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2020-03-18 00:00:00

2020

3.0

18

Palmer Haasch

Viral vigilantes are turning YouTube and TikTok into a weapon

“What you doing, bro?” the cameraman asks, leading a group of at least five other teens. “You here to meet a 16-year-old?” The man rolls up the window, panicked, and shifts the car into reverse. The boys jeer as his car pulls out of the parking lot, holding out their phones as they chase him. In the background, you can hear Freddie Dredd’s “Opaul” playing softly, overdubbed by TikTok. This is what a “pedo hunting” sting looks like. This particular video came from an account called @pedohuntinginc, which was later taken down by TikTok for violating community guidelines. But it’s part of a larger and more troubling trend of anti-pedophile vigilantism on platforms like TikTok and YouTube. At first glance, the videos come across as earnest efforts to protect children, a DIY version of To Catch a Predator. But there are troubling similarities to homophobic violence campaigns across the world — particularly Russia’s Occupy Pedophilia movement and the ongoing attacks on Grindr users in North Africa, both of which often present themselves as concerned with child abuse. Most alarming, many of these stings have gone viral, with @pedohuntinginc’s video racking up more than 2 million likes before it was removed. It has all the makings of a viral sensation — an unusually dangerous one. Platforms have been slow in responding to the issue, but they tend to take down the accounts once they become sufficiently high profile. TikTok seems to view the videos as inherently unsafe, and treats them as violating community guidelines as a result. “Promoting a safe and positive app environment is our top priority at TikTok,” a spokesperson for the company told The Verge, when asked about predator sting videos. “As we make clear in our Community Guidelines, we do not allow content that encourages, promotes, or glorifies risky behavior. We also do not permit users to encourage others to take part in dangerous activities, and we remove reported content or behavior that violates our guidelines.” The Guardian reported that TikTok recently removed an Australian pedophile hunting account like @pedohuntinginc for similar reasons. At the same time, the audience doesn’t seem to mind — and the users making these videos see them as a likely path to viral success. “TikTok is full of viral videos and we figured it could be popular among the people on TikTok,” Zane, one of the teenagers affiliated with @pedohuntinginc, said via Instagram message prior to TikTok removing the account. “We were very excited to see that it went viral.” These kinds of sting operations have also found a significant audience on YouTube. Take Predator Poachers, which is run by soon-to-be 20-year-old Alex and boasts over 160 thousand subscribers. The channel has dozens of videos in which Alex confronts men in Walmart for seeking out sexual contact with a minor. All of Predator Poacher’s videos (save one recent upload) are currently unavailable to the public on YouTube; the channel received its second strike from YouTube on a video titled “LGBT couple confronts predator” on grounds of harassment and bullying, and Alex stated in a live stream on the Predator Poachers side account, PP Pranks, that he had set all of the channel’s videos to private to lay low. According to YouTube, the platform has no policy specifically regarding predator hunting content, but such content may run up against YouTube’s community guidelines. As part of a December 2019 harassment policy update, YouTube no longer allows “content that maliciously insults someone based on protected attributes such as their race, gender expression, or sexual orientation.” That being said, many predator hunting videos are allowed on the platform. Sometimes, online stings can lead to actual court cases. The vigilante channel Hive vs Predator ultimately led to the arrest of a local choir teacher, as well as a 23-year-old who was charged with electronic solicitation of a minor. Most channels employ the same basic playbook: create an account on a dating or hookup app (most frequently Grindr, but sometimes other apps like Skout) using photos of an underage acquaintance. They wait for older men to message them, then immediately disclose that they are underage. When the other man requests a meetup, they show up and confront them with a camera, and usually post the result. This sort of sting is much older than TikTok or even YouTube. The trend dates back at least as far as Dateline’s controversial To Catch A Predator series, canceled after the suicide of one of its targets in 2006. It was followed by Facebook-rooted vigilantes of the 2010s like POP Squad, a group featured in a January 2019 NBC investigation. A 2013 report from The Guardian tied the growing phenomenon in the UK to the “ever increasing speed and reach of online social networks.” Newer vigilantes like @pedohuntinginc and Predator Poachers have targeted gay men almost exclusively. Both of the men exposed by @pedohuntinginc were seeking contact with male minors, and Predator Poachers’ videos show almost no men seeking out contact with young girls, but plenty of scrolling Grindr conversations. Grindr is a part of the channel’s brand as well — its YouTube header features a graphic of an iPhone displaying a Grindr conversation. Still, Alex of Predator Poachers told The Verge that he doesn’t specifically target gay men. As he sees it, it’s a matter of circumstance. “The reason why we use Grindr as number one is because when I was getting bored at home one night the first time doing this, obviously I didn’t have pictures of underage girls on my phone,” Alex said over the phone. “I do have a little brother though, and I did have pictures of him on my phone.” Zane echoed the statement, stating that his group had tried to use other apps, but Grindr was the simplest choice because it’s easy to sign up for and use. There’s also homophobic and racist messaging cutting through the content itself. One of the hallmarks of Predator Poachers’ content is Alex continuously lobbing racist epithets at the men he meets. And in one currently private video titled “I use a sassy voice to catch a predator,” he adopts a lilting tone clearly intended to mock gay men. On Instagram, Alex called for his followers to help cancel a drag queen story hour at an Idaho library. “I don’t think that shit needs to be around kids, because kids are kids. They can’t decide what their preferences are at that young age,” he said when asked about the Instagram post. In a video reuploaded on a fan’s channel that was later removed for violating YouTube’s policy on harassment and bullying, Alex physically restrains a target after he attempts to elbow the camera. Dr. Jennifer Klein, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Texas at Tyler who has researched media responses to sex crimes, said that predator hunting content tends to reinforce previously held beliefs about individuals who are interested in sexual activity with minors. “If YouTube or TikTok allows for ‘predator hunting’ to occur and does not stop the promotion of those types of behaviors, then that sends a message to others that this is acceptable behavior,” she said over email. “We learn from what we see.” The stings can be lucrative as well. The Predator Poachers website features Patreon-esque membership tiers and merchandise, over 320 members who subscribe at tiers ranging from $3 to $100. (Member benefits range from exclusive video content to promotion on the main channel.) The membership system is necessary because Predator Poachers is blocked from making money on YouTube or Patreon. Alex wasn’t sure why his channel was demonetized (he suspects that it was due to the fact that he was the owner of a previous channel that YouTube had banned), but said he was banned from Patreon because the platform felt that it was not equipped to deal with child safety.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/18/21183662/pedo-hunting-vigilante-youtube-tik-tok-anti-lgbt-viral

Policy

The Verge

2020-03-18 00:00:00

2020

3.0

18

Jay Peters

The new iPad Pro’s LIDAR scanner can turn a living room into an AR game of Hot Lava

The new iPad Pro’s LIDAR scanner can turn a living room into an augmented reality version of Hot Lava, a video game based on the childhood pastime where you jump on furniture to avoid imaginary lava on the floor. The announcement was included as part of today’s iPad Pro announcement. Hot Lava is available on Steam, but its mobile version is currently an Apple Arcade exclusive. According to Apple, “The LiDAR Scanner on the new iPad Pro will enable Hot Lava’s new AR mode, available later this year.” The game is a clever way to show off the capabilities of the LIDAR scanner. A player scans a living room with an iPad, and the app generates hot lava on the floor and platforms for the game’s character to jump on in AR. Here’s a GIF of the app in action: Alongside the AR version of Hot Lava, Apple also showed some other impressive uses of the LIDAR scanner to journalists over a briefing earlier today. One, for the CAD app Shapr3D, scans a room and makes a 3D model of the room in the app. Users can then edit that model to add new objects into the room and look at those additions in the real room using AR. Another demo, for the anatomy app Complete Anatomy, uses the LIDAR scanner to measure the range of motion of someone’s arm in real time in real time. And a demo for the IKEA Place app scans a room and recommends matching furniture that you can view in the room in AR. All of the demos shown will become available as features in their respective apps later this year, according to Apple. The new iPad Pros also have two cameras, a regular wide-angle and an ultrawide, an A12Z Bionic chip, and are compatible with the new Magic Keyboard cover, which has a trackpad. The new iPad Pros will be available starting March 25th.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/18/21185959/ipad-pro-lidar-scaner-augmented-reality-demo-hot-lava-game

Apple

The Verge

2020-03-18 00:00:00

2020

3.0

18

Zoe Schiffer

Co-founder therapy teaches tech bros how to be in their feelings

The two talked on the phone every day, but they could never come up with a firm move date. The situation threatened to derail everything they’d worked so hard to create: Torch, a scalable coaching platform for business leaders. Walden and Yarbrough are not in a romantic relationship, but they’re just as committed to each other: they’re co-founders. And for this CEO and COO, they work through their issues the same way a lot of couples handle their problems: with therapy. Luckily, co-founder therapy teaches startup bros about a new kind of growth: emotional. Walden and Yarbrough had been going since they founded the company, and they immediately knew their situation called for professional help. During their next therapy session, they gingerly worked out a compromise: Walden agreed to move a bit earlier than he’d originally wanted to. Yarbrough conceded that it didn’t have to happen immediately. They’d made it through a rough patch and were now stronger than ever. It was a breakthrough. Today, co-founder therapy has shifted from a squishy emotional outlet to a necessary leadership tool, adopting the language of growth and optimization along the way. As tech leaders struggle with the stresses of running a company, they’re turning to coaches to learn how to work out their differences. “It’s such a unique relationship,” says Sasha Lustgarten, a therapist in San Francisco who specializes in co-founder therapy. “You have higher levels of stress, the buy-in on both sides is financial as well as emotional.” While this type of counseling risks becoming just another metric that Silicon Valley can measure and track, it’s also providing a much-needed outlet for tech leaders to slow down and listen — even if the reason they’re doing so is largely to help their businesses grow. “As a co-founder CEO, the most important thing to be able to do is scale as a leader,” says Yarbrough. “It’s all about me seeing my own blindspots so my own growth is not stifled. If my growth stops, I become the central limiting factor of my entire company.” It’s the hockey stick curve but for feelings. San Francisco is — unsurprisingly — ground zero for co-founder therapy, where companies like the Well Clinic specialize in helping leaders grow. Maya Johansson, the Well Clinic’s co-founder and CEO, says when she started the clinic eight years ago, her goal was to make therapy more accessible. “The quest for a therapist is very daunting, and so much of that is scheduling and availability,” she says. “Our population tends to be very busy working and have limited time in their day.” The Well Clinic’s central office works with roughly 45 clinicians, many of whom specialize in business leaders. Today, the clinic sees about 600 people a week, and nearly 40 percent work in tech. Some, like Walden and Yarbrough, have their companies pay for the sessions, which typically cost between $200 and $250. Johansson saw early on that the methods she’d learned in couples therapy could easily be applied to co-founders. “Seeing co-founders is not that different from seeing a couple,” she says. “It’s a systems approach. That system can be anything — a family, a workplace, a couple. When people come in for co-founder therapy, usually the issues are very similar to what couples come in for.” She pauses. “Obviously, not the sex.” Co-founders — like most couples — rarely come in right at the beginning of their relationship. “There’s a honeymoon phase in the first year or two,” Johansson says. People start companies together because they like and respect one another — not necessarily because they’re best friends (although that happens sometimes). Then, often when they’ve raised a round of funding, they start to realize they don’t know each other as well as they thought. A disagreement erupts. They seek help. The majority of co-founders who come to the Well Clinic are men, as are the majority of tech founders. And while there’s certainly more comfort with therapy-speak now than there used to be, clinicians like Johansson are still careful to couch their words in the language of business and startups. “People feel very comfortable saying, ‘My coach said this or that,’” she says. “It’s so much scarier to say ‘my therapist.’” Knowing this, Lustgarten (who previously worked at the Well Clinic) begins his first co-founder therapy session by interviewing each founder separately. “It’s still not common to talk about your feelings in a business context,” he says. He’s found people are more willing to open up one-on-one. Then, he meets with the founders together to talk about what their key stresses are, assess how comfortable they are with conflict, and note any big decisions they might face in the near future. Next, he’ll introduce communication tools to help each party clearly convey how they feel. It’s a stark change of pace from what most co-founders are used to — and likely one that’s needed to develop a personal relationship. “It’s a process of learning more about each other,” Lustgarten says. “A process of slowing things down and really listening, to help rebuild trust, learn to be vulnerable, and share. From there, it’s easier to think about how to address future conflict or tension that emerges.” It sounds a lot like couples therapy — which makes sense if starting a company with someone is comparable to marrying them. But Lustgarten doesn’t see it that way. “I think a better analogy is co-parenting,” he says. “You don’t have to love each other to be good co-founders. You just have to learn to work well as a team.” Lustgarten says there’s still some stigma around seeking help in the first place. “The concern from co-founders is what other people would think about them needing to work on their relationship,” he says. “If people think the relationship isn’t good, it’ll impact the business and their ability to get funding. And if you can’t get funding, you’re dead in the water.” It’s easy to deride co-founder therapy as just another gimmick Silicon Valley has concocted as part of its obsession with growth. But speaking to Walden and Yarbrough, I couldn’t help but reflect on the CEOs I have worked for who could have benefited from a bit of self-reflection. One of the key issues the pair faced early on was their vastly different ideas of conflict. Yarbrough grew up in a big family; his brothers would fight around the dinner table, then wake up and laugh like normal siblings. Walden, in contrast, grew up with a single mother and no other siblings. He estimates he and his mom have yelled at each other perhaps once in their lives. These childhood dynamics played out in the co-founders’ relationship: Walden often left tough conversations feeling much more affected than Yarbrough. “What felt like a hard conversation for him, for me, was just absolutely natural,” says Yarbrough. Walden nods. “It’s very easy for me to think about how Cameron runs things and think he is creating all these arguments that don’t need to be there,” he says. “It’s harder for me to see that I’m, in fact, not engaging in conversations that need to be had because of my discomfort with conflict.” They were learning the basics of emotional growth. But in business — particularly in tech — the basics are sorely needed. Walden and Yarbrough both come from mental health backgrounds and were predisposed to embrace therapy as a business tool. Yet, they see the practice as something all tech leaders should embrace. “The business of running a tech startup is high stress with high expectations,” Walden says. “Working in that environment, it’s inevitable that some of that stress will get expressed in the co-founder relationship. You need some additional layer of support and additional insight to understand how you’re contributing to the tensions because of your history and worldview.” Yarbrough agrees. “Co-founder therapy is really a means to an end,” he says. “The whole concept is to enable founders to become more exceptional leaders.”

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/18/21183555/co-founder-therapy-counseling-tech-bros-feelings-silicon-valley

Features

The Verge

2020-03-18 00:00:00

2020

3.0

18

Casey Newton

The coronavirus is forcing tech giants to make a risky bet on AI

The Interface is a daily column and newsletter about the intersection of social media and democracy. Subscribe here. Today, let’s talk about some of the front-line workers at Facebook and Google working on the pandemic: the content moderators who keep the site running day in and day out. Like most stories about content moderators, it’s a tale about difficult tradeoffs. And actions taken over the past few days by Facebook and YouTube will have significant implications for the future of the business. First, though, some history. At first, content moderation on social networks was a business problem: let in the nudity and the Nazis, and the community collapses. Later, it was a legal and regulatory problem: despite the protections afforded by Section 230, companies have a legal obligation to remove terrorist propaganda, child abuse imagery, and other forms of content. As services like YouTube and Facebook grew user bases in the billions, content moderation became more of a scale problem: how do you review the millions of posts a day that get reported for violating your policies? The solution, as I explored last year in a series of pieces for The Verge, was to outsource the job to large consulting companies. In the wake of the 2016 election, which revealed a deficit of content moderators at all the big social networks, tech companies hired tens of thousands of moderators around the world through firms including Accenture, Cognizant, and Genpact. This, though, created a privacy problem. When your moderators work in house, you can apply strict controls to their computers to monitor the access they have to user data. When they work for third parties, that user data is at much greater risk of leaking to the outside world. The privacy issues surrounding the hiring of moderators generally haven’t gotten much attention from journalists like me. (Instead we have been paying attention to their generally awful working conditions and the fact that a subset of workers are developing post-traumatic stress disorder from the job.) But inside tech companies, fears over data leaks ran strong. For Facebook in particular, the post-2016 election backlash had arisen partly over privacy concerns — once the world learned how Cambridge Analytica intended to use information gleaned from people’s Facebook use, trust in the company plunged precipitously. That’s why outsourced content moderation sites for Facebook and YouTube were designed as secure rooms. Employees can work only on designated “production floors” that they must badge in and out of. They are not allowed to bring in any personal devices, lest they take surreptitious photos or attempt to smuggle out data another way. This can create havoc for workers — they are often fired for inadvertently bringing phones onto the production floor, and many of them have complained to me about the way that the divide separates them from their support networks during the day. But no company has been willing to relax those restrictions for fear of the public-relations crisis a high-profile data loss might spark. Fast-forward to today, when a pandemic is spreading around the world at frightening speed. We still need just as many moderators working to police social networks, if not more — usage is clearly surging. If you bring them to the production floor to continue working normally, you almost certainly contribute to the spread of the disease. And yet if you let them work from home, you invite in a privacy disaster at a time when people (especially sick people) will be hyper-sensitive to misuses of their personal data. Say you’re Facebook. What do you do? Until Monday, the answer looked a lot like business as usual. Sam Biddle broke the story in The Intercept last week. (Incidentally, the publication that The Interface is most frequently mistaken for.) Discussions from Facebook’s internal employee forum reviewed by The Intercept reveal a state of confusion, fear, and resentment, with many precariously employed hourly contract workers stating that, contrary to statements to them from Facebook, they are barred by their actual employers from working from home, despite the technical feasibility and clear public health benefits of doing so. The discussions focus on Facebook contractors employed by Accenture and WiPro at facilities in Austin, Texas, and Mountain View, California, including at least two Facebook offices. (In Mountain View, a local state of emergency has already been declared over the coronavirus.) The Intercept has seen posts from at least six contractors complaining about not being able to work from home and communicated with two more contractors directly about the matter. One Accenture employee told The Intercept that their entire team of over 20 contractors had been told that they were not permitted to work from home to avoid infection. In fairness, Facebook was far from alone in not having deployed a full plan for its contractors last Thursday. Some American companies are still debating what to do with their full-time workforces this week. But as Biddle notes, Facebook wasn’t one of those: it was already encouraging employees to work from home. This prompted justified criticism from contract workers — some of whom petitioned Facebook to act, Noah Kulwin reported in The Outline. (Googlers are circulating a similar petition on behalf of their own contract coworkers, Rob Price reported at Business Insider.) On Monday night, Facebook did act. As of Tuesday, it began to inform all contract moderators that they should not come into the office. Commendably, Facebook will continue to pay them during the disruption. Here’s the announcement: For both our full-time employees and contract workforce there is some work that cannot be done from home due to safety, privacy and legal reasons. We have taken precautions to protect our workers by cutting down the number of people in any given office, implementing recommended work from home globally, physically spreading people out at any given office and doing additional cleaning. Given the rapidly evolving public health concerns, we are taking additional steps to protect our teams and will be working with our partners over the course of this week to send all contract workers who perform content review home, until further notice. We’ll ensure that all workers are paid during this time. The news followed a similar announcement from Google on Sunday. It was followed by a joint announcement from Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube that they “are working closely together on COVID-19 response efforts,” including a commitment to remove fraud and misinformation related to the virus and promote “authoritative content.” (I’m told the announcement is unrelated to the shift in content moderation strategies, but it points to a future where companies collaborate more on removing harmful posts.) OK, so the content moderators have mostly been sent home. How does stuff get ... moderated? Facebook allowed some moderators who work on less sensitive content — helping to train machine-learning systems for labeling content, for example — to work from home. More sensitive work is being shifted to full-time employees. But the company will also begin to lean more heavily on those machine-learning systems in an effort to automate content moderation. It’s the long-term goal of every social network to put artificial intelligence in charge. But as recently as December, Google was telling me that the day when such a thing would be possible was still quite far away. And yet on Monday the company — out of necessity — changed its tune. Here’s Jake Kastrenakes at The Verge: YouTube will rely more on AI to moderate videos during the coronavirus pandemic, since many of its human reviewers are being sent home to limit the spread of the virus. This means videos may be taken down from the site purely because they’re flagged by AI as potentially violating a policy, whereas the videos might normally get routed to a human reviewer to confirm that they should be taken down. [...] Because of the heavier reliance on AI, YouTube basically says we have to expect that some mistakes are going to be made. More videos may end up getting removed, “including some videos that may not violate policies,” the company writes in a blog post. Other content won’t be promoted or show up in search and recommendations until it’s reviewed by humans. YouTube says it largely won’t issue strikes — which can lead to a ban — for content that gets taken down by AI (with the exception of videos it has a “high confidence” are against its policies). As always, creators can still appeal a video that was taken down, but YouTube warns this process will also be delayed because of the reduction in human moderation. All that represents a huge bet on AI at a time when, as the company itself notes, it is still quite error-prone. And on Monday evening, both Facebook and Twitter followed suit. Here’s Paresh Dave in Reuters: Facebook also said the decision to rely more on automated tools, which learn to identify offensive material by analyzing digital clues for aspects common to previous takedowns, has limitations. “We may see some longer response times and make more mistakes as a result,” it said. Twitter said it too would step up use of similar automation, but would not ban users based solely on automated enforcement, because of accuracy concerns. So many of tech platforms’ troubles with regulators and elected officials over the past couple years have come down to content moderation. Which posts did they allow to stay up? Which did they wrongfully take down? Which posts did they amplify, and which did they suppress? At global scale, the companies were making plenty of mistakes even with the benefit of human judgment. As of Tuesday, they will be entrusting significantly more to the machines. The day one result was not great. Here’s Josh Constine in TechCruch: Facebook appears to have a bug in its News Feed spam filter, causing URLs to legitimate websites including Medium, BuzzFeed, and USA Today to be blocked from being shared as posts or comments. The issue is blocking shares of some coronavirus-related content, while some unrelated links are allowed through, though it’s not clear what exactly is or isn’t tripping the filter. Facebook has been trying to fight back against misinformation related to the outbreak, but may have gotten overzealous or experienced a technical error. I’m sure that bug will be fixed before too long. (Facebook says it’s not related to changes in content moderation.) In the meantime, my thoughts are with the moderators who kept showing up to work every day for the past week even as they knew it put them in physical danger. One Facebook moderator working for Accenture recalled how the company began putting out more hand sanitizer in February as the threat worsened, but waited until Tuesday to tell him to stay home. This came after days, if not weeks, of employees telling Accenture that their partners and roommates had been exposed to the disease. “We were working with people who where exposed, definitely,” the moderator told me. “I think they have moved too late, and the actions initially taken were clearly insufficient.” Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms. Trending up: Facebook plans to award $100 million in cash grants and ad credits for up to 30,000 small businesses in 30 countries around the world. The money is aimed at helping them deal with the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Trending up: Facebook partnered with the International Fact-Checking Network to give $50,000 grants to organizations working on fact-checking misinformation related to COVID-19. The total budget for the partnership is $1 million. (Poynter) Trending up: A group of the biggest tech companies in the US has banded together to fight coronavirus-related fraud and misinformation. The group includes Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube. Here’s the latest in the United States: Here’s a map of where coronavirus cases have been confirmed so far across the United States. (Sara G. Miller and Jiachuan Wu / NBC News) Why has the rollout of COVID-19 testing been so slow in the United States? The tests we have generally need to be sent to a lab, and the process is slow. Nicole Westman / The Verge) The World Health Organization is livestreaming on TikTok to give people tips on how to stay safe and dispel myths about COVID-19. (TikTok) Worried you might have COVID-19? Vox.com has put together a nice guide to the most common questions about it, including how it spreads and what the symptoms are. (Lois Parshley / Vox) Here’s what’s going on with the big companies: Alphabet’s health-care company Verily ran tests for about 20 people on its first day of screening for the coronavirus. The firm said it is working with the state of California to expand the program. (Gerrit De Vynck / Bloomberg) Facebook is adding $1,000 to its employees’ next paychecks to deal with the coronavirus fallout. It’s also giving everyone their full bonus for the quarter regardless of their performance. Google is delaying the rollout of its informational coronavirus website to “later this week.” The site was at the center of the controversy we talked about yesterday. (Dieter Bohn / The Verge) Apple is keeping its retail stores outside mainland China closed indefinitely as the global spread of the coronavirus continues. The iPhone maker was originally targeting March 27th to reopen locations in the US and elsewhere around the world. (Nick Statt / The Verge) Demand for Amazon delivery is soaring as more people are forced to stay home. Some Amazon workers worry the situation is creating a potential health crisis, and say the company isn’t doing enough to protect them. (Caroline O’Donovan and Ken Bensinger / BuzzFeed) Amazon is prioritizing the shipment of “household staples, medical supplies and other high-demand products” due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company is also suspending some of its “Fulfillment by Amazon” program, which typically provides warehouse and shipping services for products from third-party sellers. (Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch) At least five workers at Amazon warehouses in Europe have contracted the coronavirus. It’s a sobering development for a company already struggling to hire enough people to deal with the spike in orders. (Matt Day, Daniele Lepido, Helene Fouquet and Macarena Munoz Montijano / Bloomberg) CVS’s Chief Medical Officer sent employees an email with tips on how to stay safe during the coronavirus pandemic. It included strikingly similar misinformation from the fake Stanford tips we debunked here. Not a good look for a pharmacy! Uber expanded its previously announced policy on sick pay for drivers during the coronavirus pandemic. Now, drivers who test positive for COVID-19 or have their Uber accounts suspended as the result of public health advice will be eligible for up to 14 days of paid sick leave. (Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge) Uber and Lyft suspended Uber Pool and shared rides due to the worsening outbreak of COVID-19. UberX and Uber Eats are still running. (Ryan Broderick / BuzzFeed) Elsewhere: Coronavirus has prompted a wave of direct donations for individuals and businesses hardest hit by the crisis. The giving campaigns are often organized on social media. (Nicholas Kulish / The New York Times) With millions of people working and learning from home during the pandemic, internet networks are being pushed to the limit. Many providers are rolling out new policies to help people who can’t pay their bills, and preparing to increase capacity on the networks if needed. (Davey Alba and Cecilia Kang / The New York Times) Coronavirus testing shouldn’t be this hard, but limited investment in the necessary technology means the US is lagging behind other countries in terms of getting fast, reliable tests out the door. (Nicole Wetsman / The Verge) Coronavirus is making Instagram more intimate. Without a steady stream of brunch photos and beach-vacation selfies, the platform has mutated into close-up scrapbooks of days spent cooped up inside. (Kaitlyn Tiffany / The Atlantic) ⭐The Justice Department dropped its two-year-long prosecution of a Russian company indicted in the Mueller election interference probe. The company was one of three businesses indicted for allegedly carrying out a long-running scheme to criminally interfere with the 2016 election. This seems like a disaster. Here’s Spencer S. Hsu at The Washington Post: Assistants to U.S. Attorney Timothy Shea of Washington and Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers cited an unspecified “change in the balance of the government’s proof due to a classification determination,” according to a nine-page filing accompanied by facts under seal. Prosecutors also cited the failure of the company, Concord Management and Consulting, to comply with trial subpoenas and the submission of a “misleading, at best” affidavit by Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a co-defendant and the company’s founder. Prigozhin is a catering magnate and military contractor known as “Putin’s chef” because of his ties to Russian President Vladi­mir Putin. Facebook’s misinformation problem is rooted in its business model: data-targeted ads and algorithmically optimized content. In a new report, researchers at Ranking Digital Rights lay out a prescription for fixing the company. Here’s a good interview with one of the report’s co-authors. (Russell Brandom / The Verge) ⭐Zoom has become the place where we work, go to school and party these days. And while the company was prepared to grow when the coronavirus started to spread, nothing could have prepared it to become a cultural phenomenon. Here’s Taylor Lorenz at The New York Times: A Facebook group for young people trapped at home called Zoom Memes for Self Quaranteens, founded less than a week ago, has already grown to more than 150,000 members. College students across the country are going on Zoom blind dates. Parents of sixth-graders at Rosenbaum Yeshiva Of North Jersey organized a Zoom “recess” for their children. Ethel’s Club, a wellness platform, is conducting Zoom tarot card readings, breath work and cannabis hangouts. It is a high-stakes moment for Zoom, which was founded in 2011 by Eric Yuan, a former Cisco Systems executive. Its sudden cultural cachet also brings new concerns over privacy, security, content moderation, safety for young people and sensitivity to the seriousness of the pandemic. There’s also the tiny matter of keeping the service up and running. A day in the life of a bike messenger who rides for DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Postmates, in the time of coronavirus. “I thought I’d be getting fat-ass tips. I’m not getting fat-ass tips,” he said. People — the time to give fat-ass tips is now. (Matt DeCaro / Vice) Sleep gadgets—like the Oura ring worn by Jack Dorsey — are everywhere. My main takeaway here is that Dorsey is still sleeping very well. (Ruth Reader / Fast Company) Nintendo’s online services temporarily went down. It could be a reflection of high demand during the pandemic. (Michael McWhertor / Polygon) Facebook’s Oculus Quest is getting a major UI overhaul that the company says represents “a step toward VR becoming the next computing platform.” (Sam Byford / The Verge) Cameo turned D-list celebrities into an addictive monetization machine by allowing them to charge for shout-outs. Now, people pay them anywhere from $5 to $2,500 to send short videos, delivered via text or email. And you can do it from home. The perfect pandemic business! (Patrick J. Sauer / Marker) Stuff to occupy you online during the quarantine. Browse this list of projects that can help with the COVID-19 response. It’s geared toward software engineers, but anyone can make a contribution. Designers and product managers would also probably be useful here. As well as anyone who can donate. Give Local. Support a local business by buying a gift card online. Lots to choose from in San Francisco, Austin, Chicago, New York, and more. Save Our Faves is a similar idea focused on San Francisco from Mike and Kaitlyn Krieger. (You may remember Mike from such previous projects as Instagram.) Here are 450 free Ivy League courses you can take at home. Get smart while you pass the time! Make one of these toasts. A definitive ranked list by a former Verge staffer. Play Kingdom Rush Frontiers (iOS and Android) and Kingdom Rush Origins (iOS and Android), two of the best tower-defense strategy games ever made. I have spent days of my life playing this game, and now they’re free for a week. Subscribe to Shudder, a streaming service for horror movies. It’s free for the next 30 days. Distract yourself from terror with a more entertaining form of terror! If you're going to the hospital for a covid-19 test make sure you bring with you a valid form of identification along with a printout of your IMDB page and/or your Basketball Reference stats Send us tips, comments, questions, and ways to pass the time indoors: [email protected] and [email protected].

https://www.theverge.com/interface/2020/3/18/21183549/coronavirus-content-moderators-facebook-google-twitter

The Interface

The Verge

2020-03-18 00:00:00

2020

3.0

18

Chaim Gartenberg

Sony reveals full PS5 hardware specifications

After months of anticipation and drips of details, Sony has finally revealed the specifications and hardware details for the PlayStation 5, its next-generation home console that’s planned for release this holiday season. The PS5 will feature a custom eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU clocked at 3.5GHz (variable frequency) and a custom GPU based on AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture hardware that promises 10.28 teraflops and 36 compute units clocked at 2.23GHz (also variable frequency). It’ll also have 16GB of GDDR6 RAM and a custom 825GB SSD that Sony has previously promised will offer super-fast loading times in gameplay, via Eurogamer. One of the biggest technical updates in the PS5 was already announced last year: a switch to SSD storage for the console’s main hard drive, which Sony says will result in dramatically faster load times. A previous demo showed Spider-Man loading levels in less than a second on the PS5, compared to the roughly eight seconds it took on a PS4. PlayStation hardware lead Mark Cerny dove into some of the details about those SSD goals at the announcement. Where it took a PS4 around 20 seconds to load a single gigabyte of data, the goal with the PS5’s SSD was to enable loading five gigabytes of data in a single second. The PS5 won’t just be limited to that SSD, though. It’ll have support for USB hard drives, too, but those slower expandable storage options are designed mostly for backward-compatible PS4 games. It’ll also feature a previously announced 4K Blu-ray drive and will still support discs, but those games will still require installation to the internal SSD. The custom SSD inside uses a standard NVMe SSD, allowing for future upgrades, but you’ll still need an SSD that can meet Sony’s high-spec standards here — at least 5.5GB/s. For a quick comparison, the recently revealed Xbox Series X — Microsoft’s competing next-gen console — appears to beat out Sony’s efforts on raw numbers, despite the fact that both consoles are effectively based on the same AMD processor and graphics architectures. Microsoft’s console, however, will offer an eight-core processor at 3.8GHz, a GPU with 12 teraflops and 52 compute units each clocked at 1.825GHz, 16GB of GDDR6 RAM, and a 1TB SSD. In a major difference, though, Sony’s CPU and GPU will be running at variable frequencies — where the frequency that the hardware runs at will vary based on CPU and GPU demand (allowing for, say, unused CPU power to be shifted to the GPU, allowing for Sony’s higher maximum speed there). That does mean that, eventually, when more demanding games do arrive in the coming years, the CPU and GPU won’t always hit those 3.5GHz and 2.23GHz numbers, but Cerny tells Eurogamer that he expects downclocking to be minor when it does happen. Sony has already announced a fair amount of technical details about the PlayStation 5 over the past few months in a trickle of smaller announcements. The company is already promising that the new hardware will add support for both 8K gaming as well as 4K gaming at 120Hz. There’s also a plan to add “3D audio” for more immersive sound, an optional low power consumption mode to save energy, and backwards compatibility with PS4 titles.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/18/21183181/sony-ps5-playstation-5-specs-details-hardware-processor-8k-ray-tracing

Gaming

The Verge

2020-03-18 00:00:00

2020

3.0

18

Loren Grush

Space startup Lynk uses satellite to send text message to unmodified Android phone

An aerospace startup that plans to launch thousands of satellite “cell towers” into space says it has successfully sent a text message to a common Android smartphone using one of its satellites in orbit. The company claims it’s the first time a text message has ever been sent to an unmodified mobile phone from space, and it demonstrates the technology needed to provide global cellphone connectivity from orbit. The company behind the breakthrough space text is called Lynk, which used to go by the name UbiquitiLink. Lynk is one of several space companies at the moment planning on building a constellation of thousands of satellites to provide some kind of connectivity to individuals on the ground. But rather than provide broadband internet coverage, Lynk is focused on providing cell service for the average mobile phone with its satellites, without the need for customers to provide any extra hardware. “No one ever in human history has used a satellite to send a message directly to an unmodified mobile phone on the ground,” Charles Miller, co-founder and CEO of Lynk, tells The Verge. In order to get service from a satellite now, people have to either buy a specialized satellite phone or purchase an accessory that allows a typical smartphone to connect to a vehicle in orbit. The Lynk team say they have developed software for their satellites that “tricks” the average cellphone into connecting with the vehicles orbiting overhead whenever the phone is out of range of a regular cell tower. To test out this technology, Lynk launched its third test payload to the International Space Station in December aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Astronauts on board the ISS then attached the payload to a Cygnus cargo spacecraft on the outside of the station. The Cygnus detached from the ISS on January 31st and has lingered in orbit ever since, allowing the Lynk team to test out their technology. And on February 24th, Lynk sent its first text with the payload, a message that read “This is a test” (though the first three letters were actually cut off in the message for some reason). It was received by an Android phone located on the Falkland Islands while the Cygnus capsule passed overhead. Miller says it was a crucial technology demonstration that allows Lynk to move forward in building out its constellation. “We think if we can get the regulators to sign off, and with the support of our mobile network partners, there’s no reason tactically that we can’t implement the first global services by the end of the year,” says Miller. The plan is to start launching Lynk’s mini-satellites, which weigh about 55 pounds (25 kilograms) and will orbit at about 310 miles (500 kilometers) high. The company is capable of providing commercial services with just a few dozen satellites, but to provide 4G coverage, Lynk will need to launch thousands of its small vehicles. Numerous concerns have been raised about the kinds of impacts these constellations will have on the space environment, but Miller says Lynk’s footprint will be smaller than other constellations as its satellites are fairly tiny. Miller’s aim with Lynk is to essentially turn all existing mobile phones into satellite phones, without requiring consumers to purchase any extra add-ons. Instead, existing mobile network operators would buy this capability from Lynk and provide it in their purchase plans to customers — making it a seamless process for the average mobile phone user. It’s this strategy that sets Lynk apart from other mega-constellation operators, such as SpaceX or OneWeb. In order to patch into those mega-constellations, customers will need to buy special equipment called “user terminals” to receive signal relays from the satellites. With Lynk, the mobile phone is the user terminal, says Miller. Despite these differences, Miller says Lynk isn’t in direct competition with these other mega-constellations or even conventional cellular networks. The goal is to provide global cell service whenever a person is out of range of all these other options. “When you walk away from the Wi-Fi in your home or that [user terminal] antenna and you’re disconnected, then you’ll use us,” says Miller. “So we supplement everything that they don’t cover.” But just like other mega-constellations, Lynk’s goal is the same: provide connectivity to the world, especially areas where people are out of range of cell towers or don’t have many connectivity options. “You’re talking instantly 5 billion customers who need your service in some amount — some more, some less,” says Miller. One major goal of Lynk is to provide “Everyone Everywhere Emergency” alerts to anyone on the globe, warning people of potential disasters such as tsunamis, hurricanes, and more. Ultimately, Miller argues what Lynk is doing is more critical than racing to 5G. “What we’re doing is really bringing connectivity to more than a billion people who have zero connectivity; that’s life altering,” he says. “We think that’s a really big deal — as big or a bigger deal than 5G.”

