Technology

Apple is dropping its mask mandates for corporate employees at “most locations,” according to an internal email from the COVID-19 response team, obtained by The Verge. “Don’t hesitate to continue wearing a face mask if you feel more comfortable doing so,” the email reads. “Also, please respect every individual’s decision to wear a mask or not.” The move comes amid a surge in the highly transmissible BA.5 variant of COVID-19. Earlier this week, the Bay Area transit system BART brought back its mask mandate. Apple started requiring some employees to return to the office in April, but stopped short of implementing its full hybrid model, which would mandate three days of in-person work for all employees, every week. Read Apple’s internal email here: We are writing to share an update to our cur...

Back in June, Amazon began offering invite requests for an opportunity to buy the hard-to-get PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles — allowing anyone to try their luck without the stress of a live restock and all the F5 spamming. Now, nearly two months later, Amazon has confirmed via its Amazon Games Twitter account that invites are finally going out for both consoles. These invites will be sent in waves, with another round expected to go out next week. If you receive one of these invites, you will have 72 hours to make the purchase on Amazon’s site from the unique link in the email. Speaking from firsthand experience of the Xbox invite I received today, Amazon’s emails look a little generic — they’re simply from “Amazon.com,” and the subject line reads just “Congrats, you’re invited!” ...

For about $50,000 (30 Ethereum), CryptoPunk holders can get a handcrafted pendant modeled after their NFT (non-fungible token) from Tiffany & Co. — and no, this is not a joke (via Decrypt). The pendant, which will feature “at least” 30 diamonds or gemstones, will hang on an 18K gold chain with five pave diamonds on the clasp. The offer is exclusive only to people who own a CryptoPunk, aka the odd pixelated avatars you keep seeing on Twitter (no, not those ones, the other ones). But don’t let the overly simplistic art fool you — the average cost of these things is about $200,000, even after several months of declining sales activity for the market overall. There are only 10,000 CryptoPunk designs, and now you can get your very own transformed into a custom, gem-laden pendant (if you’re ...

It’s officially August, which means we’re getting close to the fall hardware season, and two recent FCC filings from Amazon and Google could hint at a couple products the companies may — or may not — reveal. Google’s product is pretty mysterious; the product is described only as a “Wireless Device.” It appears to be battery-powered — there’s no AC connection — though it can be powered over a 5V USB connection, and one diagram shows it connected to a laptop for testing. As 9to5Google observed, the filing could indicate that this is some kind of Nest device — some Nest cameras have used 3.65V rechargeable batteries, for example. Google has already said the Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, and Pixel Watch will arrive this fall, so whatever this “Wireless Device” is, it could be revealed when the company...

No, you didn’t suddenly forget how to read: Roku, the streaming box and service company, is worried about how much money its buttons are bringing in. Not because it suddenly started making clicky actuators for other companies to include in their products (what a pivot that would be), but because Roku’s really an advertising company in streamer’s clothing. And it absolutely has prime real estate to sell to streaming services: for a fee, it’ll plaster their logos onto buttons that customers will likely see every time they use a Roku. Even better, those buttons will only launch that service. Basically, Roku’s best ROI may be the Netflix-red and Disney-blue paint its suppliers buy. Near the bottom of each Roku remote, you’ll see four buttons labeled with a variety of streaming services —...

Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker has stayed busy this offseason. Between signing a four-year extension with the Phoenix Suns and starring as an NBA2K23 cover athlete alongside Michael Jordan, Booker continues to make noise as one of the hottest young stars in the NBA. Now, his creative label, Book Projects, introduces its fourth collaboration, this time joining with Beats to design a custom Pill+. After being silently retired in January of this year, the Beats Pill+ have seen a couple of collaborative reworks, including with American streetwear label Stüssy and Zack Bia’s record label Field Trip Recordings. Referred to as “some of the last Pill+ ever put into production,” its possible this may conclude the portable speaker’s life on shelves. Inspired by Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, this Pill+ a...

Once upon a time, phones such as the original Motorola Droid had interchangeable batteries. You could keep an extra charged battery on hand and swap them out when needed. It was a lot more convenient and lightweight than dragging around a heavy battery pack, and it kept the phone going strong over the course of the busiest workday. But as phone designs changed over the years, swappable batteries were abandoned by phone manufacturers to keep their phones sleeker and accommodate wraparound screens. Improved battery technology means that most phones will get you through at least a full day’s use — unless you are watching a lot of videos or your device is a year or two old. If your phone is running out of gas before you go to bed, you’ve got a few options. You can buy a new phone (unless you s...

Today, Pinterest has released a new app on iOS called Shuffles — a collage-style social app where users can create a digital mood board and collaborate with others on the platform, TechCrunch reports. As of today, Shuffles is available via invite, but you can request to be on the app’s wait list. In the standard Pinterest experience, users have the option to save their content, create photo libraries of their pins, and also browse. The app has a number of built-in photo editing features like Cut Out to isolate single objects in a particular photo, Collage to overlap photos and mesh your ideas together, and Animate to put visual effects on objects. Grid View According to TechCrunch, the app hails from Pinterest’s TwoTwenty incubator, which was also behind the Pinterest TV live shopping effo...

Beginning this season, Amazon Prime Video will be the exclusive home for the NFL’s Thursday Night Football. But if you don’t want to watch the main show featuring two of the biggest names in sports broadcasting, the company will be offering alternative streams, including ones starring the hugely popular YouTube channel Dude Perfect. The Dude Perfect creators built their giant YouTube channel — it has 58 million subscribers — on things like outlandish stunts and trick shot videos, and it seems like they’ll be bringing that same energy to their Thursday Night Football broadcasts. “Watch the guys predict what happens in the next play and welcome an entertaining parade of dunk tanks, pudding cannons, special guests, and the occasional world record attempt,” Amazon wrote in a ...

Amazon’s greenhouse gas emissions ballooned big time last year despite the company’s efforts to sell itself as a leader in climate action. Its carbon dioxide emissions grew an eye-popping 18 percent in 2021 compared to 2020, according to its latest sustainability report. Amazon generated 71.54 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent last year, about as much pollution as 180 gas-fired power plants might pump out annually. This is the second year in a row that Amazon’s climate pollution has grown by double digits since it made a splashy climate pledge and started reporting its emissions publicly in 2019. Comparing that year to 2021, the company’s CO2 pollution has actually grown a whopping 40 percent. This is the second year in a row that Amazon’s climate pol...

Our Monday deals post is starting off strong with the M1-equipped MacBook Air, which is currently matching its best price to date at Best Buy. The retailer has discounted both the 256GB and 512GB configurations to $849.99 (normally $999.99) and $1,049.99 (normally $1,299.99), respectively. While it’s beginning to show its age a bit — especially with the recent release of the M2 model — the M1 Air still remains a terrific macOS laptop thanks to its speedy performance and excellent battery life. The 720p webcam is definitely a pain point for the last-gen machine, but at this price, you’ll have difficulty finding a laptop that can match the M1 Air, pound for pound. Read our review. MacBook Air with M1 (late 2020) $850 $1,000 16% off The MacBook Air is Apple’s entry-level laptop, which comes o...