Technology

Today, the United Arab Emirates’ first interplanetary mission successfully took off from the southern tip of Japan, sending up a car-sized probe bound for the planet Mars. The launch marks the beginning of the country’s most ambitious space project yet, aimed at studying the weather on Mars as it evolves throughout the planet’s year. The spacecraft, called Hope, took off on top of a Japanese H-IIA rocket from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center at 6:58AM at the launch site (or 5:58PM ET this afternoon on the East Coast of the US). The probe will now spend the next seven months traveling through deep space, periodically correcting its course with a series of engine burns. Then sometime in February of 2021, it’ll attempt to put itself into an elongated orbit around Mars, where it will analyze t...

Filmmaker Emmai Alaquiva of Pittsburgh wanted to talk to his 8-year-old daughter about the racial climate in the US, but was concerned that at her age, she might not be able to fully grasp the issues. “I told her the name ‘George Floyd’ and we talked about what Black Lives Matter means,” he says. “I sort of gave her the Cliffs Notes version, to give her some inspiration.” His daughter surprised him, however, and came back to him with a question: “She said, ‘hey, Dad, how come there’s no people doing sign language or ASL in your photos and videos?’ It was a great point, we weren’t.” He says he and his daughter take ASL classes together, part of his mission to help her learn to express herself in different mediums. Over the next few days Alaquiva reached out to professionals in the deaf and ...

Ahead of its debut on July 21st OnePlus released an Instagram video indicating its Nord phone will come with Google’s Messages and Phone apps installed instead of its own SMS and dialer, 9to5Google reported. The device also will have Google’s Duo video chat app pre-installed, according to the video. Why OnePlus decided to roll with Google’s apps isn’t clear, but it’s apparently in pursuit of the “smoothest-est” Android experience, according to the video. As 9to5Google notes, using Google Messages provides Nord users with access to RCS messaging. OnePlus has said the Nord, slated for an augmented reality launch event on Tuesday, will be a “more affordable” device. The Instagram video references “a pretty great price,” but doesn’t offer specifics, however OnePlus said in a video last month t...

Twitter confirmed that it removed a campaign video President Trump had retweeted Saturday over a copyright complaint. The Linkin Park song “In the End” was featured in the background of the video, which included images of President Trump and excerpts from his inauguration speech. “Per our copyright policy, we respond to valid copyright complaints sent to us by copyright owner or their authorized representative,” a Twitter spokesperson said in an email to The Verge on Sunday. The band tweeted Saturday that it was pursuing a “cease and desist” and that it had not authorized use of its song in the video: “Linkin Park did not and does not endorse Trump.” Linkin Park did not and does not endorse Trump, nor authorize his organization to use any of our music. A cease and desist has been issued. —...

The United Arab Emirates is counting down to the launch of its first interplanetary space mission today — one that will send a spacecraft called “Hope” to orbit Mars. The Emirates Mars Mission will aim to provide a global snapshot of the weather on the Red Planet. It will also be a source of pride for the UAE as the country celebrates the 50th anniversary of its founding in December of 2021. To ensure that Hope is actually at Mars by the anniversary, the UAE must launch this summer. Planetary scientists have a very small window every two years to send spacecraft to Mars, when the Red Planet and Earth closely align on their orbits. If Hope launches in July, the spacecraft will spend the next seven months traveling to Mars, arriving sometime in February — leaving it plenty of time in orbit b...

According to its just-released sustainability report, GM is planning a full-size electric Chevrolet pickup truck with 400 miles of range. The report describes the “Chevrolet BET Truck, which will be the brand’s first electric full-size pickup, offering 400+ miles of range on a single charge.” GM CEO Mary Barra said last November that an electric pickup was coming in late 2021, and most assumed she was referring to the Hummer EV, but it’s possible she was speaking about this unnamed Chevy pickup. When the automaker unveiled its new EV platform earlier this year, the company said it was targeting range of up to “400 miles or more” for its electric vehicles. The company said it was changing the chemistry of its battery cells to reduce the amount of cobalt they use and make them more cost-effi...