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/18/21184126/lynk-mega-constellation-text-message-android-smartphone-cell-towers-space

Science

The Verge

2020-03-18 00:00:00

2020

3.0

18

Nick Statt

Sony says the PlayStation 5’s SSD will completely change next-gen level design

Sony’s “Road to PS5” live stream featuring system architect Mark Cerny kicked off today, and we’re learning a great deal about the technical jump the upcoming PlayStation 5 will allow for game developers. The beginning of the talk was focused solely on the new console’s solid-state drive (SSD), specifically, the commercial 825GB M.2 SSDs that Sony says will hit speeds of 5.5GB of input data per second, and much more of compressed data. What does all that mean for players and game developers? Well, Cerny is saying it means the PS5’s input-output speed will get 100 times faster, and that will change everything from load times to level design. In particular, Cerny said that the new SSD in the PS5 won’t just make it so you never have to wait at a blank screen again; that’s a given because of the architecture of SSD compared to hard disk drives that allow an SSD to seek and pull data on the drive almost instantaneously. Going further, Cerny added, the SSD will completely change how developers think about a game is created. “The primary reason for an ultra-fast SSD is that it gives the game designer freedom. Or to put that differently, with a hard drive, the 20 seconds it takes to load a gigabyte can sabotage the game the developer is trying to create,” Cerny said. “Say we’re making an adventure game, and we have two rich environments where we each want enough textures and models to fill memory, which you can do as long as you have a long staircase or elevator ride or a windy corridor where you can ditch the old assets and then take 30 seconds or so to load the new assets.” Cerny says most modern game developers more realistically “chop the world into a number of smaller pieces” to avoid those extra-long elevator rides. But the end result is that you have levels designed with twisty passages and long, repetitive environments that are there solely to account for load times and to avoid kicking the player to a black screen. Cerny cites Haven City in the classic adventure game Jak 2. “The game is 20 years old, but not much has changed since then. All those twisty passages are there for a reason. There’s a whole subset of level design dedicated to this world, but still, it’s a giant distraction for a team that just wants to make their game,” Cerny explained. “What if the SSD is so fast that, as the player is turning around, it’s possible to load textures for everything behind the player in that split second? If you figure that it takes half a second to turn, that’s four gigabytes of compressed data you can load.” Everyone who’s played a video game over the last two decades has experienced the situation Cerny is talking about — the long elevator rides or the windy passages. And it’s interesting to think that all of that has likely been deliberate to account for large files loading and being kicked off memory to make room for new ones. And for files that are simply too large, like in the case of fast traveling, well... we’ve seen what that means: the blank screen or, as Cerny put it, the “Spider-Man riding the subway” segments of PS4 exclusive Marvel’s Spider-Man. So the idea that an SSD will be enabling this much of a jump is rather exciting. It means game developers can totally rethink level design and all of the corner-cutting and compromises they have to make just to ensure the player isn’t sitting doing nothing for many seconds or even minutes at a time. The concept of loading entirely new levels in less than a second means that the next consoles due out this fall — Microsoft’s Xbox Series X will also have an SSD — will truly feel like the ushering in of a new generation.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/18/21185356/sony-ps5-playstation-5-ssd-load-times-mark-cerny-developer-gdc

Gaming

The Verge

2020-03-18 00:00:00

2020

3.0

18

Dieter Bohn

Big tech is getting ready to talk about new products again

As we settle in to the new reality of a locked-down, socially distant world, big tech is getting ready to start talking — and maybe even releasing — new consumer tech products. We’ve got rumors of the new flagship Motorola phone, a new speaker operating system from Sonos, and more. Sony’s also going to try to one-up Microsoft’s recent Xbox Series X specs reveal with a “deep dive” today. It all feels a little tentative, nobody really knows yet what’s going to happen when days cooped inside turn into weeks and — in all likelihood — months. Will bored people buy more gadgets? Will everybody blink and hold their releases for sometime in the future, when things seem a little more predictable? I don’t know the answer and the question is far, far, far from being the most important one right now. But as time goes on, we’ll start to see a bunch of companies take a shot at answering it anyway. I’d say it will be instructive to see how they announce their products, but we’re all so far into uncharted territory here that it’ll be impossible to know what’s a one-off and what’s a precedent. Settle in and find yourself a multi-hour video of animals in nature to put on your TV (we’ve got some suggestions below). Here’s yesterday’s biggest tech stories. Dieter You’re reading Processor, a newsletter about computers by Dieter Bohn. Dieter writes about consumer tech, software, and the most important news of the day from The Verge. This newsletter delivers “mostly daily,” which nets out three to four times a week, some of which include longer columns. You can subscribe to Processor and learn more about it here. Processor is also a YouTube series with the same goal: providing smart and surprising analysis with a bit of humor. Subscribe to all of The Verge’s great videos here! ┏ Sony to reveal new PS5 details in a ‘deep dive’ today. It starts at 9am PT / noon ET. ┏ Sonos will release a new app and operating system for its speakers in June. Chris Welch details the new system. The big big question for me is Dolby Atmos, and while this update may make it more likely, Sonos still acts like saying the world “Dolby” out loud will summon a demon. Switching to a new OS will result in expanded capabilities, according to Sonos. Sonos S2 will allow for higher-resolution audio, whereas, right now, the company’s speakers are limited to CD-quality lossless audio. The revamped software underpinnings could let Sonos go hi-fi in the same way as Amazon’s Echo Studio. It could also finally result in Sonos adopting Dolby Atmos for home theater sound in the next Playbar, Playbase, or Beam. ┏ New leak is the clearest look yet at the Motorola Edge Plus. A much better look, and “it confirms some previous details such as the 108-megapixel camera, curved hole-punch display, and 3.5mm headphone jack,” Jon Porter notes. The headphone jack is back, baby! I’m more worried about that 108-megapixel sensor, though, given my experience with the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. If Samsung couldn’t wrangle the new sensor into focusing quickly, I’m not sure Motorola can, either. ┏ Fox buys Tubi for $440 million as it attempts to join the streaming wars. 25 million subscribers! I would have guessed a third of that at best. No wonder it cost that much. The company is also looking to expand the type of content that Tubi can provide to subscribers through national and local news, alongside sports programming. Tubi is not going to suddenly get into the originals business. Essentially, don’t think of it as a competitor to Disney Plus, Netflix, Apple TV Plus, or Hulu. ┏ Google Translate’s real time transcription feature is out now for Android. This is a genuinely important feature, even if it is arriving just in time for nobody to use it because nobody can travel. ┏ The reMarkable 2 promises a better giant E Ink tablet. Really great concept and really great feature set. Unfortunately, still not a really great price, $399. That’s $100 cheaper than the first one, but still more expensive than an entry-level iPad and an Apple Pencil. I love E Ink, but I don’t know if I love it that much. ┏ Samsung’s PC-to-phone game streaming service will shut down later this month. Samsung really wants to build its own ecosystem of services, but this absolutely is not the company’s core competency. I don’t know what essential service Samsung could provide that isn’t better handled by Google or Microsoft or Dropbox or ...whomever... but this definitely ain’t it. ┏ Movies Anywhere’s new Screen Pass feature will let you loan your digital movies to friends. Unfortunately, you can’t actually do anything with this yet, but being able to lend movies like this will be a boon when it sees wide release. Strangely, it doesn’t look like they’ve created a system so your family can actually see what you have in your library. ...Which severely limits the utility of this program, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s by design. It’s such an obvious feature, leaving it out feels intentional. For $30, you can support organizations that are helping to supply those fighting on the front lines against the novel coronavirus. That $30 gets you a bunch of good games, including Into The Breach, Hollow Knight, Undertale, Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, The Witness, Superhot, and several other titles. The ebooks cover a range of topics like mindfulness and coping, as well as Saga Volume 1, The Boys Volume 1, along with a few more digital comics. The pack even includes crosswords and Music Maker EDM Edition, so you can make some beats while you’re at home. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy. Prices displayed are based on the MSRP at time of posting. ┏ Fortnite has helicopters now. ┏ Soothing live animal webcams to watch while you’re stuck at home. I realized this morning that I’m a complete idiot because I’ve been sitting in a room with a big blank TV all day every day and I could have been WATCHING OTTERS FROLIC. ┏ Popcorn Time, the once-popular Netflix for piracy, is back. ┏ Here’s a list of games you can grab and save some money in the process. ┏ Nintendo just announced a bunch of new indie games are coming to the Switch. ┏ ...Pray this doesn’t happen again: Nintendo’s Switch Online service went down for a bit yesterday. Nintendo! If this happens again during the Animal Crossing launch there will be... well actually there won’t be anything but complaining about it on Twitter since we can’t leave our homes. ┏ Coronavirus testing shouldn’t be this complicated. Nicole Wetsman gets very deep into the various methods of testing for a virus. In theory, a fast bedside test is possible. In practice, well, read her piece — it’s going to be a lot of work to get there. ┏ European Union closes all external borders for 30 days. ┏ Apple will keep its retail stores outside China closed indefinitely. ┏ Tesla told to shut down California factory to help fight the coronavirus. ┏ Israel is using cellphone data to track the coronavirus. Unprecedented times, unprecedented measures. Still, I would feel better about this if it were some kind of citizen opt-in thing. Way better. The agency has permission to use the data, which the Shin Bet has collected from Israeli carriers since at least 2002, for the next 30 days. By directing individuals who may have come into contact with the virus to quarantine themselves immediately via text message, the government could greatly speed up the isolation process. The agency has not made public precisely what data it collects, but experts told the Times that the Israeli government can use it to track almost anyone’s location. ┏ FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel on staying connected during a pandemic. It’s good that broadband providers are lifting data caps, but those caps really shouldn’t have been there in the first place. These things are good, but the bottom line is: I don’t want us to just rely on their generosity. We need a nationwide plan for addressing the digital divide. I like their kindness. I want to clap for it. I want to support it. But I think, as a nation, we need a policy that addresses how we’re going to connect all of us. What are the plans we want in place to make sure it happens?

https://www.theverge.com/tech/2020/3/18/21184729/sony-ps5-sonos-new-app-motorola-rumors

Tech

The Verge

2020-03-18 00:00:00

2020

3.0

18

Jacob Kastrenakes

Apple’s new iPad Pro keyboard with trackpad will cost up to $349

Apple just announced a new generation of iPad Pros, and along with them, a brand-new style of keyboard that looks like the closest equivalent to a laptop keyboard yet. The new keyboard is called the “Magic Keyboard,” and it has three key standouts: a hinge that lets you adjust the viewing angle, a trackpad, and a USB-C port. This is the first time that any of those things has appeared on an official iPad keyboard from Apple, and some of them are long-awaited. The keyboard supports the newest generation of the iPad Pro and the generation before it since it relies on the newly positioned Smart Connector along the back to charge and communicate with the device. It’s also a lot more expensive than prior keyboards: $299 for the 11-inch model (up from $179 for the Smart Keyboard Folio) and $349 for the 12.9-inch model (up from $199 for the larger Smart Keyboard Folio). The Smart Keyboard Folio remains compatible with the latest iPad models for those looking for a cheaper keyboard. The new model will be available starting in May. Apple has been using the Smart Keyboard name on all of its refreshed keyboards, and this one likewise has a scissor mechanism design. They’re also backlit and have 1mm of key travel. The hinge allows the iPad to be adjusted 130 degrees, whereas previous keyboards and cases usually allowed for just two positions. The iPad appears to float up in the air at many of the angles, rather than resting just behind the keyboard. There’s also a USB-C port built into the keyboard that can be used for charging the iPad. It appears to be built into the left side of the hinge. That means iPad Pro owners using the Smart Keyboard will have two available USB-C ports, whereas the iPad has traditionally only had one. Trackpad support will arrive in iPadOS 13.4. Apple began adding mouse support last year, but it was fairly basic at launch and tucked away as an accessibility option. It looks like it’s now been further built out and made a core part of the OS. Altogether, the trackpad and multiangle keyboard help turn the iPad Pro into something far closer to a laptop than prior generations. It’s also, notably, a lot more like a Microsoft Surface. We’ll see how it fares as a competitor when the keyboard launches in a couple of months. Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro (2020) The image above comes from one of Apple’s new ads, which shows off a bit of how the Smart Keyboard works in practice: Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/18/21184929/apple-magic-keyboard-ipad-pro-trackpad-hinge-price-release-date

Apple

The Verge

2020-03-18 00:00:00

2020

3.0

18

Andrew J. Hawkins

Coronavirus shows there’s still no such thing as a totally human-free self-driving car

Autonomous vehicles were supposed to make human drivers obsolete. But the coronavirus pandemic is exposing how a technology designed to be human-free still relies on a large workforce of contract laborers at almost every level. The Verge reached out to 10 autonomous vehicle developers to find out what they were doing in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Almost all of them said they would be grounding their fleets for at least several weeks as they monitor the spread of the virus. But the fate of human backup drivers who ride around in the vehicles is less certain. The vast majority of safety drivers aren’t actually employed by the companies that build and test self-driving cars. Instead, these companies rely on staffing agencies to fill those roles, putting some legal space between the companies and their drivers. Seven of the companies told The Verge they would continue to pay drivers while testing was suspended. But some drivers say they are worried about the long-term security of their jobs — despite working with technology that ultimately aims to put them out of a job. “We’re working class people, what’re we supposed to do?” said one driver who has worked for three different self-driving car companies over the past few years. “You think we’d be working for less than $50,000 a year if we didn’t have to?” The deciding factor for companies testing in the Bay Area, when it came to shutting down, was San Francisco’s “shelter in place” order that bans nonessential transportation. But even those testing their vehicles in other cities have said they will halt operations for at least the next few weeks. It’s a stark reminder that even those companies that are aiming to develop human-free driving systems are still vulnerable to a pandemic — because their systems rely on human workers, from backup drivers to remote operators, at almost every level. The temporary shutdown won’t affect the development process for self-driving cars, especially since most companies are able to continue testing in simulation, said Sam Abuelsamid, principal analyst at Navigant Research. The real impact will be on the hundreds of human workers who enable the cars to be tested publicly every day. “This is likely to last more than a few weeks and like many other workers in food, retail and other businesses they are going to be hurting,” Abuelsamid said. Here is how each company is responding to the virus: On Tuesday, Waymo said it would be pausing its robotaxi service in Arizona, which serves around 1,500 customers in the suburbs outside Phoenix. The Alphabet subsidiary also said it would halt testing with human safety drivers in Mountain View, California. Its fully driverless vehicles, which operate within a 500-square-mile service area, will continue to pick up and drop off some passengers. And the dispatchers who monitor those vehicles from a remote facility are still expected to come into work, though a Waymo spokesperson told The Information that their workstations will be spaced apart to account for social distancing. Waymo will also continue to test its self-driving trucks and operate its pilot delivery service, Waymo Via, in the Phoenix area. Waymo’s full-time employees are being encouraged to work from home, except for those whose jobs are deemed “business critical.” A majority of the company’s safety drivers, who are employed by French transit staffing company Transdev, are also being told to stay home. Transdev said they will continue to be paid for up to two weeks during the shutdown, according to an email obtained by The Verge. Some drivers are still doing their routes in Arizona, which hasn’t issued a “shelter in place” rule. And anyone feeling ill is recommended to stay home and collect paid sick time. As The Verge has previously reported, tension is high between Waymo and its third-party safety drivers since the company signed a contract with Transdev last year. Vacation time was cut, health insurance didn’t improve, and issues of workplace safety went unaddressed, according to a half-dozen workers who spoke to The Verge for a story last month. And just last week, drivers said they were increasingly nervous about picking up passengers amid the growing coronavirus pandemic, and that the outbreak is exposing divisions between drivers and full-time employees at the Google spinoff. “I’m worried,” one driver said. “Anyone providing services to one of the richest and most valuable companies in the world shouldn’t have to think about those things.” Cruise has the largest fleet of self-driving cars in the Bay Area: 233 vehicles registered with the state DMV. The majority-owned subsidiary of General Motors said on Tuesday that it would shut down its testing operation for three weeks in response to the outbreak. Safety drivers, who are employed by a staffing firm called Aerotek, would be fully paid during the shutdown, a spokesperson said. In line with guidance from public health officials, we've suspended operations & closed all San Francisco facilities with a plan to reopen in 3 weeks. AV test operators will be fully-paid for any days they would've worked during this period. -@ArdenMHoffman1, Chief People Officer Unlike Waymo, Cruise isn’t available to the public, though it does conduct a ride-hailing pilot for Cruise employees. Full-time workers are being advised to work from home. Zoox, a self-driving startup valued at $3.2 billion, said it is halting its testing in San Francisco and Las Vegas until April 7th. Initially, some of the company’s drivers, who work for a staffing company called Experis, were under the impression they would be out of work during that period, according to chats viewed by The Verge. One driver said they reached out to their Experis representative about the shutdown and received a link to information about unemployment insurance in response. But after being contacted for comment by The Verge, Zoox claims there was a miscommunication and that all backup drivers will be paid during the three-week shutdown. A spokesperson denied that drivers were originally told they wouldn’t be paid. “As always, the safety and health of our team and the community are paramount. Therefore, in accordance with the Public Health Order, we have suspended all vehicle operations in San Francisco and Las Vegas, until April 7,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “Our drivers will continue to be paid during this time. Along with everyone else, we will continue to evaluate this challenging situation as it evolves.” Argo, the self-driving startup backed by Ford and Volkswagen, does most of its testing in Pittsburgh, Miami, Detroit, and Washington, DC. The company said it would halt on-road testing in all locations, though it declined to say for how long. “Argo AI places the highest priority on ensuring our employees and contractors have a safe, secure and healthy work environment,” a spokesperson said. “While we have not experienced significant impact due to the coronavirus, we have taken steps to allow work from home — including pausing vehicle testing operations — at all our locations. We continue to monitor the situation and will adjust plans accordingly.” Argo initially declined to say whether its backup drivers would be paid during the shutdown, but when pressed by The Verge, the spokesperson said: “Our safety operators are going on paid leave, effective tomorrow, and we’ll continue to monitor the situation and adjust accordingly.” What happens beyond these next few weeks is anyone’s guess. Abuelsamid said the recent announcement that Waymo had raised over $2 billion in outside cash is likely to be the last major funding news for a while, given the economic uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus. “AV startups will be hurting, but more from lack of revenue and funding opportunities going forward,” he said. “Even some of the bigger AV companies like Zoox could have a problem. They are currently trying raise a new round and I suspect it’s going to be very challenging.” Update March 19th, 8:55AM ET: Added information about Nuro, Aptiv, and Lyft.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/18/21183421/self-driving-cars-coronavirus-covid19-human-drivers-waymo-cruise-zoox

Google

The Verge

2020-03-18 00:00:00

2020

3.0

18

Makena Kelly

Bernie Sanders is pioneering the virtual campaign rally

The audience for Bernie Sanders’ rally Monday night trickled in slowly, like it does for most of his music festival-like events. Concert-style rallies have been a signature Sanders tactic throughout the campaign, drawing in young voters with acts like Vampire Weekend and Bon Iver — but the coronavirus outbreak has made that tactic unusually risky. Still, he had no trouble drawing a crowd on Monday night, as campaign surrogates made speeches lauding Sanders and his campaign’s work. Neil Young delivered a solo guitar-and-harmonica set before introducing Sanders, who was prepared to speak to his supporters about the pandemic that’s upending every inch of our daily lives. It was the usual Bernie playbook, with one exception: the entire event took place online. Monday night’s Sanders rally wasn’t held in any one physical space, instead taking place in the Sanders video studios and in Neil Young’s own home, on phone, tablet, and computer screens across the country. It was a prerecorded program featuring music and political messages that streamed live on nearly every platform, including Facebook, Periscope, and Twitch. That way, Sanders could reach people exactly where they are right now — at home. “I don’t have to tell anybody that we’re living in a very unprecedented and strange moment in the history of our country,” Sanders said in his speech Monday night. “It may be a time to rethink our value system, to rethink many of the systems that we operate under.” As social distancing rules trickle into effect across the country, political campaigns have faced hard choices, canceled rallies, and even chaotic election delays. But campaigns are also learning new ways to reach their supporters and grow their base — tricks that will be sorely needed in the months to come. No one knows precisely how long people will be asked to keep their social distance, but if online campaigning becomes routine, candidates across the country will need a new kind of online strategy to carry them to victory. Both Sanders and Biden have held virtual campaign events over the past week, but their approaches couldn’t be more different. Even before the pandemic hit, Sanders was campaigning through nontraditional means, using a mix of social media platforms, Twitch live shows, and podcast appearances. Now, all of Sanders’ campaign events, including Monday night’s live-streamed rally or Friday’s tele-town hall, are taking place online. Biden’s team is leaning into the former vice president’s rapport with supporters, putting him on Zoom calls so he can speak one-on-one with them. But they’re playing catch up to Sanders, who has been working these platforms since the beginning. These differences in approach were on full display over the past few days as both candidates held their first virtual town halls since the coronavirus disrupted political and civil life. The Sanders team brought theirs live on nearly every platform, including Facebook, Periscope, and Twitch. On Twitch, they topped out every other streamer in the “Just Chatting” category and ranked as the second most popular feed on the platform that night by the end of the event. Left-wing streamers like Hasan Piker and Mychal “Trihex” Jefferson recast the stream, too, providing their own commentary and thousands of additional viewers. They took questions from comment sections and Twitch chat, giving them an opportunity to vet them before they were asked. Biden’s Zoom call was meant to be more intimate, but like so many video conferences, the call was marred with technical hiccups, including messy audio feedback that made it impossible to understand the candidate. “Mr. Biden’s speech was garbled the entire time,” the first questioner said before staff moved on to the next question. Staff didn’t vet questioners before they spoke, giving them free rein to ask or say whatever they wanted like in real life. As more candidates move to telepresence, inexperience could mean events that look more like Biden’s Zoom call than Sanders’ jam session. “No one has cracked the code on how to move in-real-life events and activities over to the digital realm with the same impact,” said David Goldstein, the CEO of Tovo Labs, a progressive digital consulting firm. “What you should be seeing are the Biden and Sanders campaigns aggressively trying a multitude of tactics and evaluating which one of those is most effective.” For the Sanders campaign, these online live shows are familiar territory. Even in his 2016 presidential campaign, Sanders’ staff live-streamed their events in the physical world on Facebook, taped conversations with Medicare for All advocates, and held online town halls after Trump was elected president. The result is a campaign team that’s comfortable with online gatherings — and supporters who are used to tuning in. “We did it and got pretty good numbers,” Josh Miller-Lewis, creative and digital communications director for the Sanders campaign, told The Verge. “Ever since, we’ve been live-streaming pretty much every single event and launched our own shows from the studio in addition to the rallies.” The Sanders approach goes beyond streaming. The campaign hosts an active Slack server of nearly 70,000 volunteers and organizers, where campaign workers can shoot out links and graphics for supporters to share online. The campaign also distributes sample messaging and mobilizes volunteers for phone and text-banking shifts. That’s useful during a normal campaign, but now that traditional door-knocking isn’t an option, it could be a vital skill for other campaigns to learn for the general election. Earlier this month, the Sanders campaign told supporters to make their own volunteer events virtual to protect them from the virus. Staff and organizers provided them with a document explaining how to do so and listed examples of the best platforms for congregating with other volunteers to phone or text-bank together while staying at home. Sanders has even started a TikTok account. The campaign put out a call last week for supporters to send in memes and videos to be featured on the account. “If Bernie starts to do dances on TikTok, that’s not who Bernie is. Like the ‘chilling in Cedar Rapids,’ you never see Bernie do that,” Miller-Lewis said. “So using TikTok in a way that engages with people where they are but also doing it in a way that’s true to Bernie is important.” The rallies haven’t solved all of the Sanders campaign’s problems. Tuesday night, the campaign received disappointing primary results for the third week in a row. “Sen. Sanders is going to be having conversations with supporters to assess his campaign,” Faiz Shakir, the Bernie 2020 campaign manager, said in a statement Wednesday. But if the pandemic keeps spreading through the general election — as many experts expect it to — those rallies could provide a crucial blueprint for campaigns across the country, if not the world. For Democrats, in particular, that means learning from the unorthodox online rallies of the past week, and fast. “A smart campaign would be investing heavily in testing and experimentation right now,” Goldstein said. “I think it’s a terrible idea for any campaign to have a ‘one way or the highway’ approach to this.”

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/18/21185288/coronavirus-pandemic-bernie-sanders-joe-biden-live-streams-twitch-trihex-campaign-virtual-town-hall

Policy

The Verge

2020-03-18 00:00:00

2020

3.0

18

Tom Warren

PS5 vs. Xbox Series X: a complicated battle of SSD and GPU speeds

Sony has finally unveiled its PlayStation 5 specs today, and there are some surprisingly big differences between the PS5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X. Both consoles are still arriving at the end of the year, and we’re now starting to get a better idea of what both Microsoft and Sony have prioritized for next-gen games. Sony has picked different CPU, GPU, and even SSD speeds that will impact how next-gen games are developed for the PS5 and Xbox Series X. On the PS5 side, the console has eight AMD-based Zen 2 cores clocked at 3.5GHz each, compared to eight AMD-based Zen 2 cores clocked at 3.8GHz each on the Xbox Series X. With simultaneous multithreading (SMT) enabled on the Xbox Series X, Microsoft’s CPU cores drop to 3.6GHz each, so the difference here seems relatively minor on paper. It’s the GPU and SSD sides where the PS5 and Xbox Series X really differ. Sony has opted for a custom AMD RDNA 2-based GPU inside the PS5, which provides 10.28 teraflops of power with 36 compute units running at 2.23GHz each. Microsoft has picked a custom AMD RDNA 2-based GPU for the Xbox Series X, but it can hit 12 teraflops of power with 52 compute units at 1.825GHz each. Sony is using variable frequencies on both the CPU and GPU, which we’d normally refer as to boost clocks on PCs. It’s slightly different, though. In an interview with Eurogamer, Sony PS5 system architect Mark Cerny reveals the console has a set power budget that’s tied to the thermal limits of the system. That means the PS5 performance will vary depending on how much it’s being pushed by games. Sony is hoping that by offering developers less compute units running at a variable (and higher) clock rate, the company will be able to extract better performance out of the PS5. The reality is that it will require developers to do more work to optimize games for the console until we can find out how it compares to the (more powerful on paper) Xbox Series X. Storage is where the Xbox Series X and PS5 differ radically. Sony has created an impressive proprietary SSD solution that provides 825GB of storage and 5.5GB/s of performance. The Xbox Series X includes a custom 1TB NVME SSD, but its raw throughput is less than half at 2.4GB/s. That could mean load times differ massively between the PS5 and Xbox Series X, depending on what game developers optimize for. Sony is also allowing PS5 owners to expand storage with regular NVMe PC drives, but there’s a slight caveat. We’re still waiting to see PCIe 4.0-based drives that will match the bandwidth of what Sony has implemented in the PS5, and compatibility could be complex given that Sony will need to validate that drives will be fast enough and compatible with the PS5. Sony’s expansion does mean that PS5 owners should be able to pick up a fast PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive and increase the storage of the console with relative ease. Microsoft is using a proprietary expansion card format for the Xbox Series X, and it has partnered with Seagate to produce 1TB expansion cards for launch. We still don’t know the price of these proprietary cards, nor how much fast PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives will cost later this year. Sony hasn’t revealed any further details about the software side of the PS5 today, nor how games will take advantage of the promised real-time ray tracing. On the Microsoft side, we’ve seen a demonstration of Quick Resume that lets you quickly switch between Xbox Series X games even after the console has been rebooted for a system update. We’re also still waiting to see what the PS5 actually looks like. Sony continues to keep the design of the console a closely guarded secret, while Microsoft provided a first look at the Xbox Series X last year. Microsoft also revealed the exact dimensions of the Series X earlier this week. Ultimately, how the next-gen console competition will pan out will depend greatly on two things: games and price. Sony took an early lead in PS4 sales thanks to being priced $100 less than the Xbox One. Microsoft has committed to not making that mistake again with the Xbox Series X, but neither company has provided any hints at pricing just yet. Games and the underlying ecosystem will define the success of the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Sony has had a run of great exclusives on the PS4, and the momentum has left the Xbox One struggling. We’re still waiting to hear what types of games will be available at launch for both the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Microsoft has committed to launching Halo Infinite alongside the Series X, but it will also be available on PC. Microsoft’s answer to games may come in the form of Xbox Game Pass and its subscription strategy. It’s clear Microsoft has been pursuing a Netflix-style game service, and the company is even planning to tie Xbox Game Pass and xCloud game streaming together later this year. Microsoft has also been acquiring studios to create exclusive Xbox games, but there won’t be any exclusive first-party Xbox Series X games at launch. How game developers respond to the power of both consoles will be important in the coming months. Games need to make use of this new power, especially for load times, frame rates, and real-time ray tracing. We’ve only seen tech demos of how load speeds will work so far, but even if existing games get a big boost to performance, that might be a big enough selling point alone. It’s now all eyes on the months ahead as game developers prepare to unveil next-gen titles that will really show what the PS5 and Xbox Series X are capable of.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/18/21185141/ps5-playstation-5-xbox-series-x-comparison-specs-features-release-date

Gaming

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Andrew J. Hawkins

Uber is doing 70 percent fewer trips in cities hit hard by coronavirus

Uber took stock of the effect the coronavirus outbreak has had on its business in a call with investors on March 19th, and the early numbers are pretty grim. The company’s gross bookings in Seattle, a city hit hard by the novel coronavirus, is down by 60-70 percent, the company’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said. And while the company didn’t release exact numbers for other US cities, Khosrowshahi says they are assuming similar declines in other big markets that have also been affected, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City. “We are seeing a similar pattern — if I plot curves, there’s a difference in timing — but the curves in SF, LA, NYC are looking similar in shape,” Khosrowshahi said, “and my guess is some of them will be higher by 5 percent, some of them may be lower by a couple of percent. But there are going to be a lot of cities around the world that look like Seattle, at least that’s what the curves are looking like.” He added, “These are really, really uncertain and strange times.” As Americans “shelter in place,” self-isolate, practice social distancing, or just stay at home, Uber has naturally seen a sharp decline in ridership. Saving money is also a top concern: people are spending 21 percent less on ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft nationwide, according to data from Edison Trends. And drivers are saying those trends are reflected in a steep drop in ride requests. According to Harry Campbell, a former driver who operates the website The Rideshare Guy, 81 percent of Uber and Lyft drivers have said they’ve seen a decrease in demand. In addition, 80 percent say earnings are down. Although Uber has never had a profitable quarter, the company claims it has “ample liquidity” that should allow it to weather the crisis. Khosrowshahi said the company has $10 billion in “unrestricted cash” on hand as of the end of February, as well as $1.5 billion for mergers and acquisitions through the end of the year (such as its recent deals to acquire Careem and Cornershop). Uber has responded to the outbreak by suspending its carpooling service UberPool in most major markets and providing financial assistance for drivers who have contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, or who have had their accounts suspended or told to quarantine by public health officials. The company has also frozen headcount, meaning it is not doing any recruiting or hiring at this time. And it has pulled back $150 million in marketing and incentive spending, which typically goes toward subsidizing fares. Khosrowshahi said the company modeled “an extreme edge case” in which trip volume plummeted 80 percent. Even in that dire circumstance, Uber would still end the year with $4 billion in unrestricted cash, plus $2 billion in revolving credit. But things are likely to get worse before they get better for Uber, especially as some of their more lucrative cities are all but shutdown. Uber shares have fallen more than 50 percent in the past month due to investor concerns about the impact of the virus on bookings and a broader market decline. It’s especially bad timing for a money-losing business like Uber that had been aiming to achieve profitability in the fourth quarter of this year. In the call with investors, Khosrowshahi said he would likely have an update on that prediction at a later date.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186865/uber-rides-decline-coronavirus-seattle-sf-la-nyc

Tech

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Joshua Rivera

Which FX shows should you stream on Hulu?

