Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Early Thursday Technology News and More...



Technology News and More...




11KEngadget / 10h
The Federal Trade Commission has filed an antitrust suit against Meta in a bid to block it from buying Within Unlimited, the maker of the virtual reality workout app Supernatural . The agency accused the company and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg of "planning to expand Meta’s virtual reality empire with this attempt to illegally acquire a dedicated fitness app that proves the value of virtual reality to



Editor’s note: This post has been updated with new information. This Friday, July 29, Amtrak will resume service between New York City and Burlington, Vermont for the first time since 1953. The approximately 7.5-hour-long trip aboard the Ethan Allen Express between New York City and Burlington offers fares starting at $75. “We will be able to climb aboard a train in downtown Burlington, and arriv



3KGizmodo / 12h
When we think about sci-fi , about marching out into the stars and encountering aliens, we think of the future, of a time decades or centuries from now when humanity has technologically evolved to the point of interstellar travel. Stargate , however, took a shortcut. This was a franchise which asked, “what if we could… Read more...




A number of recent news items over the past few weeks have given us more insight into the soon to be announced next-gen graphics cards and processors, and if what we've heard is true, it looks like we've decided that energy efficiency and conservation is for suckers and newbs. First, there's long been rumors that the next-gen Nvidia Lovelace graphics cards are going to be energy hogs, but earlier



The price of consumer goods has been soaring all around the world , creating a major budgeting headache for many people. Social commerce startup DealCart wants to make life easier for shoppers, at least in Pakistan. The company announced today that it has raised $4.5 million in pre-seed funding just three months after their operational launch. The round was led by Shorooq Partners with participat



Applications running in Kubernetes are normally long-lived services that you don’t need to interact with. Sometimes you might want to manually run a command inside a container though, perhaps for a one-off maintenance operation or to assist a debugging procedure. Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



If you've read my Google Pixel 6a review , you'll know that I have mixed feelings about the phone. While it has a nice small form factor and easy-to-use fingerprint scanner, it has an awful battery life and charges too slowly. The phone is now available to buy, so lots of you might find the same issue. But one issue I had could easily be solved by waiting a few months to buy it - in fact, that's



Window tint on your vehicle can be beneficial, but each state has its own laws on the levels.



Editor’s note: This is a recurring article updated with new information. Thanks to cruise ship tourism, an excess of cookie-cutter, all-inclusive hotels and every North American chain restaurant known to humankind, some may argue that the most popular hot spots in Mexico ‘s Riviera Maya are played out. It’s not just Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Cozumel taking a hit from overtourism. The once boho



Autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai is forming a strategic joint venture with Sany Heavy Truck, a subsidiary of Chinese heavy equipment manufacturer Sany Heavy Industry, to create an autonomous truck brand. The plan is to combine Pony.ai’s “virtual driver” with Sany’s technical prowess in building heavy-duty trucks to build automotive-grade self-driving trucks with Level 4 autonomy, which means th



AMD looks set to unveil its next-generation Ryzen 7000 processors at an event on August 5, and that could spell trouble for its old rival, Intel. As TweakTown reports , AMD has mentioned an upcoming "Exclusive Look at Partner Products: A Showcase of The New AM5 Motherboards” event which will focus on the “launch of AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors, the new AMD AM5 chipset offers high power perfor



GTA 6 will return to Vice City and feature other locations after release. The first details of GTA 6 ’s setting have been revealed and the long-awaited sequel will see us return to Vice City, or at least a fictional version of Miami. The game is planned to be the biggest Grand Theft Auto title ever, and was originally designed to encompass large regions modeled after North and South America. Thos



TL;DR: A lifetime subscription to a NatureID Plant Identification Premium Plan is on sale for £16.61, saving you 66% on list price. There are countless plant species in nature. Just being able to identify even a portion of them would be impressive, but also knowing how to care for virtually any plant you find would take a lifetime of work. Or it could take a few minutes with the right app. Nature



SAVE 49%: ExpressVPN is a top choice for gaming due to its strong connection speeds and simple router setup. A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for £86.62 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. Fans of everything Call of Duty will know that Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is set to launch on Oct. 28. This hotly anticipated sequel to 2019’s Modern Wa



Thursday has returned, and with it, Wordle #404. But if you're getting a 404 error (heh), we can help with a nudge in the right direction. The answer to the July 28 Wordle can be found at the end of this article, or you can simply read on for a few tips, gentle hints, and strategies to help you every day. Where did Wordle come from? Former Reddit engineer Josh Wardle came up with the game in 2021



Sequoia, the world’s most influential venture fund, has made its maiden investment in Pakistan, joining a growing list of high profile investors who have backed young firms in the South Asian market in the past one year. Islamabad-headquartered startup Dbank said on Thursday it has raised $17.6 million in a seed round, the largest in Pakistan, co-led by Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia, the recentl



There's no shortage of headphones brands on the market, though some are more popular than others. While Bose ranked high in our survey, it wasn't the winner.



