Technology

Apple has announced that Self Service Repair is now available in the United States and will expand to additional countries in Europe later this year. Offering more than 200 individual parts and tools through the official Apple Self Service Repair Store, customers experienced with repairing electronics will be able to order the necessary parts and complete repairs on their own. The store currently offers the parts and tools to complete repairs on components such as the display, battery and camera of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups and iPhone SE (3rd generation). Later this year, Apple will roll out manuals, parts and tools for repairs on Mac computers with Apple silicon. To begin the repair process, Apple instructed customers to first review the manual for the broken product. From there...

Spotify’s latest earnings release suggests that the audio streaming service’s subscriber numbers haven’t seen much, if any, impact from the controversies that surrounded its Joe Rogan podcast just a few short months ago. In the quarter ending March 31st, Spotify says its premium subscribers rose 15 percent on a year-on-year basis to 182 million, up from 180 million the previous quarter. Monthly active users rose 19 percent year on year to 422 million, up from 406 million at the end of last year. For context, in the previous quarter, premium subscribers rose 16 percent year on year, while monthly active users were up 18 percent. Spotify had previously expected to hit 183 million premium subscribers this quarter but slightly missed this target as a result of withdrawing from the Russian mark...

Apple is launching its DIY phone repair service in the US today, making spare parts available for the iPhone 12, iPhone 13, and third-generation iPhone SE. When the company announced its “Self Service Repair” initiative last year, Apple said it planned to sell over 200 “individual parts and tools” to customers. They’re only available in the US for now, but Apple plans to expand the program to other countries as well as additional devices, like Macs equipped with M1 chips, later this year. Parts are available through Apple’s Self Service Repair Store. Tool rental kits will also be available to rent for seven days at a cost of $49 for customers who don’t want to buy tools outright, the company said in its press release. The program marks a significant shift for Apple, which has historically ...

If you’ve seen The Witcher on Netflix and have been curious about giving the games a shot, you can get all three games in The Witcher series at Steam for an incredibly low price. The Witcher Trilogy costs just $11.22 right now. Outside of a sale, getting all three titles would cost you $69.97. Needless to say, this is a great deal for anyone who has a modestly powerful gaming PC (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt released in 2015, but it’s still graphically demanding, even to today’s standards). If you have a Steam Deck, you should know that only The Witcher 3 is verified to work on the portable console. The Witcher Trilogy $11 $70 84% off Steam is selling a three-pack of the main games in The Witcher series on PC. Each title was developed by CD Projekt Red, serving as the studio’s earlier efforts ...

Angry Miao is now back with its latest keyboard offering: the CYBERBOARD Terminal. Designed with keyboard enthusiasts in mind, the new CYBERBOARD Terminal variant boasts a design very much inspired by The Matrix, with green LEDs shimmering across the keyboard and within the digital rain effects of the signature LED panel. The casing is constructed from a high-grade CNC-machined PC material paired with a black reflective PVD stainless steel bottom plate. The internal plate itself is gasket mounted and compatible with both plate-mounted stabilizers and screw-in stabilizers, and the whole keyboard is built for a typing angle incline of 10 degrees. Switches come in the form of C3 EQUALZ TKC’s Kiwi that come factory lubed with a translucent green housing, N9 Grey stem, 67g of actuation force, g...

In the early morning hours, SpaceX is set to launch its seventh crewed mission to orbit, this time sending three NASA astronauts and an Italian astronaut to the International Space Station. Their launch will spark the beginning of a six-month stay on board the ISS, part of SpaceX’s commitment to NASA to periodically fly astronauts to and from the orbiting lab. The mission, called Crew-4, is SpaceX’s fourth operational human spaceflight mission to the ISS for NASA. The company has been flying NASA astronauts to the space station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, an initiative to use privately made spacecraft to ferry crews to low Earth orbit. SpaceX launched its first crew to the ISS on the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft in 2020 and has been getting into a steady rhythm wit...