This month, Hulu added nearly the entire library of FX television shows as a result of Disney’s recent acquisition of Fox. And aside from some uncomfortable corporate consolidation undertones, it’s a boon to everyone who is stuck indoors right now. Think of FX like a basic cable HBO — a network that consistently churns out damn good television. It’s hard to go wrong with a lineup so consistently good, but here are a few favorites. Better Things follows Sam Fox, a middle-aged actress and single mother to three kids. The list of reasons to appreciate the show is long: it’s one of the warmest you can watch, full of love and empathy for nearly every person on-screen. It’s very funny, with cold opens that often leave you laughing within 30 seconds. And it’s completely beholden to its own interests, with each episode being an entirely different, lovely experience. Currently in the middle of its fourth season, Better Things is a fantastic showcase for co-creator and star Pamela Adlon, who faced the unenviable task of contending with co-creator Louis C.K.’s admission of sexual misconduct between the show’s second and third seasons. Somehow, Adlon didn’t just weather the storm but she made a good thing even better. This is just... the coolest show. Distilled cool. One-hundred-proof slick. The story of Raylan Givens (devilishly handsome Timothy Olyphant), a US Marshal reassigned to his Kentucky hometown after his Wild West attitude gets him in hot water, Justified starts simply enough. Each episode features Givens on a new case, giving it a nice episodic feel while ongoing conflicts simmer in the background, eventually building to long-game payoffs. It’s a tremendously good binge, stylish from beginning to end. Atlanta has a quick hook: Earn Marks (Donald Glover) wants to prove to the mother of his daughter that he’s worth something, so he convinces his cousin, up-and-coming rapper Al “Paper Boi” Marks (Brian Tyree Henry) to let him be his manager. The show almost immediately abandons this premise in favor of surreal standalone episodes with only the smallest hints of continuity between them. In Atlanta, creator Donald Glover and his collaborators have crafted a vehicle where anything can happen, and they can do whatever they want, from “Teddy Perkins,” an astonishing and unsettling episode about a Michael Jackson analog to an episode about a party Drake throws where Drake never appears. Satirical, sharp, and provocative, it’s impossible to know where Atlanta is going, but it’s always worth the ride. Let’s get this out of the way: the earliest seasons of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia don’t play so well in 2020, 14 seasons (and counting) removed from the pilot. Always Sunny has always been about the limits of good taste, and as times change, jokes simply hit you differently. But they’re also instructive: Always Sunny is never a lazy show, continually evolving the situations it throws its cast of awful barflies in, always possessing a clear sense of who the real villains are: the privileged, moronic white bigots at the center of the show. It’s perhaps the finest show about a collection of jerks since Seinfeld and easily the most inventive. An eight-part drama about the push and pull between two of the most dynamic influences on the stage and the screen, Fosse/Verdon explores the tumultuous relationship between Bob Fosse (Sam Rockwell) and Gwen Verdon (Michelle Williams). As a choreographer and director, the former was known for changing Broadway forever behind the scenes, and as a dancer and actor, the latter was the face of that change. The reality of their dynamic was more complicated and involved than that, and while Fosse/Verdon is a bit shy when it comes to showing the fruits of their relationship — dancing, mostly— the series is a soulful, compelling look at two titans of show business struggling to hold their lives together when they weren’t putting on a show. One of the greatest missed opportunities in television, Terriers is a dramedy about two pals, Hank Dolworth and Britt Pollack, who work together as unlicensed private detectives in a San Diego beach town. As familiar as that may sound — the detective genre is one of TV’s most enduring — it’s never really been done like Terriers. Almost lackadaisical in a manner that recalls The Big Lebowski, but also melancholy with a rich sense of place and character, Terriers is easy to love, a show that deserved a revival but also ended perfectly after its only 13-episode season. You probably know all about The Wire. There have been blogs about it since blogs were invented. This is the other Best Show Ever Made, the story about a thoroughly corrupt anti-gang unit in the LAPD and their ongoing attempts to stay ahead of the consequences of their actions. That relentless focus on consequence makes The Shield one of the most breathtaking TV shows you can watch, as stunning decisions made in the pilot reverberate to the very final episode, seven seasons later. The show attracted actors that were both already famous and a few years out from blowing up: Forest Whitaker, Glenn Close, Anthony Anderson, and Michael Peña all show up for varying lengths of time, each contributing to the tension in a different way. Uncompromising and raw, The Shield ended too late to be adored as a nostalgic classic but also too early to benefit from a streaming glow-up like Breaking Bad. Tear through all seven seasons, and you’ll be astonished it’s not a bigger sensation. It’s a rom-com where you root against the couple... kind of. You’re the Worst opens with the meeting of Jimmy (Chris Gere), an insufferable writer, and Gretchen (Aya Cash), a publicist who prefers her life in flames. Together, they make a barely functional, astonishingly misanthropic pair that should be forbidden by law. But through sharp, clever writing and a willingness to break your damn heart, You’re the Worst manages to use the toxic couple at the heart of its story to make a surprisingly earnest exploration of love and relationships. While the middle seasons stumble, veering a little too far in the direction of unpleasantness, the show lands on its feet to be one of the most memorable and unlikely romantic comedies on television.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186711/fx-shows-recommendations-stream-hulu-atlanta-better-things-shield

Entertainment

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Tom Warren

Apple finally admits Microsoft was right about tablets

Apple has spent the past 10 years trying to convince everyone that the iPad and its vision of touch-friendly computing is the future. The iPad rejected the idea of a keyboard, a trackpad, or even a stylus, and Apple mocked Microsoft for taking that exact approach with the Surface. “Our competition is different, they’re confused,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook as he stood onstage to introduce the new Macs and iPads six years ago. “They chased after netbooks, now they’re trying to make PCs into tablets and tablets into PCs. Who knows what they will do next?” Every iPad has transformed into a Surface in recent years, and as of this week, the iPad Pro and Surface Pro look even more alike. Both have detachable keyboards, adjustable stands, trackpads, and styluses. With iPadOS getting cursor and mouse support this week, Apple has finally admitted that Microsoft was right about tablets. Let me explain why. Microsoft’s return to tablets was a rough ride and far from perfect. Bill Gates tried to convince the world that tablets would be a thing all the way back in 2002, but the hardware and software were far too primitive back then. The software maker eventually introduced the Surface RT alongside Windows 8 in 2012 as a clear response to the iPad, but it had an ARM-powered desktop operating system that didn’t support your favorite apps. It was slightly confused, but Microsoft’s tablet principles were clear at the time. “Something is different about tablets, people still do desire a physical keyboard,” wrote former Windows chief Steven Sinofsky in a detailed blog post about Windows 8 back in 2012. “Even in the absence of software like Microsoft Office, the reality is that when you need to write more than a few quick lines of text, you yearn for something better than on-screen typing ... People benefit from the highly accurate, reliable, and fast user input enabled by a physical keyboard, and we think an OS and its apps should not compromise when one is available.” The message was clear: touch-based computing would be a first-class input for Windows 8 but not the only way to use the operating system. Microsoft insisted you needed a mouse for precision, a keyboard for typing, and a stylus for taking notes or drawing. These basic foundations led to the Surface Pro, with its variety of inputs to suit different needs. Microsoft also mastered the ability to use a tablet at a desk or on a couch, thanks to its Surface kickstand and hinge designs. It was a key differentiator against devices like the iPad, and Microsoft and Intel now license out the design for other PC makers to use. It didn’t take long for everyone to start copying Microsoft’s Surface design. Even Apple moved quickly to respond to the Surface, a year after Microsoft released a stunning new design with the Surface Pro 3. Apple’s first iPad Pro debuted in 2015 with support for the Apple Pencil stylus and a smart keyboard. It arrived just as iPad sales had declined to the point where Apple was making more money on Macs instead. The iPad Pro keyboard magnetically attached to the iPad Pro, just like the Surface Pro, but Apple claimed it was “unlike any keyboard you’ve ever used before.” It marked a big shift for the iPad, and every big iPad now supports a keyboard and stylus. Despite the hardware additions, Apple persisted with its touch-first vision for the iPad. Using a keyboard with the iPad was an ergonomic disaster. You’d have to lift your hands away from the keyboard to touch the screen and adjust text or simply navigate around the OS. It didn’t feel natural, and the large touch targets meant there was no precision for more desktop-like apps. Alongside Apple’s refusal to bring touchscreen support to the Mac, it was clear something had to change. The first signs of a new direction for the iPad arrived with iPadOS and the hints at cursor support last year. Apple is now introducing trackpad and mouse support fully in iPadOS, and you can use an existing Bluetooth device. Unlike pointer support you’d find in Windows or macOS, Apple has taken a clever approach to bringing it to a touch-friendly OS like iPadOS. The pointer only appears when you need it, and it’s a circular dot that can change its shape based on what you’re pointing at. That means you can use it for precision tasks like spreadsheets or simply use multitouch gestures on a trackpad to navigate around iPadOS. It’s far more than most people were expecting at this stage, and Apple has importantly kept its touch-friendly iPad principles intact. Right now, you still can’t use this mouse support to drag and drop windows on top of each other freely like you might on Windows or macOS. Nor is it there to do everything you’d typically do with a mouse on a desktop operating system. Apple has adapted a legacy input and modernized it for iPadOS. This careful and considered approach explains why it took Apple so long to bring cursor support to iPadOS. Tim Cook has previously discussed product trade-offs and the idea of converging PCs and tablets. “Anything can be forced to converge, but the problem is that products are about tradeoffs, and you begin to make tradeoffs to the point where what you have left doesn’t please anyone,” Cook said on an earnings call nearly eight years ago. He famously added: “You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those things are probably not gonna be pleasing to the user.” Cook was also adamant that Apple wouldn’t converge the MacBook Air and an iPad. “The compromise of convergence — we’re not going to that party,” he said. Cook has stayed true to that vision. Apple hasn’t converged macOS and iPadOS to bring trackpad and mouse support to the iPad. Instead, the message for the iPad now is that it can adapt to be more like a laptop or remain just like a tablet. That message sounds similar to Microsoft’s Surface Pro, but what’s now at play is a battle of ecosystems, apps, and operating systems. Microsoft has persisted with Windows and walked back many of its touch-friendly tablet changes. The software maker is even diverging Windows further into a Windows 10X operating system for dual-screen devices this year. Meanwhile, Apple is hoping that iPadOS could be enough for people who want some laptop familiarity. With the essential trackpad support and improvements to the Safari web browser, the iPad is starting to look like a much more viable option for both a tablet and a laptop for many. That’s a big change from just a few years ago. Now that Apple and Microsoft are aligned on what a tablet can offer in terms of hardware, the battle between PC and iPad will shift toward what both do in software. Apple has shown that it’s willing to adapt, and we’ll likely see a lot more desktop-like apps for the iPad as a result. Mouse support for the iPad is a significant game-changer, and the iPad has now moved well beyond a third category of device for browsing, email, photos, video, music, games, and ebooks. That will unnerve Microsoft and its PC partners, but it doesn’t mean it’s an immediate death sentence for the PC just yet. Just as it has taken Apple 10 years to get to this point on the hardware and software sides, there will be many years ahead of experimentation from app developers to adjust to mouse support in iPadOS. Windows and macOS won’t stand still, either, and they’re still far more powerful for multitasking and running complicated desktop apps. Apple has painted a line in the sand here, though. The iPad is changing rapidly, even if Apple’s new iPad tagline is “your next computer is not a computer.” The next 10 years will truly define exactly what kind of computer Apple wants the iPad to be.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186500/apple-ipad-pro-vs-surface-pro-trackpad-mouse-inputs-history

Apple

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Aliya Chaudhry

The do’s and don’ts of video conferencing

As more and more workplaces transition to being remote, we’re learning how to navigate all the aspects of working digitally. Meetings are moving entirely online, which means that we’re attending a lot of video conference calls. If you don’t have a lot of experience with video conferencing, it may take some getting used to — especially when your whole team’s now working remotely. While it’s helpful to treat it like an in-person meeting, there are also a few more things you have to consider when you’re on a video call. Here’s a guide to the do’s and don’ts of video conferencing. If you can, find a private place to take the call. If not, use headphones to minimize background noise. If you have roommates, partners, or family members who are also working from home (or just stuck at home), let them know beforehand that you’ll be in a meeting to minimize interruptions. Set up your device or camera so that it has a clear, unobstructed view of you. Don’t sit too far from (or too close to) the camera. If you’re using a separate camera, place it near your screen — it’s best to put the camera at eye level, so that when you’re looking at the screen, it appears as if you’re looking at the person you’re talking to. Make sure your face is well lit. Natural lighting and side lighting work best, but overhead lights will work well, too. Backlighting can often make it hard to see; if you can’t change the backlighting, try to put another light in front and to the side of your face. Clean up the area around you. Open up the camera on your laptop or switch on your external camera and see what’s visible in the background before the call, and check that you’re comfortable showing that on a video call (so put away your laundry and make sure whatever’s on your walls is work-appropriate). Oh, and you might also want to set up a virtual background, if you don’t have time to tidy up your space. One of the best parts about working from home is getting to wear sweatshirts and sweatpants all day, but that may not be the right move for a video call. Dress how you would for an in-person meeting, and make sure to follow your workplace’s dress code. You don’t need to do anything extra, like put on makeup if you don’t wear it normally, but it’s a good idea to present a reasonably good appearance. It’s best to avoid patterns or stripes which may be distracting on camera. Wearing a bright white or black shirt may cause your camera to auto-adjust the brightness and make it hard to see your face, so wear a less extreme color. It also doesn’t hurt to have good posture. It’s a good idea to test your video conferencing software before the call, especially if you’ve never used it before. Also, make sure you have a strong Wi-Fi connection and that your device is either plugged in or fully charged. Give yourself a few extra minutes before the call to set up and if possible, log onto the call a little early, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the software that your host is using. Once the call has started, check to see if everyone can hear and see each other. A good way to do this is by having everyone either check in or introduce themselves. Mute your side of the call if you’re not speaking. Your microphone can pick up a lot of background noise, so muting allows others on the call to easily hear who’s speaking. Also, if you need to get up or move around or do something else during the call (or if your toddler suddenly makes an appearance), it’s a good idea to switch off your video to avoid causing any distractions. During in-person meetings, you can pick up on visual cues to help find the right time to speak. It’s a lot easier to accidentally interrupt on a video call. Wait for a few moments of silence before speaking up in case there’s a sound delay. If your company or team is going to have regular online meetings, it’s a good idea to decide on a system for asking questions, such as raising your hand or using chat to ask a question. If you’re running the meeting, it’s also helpful to call on people by name. Speak clearly and watch how fast you speak (and don’t forget to unmute yourself!). But speak at your normal volume — there’s no need to shout, and if you do, your co-workers may lower their volume and then miss something else. Be attentive and engaged during the call. As tempting as it is, try not to do any other work or read articles or send emails. (Don’t look at your phone and don’t eat!) Try to look into the camera when you talk. If you look at yourself or others on your screen, it may look like you’re looking at something else. When you’re not talking, make sure you’re paying attention to whoever’s speaking or sharing their screen and that you’re looking at any materials you may need to reference. (Again, others can see where you’re looking.) If there’s a pause in the conversation because, for instance, you need to pull up an email or reference a document, make sure to communicate that. Delays or long stretches of silence might make it seem like you’ve lost connection, so this just keeps everyone on the same page. Keep in mind that you’re more visible on video calls than in offline meetings, since you get to see close-ups of everyone’s face individually instead of a whole group of people at once. It’s often helpful to keep your own face visible on-screen, just as a reminder that you’re on camera, and so you can see what others are seeing. If you do need to share your screen during a video call, take a few seconds to prepare before you hit that share button. Clear your desktop of any extra tabs or programs you may have open and make sure any private or sensitive information is hidden.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21185472/video-confere-call-tips-zoom-skype-hangouts-facetime-remote-work

How-to

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Jon Porter

Nokia 8.3 5G announced alongside three more affordable handsets

HMD has announced its first 5G phone, the Nokia 8.3 5G, alongside a collection of other midrange and budget handsets that include the Nokia 5.3, Nokia 1.3, and Nokia 5310 feature phone. HMD is releasing its first 5G handset a little later compared to other Android manufacturers like Samsung and OnePlus. However, it claims that waiting has meant that the Nokia 8.3 5G supports a much wider range of 5G bands than its competitors, meaning it should eventually support 5G roaming across more countries. HMD is even going so far as to bill the Nokia 8.3 as the “first truly global 5G smartphone.” Beyond its connectivity, HMD was keen to emphasize the camera capabilities of the Nokia 8.3 5G, particularly when it comes to video. In terms of hardware, the phone has a quad-camera array on its rear, consisting of a main 64-megapixel sensor, accompanied by a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Around front there’s a 24-megapixel selfie camera. HMD is promising that this camera array, and the ultrawide camera in particular, will be able to offer a host of video features. As well as being able to film in 4K, the ultrawide camera will also be able to film in 21:9, and HMD says the phone will have algorithms to fake the look of a cinematic anamorphic lens with effects like lens flare. The phone will also be able to shoot video in log format, which is the video equivalent of shooting RAW photos. Using the format should give you a lot more options when it comes to editing, giving you the ability to tweak aspects of your video like its color profile. However, if you’d rather not, then HMD says the camera app will come with a number of predetermined color profiles for filming. Beyond the camera, the Nokia 8.3 5G features a 6.81-inch display that HMD says is able to adjust itself to your ambient lighting conditions, and it can also upscale SDR footage to HDR. It’s powered by a Snapdragon 765G and has a 4,500mAh battery. Oh, and the fingerprint sensor is built into its power button, which is a feature we’ve been pretty fond of in the past. The HMD-built Nokia 8.3 5G will retail for €599 (around $650 / £553) for the model with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, or €649 (around $695 / £595) for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The company says it expects it to go on sale starting this summer. Away from the Nokia 8.3 5G, HMD also has a number of midrange and budget handsets it’s announcing today. First up is the midrange Nokia 5.3, which is a successor to the Nokia 5.1 from 2018. While the previous phone had just a single rear camera, the new handset has a quad-camera array consisting of a main 13-megapixel camera, a 5-megapixel ultrawide angle camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Around the front is a 6.55-inch display with an 8-megapixel camera contained within a small teardrop notch. It will be powered by a Snapdragon 665, and HMD says you should be able to get two days of use out of its 4,000mAh battery. The phone’s 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage model will be available for €189 (around $205 / £177) in April. Further into budget territory is the Nokia 1.3. It’s a €95 (around $103 / £89) Android Go smartphone with a 5.71-inch display and a Snapdragon 250 processor. Although the phone comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack, it also charges over Micro USB rather than USB-C. The Nokia 1.3 only features a single 8-megapixel camera on its rear but ships with Google’s new Camera Go app, which means that Google’s excellent photo algorithms will work alongside the phone’s camera hardware for photography. The Nokia 1.3 will be released in April. Finally, HMD has also announced the latest in its lineup of Nokia Originals. This time the new handset is based on Nokia’s 2007 5310 handset, which features a traditional so-called “candybar” phone design. However, now into its fourth iteration, it’s starting to feel like Nokia has run out of iconic designs to revive. The 5310 is hardly in the same league as the 3310 or even the 8810 “banana phone,” nor does it have the retro appeal of last year’s 2720 Flip. The 5310 is also a little bit of a downgrade compared to HMD’s previous Nokia Originals. The phone is 2G only and runs on the Nokia Series 30+ operating system, meaning it’s unlikely to support apps like WhatsApp as last year’s 2720 Flip did (we have asked HMD for confirmation of this). However, HMD says the phone should get a month’s worth of standby time from its battery, and it comes with an integrated FM antenna. The Nokia 5310 will be released later in March for €39 (around $42 / £36).

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186475/hmd-nokia-8-3-5g-5-3-1-3-5310-release-date-news-specs-features-cameras

Google

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Sean O'Kane

NYC mayor asks Elon Musk to manufacture ventilators for COVID-19 patients

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk tweeted on Wednesday night that he’s willing to have his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, make crucial ventilators to help patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to take him up on that offer. De Blasio tweeted at Musk on Thursday morning, saying New York City “will need thousands [of ventilators] over the next few weeks,” despite already acquiring them “as fast as we can.” The mayor said his team would reach out to Musk directly. “We could use your help!” he wrote. (After this article was published, Musk responded: “Sounds good, we will connect with your team to understand potential needs.) Musk had tweeted that he’d have his teams make ventilators “if there’s a shortage,” and by all accounts, there will be. The only reason it might not seem like there isn’t one currently in the US is that we haven’t yet exhausted the short supply. And while President Trump said he’s willing to invoke the wartime “Defense Production Act” on Wednesday to address the shortage, he tweeted later in the day that he’d only do so in a “worst case scenario.” @elonmusk New York City is buying!Our country is facing a drastic shortage and we need ventilators ASAP — we will need thousands in this city over the next few weeks. We’re getting them as fast as we can but we could use your help!We’re reaching out to you directly. Musk isn’t the first to propose using his company’s manufacturing facilities to make critical equipment. Just yesterday, General Motors said CEO Mary Barra told the White House she was looking into making ventilators at her company’s factories. Ford followed suit soon after. Musk is alone among those peers in underplaying the pandemic, though. He called the “panic” over the coronavirus “dumb,” compared the lethality of COVID-19 to car crashes (which are not contagious), and finished his Twitter conversation about ventilators on Wednesday night by again saying he thinks the “panic will cause more harm than the virus, if that hasn’t happened already.” As for how Musk might approach making ventilators, the entrepreneur said they are “not difficult” to make. He pointed to how Tesla makes “cars with sophisticated hvac systems,” and SpaceX “makes spacecraft with life support systems,” though he admitted it would take some time to spin up any real production effort. Where they would be built is another question; Tesla is currently locked in a back-and-forth with local authorities in the San Francisco Bay Area over whether the company should suspend production of electric cars amid a shelter-in-place order, and it could run into a similar issue at its Gigafactory in Nevada now that the state has issued a similar directive. President Trump’s gutting of critical government offices, combined with his apparent refusal to take the threat of the novel coronavirus seriously in the early weeks, has left states and local governments overwhelmed in the fight against the pandemic. At the same time, Trump’s administration has leaned hard on the private sector to pick up the slack in ways that have repeatedly surprised those companies. He claimed Google was developing a nationwide screening website that will help people learn if and how they should get tested for COVID-19 and said retail companies would offer up parking lot space for testing sites — despite neither of those claims having been completely true before they were uttered aloud. Still, companies are putting themselves into the mix. Amazon announced it will hire 100,000 workers worldwide and is bumping up its hourly pay to both help with a delivery crunch and provide jobs for people who are now out of work. Gaming company Razer has said it will help make masks, too. Musk is no stranger to inserting himself into an international crisis. He famously spun up an effort at SpaceX in 2018 to create a submersible vessel to help rescue the soccer team trapped in a cave network in Thailand. If Musk really wants to help out this time around, it looks like he already has one taker in New York City. It almost certainly won’t be the last, either. Update March 19th, 1:46PM ET: Added Elon Musk’s response to Bill de Blasio’s office.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186634/bill-de-blasio-elon-musk-ventilator-shortage-coronavirus-pandemic-covid-19

Science

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

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Julia Alexander

YouTube will start displaying trustworthy coronavirus videos on its homepage

YouTube will introduce a new row of verified videos to its homepage for anyone trying to find authoritative news on the ongoing coronavirus story. Pulling from a list of authoritative news outlets and local health authorities that upload to YouTube, the goal is to provide people with a source of information that is more reliable than just general videos on the subject uploaded by random users. Videos are generated algorithmically, according to YouTube, with hundreds of different signals being used to help pick videos. This includes relevancy to coronavirus, how new the videos are, and a viewer’s region. YouTube, like other organizations, is trying to combat misinformation during the unprecedented global health crisis. Conspiracy videos falsely claiming the coronavirus is caused by 5G radiation, among other hoaxes, have been uploaded to the platform since the outbreak started in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019. The rate of new videos on the subject has only picked up speed as the novel coronavirus has spread and the volume of news about the pandemic continues to intensify. Other social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok have instituted their own methods of combating misinformation and elevating authoritative voices. Some of the biggest technology corporations in the United States have said they’ve formed a group to try to combat misinformation and fraud related to coronavirus. The group includes Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube. This does not appear to be part of that initiative. YouTube has used shelves like this in the past to elevate videos that viewers can rely on, including during massive world news events. There’s also a Breaking News shelf on the homepage that pulls from authoritative voices. Anecdotally, the shelf seems to have mostly contained COVID-19 news over the last week or so already. YouTube’s COVID-19 shelf will initially launch in 16 countries, including the US, UK, Brazil, India, Germany, France, Italy, and Japan starting this week. The company will expand to more countries in the coming weeks.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21187413/youtube-coronavirus-covid-19-shelf-homepage-news-authority-misinformation

Tech

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Zoe Schiffer

Scammers are trying to trick people into reserving a COVID-19 vaccine over the phone

Police departments across the country are issuing warnings about scammers trying to trick people into reserving a COVID-19 vaccine over the phone. The callers claim to be from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and ask for peoples’ credit cards and Social Security numbers in order to complete the transactions. The Daly City Police Department called out the hoax on Twitter, saying: “There is no vaccine reserve program, and the CDC is not offering anything of the sort. Do not fall prey!” New scam: People are claiming to be from the CDC offering to let people "reserve a vaccine for the COVID-19" with a credit card and/or social security number. There is no vaccine reserve program, and the CDC is not offering anything of the sort. Do not fall prey! The Sheriff’s Department in Lucas Country, Ohio, issued a similar statement on Facebook. “People are texting or emailing claiming to be with the CDC and offering to let people ‘reserve a vaccine for the COVID-19,’” they wrote. “Anyone receiving such a call should not under any circumstances give the caller any personal information or money. Thank you.” Right now, there is no vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. While scientists are actively working on developing one, the process could take between a year and 18 months. When it comes out, the news will likely come through an official statement from the government — not through a phone call from someone who says they’re from the CDC. In general, any time someone calls to ask for your credit card or Social Security number, be suspicious.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186098/phone-scam-cdc-coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-reservation-police

Coronavirus

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Tom Warren

Leaked video reveals Microsoft sees Zoom video conferencing as an ‘emerging threat’

A leaked video has provided a rare insight into Microsoft’s thoughts on Zoom Video Communications. Zoom has quickly turned into a popular app for video conferencing, and some analysts estimate it may have nearly 13 million monthly active users. Many Zoom users combine the video calling service with Google’s G Suite, Slack, and other productivity apps that rival Microsoft’s Office dominance. “Zoom is seen as an emerging threat to Microsoft,” is the message in what appears to be a training video for Microsoft’s vast partner network that sells the company’s products and services. The video even includes an audio watermark for premiumbeat.com, a Shutterstock service for royalty-free music. Posted on Twitter by WalkingCat, the video reveals that Microsoft is aware Zoom sellers are trying to get customers who are fed up with Skype for Business or are at the end of a Cisco contract for video conferencing services. Teams vs. Zoom pic.twitter.com/q1G7fSCqkf A second video advises Microsoft Teams sellers to try to convince potential Zoom customers to trial Teams. Microsoft has been aggressively pushing to get businesses to use Teams as part of its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscriptions over the past year. This was clear to see at Microsoft’s Inspire partner conference in July when the company asked thousands of attendees to download the Microsoft Teams mobile app in exchange for a free cup of Starbucks coffee. Zoom isn’t alone as a threat to Microsoft’s core Office business. Slack has emerged as a popular alternative, and Microsoft has been putting the competitive pressure on thanks to a series of TV commercials recently. Microsoft also revealed earlier today that the company has seen a surge of Teams growth this week, as companies switch to remote working during the coronavirus pandemic. There are now 44 million daily active users of Microsoft Teams, up nearly 40 percent from 32 million last week.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186918/microsoft-teams-zoom-video-leaked-video-competition-sellers-partner-network

Microsoft

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Chris Welch

You can try the iPad’s new trackpad and mouse support right now

Yesterday, Apple announced a new iPad Pro along with an updated keyboard case — now with a trackpad. The company also confirmed that it’s bringing laptop-like trackpad and mouse functionality to iPadOS, and it’s doing so sooner than some anticipated. The new context-aware cursor and other trackpad / mouse features are coming next week as part of the iPadOS 13.4 update. But you don’t have to wait until then to get a feel for Apple’s approach to expanded trackpad and mouse support on the iPad. A public beta of the update is live right now, and once installed, you’ll be able to get going with a mouse or something like Apple’s Magic Trackpad if you want to test out the new multi-finger gestures. It’s contextual, so it transforms into the tool you need depending on the content you’re pointing to, like buttons, app icons, and text. It’s perfect for tasks where you need an extra level of precision, like building a spreadsheet or editing text. You can also use intuitive trackpad gestures to quickly get around in iPadOS. The big question is how close this will feel to a traditional pointer experience like on a Mac or PC. Apple software VP Craig Federighi said the company’s aim was to “bring a cursor to a touch-first environment.” What’s here will be what iPad owners will likely be stuck with until iPadOS 14. In my brief experience so far, it’s pretty intuitive and there aren’t any annoying surprises. You’ll obviously want to adjust settings to your liking; not everyone is a fan of “natural scrolling” and that can be adjusted in Settings —> General —> Trackpad and Mouse. Scrolling speed can also be fine-tuned here. Apple first added rudimentary mouse support in iPadOS 13 last year, but it was a barebones assistive technology that fell far short of this latest implementation. How to get the iPadOS 13.4 GM build through Apple’s public beta The version of iPadOS 13.4 that rolled out to developers and public beta testers late yesterday is almost certain to be the same software build that everyone will be able to install on March 24th. To get it, sign up for Apple’s beta program with your Apple ID using the iPad on which you want to install the update. After that, you’ll be prompted to enroll your device and download a beta profile. Once you’ve done that, install the beta profile in settings, go through the usual software update flow, and you’ll be upgraded to 13.4. One note: if there’s a “Feedback” app added to your home screen after updating, just remove the beta profile in settings and the app will go away. Whenever iPadOS’s next release drops after version 13.4, you’ll be able to update through the normal process.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21185401/apple-ipados-13-4-trackpad-mouse-support-beta

Apple

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Tom Warren

Google launches a better camera app for new Android Go low-end devices

Google is introducing a new Camera Go app for its Android Go range of entry-level devices. Android Go originally debuted two years ago as a more stripped-down version of Android designed to run on inexpensive low-end devices, and it’s now running on 100 million active devices. Google created Go versions of Gmail, YouTube, and other key services, but a better camera app was always missing. The new Camera Go app has a simple and clutter-free interface, as it’s designed to work for people using a smartphone for the first time. Google is also staying true to its original vision of Android Go by allowing users to not worry about storage with Camera Go. The app will track how much photo or video storage space is left and suggest ways to clear space. “Camera Go is deeply integrated into the phone’s operating system, and is not just photo filtering on top,” explains Arpit Midha, a lead product manager for Android. Google has even added a Portrait Mode to create a depth-of-field effect in photos, so even $50 devices will get this functionality. “That’s a first in this class of devices,” says Midha. “It democratizes photography for the entry-level.” The first Android Go device to ship with the new Camera Go app will be HMD’s new Nokia 1.3, available in April priced at 95 euros ($102).

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186489/google-android-go-camera-new-app-portrait-mode-nokia-1-3

Google

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Nick Statt

Microsoft’s DirectX 12 Ultimate unifies graphics tech for PC gaming and Xbox Series X

Microsoft has a new version of its industry-standard DirectX 12 (DX12) gaming and multimedia graphics technology called DirectX 12 Ultimate, which promises to better unify the feature set and capabilities of Windows gaming with the Xbox platform. It’s not getting a release until later this year, but we can expect it to support the Xbox Series X at launch sometime this holiday season. DX12 Ultimate isn’t a giant leap over standard DX12, the graphics API first released back in 2014 that this “ultimate” version is building off. But it does bring together a number of software advances — most prominently Ray Tracing 1.1 (which now no longer requires the GPU ping the CPU) — that will make optimizing games for the upcoming Xbox Series X and the latest Nvidia and AMD graphics cards much easier. At the same time, the API is also keeping support for older PC and Xbox hardware intact. “When gamers purchase PC graphics hardware with the DX12 Ultimate logo or an Xbox Series X, they can do so with the confidence that their hardware is guaranteed to support all next generation graphics hardware features, including DirectX Raytracing, Variable Rate Shading, Mesh Shaders and Sampler Feedback,” reads a Microsoft blog post from principal dev lead Shawn Hargreaves. “This mark of quality ensures stellar ‘future-proof’ feature support for next generation games.” For regular consumers, none of this will mean that a whole lot is changing, and it’s not going to translate into any immediate and noticeable changes in the graphical quality of existing games. But what it will do is give developers the right tools to ensure everything from next-gen console ray-tracing to variable rate shading on PC using an Nvidia RTX card will be supported on a single platform. So a game can be optimized using DX12 Ultimate and run on a variety of Xbox devices and both AMD and Nvidia cards. Today, AMD announced support for DX12 Ultimate for its new RDNA 2 GPU architecture underpinning both next-gen consoles from Microsoft and Sony. Unlike Nvidia, which worked more closely with Microsoft on DX12 Ultimate, only newer AMD cards will support it, whereas even older Nvidia GPUs will. For more in-depth discussions on all of the improvements in DX12 Ultimate, check out Microsoft’s blog post here and Nvidia’s deep dive here. But also just understand that this will, over time, lead to games that look and run better while also more efficiently using limited resources to achieve graphical effects that used to require much higher-end hardware.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21187161/microsoft-directx-12-ultimate-api-release-xbox-series-x-pc-gaming

Gaming

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Adi Robertson

Magic Leap wants workers to use its headsets while they’re stuck at home

Mixed reality startup Magic Leap has been fairly quiet for the past few months, but the company is trying to tempt potential buyers with a package for people stuck working from home. The “Collaboration Package” is a 45-day trial of four Magic Leap headsets, plus access to Spatial, a virtual collaboration program. It costs $5,000, with the option to extend the license or send the headsets back afterward. Spatial creates avatars of users based on photos, then lets them hold meetings with these avatars and virtual screens. It isn’t exclusive to Magic Leap or mixed reality headsets; the software also works across computers and phones. But headsets can (in some ways) more realistically simulate sharing a room with a distant colleague. A few years ago, mixed or augmented reality was touted as a better way to work or train remotely. As companies turn to teleconferencing services like Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic, though, Magic Leap is one of a relatively few mixed reality companies pitching its headsets. Manufacturing problems have delayed the release of Nreal Light glasses, which were hyped as a major advance for the technology. Several smaller companies — like Daqri, Meta, and ODG — have folded over the past couple of years. Microsoft, however, recently announced a new partnership for its Teams software with industrial headset company RealWear. Magic Leap has taken steps to avoid the novel coronavirus, including (like many other companies) postponing its developer conference until October. Right now, though, that may not be its only concern. Bloomberg reported recently that Magic Leap — which has received more than $2 billion in funding — is weighing an acquisition, although early talks with Facebook apparently went nowhere. It’s supposedly sold far fewer devices than expected, and while Magic Leap promised a new headset in 2021, the pandemic could upset those plans. Since its first headsets shipped in 2018, the company has gradually turned from promoting AR entertainment products to pitching itself as a workplace tool, and it’s reportedly explored a sale to medical company Johnson & Johnson as well. For now, it’s moving ahead with updates to its Lumin operating system and Magicverse online platform, as well as development of the Magic Leap 2.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186857/magic-leap-spatial-collaboration-headset-package-ar-work

