Technology

Unsurprisingly, it seems like the type of people who shun vaccinations are not great at preventative cybersecurity either. As reported by the Daily Dot, “Unjected” — a dating site specifically for people who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 — failed to take basic precautions to keep users’ data secure, leaving sensitive data exposed and allowing potentially anyone to become a site administrator. The “Unjected” site was set up to leave the administrator dashboard fully accessible to anyone who knew how to look for it. Through this dashboard, an administrator could access user information for any member of the site, including name, date of birth, email address, and (if provided) their home address. The configuration error was discovered by a security researcher known as GeopJr, who confir...

If your Chromebook supports mobile connectivity, you may be able to start using it as a hotspot. The upcoming change was spotted by 9to5Google in Chromium Gerrit, the web-based code review system Google’s developers use to work on future updates. When the feature is available for testing, you will be able to activate it through chrome://flags. Details about the capability are still slim, with developers describing it as a way for a Chromebook to “share its cellular internet connection to other devices through WiFi.” But once it’s rolled out, it should allow you to connect your phone, tablet, or laptop to your Chromebook’s mobile network. Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T already offer — a very limited — line of Chromebooks that you can purchase through them, giving you access to a mobile net...

Struggling meal kit company Blue Apron has launched a new line of ready-to-make meals, addressing the complaint that its home-delivered, pre-portioned recipes still require too much work to make and too much cleanup afterward. The new ready-to-cook meals do require some assembly but, crucially, no chopping or cleaning up, as its signature ingredient meal kits famously do. Just unpack the pre-portioned proteins, veggies, etc., throw it all into a provided (recyclable) aluminum tray, and pop it into the oven. It’s cooking, Jim, but not as we know it. With increased competition and a growing aversion to subscription services among customers, Blue Apron’s annual revenue hasn’t kept up with its early successes. Valued at $2 billion in 2015, the company’s worth has plummeted. Its current market ...

At this point, a rugged Apple Watch “Pro” has been all but officially confirmed. Not only did we start hearing whispers of this device over a year ago but also the rumor mill has been amping up as of late with new details about potential specs and features. The latest is that the Pro could offer multi-day battery life on a single charge as well as feature the Apple Watch’s first serious redesign… ever. And, if Apple truly wants to compete with the likes of Garmin and Polar, it will need both. The latest news comes courtesy of Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his most recent Power On newsletter. In it, Gurman contends the Pro model will be a “good bit bigger than the standard Apple Watch” — to the point where it might only appeal to a “subset of customers.” On top of that, he notes that the...

The San Francisco Shock are perhaps the winningest team in the Overwatch League’s short five-year history. They are the only team who can boast back-to-back grand finals victories. And during Stage 2 in 2019, the League had to invent a new classification of excellence when the Shock not only never lost a game, but they never dropped a single map, sweeping all their opponents in what was dubbed the “golden stage.” And even though, last year, they never came close to the kind of dominance they enjoyed in 2019 and 2020, they are still a force to be reckoned with and a perpetual pain in my side the way the Yankees are to regular baseball fans. Which makes the Shock’s embarrassing loss to the Los Angeles Gladiators over the weekend one of the sweetest things I’ve watched in a while — and defini...

New details have emerged ahead of the alleged forthcoming release of Apple’s luxury Apple Watch Series 8. In the latest edition of his newsletter Power On, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has revealed new information about what customers can expect to see from the company’s watch lineup moving forward. According to Gurman, in addition to the Series 8 and new Apple Watch SE, the company has a high-end “Pro” Apple Watch in the works. The Pro will reportedly feature a bigger display, measuring at about 7% larger than any of Apple’s previous watches. It’s also said to have a longer battery life, enabled through a low battery mode setting, as well as a body temperature sensor. Gurman went on to report that the Pro’s design would be “an evolution of the current rectangular shape, and not circular,” whic...