Disney has significantly reduced its spending on Facebook and Instagram ads amid concerns about the social media platform’s enforcement of its content policies, The Wall Street Journal reported. It joins a list of large companies that have cut back on Facebook ads as part of an effort to compel Facebook to change how it handles hate speech and misinformation on its platforms. The monthlong #StopHateforProfit boycott organized by a coalition of civil rights organizations including the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, Color of Change, and Sleeping Giants kicked off July 1st and includes companies like Hershey, Honda, Ben & Jerry’s, and Verizon. Other companies not part of the formal boycott that have pulled ads from Facebook and other social platforms included Coca-Cola, Lego, Starbuck...

For years, Absofacto’s “Dissolve” has been a fixture on TikTok — specifically the first few seconds of the chorus, a hooky rising vocal line singing the words, “I just wanted you to watch me dissolve…” The song never broke as big as “Old Town Road” or “The Box,” but TikTok fame has given it millions of streaming plays and even a minor chart breakthrough in 2019, a full four years after it was released. But last weekend, Jonathan Visger (who records under the Absofacto name) got some alarming news from his followers. “I started getting messages from people that were survivors of childhood sexual abuse,” says Visger. “They told me there were videos on TikTok using my song that were extremely upsetting to them.” “The stress probably took a year off my life, but it was worth it” The mess...

Since its launch in 2004, Google’s Gmail email app has grown to be the most popular email service out there. While it’s gone through a lot of changes since then and has added a wide variety of features, its main goal — and main advantage — remains that it provides free online email in an easy-to-understand and use format. However, behind that clean interface is actually a plethora of features, add-ons, and possible tweaks. In The Verge Guide to Gmail, we look at the wide variety of things you can do to make Gmail fit your particular needs, such as vacation responders, templates, snoozing, signatures, and smart replies. We also help you back up your emails just in case and get those hundreds of promotional emails out of your inbox. Whatever you need to do with your email, you can probably d...

Palm Springs, the new Andy Samberg comedy, likely would have gone to theaters if the world weren’t… you know… right now. But with theaters still closed, the film landed straight on Hulu, and it’s kind of the perfect movie for streaming from home — short, funny, and about being stuck in the same place endlessly. It even broke first-weekend records for Hulu. I watched the movie last weekend, too, and really enjoyed it. The film takes the premise of Groundhog Day and revamps it to slightly more ridiculous and modern results. What makes Palm Springs work so well is both a twist to the formula — multiple people stuck together in the loop — and the film’s trust that the audience needs little explanation of what’s going on. The premise is quickly established, and then the film just mo...

Photo: STR/Getty/JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images At a time when public transportation has never been less appealing, people are trying to get their hands on anything that can get them from point A to point B. That means bikes, rollerblades, and electric scooters have been impossible to keep in stock. Adding to the demand, New York State officially legalized electric bikes and scooters after a state budget agreement was reached in early April, making getting around on motorized wheels easier than ever. If you’ve been considering a new mode of transportation, electric scooters are an especially good choice because they’re portable, they’re energy efficient, and they’re just really easy to ride. It also doesn’t hurt that electric scooters have gotten better year over year. “Battery technology...

KFC is trying to create the world’s first laboratory-produced chicken nuggets, part of its “restaurant of the future” concept, the company announced. The chicken restaurant chain will work with Russian company 3D Bioprinting Solutions to develop bioprinting technology that will “print” chicken meat, using chicken cells and plant material. KFC plans to provide the bioprinting firm with ingredients like breading and spices “to achieve the signature KFC taste” and will seek to replicate the taste and texture of genuine chicken. It’s worth noting that the bioprinting process KFC describes uses animal material, so any nuggets it produced wouldn’t be vegetarian. KFC does offer a vegetarian option at some of its restaurants; last year it became the first US fast-food chain to test out Beyond Meat...