Tech

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Casey Newton

How Facebook is preparing for a surge in depressed and anxious users

The Interface is a daily column and newsletter about the intersection of social media and democracy. Subscribe here. The COVID-19 pandemic is now surging around the world, and each hour brings more developments than a full day seemed to bring just a few weeks ago. On Wednesday morning, Facebook held a call with CEO Mark Zuckerberg to update the press on the steps the company has taken in response to the crisis to date. (Here’s the transcript.) Afterward, I spoke briefly with Zuckerberg about how the company is shifting its content moderation teams to handle the disruption, which I wrote about here yesterday. Both on the press call and in talking with me, Zuckerberg emphasized his concern about a looming mental health crisis as people around the world are forced to stay apart from their friends and loved ones. And whether you are building social products or using them to stay in touch with the people you care about, it’s a concern worth taking seriously. The call started with a couple of announcements, which I covered at The Verge: Facebook will put a coronavirus information center at the top of the News Feed in the United States and other countries around the world, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said today. In a call with reporters, Zuckerberg said that a collection of information from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control would begin appearing on top of the feed over the next day. The introduction of the information center comes after Facebook had been promoting links to the WHO and CDC inside the News Feed itself, as well as on Instagram. Facebook has also linked to the organizations in search results when people run queries on “coronavirus” or “COVID-19.” Facebook will also make its Workplace product free for the government and for emergency services. These are good and useful steps, but the most interesting part of the discussion came later. A reporter asked how Facebook planned to conduct its normal content moderation operations now that the vast majority of its contractors have been sent home. Zuckerberg noted that one reason Facebook is shifting to use full-time employees for moderation is that working on disturbing content, such as posts dealing with self-harm or suicide threats, take a significant mental-health tool on the workers. Outside their offices, Zuckerberg said, Facebook couldn’t provide them with the mental-health services programs that they normally get through Accenture and the other vendors Facebook hires to run the programs. And that’s when Zuckerberg shared what he described as one of his chief concerns during this time. I’m personally quite worried that the isolation from people being at home could potentially lead to more depression or mental health issues, and we want to make sure that we are ahead of that in supporting our community by having more people during this time work on things that are on suicide and self-injury prevention, not less. Human beings are social creatures, but now being social in person brings with it the risk of death and disease. Cities like San Francisco have begun to order citizens to remain indoors for all but making essential purchases, doctor’s visits, and solitary exercise. The initial order has been for three weeks, but there are already hints it could extend longer. California, for example, has said that schools may be shut through the summer break. One immediate effect of the forced isolation, as you may suspect, has been a surge in the use of Facebook products. Zuckerberg said on the call that calls on WhatsApp were at double their normal volume, and well past their traditional annual peak: New Year’s Eve. A spokeswoman told me that call volume had more than doubled for Messenger as well. And that’s before the pandemic has completed its spread around the world, Zuckerberg noted — some countries remain relatively unaffected. He said the company is now scrambling to shore up its infrastructure before demand causes servers to melt down. But as much fun as it is to video chat with friends and family — and it really is! Do it tonight! — it can’t replace in-person contact. And for people already struggling with anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues, an extended period of isolation could exacerbate their conditions. “This is the area I’m most worried about,” Zuckerberg told me after the press call. It’s why he had shifted reports of self-harm on Facebook services to full-time employees, bringing in additional staff in anticipation of a spike in cases. “I view the work in this area as akin to the same kind of first-responder work that other health workers or police have to do in order to make sure we’re helping people quickly.” In the short term, he said, a focus on imminent harm among the user base might mean that Facebook’s performance declines in some categories. (Facebook self-reports data publicly on this subject in its regular transparency reports.) If you have fewer human beings monitoring for spam, for example, you might see more spam on Facebook. At the same time, he said, moderators who are now working from home have been enlisted in training machine-learning classifiers to automate more aspects of moderation. Zuckerberg predicted that even if some moderation efforts fell short in the near term, the extra attention to building classifiers in this moment could improve it in the long term. It’s perhaps an obvious point, but it bears saying: moderating posts about self-harm is necessary, but mitigating self-harm in the first place would be much better. That’s not a burden that should fall entirely, or even primarily, on a social network. But I continue to believe social networks can work creatively to find new ways to make us feel less isolated in this time, and any advancements they make there could do a lot of good. Facebook should be commended for sharing this information with the public in real time. In a moment when so much seems to be coming apart, the big tech platforms — for better and for worse — have become vital infrastructure for our new disaster-age lives. We expect regular briefings from elected officials and public-health agencies — and we ought to expect regular briefings from tech infrastructure as well. Google, Twitter, Amazon — this means you. Everyone has a role to play in what lies ahead. And Facebook, which has the largest social platform in the world, can play a large and possibly even heroic role in getting us all through the weeks and months to come. In the meantime, I understand why Zuckerberg is worried about the loneliness and depression to come. By the time I got off the phone with him, I was worried too. Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms. Trending up: WhatsApp is giving $1 million grant to the International Fact-Checking Network to expand the battle against COVID-19 related misinformation. Trending down: Despite Facebook’s ban on medical face masks, ads for overpriced N95 masks are still showing up on the platform. Many lead to web stores hosted on the e-commerce platform Shopify. The US government is in active talks with Facebook and Google about using smart phone location data to combat the novel coronavirus. If it moves forward, the effort could include tracking whether people are keeping one another at safe distances to stem the outbreak. (Tony Romm, Elizabeth Dwoskin and Craig Timberg / The Washington Post) Google is delaying employee performance reviews and promotions due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company plans to promote twice as many people in November 2020 instead, and backdate raises to August 1st. (Rob Price / Business Insider) As many Americans flee their offices to avoid any contact with the coronavirus, many low-wage janitors are still being asked to come in. The new cleaning solutions they are being asked to use to kill the virus could endanger their own health. (John Eligon and Nellie Bowles / The New York Times) The coronavirus pandemic is exposing the fragile livelihoods of gig economy workers. Many lack protections like guaranteed wages, sick pay, and health care, which are benefits that are critical in a crisis. (Kate Conger, Adam Satariano and Mike Isaac / The New York Times) In China, the coronavirus is exposing a digital divide between students who have access to resources and technology that allows them to learn remotely, and those who don’t. Other countries are about to start experiencing the same. Like, uh, this one. (Raymond Zhong / The New York Times) The coronavirus community on Reddit has become the third-most active subreddit on the platform, with 1.2 million members. It has a team of 60 volunteer content moderators tracking the more than 50,000 daily comments posted by the community. (Olivia Solon and April Glaser / NBC) The coronavirus is forcing us to use the internet as it was always meant to be used — to connect with one another, share information and resources, and come up with collective solutions to urgent problems. I appreciated this column from Kevin — I’ve felt much the same over the past week, and tried to reflect that in the newsletter. (Kevin Roose / The New York Times) Google postponed the online version of its Cloud Next conference indefinitely. The event was originally supposed to take place April 6th through 8th. Then the company moved it online. Now that has also been pushed back. (Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch) ⭐ Bernie Sanders is pioneering the virtual campaign rally. The coronavirus has made a strong online presence more important than ever before — and highlighted how far ahead Sanders is in this arena. Here’s Makena Kelly at The Verge: Both Sanders and Biden have held virtual campaign events over the past week, but their approaches couldn’t be more different. Even before the pandemic hit, Sanders was campaigning through nontraditional means, using a mix of social media platforms, Twitch live shows, and podcast appearances. Now, all of Sanders’ campaign events, including Monday night’s live-streamed rally or Friday’s tele-town hall, are taking place online. Biden’s team is leaning into the former vice president’s rapport with supporters, putting him on Zoom calls so he can speak one-on-one with them. But they’re playing catch up to Sanders, who has been working these platforms since the beginning. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign currently has no active Facebook ads, the morning after another disappointing finish in a series of primary contests. A pause in digital advertising spend on Facebook has been one indicator that a candidate is planning to drop out of the 2020 race. Sanders says he isn’t quitting. (Alexi McCammond / Axios) ⭐TikTok unveiled a group of outside advisers with expertise in child safety, hate speech, and misinformation to help guide the company on its content moderation policies. It’s an important step forward for a company facing intense scrutiny over its content moderation practices. Margaret Harding McGill at Axios has the story: The Content Advisory Council will discuss existing and potential future policies against misinformation and election interference at its first meeting later this month, TikTok U.S. general manager Vanessa Pappas wrote in a blog post. Dawn Nunziato, a George Washington University Law School professor and co-director of the Global Internet Freedom Project who specializes in online free speech issues, will chair the council. Other members include: Mary Anne Franks, a University of Miami Law School professor and critic of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act [...] and Rob Atkinson, the president of the tech policy think tank Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Facebook-owned social media tracking tool CrowdTangle launched a new search feature to let users search memes, see social trends over time and access page transparency data across Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit. Going to be playing with this today. (Andrew Hutchinson / Social Media Today) Facebook once developed an internal facial recognition app that let users scan peoples’ faces and identify them. Now you can see what the app looked like. (Joseph Cox / Vice) Slack just got its biggest redesign to date. It’s beginning to roll out today with better sidebar customization, a new compose button, a top navigation bar, and many other tweaks that make the app easier to use. (Tom Warren / The Verge) As more social engagements move online, trolls are using Zoom’s screensharing feature to blast other viewers with disgusting images. So as you may know, my friend Hunter Walk and I have been doing a regular Zoom happy hour at 5P PT on weekdays. Yesterday we learned the hard way that you should disable screensharing! Thanks to Josh for writing this up. Somehow Reuters did too? Slow news day I guess! (Josh Constine / TechCrunch) A new video chatting tool allows people to chat remotely without taking over the whole screen. The software, from a company called Around, crops participants down to just circles that float on the screen to allow people space for other apps. Something to consider if the screensharing trolls on Zoom get you down! (Josh Constine / TechCrunch) A new Chinese-owned video sharing app called Likee is looking to expand in the United States. It’s already caught on in Russia and India, and could have an easier time contending with US regulators than TikTok since it’s operated by a company in Singapore. (Zheping Huang / Bloomberg) New high-resolution satellites, AIs, and data tools are going to let us study Earth, and ourselves, in greater detail than ever before. That’s going to come with “unthinkable” problems related to privacy, this piece argues. (Becky Ferreira / Vice) Stuff to occupy you online during the quarantine. Watch Netflix with your friends, virtually. A new tool called Netflix Party synchronizes video playbacks and adds group chats to your Netflix shows so you can talk about what is wrong with the people on Love Is Blind in real time. Go to a live concert online. NPR compiled a list of shows happening virtually, organized by date and genre. Do you have enough toilet paper to get through the quarantine? This handy new tool will tell you. this like the exact opposite of that pokemon go summer Send us tips, comments, questions, and ideas for easing the burden for folks struggling with depression and anxiety during this time: [email protected] and [email protected].

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21185204/facebook-coronavirus-depression-anxiety-content-moderation-mark-zuckerberg-interview

The Interface

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Kim Lyons

Snap rolling out ‘Here For You’ mental health tool early with focus on coronavirus

Snap is rolling out its Here For You search tool a bit earlier than planned to help users who may be feeling anxious or stressed over the coronavirus pandemic, the company says. The Here For You tool was first announced in February, and it’s designed to surface “safety resources” from mental health experts when users search for topics like anxiety, depression, suicide, or bullying. The company has now added a coronavirus-specific section to the tool “that will provide Snapchatters from the Ad Council, World Health Organization, the CDC, Crisis Text Line, NHS, and other partners who are creating content on anxiety specifically related to coronavirus,” the company says. Originally slated for an April release, Snap expects the search tool to be available to all Snapchat users next week. “Here For You was informed by studies that show that connecting with friends, whether in person or online is often the best defense against feelings of loneliness and anxiety,” a Snap spokesperson said in an email to The Verge. “We also know that Snapchatters are deeply interested in understanding these issues, and how they can support friends who are struggling with them.” Snapchat has one of the youngest audiences of any social media platform. It reaches 90 percent of 13- to 24-year-olds, a group especially vulnerable to bullying or suggestive content.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21187176/snap-mental-health-coronavirus-anxiety-stress

Apps

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Ashley Carman

Instagram won’t approve new augmented reality effects because of COVID-19 limitations

Instagram and Facebook won’t feature any new augmented reality effects in the immediate future. In an update posted to its Facebook Group for people who make filters, the company said it’s sending its reviewers home because of COVID-19 infection concerns. When home, they won’t be able to approve or publish new effects. “We’re actively exploring ways to offset this disruption and let creators get back to publishing,” the statement says. “We can’t yet provide exact timing on when this will happen, but we’ll share updates in Spark AR Hub when we’re able to.” Spark AR is the software used to make Facebook and Instagram effects. Some automated systems will still be in place, Facebook says, so creators will be able to at least “get feedback on some aspects” of their submissions. This week, Facebook sent its content moderators home, after The Intercept reported that it wasn’t allowing them to leave. They’re not actually allowed to work remotely, however. Facebook says it’ll also continue to pay these workers during this time. Other tech companies have made similar decisions. In addition to barring content moderators from coming to the office, this situation also could prevent creators from making money on sponsored content. Brands often pay AR effects creators to build filters for them, and if those can’t publish, the brands might not be willing to pay. The trickle-down effect might mean creators can’t keep paying their own bills simply because Facebook can’t approve AR effects remotely.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186824/instagram-facebook-spark-ar-augmented-reality-effects-coronavirus-limitations

Tech

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Sam Byford

Doom Eternal review: gory, goofy, and metal as hell

For the sequel, id Software had the strongest of bases to work from. The studio could’ve easily done what it did for the original game’s sequel, Doom II: Hell on Earth, and essentially just crank out a bunch of new levels. Instead, Doom Eternal dramatically expands the scope of Doom, jacking up the action in all directions. The result is a game that’s impossibly extra, and not always for the better. But in most ways, Doom Eternal is a glorious, hilarious delight. Like 1994’s Doom II, Doom Eternal sees your space marine brotagonist return from hell to find Earth besieged by demons. Billions have been slaughtered, but no one is fighting alongside you, really. It has simply fallen on you to fix this situation because you are the Doom guy. In a nice touch, id didn’t contrive a way to strip you of your acquired abilities from the last game; previously unlockable things like double-jump and the chainsaw are accessible to you right from the beginning. You even start out with a shotgun. This frees up Doom Eternal to offer a more kinetic, exciting experience as soon as you see the title screen fade out. The level design is far more open, diverse, and vertical than in Doom 2016; survival is about acrobatics as much as it is headshots. There aren’t many first-person shooters that show such a creative approach to moving through space. Doom Eternal is frequently reminiscent of Titanfall 2 in its almost Nintendo-esque lack of restraint when it comes to constructing elaborate, dangerous environments. Sometimes, you’ll literally see spinning fire bars straight out of Super Mario Bros. This extends to the combat arenas, which benefit from the expanded focus on movement. You’ll often find yourself, say, swinging from a bar to avoid an energy blast from an enemy before shooting them on the way down and gorily dispatching them with one of their own limbs in the space of a second or two. That such a thing is even possible is the result of Doom Eternal’s unique system-driven combat, which is mostly unchanged from its predecessor. Doom’s combat is like the video game equivalent of an expertly cooked Wagyu burger. You can appreciate the incredible artistry and the beautiful marbling if you look closely, or you can just chow the hell down. Here’s how it works: you have guns, obviously, and you can use them to kill scary monsters. But if you do the right amount of damage before sending them back to the underworld, they’ll stagger back and glow orange, opening the door for you to perform a gruesome finishing move and restore some health at the same time. Your chainsaw, meanwhile, is a one-button option that can be used to carve enemies apart and gain some more ammo; the only catch there is you need to find gas to keep its tank full. You also have a flamethrower that can toast demons and bestow you with armor, but that ability resets on a timer. Doom Eternal’s new additions include an ice bomb that freezes enemies in place and a “blood punch” attack that breaks through armor, but the basic flow feels more or less the same. Battles will typically see you use most of your abilities in a perpetual whirlwind of resource management, killing enemies a certain way depending on what they’re weak to, which color they’re glowing, and what you’re running low on in the heat of the moment. At its best, Doom Eternal feels like Guitar Hero: you enter the zone and do what needs to be done almost without thinking. Speaking of guitars, Doom Eternal’s soundtrack is pitch-perfect. Australian composer Mick Gordon has returned to deliver another original score, which continues to be metal as hell and perfectly suited to Doom’s aesthetic. Gordon’s work is intense and original, blending industrial sounds with deep bassy grooves that serve as a pulsating backdrop to the demonic action. It’s perhaps the most acute example of how well id has handled the tone and vibe of the new Doom games. Doom always had cool music, but it would have been the easiest thing in the world to re-create the early games’ famous MIDI jams with butt-rock guitars. Instead, Gordon has carved out an iconoclastic sound that people will come to identify with Doom just as much as the ’90s soundtracks. For all of its satisfying, sparse design, Doom Eternal does occasionally overextend itself. Things like the weapon upgrade system feel like meaningless busywork, while the addition of a hub world-style spaceship doesn’t bring much of interest. And while most of the story is largely ignorable and told through a lore database, you’re still presented with a lot of exposition and cutscenes that outstay their welcome. There is definitely a sense that Doom Eternal wants to be a little more than it should be. I get it. Doom Eternal’s combat is incredible, but I couldn’t play it for hours on end, so I appreciate the attempt to break things up a bit. The problem is that I don’t really like much about Doom Eternal other than the seconds I spend balletically blasting demons in a destroyed world that just so happens to be perfect for parkour. Fortunately, those seconds make up the vast majority of the game and are more entertaining than basically any other shooter out there today. Doom Eternal launches March 20th on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia. A Nintendo Switch version is coming later this year. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186572/doom-eternal-review-xbox-ps4-pc-stadia-date-battlegrounds

Games Review

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Andrew Webster

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is tearing my family apart

Mornings have always been a blur in my house: a family of four rushing about, trying to get ready for a day of school or work, the chaos of half-eaten bowls of cereal and unzipped jackets. Lately, though, there’s been a different kind of rush with everyone trying to be the first to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Like most games in the series, New Horizons is meant to be a social experience. You live a virtual life on an island full of talking animals, but you can also bring friends along. For people in the same household, they can set up plots of land on the same island and live alongside each other. As someone tasked with reviewing the game, I thought a great way to test this feature would be to play with my entire family, including my wife and our two young daughters. I regret this decision. The issue, particularly early on in the game, is scarcity. In New Horizons, the main goal is to build up a community on a deserted island. You do this by exploiting nature. You can sell fish and fruit for cash, gather wood and weeds to craft furniture, and mine rocks for rare minerals. Animal Crossing operates based on the real-world clock, so most of these resources regenerate on a daily basis. With four people sharing an island, it can become a race to get what you need. When I first started playing, everyone got mad at me for pulling all of the weeds. I thought I was cleaning up; in reality, I was giving them less to do. Fruit has also become a sticking point. We’ve managed to cultivate plenty of non-native fruit, which sells for quite a few bells, but they always seem to have been picked by the time I play. Things become especially frustrating when you unlock the museum and the option dig up fossils, which are a) really cool, and b) extremely lucrative. But if someone digs them up before you, you’re out of luck. Sharing a space with younger kids who don’t quite understand the game or the importance of creating a nice, tidy virtual space exacerbates the problem. Here are some ways around these issues. One is careful planning. We’ve managed to create an orchard together, so there’s a reasonable amount of fruit for everyone, provided no one gets greedy. You can also visit mystery islands, which are randomly generated spaces that you can strip of resources without repercussions. (It’s best not to think about it too deeply.) These are useful but also costly. It’s annoying to have to part with some hard-earned Nook Miles just because someone already collected all of the iron ore on the island. That’s not to say the experience has been completely competitive. In order to improve infrastructure around the island, like building bridges and ramps, we’ve had to pool together our money to pay off the exceptionally large fees. Similarly, because outdoor spaces are now a big part of the game — you can place furniture outside as well as in your house — we’ve had to talk to each other about how we want to set up the island. It is a shared space, after all. We settled on a system where everyone has a fenced-in yard and can do whatever they want in that space. No one likes my giant Godzilla statue, but so long as it’s on my property, no one complains. We’ve also made heavy use of the gift-giving system, sharing furniture and clothing we don’t want instead of selling it. It’s nice to get a present, even in a video game. But even still, I always feel a slight sense of anxiousness about sharing the island. It’s fun to have people to experience it with and talk about the latest developments, like the new antelope that just moved in or the great bomber jacket that showed up in the store. But the competitive element hasn’t gone away, even after more than two weeks of play. It’s something that lingers in the background — and it makes me want to play as soon as I wake up.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21185977/animal-crossing-new-horizons-local-multiplayer-island-sharing

Gaming

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Chris Welch

Dish is letting the major US carriers borrow spectrum during quarantine data crunch

If the company makes good on its word (and assuming the T-Mobile and Sprint merger successfully closes), Dish is poised to become a significant player in the US mobile provider market this year. But before any of that happens, Dish is lending a hand to Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile by letting them utilize some of its vast spectrum holdings to shore up their 4G LTE networks. With millions of people staying indoors to help slow the novel coronavirus outbreak, you can bet that phone usage — on both the data and voice sides — is skyrocketing. PC Mag has a breakdown of how Dish is distributing its unused spectrum over the next 60 days. Each provider is getting spectrum that can temporarily help bolster its 4G LTE data network and increase speeds. In AT&T’s case, Segan estimates that wireless customers could notice up to a 20Mbps uptick in data performance while the spectrum loan is in effect. T-Mobile is also getting a significant boost. On Sunday, the FCC granted the carrier permission to use additional spectrum in the 600MHz made available by Dish, Comcast, NewLevel, and several other companies for 60 days. “This temporary authority will help T-Mobile better serve customers who, like all of us, are making significant adjustments to their daily lives to minimize in-person interactions and slow the spread of COVID-19,” FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a press release. None of the major carriers have suffered outages or disruptive downtime during the COVID-19 outbreak thus far, but it’s good to see them reinforcing their networks however possible. Yes, a lot of us are heavily leaning on Wi-Fi during these long days and evenings at home; broadband providers have agreed to drop their data caps and refrain from disconnecting customers over late bills. But not everyone has reliable Wi-Fi — especially when several people are home sharing it at the same time — and they might now be turning to their smartphones and mobile hotspot functionality to carry out work and voice calls at home. Any extra bit of spectrum is going to help there. US Cellular has also been granted additional spectrum in four US states. Dish has often been criticized for hoarding spectrum and not putting it to any actual use, and even risked fines from the FCC for failing to build an actual network. But that was before the company was brought into the T-Mobile and Sprint deal and positioned as the replacement fourth “major” carrier once the merger is finalized. Earlier today, T-Mobile issued a news release stating that the company remains prepared to close the merger with Sprint even as financial markets are in turmoil due to the coronavirus pandemic. All necessary US regulators have already approved it and the two providers emerged victorious over a challenge from several US states.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21187378/dish-letting-att-verizon-tmobile-use-spectrum-coronavirus

Mobile

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Dan Rosenbaum

How to boost your home’s Wi-Fi

If you’re now working at home due to the COVID-19 outbreak, you may have a moment when you realize that your Wi-Fi just isn’t cutting it anymore — it could be a frozen video feed, a rainbow spinner on your screen, or a cry from your kids when their favorite game doesn’t load. Here are a few things you can do to get the most out of your bandwidth. Your first step is to understand the nature of your problem and measure the quality of your Wi-Fi. You can do this from your laptop’s browser; you can also use your phone by going into Airplane Mode and turning on the Wi-Fi (you want to be sure that you’re not using cellular data for this.) Then point your browser to a service like fast.com or Speedtest (which has apps for mobile devices) to see how fast your Wi-Fi is running. Check your speed in several different rooms, and take note if there are places that score significantly lower than others. It sounds dumb, but it does happen: make sure your devices are using the network you think they are. Sometimes (and for no reason), devices will glom onto, say, your ISP’s lower-speed wireless hotspot rather than your home’s high-speed network. It just takes a second, so double-check. Data requirements creep up on us, and you’re probably sucking down more bits than you used to. Maybe you bought a higher-resolution HDTV and are enjoying 4K Netflix, or you’ve started using a tablet while you watch streams, or you’ve taken up interactive gaming, or your kids’ school has closed, or you’re working from home and doing a lot of video conferencing. Or some combination of all of these. It adds up. It won’t do you any good to improve your Wi-Fi coverage around the house if traffic is getting choked by your ISP. Look at your bill or contact customer service to find out how much bandwidth you’re buying. It’s now easy to find plans with 100Mbps and up, but if you haven’t checked lately, you may have an older plan with much slower speeds. It’s also possible that you’re nudging up against monthly data caps, though ISPs will usually warn you if that’s the problem. If you still have DSL service from your local phone company, check to be sure that no faster alternative has materialized in your area. Many ISPs are offering COVID-19-related deals. For example, Altice, Spectrum, and Xfinity are offering two free months of service for new customers with kindergarten through college students. Also, major ISPs are lifting data caps and opening up their Wi-Fi hotspots to non-subscribers (in fact, all carriers have opened their mobile hotspots to the public for 60 days, per the FCC’s request). Some are even increasing internet speeds for existing customers. Look at your provider’s website and check. If the bandwidth test you did shows dead spots in your home, try moving your wireless router. It’s not at all unusual for a Wi-Fi router to be stuck in the corner of a house or apartment, near the wall where service enters your home. That’s the worst place for it. Wi-Fi is radio; radios have limited range and sometimes have trouble penetrating walls. If it’s practical, try moving your router to a more central location by running a longer coax or Ethernet cable from the wall jack. Try to keep the router away from big pieces of metal, like refrigerators or microwave ovens. Wi-Fi doesn’t do well around lots of water, either, so stay away from 100-gallon aquariums. Then try the speed checks again to see if it helped. This is an especially fruitful thing to try if there are a lot of other Wi-Fi networks near you, because you may be experiencing radio interference. Some routers are designed to sense interference and pick uncluttered frequencies themselves, but not all of them are great at that or at finding clearer frequencies as conditions change. Go into your router’s settings and systematically try other channels and see if that helps. Modern Wi-Fi works on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency band. The latter is faster and is less subject to interference but doesn’t travel as far and can’t penetrate walls as well. The former is more robust but is susceptible to interference from microwave ovens and some older cordless phones. If you can, opt for 5GHz if your devices support it. If you have an old router that doesn’t support 5GHz (that is, 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n or 802.11a), you should think seriously about getting a new one. And note: the 5GHz band has nothing to do with 5G cellular service. The similarity in names is a coincidence. Don’t be confused. It’s possible that you can’t move your router or that moving it didn’t help. In that case, look into getting a range extender and placing it where the signal is weak. Replacing your whole Wi-Fi network is the nuclear option of improving your bandwidth, but you should think about it if your network is more than five years old — certainly if it’s more than 10. Mesh networks like Google Nest, Netgear’s Orbi, Eero, or TP-Link Deco (and there are many others) are a big step up from older point-to-point systems both in speed and convenience. The very latest routers support the newest 802.11ax standard, also known as Wi-Fi 6, but it’s unlikely that any of your devices do. However, if you’re buying for the future, device upgrades for the next several years will increasingly be able to use that standard. In the end, making sure your home Wi-Fi network runs well — especially when your income or your kids’ education is concerned — is worth the effort and probably the expense as well. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21185759/wi-fi-work-at-home-how-to-router-mesh

Smart Home

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Tom Warren

Microsoft teases new Windows 10 UI in video celebrating a billion users

Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system passed a billion active users earlier this week, and the company is now marking the occasion with a video that teases new features and UI changes. In an Instagram video from Windows and Devices chief Panos Panay, Microsoft has revealed it’s pushing ahead with changes to the Windows 10 Start menu that will see the company deemphasize its Live Tiles. Microsoft is planning to reduce the color of the blocks of the tiled interface on the Start menu to simplify it and make it easier to scan for apps. This is shown in the video alongside what appears to be some spacing changes to how Live Tiles are displayed. The team made this video to celebrate making it to 1 billion MAD on Windows 10 and I wanted to share it with all of you. Now at a time when so much of our work and communication is taking place through our devices, it’s especially humbling to know that Windows can help empower a billion people to stay connected to the things and people they care about #Windows A post shared by Panos Panay (@panospanay) on Mar 19, 2020 at 12:47pm PDT Microsoft also appears to be working on improving its Fluent Design system in Windows 10, with more modern context menus and even a new Files app. We’ve been waiting quite some time for a modern take on the Windows File Explorer, and this video teases that one is coming soon. It also includes many of Microsoft’s changes to the Windows icons that the company has been rolling out recently. Built-in Windows 10 apps are gradually being updated with new and colorful icons ahead of a bigger effort to modernize the OS with Windows 10X for dual-screen devices like the Surface Neo. The teaser video comes just days before Microsoft plans to unveil consumer subscriptions for its Microsoft 365 service during an online event on March 30th. Microsoft is expected to bundle Office, Microsoft Teams, a password manager, and some general consumer-focused features into a monthly subscription. We’re not expecting to hear anything about Microsoft’s upcoming Surface Book 3 or Surface Go 2 plans at the event, but there will likely be some news on the company’s plans with Windows for 2020 and beyond. Microsoft is also holding its Build developer event online this year, where we’ll hear more about Windows and Windows 10X for dual-screen devices.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21187384/microsoft-windows-10-new-file-explorer-start-menu-context-menu-teaser-video-changes

Microsoft

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Cory Zapatka

How the coronavirus hitches a ride around your life

Like millions of others right now, we on the Verge Science video team are hunkered down in our homes to help slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. This presents some obvious difficulties for video production: what do you film when you can’t leave the house? Tricky as it is, we’re committed to getting scrappy with our circumstances. So I whipped up a small demonstration that doesn’t require a studio or co-workers. Step one: get a powder called Glo Germ, which sticks to hands, faces, and other surfaces and also glows under ultraviolet light. This will be my stand-in for virus particles. Step two: put some powder on my hands, and go about my normal business in my apartment. Step three: retrace my steps and see just how far and wide my faux-contamination has spread. Check out the video above to see the results and learn more about the science behind all of those public health recommendations regarding handwashing and surface-cleaning. And follow along with The Verge’s guide to the COVID-19 pandemic for our latest reporting. Verge Science on YouTube

https://www.theverge.com/science/2020/3/19/21185871/coronavirus-covid-19-cdc-social-distancing-quarantine-recommendations-experiment

Science

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Chaim Gartenberg

Sony and Microsoft are revealing their new consoles in the most boring way possible

After months of anticipation, Sony and Microsoft have started releasing concrete details for their upcoming flagship next-gen consoles, the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X. After days of press releases, blog posts, and presentations... I am mostly just tired of hearing the word “teraflop.” It’s not that the specific measurement of computational power for graphics cards is getting me down; rather, it’s the entire approach that Microsoft and Sony have taken to announce their respective next-generation consoles. Both companies have decided that the first and most important message to give customers and developers is about the pure hardware specifications. And so, just over half a year away from these consoles launching, the only thing we really know about them is cold, hard numbers: how fast the processors are; how many compute units the GPUs have; how quickly the SSDs can process data; how much RAM they have; and, of course, the often-bragged-about teraflop count. These details are important, don’t get me wrong. Developers need to know specifications and design strategies behind these consoles so that they can take advantage of these features. And getting that information to them is important. This week’s spec-heavy announcements, in particular, were likely rescheduled from the canceled Game Developers Conference — a developer-focused event — and it makes sense that the news from it would be developer based. But why make this the focus of the announcement campaign? Why are these details the only ones we have about the Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5? I’m a tech reporter; I enjoy hearing what people consider to be dull technical details about computer hardware, and even I was bored. Live comments on the PS5 video are brutal pic.twitter.com/y88ISXMnlt Show a tech demo! Or an actual game! Companies need to stop taking the entire exercise so seriously. These are boxes that play video games, a form of entertainment that is ostensibly supposed to be fun. Why not actually show that, instead of treating the details like Cold War intel that needs to be carefully distributed? Because right now, for all the speeds and specs that have been promised, we have little idea of what this actually means for next-gen games. All we have to go on are a pre-rendered trailer, a few screenshots, and a few videos showing faster load times on mostly older games. Compare Microsoft and Sony’s first looks at their consoles to Nintendo’s reveal for the Switch. The focus is on the experience of playing the console, the joy that it brings to people in different ways. There were games shown off that Nintendo hadn’t officially announced for the Switch at that point, some of which wouldn’t arrive for at least a year from when they were first seen in the trailer. Sure, Nintendo also gave hardware details as to how powerful the Switch was, but it wasn’t the spotlight — playing games was. The entire point of buying a video game console from Sony or Microsoft or Nintendo is that customers don’t have to worry about specs. The implicit promise of consoles is that by paying slightly more for hardware and games and giving up customization and higher levels of performance, you get a box that will play whatever games match the logo on it, no questions asked. There will always be a subset of fans who like to boast about how their favorite company’s box is better or faster than the others, who are no doubt delighted to use this week’s announcements as the latest salvos in their unending online fights. But it misses the point that it shouldn’t really matter what’s inside your console. And the fact that Microsoft and Sony not only expect me to know what a teraflop is but are actively emphasizing these hardware specs as the core of experience for their new consoles is fundamentally backward. Despite most of the next-gen console announcements doubling as dry white papers, it probably won’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Microsoft and Sony will still sell millions of their new consoles anyway. Hyped-up reveals focusing on the actual games that you can play and how these consoles will make that better and more fun will undoubtedly arrive at some point in the coming months. But right now, the balance feels off. Microsoft and Sony seem to be too focused on one-upping both each other and their existing hardware’s specifications and not focused enough on making the argument that these innovations — which are no doubt important and technically impressive — are actually going to make anything more fun. Update March 19th, 10:50 AM ET: Added links to Microsoft’s loading and quick resume demos in addition to Sony’s loading demo.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21185477/sony-microsoft-xbox-series-x-playstation-5-ps5-specs-games-announcements

Microsoft

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Tom Warren

Microsoft announces new Teams features as usage skyrockets nearly 40 percent in a week

Microsoft is revealing new Teams features today to mark three years of the service just as it experiences unprecedented growth amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Teams suffered an outage on Monday as demand for the communication and chat app surged worldwide with people working and learning from home. The software giant counted 32 million daily active users of Teams last week on March 11th, but this jumped by 12 million to 44 million daily active users yesterday. The nearly 40 percent increase in demand comes as many businesses adjust to remote work and school closures require the adoption of e-learning techniques. Microsoft’s new Teams features are designed to improve remote meetings as they become the default work mode rather than the pre-pandemic exception. Microsoft is planning to introduce a new real-time noise suppression feature for Teams meetings later this year. This is especially ideal if you’re working from home and children or pets are running around making noise or when you’re trying to discretely dig into a bag of chips. Microsoft is using artificial intelligence to remove background noise from calls automatically, focusing the attention of your microphone on what you’re actually saying instead of the noise around you. Alongside the noise suppression feature, Teams will also get a “raise hand” feature later this year. You’ll also be able to simply click a button to ask a question in particularly busy or large meetings. Teams is also getting an offline mode for reading Teams chat messages and drafting responses when there’s no internet connectivity. Teams will also soon support the ability to pop out chats into separate windows, so you can quickly switch between conversations. All of these features are coming “later this year” and are clearly designed to improve meeting scenarios and remote working. Microsoft sees the novel coronavirus pandemic as a turning point for remote working. “I really do think it’s an inflection point,” explains Microsoft 365 chief Jared Spataro. “We’re going to look back and realize this is where it all changed. We’re never going to go back to working the way that we did.” Some of these remote working changes are already in place at Microsoft, as the company has been forced to test remote working at a large scale with its 50,000 employees in the Seattle region working from home. “It hasn’t been easy,” admits Spataro. “Sometimes it’s been downright disorienting. But our team is still connecting.” Microsoft’s new Teams features and daily active numbers come just a day after its main competitor, Slack, launched its biggest redesign yet. Slack is improving the UI of its chat app, with a focus on more customization and simplification. Slack hasn’t provided an updated daily user count since October when it revealed 12 million daily active users, just short of Microsoft’s previous 13 million count.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186452/microsoft-teams-new-features-noise-supression-user-increase-coronavirus

Microsoft

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Taylor Lyles

Facebook’s less cluttered desktop redesign is more widely available starting today

Facebook has begun rolling out the overhauled version of its desktop site. Starting today, users have the option to opt in to the new design, which places a heavier emphasis on two of Facebook’s most critical features: events and groups. The redesign was previously exclusive to the Facebook mobile app and was first announced at the company’s F8 developer conference last year. “Starting today, the majority of people on Facebook will have access to the new desktop design,” a Facebook spokesperson tells The Verge. “People can opt-in to try out the new design before it becomes default later this year.” So if you don’t have access now, it should be showing up shortly. Similar to the mobile app redesign last year, the new desktop layout gives you quicker access to some major Facebook features and employs a cleaner, simpler design with more generous amounts of white space. The redesign includes larger fonts and sleeker icons, a dark mode, and a simplified layout with fewer columns of information to look at. Facebook Stories have been moved above the “Update Status” box, while just above the “Stories” section, there’s a redesigned menu bar housing several tabs previously found in the left-hand corner of the screen, such as Events and Marketplace. The most significant change in the desktop’s design is the new “Groups” tab located on the redesigned menu bar. Clicking on the tab will bring you to a personalized feed of updates from groups you are a member of while also suggesting groups for you to join based on your interests. You can try the new design by heading to Facebook and logging in to your account. Head to your Settings menu, and click “See New Facebook.” If you don’t like it and want to delay using the new redesign, you can click “Switch to Classic Facebook.” Facebook has committed to transforming its social network into a “privacy-focused communications platform,” in part by pushing more focus on groups and events. Groups currently has 400 million active users (many more users belong to inactive groups or don’t check them regularly), while 700 million people use Facebook Events each month. The new design makes those two products more prominent, and Facebook hopes people will be more inclined to use them as reliance on the News Feed continues to shrink.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21187118/facebook-desktop-redesign-more-available-starting-today

