Technology

Some of League of Legends’ most popular characters are getting a medical-themed makeover. Today, developer Riot revealed a new initiative featuring a line of cosmetics for the strategy game, sales of which will be donated to pandemic-related charity efforts. The lineup includes skins for three characters — Akali, Shen, and Kennen — along with various icons, emotes, and other cosmetic upgrades. Each item will be sold individually, but there’s also a bundle available that comes with an exclusive icon. Riot says that the items will be available through July 23rd and that 100 percent of the proceeds from sales will go directly to the developer’s charitable arm, the Riot Games Social Impact Fund. “Your donations will directly support pandemic relief by giving doctors, nurses, and other frontlin...

Apple is reclosing 14 more of its retail locations in Florida due to a resurgence of COVID-19 cases. Of the 18 Apple Store locations in Florida, only two currently remain open, one in Jacksonville and another in Sarasota, according to Bloomberg. The tally of closed US Apple stores is currently at 32, which represents 10 percent of the company’s total number of 272 stores in the country. Apple last month began reopening a majority of its US retail locations. Yet last week saw Apple’s first wave of store reclosures in Florida, as well as Arizona, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Despite Apple’s staggered approach to reopening its stores that started in late May, the number of COVID-19 cases across the US — particularly in states that have more quickly reopened — has started to spike. Seve...

Seattle’s NHL team doesn’t have a name yet, but its arena does, after Amazon secured the naming rights to the former Key Arena. But if you guessed the new name would be Amazon Arena, surprise! It will officially be known as the Climate Pledge Arena, a nod to the $2 billion initiative CEO Jeff Bezos announced last year, which sets goals for Amazon to become net carbon neutral by 2040. Of course, that initiative only came after thousands of Amazon employees signed an open letter to Bezos and Amazon’s board of directors asking the company to adopt a wide-ranging plan to fight climate change. It’s worth noting that earlier this year, Amazon warned several employees who were part of that push that they had violated its communications policy. Looks like that one guy is offsides…Image: Amaz...

“Where is Google’s Pixel 4A?” That’s the question we asked two weeks ago, bringing you up to speed on how Google had seemingly missed the typical window to release its thoroughly-leaked followup to the company’s impressive but short-battery-lived Pixel 4 flagship. But a new FCC filing today, spotted by XDA-Developers, suggests the more affordable Pixel 4A is nigh. Technically, it’s not a given that the Google phone newly authorized by the Federal Communications Commission actually is the Pixel 4A, nor that Google is actually going to announce it anytime soon, if ever. All we know for sure is that the Google “G025J” can now be sold in the United States, and that we typically see the FCC authorize such phones shortly before they’re official. Google doesn’t make a lot of phones, and it seems ...

You’d think that months of reading about overflowing hospitals and mounting death statistics would scare almost anyone into following the current Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations: wear a mask in public spaces to protect others from possible infection, especially since there is no current way to be sure who may be an asymptomatic transmitter — particularly in relatively crowded urban areas. However, these days, when I go out for a walk or to run errands, at least half the people I see are not wearing masks — or are wearing their masks around their necks, as though those pieces of cloth or paper are good-luck totems rather than items with a specific purpose. Admittedly, face masks are not convenient or particularly pleasant to wear. They can be hot on summer days; they can b...

Verizon is the latest, and far and away largest, company to join an ongoing advertising boycott of Facebook and Instagram, the cell carrier announced Thursday. The boycott, organized by the Anti-Defamation League, is in response to the social media giant’s handling of incendiary posts from President Donald Trump, as well as ongoing issues with misinformation that have intensified in recent weeks due to protests against police brutality and racism and other news events that have exposed the flaws of Facebook’s moderation approach. Verizon joins ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s and numerous sports and outdoor lifestyle companies, including The North Face and Patagonia, and film distributor Magnolia Pictures in the boycott. A number of digital ad agencies have also begun advising clients on ...

Facebook has a fringe conspiracy theory problem, and it’s getting worse by the day. According to a new investigation from The Guardian, the far-right QAnon movement continues to flourish on the social network, despite its attempts last month to begin removing accounts and pages promoting it. The investigation, by journalist Julie Carrie Wong, details in depth how QAnon account and page owners caught wind of Facebook’s crackdown in early May and the clever methods they relied on to avoid detection. Earlier today, Verizon announced its participation in a growing advertising boycott of Facebook and Instagram, in part it appears because its ads continue to show up next to QAnon content. Verizon just announced that its pulling ads from Facebook following a letter from the ADL showing that its a...

Ford has revealed the 2021 model of the F-150, and many buyers will find the newest version of the automaker’s super popular pickup truck stuffed with technology. The new F-150 will have an optional hands-free driving mode, be capable of receiving over-the-air software updates, and come with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The company will also start selling a hybrid version of the 2021 F-150 that can travel about 700 miles on a full tank of gas. The hands-free driving feature — which Ford calls “Active Drive Assist” — is the same that’s coming to the Mustang Mach-E electric SUV next year. That will make the F-150 one of the only vehicles in the US that has hands-free driving when the feature is available, along with Cadillac’s And GM’s Super Cruise-equipped cars and SUVs. Active ...

The $999 Skydio 2 self-flying drone is one of the most incredible gadgets I’ve ever touched, but it’s got its fair share of issues. It’s been practically impossible to buy, and we found the nearly crash-proof drone could crash during some landings. But at least those two specific issues may be going away soon. Today, Skydio says it’s back on sale, greatly increasing its production capacity, and the company just issued a huge software update that could make landing your drone way the heck easier. You can check Skydio’s blog post and changelog for the main details, but the grabbiest feature is this: the carrying case that comes with your drone now doubles as an autonomous landing pad. Skydio CEO Adam Bry tells me that landing’s been a tricky problem for an autonomous drone because most peopl...

Google and Aclima, a company that maps hyperlocal air pollution, announced today that researchers can now access a treasure trove of new data that can bolster efforts to both combat climate change and clean up the air. It’s the result of four years of measurements taken by Google Street View vehicles in California outfitted with Aclima sensors. The dataset offers researchers a close-up look at changes in air quality from block to block. It includes more than 42 million measurements of smog, soot, black carbon, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, and methane. The ability to zoom in to see differences on one street versus another is key to pinpointing where the most pollution is coming from and who it affects the most. “We’re really increasing the pixels on the picture of air quality.” “We’re r...

California EV startup Lucid Motors gave up majority ownership to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in exchange for the $1.3 billion investment it closed last year, according to an email from the company’s lawyers that was included in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday. The lawsuit was filed by Lucid Motors’ former head of finance, Doug Coates, who believes he’s entitled to certain severance benefits based on the language of the deal he signed with the company. Coates argues he’s eligible for these benefits because the Saudi Arabia investment triggered a “Change in Control” clause in his agreement with Lucid Motors because it resulted in “a change in the majority shareholder of the Company,” according to an email from his lawyer to the startup sent last year. That means Saudi Arabia’s Public I...

Cadillac will reveal its first electric vehicle, the Lyriq SUV, during a virtual event on August 6th. The vehicle’s original April 2nd debut was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. GM, Cadillac’s parent company, announced the Lyriq at an “EV Day” event last March in Warren, Michigan, that showcased a new modular electric vehicle platform meant to power a wide range of the company’s electric models in the coming years. The Lyriq will be the first electric luxury SUV from Cadillac, with a sedan — the Celestiq — to follow. An early version showed off at the EV Day featured a 34-inch pillar-to-pillar screen, power doors, a long wheelbase, and lots of high-end materials. Over a year ago, GM named Cadillac as the brand to lead the automaker’s push into an electric future. At the time, it m...