Sega is going to “delist the digital versions of” Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD starting on May 20th, according to a press release posted to multiple sites (via The Gamer). The announcement is extremely light on details. (You could read it faster than a speedrunner could do Green Hill Zone 1), but it does mention that the games being pulled will be featured in the upcoming Sonic Origins collection. Currently, this mostly seems like an issue for PC players. The games aren’t available individually on the PlayStation Store, and only 2 and CD are available to purchase separately on the Xbox. All the games, however, are available on Steam. Sega says you’ll be able to buy the Sega Ages versions of Sonic 1 and 2 on the Nintendo Switch or play 2 with Nintendo Switch...

After a record-breaking 2021 with annual revenue of $257 billion — the first time it has gone over $200 billion for a year — Google’s parent company reports in a filing (pdf) that it has started off 2022 with Q1 revenue that’s up 23 percent from the same period last year, reaching $68 billion. However, with expenses up compared to 2021, its net profit actually dropped to $16.4 billion compared to last year’s $17.9 billion. Research and development costs for the quarter rose by over $1 billion compared to Q1 2021, going from $7.485 billion to $9.1 billion. As the New York Times notes, last year the company had a $4.8 billion gain in its stock holdings, and in Q1 2022 it recorded a $1.07 billion loss. Google’s search business brought in $39 billion, up significantly over the Q1 2021 result o...

SpaceX is set to launch four astronauts to space with NASA for its seventh crewed mission to the International Space Station. The mission, titled Crew-4, marks the beginning of a six-month stay onboard the ISS and SpaceX’s commitment to flying NASA astronauts to orbit. This is SpaceX’s fourth human spaceflight mission to the ISS for NASA with SpaceX’s first crew arriving on the ISS in 2020 on the Crew Dragon spacecraft. History will also be made on this flight as NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins will become the first Black woman to live as a long-term crew member aboard the ISS. Joining Watkins as the other rookie member of the trip is Bob Hines, while both will be joined by two veterans, Kjell Lindgren and Samantha Cristoforetti. At the press conference prior to her flight, Watkins said, “T...

Razer has just released an updated V2 version of its Leviathan gaming soundbar. With a focus on desktop form factor and sound quality, the new V2 sees a multi-driver setup with a subwoofer, THX Spatial Audio, and Razer Chroma RGB. Two full-range drivers work with a down-firing subwoofer for high-fidelity sound where Razer’s 7.1 surround sound works in unison for a pinpoint experience when enjoying movies, games, and music. The full experience is realized when you access the 18 lighting zones of dynamic Chroma RGB. Priced at $249.99 USD, the new Razer Leviathan V2 gaming soundbar and subwoofer is available now over at Razer. In other audio news, Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 3 Earbuds offer adaptive ANC at a lower price point. Read Full Article

Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey publicly announced that he is supportive of Elon Musk‘s $44 billion USD acquisition of the platform, stating that it “is the right path.” Taking to Twitter to share his thoughts on the deal, Dorsey first shared a TIDAL link to Radiohead’s Kid A track “Everything In Its Right Place.” He followed up the song with a series of tweets expressing his thoughts on the acquisition, writing, “Elon’s goal of creating a platform that is “maximally trusted and broadly inclusive” is the right one. This is also [current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal’s] goal, and why I chose him. Thank you both for getting the company out of an impossible situation. This is the right path…I believe it with all my heart.” Dorsey continued, “In principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or...

Jack Dorsey Says He Believes in Elon Musk’s Mission for Twitter “…Elon is the singular solution I trust.” 1 Hr ago 232 Hypes    Elon Musk Appointed to Twitter’s Board of Directors After becoming the company’s largest shareholder. Apr 6, 2022 9,316 Hypes    Elon Musk Offers to Buy Twitter for $40 Billion USD “Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.” Apr 14, 2022 20,930 Hypes    Elon Musk Purchases Major Stake in Twitter Spending almost $3 billion USD and taking on 9.2% of the company. Apr 4, 2022 5,780 Hypes