Technology

Apple announced iPadOS 14 today and with it comes multiple new features, including updates for the Apple Pencil. A new feature called Scribble makes handwriting on the iPad more seamless and powerful. If you write something with the Pencil in Notes, the iPad will be able to copy and paste that handwriting across apps. This means that text you wrote can be searched online or pasted in a document, and it’ll be typed text instead of handwriting. At the same time, if you write down an address or phone number, the iPad will prompt activity around them, so you can call that number or look up directions to that address. The feature works in both English and Chinese. Scribble will also correct shapes, so if you draw a square that’s slightly off, it’ll automatically correct that design. Apple Devel...

Richard Branson’s space tourism venture, Virgin Galactic, will start coordinating private astronaut trips to the International Space Station for NASA — a new partnership aimed at increasing commercial use of the space agency’s orbiting outpost. Thanks to a new Space Act Agreement with NASA, Virgin Galactic is tasked with putting together a “new private orbital astronaut readiness program,” for the agency. That means finding companies or organizations with an interest in sending people to the space station — for whatever reason — and then finding the right transportation to get them up there. Virgin Galactic will also be responsible for coordinating the necessary resources, both in space and on the ground, to make these trips successful. It’s a similar mission to that of Space Adventures, a...

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is going to be entirely virtual this year, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be some really interesting stuff to see. The keynote will start at 10AM PT / 1PM ET on Monday, June 22nd. There are a lot of rumors being passed around about what can be expected. While the main focus will probably be on iOS 14, there is a great deal of talk about the chance that Apple is planning to announce a shift from Intel processors to its own custom-designed ARM-based chips. Other possibilities include a new iMac, Apple TV, and / or Apple Watch, not to mention updates to tvOS and macOS. But outside of what is going to be announced, one of the really great things about this year’s WWDC is that, since it is completely online, anyone can sit in, not only on the ke...

Spotify wants to ensure you never forget a podcast advertiser’s promo code again. The company announced today that it’s testing a new feature called “In-App Offers” that give podcasts the ability to keep an embedded link on their episode pages that, when tapped, leads to an advertiser’s webpage. That webpage will automatically load with the promo code inserted. This way, people don’t have to remember podcast ads’ promo codes or go out of their way to find an advertiser’s website. The new feature is apparently just the start for Spotify’s interactive ads. The company is looking for ways to “create more of a direct funnel for brands,” like bringing people to their website with a promo code automatically inserted, Jay Richman, head of ads business and platform at Spotify, tells The Verge. “I ...

Apple will start removing thousands of games from its Chinese App Store in July as a result of a policy that requires all paid games or games with in-app purchases to be licensed by Chinese regulators, Bloomberg reports. The action marks the end of a loophole that allowed developers to sell games on the platform while they were awaiting approval. Chinese regulators can reportedly take months to approve games, giving developers the chance to profit from titles that otherwise risk being banned. Bloomberg says that Rockstar Games has relied on the loophole to sell titles from the Grand Theft Auto franchise in the country, for example. However, back in February, Apple began reminding developers that they would need to obtain licenses by June 30th or risk their games being banned and removed. I...

Fujifilm recently joined Canon and Panasonic in developing an app to let you use its high-end cameras as high-quality webcams, but Mac users have been left out — Fujifilm X Webcam has so far been Windows-only. That’s changing next month, though, as the company has confirmed that the tool will get Mac support in mid-July. Fujifilm is also expanding the number of X-series mirrorless cameras that work with Fujifilm X Webcam. New firmware for the X-T200 and X-A7 is out today, letting you hook up each camera over USB for webcam functionality. That brings the total number of supported X-series cameras to eight, including the X-H1, X-Pro2, X-Pro3, X-T2, X-T3, and X-T4. Fujifilm X Webcam also works with all three GFX medium format cameras. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Da...

