Technology

Ubisoft is hosting a digital press conference to show off what would have been its slate of E3 game announcements. The event is called Ubisoft Forward, and though it’s a strange time for the studio to announce new projects — amid several high-level execs leaving the company after being accused of sexual misconduct and harassment — that hasn’t slowed it down. You can expect to see “plenty of exclusive game news, exciting reveals, and much more,” according to the publisher. With several games in development, like Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and Watch Dogs: Legion to name two anticipated examples, there’s plenty still to show off. Perhaps we’ll see some extended PS5 and Xbox Series X gameplay demos for those games and hopefully others, like the next Far Cry. When does the Ubisoft event start? ...

President Trump told The Washington Post that he authorized a 2018 cyberattack on the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA), the first time he’s acknowledged doing so. In an interview with Post columnist Marc Thiessen, Trump confirmed that the attack— which the Post reported on last year— started on the day of the 2018 midterm and was successful in disrupting a disinformation campaign by Russia that was meant to raise doubt about the midterm results. “Look, we stopped it,” the president told Thiessen. In 2016, the IRA operated a troll factory as part of Russia’s overall election meddling, which also included stealing emails from the Democratic National Committee. In the past, President Trump had questioned whether Russia was involved in the DNC hack, despite the evidence from American int...

Paris-based video game company Ubisoft announced Saturday that several high-level company officers are leaving amid allegations of abuse and harassment. The departures of chief creative officer Serge Hascoët, global head of HR Cécile Cornet, and Yannis Mallat, managing director of Ubisoft’s Canadian studios, “come following the initiation of a rigorous review that the company initiated in response to recent allegations and accusations of misconduct and inappropriate behavior,” Ubisoft said in a statement. Earlier this week, Ubisoft confirmed the departure of its vice president, Maxime Béland, following assault allegations, making a total of four prominent executives departing. Under Mallat, Ubisoft’s Toronto studio produced several of Ubisoft’s biggest game franchises: he personally produc...

As it tries to catch up with the popular features offered by some of its younger competitors, Cisco’s Webex has unveiled virtual backgrounds for its videoconferences. Users can either apply a “blur” effect to mask their background or replace with one of Webex’s preset background images. Zoom, the most popular videoconferencing app of the moment, and rivals Google Meet and Microsoft Teams all allow users to upload their own custom images for background displays. Webex is one of the oldest players in the videoconferencing space. It was founded in 1995 and acquired by Cisco in 2007 for $3.2 billion. It’s primarily used as a business application and has a focus on companies, rather than personal customers, but has increased the features available on its freemium version during the current surg...

The latest software update to the Fitbit Charge 4 gives two big upgrades including dynamic GPS, and a “smart wake” option. First reported by 9to5Google, the new features are now rolling out to all users. Dynamic GPS allows you to connect with the GPS in your phone if it’s in range, which may help with location accuracy and preserve the Fitbit’s battery life. If your phone isn’t close enough, the tracker will revert to its internal GPS, which can drain the battery more quickly. The Smart Wake feature is a pretty cool addition; it will work along with the wearable’s sleep tracker, and set alarms to wake you at the time you’re likely to feel most rested. Another new option allows users to decide how long the screen display stays on once the Fitbit has been awakened. In addition to the new fea...

Microsoft founder Bill Gates said Saturday that drugs and a future vaccine to treat COVID-19 should go where they are most needed, not just to “the highest bidder,” Reuters reported. “If we just let drugs and vaccines go to the highest bidder, instead of to the people and the places where they are most needed, we’ll have a longer, more unjust, deadlier pandemic,” Gates said (remotely) during a COVID-19 conference. “We need leaders to make these hard decisions about distributing based on equity, not just on market-driven factors.” The World Health Organization said July 6th there were 21 candidate vaccines in clinical trials being tested on human volunteers. Public health experts have cautioned against “vaccine nationalism” —where countries vie against each other to get a potential vaccine ...

This weekend, you can still get the biggest discount we’ve seen yet on Apple’s AirPods Pro truly wireless earbuds. The sale is happening at Verizon, and you can save $30 on a set of Apple AirPods Pro online only. Most discounts for this model are in the $15 to $20 range, but this deal at Verizon brings them down to their best-ever price of $220. The AirPods Pro are the best truly wireless earbuds for people who own an iPhone, according to The Verge’s Chris Welch. They sound great and pack in active noise cancellation, and specifically for those who own an iPhone, Apple Watch, or other Apple tech, they can quickly switch between playing audio on different devices. Another notable deal comes from Best Buy where the GoPro Fusion 360-degree action camera is $230 for Saturday only, down from it...

Update July 11th, 9:30AM ET: SpaceX postponed the launch again on Saturday morning, “to allow more time for checkouts.” The company says it will announce a new launch day once it’s confirmed. Original Story: A little over a week after launching a GPS satellite for the Space Force, SpaceX is back with another launch of its internet-beaming Starlink satellites. The company’s Falcon 9 rocket is slated to take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, launching 57 Starlink spacecraft as well as two hitchhiking Earth observation satellites from operator BlackSky. The flight is the latest in SpaceX’s ongoing quest to flesh out its proposed massive Starlink constellation, aimed at providing broadband internet connectivity from space. The company has permission to launch nearly 12,000 Starlink satellites ...

Wells Fargo has instructed employees who installed TikTok on company devices to remove the app over privacy concerns, as first reported by The Information. “We have identified a small number of Wells Fargo employees with corporate-owned devices who had installed the TikTok application on their device,” a Wells Fargo spokesperson said in an email to The Verge. “Due to concerns about TikTok’s privacy and security controls and practices, and because corporate-owned devices should be used for company business only, we have directed those employees to remove the app from their devices.” It’s the latest company to raise security concerns about employees using the popular video-sharing app, which hit 2 billion downloads in April. On Friday, Amazon said it sent an email “in error” to employees ask...

If you, like me, find yourself writing the same email over and over again, or copying and pasting the same message multiple times, Gmail gives you an easier option. By creating and saving email templates, you can insert them the next time you compose a message and save yourself some time. You can store up to 50 templates at a time, so it’s easy to create different templates for different situations. Here’s how. Create an email template: Click on the cog icon in the top right corner of your screen. Select “See all settings.” Open the “Advanced” tab. Scroll down to “Templates” and select “Enable.” Make sure you’ve selected “Enable” under “Templates.” Click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the menu. This will take you back to your inbox. Click the “Compose” button. Now, start drafting your tem...

Facebook is reportedly considering a ban on political ads before the US elections this year. Bloomberg reported the news this afternoon, saying that the idea is being discussed internally but is not yet a firm policy. Sources also confirmed the discussion to The New York Times. The step would drastically escalate Facebook’s current plans for preventing misinformation or meddling in the 2020 elections. There’s not much detail about the policy, but based on Bloomberg’s report, the blackout would be brief — a matter of days before election day in November. Facebook has previously allowed users to “turn off” political ads and added disclosure requirements, and it’s attempting to provide reliable information with a voting hub. But it’s stopped short of banning the ads themselves, in contrast wi...

Instagram on Thursday announced a new ban on all forms of content, including posts and videos, promoting the widely discredited practice known as conversion therapy, which attempts to forcefully change an individual’s sexual orientation. The news was first reported earlier today by CNN. A spokesperson for parent company Facebook tells The Verge this recent change in policy is an expansion of an earlier rule specifically banning ads promoting the practice put in place earlier this year, and that the policy now includes a ban on any content that directly promotes the practice, too. The spokesperson confirmed the ban applies both to Instagram and the company’s main social network, which share hate speech policies. Facebook and Instagram are banning conversion therapy content under hate ...