new 10th Gen Core i7-1065G7 under the hood. But the massive screen remains the singular reason to buy this laptop, so you should only spend $1,699 on this if you’re sure that’s what you want. Verge Score 7.5 out of 10 Goo...

Despite all of the ills and upheavals that 2020 is bringing, there is at least one thing that we can celebrate: summer is here. And while your favorite sports team may be on hiatus, your vacation trip may be canceled, and your family get-together will have to wait, there are still things to enjoy and ways to relax. The staff of The Verge has gotten together to recommend some of their favorite gadgets, devices, and gizmos to help you have the best summer possible. Olympus OMD E-M10 Mark II. Sitting inside all day means that even the most simple and short visits outside can feel kind of magical and otherworldly. It’s fun for me to bring my camera, Olympus’ E-M10 Mark II, along for walks so I can scope out and capture little moments of beauty in the world before I climb back into my dwelling....

Tomorrow is July Fourth, or Independence Day if you live in the US. Like all major US holidays, there are some good sales happening on tech that are worth mentioning. We’ve listed the best ones we know about below, broken up by category. Many of them are happening through tomorrow night, so it’s best to hurry if you want to get your shopping on. Though, some of them last for a few more days. Computing Acer is offering a 20 percent discount on almost anything from its online store, including laptops, monitors, desktops, accessories, and more. Use the code JULY2020 at checkout to save. In terms of exclusions, certain products listed here can’t be discounted. Image: Lenovo Lenovo’s new Legion 5 gaming laptop is discounted at Best Buy to a great price. Usually $1,100, paying $950 will get you ...

Working from home (which many of us have been forced to do for the past few months, whether we want to or not) can be more productive than being in an office — provided you have a comfortable and functional place to work within your home. Unfortunately, for many who have been suddenly thrown into this situation, the best space they have to work is on a small laptop at a dining room table. If you’re used to working at a desk with a large monitor, having to do the same job on a laptop at a table can be frustratingly confining. And since you also need to use this space for other activities when you’re not working, it may not be feasible to set up a traditional monitor or desktop computer there. A portable, USB-C powered monitor might be just the right thing to upgrade your laptop-only dining ...

Lime is relaunching Jump’s electric bike-share service in London in its first move since acquiring the struggling bike brand from Uber. To start out, the bikes will be available to rent in the Uber app only — they will added to the Lime app at a later date “following further systems integration,” Lime said. A few hundred e-bikes will be available at first, and will grow with demand, the company says. Pricing will be £1 unlock and 15 pence per minute after. The bikes will initially be deployed in Camden and Islington. The return of Jump’s e-bikes may come as a surprise to some who were pessimistic about the brand’s survival following Lime’s acquisition in June. The bikes were removed from all of their US and European markets after the deal, and hundreds of Jump employees were laid off. Most...

Fighting game tournament organizer Evo has canceled Evo Online and removed its co-founder and president from the company after serious allegations surfaced about his past behavior. The long-running esports event had previously been scheduled to take place in a new online-only format starting July 4th due to the coronavirus pandemic. Joey Cuellar “will no longer be involved with Evo in any capacity,” the company said. Tony Cannon, another of the organization’s co-founders, will act as CEO going forward. Cuellar apologized in a tweet, and said he was “not proud of” his past actions. The announcement of the event’s cancellation came less than 24 hours after fighting game player Mikey “Crackpr0n” Pham alleged that Cuellar had behaved inappropriately towards him and a number of other teenage bo...

Apple has introduced a new web portal for managing its Apple Card credit card (including paying bills, viewing the current balance, and seeing past bill statements), which makes the experience as a whole less reliant on an iPhone or iPad, via AppleInsider. Previously, the only way to manage an Apple Card required having a compatible iOS device with the Wallet app installed, which made it far less easy to access than a traditional credit card (nearly all of which offer web portals to pay bills and check balances). At last, a website The new web portal (located, naturally, at card.apple.com) doesn’t completely eliminate the need for an iPhone or iPad, however: you’ll still need to own one of Apple’s devices to actually apply for the Apple Card, which means, despite the web portal, it’s still...

Steph Korey, the co-CEO of luggage company Away, will be stepping down from her role within the year, co-founder Jen Rubio and co-CEO Stuart Haselden told staff today, after employees voiced concern over Korey’s recent social media behavior. “Steph’s personal social media activity does not reflect the current priorities of the company,” Rubio and Haselden wrote. “We stand with you, our employees.” The news follows Korey leaving the CEO post last year, and returning as co-CEO in early January. Korey initially stepped down following an investigation by The Verge in December of 2019, which highlighted employee concerns over Korey’s management style. Employees on the customer experience team felt particularly overworked and undervalued, and took issue with the way Korey spoke to them. In one c...

Twitch appears to have banned SayNoToRage, a popular Destiny streamer, after several women said that he harassed them or touched them without consent. Their stories played a large role in kicking off the recent wave of harassment and assault allegations from Twitch streamers and other members of the gaming industry. Twitch said last week that it would take the allegations seriously and issue permanent bans in some cases. SayNoToRage has denied the allegations. The Twitch page for SayNoToRage disappeared Thursday afternoon, suggesting he had been banned. A second streamer, Papa_Chau, who had allegations of emotional abuse made against him more than a year ago, appears to have been banned this afternoon, too. Twitch said it would begin issuing permanent bans as it looked into the allegations...