The Verge - Tech Posts |
- Vergecast: reviews for the Pixel 5A, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, and Z Flip 3
- Don’t overthink it: Elon Musk’s Tesla Bot is a joke
- Duolingo adds a family plan and new ways to learn non-Latin characters
- Stitch Fix stylists reportedly quit in droves as the company leans on algorithms to serve customers
- T-Mobile’s massive data breach leaked info for 5.3 million additional customers
- A four-pack of Tile Bluetooth trackers is $55 today
- What’s on your desk, Chaim Gartenberg?
- Epic wants Fortnite to be the last game standing — so it’s stealing ideas
- Google is shutting down its Android Auto mobile app in favor of Google Assistant
- Realme’s bulky magnetic wireless charger is almost as fast as promised
| Vergecast: reviews for the Pixel 5A, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, and Z Flip 3 Posted: 20 Aug 2021 09:14 AM PDT  Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where co-hosts Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories. This week on The Vergecast, we've got a cast of Nilay, Dieter, Verge managing editor Alex Cranz, Verge reviewer Allison Johnson, and Verge deputy editor Dan Seifert. The crew discusses reviews for the Google Pixel 5A, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3, and Z Fold 3, as well as some other news in the tech world like the T-Mobile data breach that exposed the personal info of more than 47 million people. In the second half of the show, Alex, Dieter, and Nilay discuss the tech news you may have missed — like Intel's new PC gaming GPUs, Facebook's new...  |
| Don’t overthink it: Elon Musk’s Tesla Bot is a joke Posted: 20 Aug 2021 08:46 AM PDT  After a dense presentation about the undeniably impressive work Tesla is doing with AI, the company's self-anointed Technoking, Elon Musk, capped the evening by bringing out a dancer in a spandex suit. Behold, said Musk: my Tesla Bot. The dancer in the suit, he said, was the model for a new humanoid robot Tesla will produce in the near future. After the dubstep and applause had faded, the vaguest of briefing slides promised that the Tesla Bot will stand five feet, eight inches (1.7m), weigh 125 pounds (56kg), have "human-level hands," and eliminate "dangerous, repetitive, boring tasks." Musk said that building a human-replacement robot — something no company in the world is close to...  |
| Duolingo adds a family plan and new ways to learn non-Latin characters Posted: 20 Aug 2021 08:30 AM PDT  At Duolingo's virtual conference, the company is announcing that it will add a family plan to its app, along with new games and puzzles to help people learn languages that use non-Latin alphabets, such as Japanese or Arabic. One of the main new features is a tab that will appear for some languages, which shows users a grid of letters in an alphabet, along with the sounds they make. (If you're an Android user, the feature may sound familiar as it's been available on that platform, but now it's coming to iOS and the web.) The family plan will give six people (the subscriber, who becomes the family manager, and five others) the benefits of Duolingo Plus, which includes no ads, unlimited hearts, mastery quizzes, and more. It costs $120 a...  |
| Stitch Fix stylists reportedly quit in droves as the company leans on algorithms to serve customers Posted: 20 Aug 2021 08:24 AM PDT  Stitch Fix stylists — who choose outfits for its customers — quit in droves after the company ended its flexible scheduling policy, according to a new report from BuzzFeed News. And at least one worker told BuzzFeed that employees felt like they were "training the algorithm" which also helps choose customers' clothing, suggesting the company may be heading toward relying more on computer-generated recommendations instead of human stylists. During a call with investors after its June earnings announcement, new CEO Elizabeth Spaulding (who started the job August 1st) said Stitch Fix stylists "play a very active role in training our machine learning models with our data science team for outfits, which our ability to generate algorithmic...  |
| T-Mobile’s massive data breach leaked info for 5.3 million additional customers Posted: 20 Aug 2021 07:53 AM PDT  The news about T-Mobile's latest data breach is only getting worse, as the company announced new details from its investigation. While someone in possession of the leaked data said they had obtained information for as many as 100 million customers, including driver's license info, IMEI numbers, and more, T-Mobile's first statement put the figure at 47 million or so and did not mention the IMEI / IMSI data. Now, T-Mobile has confirmed that for the 7.8 million on-contract, or postpaid, customers it already counted in the breach, data stolen includes the information mentioned Thursday (first and last names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and driver's license / ID numbers), as well as phone numbers and IMEI / IMSI information. IMEI...  |
| A four-pack of Tile Bluetooth trackers is $55 today Posted: 20 Aug 2021 06:22 AM PDT  Whether you use iOS or Android, the Tile Mate (2020) is a great Bluetooth tracker that's designed to help you keep watch over your personal stuff. This $15 discount on a four-pack from Amazon and Best Buy is a great value for people getting started with Bluetooth trackers or someone building an arsenal of them. Unlike Apple AirTags, they can remotely ping your phone and also have an innovative design, known as a hole, for easily attaching to things without additional accessories. Similar to AirTags, and to the benefit of humankind, they have user-replaceable batteries. The Roku Streambar is an all-in-one solution for your TV's streaming and audio needs, and is currently $30 off from several retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, B&H,...  |
| What’s on your desk, Chaim Gartenberg? Posted: 20 Aug 2021 06:00 AM PDT |
| Epic wants Fortnite to be the last game standing — so it’s stealing ideas Posted: 20 Aug 2021 05:30 AM PDT  This week, Epic Games added a new mode called Impostors where players complete tasks on a ship while two impostors sneakily try to teleport as many agents off the ship as they can. If that sounds like a familiar gameplay loop to you, you're not the only one who feels that way — fans immediately noticed that the mode borrows heavily from Among Us, a social deduction game that exploded in popularity in 2020 and was built by a tiny indie studio. The team at Innersloth, the developers of Among Us, are justifiably upset with Epic's blatant repurposing of its hit game. But despite the underhanded tactics by Epic, Impostors' polish and surprising connections to the ever-expanding Fortnite story could be a preview of the future of Epic's smash...  |
| Google is shutting down its Android Auto mobile app in favor of Google Assistant Posted: 20 Aug 2021 03:15 AM PDT  Google has confirmed it's shutting down the standalone "Android Auto for Phone Screens" app with Android 12. Instead, anyone who wants a driving-friendly interface for their Android phone should use the Google Assistant driving mode, which is available within Google Maps, or the native Android Auto interface available in select cars. "For those who use the on phone experience (Android Auto mobile app), they will be transitioned to Google Assistant driving mode," Google said in a statement. "Starting with Android 12, Google Assistant driving mode will be the built-in mobile driving experience. We have no further details to share at this time." Google says that the experience isn't changing for anyone using Android Auto in compatible cars. ... |
| Realme’s bulky magnetic wireless charger is almost as fast as promised Posted: 20 Aug 2021 02:30 AM PDT  Earlier this month Realme launched MagDart, its MagSafe-a-like ecosystem of magnetic wireless charging products. The headline device is a 50W brick that Realme professes to be the fastest magnetic wireless charger in the world — it's supposed to be able to charge a 4,500mAh battery from 0 to 100 percent in 54 minutes. Naturally I was interested in trying this for myself. Realme sent me a 50W MagDart charger, a 65W SuperDart wall charger to plug it into, and a Realme Flash "concept phone" with built-in MagDart compatibility. (The only other Realme phone to work with MagDart is the new GT flagship, and even that requires a specialized case.) The Flash isn't a commercial device, but it's a very nice phone nonetheless. That's mostly because...  |
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