Technology

Following an investigation by the Pentagon, the Department of Defense says it is standing by its decision to award a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft, not Amazon, the latest in an ongoing legal battle over the lucrative infrastructure project. On Friday, the Department of Defense said in a statement that it had completed its investigation into the awarding of the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract, an investigation it pursued to determine whether there were discrepancies in the procurement process. The Defense Department said it had “determined that Microsoft’s proposal continues to represent the best value to the Government,” adding that “contract performance will not begin immediately.” That’s because, in February, a judge issued a temporary injuncti...

Marvel’s Avengers is something of a superhero take on the Destiny formula. It’s a game where you can play as your favorite comic book hero, team up with friends for various missions, and uncover lots and lots of loot. You gain new powers and outfits and just generally keep grinding away. I’ve been playing the game for the past week and have hardly experienced any of that — instead, I’ve been focused entirely on the single-player campaign, which is surprisingly great. The premise is, admittedly, somewhat generic. Five years after a tragedy that infected some of the population of San Francisco with superpowers, so-called inhumans are essentially outlawed, and the Avengers themselves have disbanded, viewed as a danger to society. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner are in hiding and have grown gnarly...

Removing Chinese equipment will cost small carriers as much as $1.8 billion, according to a new report from the Federal Communications Commission. The report estimates that as much as $1.6 billion of the cost would be eligible for federal reimbursement — but Congress has yet to appropriate the necessary funds. Significant national security concerns have been raised about the use of Huawei and ZTE equipment in US networks — but many small carriers are still struggling with the cost of replacing it. In one instance, Eastern Oregon Telecom told The Verge that replacing the $500,000 of Huawei equipment was likely to cost as much as $1.5 million — a cost too high for the small carrier to shoulder on its own. Today’s report makes clear that story is all too common among US providers. “I once aga...

For the past few weeks, a new influencer has steadily grown in popularity. She has long pink hair, posts about her cat Bao and her clueless dad, has lots of fan art, and frequently retweets pieces of music that she loves. Her Instagram bio reads: “aspiring songwriter, professional feeling catcher.” Oh, and she also isn’t real. Seraphine is a virtual influencer, though as her growing fan base quickly noticed, there’s something different about her. Her posts are filled with League of Legends easter eggs, and she released an acoustic cover of “Pop/Stars,” the 2018 League anthem from the virtual K-pop group K/DA. Now League developer Riot has confirmed that it’s behind the character. In a statement, Riot says: Seraphine is a digital influencer and artist in association with Riot Games. As a vi...

Some Facebook users have recently noticed that they can now watch their Instagram stories right from within the main social network app. Facebook has long allowed (and encouraged) cross-posting of Instagram stories to Facebook to help build momentum for its own version of the format — but a new test brings Instagram stories right into Facebook for direct viewing. You’ll know whether you’re looking at a Facebook or Instagram story based on what color encircles the profile photo; Facebook stories have blue circles, and Instagram’s have the same pink/orange hues of the app icon. Image: ec_wife (Twitter) Facebook is being very clear that nothing about who can see your stories is changing; only your Instagram followers who’ve linked their Facebook account — and who can already see your stories ...

Huawei sub-brand Honor has announced its first rugged smartwatch, the Watch GS Pro, at this year’s scaled-back IFA trade show in Berlin. Alongside the new Watch GS Pro is a new fashion-focused smartwatch called the Watch ES. The Pad 6 and Pad X6 Android tablets are also getting released outside of China, as is a trio of Honor laptops featuring AMD’s latest generation of Ryzen processors. If you’re looking for an idea of how rugged the Watch GS Pro is meant to be, then Honor claims it meets as many as 14 of the US military’s MIL-STD-810G procurement standards. These include testing it to withstand high temperatures, low temperatures, rain, humidity, and low pressures at altitude. For an idea of why you’d need a smartwatch that rugged, Honor’s list of its 100-plus supported workout modes giv...

Pregnancy tests used to be fairly simple sticks you peed on, but the move to digital versions has transformed them into tiny computers almost as powerful as the original IBM PC. Fascinated by the digital era of pregnancy tests, Twitter users foone and xtoff recently pulled apart examples from Walmart and Clearblue to reveal what’s really going on inside. Each test, which costs less than $5, includes a processor, RAM, a button cell battery, and a tiny LCD screen to display the result. The processor is an 8-bit Holtek microcontroller with 64 bytes of RAM, capable of running at either 4Mhz or 8Mhz depending on the battery configuration. That might sound very basic, but the chip is surprisingly complicated. “You might think it’s very limited because it’s only got 64 bytes of RAM, but it’s actu...

Uber announce today that it will soon allow users in the UK to rent cars via its app in a partnership with car rental company CarTrawler. Users will be able to select the new “Uber Rent” option from within the app and then browse available cars for their chosen date and location. Rental cars can then be picked up from the “hundreds” of car hire company pickup locations. The UK launch follows trials in France and Australia. The process works a little differently from Uber’s bike or scooter rentals. Although Uber says you’re technically able to make your booking at the same time as you pick up the vehicle (as you would when renting one of its Jump bikes in the UK), it encourages you to make car reservations at least 24 hours in advance. Rentals can be cancelled up to 48 hours ahead of collec...

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is getting a graphical upgrade for next-generation hardware, and current owners of the game on PC, Playstation, and Xbox will get the update for free. Developers CD Projekt Red announced the news today, saying the updated game will be available on the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC, featuring a “range of visual and technical improvements.” These include faster loading times and ray tracing graphics. The upgrades will apply to the base game, says Projekt Red, as well as to both of its expansions (Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine) and all other “extra content.” The appeal of this news is testament to The Witcher 3’s lasting greatness. This is a game that came out five years ago but remains incredibly well-regarded and an appealing title for many to pick up and play thr...

Ford’s first electric vehicle of consequence, the Mustang Mach-E SUV, will start arriving at dealerships at the end of the year. But before customers begin driving off with their new EV, the automaker wants to let them start tinkering with their personal profiles. Because everything these days, even driving a car, requires some level of online registration. Starting today, Mach-E customers can create a personal profile, input their home address and other important locations, familiarize themselves with nearby charging stations, and setup climate controls and other amenities. That way, when they finally accept delivery of their Mach-E, all those preferences will be available and ready to go from Day One. Rather than sit at a dealership inputting all this information, customers can do it all...

The original Game Boy from 1989 was an iconic handheld console but, as anyone who owned one will tell you, it required a steady stream of batteries to keep running. Now, a team of researchers at Northwestern University and Delft University of Technology have developed a new take on the classic console, replacing its array of four AA batteries with a set of five rows of solar panels and buttons that harvest power as you play. The Engage, as the team have called their device, is theoretically capable of being used to play any game made for the original Game Boy, and it’s even got a slot on its back if you want to insert an original game cartridge. It’s about the size of a paperback book, but as CNET reports, it only weighs half as much as the original handheld. “We kind of need radical, craz...

When someone gets a COVID-19 test, the result does one thing: tells that person if they have the coronavirus in their body. Some researchers, though, are trying to get tests to do more — and reframing the goal of testing as a result. Instead of simply finding people who are infected with the virus, they’d prefer to focus on finding people who are infectious and at risk of spreading it to other people. The proposal offers one possible way to get the pandemic under control in the US. It would allow for a more targeted approach to isolation and quarantine and help give people a better understanding of when they’re most at risk to others. It would be a big change in how we think about testing. Clinicians have never used tests for respiratory infections like COVID-19 to determine if someone is ...