Technology

Google is releasing a new update to Android Auto that allows the car software to regain some of its smarts. This includes bringing back the Calendar app, which allows you to view information on your next appointment and get driving directions if you’d added a location to the calendar entry. Google previously removed the Calendar app from its last redesign in 2019, replacing it with a button that simply read your appointments out loud using the Google Assistant instead of showing you anything on the screen. The new update also adds relevant shortcuts to the Calendar app — so if you need to pick up a birthday cake, for instance, you will have the option to either call the bakery or pull up directions to get there. Apple introduced a s… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Money...

Photo by Sonia Recchia/WireImage Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak turns 70 years old today, and you can celebrate by attending his celebrity-studded virtual birthday party that’s happening in just a few hours at 8PM ET. Today’s party also kicks off an “11 Days of Wozdom” social media contest offering Woz-autographed Apple products as prizes. The party isn’t just an excuse to celebrate an important figure in American technology history, however. It’s also a fundraiser to support Jewel’s Inspiring Children Foundation (yes, as in the Grammy-nominated singer Jewel). She will be hosting tonight’s festivities, which will feature a huge number of singers, actors, comedians, and other notable celebrities. It’s a seriously impressive (and honestly, rather eclectic) mix, of which… Continue readi...

I have nothing against Google’s Meet videoconferencing platform — I’ve even used it a couple of times with relatives — but I can’t help being annoyed when the feature is pushed at me via other apps. Specifically, Gmail. Meet first appeared on the desktop Gmail app last spring, but it did not take up much space and was reasonably easy to ignore (or remove from your screen, if you so wished). Now, however, Meet is making its way onto the mobile Gmail app via two tabs which will eventually appear (if they haven’t already) at the bottom of your screen: one labeled “Mail” and one labeled “Meet.” The problem here isn’t only that you’re being pushed to use a particular videoconferencing app while all you want to do is check your email, but it… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Mo...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla has announced a new five-way stock split to take effect on August 28th, which will make the company’s shares cheaper for buyers. The electric car maker’s stock closed on Tuesday at $1,374.39 a share, close to its July all-time high and at a total market valuation of more than $256 billion. But at prices that high, it’s difficult for individuals — especially retail traders using platforms like Robinhood — to own more than fractional shares of the company. If you own Tesla stock by August 21st, you’ll receive four additional shares of common stock on the date of the split. Starting August 31st, Tesla says it will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis. Tesla’s stock is nearly $1,400 a share right now Stock splits are typically… Continue re...

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images The former COO of Pinterest is suing the company for gender discrimination. Françoise Brougher says she was paid less than her male peers, repeatedly left out of important meetings, and given gendered feedback, according to her legal complaint. She was fired after speaking out about these concerns, the lawsuit says. Brougher, who previously worked as the Global Business Lead at Square and as a VP on the advertising team at Google, according to her LinkedIn, learned of the salary inequalities when Pinterest was preparing to go public in 2019. She made less than her male peers, and her equity vested at a slower rate. After bringing this to the attention of Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann, she still had to fight to be fairly compensated. The… Continue re...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek — one of the most influential live-streamers on the internet — has today announced his triumphant, exclusive return to Twitch, the platform that made him famous, after a detour to Mixer that possibly netted him a cool $10 million when the site went dark and his contract got paid out. It’s a big deal. Grzesiek was one of the biggest names on Twitch pre-Mixer acquisition, and him leaving the site last October for then-greener pastures appeared to signal a worrying exodus of talent from Twitch onto other competing live-streaming platforms, like YouTube, Facebook Gaming, and Mixer. Ten months and one (ongoing) pandemic later, Mixer is gone and the entire live-streaming landscape has shifted again. I’m coming… Continue read...

Microsoft and 343 Industries are making the decision to delay the launch of Halo Infinite to 2021. 343 Industries says the delay is related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, as employees have shifted to work from home and development of large games has been particularly difficult for many in the industry. “We have made the difficult decision to shift our release to 2021 to ensure the team has adequate time to deliver a Halo game experience that meets our vision,” says Chris Lee, studio head for Halo Infinite. “The decision to shift our release is the result of multiple factors that have contributed to development challenges, including the ongoing COVID-related impacts affecting us all this year. I want to acknowledge the hard work… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Mone...

Microsoft is committing to launching its next-generation Xbox Series X console in November. The company had previously only confirmed a vague “holiday 2020” release date for the Xbox Series X, but at least we know the month now. Microsoft isn’t providing a specific date, but I have been hearing recently that the first week of November looks like it’s lining up to be the launch time for the Xbox Series X. That could, of course, slip further into November with the uncertainty around pandemic-related manufacturing and more. The November launch date for the Xbox Series X is being revealed today as Microsoft and 343 Industries make the difficult decision to delay Halo Infinite to 2021. Microsoft had been planning to launch the Xbox Series X… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Mo...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On Tuesday, Google beat back a lawsuit over alleged scraping of song lyrics from Genius, a lyrics and commentary site. A federal judge in the Eastern District of New York found that while the claims of scraping were credible, the scraping did not constitute a copyright violation, and the lawsuit was dismissed as a result. Genius alleged in December 2019 that Google was lifting its lyrics. The scraping was demonstrated by sneaking a clever text watermark into Genius’ lyrics entries, in one case using a series of apostrophes to spell out “red handed” in Morse code. The watermark subsequently appeared in related Google searches, without a link or attribution to Genius. Earlier that year, Google published a blog post proclaiming the company… Contin...

The Last of Us Part II is getting its first major update this week, with developer Naughty Dog adding a slew of new visual and audio effect modifiers, optional cheat codes, and two new difficulty settings. The update will be available for all owners of the game for free on August 13th, and it should add a bit of much-needed replay value for those who may want to try the existing New Game Plus option or players still interested in trophy hunting. The bulk of the update is a set of new visual and audio effects, alongside cheat codes, that can make The Last of Us Part II a much trippier and less stressful affair. For instance, you can give the game an 8-bit retro aesthetic or a hand-drawn one reminiscent of Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make M...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Teens and young adults who vape are far more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than those who don’t, a new study by Stanford researchers found. A young person who has vaped and smoked cigarettes was seven times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19, according to the study published today in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Someone who only vaped was five times as likely to be diagnosed. Public health officials should be concerned about vaping as they try to get the ongoing pandemic under control and as the number of younger people testing positive grows, experts tell The Verge. Not only that, but young vapers’ vulnerability to COVID-19 should inform how regulators address the popularity of e-cigarettes, say the new paper’s… Continue rea...

Photo by Long Wei/VCG via Getty Images Rumors about Xiaomi’s Mi 10 Ultra have been swirling this week, and the company has now formally announced the product. Xiaomi revealed key features of its anticipated handset in a press release and a series of tweets. “Whatever you can imagine, #Mi10Ultra has it,” the company said. The highlight is that the Ultra supports 120-watt wired fast charging. It has a 4,500mAh battery (the same size as that of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus); Xiaomi claims it’ll fully juice up in 23 minutes and hit 41 percent after just five minutes. The Ultra also supports 50W wireless fast charging. Xiaomi claims you can get a full charge in 40 minutes going this route. For our 10th Anniversary, we’ve prepared some products tailored for this important moment! M… C...