Microsoft is speeding up the boot time of its Xbox Series X / S consoles. In the latest Xbox Insider test builds of the Xbox dashboard, the cold boot startup time has been reduced by around 5 seconds. Microsoft was able to speed up the boot sequence by creating a shorter bootup animation. Xbox testers noticed a faster bootup time recently, and Microsoft confirmed the changes on Friday. Josh Munsee, director of Xbox integrated marketing, says the company created “a shorter boot up animation (~4s) from the original boot up animation (~9s), helping to reduce the overall startup time.” The old and new Xbox Series X / S boot times.Image: Tom Warren / The Verge Xbox Series X / S owners will only benefit from the speedier boot times if they have their consoles set to Energy Saver mode instead of ...

Our fearless leader, Nilay Patel, sent me an article about Chipotle accepting cryptocurrency for payment earlier this year. I did think about writing something to troll my cryptocurrency-hating editor who loves Chipotle, but then Elon Musk did some manner of nonsense, and I forgot. Chipotle did pay $25 million for giving its customers norovirus, so I guess this is how they’re recruiting new ones Until now. Chipotle made the mistake of tipping us to its new game for National Avocado Day. It’s called “Buy the Dip” because guac costs extra. The game will, according to its press release, “engage fans in a stock market simulation to ‘buy the dip’ at its lowest point and give away a total of $200,000 in crypto.” Chipotle did pay $25 million for giving its customers norovirus, so I guess this is ...

Comic-Con is a hectic event, and that’s true even if you’re just trying to follow along from home. There are so many panels and announcements that it can be hard to see everything. That was definitely true of this year’s edition. Despite some noticeable absences — there was no real news on Severance season 2, sadly — it still included everything from a reveal for the Dungeons & Dragons movie to a deeper look at Amazon’s take on Lord of the Rings. We also got some Star Wars casting news, info on Marvel’s animated slate, the timeline for Phase 5 (and Phase 6!) of the MCU, confirmation of a new Daredevil series, and oh so many zombies. But the most fun part is the trailers — and we’ve collected the best right here for you to catch up on. [embedded content] John Wick 4 Mr. Wick is back for...

As interest in electric vehicles continues to grow, consumers may find they have a lot of questions that they would like answered even before stepping inside a dealership or taking out a car loan. To that end, General Motors is launching a new online platform called EV Live designed to educate curious car buyers about the brand new world of battery-powered vehicles. Anyone with questions about EVs who owns a computer or smartphone can log into EV Live to chat in real time with one of GM’s EV experts, who can offer tutorials, vehicle walkarounds, and (perhaps unsubtly) help promote the automaker’s many EV related products. “We’re hoping to break the internet on Monday,” Hoss Hassani, GM vice president of EV ecosystem, said in a briefing with reporters, citing other moments when the company’...

A chess robot broke the finger of a seven-year-old boy playing in a tournament in Russia, according to reports from local news outlets (seen via The Guardian). The incident happened last week at the Moscow Chess Open, where the robot was hired to play competitors. Video of the incident (below) shows the machine is a standard industrial robot arm customized to move pieces on three chess boards simultaneously. “The robot broke the child’s finger. This, of course, is bad,” Sergey Lazarev, President of the Moscow Chess Federation, told Russian news agency TASS (translation via Google Translate). Said Lazarev: “The robot was rented by us, it has been exhibited in many places, for a long time, with specialists. Apparently, the operators overlooked it. The child made a move, and after that we nee...

Apple has settled its lawsuit with Chicago over the city’s so-called “Netflix tax,” according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter. The tax placed a 9 percent levy on “amusements that are delivered electronically” — essentially targeting streaming services. The exact terms of the settlement weren’t made public. Though, Bloomberg Tax last year reported that revenues from the tax — widely thought to be the first of its kind — grew to over $30 million in the year ending June 30th, 2021. The decision has been a long time coming. Chicago introduced the new tax in 2015 as it attempted to make up for the lost revenue from traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Apple filed its challenge in 2018, and was one of many groups and companies objecting to the law. Others that raised legal challenges inc...