Technology

I. Oh boy, there’s an executive order! About social media! And also the entire internet! And the president signed it, reports Chris Megerian at the Los Angeles Times: The order directs Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to request new regulations from the Federal Communications Commission to determine whether a social media company is acting “in good faith” to moderate content. In theory, that could open the door to users suing social media platforms if they feel their posts are restricted inappropriately. But it could also make the companies more likely to take down false or misleading content rather that just add a disclaimer — the opposite of what Trump wants. “That’s the irony of all this,” said Nathaniel Persily, a Stanford University law professor who studies technology and democracy. “T...

You can now buy a refurbished iPhone XR from the Apple Store, MacRumors reports. It’s a cheaper way of getting the bestselling phone of last year, and Apple’s refurbishing process means that it should perform almost identically to a brand new model. A 64GB refurbished iPhone XR will set you back $499, a $100 saving over its current $599 asking price, while a refurbished XR with 128GB of storage costs $539, $110 less than the $649 Apple now charges for the phone new. Although the refurbished phone is available in a more limited selection of colors, there’s a wider selection of storage options. The 256GB iPhone XR, which Apple discontinued last year, can be bought refurbished for $629. All refurbished phones come in a new box, complete with accessories Those prices aren’t quite as cheap as w...

Twitter has placed a public interest notice on a tweet from President Trump for breaking the platform’s rules about the “glorification of violence.” However, Twitter has not chosen to remove the tweet from its platform entirely, because it believes it to be in the public interest. Twitter announced the notice in a tweet thread from its official comms account. The notice means that the tweet is hidden from Trump’s timeline, but is accessible if you visit the tweet directly after clicking a “view” button. The reach of the tweet will also be limited as part of the process. Although users can still retweet it with a comment, they cannot reply to it, retweet it directly, or like it. Twitter also says that its notice means that the tweet won’t be algorithmically recommended on its platform. Trum...

Google will soon let G Suite customers with Google Voice licenses make Google Voice calls right from their Gmail inbox. The new feature seems like a handy way to make a Google Voice call without needing to jump to a second tab to do so. If the feature is rolled out to you, you’ll be able to access Google Voice from the toolbar on the right side of your inbox, which is where you might currently see icons for Google Calendar, Keep, and Tasks. Here’s a GIF from Google showing what the interface looks like. Google says the feature will begin rolling out on June 3rd, though you’ll only be able use it from Chrome or Firefox on a computer. Earlier this month, Google announced that you’d be able to access its Meet videoconferencing service from your Gmail inbox (though the Meet icon is on your lef...

During a group call, FaceTime automatically enlarges the window of whoever’s speaking. This means when you have four or more people on a call, the windows will resize, float, and bounce around during a group call. It can be distracting and confusing. If you’d rather keep all of your FaceTime windows static and the same size during a call, there is quick way to do that in the latest iOS and iPadOS versions, as well as the latest version of macOS. On iPhone These instructions are for an iPhone, but the process for the iPad should be similar. First, make sure your FaceTime app is up to date by checking to see if you’re running iOS 13.5 or iPadOS 13.5: Open settings. Go to “General.” Tap “Software Update.” If an update is available, you’ll see it here. If not, your device will tell you it’s up...

DoorDash on Thursday launched a new initiative called Storefront to help restaurants create websites and directly manage online pickup and delivery orders. As the COVID-19 pandemic has forced restaurants to pause their sit-down service, many have become increasingly reliant on delivery platforms like DoorDash, as well as competitors Grubhub, Postmates, and Uber Eats. These partnerships, of course, saddle restaurants with all kinds of commissions and fees, but they’re still necessities for many that lack their own delivery infrastructure or a website to facilitate online orders. DoorDash’s goal is to help businesses create their own online stores instead; 40 percent of DoorDash’s partners don’t have any online ordering system, by the company’s estimate. With DoorDash Storefront, the company...

As part of HBO Max’s launch, WarnerMedia included a list of titles currently available to stream on day one, but after discrepancies were discovered between what WarnerMedia advertised and what was actually streaming, the company has pulled the list. The Dark Knight, 13 Going on 30, The Matrix, and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug are just some of the titles originally advertised on WarnerMedia’s website but aren’t actually on HBO Max. A spokesperson for the company told The Verge that they are “updating this section and will post again once it’s complete.” Other titles include Man of Steel, Gossip Girl, The Iron Giant, and The West Wing. Missing titles happen. Rights deals are being made up until the last minute, and it’s possible some of the titles originally listed as “available now”...

A sequel to the Sonic the Hedgehog movie is in development, as first reported by Variety. It’s unclear when the film might be released, but Sonic the Hedgehog director Jeff Fowler and screenwriters Pat Casey and Josh Miller are all returning for the sequel. Fowler confirmed that he’ll be back to direct on Twitter. Sonic the Hedgehog was a hit for Paramount, earning $70 million in its first four days in theaters this February, according to Variety. However, the film initially had some controversy because of the design of its titular character. The first design for Sonic’s movie representation was strangely (horrifyingly) humanlike. The backlash to the look was strong enough that Paramount delayed the first movie from November to February to fix Sonic’s appearance. Sonic’s final design looke...

Rony Abovitz, the co-founder and CEO of lavishly funded augmented reality company Magic Leap, will step down from his position, reports Business Insider. Abovitz’s planned departure, which doesn’t yet have a concrete date, marks an unceremonious end to his tenure at the helm of Magic Leap, a once-buzzy startup that earned a high profile for how secretive it was early on about its technology and the eye-popping amounts of venture capital it raised. Magic Leap has so far raised about $3 billion dollars over the last decade, though it has only released one product, the Magic Leap 1 headset. The company raised $350 million of that funding just earlier this month, after laying off about 1,000 employees back in April and ditching its consumer business to focus on selling enterprise-grade devices...

Google and Microsoft have worked together to improve the spellcheck experience in Chrome and Edge. The latest versions of Chrome and Edge are now powered by the built-in Windows Spellcheck feature rather than the previous Hunspell open source implementation. The switch means spellcheck within Chrome and Edge will now have better support for URLs, acronyms, email addresses, and an improved shared custom dictionary. “This feature was developed as a collaboration between Google and Microsoft engineers in the Chromium project, enabling all Chromium-based browsers to benefit from Windows Spellcheck integration,” explains Microsoft’s Edge team. The Windows Spellcheck improvements in Edge. If you’re not seeing the new spellcheck support show up in Chrome, then you may need to enable a flag to get...

Electronic Arts and the National Football League have renewed the exclusivity contract that gives the game publisher exclusive rights to make so-called simulation football games, which is the classification used for photorealistic football games featuring licensed team names and real players. The contract now extends to May 2026, although financial terms of the deal, like past contracts between EA and the NFL, were not disclosed. The deal was voted on and approved on Thursday, although Polygon reports the terms were decided before today’s vote among team owners and that any such vote over NFL’s video game licensing renewal is merely a formality at this point. While some football fans may have been hoping for the NFL to expand its licensing to other sports game franchises like 2K, EA and it...