Many Apple fans are eagerly awaiting the next-gen iPhone 14 series, but it seems things may not be going entirely smoothly behind closed doors.



Hyundai and Kia have joined hands with six institutes to develop mobility solutions for the moon, and the focus will be on braving its harsh conditions.



Google has announced a new policy change regarding interstitial ads that will (hopefully) make them less annoying once the change goes into effect.



Google has announced some new apps coming to its Chrome OS, ones that will make Chromebooks more useful for getting various types of work done.



20Gizmodo / 5h
Can federal agencies turn to private data brokers to gather data on individuals that would normally be protected under local laws? Read more...



The founder of Gab, a far-right social media network, recently made bigoted remarks defending his ties with Mr. Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor of Pennsylvania.




For an industry that rarely has major news anymore, this was an awfully big week for virtual reality. Unsurprisingly, all of the important data points are related to the industry’s sole benefactor these days, Meta, which managed to raise the cost of entry to its VR ecosystem, find itself in a new battle with the US government over VR, and announce that it had, again, burnt an awful lot of money o



Enlarge / Philip Morris Marlboro brand cigarettes are displayed for sale at a gas station in Tiskilwa, Illinois, U.S., on Wednesday, July 12, 2017. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg ) The top tobacco scientist at the Food and Drug Administration has left his job to go work for tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PMI), best known as the maker of Marlboro cigarettes. It is the second high-profile F



A new study found that dogs form a “multi-model mental image” of their toys. Specific breeds of dogs, like border collies, can learn the verbal names of their favorite toys, but what is going on in the dog's mind when it's told to fetch a given toy? According to a recent paper published in the journal Animal Cognition, these dogs store key sensory features about their toys—notably what they look



Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. (credit: Facebook ) Meta and Apple are entering a period of "very deep, philosophical competition" that will define the future of the Internet, according to comments by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg obtained by The Verge . Both Apple and Meta are planning to invest heavily in mixed reality over the next decade, but they have diametrically opposed visions for what the AR/VR/XR



Although the partnership has yet to be formally announced, some major details have emerged about Porsche's plans to acquire a major stake in Red Bull Racing.



It would be an understatement to say Instagram is braving a tumultuous phase right now, playing catch-up with TikTok and making key changes at a breakneck pace.



400+Futurism / 6h
Hoverachiever NASA announced on Wednesday that it plans to send two more Ingenuity-class helicopters to Mars onboard its upcoming Sample Retrieval Lander . That’s in light of the overwhelming success of the agency's ongoing Mars Ingenuity helicopter mission. It may be on its last legs now , but the small rotorcraft’s lasted way longer than anticipated , proving once and for all that using a helic



500+Gizmodo / 6h
Matt Berry stars on FX hit What We Do in the Shadows , which is currently in its fourth season —but the British actor only just realized how popular the vampire series has become in America. Like, just realized. Read more...



Ford Motor has dodged some of the pain and losses that rival General Motors experienced in the second quarter . Ford reported Wednesday $40.2 billion in revenue, a 50% increase from the same period last year, and an adjusted operating income that tripled to $3.7 billion. Those figures, which absolutely crushed Wall Street expectations , sent shares up as much as 6% in after-hours trading. Shares



29Engadget / 7h
On Wednesday, former Amazon employee Tori Davis and 25 other workers filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging the company forced them to work in a dangerous environment, reports the Chicago Tribune . Davis raised concerns about Amazon's handling of a racist death threat, and claims the retailer fired her after she threatened legal action if it did not addr



From meme creators to the Kardashians, Instagram users have been vocal this week that their feeds are too saturated with irrelevant content. As Instagram’s parent company Meta chases TikTok’s astronomical growth in short-form video, the app’s chief Adam Mosseri has even gone as far as saying that Instagram’s priority is no longer photos. Plus, users feel like they’re mostly seeing algorithmically



44Gizmodo / 7h
Sylvester Stallone’s superhero film Samaritan finally has a trailer. Originally set to release in 2020, it was delayed many years because of various studio acquisitions. With a focus on the kind of anti-hero story similar to Will Smith’s Hancock , Samaritan is billed as a take on what happens to superheroes when… Read more...



200+Futurism / 7h
Hole Story Over the weekend, a team of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ocean explorers came across something seriously unsettling lining the Mid-Atlantic ocean floor: a series of holes dug into the sandy seabed at seemingly regular intervals, as seen in footage taken by the NOAA's remotely operated submarine. "These holes have been previously reported from the region, but t



Left Out Have you ever wondered why Saturn has those giant, gorgeous rings , while the even larger Jupiter doesn’t? They’re both neighboring gas giants, so what’s the deal? You wouldn’t be the first, and scientists now think they know the answer. The lack of rings, according to a new study soon to be published in the journal Planetary Science , are Jupiter's pesky and numerous moons. "We found th



45Gizmodo / 8h
Google’s finally delivering on the new Gmail layout it’s been teasing since February . The company announced that Gmail’s new Material Design 3-inspired layout is now available to all. The revamped look will include immediate Meet, Chat, and Spaces integration without clogging up the page. Google even threw in a… Read more...