Apple is set to unveil its long-awaited Mac transition from Intel to ARM processors today at its online WWDC 2020 keynote, and analyst Ming-chi Kuo has issued his predictions for the first Macs that will use the new Apple-designed processors. His research note was reported on by MacRumors, 9to5Mac, and AppleInsider. First of all, Kuo says the last new Intel-based Mac ever will be a brand new iMac design with thinner bezels and a 24-inch display. This iMac is said to be planned for a release in Q3 2020, but an ARM version will follow it in the first quarter of next year. The first ARM Mac is likely to be a 13-inch MacBook Pro in Q4 2020 or Q1 2021, Kuo says; the form factor is believed to be similar to the current model. Production of the Intel version will reportedly cease once the ARM mod...

Android’s upcoming AirDrop-style sharing feature, called Nearby Share (and referred to also as Nearby Sharing), may also come to Chrome on numerous other platforms, 9to5Google reports. The feature will allow Android users to directly share photos, links, and other files with other devices, similar to how AirDrop works across macOS and iOS. The feature has apparently started to show up in the settings of the latest build of Chrome OS Canary: Originally called “Fast Share,” Android’s answer to AirDrop has been in development for more than a year, according to XDA Developers. It’s expected to be available through Google Play, and references in the code suggest that it will work not only on mobile Android devices but also on Chromebooks and other computers with Google’s Chrome browser installe...

In an era where everything is up for grabs for rebooting, Perry Mason is one of the strangest. The show takes its name from a 1957 CBS series that focused on the eponymous criminal defense attorney from author Erle Stanley Gardner’s detective stories. Perry Mason ran for nine years in its initial run, followed by an ill-fated ’70s revival and a more successful stretch of TV movies throughout the ’80s and ’90s. HBO’s new Perry Mason miniseries, however, has little in common with these previous iterations — it’s less a legal drama and more an old-school hard-boiled detective story with a prestige TV sheen. And what a sheen it is: Perry Mason is gorgeous to look at and sink into. Its portrayal of 1930s California is beautifully shot and populated by an excellent cast. It’s just frustratingly ...

[extreme Stefon voice]: This story has everything: A high-speed super-yacht, a secret disaster strike force, a Google co-founder, and strawberry ice cream. The Daily Beast’s Mark Harris has a wild story about Global Support and Development (GSD), a disaster charity founded by Sergey Brin that’s being run by his former bodyguards. The story opens detailing how GSD provided disaster relief in the form of medical care and road-clearing crews after Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas last year. For the past five years, GSD has been quietly using high-tech systems to rapidly deliver humanitarian assistance during high-profile disasters, including the COVID-19 pandemic. These range from drones and super-yachts to a gigantic new airship that the outfit apparently hopes will make it easier to get aid...

On Monday, Apple will kick off its annual developer conference in the strangest and most contentious climate it has faced in many years. Not only does Apple have to hold all of its presentations online, it’s doing so to a developer audience that has become aware of a collective, unspoken discontent. Chaim Gartenberg has posted our long list of features you should expect to come to Apple’s operating systems this year. The short version: what’s most likely is a smattering of feature updates for the iOS-based platforms like iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS, and iOS and then a potentially massive shift for macOS from Intel to ARM. That’s what you should expect, but there are five things that I’ve been wanting Apple to deliver for years. Some of these have actually been rumored for this year, some are thi...

Amazon is ending support for its Dash Wand, an Alexa-enabled device that let shoppers scan grocery barcodes and order household essentials from their homes. In an email to users, the company said the devices will no longer be supported as of July 21st. Shoppers can still use other Alexa-enabled devices to add items to a shopping list, the company noted. Released in 2017, the Wi-Fi-enabled Dash Wand was a few inches long and made out of white and black plastic, an update to Amazon’s original Dash devices. In a 2017 product review, Verge editor Nilay Patel said the Dash Wand was “a fun toy and it certainly makes adding things to your Amazon cart easier.” After giving them away to Prime members practically for free, however, Amazon didn’t do much else with the Wand. The company killed its phy...