Technology

Buying a refurbished tech product will save you money compared to buying it new. It also gives a device a second life instead of sending it off to be recycled. And especially during these times when demand is high for all kinds of tech, buying refurbished is sometimes the only way to get your hands on a product when retail channels are strained or just completely out of new merchandise. Those are all good things — yet “refurbished” is still a loaded word for a lot of people. New means new, a product that nobody else has used. On the other hand, buying something refurbished can be a gamble, despite the fact that the product is probably more affordable. If you’re buying a refurbished product, it helps to have criteria If it has been refurbished, that likely means the product was either broke...

Electric racing series Formula E posted a loss of €10.6 million on record revenues of €161.5 million across its fifth season, or about $11.6 million and $177.6 million, respectively, based on the exchange rate at the time. The new financial figures were disclosed in a previously unreported filing with the United Kingdom’s Companies House Registry, and they cover the company’s fiscal year that ended on July 31st, 2019, just a few weeks after the fifth season came to a close. Formula E has now posted a loss in each year of its existence, but the new figures show the series came as close as it ever has to turning a profit — meaning it was on relatively solid financial ground before its sixth season was completely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year. It’s a big accomplishment ...

The TurboGrafx-16 Mini will launch in North America on May 22nd. Konami’s miniature console was initially set to come out on March 19th through Amazon for $99.99. However, Konami delayed the console a few weeks before its release after suspending manufacturing and shipments of the system as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A new release date for the console in Europe has yet to be announced. The TurboGrafx-16 Mini already launched in Japan on March 19th under a different design and name, the PC Engine Mini. The console features more than 50 built-in titles from the 16-bit era of gaming, such as Bomberman ‘93 and Ys I & II. Like other miniature consoles, the TurboGrafx-16 Mini includes one wired controller, however, a wireless third-party controller is also available for $24.99. The n...

Though many people are pinning their hopes on a COVID-19 vaccine, another option is available: preventive treatment. At a Senate hearing this week, Anthony Fauci noted that a vaccine — which is probably months or years away — isn’t the only way to protect someone from a life-threatening virus. These treatments could protect people against infection for a few weeks or months, said Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. While most ongoing research studies are focused on finding treatments for people who are already sick with COVID-19, some researchers are looking to see if they can stop people who are at high risk from getting sick in the first place. It’s a proven strategy: preventive drugs have been used for decades to help people protect themselv...

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The US Commerce Department has taken another step toward cutting off Chinese telco Huawei from the overseas companies that make its semiconductors. An amended export rule would block shipments of semiconductors to Huawei to “strategically target Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain US software and technology,” the agency announced on Friday. The rule prevents foreign manufacturers of semiconductors who use American software and technology in their operations from shipping their products to Huawei unless they get a license from the US. That license requirement could allow the Commerce Department to block the sale of semiconductors made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) for Huawei’s HiSilicon unit, according to The Wall Street Journal. ...

Postmates is launching new feature for its on-demand delivery platform called curbside pickup, which the company says is an industry first that could help more restaurants safely operate takeout businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The option will join pickup, delivery, and non-contact delivery options, and it will be able available for both customers looking to pick up directly from a restaurant and for the restaurants as a choice for how it wants its customers and delivery drivers to accept orders. Postmates first launched non-contact deliveries in March in response to nationwide shelter-in-place and business shutdown policies that went into effect in California, New York, and other cities. Restaurants can choose to handle all takeout using curbside pickup Curbside pickup will be opt...

Netflix is working to restore streaming quality in various European countries following government requests for the company to reduce bandwidth usage out of fear that it was putting too much stress on broadband connections. People in Denmark, Norway, Germany, and other countries reported noticing an uptick in streaming bitrate, according to FlatpanelsHD. Netflix confirmed to the website that it is “working with ISPs to help increase capacity.” The company did not say which countries have restored bitrate for higher-quality streaming and which ones haven’t, but The Verge has reached out for more information. “In the last month alone we have added four times the normal capacity,” a spokesperson told FlatpanelsHD. “As conditions improve we will lift these limitations.” European Union industry...

Elon Musk intends to make himself immortal by inserting himself into history books as best he can: electric cars will do, but so will a private mission to Mars. At times, it seems that he is the last subscriber to the “Great Man” theory of history. Well, none of us have control over our own obituaries The problem is that history tends to be written by the survivors — a heel turn late in life, for instance, will obliterate any contemporary admiration. In Los Angeles, this is most clearly borne out by William Mullholland. Mulholland — an obsessed engineer whose dream was to supply Los Angeles with enough water for generations of growth — performed an examination on the St. Francis Dam hours before it collapsed, killing hundreds in one of the worst disasters in California’s history. Brilliant...

The Air Force’s mysterious spy spaceplane, dubbed the X-37B, is headed back to space on Saturday morning for its sixth mission in Earth orbit. As usual with this spacecraft, its exact purpose is a secret, though the Air Force says the vehicle will be carrying a number of experiments on this trip and testing out new systems in space before returning them to Earth. This launch comes a little more than six months after the X-37B returned home from its record-breaking fifth mission to orbit. The spaceplane, which looks a bit like a miniature Space Shuttle, landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 27th after spending a total of 780 days, or more than two years, in space. That flight marked the X-37B’s longest mission yet in space, and the vehicle has now spent a total of seve...

As governments across Europe begin to ease lockdown restrictions and allow sport to return during a pandemic, a production team in the UK has quietly been getting ready. BT Sport, which typically produces and broadcasts live Premier League football (soccer) in 4K HDR on a weekly basis, has moved nearly all of its production team remote. Live football returns in Europe this weekend for Germany’s Bundesliga, and producers, directors, and commentators will go live in makeshift home offices just a few steps away from where they usually sleep. “We’ve been doing 7 live shows every week during lockdown all remotely,” says Jamie Hindhaugh, chief operating officer at BT Sport, in an interview with The Verge. “You learn different tricks and traits, and you understand how different people interpret w...

Microsoft’s Surface Go 2 is easy to fall in love with but hard to live with. The small tablet has updates in it that go a long way toward addressing the problems with the original Surface Go, but not entirely. The screen is bigger, and there’s an option for a faster processor, both of which make this a better computer. It starts at $399.99, but that price isn’t really what you’ll pay. It would be silly to get a Surface Go 2 without a keyboard, so add $100 for that. At five hundred bucks, though, it’s a category where you will find competing products that do many of the things the Surface Go 2 does but better. If you spring for the faster processor ($730 with a keyboard), that’s even more true. The only thing those competing products can’t do is be a little tablet that happens to run Window...