The bipartisan vote reflected a rare consensus in the otherwise polarized Congress in favor of investing federal resources into a broad industrial policy to counter China.



Codefresh today announced the launch of its hosted GitOps service based on the Kubernetes-centric Argo open source project . The new hosted service, which will be available for free to community projects, individuals and small teams, aims to give DevOps teams access to a GitOps platform that encodes some of the industry’s best practices while still giving those teams the flexibility to tweak it t



The company formerly known as Facebook isn’t doing so hot. After cutting its overhead , scaling back hiring and weathering a new SEC investigation , it doesn’t come as a surprise that Meta’s second quarter financial results are a bit messy. The most worrisome piece of news today? For the first time since going public in 2007, Meta reported a decline in quarterly revenue year over year. The compan



To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here . Hello, Daily Crunchers! Personal story time: I came to the U.S. on an IR1 visa — also known as a “green card” — after having been married to an American for more than two years. I then became a naturalized citizen a little while back. There’s a tremendous amount of



Since 2019, a string of global crises has had a major effect on individuals, businesses, and governments. The automotive industry was not immune to the effects.




Keylogging (Enterprise T1056.001)•
Though things aren't as bad as they used to be, it's still possible to get spyware on your PC. You don't have to pay a professional to remove it, fortunately.



Researchers have published findings showing ancient plesiosaur fossils in a freshwater environment, lending Loch Ness Monster believers a new glimmer of hope.



An Apple ID is used to access Apple's various services and link devices together. There are steps you can take to recover and protect a compromised account.



The 2024 Honda Prologue will be a major step toward fulfilling the Japanese carmaker's pledge to produce 30 electric models by 2030.



The Line is slated to be a futuristic city where all necessary amenities are located within a 5-minute walk of residents' homes and workplaces.



Following rumors about the model, OnePlus has seemingly leaked its own upcoming OnePlus Nord Watch, revealing some official - if not slim - details about it.



42Gizmodo / 8h
Members of Congress—you know, the people who can’t seem to do anything —are taking their considerable talents to the fight against digital threats. On Wednesday, the House Intelligence Committee held a public hearing to address the threat of “commercial cyber surveillance,” otherwise known as the spyware industry. Read more...



If you’ve ever been on the New York City subway in the middle of a very important (or not-at-all important) phone call, only to have the call drop when you went through tunnels underground, relief may be in your future. You’ll have to wait up to 10 years for it, though. On Tuesday, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced plans to expand cellphone coverage throughout the city’s subway



100+Futurism / 8h
Space Condo With the help of Danish space design company SAGA Space Architects, a team of students at a Swiss boarding school designed what they call the Rosenberg Space Habitat (RSH), a futuristic three-story space condo — designed to perfectly fit inside a SpaceX Starship. Using state-of-the-art manufacturing processes, SAGA's partners in Denmark and Italy then brought the vision to life, insta



Die In the Sky Watch out, because this thing eats entire stellar masses: a rapidly rotating collapsed star known as a pulsar is making a meal out of its neighboring star, nearly devouring it whole. That engorging has already turned the pulsar into the densest neutron star ever observed, according to scientists who observed the cosmic collision. Weighing in at 2.35 solar masses after its meal, it’



52Futurism / 8h
Cease and Desist Numerous environmental and human rights groups have written and co-signed an open letter to Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk, begging the billionaire to avoid investing in Indonesia's nickel mining industry for fears of mining-induced environmental devastation and harm to Indonesia's indigenous communities, among other potential abuses. This letter comes on the heels of a meeting betw



Apple has hired a 20-year veteran of supercar maker Lamborghini to work on the tech company’s not-so-secret electric autonomous vehicle program, according to a report by Bloomberg . The executive, Luigi Taraborrelli, appears to have left Lamborghini in May 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile. Taraborrelli has worked at Lamborghini for nearly 21 years, mostly recently leading the development o



If you’ve been waffling over whether to purchase a Meta Quest 2 VR system, it’s time to make a decision: Meta announced yesterday that the price of the Quest 2 is going up by $100 on Aug. 1. This means you only five days to break out the credit card or be faced with needlessly giving Mark Zuckerberg one hundred… Read more...



It was the first time the social media giant’s revenue had fallen since it went public a decade ago, as it confronts increased regulatory scrutiny and a turbulent economy.