Web

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Ashley Carman

Kickstarter creators can extend live project deadlines by seven days

Kickstarter is giving creators extra time to meet their crowdfunding goals. On Thursday, the company said any creator with a campaign live now can request a seven-day extension. To ask for extra time, they just have to email [email protected] from the email address associated with their project along with a link to the campaign. Kickstarter says creators have reached out to say COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has affected existing campaigns on the platform, and they’d like extra time to adjust and possibly reach more people. This is now Kickstarter’s official response. (The company has previously offered seven-day extensions for specific circumstances, like for French creators after the Paris attacks.) In its post announcing the extension, Kickstarter notes that creators should rethink their established production timeline and give backers more accurate estimates. They can also adjust their campaign messaging and promotional plans while also asking backers for help in promoting the project. The team noted it hasn’t seen a “noticeable decline” in support for live projects yet. The company also took the opportunity to address anyone who’s thinking about launching a campaign, telling them to consider their health and well-being before going ahead with their project. Generally, Kickstarter said earlier this week that it noticed backers being more forgiving to creators, so long as they were kept in the loop. The team recommended that creators acknowledge the pandemic and frequently update. COVID-19 is already disrupting the supply chain and manufacturing process for large retailers, let alone smaller independent businesses. This will likely be reflected in Kickstarter campaigns in the months to come.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21187412/kickstarter-crowdfunding-campaing-coronavirus-extension-time

Tech

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Andrew J. Hawkins

Uber is lifting restrictions on drivers in NYC in response to coronavirus

Uber will stop blocking drivers in New York City from signing on to its app, which it has been doing since fall 2019. The company says it wants to give drivers one less thing to worry about amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Uber began restricting drivers’ access to the app after the city passed a law in late 2018 requiring ride-hail companies to pay drivers at least $17.22 an hour after expenses. The pay formula uses a so-called “utilization rate,” which accounts for the share of time a driver spends with passengers in their vehicles compared to time spent idle and waiting for a fare. The rules penalize companies for enabling too much car traffic. The higher a company’s utilization rate, the less it has to pay drivers to meet the new wage floor requirement. The rules were intended to increase pay for drivers while also addressing what many saw as an oversaturated market in New York City. In response to the law, Lyft began limiting drivers’ access to its app. But that had a domino effect: drivers who were kicked off the Lyft app began logging into Uber, significantly increasing the volume of vehicles on its platform. In order to maintain a good utilization rate, Uber says it was forced to follow Lyft’s lead and restrict access to the app. But with uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, Uber says it wants to help drivers in any way it can — and that includes not booting them out of the app. “The last thing drivers should have to worry about right now is whether they can use the app, so we have decided to lift the current restrictions,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “In these difficult times, driver well-being is at the top of our minds, and we will continue to look for ways to support them wherever possible.” The question is whether there is enough demand to meet the inevitable rise in driver supply that Uber is enabling. In a call with investors on March 19th, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that gross bookings in Seattle were down 60 to 70 percent, a figure he said could be extrapolated to other cities hard hit by the virus, including New York City. Uber says it wants to help drivers by removing barriers to getting on to its app. But at the same time, there are clearly far fewer customers who need rides these days. Under New York City’s utilization rate, the less work each of those drivers has, the more Uber has to pay. How much more remains to be seen.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21187261/uber-lift-restrictions-driver-app-nyc-coronavirus

Tech

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Jon Porter

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate adds extra in-game content with new Perks

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers are getting new in-game content as part of their subscription, Microsoft has announced. The new “Perks” vary by game, but they range from unique emotes and in-game cosmetic items in Phantasy Star Online 2 to free ship parts in Sea of Thieves. World of Tanks: Mercenaries players, meanwhile, will get access to three tanks, or you can get a bundle of five Gods, character skins, and voice packs in Smite. All of the Perks will be enabled automatically for subscribers, and they can be found in the Xbox Game Pass tab on console, in the Xbox beta app on Windows 10, or in the Xbox Game Pass mobile app. Microsoft says it will announce new Perks as part of future Xbox Game Pass catalog updates. Announced last April, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate combines Microsoft’s Game Pass subscription service with an Xbox Live Gold subscription. It saves you around $5 a month compared to the cost of paying for the two services separately. Now, if you’re the kind of person who likes to spend money on additional in-game content, it could potentially save you a little more. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186686/xbox-game-pass-ultimate-perks-in-game-items-cosmetics-bonuses

Gaming

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Kim Lyons

Charter Communications finally updates its work-from-home policy

Charter Communications is updating its work-from-home policy Thursday, following numerous reports from employees who said the company had required them to report to work in person despite the coronavirus pandemic. The company said in a statement to The Verge that it would “provide the option to work remotely to employees we believe can remain productive outside the office without endangering our obligation to provide critical services.” The cable and internet giant said it also is providing employees an additional three weeks of paid time off “to be used for any COVID-19-related personal need” and will be developing “increased social distancing plans in our call centers and operations facilities.” This is after at least one employee at Charter tested positive for COVID-19 and others are now worried about exposure, TechCrunch reports. According to TechCrunch, Charter management normally makes decisions on working from home on a case-by-case basis. Charter and its subsidiary Spectrum, which have some 15,000 office-based employees nationwide, continued to discourage employees from working from home as early as this week. Gizmodo reported that employees were still working in facilities with 100 people on a floor in close proximity. The Denver Post reported an engineer in Colorado emailed company leadership to question Charter’s policy against working from home and then ended up quitting as a result. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) tweeted Thursday that it was “unconscionable” that Charter was “ignoring CDC guidelines,” adding, “It’s clear that their top priority is not the health and safety of their employees and communities.” Internet service will prove critically important during the ongoing coronavirus crisis, with workers and students moving almost entirely online to complete work and school assignments. Along with other internet service providers and cable companies, Charter has signed the Federal Communication Commission’s Keep Americans Connected pledge, which asks companies not to terminate services for customers and waive fees incurred due to the economic impact of the coronavirus, and to open public Wi-Fi hotspots to “any American who needs them.” Most other internet service providers have already taken steps to at least amend their work-from-home policies accordingly. Comcast said in an emailed statement to The Verge that it has “asked every employee that is able to work from home to do so,” adding that it has transitioned “thousands of customer service representatives across the country to work from home.” AT&T took a similar approach, asking employees “in jobs that can be done from home” to do so until further notice. T-Mobile reduced staffing levels and said it would not require retail workers to be in stores, and Verizon said it was closing retail stores and expanding its work-from-home policy, too. Update March 19th, 3:35PM ET: Charter has updated its work-from-home policy.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186676/charter-communications-remote-coronavirus-att-comcast-verizon

Mobile

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Julia Alexander

Netflix will reduce its European network traffic by 25 percent to manage surge

Netflix will take new actions to reduce bit rates of streams in Europe following a conversation between the European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton and CEO Reed Hastings, the company announced on Thursday. “Netflix has decided to begin reducing bit rates across all our streams in Europe for 30 days,” a spokesperson said in a statement to The Verge. “We estimate that this will reduce Netflix traffic on European networks by around 25 percent while also ensuring a good quality service for our members.” The reduction comes on top of other methods Netflix has implemented since 2011 to keep streaming steady in low bandwidth areas. Netflix already uses an adaptive streaming tool that automatically adjusts the quality of streaming video based on accessible bandwidth, the company confirmed to The Verge. Netflix began the pilot of its “open connect” program when the company started streaming video between 2010 and 2011. Netflix, which partners with internet service providers around the world on network management, will determine what quality of stream is best for the viewer in an effort to ensure buffering doesn’t occur. If bandwidth is low, videos will automatically stream at a lower resolution. But if everyone is running at higher speeds and trying to share those pipes, don’t expect HD or 4K streaming. “Important phone conversation with Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, today,” Breton tweeted on Wednesday. “To beat COVID-19, we stay at home. Teleworking and streaming help a lot but infrastructures might be in strain. To secure internet access for all, let’s switch to standard definition when HD is not necessary.” Netflix’s bit rate reduction comes at a time when Nielsen is estimating that people staying home “can lead to almost a 60 percent increase in the amount of content we watch in some cases and potentially more depending on the reasons” due to the novel coronavirus. Streaming services like Netflix, Disney Plus, and Hulu — alongside other forms of streaming entertainment — will grow the longer people are stuck at home. Nielsen has already seen increases in TV and internet consumption in areas heavily impacted by the novel coronavirus, including South Korea and Italy. In South Korea, between the second week of February and the fourth week, “there was a surge in the virus, the analysis noted a 17 percent increase in TV viewing — an increase of approximately 1.2 million viewers.” Italy saw similar gains. Video games and Twitch-style gaming streams are also testing the limits of the network. StreamElements, a research firm that conducts regular surveys of the industry with partner Arsenal.gg, discovered that Twitch saw a 10 percent increase in viewership over the last week. Live-stream viewership in Italy also grew more than 66 percent since the first week of February, according to StreamElements — just when the quarantine began. “In addition to individual channels growing in size, we have ... seen the amount of channels being watched almost double,” CEO Doron Nir told The Verge. Widespread containment efforts have also resulted in many more people relying on the internet for previously offline activities, like working or conducting classes. Many people are using video conferencing tools like Zoom, which puts an additional weight on broadband. Washington state’s Northshore School District superintendent Michelle Reid wrote to parents about the move to online schooling and noted that if students don’t have a stable or usable internet connection, they’ll be provided with a mobile hotspot in order to continue their education. Other school districts aren’t as well prepared, but are trying to conduct online classes in similar ways. Netflix declined to comment to The Verge about how much of an increase in consumption the company is seeing around the world, but it seems likely that the service has also seen an uptick in users. And as more people around the world are forced to self-isolate or work from home, the amount of people opening streaming apps will grow — and the network is likely to continue to strain under the pressure.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21187078/netflix-europe-streaming-european-union-bit-rate-broadband-coronavirus

Policy

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Andrew Webster

A shorter Game Developers Conference has been rescheduled for August

The Game Developers Conference, an annual gathering of game creators in San Francisco, has been rescheduled after being delayed earlier this year. The original event, which was slated to take place this week, was postponed at the end of February due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. (Many of the scheduled talks have since been streamed on Twitch.) The new version, dubbed GDC Summer, will be a three-day-long event that kicks off on August 4th, with a show floor that will be open August 5th-6th. It will still be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Here’s how the new iteration of the event is being described: GDC Summer’s conference program will consist of high-quality technical content, mixed with valuable roundtable discussions to foster conversation and connection. The event will host a new series of microtalks and fireside chats, as well as a dedicated space for comprehensive career development sessions covering topics such as how to pitch your game, effective communication strategies, how to land an investor / publisher, and business development strategies. Of course, GDC is far from the only major event impacted by the pandemic; the likes of E3, Coachella, and SXSW have all been canceled or delayed as well. Some, like Microsoft Build, have been reimagined as virtual events. “Safety remains the GDC organizers’ paramount concern and the GDC team will continue to monitor the latest information from health officials to ensure a safe and compelling event for everyone at GDC Summer, GDC 2021, and beyond,” the organizers explained in a press release.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21187383/game-developers-conference-gdc-summer-rescheduled-date-coronavirus

Gaming

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Loren Grush

NASA and SpaceX still targeting May for first crewed mission to space amid coronavirus pandemic

After six years of developing a new passenger spacecraft for NASA, SpaceX is finally on track to launch its very first crew to the International Space Station in mid-to-late May — but uncertainty surrounds the flight as the novel coronavirus pandemic worsens in the US. On Wednesday, NASA put out a call for press to cover the mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida, but if current restrictions remain in place over the next couple of months, changes will likely need to be made as the mission proceeds. Despite the pandemic, the mission itself is set to be historic. The last time astronauts launched to orbit from the United States was July 8th, 2011 — the last flight of NASA’s Space Shuttle. Since then, NASA astronauts have relied on Russia’s Soyuz rocket to get to and from the International Space Station. Each seat on that vehicle costs the space agency more than $70 million. In order to move launches back to US soil, in 2014 NASA tasked two companies — Boeing and SpaceX — with developing private space capsules that can ferry astronauts to the ISS, part of an initiative called the Commercial Crew Program. Now, SpaceX is finally poised to launch its first human passengers on its new Crew Dragon vehicle, marking the first time a commercial vehicle has launched people to orbit. NASA has been hyping this mission for years, but the timing is obviously unlucky. Companies and organizations across the US are telling employees to work from home, and NASA is no different. As of yesterday, all of NASA’s centers and facilities are requiring their employees to work from home, with an exception for personnel considered “mission-essential.” NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley has even more stringent restrictions since two of its employees have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Meanwhile, SpaceX employees have been told they should stay home if they’re feeling sick, though SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has downplayed the risks associated with the virus. However, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine says the agency is still moving ahead with important missions, including SpaceX’s trip, which will carry NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS for a quick stay. But schedules are subject to change as the pandemic continues to worsen. One spaceport in South America has already suspended launches to protect its personnel and people living near the site. “NASA is proactively monitoring the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation as it evolves,” NASA said in a statement. “The agency will continue to follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the agency’s chief health and medical officer and communicate any updates that may impact mission planning or media access, as they become available.” Protocols are already in place to make sure astronauts are in peak health when they fly. Even before the pandemic began, NASA required all astronauts to go into quarantine two weeks ahead of their missions to orbit to ensure they don’t carry any unwanted illnesses with them to space. (There’s a full-body wipe-down before flight, too, according to Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.) With the astronauts heavily monitored before flight, things appear to be moving forward for the mission, but a lot could quickly change between now and the targeted launch in May. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear like the pandemic is going to get much better by May. In fact, researchers are predicting that the disease spread may not peak until late May or early June, according to a new report from Imperial College London. That may mean that there will be few people able to visit Cape Canaveral, Florida, to witness the historic launch. Even if NASA and SpaceX have no problems moving forward with additional tests and processing for the mission and the launch goes ahead as planned, current social distancing recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend against large gatherings. That would be a stark contrast to the large crowds that gathered to watch the last launch of the Space Shuttle in 2011.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186511/spacex-nasa-crew-dragon-astronauts-launch-may-international-space-station

Science

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Jay Peters

Advocacy group calls for Zoom to release a transparency report

Digital rights advocacy group Access Now has published an open letter to Zoom calling on the video conferencing company to release a transparency report. Publishing transparency reports is a common practice for larger tech companies. Google and Microsoft, for example, share the number of requests they get from law enforcement and from governments for user data and if they disclosed customer data as part of those requests. Zoom, however, hasn’t published a transparency report, likely because it is a smaller company and holds less personal data. Zoom has seen significant growth as workers, families, and even presidential campaigns have used the video conferencing software for virtual meetings due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Access Now argues that Zoom needs to publish a transparency report so that the public can be informed about how the company handles and protects user data. “The growing demand for your services makes Zoom a target for third parties, from law enforcement to malicious hackers, seeking personal data and sensitive information,” wrote Isedua Oribhabor, Access Now’s US policy analyst, and Peter Micek, Access Now’s general counsel, in the letter to Zoom. “Meanwhile, as people gather online, these assemblies will ​draw scrutiny from authorities​ looking to control the flow of information. This is why disclosing only privacy policies is not enough — it is necessary for Zoom to also disclose its policies and procedures protecting the data and accounts of everyone interacting with its services through a regular transparency report.” Access Now is asking Zoom to share the following, according to the letter: Reached for comment, Zoom said it was considering the request, but declined to give further details. “We received the Access Now letter on Wednesday afternoon, and we are in the process of reviewing it,” the company said in a statement. “We take user privacy extremely seriously, and appreciate them reaching out on this very important topic.” The company hasn’t had the best track record with security issues. Last July, a security researcher disclosed a zero-day vulnerability for Zoom on Macs that could let any website open a video-enabled call. In January, cybersecurity research company Check Point Research said it had found security flaws in Zoom that would have let hackers listen in on calls. Update, March 19th 12:06PM ET: Updated with link to the open letter.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186152/zoom-transparency-report-access-now-advocacy-group

Policy

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Dieter Bohn

The iPad Pro is ready to supplant the Mac just as the MacBook Air is great again

I felt personally attacked by Apple yesterday, specifically by the marketing copy it used to promote the new iPad Pro: “Your next computer is not a computer.” This newsletter, Processor, is also (and originally) the name for the tech-focused video essays that I sometimes make. The very first one kicked off by asking the same question Apple did with an iPad Pro back in 2018: “What’s a computer?” Now, apparently, Apple has decided that the iPad Pro “is not a computer.” Okay. Of course, the whole idea here isn’t actually to define “computer,” in a strict sense, but instead to play with the concept of what we expect a computer to be and do. I’m obsessed with the evolution of big-screened computers over the past few years because it’s become the locus of so much experimentation. You’re reading Processor, a newsletter about computers by Dieter Bohn. Dieter writes about consumer tech, software, and the most important news of the day from The Verge. This newsletter delivers “mostly daily,” which nets out three to four times a week, some of which include longer columns. You can subscribe to Processor and learn more about it here. Processor is also a YouTube series with the same goal: providing smart and surprising analysis with a bit of humor. Subscribe to all of The Verge’s great videos here! Apple, Microsoft, and Google have each taken multiple shots at repeating the revolutionary change the iPhone effected on the phone world, but doing so with tablets. None have managed to pull it off, and so watching their iterative attempts every year is interesting primarily because they have to keep trying new things. An iPhone-sized revolution isn’t in the offing, but the same-old laptops feel increasingly disconnected from the way we actually do our most important computer tasks — on our phones. And so: the new thing Apple is finally coming around on is putting real trackpad support on the iPad. There’s a whole riff here about how it’s a vindication of Microsoft’s original concept for the Surface line, but I’ll leave that for another day or another writer. I also have many emotions about how the new trackpad and mouse support work on iPadOS, but I’ll weigh in after I’ve spent some time using them. Instead, I’m fascinated by how the new iPad Pro and new MacBook Air are directly competing with each other. Apple disagrees, for the record. On a call yesterday with journalists, an Apple representative said that very few people who are going out to buy a device are actually confused about which one they want to get. I think that’s right, honestly, but that it won’t be right forever. Will the iPad cannibalize the Mac? In some ways this question has become boring even as it continues to be vital. There are lots of questions like this in tech, and answering them requires cleaving a Gordian knot rather than trying to untie it. For Google, it’s “will Android and Chrome OS merge?” For Microsoft, it’s “can Windows stay relevant in the age of smartphones?” The fact that these questions become tiresome doesn’t mean they don’t continue to be vital. For Apple, the problem is that the obvious trajectory the iPad is on right now runs smack into MacBook territory. Making two directly competitive products is a recipe for one of them to stagnate. It doesn’t help that the Mac has had a bad few years — bad keyboards, bad pro machines, and most recently a pretty big whiff on Catalyst apps. So it’s tempting to say that the Mac is stagnating and it’s only a matter of time until the only people that buy Macs are pros who need to do very crunchy computing tasks like modeling molecules and rendering video and animation. I don’t think that’s inevitable, but I do think it’s more likely than not on a long enough timescale if current trends continue. Until last year, that felt like a nightmare scenario to me, because until last year the iPad was radically locked down. I still think it’s too locked down to be a great general computing device, but it’s heading in a more open direction at least. The irony of all this is that on paper, the new MacBook Air is a stupendous everyperson computer. Apple got it down under the $1,000 mark while simultaneously fixing most of the big problems with the last model. The keyboard is fixed. The processor is fast enough for most people now instead of being a modest compromise. The default storage is reasonable. All of which is to say that at the precise moment Apple finally shipped a great MacBook Air again, the iPad Pro looks poised to supplant it. I take my job as a reviewer of consumer technology seriously, which means that I bounce between lots of different computing platforms. In a given week I’ll use a MacBook, a Surface Pro, an Android phone, an iPhone, a Pixelbook, and an iPad Pro. It’s weird and I don’t recommend it, but it lets me see the strengths and weakness of each platform very clearly. And here’s what I see, at least from Apple’s computers. The MacBook Air is the MacBook that Apple should have been shipping for the past five years. If I had to recommend one Apple computer to somebody without knowing anything about their needs, I’d almost surely pick the new Air. But if I had to guess what my default recommendation would be in a few years, I’d say it will be the iPad Pro. The irony, of course, is that I still haven’t figured out a reliable way to create this newsletter using only an iPad Pro. I can do it on a Mac, a Chromebook, or a Windows PC easily, but the iPad is too locked down to run the tools I need. For $30, you can support organizations that are helping to supply those fighting on the front lines against the novel coronavirus. That $30 gets you a bunch of good games, including Into The Breach, Hollow Knight, Undertale, Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, The Witness, Superhot, and several other titles. The ebooks cover a range of topics like mindfulness and coping, as well as Saga Volume 1, The Boys Volume 1, along with a few more digital comics. The pack even includes crosswords and Music Maker EDM Edition, so you can make some beats while you’re at home. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy. Prices displayed are based on the MSRP at time of posting. ┏ Apple announces new MacBook Air with improved keyboard, faster performance, and more storage. ┏ Apple announces new iPad Pro with trackpad support and a wild keyboard cover. ┏ iPadOS 13.4 adds full mouse and trackpad support. ┏ How the new iPad Pro compares to the new MacBook Air. Jay Peters lays out all the specs in a single chart. ┏ Apple doubles the storage in the standard Mac mini. ┏ Apple’s new iPad Pro keyboard with trackpad will cost up to $349. It’s not coming out until May. Even for Apple, these prices seem exorbitant. ┏ Here’s how the iPad’s new trackpad actually works. I collated a list of all the gestures. I think I forgot to put in “right click” because it was too obvious to me but, in fact, it’s not obvious at all! ┏ Logitech’s iPad keyboard case with trackpad costs half as much as Apple’s. I really, really hope we see a lot more of these. I still don’t fully understand why nobody ever adopted the iPad’s smart connector in any of its iterations (if you do, please email me). Regardless, trackpad support is a moment for a bunch of companies to take another crack at iPad keyboards, since Apple’s solution is super expensive. I’ll come back to Sony later in the week. After weighing in so much on the Xbox, I feel like I owe it to the PS5. I still think the specs are a wash between the two, but what comes out of that wash is going to be fascinating. In the meantime, we’ve got solid analysis from the rest of The Verge in the links below. ┏ Sony reveals full PS5 hardware specifications. There are two kinds of people in the world. Those for whom the following paragraph is complete gibberish and those who know what it means and are pretty excited by it. The PS5 will feature a custom eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU clocked at 3.5GHz (variable frequency) and a custom GPU based on AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture hardware that promises 10.28 teraflops and 36 compute units clocked at 2.23GHz (also variable frequency). It’ll also have 16GB of GDDR6 RAM and a custom 825GB SSD that Sony has previously promised will offer super-fast loading times in gameplay. ┏ PS5 will support ‘almost all’ of the top 100 PS4 games at launch. ┏ Sony says the PlayStation 5’s SSD will completely change next-gen level design. This is so smart. You might think, as I did just yesterday, that load screens getting shorter is great but not necessarily life changing. But it’s not about the load screens, it’s about all load times. And if they go away, a lot of the constraints you didn’t even realize were there in the first place could go away too. Cerny says most modern game developers more realistically “chop the world into a number of smaller pieces” to avoid those extra-long elevator rides. But the end result is that you have levels designed with twisty passages and long, repetitive environments that are there solely to account for load times and to avoid kicking the player to a black screen. ┏ PS5 vs. Xbox Series X: a complicated battle of SSD and GPU speeds. There are a lot of numbers and teraflops and comparisons that aren’t immediately obvious just one to one. Essentially you’re going to see some console fan brag about the Xbox or PS5 having more flops or whatever, but all computing hardware is about trade-offs and compromises. Sony and Microsoft just focused on prioritizing different things. My very-layman’s-and-correct-me-if-I’m-wrong take is that Microsoft just threw as much horsepower into a big box as it could, while Sony is hoping it has something more nuanced. Though I’d like to see what Sony’s box looks like. So far, as Tom Warren repeatedly reminds me, all we’ve actually seen is a logo. His analysis below and in the full story is worth your time. Sony is hoping that by offering developers less compute units running at a variable (and higher) clock rate, the company will be able to extract better performance out of the PS5. The reality is that it will require developers to do more work to optimize games for the console until we can find out how it compares to the (more powerful on paper) Xbox Series X. ┏ Space startup Lynk uses satellite to send text message to unmodified Android phone. Loren Grush has this truly fascinating story. You might think there’s some weird gotcha in the headline, but there’s not. A satellite really did essentially act as a cell tower for an unmodified Android phone on the ground — a phone that normally only communicates with cell towers in the range of a few miles at most. ┏ Slack unveils its biggest redesign yet. Everybody always hates the day when their tools suddenly change on them, so I won’t prejudge. I won’t say that I think this design is spatially inefficient and wildly optimistic about people bothering to organize their stuff, much less their willingness to learn how. I won’t suggest that what Slack needs to do is put more effort into an API so people can make third-party clients that cater to their specific work desires instead of following Slack’s ideas. I won’t say any of that. I’ll wait to see what this redesign is actually like to experience. Then, well, I guess we’ll see. ┏ Android 11 Developer Preview 2 is out with support for call screening, hinge angle detection, and more. ┏ This is Twitch’s moment. Bijan Stephen is cooler than me and therefore knows cooler people, but that doesn’t undercut his point that he’s seeing lots of cool stuff happening on the platform. Twitch is going to break out into something more than what it has been. I don’t know what that’ll be, ultimately, but you can feel the shift happening already. What’s really cool about all this is the flourishing creativity I’ve seen in the new streams that are happening on Twitch right now. A New York Times columnist I know has started doing cooking streams with her husband; a programmer I’m pals with has started hosting daily yoga classes; my friends at the podcast Reply All have joined, too, and they’ve started streaming live call-in shows. And these are just the people I know — there are undoubtedly thousands more streams like them happening right now. It’s the best time on Twitch that I can remember. ┏ Schools can get direct connectivity help from carriers after new FCC ruling.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186312/ipad-pro-vs-macbook-air-future-computers

Apple

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Megan Farokhmanesh

GameStop claims it is ‘essential retail’ to remain open amid coronavirus shutdowns

GameStop is instructing its retail employees to keep stores open, even in the face of local authorities who would seek to shut them down over coronavirus-related lockdowns. “GameStop is working diligently during this unprecedented time to provide our customers and associates with the safest environment possible,” the company said in a statement posted to its website on Thursday. “We are implementing changes to our retail operations so that we may continue to provide essential products to our customers that allows them to stay connected, and provide products that allows business and consumers to work remotely.” We are working diligently during this unprecedented time to provide our customers & associates with the safest environment possible. Please see below for details on new changes we are enacting & click here for our full statement: https://t.co/qP9jDQUmjs pic.twitter.com/d99kxviz7Q GameStop says it is “instituting multiple social distancing practices” in its stores by allowing 10 people in at a time; reducing its store hours; rolling out a delivery-at-door policy so customers can pick up orders outside the retail location; suspending trade-ins until March 29th; postponing all events and midnight launches; and disabling all in-store game stations. Instead of instructing its retail employees to stay home, GameStop also says it is “providing all our stores with the necessary supply of disinfectant materials and hand sanitizer” and only allowing employees to remain home “if they are sick and are experiencing any flu-like symptoms.” In a memo first obtained by Kotaku earlier today, employees were told that “due to the products we carry that enable and enhance our customers’ experience in working from home, we believe GameStop is classified as essential retail and therefore is able to remain open during this time.” Essential government services include transit, police, fire, health care services, grocery markets, pharmacies, banks, and gas stations. The memo, which acknowledges that local authorities have attempted to enforce closure, adds that “Store Managers are approved to provide the document [to contact corporate] to law enforcement as needed.” GameStop did not respond to a request for comment by time of publish. The Verge has confirmed that this includes San Francisco, which became the first US city to enact a shelter-in-place order and mandate the closing of all nonessential businesses earlier this week. A call placed by The Verge to a local GameStop store in the city confirmed that the retailer would remain open in the coming days, although on a slightly adjusted schedule that has the store opening later in the day at 12PM local time and staying open until 6PM. The Verge’s sister site Polygon previously reported that many GameStop employees feel unsupported and unsafe in this difficult time. “I had a region call and a district call today. Both showed very little care for the employees,” a GameStop manager told Polygon. “The focus is on sales.” The company has suspended many of its midnight launches, yet it has insisted on stores remaining open throughout state-mandated closures. Employees have complained that they have neither received promised cleaning supplies, nor do they have the staff to properly sanitize their stores. In San Francisco, Mayor London Breed has enforced more drastic measures to keep COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, from spreading. On March 16th, the city announced a public health order that requires all residents to remain inside “with the only exception being for essential needs.” The order will remain effective until April 7th or until it’s extended at a later date. Officials in states like New York have also been eyeing a similar order. In the past few days, cities, including New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle, have closed bars and restaurants to the general public and are operating only through take-out or delivery. Update March 19th, 5:47PM ET: Added official statement from GameStop and the company's in-store guidelines in response to the coronavirus.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21187357/gamestop-coronavirus-essential-retail-shut-down-open

Gaming

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Nick Statt

This toilet paper calculator lets you know how long your bathroom stash will last

Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures, and that’s precisely how we as a society end up with something like How Much Toilet Paper?!, a new website that calculates the dwindling amount of our most prized bathroom supply. It’s a relatively simple tool: you put in the number of rolls you have left and the number of toilet visits you estimate you take per day, and it spits out a nice whole number at the top of the screen. So 10 rolls left at three visits per day (the default for the website when you visit it for the first time) equates to 53 days. That’s plenty of toilet paper, you’d think. But there are advanced options for taking into account more granular metrics, like the number of people in the household and number of sheets on the roll of whatever brand of toilet paper you have. The result is a fun, if not tad dystopian, tool for figuring out how long you’re stash will last if coronavirus-related lockdowns around the world stay in effect for weeks to months. The site was put together by two London-based residents, software developer Ben Sassoon and artist Sam Harris, who made it quickly as a source for some “light-hearted humour.” But it fast grew into “a tool that can educate the masses and help reduce the stockpiling issues going on around the world,” Sassoon tells The Verge over email. “We went from idea to deployment in less than three hours. The site has definitely gone through a lot of changes since the first version, but it just proves the power of the internet,” he adds. “You can go from idea to viral in hours or even minutes. We are currently at around 2 million viewers in just four days. It’s beyond anything I’ve experienced before.” Sassoon says he and Harris hope the site will help people wake up to the dangers of hoarding in a crisis. “Our average user has 500% more toilet paper than they would need in a potential quarantine. We are hoping that people will use the site and see they don’t need to go out and empty the shelves,” he says. Another silver lining to the novel coronavirus pandemic is that creatives like Sassoon, who is currently self-isolating with a dwindling amount of toilet paper that his calculator estimates will last him 14 days (four rolls), are finding ways to keep occupied with projects that, once shared online, can bring the public some much-needed distraction and entertainment. More musicians are now performing live on Twitch after tours were canceled, late-night TV hosts are turning into YouTube vloggers, and US presidential candidates like Bernie Sanders are even pioneering virtual campaign rallies. “We are experiencing one of the largest social experiments in our generation — almost the entire world is now working from home, and millions of freelancers and service workers have unfortunately become unemployed overnight,” Sassoon says. “It is a strange and upsetting situation, but a lot of people suddenly have a lot more time on their hands — so I wonder what other creatives will come up with.”

https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2020/3/19/21186029/toilet-paper-calculator-coronavirus-self-isolation-how-long-it-lasts

Web

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Nicole Wetsman

Blood from recovered COVID-19 patients is a key resource for scientists

When a new virus like the novel coronavirus appears and starts infecting people, one critical asset in the fight against it is blood from people who were sick and then recovered. These blood samples can help scientists understand how the immune system responds to it, and can help in the search for therapies to treat the disease. That’s why, this week, the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Health put out a call looking for blood donations from people who had COVID-19 and are now healthy. Analysis of blood samples can give researchers information about if and how people develop protective antibodies after an infection. The immune system usually produces antibodies, which can bind to and deactivate viruses, during and after a viral infection. Those antibodies provide an infected person a level of protection from the virus in the future — they’re unlikely to be infected again because their body’s new antibodies will stop the virus. “The initial steps are to follow individuals who have recovered and have a way to measure their antibody response,” says Darrell Triulzi, director of the Division of Transfusion Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Scientists want to understand how strong the immune response to a novel coronavirus infection is, and how well that response protects people against the virus in the future. They also need to know how long the protection lasts. Long-term research on SARS patients, for example, shows that the protective immune cells were no longer present in some people six years after they were sick. Preliminary research (that hasn’t yet been published) on COVID-19 patients shows that they do produce high levels of antibodies, which virologists say is a sign people wouldn’t get sick from the virus a second time. Another still unpublished study on monkeys found that they developed antibodies after they were infected with the novel coronavirus, and they didn’t get sick a second time if they were exposed to the virus again. “It indicates that infection results in protective immunity against SARS-CoV, at least in the short term,” Angela Rasmussen, a research scientist at the Center for Infection and Immunity at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, wrote in an email to The Scientist. But more research is still needed to understand if the antibodies actually provide therapeutic benefit, Triulzi says. Scientists also turn to the blood of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 as a possible stopgap treatment for the most at-risk people. Because their blood plasma is presumably full of protective substances like antibodies, if it’s injected into sick people, it may help them fight off disease. It’s an old strategy and dates back as far as the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak in the United States, when doctors reported that it helped reduce the number of deaths in seriously ill patients. Recently, it’s been used on an experimental basis to treat people with MERS, H1N1, and Ebola. “In Ebola it seemed effective, and all we have are case reports right now for COVID-19,” Triulzi says. At a press briefing, Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said that the agency was evaluating it. “It’s a possible treatment,” he said. The treatment is risky, though, and there are always concerns that the use of plasma could make any subsequent infection with the virus in question worse. It would likely only be a temporary measure until more refined treatments became available. But the benefits may outweigh the risks for health care workers or older people who are more likely to become seriously ill if they were infected with the virus. Just because blood can help researchers study COVID-19, though, doesn’t mean that the blood of people who are or have been infected is generally dangerous, Triulzi noted. An infectious virus wouldn’t linger in someone’s blood for a long time after they’re sick, so it’s not a concern for blood banks or people receiving blood transfusions. “Transmission by blood has not been reported and is unlikely,” he says. And during a pandemic like this one, it’s more important than ever for healthy people to donate blood if they’re able. “Donation drives have been cancelled left and right. Yet the need for blood continues,” he says. “There isn’t a risk of getting the coronavirus from the donation process. And we still need the blood.”

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186569/blood-coronavirus-patients-treatments-infection-covid-19

Science

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Zoe Schiffer

Tuft & Needle is firing staff and closing stores due to COVID-19

Tuft & Needle is closing retail stores and letting go of a portion of its staff due to the coronavirus pandemic. The buzzy direct-to-consumer mattress company had six retail locations in cities including Seattle, Scottsdale, and Raleigh. It says it hopes to rehire workers when stores are able to open. “Today we had to make the difficult but necessary decision to part ways with a portion of our retail team and temporarily close our retail locations in light of COVID-19,” the company said in a statement emailed to The Verge. “Our goal is to rehire those employees when stores eventually reopen.” Tuft & Needle is among the direct-to-consumer companies that flourished over the past eight years. The mattress company operates primarily online, and its retail stores are a comparatively small part of its business. In opening them, it followed brands like Glossier, Warby Parker, and Reformation in hopping from the digital world to the physical, using brick-and-mortar shops as a flashy marketing channel. Now, Tuft & Needle is among the direct-to-consumer businesses being forced to go back to their roots. Glossier — the much beloved dewy makeup brand — was one of the first companies to shutter its retail store doors due to the spread of the virus. It closed shops in New York, London, Los Angeles, and Atlanta for two weeks, starting on March 12th. The company is paying its employees for the entire duration of that closure. In a blog post, CEO Emily Weiss wrote, “From a company perspective, by closing our stores, we’ll sacrifice some near-term business goals, but we’re prepared to put public health ahead of our bottom line.” ThirdLove, a bra company and d-to-c darling, also decided to close its pop-up store in New York this week. In an email to the company, CEO Heidi Zak said, “with the grim near-term outlook for physical retail and the uncertainty in general in the global economy ... we are no longer planning to support a retail strategy for the business.” In a statement emailed to The Verge, she added that the company is offering retail employees severance and extended benefits. While the coronavirus pandemic is rocking the entire global economy, part-time workers without health care or guaranteed wages are likely going to be especially hurt. Many states are rolling out new unemployment policies to cover those who’ve lost their jobs due to COVID-19, but these policies don’t always extend to part-time workers. For Tuft & Needle employees, the layoffs came as a surprise, despite knowing that store closures were a possibility. “Up until yesterday the communication sounds like it had been pretty positive around keeping the stores open and certainly no hints that if the stores were going to close that people’s jobs would be in jeopardy,” a former worker said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation in the retail industry. “If they really intend to try and open back up in April as they are communicating publicly, why are you letting go of staff? I think the reality of letting people go right away isn’t really matching with this idea that stores are going to reopen soon.”