74Gizmodo / 8h
In just the past few weeks, wild monkeys have attacked at least 58 people in and around the city of Yamaguchi in southwestern Japan, and no one seems to know exactly why, according to a report from the Associated Press. “I have never seen anything like this my entire life,” city official Masato Saito told the AP on… Read more...



81Mashable / 9h
In an era full of giant tech companies devouring smaller tech companies, the Federal Trade Commission is actually trying to stop one such acquisition. The FTC filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to block Meta from acquiring the VR developer Within, per The Verge . Within is perhaps best known for developing Supernatural VR , a popular VR fitness app. The federal agency’s primary charge is that, in purch



Apple has released the fourth developer beta for iOS 16 on Wednesday, bringing limits to the ability to edit and delete iMessages. Most notably, the company is adding an edit history log that will give the person you’re messaging the ability to see any edits you’ve made. Prior to the introduction of an edit history log, you would only be able to see that message was edited, not what it had actual



Hilton provided the recovering hotel industry a roaring, profitable start to the second-quarter earnings season. The hotel company posted a $367 million second-quarter profit Wednesday and also noted its global network performed only 2% off 2019 revenue per available room — the hotel industry’s key performance metric — levels for the same time period. This is a major recovery from the second quar



Researchers have discovered another batch of seemingly innocent Android apps that are actually designed to push malware onto the endpoints , and rake up expenses to the unsuspecting victims. The latest batch included wallpaper apps, keyboards, photo editors, video editors, and an occasional cache cleaner or system maintenance apps, was discovered by the Dr. Web antivirus team, and have more than




Apple's vision of user-controlled messaging is coming into focus. On Wednesday, the iPhone maker finally dropped the long-awaited iOS 16 Developer Beta 4, which includes updates to Messages and Mail that offer a better understanding of how its new communications controls will and won't work. The newest release arrives a few weeks after Apple's first iOS 16 public beta . On the Message front, retr



The owner of Instagram and WhatsApp faces increased competition from the likes of TikTok.



400+Gizmodo / 9h
Meta —once a behemoth in the social media space—has reported its first revenue decline ever: A 1% decline in revenue in Q2 year-over-year. This decline comes along with the company’s long haul strategy of pivoting away from their time as social media titan Facebook and into the “metaverse.” Read more...



Enlarge / Artist's conception of the FTC fighting back against Meta's latest proposed acquisition. The Federal Trade Commission has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Meta in an attempt to stop the Facebook parent company from purchasing Within, which makes the popular virtual reality fitness app Supernatural . Meta's plans to spend a reported $400 million on Within have reportedly been under FTC



3 TTPs•
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images ) Microsoft said on Wednesday that an Austria-based company named DSIRF used multiple Windows and Adobe Reader zero-days to hack organizations located in Europe and Central America. Multiple news outlets have published articles like this one , which cited marketing materials and other evidence linking DSIRF to Subzero, a malicious toolset for “automated exfiltration



Enlarge (credit: Caroline Brehman / Contributor | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. ) The US continues to struggle with pandemic management. Where cases are rising right now, some cities and counties are considering reinstating mask mandates , and many hospitals are confronting a chronic nursing shortage . Despite new concerns and a recent uptick in daily deaths recorded in the US and globally, however, Meta is



JetBlue wants to buy Spirit for parts – gates, slots (though they’d divest many of those), pilots and planes. And they’re willing to pay $400 million for the chance to get the deal to close in the face of government opposition. Meanwhile the most likely way to get regulatory approval is to trade the American Airlines joint venture, which the federal government is also opposing. If they can make t



50Engadget / 9h
Google is finally allowing Nest users to watch footage from their doorbells and cameras on Chromecast. Starting this week, the company is rolling out an update to Chromecast with Google TV that allows the streaming stick to display footage from all Nest Cam and Doorbell devices, including the models Google updated last year . Once you have access to the feature, you can use your Chromecast Voice



Blake Masters, J.D. Vance and Mehmet Oz, all Republicans, have a history with the industry that involves uses of consumer data they now criticize.



An extra dose of vitamin D probably won’t make the average person’s bones any stronger. New research from a large-scale, placebo-controlled, and randomized clinical trial out Wednesday has found no evidence that taking vitamin D supplements reduces the risk of bone fractures in healthy older adults. Read more...



100+Gizmodo / 9h
At San Diego Comic-Con 2022 , io9 sat down with the creative teams shepherding Warner Bros.’ classic Looney Tunes characters into new and reimagined cartoons. In a push led by Looney Tunes Cartoons ’ Alex Kirwan—who spearheads the franchise’s current slate of shorts on HBO Max—the beloved animation icons will soon … Read more...



Well this is major! Spirit terminates agreement with Frontier In February 2022 it was announced that Frontier intended to acquire Spirit . That didn’t go as smoothly as the two companies had hoped, as JetBlue tried to get in on the action, and made a bid for Spirit as well . After a lot of back-and-forth, there’s a major update. It has been announced that Spirit has terminated its merger agreemen



Dual-booting is one way to install multiple operating systems on the same computer. Unfortunately, Windows is making the practice more difficult than ever. Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



Having trouble getting to sleep? While you could shell out for a dedicated white noise machine, you may be better off using your phone. All smartphones have built-in white noise generators, and there are plenty of apps to help you pick and program sleepytime sounds. Read This Article on Review Geek ›



61Engadget / 9h
Facebook parent company Meta has just reported its earnings for the second quarter of 2022, and it was another quarter of shrinking profits. Total revenue of $28.8 billion was only down one percent compared to Q2 one year ago, but net income dropped 36 percent to $6.7 billion. Making almost $7 billion in profit is not a bad quarter for anyone, but the size of the decline compared to a year ago is



It might seem tempting at first to put a screen protector on your shiny new MacBook. After all, many of us put screen protectors on our shiny new iPhones, in an effort to preserve these expensive displays. You would think the same philosophy applies to your MacBook’s screen, which likely costs more than your iPhone… Read more...



The 1970s are often spoken of as a golden age for movies, a time when filmmakers produced challenging classics that refused to pander, combing love for the history of the medium with modern sensibilities. Though it might not look that way from our perch in the Age of Prestige TV, that was true the tube in the ‘70s,… Read more...



Spirit Airlines’ board is likely feeling blue this afternoon. Spirit Airlines terminated its merger agreement with Frontier Airlines , marking the end of plans to form a supersized ultra-low-cost airline that would be the nation’s fifth-biggest carrier. The nixed plan comes months after rival airline JetBlue made an unsolicited all-cash bid for Spirit, leading to an at-times contentious bidding w



The executive team at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts isn’t losing sleep over the fact their competitors at Choice Hotels plan to acquire Radisson’s Americas division . When Choice last month announced a deal to acquire Radisson Hotel Group Americas for $675 million, hotel industry chatter speculated whether this was some great loss for Wyndham. After all, Michele Allen, Wyndham’s chief financial office



Just a few years ago, finding a 3D printer under $500 would have been almost impossible. Now there are dozens to choose from. This brings 3D printing within the reach of modelers, hobbyists, and small businesses. Of course not every cheap 3D printer has the same capabilities. They produce different-sized models with varying levels of detail. Many are filament models, but several resin printers al




Have you ever been to a garage sale where someone was selling sports trophies? Kinda tacky, right? Well, it’s not so much the same when an ex-astronaut does it, especially when it’s one of the original moon landing astronaut’s Presidential Medal of Freedom. Read more...



50Gizmodo / 9h
Data from a NASA probe suggests lunar pits have comfortable temperatures due to their shadowy overhangs, which keep them cool during the day and prevent heat from escaping at night. Read more...



Facebook is trying to be TikTok , but now, Twitter is bringing us back a little bit of Facebook (or LiveJournal or Myspace). Some users are reporting that they can now post Twitter statuses, which lets them tag posts like they’re retro MySpace moods. Some of these statuses include “Spoiler alert,” “Shower thoughts,” “Picture of the day” and, for some reason, the very redundant “Current status.” R



Meta, under the gun at the moment with regulators and investors, missed estimates in its Q2 earnings , but in an attempt to offset some of that, it announced an interesting executive shift: David Wehner, the company’s current chief financial officer, will be taking on a new role as its chief strategy officer, a new role at the company, where he will oversee strategy and corporate development. Sus



Gigabyte announced the launch of two new gaming laptops, the 15-inch Gigabyte G5 and 17-inch Gigabyte G7. Both are outfitted with an Intel Core i5 and either an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, RTX 3050 Ti, or RTX 3060 graphics card. These particular laptops were made with multitasking in mind, according to the company, and are not only able to balance work or school-related tasks along with decent gamin



The Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card ( review ) is a popular premium travel rewards card that lots of people find to be worthwhile . There are many great benefits to the card, including: A big welcome bonus 3x points on dining and travel A $300 annual travel credit, which can be applied toward any purchase coded as travel A Priority Pass membership with the ability to guest two people into lounges Va



Created by industrial designer Nicole Hone in collaboration with Ross Stevens, the ‘Polyphytes’ project consists of experimental plant-shaped 3D objects that can respond to natural elements.



It was the first time the social media giant’s revenue had fallen since it went public a decade ago, as it confronts increased regulatory scrutiny and a turbulent economy.



100+TechCrunch / 10h
Rivian has started laying off about 6% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan , according to an internal email from founder and CEO RJ Scaringe. The companywide email, which was sent out Wednesday and viewed by TechCrunch, alerted all employees that those affected would receive an email invite from their manager with more context and details. Scaringe reiterated that the manufacturing o



This is my fifth summer without an air conditioner. I’m just putting that out there right now, to solidify my bona fides as an expert on staying cool without one. Since this summer has been hot as hell— to a dangerous degree —and we can expect future summers to follow suit, I’m here to tell you about the benefits and… Read more...