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21185840/tuft-needle-coronavirus-firing-retail-staff-closing-stores

Coronavirus

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Monica Chin

Razer is using some of its manufacturing lines to produce surgical masks amid shortage

Razer has devoted some of its manufacturing lines to produce surgical masks, according to a Twitter thread from CEO Min-Liang Tan. The company will donate up to 1 million masks around the world as countries continue working to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Tan says Razer has been in touch with authorities in Singapore, where one of its two headquarters are located, to donate the first shipments. The company’s 18 offices worldwide are contacting local governments and health authorities about potential donations as well. This step is “the first step of many” that Razer will take to combat the pandemic, according to Tan. So I haven’t had much sleep over the past couple of days to get this initiative up and running, but I’m happy to be able to announce this on behalf of the team here at @Razer “While there has been incredible demand for our products during this time with many staying home to avoid the crowds (and to play games), the team at Razer understands that all of us have a part to play in fighting the virus — no matter which industry we come from,” Tan tweeted. The action follows a statement from the World Health Organization (WHO) earlier this month in which the agency warned that health care professionals are facing shortages of masks as well as gloves and other protective gear. The WHO estimates that hospitals around the world need 89 million masks per month, and it has asked supply manufacturers to increase production by 40 percent. “Industry and governments must act quickly to boost supply, ease export restrictions, and put measures in place to stop speculation and hoarding,” it said in the statement. “We can’t stop COVID-19 without protecting health workers first.” Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not recommended that the general public purchase surgical masks, panicked buyers have stockpiled them anyway. As a result, the masks are now six times more expensive than they were at the start of the outbreak. Meanwhile, workers at some hospitals have been forced to reuse masks and other protective materials, The Washington Post reported. This week, the CDC recommended that health care professionals use bandannas to cover their faces “as a last resort.” TV manufacturer Sharp also recently announced that it would start producing masks in one of its Chinese factories. The company said it could produce as many as 500,000 masks per day.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186692/razer-coronavirus-covid19-medical-surgical-masks-hospital-shortages

Science

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Justine Calma

Air pollution could make the COVID-19 pandemic worse for some people

Juliana Pino usually fights to push polluters out of the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, an industrial area with a big Latino community. Now, amid the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic, she and her colleagues are also checking in on their elderly neighbors, pooling money together for groceries to help those who can’t afford them, and translating health information on the novel coronavirus for Spanish-speaking residents. The work is different, but it’s still connected to her fight for clean air. The older people who live in Little Village are already more vulnerable to COVID-19 because of their age. But the ones who grew up here also spent most of their lives breathing in air laden with the soot from nearby coal power plants, she explains. “You have a legacy of toxic exposure paired with a lot of social vulnerability, that means that the same pound of pollution impacts different people differently,” says Pino, a policy director for the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, which successfully campaigned to close the coal power plants in 2012. The novel coronavirus is changing nearly every aspect of life in places with an outbreak. Like any disaster, the COVID-19 pandemic will hit some people harder than others. Since it’s a disease that affects the lungs, people who live in places with way more air pollution could be more vulnerable. This pollution tends to be worse in communities with more poverty, people of color, and immigrants. When it comes to the US, “We’re the richest country in the world yet we have some of the greatest inequities. These inequities have real consequences and COVID-19 will show that,” John Balmes, a physician and a spokesperson for the American Lung Association, tells The Verge. “The air pollution interacts with multiple other factors that increase risk,” he says. 4. It is directly related to our fight for clean air, clean water, a healthy environment, and healthy communities.#COVID19 is affecting all of us—our health and our way of life, but low-income communities and communities of color may face added risk. Severe cases of COVID-19 can lead to pneumonia, which can kill. The disease is deadliest in older people and those with preexisting health conditions that make it harder to breathe or fight off the infection. Even without a pandemic, living with air pollution has been linked to higher rates of lung disease like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in populations. High levels of air pollution have also been linked to larger numbers of people hospitalized with pneumonia, studies in the US and China have found. During the 2003 SARS outbreaks, which was caused by another coronavirus, patients from places with the highest levels of air pollution were twice as likely to die from SARS compared to those who lived in places with little pollution, a study on SARS cases in China found. Even moderately bad air pollution significantly increased the risk of death. There isn’t data yet on how air pollution is playing into the current pandemic, but Balmes points out that international hotspots for COVID-19 — Wuhan, Northern Italy, and South Korea — have pretty high levels of air pollution. He believes air pollution may be one reason, although not the primary factor, for why outbreaks in those places have been so devastating. Another data point from China backs up the air pollution hypothesis. More men have died from the novel coronavirus in China than women, and there’s been some speculation that this could be because fewer women there smoke. If smoking does put someone at higher risk, then the same is probably true of air pollution, Ana Navas-Acien, a physician-epidemiologist at Columbia University, tells The Verge. “If we extrapolate from there, we could speculate that maybe individuals, communities that have higher air pollution levels could also be at higher risk of developing a more severe infection,” she says. “It’s a hypothesis at least worth testing.” In places like Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, the COVID-19 pandemic is piling on top of other stressors. Social distancing immediately took its toll on the city’s street vendors, a majority of whom live in the neighborhood, according to Pino. “It’s like today, right now, they can’t afford the groceries because they would have taken that day’s cash to go get supplies,” says Pino. “It’s those folks in really precarious day-to-day situations that the community’s rallying around — even still, it’s not enough,” she says. Air pollution was already a problem in the area and so was making ends meet. That’s a double whammy of higher risk and fewer resources. “Researchers call this the double jeopardy hypothesis and it can be extended to something like the novel coronavirus pandemic we are now facing,” Anjum Hajat, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington, said in an email to The Verge. That “double jeopardy” is often used to describe disadvantages that elderly people of color face because of both their age and race. Balmes also worries about how poor housing and not enough green space or healthy foods in polluted neighborhoods increase risks. Some immigrants may have an even harder time getting care because of the fear of deportation, he fears. Fewer cars on the road and planes in the air have temporarily curbed pollution in China, Italy, and California. But it doesn’t erase the decades’ worth of damage that’s been done. That’s why, Pino says, “we need to see targeted, prioritized help to the communities that are being hit hard now.”

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186653/coronavirus-covid-19-air-pollution-vulnerable-lung-disease-pandemic

Science

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Nick Statt

Self-driving car engineer Anthony Levandowski pleads guilty to stealing Google trade secrets

Anthony Levandowski, the self-driving car engineer and former Google executive who joined Uber via an acquisition of his autonomous truck company Otto, has agreed to plead guilty to stealing Google trade secrets, according to Reuters. The decision is just the latest chapter in the multi-year legal saga involving Levandowski’s roles in both Google and Uber’s fast-growing self-driving car divisions. The lawsuit between Waymo, Alphabet’s now-standalone autonomous car unit, and Uber eventually resulted in a settlement between the two companies back in February of 2018. (Uber paid Waymo more than $244 million as a result.) But Levandowski remained on the hook for criminal charges of trade secret theft brought by the US Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of California, charges that were brought primarily because Levandowski exercised his Fifth Amendment rights during the trial and refused to hand over any related documents. In August of last year, he was charged with 33 counts of theft and attempted theft of trade secrets for allegedly stealing roughly 14,000 documents from Google prior to founding and selling Otto to Uber. As part of the plea deal, Levandowski is agreeing to one of the 33 charges in exchange for prosecutors dropping the other 32. He has also admitted he downloaded one Waymo spreadsheet file and accessed it after leaving his role at Google, although the plea agreement also says Levandowski was aware his “misappropriation” and possession of the trade secrets would do harm. “Mr. Levandowski’s guilty plea in a criminal hearing today brings to an end a seminal case for our company and the self-driving industry, and underscores the value of Waymo’s intellectual property,” says a Waymo spokesperson in a statement given to The Verge. “Through today’s developments and related cases, we are successfully protecting our intellectual property as we build the world’s most experienced driver.” Regardless, Levandowski’s plea agreement with federal prosecutors could translate to between 24 and 30 months of prison time. “Mr. Levandowski accepts responsibility and is looking forward to resolving this matter,” the engineer’s attorney, Miles Ehrlich, told The Washington Post in a statement. “Mr. Levandowski is a young man with enormous talents and much to contribute to the fast-moving world of [artificial intelligence] and [automated vehicles] and we hope that this plea will allow him to move on with his life and focus his energies where they matter most.” More recently, Levandowski filed for bankruptcy protection after being ordered to pay Google $179 million over a contract dispute involving Levandowksi’s poaching of Waymo engineers. An arbitration panel ruled last December that the controversial engineer did in fact engage in unfair and deceptive practices through his recruiting of former colleagues. A San Francisco County court confirmed the ruling in early March, The New York Times reported. Update March 19th, 10:51PM ET: Added statement from Waymo.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21187651/anthony-levandowski-pleads-guilty-google-waymo-uber-trade-secret-theft-lawsuit

Google

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Sean O'Kane

Tesla to shut down California and New York factories amid coronavirus pandemic

Tesla will temporarily shut down its car manufacturing plant in Fremont, California, starting at the end of Monday, March 23rd, joining nearly every other major automaker in suspending its US operations due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement comes after days of back-and-forth with the local authorities about whether the company was exempt from a recent shelter-in-place order in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tesla will also suspend most operations at its solar panel factory in Buffalo, New York. “Despite taking all known health precautions, continued operations in certain locations has caused challenges for our employees, their families and our suppliers,” the company wrote in a press release. “As such, we have decided to temporarily suspend production” at both factories. Hourly employees at both factories will “continue to receive their normal pay through Monday, after which point we will provide paid leave during suspended operations,” according to an email from the company’s regional HR boss Valerie Workman viewed by The Verge. “Those who have been working from home should continue to do so and consider it business as usual. We understand you will have many questions and we will be providing you with additional resources in the coming hours and days,” Workman wrote. Tesla says it will keep some “basic operations” up and running, like work on its charging infrastructure. The company’s Gigafactory in Nevada will continue as normal, despite a recent initiative from the state’s governor asking all nonessential businesses to close. Tesla will keep making vehicle deliveries during the shutdown. The company says it is leveraging its app and its cars’ smartphone connectivity to implement “touchless deliveries” in “many locations” to help mitigate any spread of the virus. With the touchless deliveries, “customers are able to unlock their new cars at a delivery parking lot via the Tesla App, sign any remaining relevant paperwork that has been placed in their car, and return that paperwork to an on-site drop-off location prior to leaving,” the company says. The leaders of six counties across the San Francisco Bay Area announced the shelter-in-place order on Monday, and as part of it, told all “nonessential businesses” to close down. But Tesla kept its car factory open, despite not seeming to fit the order’s definition of an “essential business.” Late Tuesday evening, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office announced that it believed Tesla was “not an essential business,” and said the company should scale back to the most basic operations, like payroll. Tesla’s factory remained open, though. Workman told employees that it was because the company had been told it was considered “national critical infrastructure” by the Department of Homeland Security, though the government agency has not responded to multiple requests to confirm this. Guidance issued by its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Thursday did not list automotive manufacturing among a list of “critical infrastructure.” On Thursday, the local police department tweeted that the police chief and members of the city’s management team was scheduled too meet with “Tesla Factory management” to “discuss cooperation for compliance with the County Health Officer’s Order.” Just a few hours later, Tesla announced the factory closure. Tesla said Thursday that it believes the $6.3 billion in cash it had at the end of 2019, as well as the $2.3 billion it raised in February, will be “sufficient to successfully navigate an extended period of uncertainty.” Two employees at the California factory have told The Verge things already felt pretty uncertain this week as Tesla negotiated the immediate fate of the factory with local authorities. One shared screenshots of messages from coworkers who were worried they were feeling symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, but felt they had no way to get tested.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21187419/tesla-factory-shutdown-fremont-new-york-gigafactory-coronavirus-pandemic

Tech

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Bijan Stephen

Twitch’s recommendations have changed for the better

I’m always on the lookout for off-the-beaten-path Twitch streams, and today, a pal recommended a great one: a mechanic who streams himself fixing cars on Twitch. (The audio is surprisingly clear, too.) I watched for a while today as he replaced the transmission on a Kia, which had its previous transmission destroyed after something put a hole in it on the highway. It’s the kind of thing I’m always trying to find on Twitch: a keyhole look at someone else’s life. I love watching people doing things I’ll never be able to do. Last summer, I wrote a piece about how I was having a hard time discovering things on Twitch; it was hard, I said, because trawling through the sheer number of streamers on Twitch was like trying to surf TV channels without any kind of guide. Since then, it feels suspiciously like things have gotten better. There’s a new way to organize streams in the browse menu, for example, and now you can sort by “recommended for you” instead of just organizing categories from most viewers to least. The left rail has also gotten more useful. It now seems to recommend streamers who are currently live that are similar to the people I already follow and watch regularly. That, as it turns out, is the result of a lot of hard work. The other day, I spoke to Tom Verrilli, a product manager and the head of Twitch’s viewer experience team. It’s his job to figure out how to connect viewers with streamers; he’s the guy who’s figuring out how to get streamers found, and to give the people watching an easier time finding them. The problems, he says, are threefold: first, Twitch has an infinity of content. Second, all of that content — all of those people — are live. Third, channels are people; they’re not interchangeable units. “Twitch has 1,000 times more streamers than any video platform has kind of movies, TV shows, individual pieces of content,” he says. “So tons of people have experienced the ‘spend 30 minutes trying to find a movie to watch’ problem of streaming services. We have that on steroids.” Because the internet, as he points out, is an “on-demand” platform, it runs mostly on pre-recorded, instantly available content. But if you’re live, the problem is magnified. Verrilli gave me an example to put things into perspective. “If you are one of those hardworking streamers who stream eight hours a day, seven days a week, you’re only live 33 percent of the time that someone’s up on the platform and they come looking for you,” he says. “A really easy comparison point to this would be like, what would a search engine look like if two of the three times I searched for The Verge you weren’t there? All we could say is, yes, The Verge is a thing that exists, but you can’t read any of the articles on it. Try again later.” That is very different than the way most of us use the internet — like when we’re bored or when we have a couple minutes of downtime, it’s easy to cue up something like a YouTube video and just take a moment to watch it. Not so with stuff that’s live. “There is this kind of beautiful serendipity that happens when you stumble upon just the right channel and the right community for you at the right moment when you were ready for it,” Verrilli says. “My team’s job is to try and mechanically create serendipity in the order of hundreds of millions.” They started from scratch only a couple of years ago, he says, but now it’s starting to be fruitful. The percentage of videos watched because of their recommendations is up something like 700 percent year over year, he says. “We’re starting to prove out value to both streamers and viewers that we can help them find each other at the right time. But we got a long way to go.” To make recommendations to viewers like you, Twitch uses a form of machine learning that lets the machine work out for itself what viewers are interested in. Verrilli’s team points the system toward certain “features” of streams, like how chatty the audience is, and the AI determines how important it is to viewers. Take, for example, the feature chat velocity. “How often are people chatting in the channel that you’re watching? We don’t then go through and tell the models how much they should consider chat velocity for any one person,” he says. “But the model understand that some people are watching very chatty channels and like it; some are not. And then classifies channels as chatty or not chatty, and may use that as one of the many inputs to determine if that’s the right recommendation to make when you arrive.” (Another thing they had to help the models understand was the concept of time because recommending a stream that’s nearly done or one that’s never online at the time of a recommendation is not very helpful.) This can be scary. On most platforms — Twitch included — recommendations drive growth and can be the thing that makes one channel blow up over another. As far as Twitch goes, however, Verrilli assures me that the new recommendation system is more equitable than the old one. “Conceptually, historically, we have had the least equitable form of discovery, which has always been ranked by big to small. And that means that it’s fantastic if you are kind of top tier talent, and increasingly hard for folks who aren’t those,” he says. “Volume disproportionately affects the knowledge.” In the last two years, his team has been working, though, Verrilli says that growth has gone disproportionately to Twitch’s smaller communities. The big ones are still growing, he says, “but recommendations afford us the capacity to kind of make sure there is more equitable outcomes for everyone.”

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186827/twitch-recommendations-deep-learning-channels-verrilli-experience

Tech

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Cameron Faulkner

How to vote in your primary election while you stay indoors

In some US states, absentee voting is reserved for people who will be out of town on election day, and those who physically can’t get to their polling station. The spread of the novel coronavirus might drastically change those policies in many states in the coming months, expanding them to include people who would rather vote by mail to avoid the risk of contracting the virus by voting in person. A recent bill (called The Resilient Elections During Quarantines and Natural Disasters Act of 2020), proposed by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), wants to make voting by mail a right for all Americans under moments of crisis, such as the time we’re currently facing with the coronavirus. It aims to make absentee voting allowed in states where restrictions are usually placed on citizens, per an analysis at Vox. Given the fast-changing nature of things relating to the virus and its impact on basically everything, it’s tough to say definitively if, when the time to vote in your next election comes around, your state will accept votes by mail from all voters. However, if you’re keen on having your voice heard in the upcoming election, and want to avoid crowded polling stations, you may want to at least try to apply for an absentee ballot. First, find out when your state’s primary election is, then proceed with the steps below. As was mentioned before, some states have rules that don’t allow just anyone to vote via an absentee ballot. It’s possible that you may not even be able to apply for a ballot in those states. However, if you have an upcoming primary election, check your state’s board of elections website for the latest updates regarding the status of absentee voting. Visit vote.org, a nonprofit organization that aggregates important information related to voting and elections for every US state. Click the third option from the top, which says “Get Your Absentee Ballot.” It will ask you to fill in some basic contact information, as well as some other optional information relating to your party affiliation that you don’t have to enter if you don’t feel comfortable doing so. After that, find the state county that you reside in, and proceed. You’ll then receive an email from vote.org that contains your application for an absentee ballot. It provides some simple instructions for completing it, which — other than filling in all of the blanks — includes signing and dating it. Your application will list the critical deadlines you’ll need to heed if you want to ensure that your local board of elections receives it in time for you to be able to vote by mail. Again, in the event that the coronavirus impacts your primary election, the date range could change, so check vote.org for the latest information for your state. Due to the risk of contracting or spreading coronavirus, you can’t drop off the application in person. When mailing it, just make sure that you put the mailing address of your local board of elections (as it appears on your absentee ballot application) on the envelope. Alternatively, you can call your local board of elections and get permission to submit it via email. This method is, obviously, faster and easier than mailing, and if you’re cutting it close with the deadline, this could be your only choice.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21185079/voting-primaries-us-presidential-election-state-absentee-vote-by-mail-coronavirus-how-to-enroll

How-to

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Chaim Gartenberg

The new iPad Pro’s LIDAR sensor is an AR hardware solution in search of software

Apple announced a new iPad Pro yesterday, and one of the biggest additions was a new LIDAR system on the rear camera, which Apple argued was the missing piece for revolutionary augmented reality applications. LIDAR — which stands for “Light Detection and Ranging” — isn’t a new technology. Driverless cars in particular have been relying on the laser sensors for years to detect objects and build 3D maps of their surroundings in near real time as a way of “seeing” other cars, trees, and roads. Apple’s miniaturized scanner isn’t quite at that level, but the company says that it’ll be able to measure the distance to objects over 16 feet away (or five meters). It claims that by combining the depth information from the LIDAR scanner with camera data, motion sensors, and computer vision algorithms, the new iPad Pro will be faster and better at placing AR objects and tracking the location of people. The new sensor is the latest attempt from Apple to try to make AR a key part of its apps and software, an effort that the company has been working on since at least 2017, when the company first introduced its ARKit platform for developing augmented reality iOS apps. Since then, there’s barely been an iOS update or iPhone launch that’s gone by that hasn’t featured some sort of over-hyped AR demo, whether it be Minecraft, a multiplayer game, or a cooperative Lego experience. And with each announcement of software updates or improved processors, cameras, or graphics engines has come the implicit promise: now is the time that augmented reality apps will really take off. But it doesn’t change the fact that, right now, there still aren’t a lot of compelling reasons to actually use augmented reality apps on a mobile device beyond the cool, tech-demo-y purposes that already exist. AR apps on iOS today are a thing you try out once, marvel at how novel of an idea it is, and move on — they’re not essential parts of how we use our phones. And nearly three years into Apple’s push for AR, there’s still no killer app that makes the case for why customers — or developers — should care. Maybe the LIDAR sensor really is the missing piece of the puzzle. Apple certainly has a few impressive tech demos showing off applications of the LIDAR sensor, like its Apple Arcade Hot Lava game, which can use the data to more quickly and accurately model a living room to generate the gameplay surface. There’s a CAD app that can scan and make a 3D model of the room to see how additions will look. Another demo promises accurate determinations of the range of motion of your arm. The fact that Apple is debuting the iPad for AR doesn’t help the case, either. While Apple has been rumored to be working on a proper augmented reality headset or glasses for years — a kind of product that could make augmented digital overlays a seamless part of your day-to-day life — the iPad (in 11-inch and 12.9-inch sizes) is effectively the opposite of that idea. It’s the same awkwardness of the man who holds up an iPad to film an entire concert; holding a hardcover book-sized display in front of your face for the entire time you’re using it just isn’t a very natural use case. It’s possible that Apple is just laying the groundwork here, and more portable LIDAR-equipped AR devices (like a new iPhone or even a head-mounted display) are on their way in the future. Maybe the LIDAR sensor is the key to making more immersive, faster, and better augmented apps. Apple might be right, and the next wave of AR apps really will turn the gimmicks into a critical part of day-to-day life. But right now, it’s hard not to look at Apple’s LIDAR-based AR push as another hardware feature looking for the software to justify it.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21185200/apple-ipad-pro-lidar-sensor-ar-hardware-solution-software-apps-augmented-reality

Apple

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Dani Deahl

Tours are canceled, so musicians are turning to Twitch

Rebillet is part of a fast-growing community of musicians who are migrating to digital platforms to perform “quaranstreams” during the pandemic. Many larger artists, like Charli XCX, John Legend, and Diplo are choosing Instagram, but indie artists are overwhelmingly flocking to Twitch. There’s one likely reason: while Instagram is an easy option to reach lots of people en masse, Twitch offers an abundance of ways to make money. “It’s more financially focused,” says musician and longtime Twitch streamer Ducky. “It supports different tiers of subscriptions and donations. People can subscribe to a channel for free with their Amazon Prime account. Fans can tip in micro amounts with things like Cheers. Other platforms usually just pay out on ad revenue or number of plays.” In other words, Twitch’s flexible moneymaking features are becoming a stopgap necessity for many indie acts as the novel coronavirus has essentially frozen the music industry in recent weeks. Conferences, festivals, and nightclubs are shut down, and the federal government has recommended public gatherings not exceed 10 people. This has effectively cut off a vital artery of income for artists: shows. “There are a ton of artists that are not going to be okay for the next six months without touring who are trying to get into Twitch streaming right now to make an income to survive,” Ducky says. Although Rebillet makes money from YouTube, merchandise, PayPal donations, and streaming royalties, he says the bulk of his money comes from hard ticket sales. This is the norm for most American musicians. A study by the Music Industry Research Association found that the average US musician has three sources of income, with the lion’s share overwhelmingly derived from live performances. So when months of shows unexpectedly cancel, it can be financially devastating for indie musicians. “The more you can prove you can sell hard tickets, the more you’re worth when you’re booked,” Rebillet says. “I’m sort of scrambling to find a way to keep being able to live the way I want to live.” FUCK CORONAVIRUS, LET’S DO THIS pic.twitter.com/4O3qRew6ZU Jim Tomaszewski (aka JSTJR) is another artist who has turned to Twitch to supplement his income. Although he’s been building up a YouTube channel over the past year, he recently turned his attention to Twitch as it makes more immediate financial sense. “Over the past year I’ve been living month to month but I haven’t really had to worry,” Tomaszewski says. “I had a full schedule and was booked months in advance. That was kind of new for me. Now, I don’t have any shows for who knows how long. A lot of people perceive that all artists are wealthy, but they don’t really understand. It’s looking pretty grim.” With no sense of when live shows will resume, artists like Rebillet, Tomaszewski, Ducky, and others have created weekly Twitch live stream schedules. On Mondays, Ducky produces tracks. Tomaszewski DJs on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Indie artist Mija, who was mid-tour when all of her remaining shows were canceled, is now painting on Tuesdays and performing acoustic sets on Wednesdays. Electronic artist Sam Vogel (aka Jauz) hosts “demo roulette” on Mondays where he works on Ableton projects submitted by fans. Vogel was planning to live-stream his “Bite This” radio show on Fridays from a studio, but he doesn’t know “if [traveling there] is viable anymore because everything is changing literally every day.” Commit pic.twitter.com/piEjxe0f29 In the rush to get set up on Twitch, some musicians are learning about the platform’s rules the hard way. Rebillet received a 24-hour ban during his first live stream for taking his shirt off and “singing about sex.” (His account has since been reinstated.) On the other side, fans appear eager to see artists join Twitch and excitedly fill up chats. “Are you going to start streaming more now?” someone asks on Mija’s first Twitch stream. “Maybe,” she says in response. “Now that my tour is canceled, don’t really have much else to do but make shit. I’ll make music on here, I just have to figure out how to set everything up.” For now, the musicians say Twitch is only recouping a fraction of lost funds, but they believe it will become more sustainable. And many say they intend to maintain their Twitch presence when things go back to normal. “Could I live off of what I’m making on Twitch right now? Absolutely not,” Vogel says. “But I think live-streaming will be a crucial part of being a musician or an entertainer. It’s something that will inevitably happen in the future.” Established Twitch musicians like Ducky are watching the influx with cautious optimism. Big artists can bring swaths of new music fans to the platform, but they can also disrupt the communities that many like her, Grimecraft, matphilly, and others have worked to grow on Twitch. In a recent tweet, Ducky expressed concern over the wave of large artists making the jump. “Twitch has etiquette,” Ducky says. “There’s a culture on Twitch that’s worth familiarizing yourself with, especially if you’re going to come into the platform with a built-in audience.” what if big artists who have built in platforms and (presumably) more saved revenue from higher fees etc who are going to switch to streaming anyways and immediately generate more income than smaller artists attempting to do the same used those platforms to build community growth For those new to the platform, Ducky says there are two things Twitch musicians can do to support each other. The first is raids, which is when streamers send their viewers to another person’s live channel at the end of their stream. The second is setting up auto-hosting lists, which lets a channel broadcast another user’s stream when they’re not live. “If you think about an artist that goes on tour... What do they do?” says Ducky. “They book support acts. That’s how I look at raiding and auto hosting. It’s an opportunity to build up other musicians.”

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21185220/tours-canceled-musicians-marc-rebillet-twitch-livestreaming-coronavirus

Entertainment

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Jay Peters

This handy Mac app is a one-click way to check how you look before your next video call

You know that feeling you get one minute before hopping on a video call when you realize you have no idea how you actually look? A handy new Mac app, Hand Mirror, helps with that by turning on your webcam with just one click so you can quickly make sure you don’t have spinach in your teeth. The app is made by designer and developer Rafael Conde. When you run Hand Mirror, a hand mirror icon will appear in your Mac’s menu bar. When you click it, your webcam turns on, and a small window pops up showing a live feed of yourself. If you click the menubar icon again, the video feed closes, and your webcam turns off. That’s all Hand Mirror does, and I find it incredibly handy. Sure, you could check how you look by opening the Photo Booth app, but it’s slower to open, in my experience. In fact, when I timed Photo Booth and Hand Mirror on my 2014 MacBook Air, Photo Booth took 2.5 seconds to load, while Hand Mirror took about one. That’s a small difference, but it feels significant in practice. It’s a really useful app that I think I’ll be using a lot, especially now that I’m on a lot more video calls because of social distancing due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Hand Mirror is a free download for macOS Catalina. Update March 19th, 1:19PM ET: Added that the app was developed by Rafael Conde.

https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2020/3/19/21186782/hand-mirror-mac-app-check-video-call

Apple

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Andrew Webster

Sea of Stars is a retro RPG that’s part of an indie cinematic universe

Today, Sabotage, the studio behind the 2018 retro-platformer The Messenger, is announcing its next project via Kickstarter. In some ways, it’s what you’d expect. Like its predecessor, Sea of Stars takes a classic genre — in this case, turn-based roleplaying games — and reimagines it for modern audiences. It looks like something you’d play on the SNES, though Sabotage is trying to smooth down some of the rough edges. But Sea of Stars also represents a much bigger idea. Despite looking vastly different, Sabotage’s two games actually take place in the same shared universe. “For me it’s been building since I was in elementary school,” says creative director Thierry Boulanger. “That’s why it’s so tied to all of the games that stuck with me.” Sea of Stars takes place thousands of years before the events of The Messenger, so it serves as a prequel of sorts. Here’s the basic setup, according to Sabotage: “It tells the story of two ‘children of the solstice’ who will combine the powers of the sun and moon to perform ‘eclipse magic,’ the only force capable of fighting off the monstrous creations of the evil alchemist known as ‘the fleshmancer.’” If that doesn’t make much sense, even if you’ve played The Messenger, that’s kind of by design. The games are set so far apart that the stories aren’t directly connected; instead, you’ll see references to events and locations that are common in each title. Despite the shared universe, they’re each meant to be standalone experiences. According to Boulanger, each title started with a story, and the genre followed. For The Messenger, which follows a lone messenger delivering a scroll across an island, it made sense for a solitary, side-scrolling platform game. Sea of Stars, meanwhile, is meant to be something grander, a journey with multiple characters exploring a larger world. “The RPG is the best way to tell that story,” says Boulanger. As the studio did with The Messenger, the goal with Sea of Stars is to add modern elements to a classic genre. In this case, that means elements like making traversing the environment more interesting and removing the necessity of grinding levels by making the turn-based combat more skill-based. “The goal is to create a game that holds up today,” he says, “but also shines a light on what made these games so great.” The studio turned to crowdfunding as a way to test the waters. The Kickstarter campaign has a funding goal of $100,000, which isn’t nearly enough to actually fund the game’s development entirely; Sea of Stars is being built by a team of 16 and isn’t expected to launch until 2022. Instead, much like what PlatinumGames did with its Wonderful 101 revival, the campaign is meant as both a promotional tool and a way to gauge interest in the project. “We’re reinvesting everything we made on The Messenger to make this game,” says Boulanger. “It’s that sanity check. We need to hear the response that people want to play this, so we don’t throw all of that down the drain to make our dream game and then be out of a job.” You can check out Sea of Stars’ Kickstarter campaign right here.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186592/sea-of-stars-sabatoge-retro-rpg-kickstarter-launch

Gaming

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Julia Alexander

Late-night hosts are now vlogging on YouTube, and it’s adorably perfect

Late-night shows have shut down across the country as networks try to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, but hosts like Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Stephen Colbert have found another way to keep people entertained day in and day out: vlogging. Essentially, the hosts have taken their opening monologues and reworked the format for a show shot at home without a crew. Colbert wears a pair of AirPod Pro in all of his videos, while Kimmel looms over his camera, glancing off in the distance every few seconds. In his latest video, Fallon tries to get through a series of jokes while his daughter climbs over him, underscoring the difficulty of working from home that every parent is facing right now. Even Conan O’Brien is set to return to the late-night stage, so to speak, at the end of the month: he’ll film everything on an iPhone, from his home, and upload it to YouTube. “This is my daily mini-logue, from beautiful downtown quarantine,” Kimmel jokes in his new video. Production levels on each video are low, filmed by family members and featuring hand-drawn graphics to give each episode a little extra flair. There’s no attempt to dress up the sets. Fallon films in his basement (one that features an incredibly cool slide), Colbert films in his backyard (a mansion sits in the background), and Kimmel films in a personal office. Aside from the impossible-to-miss reminders that each host is incredibly wealthy, the videos work because they’re essentially vlogs. It’s an inside look at the day-to-day life of Fallon, Kimmel, and Colbert as they try to deliver some semblance of what fans are used to during regular shows. None of the hosts are on in the way that we’re used to seeing. They’re not in suits or wearing fake grins plastered to their faces. Their hands aren’t clasped as they stand in front of a camera and audience. They’re more relaxed, and it feels more intimate. For years, late-night shows have tried to adopt many of the successful qualities of YouTube creators. They’ve incorporated prank challenges, “story time” sessions, and viral attempts into their shows in an effort to find a home on YouTube. By taking to vlogging — sitting at home in front of a camera and simply filming — late-night hosts have a newfound charming presence they could never quite achieve on a traditional set. From Johnny Carson to James Corden, late-night hosts have always had an intimate relationship with their audiences. Researchers polled viewers of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and found that many felt they had a closer connection to Carson than their own neighbors. The very foundation of “parasocial relationships” — a term coined in 1956 to explain a one-way relationship between a viewer at home and a character or person on television — stemmed from soap opera stars and late-night hosts. These are people that viewers welcome into their homes, living rooms, and bedrooms. Their new vlogs take things one step further. When someone who is perceived as famous posts videos of themselves living a normal life, it has a “positive cognitive effect on vlog-watchers,” James Houlden, a media psychologist who focuses on vlogging, told New Statesman in 2018 for a story about why mundane vlogs attract so many viewers. That’s why watching Kimmel move from his family room to different parts of his house, singing a low-quality duet with Lin-Manuel Miranda as each of them records with their families just down the hall, works so well. It’s late night stripped down. At a time when many of us are stuck at home, watching familiar faces also try to make the best of their situation by vlogging carries with it a sense of familiarity and comfort. Who knows how long the late-night hosts are planning to vlog, but by relying on the same tools that many people use to film their own YouTube videos or stream on Twitch, they can do it for as long as needed. All I know is that, as someone who misses having late-night shows to watch every night, waking up every morning to their YouTube channels — alongside the dozen or so creators I routinely check on every day — has made me a little less anxious these days.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186597/late-night-jimmy-kimmel-jimmy-fallon-stephen-colbert-conan-obrien-youtube-coronavirus-vlogging

Entertainment

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Jon Porter

Walmart, Target, and other retailers impose dedicated hours to help at-risk shoppers

Supermarket chains across the UK, US and elsewhere have started offering dedicated shopping hours for elderly or vulnerable customers during the coronavirus pandemic, The Guardian and USA Today are reporting. Some stores are also enforcing limits on the amount of items people can buy in one go, to prevent panic-buying. For example, Walmart says its stores will open an hour early on Tuesday from March 24th through April 28th for customers over the age of 60. Other US stores, including Target and Whole Foods have introduced similar measures. USA Today has a lengthy list of the changes different US supermarkets are introducing. In the UK, meanwhile, Sainsbury’s and Tescos have introduced dedicated shopping hours for vulnerable people, as has Woolworths in Australia. The decisions follow a series of viral tweets, including one from celebrity chef José Andrés, which called for the dedicated shopping hours for at-risk individuals. Being able to shop early means that shelves should be more fully stocked, and stores will be at their cleanest before serving a day’s worth of shoppers. Concerns have been raised that dedicated shopping hours for elderly and vulnerable individuals could put them at risk, however, if too many of them congregate at a single location, The Washington Post reports. One infectious disease doctor, Alysa Krain, called the measures “a good idea in general” but added that “it’s a little bit dangerous if it’s not controlled.” Stores should try and ensure a safe distance of six feet between customers, and discourage crowds of more than 50 people, Krain said. For example, in the UK Tescos says that it is introducing social distancing measures at its checkouts. As well as dedicated opening times, some supermarkets are also placing restrictions on how many items people can buy at once, in an attempt to prevent panic-buying, The Guardian reports. Walmart says it will impose limits on product categories including milk, eggs, cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer, and diapers. Meanwhile in the UK, discount supermarket Aldi has said that customers will not be able to buy more than four of the same grocery item at a time.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186447/supermarkets-coronavirus-elderly-at-risk-shopping-hours-social-distancing

Science

The Verge

2020-03-19 00:00:00

2020

3.0

19

Jacob Kastrenakes

An interview with a YouTuber whose entire channel is videos of doors

Each video is roughly the same: an arm reaches out for a doorknob, swings a door open, and the camera moves on through. Sometimes there are slight variations. The arm might reach for a button, a keycard might be required, or another person may have opened the door first. But ultimately, they’re all about the same: roughly 10-second videos of someone opening a door and walking through it. On the YouTube channel “I open doors,” a pseudonymous Swedish man has been posting a single video of himself opening a door nearly every day for the past year. There are now 334 videos, most with just a couple of views each. The channel lived largely in obscurity until it received some attention on Reddit earlier this week. I found it a welcome distraction from the world’s chaos, so I decided to reach out to ask about the doors he opens. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. What makes a good door? A good door can be anything. All doors are special in their own regards, I would say, no matter the material, if it’s glass or wooden or metal. But I think the best door is the door that has a surprise behind it. Something that surprises you the viewer. How do you choose the doors? Any door that’s in front of me that I feel like, “Ooh, I want to open this door,” then I’m going to open it. Usually, I try to film different doors as much as possible. I don’t want to film the same door too many times. Especially if there’s many uploads in a row, I don’t want it to be the same door. I will film the same door from time to time, of course, but I think that can also provide some familiarity. You recognize the door. You maybe feel at home with the door. How did you decide on opening doors? I want to see if I can unify people and create a community behind something that is so simple and trivial as just opening doors. Basically a social experiment, I would say. I thought about it for a while, and the more I thought about it, opening doors felt like a good idea. It’s easy, accessible. There are doors everywhere. And you can do a lot of stuff with it. So you can show something behind the door, or you can have other people, YouTubers or whatever, be behind the door. I think there’s plenty of opportunity. Hopefully, there’s a lot of doors open for me, so to speak. You don’t reveal your name and only show your left arm on camera. Why do you want to stay anonymous? I want anyone to feel like they can open a door and everyone to be part of this experience. It’s not about me really; it’s about the viewers. All of my videos are from the point-of-view perspective, so basically it’s you opening the door. By showing too much information about myself — for instance, my name or my age — that gives it too much focus on me. I feel like keeping it a secret and having that mystery makes people more interesting in watching the videos and maybe trying to find clues or making up their own story. So by not saying so much, I actually say a lot more. What’s been your favorite door so far? My favorite doors are the ones with the surprises behind them. Where there’s someone. I’ve had two collabs so far with famous people, and those were really fun to make because then I could share my enthusiasm for the project with them. At the moment, I would say my airplane toilet door video is my favorite because that one has 5,000 views, which is 5,000 more than I [expected]. It’s crazy. I don’t know why that one blew up. I think maybe people have a weird toilet ASMR fetish or something, but I’ll take it. How do you keep things interesting? I gotta be honest, a lot of the videos I make are pretty basic and maybe not so interesting at all. Even with the doors that aren’t interesting, I’m hoping that it will feel like a safe anchor for people. If you had a bad or a good day, I will be there opening a door for you because I upload every day, and I will continue to do so no matter what happened in your life. Hopefully, even though that might not be interesting, it will feel like a safe spot, and in that way, it will be interesting, if you know what I’m trying to say. Why do this at all, though? Why put it on the internet? I’ve seen similar projects, and I’m so fascinated when a lot of people follow something that seems stupid. But that’s what I love about the internet. People love stupid stuff, and I want to be a part of that. I’ve had a lot of smiles and laughter from stupid videos. If I can provide that to someone else, that would be great. Whenever a video gets a view, that’s one more view than I thought it would get, and I’m just so happy for that.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21183416/i-open-doors-youtube-channel-interview-viral-reddit

Tech

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Nick Statt

Call of Duty: Warzone has over 30 million players less than two weeks after launch

Call of Duty: Warzone, Activision’s new battle royale (BR) game that released less than two weeks ago, has more than 30 million players, the publisher announced on Friday. That makes it one of the fastest-growing free-to-play titles in the industry, putting it on par with BR competitor Apex Legends, which hit 25 million players after its first week back in February 2019. Helping the matter, of course, is the massive surge in work-from-home policies and shelter-in-place orders nationwide as people stay indoors during the novel coronavirus pandemic. But for Activision and developer Infinity Ward, that’s likely translating to a whole lot more time spent playing online multiplayer games like Warzone. (Also helping the matter is that Warzone is a free-to-play download even if you don’t own the existing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.) Over 30 million of you have dropped in to play #Warzone. Thank you to this amazing community .Jump in and play for free now. #FreeCallofDuty pic.twitter.com/KFKhb8CNNK Warzone has all of the tried-and-true BR staples, like a shrinking circle, weapon looting, and a massive player pool. But it introduced a lot of clever twists on the formula, including as many as 150-player lobbies, numerous reviving options for you to bring your teammates or yourself back into the fight, and a truly astounding loadout variety that lets you compete with virtually any weapon and item combination from the main Call of Duty: Modern Warfare installment. Earlier this week, Infinity Ward added a new solo mode to the game, which signals that Warzone could see much faster-paced updates than Activision’s previous, more lackluster BR mode Blackout.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188374/call-of-duty-warzone-30-million-players-since-launch-battle-royale

Gaming

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Chaim Gartenberg

Disney releases Onward for digital purchase two weeks after its theatrical premiere

Disney has announced that its latest Pixar animated movie, Onward, will be getting a dramatically earlier release for digital download: it’ll release in the US tonight for purchase starting at 8PM ET, with a streaming release on Disney Plus to follow on April 3rd. The move makes Onward the latest (and one of the most high-profile) films to cut short its theatrical run in favor of a digital release. That Disney would choose to follow in the footsteps of Universal and Warner Bros. — which are releasing films like Emma, Trolls World Tour, The Hunt, The Invisible Man, and Birds of Prey early — isn’t surprising, given that theaters are closing across the country in an effort to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Last weekend already saw one of the worst box office returns in the past two decades, with the entire industry bringing in just over $55 million dollars. Onward led that pack, grossing $10.5 million in the US, but it was a fraction of the nearly $50 million that it had made the first weekend it was available when theaters were more widely open and customers were still flocking to them instead of staying inside. #PixarOnward is coming to the US tonight on digital download and will be streaming on #DisneyPlus on April 3rd. pic.twitter.com/W6TgB4kcAa “While we’re looking forward to audiences enjoying our films on the big screen again soon, given the current circumstances, we are pleased to release this fun, adventurous film to digital platforms early for audiences to enjoy from the comfort of their homes,” said director Dan Scanlon and producer Kori Rae in a statement. Something that’s particularly notable in Disney’s announcement is that Onward will be released extremely early on Disney Plus on April 3rd, just two weeks after its digital availability begins today. Disney already bumped up another Disney Plus release for Frozen 2 last weekend with the goal of “surprising families with some fun and joy during this challenging period.” Presumably, the earlier-than-expected release of the equally family-friendly Onward on the streaming platform is due to a similar motivation. While Disney is cutting Onward’s theatrical run short, the fact that Onward was already available in theaters when coronavirus-induced closures hit is likely a major contributing factor to its early digital release. Just don’t expect Disney’s bigger blockbusters — like the now-delayed Mulan, Black Widow, or New Mutants — to get a similar streaming treatment in the coming weeks. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188037/disney-onward-digital-platforms-plus-date-early-release-coronavirus

Entertainment

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Chaim Gartenberg

Apple’s shutter button case highlights the power of software control

In today’s digital age, it sometimes feels like hardware has taken a back seat to the software that drives our devices. Button of the Month will look at what some of those buttons and switches are like on devices old and new to appreciate how we interact with them on a physical, tactile level. The shutter button on Apple’s iPhone 11 Battery Case is not a very good button at all. It’s a soft, rubber indentation on the side of the phone that barely manages to be distinct enough to find without looking for it, let alone offer a satisfying tactile sensation when pressed. And yet, the button is still the best of its kind for one reason: software perks that let it interact with the phone in a way that no other add-on shutter button can. It’s no secret that developing hardware and software together makes for better devices. It’s a common theme that we’ve seen with countless buttons, good and bad. And when talking about phones, laptops, or gamepads — as I often do with this column — it’s often the software that’s more important than the hardware. Moment, for instance, made a better option when it comes to hardware alone. The shutter button on its iPhone battery case is more advanced (it has half-press shutter capabilities), and it’s located in a spot that’s easier to press. But the button only works once the camera app is already open and, faced with the limitations of Apple’s accessory ecosystem, Moment hasn’t updated its case since the 2017-era iPhone X. Apple’s battery case gets features that no other case with a shutter button has. Its shutter button can instantly launch the camera app from the home screen, even when the phone is locked, and it can immediately snap a picture or video simply by pressing (for stills) or pressing and holding (for video). Apple’s shutter button also works even when the battery case’s internal battery dies, something that other competitors can’t do. The issue is that Apple is infamously protective of its hardware / software ecosystem. Apple’s official cases have the ability to display charging information and battery life for the case directly on the phone. Other camera cases simply can’t offer a button like the one Apple has. And since battery cases need to work through a Lightning port, they’re also governed by Apple’s rules for its MFi accessories program — meaning that if Apple doesn’t like an accessory, it doesn’t get made. For example: the iPhone X didn’t get any official battery cases until it was almost a year old, reportedly because Apple was concerned about battery performance. It’s a stark reminder of the power that software can add to a button — and conversely, of the difficulty in competing with a first-party product when you don’t have the ability to leverage those software functions on the same level. It doesn’t matter how good or bad hardware is when it’s software that defines how useful a button can be.

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2020/3/20/21185224/apple-iphone-battery-case-shutter-button-software-hardware-control

Apple

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Jay Peters

Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropy arms work to bring at least 1,000 COVID-19 tests per day to Bay Area

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropic groups are working to help increase the number of tests for the novel coronavirus in the Bay Area by at least 1,000 tests per day in “the coming days,” he said in a Facebook post on Thursday. Zuckerberg’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) tells The Verge that the goal is to be able to support at least 1,000 tests in less than 30 days. CZI, which Zuckerberg manages with his wife Priscilla Chan, is working with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), which would administer the COVID-19 tests, according to CZI. They’re also working with the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, which researches ways to cure and manage diseases. The partnership is possible due to an executive order from California Gov. Gavin Newsom that lets Biohub help UCSF expand its testing capacity. Right now, UCSF has a testing capacity of between 60 and 100 tests per day, according to UCSF, so scaling that up to at least 1,000 tests per day would be a significant increase. Our team at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is partnering with Governor Gavin Newsom and the State of California to... “Ramp-up of testing volumes is in progress and includes complex logistical work to report test results to diverse organizations,” said Dr. Steve Miller, a professor of laboratory medicine at UCSF, in a statement to The Verge. “Our target is approximately 1000 tests per day, though we will scale gradually to ensure we enable increased testing capacity in the most effective manner.” Zuckerberg first outlined his plans to aid with Bay Area testing earlier this month, when he said he would fund a quadruple increase in Bay Area coronavirus testing through CZI and Biohub in an announcement on March 10th. CZI and Biohub are buying two Food and Drug Administration-approved diagnostic machines that can test for diseases such as COVID-19 that will be used by UCSF, according to a CZI news release. At the time of that announcement, UCSF was expected to start increasing testing volume as early as March 16th, the San Francisco Business Times reported. It’s unclear if that expansion has happened yet. Stanford also hopes to increase testing capacity to more than 1,000 tests per day in the coming days, according to CZI’s press release published yesterday. Stanford declined to comment when asked if it could give more specifics on that timeline.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21187521/mark-zuckerberg-chan-initiative-biohub-ucsf-covid-19-testing-coronavirus

Science

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Chaim Gartenberg

Rosario Dawson is joining The Mandalorian season 2 as a live-action version of Ahsoka Tano

Rosario Dawson will be joining season 2 of The Mandalorian for Disney Plus, where she’ll reportedly be playing fan-favorite character Ashoka Tano, according to a report from SlashFilm. The move marks the most overt link between Disney’s popular animated Star Wars TV shows — which include Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, both of which feature Tano as a character — and its live-action efforts. Tano (voiced by Ashley Eckstein on the animated shows) recently returned to The Clone Wars in the currently airing seventh season of the show, which was resurrected as a Disney Plus exclusive. Tano making the jump from animated to live action would be the biggest shift in the franchise since General Grievous (who debuted in the 2D animated Clone Wars series from Genndy Tartakovsky). Tano was introduced to the Star Wars universe in 2008 as Anakin Skywalker’s Jedi apprentice in the spinoff Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie that also served as a backdoor pilot for the TV series. Despite the popularity of the character, she’s never appeared in the more serious live-action iterations of the franchise (aside from a voice-over cameo in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker). It’s fitting that Tano would make her live-action debut in The Mandalorian, given that Dave Filoni — who co-created the character — is also a writer, producer, and director for The Mandalorian. And Dawson seems like the perfect choice to portray the character — she had even tweeted her interest in response to a fan suggesting the idea on Twitter in 2017. Disney has already said that The Mandalorian season 2 will be arriving on Disney Plus this October, assuming there are no delays due to production shutdowns caused by the novel coronavirus. Disney+ Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188465/rosario-dawson-ahsoka-tano-the-mandalorian-season-2-live-action

Entertainment

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Jay Peters

US senators demand Amazon answer questions about warehouse worker safety

A group of four US senators, including Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, have sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos asking him to respond to questions about how the company is keeping its warehouse workers safe amid the ongoing spread of the novel coronavirus. The senators sent the letter two days after the first US-based Amazon warehouse worker tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. The group of senators is led by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and includes Sanders and Sherrod Brown (D-OH). “Any failure of Amazon to keep its workers safe does not just put their employees at risk, it puts the entire country at risk,” the group said in the letter. The senators are also asking Amazon to provide paid sick leave and time-and-a-half hazard pay, among other financial and health protections. “The virus that causes COVID-19 can live for up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to three days on plastic and stainless steel,” the letter says. “That means that Americans who are taking every precaution, staying home and practicing social distancing, might risk getting infected with COVID-19 because of Amazon’s decision to prioritize efficiency and profits over the safety and well-being of its workforce.” The letter also discussed reports of troubling conditions at Amazon warehouses, such as how Amazon warehouse managers have held regular stand-up meetings with staff, which likely put employees closer than the CDC-recommended six feet of distance away from one another, and a lack of hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes. Amazon warehouse workers and delivery drivers that recently spoke to The Verge described similar conditions. The senators are asking Bezos to reply to the following questions by March 26th: “These accusations are simply unfounded,” said Amazon in a statement provided to The Verge. “Our employees are heroes fighting for their communities and helping people get critical items they need in this crisis. Like all businesses grappling with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it is not easy as supplies are limited, but we are working hard to keep employees safe while serving communities and the most vulnerable. We have taken extreme measures to keep people safe, tripling down on deep cleaning, procuring safety supplies that are available, and changing processes to ensure those in our buildings are keeping safe distances.” To help support employees, Amazon said it has increased cleaning at its worksites, ended stand-up meetings during shifts, and staggered start and break times. The company said on March 11th that it would give up to two weeks of paid sick leave to all employees diagnosed with COVID-19. The company will also raise its minimum wage by $2 per hour through April, the company announced earlier this week.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188950/amazon-senator-bernie-sanders-letter-warehouse-worker-safety-jeff-bezos-coronavirus

Policy

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Cameron Faulkner

Which VR headsets can you actually buy at the launch of Half-Life: Alyx?

It’s 2020, and the selection of VR headsets has never been more varied — or more sold out. If you haven’t been keeping up with the onslaught of news, most virtual reality headsets that will be compatible with the game from the likes of Oculus, Valve, HTC, and Samsung have been in extremely high demand but with low supply. Why the demand? Half-Life: Alyx, of course. It’s the VR-exclusive game from Valve that could be the immersive medium’s first killer app, and it’s coming out March 23rd. Why the low supply? The coronavirus, of course. Since the new Half-Life game was announced in November 2019, people have been scooping up headsets in anticipation for the game. And on top of already limited stock, the novel coronavirus has drastically impacted production of VR headsets since the start of 2020. To tell you which headset you should buy to play Half-Life: Alyx is a tease; in most cases, you can’t just go out and buy the one you want. You could browse the second-hand market for a used headset, but I don’t recommend that. You’ll likely pay way more than the retail price for a headset. And it’s not the smartest idea to buy a used VR headset during a time when there’s a non-zero risk of contracting or spreading the virus that causes COVID-19. If you strike out on getting a headset to play Half-Life: Alyx on launch day, don’t fret too much. Hopefully, the stock situation will improve soon. And with the post below, you’ll be up to date on all of the latest headsets that are compatible with the game, so you can make a purchase whenever the one you want becomes available. Valve released the Index in 2019. It’s a high-powered, tethered VR headset that relies on Lighthouses to position itself in your playing space, even if you’re sitting down to play. This headset is compatible with older Lighthouse base stations made for the original HTC Vive, so you can save some money if you already own them or can find them for cheap. Valve’s own second-generation base stations have better range, and at $149 per unit, they currently don’t cost much more than the new price for first-generation base stations. The headset has two 1440 x 1600 LCD displays with up to 120Hz refresh rate (with an experimental 144Hz refresh rate feature) for smoother and more responsive feedback to your physical actions. In The Verge’s review of the Index, Adi Robertson says that the screen quality “easily outstrips the Rift or Vive,” though it’s on par in terms of resolution with the Vive Pro and Oculus Quest. One of the Index’s most appealing features is its optional controllers, which also work with HTC Vive headsets since they’re SteamVR-based. Adi tested them out before the headset released and compared them to the Oculus Touch controllers that shipped with the first commercial version of the Oculus Rift. Valve’s product page for the Index states that Half-Life: Alyx was developed using Index hardware. That’s not to say you won’t have a good time with other headsets, but everything from the visual fidelity of the displays to the intuitive Index controllers will probably be the best fit for the experience. The Valve Index alone is $499. The Valve Index controllers are $279. They come in a set for $749, but if you want all that plus two base stations, that’s going to cost you $999. Buying almost any component of the Index headset will get you a free copy of Half-Life: Alyx. Valve’s Index has been sold out for most of 2020, though it recently made a limited supply available. That sold through, and there is currently an eight-week wait for your headset to ship, though that time frame could shift around in a good or bad way given the fluid nature of everything being affected by the coronavirus. If you want your headset as soon as possible, order now. Valve Index The Vive Pro is the kit that’s most similar to the Valve Index offering. It’s a tethered headset that offers 1440 x 1600 pixels per eye at a 90Hz refresh rate. Similarly, it relies on base stations to triage the headset’s location while you move around in your play space. The Vive Pro is fully compatible with SteamVR, and again, like the Index, its most expensive kit comes with controllers and SteamVR 2.0 base stations that allow for more range. Despite their similarities, the Vive Pro ships with controllers that are comparatively limited when you put them up against the Index controllers. However, since the Vive Pro utilizes the same base stations as the Index, Valve’s controllers should work perfectly with this headset if you feel compelled to upgrade for $279. The Vive Pro recently saw some price cuts across the board. The headset alone is $599 (was $799). The Vive Pro Starter Kit, which includes two SteamVR 1.0 base stations and two Vive controllers is $899 (was $1,099). The Vive Pro Full Kit, which includes the SteamVR 2.0 base stations and two controllers, costs $1,199. As I mentioned earlier, you should be able to find the Vive Pro through several retailers. However, HTC’s site is out of stock at the moment. HTC Vive Pro Full Kit HTC’s Vive Cosmos lineup includes a few headsets, and they aren’t as different as they might seem. The $699 Cosmos uses several cameras built into the headset to track your movement and the controller position instead of relying on base stations, which can be tough to set up. On the other hand, the $899 Cosmo Elite is essentially the same headset as the Cosmos, but with a different faceplate that allows it to work with SteamVR 1.0 base stations (two of those come included with the Elite). Both of these Cosmos headsets have impressive specs, like displays that provide 1440 x 1700 pixels for each eye and a 90Hz refresh rate. Reviewer Adi Robertson says that the field of view is about 110 degrees, which basically matches what you’ll find in most headsets. The “screen door” effect that makes the VR content look as if you’re staring at it through a screen door has been greatly reduced in the Cosmos series compared to the original Vive. The Vive Cosmos Elite utilizes HTC’s original Vive controllers tracked with base stations. Those can be finicky to set up, but they usually provide reliable tracking. HTC includes its new controllers with the $699 Cosmos, seen above. They’re well designed, but HTC’s solution for tracking the controllers wasn’t reliable during Adi’s review process. Here’s an excerpt: The Cosmos headset sometimes lost tracking when I reached for something on the floor, so the world snapped out of place. Most inside-out systems can’t “see” controllers if they’re held too close to your face, and the Cosmos is no exception. The Cosmos took unusually long to recover, though. My virtual hands could stay stuck for several seconds, which was a huge problem in fast-paced games. This doesn’t bode well for a fast-paced game like Half-Life: Alyx that relies heavily on controllers, but it’s possible that HTC’s updates to the headset have made it much better since we reviewed the Cosmos. The HTC Cosmos kit costs $699 and includes everything you need to take full advantage of the hardware. The Cosmos Elite, HTC’s high-end model in the lineup, costs $899 and includes two SteamVR 1.0 base stations and two controllers. It includes a copy of Half-Life: Alyx for free with purchase. The Cosmos kit is currently available on HTC’s site, as well as on Amazon. Same story goes for the Cosmos Elite: it’s on HTC and Amazon right now. HTC Cosmos HTC Cosmos Elite The Oculus Quest is an untethered headset that utilizes inside-out tracking to eliminate the need for any extra base stations or accessories. The headset has all of the hardware and software necessary to let you play VR games and use apps without being connected to a PC. Like the Index and Vive Pro, it has 1440 x 1600 displays for each eye, though the refresh rate tops out at 72Hz. That’s pretty good considering that the Quest costs $399 and comes with a set of Oculus Touch controllers. However, the reason that the Quest is on this list is because it works with Half-Life: Alyx. To play it, along with all of the games in the Oculus Rift catalog not normally accessible by the Quest, you’ll need to tether it to your PC with an approved USB-C cable. Oculus makes its own roughly 16-foot link cable, though it’s pricey and currently sold out everywhere. As an alternative, Oculus suggests a long (10 feet or more) Anker Powerline USB-C to USB 3.0 cable. Oculus sells two versions of the Quest, one with 64GB of onboard storage for $399 and another with 128GB of onboard storage for $499. Currently, it’s sold out everywhere, even at Oculus’ storefront. It reappeared on Oculus’ online store last week for a brief time, but it’s unfortunately out of stock again. Oculus Quest The Rift S is the successor to the original Rift, though Adi Robertson, who reviewed it for The Verge, suggests that you shouldn’t expect much in terms of new features and improvements over the original. It’s still a headset that requires you to tether it to your PC, and the optics aren’t really an improvement. And if you’re deciding between this and the Oculus Quest that released alongside it and also starts at $399, the Rift S has some advantages, though a few more disadvantages. The Rift S will cost you a little less than the Quest if you only want to play Half-Life: Alyx because you won’t need to pay for a USB-C cable to tether it to your PC. That’s a perk, I suppose. Also, the Rift S, unlike the original Rift, doesn’t require two external cameras for tracking — a significant improvement over the original. The trade-offs compared to the Quest and other flagship headsets are rather substantive. Compared to the Valve Index, Oculus Quest, and Vive Pro, its screens are lower resolution at 1280 x 1440 pixels per eye. That’s actually a slight improvement over the original Rift, but disappointingly, Oculus dropped the refresh rate from 90Hz in the original Rift to 80Hz in the Rift S. That’s slightly higher than the Quest’s capabilities, but it’s not what we were hoping for. Still, for $399, it’s not a bad deal. The Oculus Rift S costs $399. Like the Quest, the Rift S is currently sold out everywhere, including at the Oculus store. Oculus Rift S You stand to save a lot of money if you buy a Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) headset, but your experience playing Half-Life: Alyx, and other VR games and apps in general, might not be as enjoyable. Several manufacturers make WMR headsets, and it’s a fragmented market within the greater market of VR headsets. The screens, designs, controllers, and prices vary wildly, though only one of them is promoted by Microsoft anymore. It’s Samsung’s HMD Odyssey Plus, which retails for as low as $279. The Odyssey Plus plugs in to your PC via USB and HDMI, and it features cameras that track movement and the controllers. The headset displays at 1440 x 1600 resolution per eye, and unlike the Rift S, it features a mechanism that lets you adjust the distance between your eyes and the lenses. Samsung no longer sells this model through its site, though Microsoft at least has a landing page set up for it. It hasn’t been in stock since shortly after Half-Life: Alyx was announced to support WMR headsets, and it’s not clear when it will come back in stock. The Samsung HMD Odyssey Plus originally retailed for $499, but has sold for as low as $279. It’s currently sold out at Microsoft, but Amazon has some new units for a reasonable $299. Samsung HMD Odyssey Plus Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21177442/half-life-alyx-vr-headset-compatible-valve-oculus-rift-quest-htc-steamvr-available

Gaming

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Thomas Ricker

US interest in guns and home fitness gear surges during pandemic

A new report published by Yelp shows the changing interests of US consumers during the novel coronavirus pandemic. It paints a rather bleak portrait of local economies being driven by fear and restlessness, and a society in withdrawal. Americans are increasingly focused on survival in this period of uncertainty. Interest in guns and ammunition is up 360 percent, according to Yelp’s data, while interest in buying water is up 166 percent, and groceries is up 160 percent. Restaurant closures have created an uptick in food delivery interest (up 59 percent) as you’d expect, as well as people looking for ways to buy direct from farmers (up 405 percent). And you know what goes great with guns? Alcohol. Interest in buying Bud and booze is up 63 percent, according to Yelp. Gym closures have led to a 344 percent increase in interest in home fitness equipment, according to Yelp’s data. That jibes with the New York Times reporting a back-to-basics exercise boom that has more people running. It’s also good news for companies like Peloton which makes connected home gyms for people fortunate enough to maintain an income while sheltering at home. Similarly, interest in hiking is up 116 percent, while interest in local parks is up 53 percent, as both allow people to be outdoors while maintaining good social distancing. Yelp is reporting a declining interest in restaurants (down 54 percent) and nightlife activities in general (down 69 percent). Interest in bridal stores is down 53 percent as weddings now endanger your family in addition to your savings. Yelp’s report is limited to the US market, where it’s particularly popular in part due to its tight integration with Apple Maps. The platform’s analysis is based on data gathered between March 8 and March 18th, with “interest” measured by counting “the many actions people take to connect with businesses on Yelp, such as viewing their business page or posting reviews.” The trends certainly ring true for anyone on Earth currently living inside the grip of the escalating pandemic.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21187916/gun-interest-fitness-trend-us-coronavirus-yelp-trend

Tech

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Taylor Lyles

Walmart wants to hire 150,000 workers to meet demand during coronavirus pandemic

Walmart is looking to hire 150,000 additional employees to temporarily work at the company’s stores, clubs, and distribution centers to meet the increased demand from shoppers as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the company announced on Thursday. The company also plans to pay $550 million in bonuses to its current employees. New Walmart hires will be employed through the end of May, with the application process decreasing from two weeks to just one day. While the jobs are temporary, the company said that many of these roles “will convert to permanent roles over time.” To help with the hiring process, Walmart says it reached out to industry groups representing hospitality and restaurant industries to possibly hire people who are facing furloughs and layoffs. The hiring announcement comes one day after Walmart began restricting its hours, opening stores at 7AM and closing them at 8:30PM to give workers more time to clean and restock. Walmart also announced that it would hold special shopping hours for older customers from March 24th until April 28th, allowing customers aged 60 and over to enter the store one hour before the store opens to the public. Amazon said earlier this week that it plans to hire 100,000 new warehouse and delivery workers to meet increased demands for shipments. Amazon will also increase all its warehouse workers’ hourly pay by $2. Walmart plans to use the $550 million to issue earlier payouts for quarterly bonuses, $300 cash bonuses for full-time employees, and $150 cash bonuses for part-time workers. As many states across the US shut down bars, movie theaters, and restaurants, essential businesses such as e-commerce and grocery stores have seen heavily increased demand. Walmart, which owns nearly 5,000 locations across America, has become one of the major destinations for Americans to purchase groceries and household items.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188093/walmart-hiring-employees-bonuses-coronavirus-demand

Business

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Megan Farokhmanesh

A guide to Animal Crossing: New Horizons etiquette, or how not to be ‘a total tool’

Animal Crossing: New Horizons, like past games, allows you to invite friends to your island when you’re ready. It’s a great way to grab new items, share things you’ve made, and meet other residents you might one day like on your island. It’s also an easy way to anger your friends, colleagues, and anyone else sweet enough to let you in. Rather than being a plague of locusts, intentionally or not, it’s a good time to check your worst instincts at the door. Because that’s easier said than done, we’ve put together a helpful list of dos and don’ts for when you finally arrive on your pal’s shiny new island. Be good, everyone. Do: Clearly outline boundaries with your friends before either one of you visits. Don’t: Assume that they will behave because we all have the devil in us. Do: A little fruit picking while you’re on your pal’s island. By taking a few back to your island, you can then plant them to grow new fruit trees, which are a great source of bells. Don’t: Stuff your pockets with all of the fruit on the island like a looting lunatic. Do: Take advantage of the best friends allowance that gives you access to your shovel and axe on other islands. Don’t: Immediately begin chopping down trees and fracking the island like you’re a cartoon oil tycoon. Especially Don’t: Chop down trees and dig holes as soon as your friend wanders out of sight. They will still know it was you, and they will not like it. Do: Visit any shops on your friend’s island to pick up some cool new clothes. Don’t: Spend so much time in the dressing room that they cannot get in because you think it’s funny, but it’s not funny, Megan, please let me try on these pants. Do: Leave a cute handwritten note for them to discover later. Don’t: Leave something rude, mean, or that you’d be ashamed for gaming dad Shigeru Miyamoto to read. Do: Spend some time catching bugs and fish. Don’t: Ruin your friend’s time catching bugs and fish by following them around and swatting them with your net right before they make a catch. oh ok I pick up some nice looking packages outside a house that's not mine and IM the bad guy here alright https://t.co/kBJhsMqZR3 Do: Accept presents from your friends. Don’t: Take random presents you find on the ground, especially if they are, hypothetically speaking, meant for a four-year-old who cohabitates the island. Especially don’t: Unwrap them. On the off chance your friend or, again, hypothetically speaking, editor catches you in the act, any gifts you unwrap will need to be rewrapped with paper one of you will need to purchase. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available today on the Nintendo Switch. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21187299/animal-crossing-new-horizons-etiquette-nintendo-switch-rules-invite

Gaming

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Nick Statt

Xbox Live went down for the second time this week

Microsoft’s Xbox Live service went down again for the second time this week. Issues first began popping up some time after 7PM ET on Friday, with Down Detector indicating sharp spikes in user-reported connection problems and Microsoft later confirming Twitter that it’s “experiencing issues” with matchmaking, Party Chat, and Looking for Groups.” On Sunday, Xbox Live experienced a similar outage that lasted more than two hours. That was slightly more serious, with users reporting issues signing into Xbox One devices. Microsoft’s Xbox Live Status page currently says there are still issues with the social and gaming portions of the platform. We are aware that users are experiencing issues with matchmaking, Party Chat, and Looking For Groups. Our engineers are working on fixing this now. We will keep you posted here when we have updates! At roughly 10:45PM ET, Microsoft said it had resolved the issues around matchmaking and Party Chat, but it did not say it had fixed Looking For Groups. Our engineers have identified and fixed the issues surrounding Party Chat and matchmaking. We appreciate your reports. As always, we are here and listening. https://t.co/Vx7g81MEpl Unfortunately for Microsoft, it was a rather inopportune time to for its multiplayer gaming service to suffer another outage. There are millions of people in the US right now practicing social distancing and being asked by local governments to stay away from public spaces now that bars, restaurants, and other core social institutions have ceased operating in response to the coronavirus crisis. That means there are quite a few people playing video games and staying in touch with friends online in the process, or at least in the case of Xbox users, trying to do so. Update March 21st, 1:39AM ET: Added statement from Microsoft that it had resolved most of its Xbox Live issues.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188972/microsoft-xbox-live-outage-down-second-time-multiplayer-service-disruption

Gaming

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Dani Deahl

Bandsintown adds live stream concert alerts as more musicians head online

As more musicians kick off online concerts amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, Bandsintown is launching a new feature to support them. The concert notification service can now push out a “watch live” notification when musicians are live-streaming shows. These notifications will appear on Bandsintown, along with Facebook pages, Instagram Stories, and other places that surface Bandsintown listings. Twitch is increasingly becoming a popular place for indie musicians to make money amid the pandemic. With touring essentially at a standstill, many are looking to online platforms in order to try and recoup lost funds from shows. Additionally, Bandsintown has launched its own Twitch channel, with all proceeds going to the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund. The first show features South African DJ Black Coffee and will stream at 1PM ET today. Bandsintown says it’s starting the channel both to connect artists with fans while many are stuck at home and to help raise more funds for MusiCares through Twitch. There are a bunch of ways to financially support streamers on Twitch, as longtime Twitch user Ducky told The Verge yesterday. Users can subscribe to channels or tip small amounts, and Amazon Prime members are able to subscribe to one channel per month for free. “As true music fans, there are ways you can help us help artists,” reads Bandsintown’s announcement. “If you’re able to, avoid asking for refunds, buy their merch, attend their live shows when they return, donate to tips jars, or donate to MusiCares.” MusiCares is an arm of the Recording Academy that provides financial relief to those in the music industry facing unexpected hardships. (Disclosure: I’m the vice president of the Chicago chapter of the Recording Academy.) With many musicians currently unable to tour and out of work, the organization recently launched a separate fund specifically for artists and other industry professionals affected by the pandemic. Bandsintown says its next live stream is scheduled for next week, and it will be a multiday live music marathon featuring both emerging and established artists.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188393/bandsintown-live-stream-concerts-notifications-twitch-black-coffee-coronavirus

Entertainment

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Julia Alexander

T-Mobile’s deal with Quibi reportedly only available to some customers

Much like T-Mobile’s “Netflix on Us” promotion, customers who want free access to shortform video streaming service Quibi will have to meet a specific requirement: they must have a multiple-line plan with the carrier. Quibi will only be free in an exclusive offer “to subscribers who pay for two or more lines of postpaid service,” Protocol reports. The company doesn’t have any plans to share just yet, The Verge has learned. Quibi is also offering a 90-day free trial to people who sign up on the website before April 20th. The trial initially ran through April 6th, but has since been extended to April 20th. Quibi will also only be available on mobile devices, unlike streamers like Disney Plus, Netflix, and Hulu. (Disclosure: Vox Media, which owns The Verge, has a deal with Quibi to produce a Polygon Daily Essential, and there have been early talks about a Verge show.) The company first revealed its partnership with T-Mobile back in October. Prior to that, Disney announced that its Disney Plus streaming service would be free for Verizon customers for one year. The partnership has helped both Disney and Verizon, whose executives touted an increase in subscribers and customers respectively during calls with investors in the most recent earnings season. Quibi is hoping that its partnership with T-Mobile will help garner as many subscribers as possible when it launches. Quibi, like many other streamers, has found itself in an unusual moment. As more people stay home to try to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus, people are turning to streaming entertainment more frequently. This can be a net positive for new streamers launching over the next few months, including Quibi, HBO Max, and Peacock. Still, the longterm success of these streamers comes down to new content and keeping people engaged, according to analyst Matthew Ball. Launching at a time when people are looking for more entertainment might be just what Quibi needs right now. More studios like Disney, Universal, Warner Bros., and Sony have started bringing films to VOD and streaming early in an attempt to earn revenue and boost subscriber numbers. Whether people want to spend time on their phones watching short snippets of series instead of using the app on the go, which is how founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman imagined people would use Quibi, is the looming question. Quibi is set to launch on April 6th. There are two different tiers: a $4.99 plan with ads and a $7.99 plan without ads. Update (March 20th, 4:30pm ET): The story has been updated to include new information about the free trial date.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188385/quibi-tmobile-launch-free-subscribers-netflix-disney-hbo-max-peacock