20Gizmodo / 10h
On January 1, 1993, Superman died . If you’re used to comics constantly killing off characters and then bringing them back willy-nilly , this may not sound like a big deal. But not only was it rare back in the early ‘90s, this was Superman , comics’ preeminent superhero. The event got massive mainstream news coverage and… Read more...



Rents are going up in cities across the U.S., but the national homeownership rate has been steadily declining as prospective buyers grapple with low supply, weakening purchasing power and record-high costs. What if there was a way to invest in a city’s home equity market you think is growing even if you can’t afford to buy a property there? That’s the idea behind Nada , a Dallas-based fintech pla



noelcollection : A General History of Quadrupeds captivated British readers at the turn of the nineteenth century. This eclectic work of natural history covers 260 mammals, many of which are beautifully illustrated using the technique of wood engraving. Keep reading



These days, if your passwords and login credentials have appeared in a public data breach, you’re most likely going to know about it: Apple, Google, password managers, web browsers and more will all warn you if the details that they’re storing have been spotted in a breach. The next question is: what should you do… Read more...



54Gizmodo / 10h
NASA press conferences are almost always interesting, but today’s media event truly blew my mind. Instead of using a proposed sample fetch rover to collect surface samples left by NASA’s Perseverance rover, the space agency intends to send two Ingenuity-class helicopters to Jezero Crater on Mars, where they’ll fly to… Read more...



This high-tech motorcycle helmet includes two-way communication, customizable LED lights, and a host of other features that keep you safe.



Google today announced that it is adding a new movie editor and a few new video editing features to Google Photos, but for now these new features will only be available in the Android app running on Chromebooks. No word on when these features are coming to other platforms or why Google decided to go this way. It’s worth noting that you could obviously already manipulate single videos in Google Ph



Frugal, budget-minded college and university students take heed. The $195 price for a student pass to TechCrunch Disrupt goes up this Friday, July 29 at 11:59 p.m. PT . Disrupt rolls out in person on October 18–20 — with an online day October 21 — in San Francisco. The OG of tech conferences offers plenty of opportunities for students determined to make their mark in the startup world. Here are j



27Engadget / 10h
Google is again delaying its plan to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome. For those keeping track, the company first unveiled its Privacy Sandbox initiative in 2019 and said implementation would begin in 2022 . However, following scrutiny from the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the US Department of Justice , Google delayed the phaseout to mid-2023 last year . On




23Engadget / 10h
Apple is toning down iOS 16's vaunted iMessage edit and unsend features. The company has released fourth developer betas of iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura that limit you to five edits for a given message within the available 15 minutes, and shrink the unsend window from 15 minutes to just two. You can also tap a message to see its edit history — previously, you would only see a notice that i



Wordle has refreshed with a new puzzle for July 28, and it's one that you should be able to figure out with the right starting words and a couple of hints.



Spotify announced it would halt production of its recently released Car Thing, leaving the future of the audio streaming device in jeopardy.



Samsung's next Galaxy Z foldable devices are starting to look more like iPhones, so long as we concentrate on one specific design cue on all four sides.



Read more...



If you have a Bluetooth device such as a smartwatch or fitness tracker paired with your iPhone, you might get annoyed by notifications sent to the device. Luckily, there’s a way to can keep your iPhone from sending those notifications along. Here’s how. Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



Firefox releases usually aren’t as feature-packed as new updates for Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, but today’s Firefox 103 update has a few helpful changes. Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



Microsoft has lifted the lid on a number of updates designed to improve the printing experience across Windows 11 and its office software applications. As explained in a series of new entries to its product roadmap, Microsoft is taking steps to address various issues surrounding incompatibility, waste and security. For example, employees running Windows 11 via virtual desktop will soon gain acces



100+Gizmodo / 11h
Read more...



200+Gizmodo / 11h
We’ve likely all killed a spider or two in the past, but what if that arachnid’s corpse could be repurposed into something useful? Well, researchers at Rice University in Texas think it can and are pioneering the field of “necrobotics” by injecting dead spiders with air to use them to grasp small objects. Read more...



84Gizmodo / 11h
With the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard reuniting much of the bridge crew of the Enterprise -D, it makes sense that the iconic flagship of Starfleet will make a return, too. But which one? Well, it could be one we know already. Read more...



Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica) It's Wednesday, which means the time has come for another Dealmaster. Our latest roundup of the best tech deals from around the web includes a strong discount on Google's Nest Hub, as the 7-inch smart display is down to $55 at several retailers. We've seen a handful of discounts on the device in recent months, but this deal matches the lowest price we've tracked, co



Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Grace Cary) Twitter is moving ahead with a shareholder vote on the merger with Elon Musk a few weeks before its lawsuit against Musk goes to trial. Twitter yesterday sent a letter to shareholders inviting them to a September 13 special meeting where they will be asked to approve the merger agreement that Musk is now trying to get out of. "We are committed to closin



Enlarge / Left: Google Maps bike info shows detailed information about hill size and bike lane quality. Right: A location-sharing notification. (credit: Google) Google Maps is launching a few new features today, and, after a decade of trying, Google is finally launching Street View in India. What took so long?! First up, we have a few new features from Google's latest blog post. Cyclists will now



200+Ars Technica / 11h
Sylvester Stallone stars as an aging superhero long believed to be dead, in Samaritan . Action legend Sylvester Stallone has dabbled in the superhero genre before, most notably as Judge Dredd (1995), the Ravager Stakar Ogord in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 . (2017), and the voice of King Shark in The Suicide Squad (2021). (He's reprising his Ravager role for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 .) Wi



An update to a retail listing for the official Hogwarts Legacy art book might have just offered us a hint at when the game could release. As spotted by Hogwarts Legacy fans on Reddit (via VGC ), the Amazon UK listing for The Art and Making of Hogwarts Legacy: Exploring the Unwritten Wizarding World has been updated with a release date of December 6. Customers who have pre-ordered the book have al



It’s zucchini season, and my zucc plant is going wild. The plant is prolific and the zuccs are big, which is fine, because I have several methods for getting zucchini into my mouth. Here are my favorite ways to deal with too much zucchini, should you find yourself in a similar situation. Read more...



23Engadget / 11h
The US government just crossed a key milestone in its bid to improve domestic chip production and compete with rivals like China. CNBC reports the Senate has passed the CHIPS and Science Act, a bill to fund and incentivize American semiconductor manufacturing, in a 64-to-33 vote. The measure includes over $52 billion for US firms making chips, additional funding for further technology development



About a year ago, Keychron launched its Q-series of custom mechanical keyboards that now spans the gamut from small 60% boards to full-size options, with everything in between. Whatever your preference, Keychron clearly wants to be in the running for your money. Now, the company is launching the Q8 , a rare 65% Alice-style board with a gasket design. Unless you’re deep into mechanical keyboards,



20Gizmodo / 11h
A year has passed since Jordan Peele first let the world know the ominous title of his next movie; ever since, we’ve all been wondering what the heck Nope was going to be about. Each trailer pulled back the curtain a little bit , but when the film finally opened this past weekend, all was revealed. And it was a lot. Read more...




It’s hard to get the majority of the U.S. Senate to agree on anything, but apparently more than 60% of the upper house of Congress agree that the country could use some more computer chips, $52 billion worth of chip manufacturing, to be exact. Read more...



Across the board, Apple takes tech accessibility seriously. Their most visible efforts come via iPhone features like Voice Control, but are hardly limited to iOS and iPadOS. While accessibility features are developed to help people with physical impairments, macOS users can also access to a swath of accessibility… Read more...



Let me ask you a question: what does the name “ Wi-Fi ” mean? Considering how omnipresent Wi-Fi connections are, this should be an easy question to answer; especially if you work in the tech industry. If your answer is “wireless fidelity”, that is actually incorrect despite what you were lead to believe, so keep guessing. Could it be “wireless fiber”? “Wishful firedrake”? Give up? It’s actually a



Data breaches are costlier and more impactful than ever before, a wide-ranging study by IBM has found. Surveying 550 organizations from all over the world, the company claims that the global average cost of a data breach has now hit $4.35 million - an all-time high, and up 13% compared to the same period two years ago. However, it’s not just the affected businesses that feel the sting of a data b



On Monday July 25 Delta flight 9923 from New York JFK to Accra, Ghana headed out over the Atlantic and then diverted back due to fuel issues. The flight had already been delayed from the day before, reportedly due to a sick pilot, and was operated as a special extra section. However the second attempt at the flight took a turn for the worse. A couple of hours out over the Atlantic the captain ann



Google is again delaying plans to phase out Chrome’s use of third-party cookies — the files websites use to remember preferences and track online activity. In a blog post, Anthony Chavez, Google’s VP of Privacy Sandbox, said that the company is now targeting the “second half of 2024” as the timeframe for adopting an alternative technology. It’ll be a long time coming. Last June, Google said it wo



The FTC filed an injunction today to block Meta’s acquisition of the virtual reality studio Within, which is best known more recently for its subscription VR workout app Supernatural. The regulatory body has had plenty of skirmishes with Facebook, now Meta, in recent years, but this is a pretty aggressive signal from the agency that they’re going to make M&A hell for Meta going forward. “Meta cou



300+Futurism / 11h
Russia announced on Tuesday that it's abandoning the International Space Station "after 2024," saying that it's looking to build its own orbiting station instead. But according to a new Roscosmos interview with Vladimir Solovyov, head of flight operations for Russian space company Energia, the country's vision for its upcoming station dubbed Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS) isn't exactly gr



100+Futurism / 11h
Jankless While Tesla CEO Elon Musks's oddly-shaped, historically janky Cybertruck might not look particularly efficient, a new independent analysis suggests that the much-delayed addition to the company's lineup of electric vehicles is surprisingly aerodynamic. Aleix Lázaro Prat, a computer fluid dynamics engineer for a company called Numeric System, simulated the cyberpunk pickup's wind resistan



500+Futurism / 11h
A team of NASA-funded researchers have discovered mysterious "pits " in the surface of the Moon that sit, according to new computer modeling, around a comparatively balmy 63 degrees Fahrenheit. In other words, these pockets could serve as an excellent place for future astronauts to hang out in, considering temperatures on the lunar surface typically range from a blistering 260 degrees Fahrenheit



27Engadget / 11h
Doing just about anything in space is expensive, but a group of MIT scientists has found a way to bring down some costs — and perhaps help accelerate climate change research. The team has developed what MIT said are the first 3D-printed plasma sensors for use in satellites. The sensors can detect the chemical composition and distribution of ion energy in plasma in the upper atmosphere. The resear



Delta & American Express have a portfolio of co-branded credit cards . In mid-June we saw some fantastic limited time welcome offers rolled out on these cards. I wanted to post a reminder of these, as they’re only valid for one more week. While Delta SkyMiles is far from my favorite mileage currency, I appreciate that miles in the program have a “floor” value, based on all the ways there are to r



Marriott’s recent switch from category pricing to dynamic award pricing has led to concern from loyal customers about a potential devaluation of Bonvoy points. While some properties have seen sharp price increases due to this change, other properties have seen price reductions on point redemptions — especially during low-demand dates. As a result, it is worth checking the price of your hotel awar



Cinnamon rolls are the epitome of a “reconsider food.” These are foods that have the special ability to make you say, “Nah, I really shouldn’t. OK, but maybe just one.” It’s a real act of strength to walk by a Cinnabon without taking two or three extra deep breaths; the aroma of that cinnamon roll is nearly thick… Read more...



You may need to resize a column to fit the width of your data or a row for a better appearance. But what if you want to resize all columns and rows in an Excel spreadsheet? Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



67Gizmodo / 12h
An Egyptian TikToker living in Saudi Arabia was arrested this week by capital police in Riyadh, who claimed she made sexually suggestive comments to another woman in a live video and accused her of negatively affecting public morality. Read more...



For elite AAdvantage members, I think changes to how status is earned at American Airlines beginning next year mean that this card makes more sense than ever. It makes more sense than the main consumer AAdvantage card with its $99 annual fee. And it finally makes sense to spend on the card, too. Continue reading ...



23Engadget / 12h
Manchester City wants to know what makes its fans feel alive . On Wednesday, the Premier League football club shared that it has been working with Cisco, the team’s technology partner since 2019 , to create a "Connected Scarf" that features an “EmotiBit” sensor for tracking the heart rate, body temperature and emotional state of its wearer during a match. According to the two organizations, the a



The move is a potential blow to Meta’s metaverse efforts and signals a shift in how the Federal Trade Commission is approaching tech deals.



Available July 28th, the new Boost Mobile “Carrier Crusher” unlimited plan costs just $25 a month. It’s the cheapest unlimited plan available in the United States, and Boost Mobile promises to honor this price “forever” with “no prepaid requirement, no family plan, no BS.” Read This Article on Review Geek ›




A week is a long time in aviation. Just ask the CEO of London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) , John Holland-Kaye, who has just declared that the airport’s controversial flight cap may not end for another year. The flight cap limits departing passengers to 100,000 per day and was initially set to run until Sept. 11 before being extended last week to Oct. 29 . It could now remain in place for 18 months,



The United States Senate today approved the CHIPS Act, with a 64-33 vote, following yesterday’s cloture passage . The bill, which includes $52 billion to subsidize domestic semiconductor production, now moves onto the House for debate. The current bill bears more than a passing resemblance to the United States Innovation and Competition Act, which also passed through the Senate before petering ou



There was a time when testing positive for COVID came with the confidence that you wouldn’t get reinfected for a few months. Unfortunately, we no longer have that sense of short-term protection . In addition to keeping yourself safe with a well-fitted mask , it’s smart to redeem your free COVID tests by mail and test… Read more...



The attempted hack of a Greek opposition leader is the first aimed at a European Parliament member to be detected, but he has plenty of company among politicians, journalists and dissidents.



Chase cardholders, check your credit cards for a targeted offer that could save you 15% on your next stay at a Hyatt Place hotel. This offer is valid for nearly a month, and there are some important details to understand. Let’s take a look at this offer in more detail. Sign up for our free daily ne
Posted by at