Entertainment

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Ashley Carman

Tinder is letting everyone swipe around the world for free to find quarantine buddies

Tinder’s team recognizes that daters might want to connect with people abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic, so starting next week, the company is making its Passport feature free for all users through April 30th. Passport allows people to pay to swipe abroad wherever they want. It usually costs money to access through either Tinder Gold or Tinder Plus. In a note sent to all Match Group employees about the decision, CEO Shar Dubey said the decision will give the Tinder community “the technology to share, learn and listen to those that are experiencing this same situation in different geographies during an unprecedented period of isolation.” With Passport, users can search by city or drop a pin anywhere on the map to start swiping there. The company says it hopes “you use the Passport feature to virtually transport yourself out of self-quarantine to anywhere in the world.” Separately, Match is also launching a live-streaming feature called Live on its Plenty of Fish service. The live-streaming feature lets daters stream live, like they would on most other social platforms. People can search for streams nearby and leave comments as they watch, which can eventually be moved to private messages. Clearly, people around the world are feeling isolated as they practice social distancing and, in some countries, are told to stay in their homes. Daters are persisting, however, and looking for a buddy they can talk to while home and, maybe eventually, see in person when the pandemic eventually ends.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188029/tinder-passport-subscription-free-covid-19-coronavirus-quarantine

Tech

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Animal Crossing: New Horizons: everything you need to know about the Nintendo Switch adventure

Animal Crossing is one of Nintendo’s most unassuming series. It’s quaint and relaxing, with no clear-cut goals, and it doesn’t feature the company’s most iconic characters like Mario or Link. But it has also become one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises, growing from a Japan-only release on the N64 to a tentpole title gracing most Nintendo platforms and even expanding to smartphones. New Horizons for the Switch is the biggest entry to date, one that promises to expand with regular, seasonal updates. You can keep track of everything you need to know about the game with the stories below.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21185067/animal-crossing-new-horizons-nintendo-switch-news-review

Stream

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Sam Byford

How lost classic Doom 64 was revived for modern platforms

As if there weren’t enough doom in the world right now, this week sees the release of not one but two new Doom games. Doom Eternal is the flashy AAA sequel with incredible graphics and accurately modeled viscera, of course, but you shouldn’t sleep on the other: the first rerelease of Doom 64, an underappreciated entry in the series’s history. Doom 64, as the name suggests, was originally designed for the Nintendo 64. It came out in 1997 and, unlike id Software’s previous two Doom titles, it was developed by Midway Games. It was the first Doom game to offer any sort of significant graphical upgrade on the original, had all-new levels, and — depending on your perspective — could easily have been considered a “Doom 3” had id not released its own game with that name in 2004. Given its original platform, Doom 64 is also a pretty unusual game. Nintendo strongly promoted “real” 3D titles on its 64-bit console, and Doom 64 is only kind of-sort of one of those. The environments are constructed of polygons, and the textures are filtered. But just like the original Doom, you’re still limited to movement on a flat plane without the ability to look around you. Next to something like GoldenEye 007, you could have been forgiven for considering Doom 64 a little archaic at the time. Today, though, I think Doom 64 has aged far better than GoldenEye, and that’s even more the case with this new version that’s out today on several platforms. It’s the work of Nightdive Studios, a team that specializes in reviving ’90s games. If you’ve recently played a rereleased PC first-person shooter that’s more than 20 years old, it was probably from Nightdive. The studio has put out excellent remasters of games like Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, Blood, and Forsaken, with new versions of SiN and System Shock on the horizon. Nightdive’s releases tend to fall on the side of providing a best-case scenario on modern hardware for older games, as opposed to completely overhauling the assets or art. “In general, we try to retain a game’s artistic vision and essence,” says senior developer James Haley. “Though we are looking at doing some projects in the future that provide features such as high-resolution textures, probably as an option to toggle at the user’s discretion.” With Doom 64, this means rendering the game at modern resolutions, with support for widescreen aspect ratios as well as a higher frame rate. Like many games of its day, Doom 64’s logic was originally programmed to run at 30Hz, forcing Nightdive’s developers to find alternative solutions. “The game’s drawing logic was split off into the render thread and every moving object in the game’s level would be interpolated to achieve smoother movement while keeping the game logic running at 30Hz,” explains lead engine developer Samuel Villarreal. Villarreal has a history with Doom 64, having reverse-engineered the game as a multiplatform hobby project called Doom64 EX. As such, he describes it as the easiest remastering project to date for Nightdive. “Though like with every project I’ve worked on, I always tend to try something new from a technical point of view,” he adds. “With Turok 2, I experimented with deferred rendering; with Forsaken, a game thread / render thread system; and with Doom 64, I incorporated a texture management system that would allow me to batch everything in a scene together and render that scene as a single draw call. A lot of these things I learn from and further adapt them for future projects.” Elsewhere, the PC version of Doom 64 has received mouse and keyboard support that works more or less the same as other Doom games. The PS4 and Switch versions, meanwhile, work with gyro controls, though you’re still essentially rotating your character on a flat surface. The game’s unusual visual style stands out even more in HD, though there’s only so much Nightdive could do with the characteristically blurry N64 objects. Villarreal wrote a tool to extract assets from the N64 ROM, then reverse-engineered the decompression algorithm to recover as much detail as possible. As for Doom 64 itself, it’s a unique title that’s well worth playing for anyone with an interest in the series. It’s a throwback to a time when individual consoles got their own completely bespoke versions of major games, and this is one of the better examples. “Doom 64 is an interesting case; in terms of where it lies in the series it feels most like a natural extension to the PlayStation Doom ports,” says developer Max Waine. “The heart of Doom is very much still there. Most elements from Doom II are present, though the game holds some new surprises for fans of the originals.” Waine points out that while the game plays similarly to early Doom titles, the vibe is altogether different. “Things like Aubrey Hodges’ sound design and music, new sprites digitized from models by Gregor Punchatz, and darker levels with colored lighting make Doom 64 a far moodier experience with an unbeatable atmosphere — placing itself somewhere between the DOS originals and Doom 3.” “I’d have to sum it up as an overlooked and neglected, but important, part of the series that is seeing a second chance at life,” says Haley. Since it’s out today for just $4.99 on every modern platform, I would strongly concur. Nightdive’s work on Doom 64 is the kind of thing I love to see: a somewhat niche project that wouldn’t happen without a great deal of skill, passion, and respect for the source material.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188044/doom-64-remastered-nightdive-steam-switch-ps4-xbox

Gaming

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Taylor Lyles

GameStop to close all California stores indefinitely

GameStop is closing its California retail stores until “further notice,” according to Kotaku, only a day after the video game retailer instructed all of its US employees to disregard coronavirus-related lockdowns. “We are closing our stores in California,” GameStop said in a letter to stores leaked to Kotaku. “The closure will remain in effect until further notice as we obtain more information from the California Governor’s Office.” Kotaku also notes that GameStop will not pay its employees during the shutdown, though some may be able to use personal time off. Yesterday, Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order requiring all California residents to “stay home or at their place of residence.” To help minimize the spread of the virus, many states across the US have shut down businesses from bars to theme parks. However, “essential businesses” like grocery stores remain open to aid Americans who need to restock on essential supplies. On Thursday, GameStop defended its decision to stay open, claiming its business is “essential retail.” Instead of instructing its employees to stay home, GameStop said that it is “instituting multiple social distancing practices,” such as “providing all [its] stores with the necessary supply of disinfectant materials and hand sanitizer,” limiting stores to 10 customers at a time and suspending trade-ins until March 29th. The Verge has reached out to GameStop for comment.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188799/gamestop-california-store-closures-indefinite-coronavirus

Gaming

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Jon Porter

Yelp adds new features to help local businesses survive

Yelp is adding a collection of new features aimed at helping local restaurants and businesses that are struggling due to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, the company announced today. Alongside the new features, the company has announced a new $25 million relief fund aimed at local businesses, which will offer them free products, and services, and will waive some advertising fees. Moderators will also be cracking down on coronavirus-related misinformation in restaurant reviews. The platform’s new features are designed to help local businesses operate while obeying the stringent social-distancing guidelines that experts agree are essential to reducing the spread of the virus. First up is a “contact-free” delivery option available through a partnership with Grubhub, similar to what many delivery services have already introduced. It will be available during the checkout process starting next week. New banner alerts will also be available for businesses, to let their customers know about any closures or adjusted hours. Yelp also says it will introduce new functionality to allow businesses to indicate if they’re open for delivery or takeout, or if they offer virtual services like online consultations, classes, or performances, with the latter now showing up in search. Yelp says it will be introducing the new features “soon.” The $25 million fund follows a similar announcement from delivery service Grubhub, which said that it would make a $100 million relief program available for restaurants. However, while Yelp is promising to offer free access to some of Yelp’s services, and free search advertising, Grubhub is merely promising to defer collection of its commission fees, meaning restaurants will still need to pay them back at a later date that’s to be determined. Our friends over at Eater have compiled a list of relief funds that are available for restaurants, bars, and food service workers. Finally, Yelp also says it’s introducing new review content guidelines relating to COVID-19, and that it has a zero-tolerance policy for any reviews that claim people have contracted the disease as a result of certain restaurants. This has been a problem for Chinese restaurants in particular, as people spread racist rumors that they’re to blame for spreading the virus. Yelp says that human content moderators will examine reviews flagged by the community. The measures come as local businesses are facing unprecedented challenges brought on by the global pandemic. Yelp says its own data shows that consumer interest in restaurants has fallen by 54 percent, while nightlife businesses have seen a drop of as much as 69 percent. While some businesses will be able to weather the storm by continuing to offer deliveries or other remote services, the existential challenge for others will be very real.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21187939/yelp-coronavirus-social-distancing-restaurants-nightlife-review-moderation-relief-fund

Tech

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Casey Newton

Tech companies could face more pressure to share location data with governments to fight coronavirus

The Interface is a daily column and newsletter about the intersection of social media and democracy. Subscribe here. By now most Americans have gotten the message that, as much as possible, they need to stay away from everyone else. In San Francisco and a growing number of other cities around the world, all non-essential travel has been banned. Even in cases where life more closely resembles normalcy, the government has encouraged social distancing. And if anyone in your life isn’t yet under self-quarantine, sending them this brutal essay by Jeff Wise ought to do the trick. It’s a plausible account of how you might contract COVID-19 even while doing your best to wash your hands and minimize social contacts; the prose is so sharp and severe that I almost found it cruel. OK, so you’re social distancing; I’m social distancing. How’s everyone else doing? It’s a question we all have a vested interest in answering, from government and elected officials managing the outbreak to everyday citizens wondering how long we’re all going to be caged up. But the fatally slow rollout of testing in the United States has made it much harder than it should be to trace the path of the disease throughout the country. And so the government has begun to consider other solutions. Tech solutions. Here’s Tony Romm, Elizabeth Dwoskin, and Craig Timberg this week in the Washington Post: The U.S. government is in active talks with Facebook, Google and a wide array of tech companies and health experts about how they can use location data gleaned from Americans’ phones to combat the novel coronavirus, including tracking whether people are keeping one another at safe distances to stem the outbreak. Public-health experts are interested in the possibility that private-sector companies could compile the data in anonymous, aggregated form, which they could then use to map the spread of the infection, according to three people familiar with the effort, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the project is in its early stages. You don’t have to be a dues-paying member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation to shiver at some of the implications here. The government is going to monitor your location to ensure you’re staying a safe distance away from people most of the time? Even if the data was anonymized as promised, it still might seem like a dangerous precedent to set. When else might the government ask to track our phones? Given the sensitivity people have had lately around the potential misuse of their Facebook data in particular, it makes sense that this was the first question Mark Zuckerberg got yesterday during his briefing with the press. As it turns out, Facebook has made aggregated, anonymized location data available to academic researchers. Issie Lapowsky wrote about the program on Tuesday in Protocol: Andrew Schroeder is vice president of research and analysis at Direct Relief, an international disaster relief organization based in Santa Barbara. Since 2017, Schroeder has been using mapping tools developed by Facebook’s Data for Good team to track population movements during natural disasters and disease outbreaks. These maps use aggregated, de-identified location data from Facebook users who have location history turned on in their Facebook apps. Some 125 nonprofits and research institutions around the world have access to them. Schroeder has used them to track evacuation efforts during California’s wildfires and map the cholera outbreak in Mozambique. But as social distancing efforts have swept the country over the last week, Schroeder began to realize that the same tools he’s used to track where people in crisis are moving could also be used to track whether they’re staying put. Schroeder told Protocol that he plans to begin sharing a daily briefing with the California Department of Public Health with his findings. But Facebook isn’t sharing data directly with the government. “We’re not aware of any active conversations or asks with the U.S. or other governments at this point asking for access to that data directly,” Zuckerberg said on Wednesday’s call. “So I think some of those reports might have just been rehashing the disease prevention maps projects that we’ve been doing in the past.” That would seem to explain the Facebook part of the story. But how about Google? Here’s what the company said when I asked. (It was the same thing the company told the Post.) “We’re exploring ways that aggregated anonymized location information could help in the fight against COVID-19. One example could be helping health authorities determine the impact of social distancing, similar to the way we show popular restaurant times and traffic patterns in Google Maps. This work would follow our stringent privacy protocols and would not involve sharing data about any individual’s location, movement, or contacts. We will provide more details when available.” I’m told that this work is in the very early stages of development. At the moment, Google hasn’t shared any anonymized location data with the government, and has no plans to join in on an industry effort should one materialize. In short, whatever conversations may have been had between Big Tech and the government recently, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to lead to the direct sharing of location data. Still, Sen. Ed Markey, D-MA, sent a letter to the office of the chief technology officer of the United States on Thursday with questions about how the CTO planned to use any such data. “Although I agree that we must use technological innovations and collaboration with the private sector to combat the coronavirus, we cannot embrace action that represents a wholesale privacy invasion, particularly when it involves highly sensitive and personal location information.” Of course, other governments have no such compunctions about the use of surveillance. For example, here’s the scene in Israel, according to the Post’s Steve Hendrix and Ruth Eglash: Four hundred Israelis looked at their cellphones Wednesday night and discovered just how closely their government is keeping tabs on them during the coronavirus crisis. The country’s Health Ministry had sent tailored text alerts telling citizens that a digital review of their movements showed they had been in proximity to a person known to have tested positive for the virus. It was not just an advisory. The text also delivered an instant quarantine order, in keeping with ever tightening restrictions dictated by the Israeli government. “You must immediately go into isolation [for 14 days] to protect your relatives and the public,” the notice said. And here’s what’s happening in England, via Sky News’ Alexander Martin: The government is working with mobile network O2 to analyse anonymous smartphone location data to see whether people are following its social distancing guidelines, Sky News has learned. Ministers and officials believe they can use anonymous mobile phone location data to analyse how Londoners have reacted to its guidance on social distancing and the new transport restrictions. One lesson from all this is that if a tech giant ever tells a government that it can’t have a data set, there’s likely a telecom in that country that will be happy to give it away or sell it. Another is that we’re about to learn a lot about the effectiveness of varying technological approaches to addressing the pandemic. Again, it would be best for everyone in the United States if the company began testing people for COVID-19 with the diligence that other modern nations have. But if that effort continues to lag, we would do well to push harder on developing alternatives. In yesterday’s column, I wrote that if Facebook and its CEO could take questions from the press about the company’s COVID-19 response, so could the other big tech companies that now make up a vital part of our national infrastructure: Amazon, Google, and Twitter. I also tweeted as much, and to my pleasant surprise, got a tweet back from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Will set something up I’m glad to hear it — and, of course, will bring you whatever transpires from that briefing here in this space. Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms. Trending up: TikTok is partnering with After-School All-Stars to donate $3 million to help families who’ve lost access to free or reduced-cost school meals due the coronavirus pandemic. Trending up: Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s philanthropic project the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is collaborating with UCSF to expand COVID-19 testing in the Bay Area. Trending up: YouTube is launching a specific section for COVID-19 news to give people more access to reliable information about the crisis. Trending up: Snap is rolling out its Here For You search tool a bit earlier than planned to help users who may be feeling anxious or stressed over the coronavirus pandemic. ⭐ More than 8 million people who live in Kashmir, the disputed region between India and Pakistan, are unable to get reliable information about the coronavirus pandemic because the government is slowing down the internet. Pranav Dixit has the sad story at BuzzFeed: A new government order, which was released Tuesday, has extended the region’s existing restrictions on internet speed until March 26 to “prevent misuse of social media applications” and following “recent terror activities” in the region. But locals said that the restrictions on internet speed are unacceptable at a time when access to timely and reliable information about the coronavirus is crucial. “I can’t open even basic websites that provide information and advice about the pandemic,” Nayeem Rather, a freelance writer based in Srinagar, the largest city in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, told BuzzFeed News. “Most people in Kashmir don’t really have any information about the coronavirus or what is going on in the world right now. It’s a crisis.” More than half of Californians could be infected by the coronavirus within the next eight weeks, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a letter to the president asking for aid. (Taryn Luna / Los Angeles Times) Twitter is relying more heavily on AI to flag content that violates its policies while staff stays home due to the novel coronavirus. It’s an effort to suppress misinformation — but how bad will the false positives be? (Twitter) Amazon is scrambling to improve its warehouse safety after employees spoke out about potentially dangerous conditions given the outbreak of the coronavirus. The company will no longer force warehouse workers to gather in closely packed groups for “stand up” meetings before every shift. (Caroline O’Donovan and Ken Bensinger / BuzzFeed) Sadly, Amazon also confirmed the first case of coronavirus at one of its American warehouses. Workers at the company’s warehouse in Queens, New York were informed of the news in a text message. (Olga Khazan / The Atlantic) Uber said rides are down as much as 70 percent in cities like Seattle due to the novel coronavirus. The company is considering leveraging its network to deliver medicine or other basic goods. (Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch) Coronavirus testing is in short supply in areas of the country, but some celebrities have been able to get tested without even exhibiting symptoms. The situation has prompted a debate about access and elitism, and whether those who are well-connected go to the front of the line. (Megan Twohey, Steve Eder and Marc Stein / The New York Times) Scammers are trying to trick people into reserving a COVID-19 vaccine over the phone. They’re pretending to be from the Centers for Disease Control and asking for peoples’ credit card and social security numbers. (Zoe Schiffer / The Verge) Facebook is putting review of augmented reality filters on hold during the crisis. It’s an effect of sending most of its contracted content moderators home. Netflix is slowing down in Europe to keep the internet from breaking. The move comes in response to an unprecedented uptick in internet usage since more people started staying in their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Hadas Gold / CNN) This Q&A on how to practice social distancing from New Yorker ace interviewer Isaac Chotiner is really helpful for understanding what you can and cannot do right now. Coronavirus has split people into two factions: Those who can afford to offload their risk of becoming infected with a deadly pandemic onto others, and those who deliver food and other goods to their homes. (Jason Koebler / Vice) Even in the middle of a national emergency, some companies are still asking employees to come into the office to work for questionable reasons. (Polly Mosendz / Bloomberg) Coronavirus influencers are springing up as social media continues to elevate the voices of some people speaking out about the crisis, regardless of whether or not they have a background in medicine or public health. (Ryan Broderick / BuzzFeed) Social media platforms have been unexpectedly reliable in spreading information about the coronavirus pandemic. But they’ve also made coronavirus content impossible to escape. (Amanda Hess / The New York Times) What does coming back to work from coronavirus look like? Zheping Huang shares the view from China. (Zheping Huang / Bloomberg) PSA: 40 percent of coronavirus hospitalizations so far have been for people ages 20 to 54. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) temporarily waived rules in its Rural Health Care and E-Rate programs to help promote better access to broadband for remote learning during the coronavirus pandemic. (Marguerite Reardon / CNET) Microsoft Teams usage rose nearly 40 percent in a week as more businesses turn to remote work. The company is planning to introduce a new real-time noise suppression feature for Teams meetings later this year. (Tom Warren / The Verge) ⭐Trump signed off on a new coronavirus aid bill. The measure provides free coronavirus testing and ensures paid emergency leave for those who are infected or caring for a family member with the illness. Here’s Lauren Egan at NBC: The aid package sent to Trump on Wednesday is the second emergency bill that Congress has passed in recent weeks. Last week, the Senate approved an $8.3 billion House-passed measure that focused on vaccine research and development. With passage of the second emergency bill Wednesday, Senate Republicans are turning their attention to what they are calling the third phase of the coronavirus response: a $1 trillion spending proposal from the White House that would include $500 billion in direct payments to Americans. Joe Biden postponed a virtual fundraiser until next week following technical difficulties with an online town hall. The campaign has moved to virtual events as the coronavirus continues to spread. (Brian Schwartz / CNBC) A mathematical model of how coronavirus could reshape the United States in the coming months. (William Wan, Joel Achenbach, Carolyn Y. Johnson and Ben Guarino / The Washington Post) Elon Musk tweeted that he’s willing to have Tesla and SpaceX make ventilators to help patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19. Now New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to take him up on that offer. (Sean O’Kane / The Verge) Google approved the creation of a worker council in Europe to give employees more power over company decisions. The council would give employees the right to be consulted about issues such as organizational changes or job cuts. (Ryan Gallagher / Bloomberg) The EARN IT Act takes aim at free speech and privacy on the internet, under the pretense of saving sexually abused children. It sounds a lot like the 2018 “sex trafficking” law FOSTA. (Elizabeth Nolan Brown / Reason) Content moderation in India is often outsourced to third-party companies. The process puts a lot of power in the hands of young contractors who have to make split-second decisions about what people are allowed to see online. (Prasid Banerjee / Livemint) While we’re all stuck at home, we have a moral responsibility to share are boring lives on the internet. (Kaitlyn Tiffany / The Atlantic) A new project aims to turn social distancing into a dating game, taking a cue from “Love Is Blind.” Here, the pods are cells on a Google spreadsheet. The dates are phone calls. (Taylor Lorenz / The New York Times) The dating site Plenty of Fish is launching a new video streaming feature to make it easier for users to meet virtually without abandoning the practice of social distancing. What could possibly go wrong? (Cody Toombs / Android Police) Celebrities are flocking to Instagram Live to entertain fans while they isolate themselves from crowds amid the coronavirus outbreak. Some notable faces include Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Justin Bieber, John Legend, and Chrissy Teigen. (Kalhan Rosenblatt / NBC) Stuff to occupy you online during the quarantine. Pick a weekend project to help on the coronavirus response effort from this guide geared toward technologists. Also: Here are three ways San Franciscans can help with the crisis. Check out this list of relief funds for restaurants, bars, and service industry workers — some of the people and places hardest hit by the crisis. Listen to free audiobooks for kids. Try a free month of Scribd, a kind of Netflix for books with millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and magazine articles. Another meditation app is going free through April. Read the censored journalism that is being maintained in a library in Minecraft. On Sunday, watch a one-night revival of Rosie O’Donnell’s beloved 1990s talk show. Tested positive for missing the homies Had a friend say they couldn't make a zoom cocktail party because they have another one scheduled for that same time period so yes you can still feel unpopular during the apocalypse. People: "I want 2020 to be like the roarin' twenties!"Earth: "Alright, infectious disease is spreading."People: "No, not like that."Earth: "The US stock market is tanking."People: "Wait..."Earth: "LMAO Bars can't be open anymore." They sent me the wrong fucking song pic.twitter.com/7PeMxPgVnq Send us tips, comments, questions, and anonymized location data confirming that you are complying with social distancing guidelines: [email protected] and [email protected].

https://www.theverge.com/interface/2020/3/20/21186772/coronavirus-location-sharing-government-israel-england-facebook-google-o2

The Interface

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

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Tom Warren

Google discounts Stadia for the first time just as Doom Eternal launches

Google is discounting its Stadia cloud gaming service for the first time since its November launch. The Stadia Premiere Edition, which includes a Stadia controller, Chromecast Ultra, and three months of Stadia Pro, is dropping from $129 to $99 for a one day sale until 11:59PM PT tonight (2:59AM ET on March 21st). The sale is limited to the US to celebrate the launch of Doom Eternal, which arrives on Google Stadia today. The game is priced at $59.99 for the standard edition and $89.99 for the deluxe edition. Google’s Stadia sale also comes just as the company is preparing to launch a free tier of the service in the coming months. You’ll still need to purchase games individually on Stadia Pro or the free tier, but Google is promising 120 games this year, including 10 exclusives. Google also launched 4K streaming support for Stadia on the web earlier this month. Games like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Mortal Kombat 11, and Grid can all be streamed at 4K from a Chrome browser, and the latest app updates hint that YouTube streaming and family game sharing might be coming soon, too.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21187919/google-stadia-discount-sale-doom-eternal-launch-pricing

Google

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

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Andrew J. Hawkins

Electric scooter-sharing grinds to a halt in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Electric scooters are vanishing from more cities as the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to roil shared mobility services across the world. Lime, the largest e-scooter-sharing company in the world, said it would be suspending service in nearly two dozen countries. Bird said it would halt operations in six US cities as well as all of its European markets. And Spin, which is owned by Ford, has had to pause service in “very few” cities and universities. The decisions to suspend service reflect the rapidly changing environment in the US and around the world in response to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Just three days ago, Lime was the only scooter company to halt operations in two US states and three European countries. Now, with “shelter-in-place” orders, social distancing, and most people simply staying at home, scooter companies are likely seeing a steep drop in demand. The timing of the pandemic is also posing a challenge for the money-losing scooter business, that sees its business slow down in the winter and pick back up again when the weather turns warm. Lime, with roughly 120,000 scooters in 30 countries, is making the most drastic cuts. The company said it was “winding down or pausing” service in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the US. The company’s scooters remain available in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Brisbane, Australia; Busan, South Korea; Christchurch, New Zealand; Dunedin, New Zealand; Hamilton, New Zealand; Selwyn District, New Zealand; Seoul, South Korea; and Sydney, Australia. Bird said it is pausing service in San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Portland, Miami, and Coral Gables. The company has also pulled its scooters from all of its European markets, which includes Annecy, Antwerp, Barcelona, Berlin, Bordeaux, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Krakow, Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Marseille, Munich, Paris, Rimini, Sevilla, Stockholm, Torino, Verona, and Vienna. “The COVID-19 pandemic is undeniably affecting countless lives on a global scale. Given our deep understanding of and empathy towards the cities, communities and people we serve, we are temporarily pausing our service in a variety of cities,” a spokesperson said. “This is very fluid as the response to COVID-19 evolves and is in line with voluntary, as well as mandatory measures set by local governments for businesses.” In contrast, Spin says it has been asked to “step up” by some cities to help “fill transportation gaps after the public bus system was shut down.” The Ford-owned company says it was designated as an “essential service” during the city’s shelter-in-place order “and encouraged to continue operations as a healthy mobility option.” Still, Spin said it has also paused operations “in very few markets,” either because a city requested it or because a university campus has been shut down. (A spokesperson didn’t specify which cities it had paused service.) For the remaining scooters still available to rent, all of the companies say they have stepped up their sanitizing efforts and instituted new workplace protocols for employees to ensure social distancing in the warehouses that are still opened. Lyft is still offering scooters to rent in San Francisco, but it halted operations in Miami at the request of the city. Jump, which is owned by Uber, didn’t respond to requests for comment. According to Streetsblog, Jump has only paused scooter operations in Sacramento, California. Last month, Lyft said in a regulatory filing that the outbreak in China has led to production delays of certain automotive parts and components of bikes and scooters. Scooter-sharing isn’t the only mobility service to suffer due to the pandemic. Public transportation ridership has cratered and fare revenue has practically dried up. Ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft are also seeing precipitous drops in gross bookings in cities hit hard by the disease. Three weeks of social distancing and warnings to stay at home have taken a huge bite out of the total number of trips taken with all modes of transportation. But as people avoid transit and shared modes of travel, the silver lining seems to be the number of personal mobility trips that are rising. In New York City, for instance, cycling traffic on the East River bridges is up over 50 percent and Citi Bike ridership is up almost 70 percent compared to this time last year. But city officials aren’t doing enough to protect those riders who are switching to bikes; cyclist injuries were up 43 percent between March 9th and March 15th, according to NYPD statistics obtained by Streetsblog. Cities have a unique opportunity during the pandemic to remake their streets to better prioritize these low-carbon forms of transportation. “While staying at home and following government recommendations for social distancing is the first order of priorities, if you have to take a trip and do not want to ride public transport, or if public transport has reduced service, the bicycle can be a good alternative,” Virginia Tech transportation expert Ralph Buehler said in an email.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188119/electric-scooter-coronavirus-bird-lime-spin-suspend-bikes

Tech

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

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Jon Porter

iFixit is building a repair database for medical equipment, and it needs your help

Repair specialist iFixit is building a database filled with repair information for the world’s hospital equipment in anticipation of the increased demand caused by COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. In particular, it’s calling for repair manuals for ventilators and BiPAP machines that can be used as ventilators. iFixit’s database can be found here, and the company is calling for people to create new device pages and upload photographs and manuals. The reasoning behind creating the database is simple: as the novel coronavirus spreads, the experience of Italian and Chinese hospitals suggests that the world’s supply of ventilators is going to be placed under huge stress, making it essential that these can be repaired quickly if and when they break down. This equipment will be an essential part of treating anyone who develops respiratory problems as a result of COVID-19. There are currently few sources for repair manuals online. iFixit notes that resources like Frank’s Hospital Workshop exist, but these are relatively small operations. Some manufacturers provide easy access to repair manuals on their websites, but others make them harder to find. There are a few different parts to iFixit’s campaign beyond assembling a collection of manuals. Once it’s got a manual, the company wants to format its information to make it as easy to understand as possible. It plans to break the manuals down into guides for individual repairs, to reformat them to make them more SEO-friendly, and to translate them into other languages. iFixit also wants to put together preventive maintenance guides so technicians can work to keep their equipment in good working order before it reaches the point of breaking down. As well as looking for people with access to repair information, iFixit is also asking for the medical community to provide information about which ventilators are currently in use as well as which parts are most likely to break. It’s an important and timely initiative from a company that’s usually associated with helping people fix their personal consumer electronics. If you’ve got access to any manuals that you think might be helpful for the initiative, you can upload them to iFixit directly or email the company if you’ve got a batch of manuals that would be too time-consuming to upload manually.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21187981/ifixit-medical-device-repair-database-guides-ventilators-coronavirus-covid-19

Science

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

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Chaim Gartenberg

Fitbit Charge 4 leaks, looks a lot like the Fitbit Charge 3

The Fitbit Charge 4 — the upcoming replacement for the 2018-era Charge 3 fitness tracker — has been revealed in a series of leaks this week, including the latest from 9to5Google that reveals the design. In short: it looks virtually identical to the Fitbit Charge 3. That makes sense, given that the Charge 3 just brought a major redesign to the product lineup when it was released in 2018. It’s also a very well-designed Fitbit, so it’s hard to ding Fitbit too much for sticking with a design that works. The similar design also means that Charge 3 owners will still be able to use their old bands with the new model. It’s still not entirely clear what new features the Charge 4 will offer over the Charge 3. Federal Communications Commission listings don’t seem to indicate that onboard GPS — one of the major missing features on the old model — will be appearing on the Charge 4. 9to5Google speculates that Fitbit might be adding an always-on display, similar to the one it added on the Versa 2. And the FCC listing indicates that Fitbit may be making NFC a standard feature, as opposed to one that’s limited to the Special Edition models (as has been the case for previous versions of the Charge). Fitbit has yet to officially announce the Charge 4, so we’ll likely have to wait for official word to find out what the major changes on the internal or software sides of the product are. Still, with all these leaks appearing, it likely won’t be long until a more formal announcement arrives.

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2020/3/20/21188244/fitbit-charge-4-leaks-design-3-nfc-rumors-fitness-tracker

Tech

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

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Andrew Webster

Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ deserted island was designed to shake up the series

Most Animal Crossing games start the same. You, a cherubic human, move into a quaint town full of talking animals. In some games, you’re simply a resident; in others, you’re the mayor. But in the latest release, Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Nintendo Switch, things are different. You first arrive at an almost completely deserted island; there’s an airport, a small service tent, and two animals ready to start a new life alongside you. The goal is to turn an uninhabited piece of land into a thriving community. According to New Horizons director Aya Kyogoku, the change was designed as a way to shake things up for the long-running franchise. She particularly wanted to shift the way players interact with the world. “When we thought about changing those relationships between the user and the animals, we thought, ‘Well, what if we take away the village?’ Putting the player on a deserted island is the solution we came up with,” she tells The Verge. The latest game in the series is filled with these kinds of changes. The Animal Crossing fundamentals remain largely the same — you live a quaint life, selling bugs and fish to pay off your mortgage — but the details are different. And most of these changes, according to Kyogoku, were designed to both lure in new players and keep existing ones interested. It’s a tough balancing act. One of the biggest shifts is a new goal system called Nook Miles. The idea is that virtually everything you do in the game, from pulling weeds to chatting with neighbors, can earn you points called miles that can be redeemed for in-game items. It’s a structure reminiscent of many mobile games — and that’s not by accident. Kyogoku says that the system was designed in part for fans whose first Animal Crossing game was the mobile spinoff. “We did realize that a lot of the fans who started playing Animal Crossing for the first time with Pocket Camp may have difficulties jumping into titles like New Horizons,” she explains. “Nook Miles is just a way to facilitate the discovery of ways to play.” That said, she also believes the structure will help longtime players who are already set in their ways. It can add a new dynamic to familiar actions. “I’m always about paying back the loans, so I want to try to make as many bells as possible. So I tend to go for more expensive insects and ignore common butterflies,” she says as an example. With the Nook Miles system, there are rewards for catching specific numbers of insects, no matter the type. “All of a sudden, critters like common butterflies will have a different value added to them,” she says. Similar thinking went into the new crafting system. Instead of simply buying tools or furniture, players now have the option of making their own. With the right recipe and materials, you can turn a few twigs into a fishing rod or combine wood and iron to make a kitchen table. Crafting has become a key component in a huge range of games, from Fallout to Minecraft, but Kyogoku says its inclusion in Animal Crossing is tied to the new theme, as players are forced to spend more of their time dealing with the natural world. “We thought the users would be able to have a new relationship with nature,” she explains. New Horizons’ other major shift is an increased focus on customization. You’ve always been able to tailor Animal Crossing to your liking, but the degree of customization has grown substantially. Players can put furniture outside, wear all kinds of detailed, multipiece outfits, and even tweak the style and color of their in-game smartphone’s case. Fashion, in particular, was upgraded for a very specific reason: since New Horizons has an increased focus on co-op play, it makes sense that players would want to show off for their friends. “It’s completely natural for people to want to dress up, or want to buy new clothing items for that opportunity,” says New Horizons producer Hisashi Nogami. “It’s something that’s true of real life as well.” Fashion is becoming something of a trademark for Nogami, who also worked on the hip-hop and skate culture-inspired Splatoon series. “I do love putting cool sneakers in my games,” he admits. All together, these changes make for an Animal Crossing that feels both familiar and refreshing. The charm and freedom that longtime fans love are still there, but with a structure and level of detail that are new for the series. “We wanted to create an experience that both old fans and new fans could enjoy,” says Kyogoku.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188006/animal-crossing-new-horizons-design-interview-aya-kyogoku-hisashi-nogami

Gaming

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

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Sean O'Kane

Twitter won’t remove irresponsible Elon Musk tweet about coronavirus 

Twitter will not take down a tweet from billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk where he said children are “essentially immune” to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, despite early evidence that they can be infected and become seriously ill. Musk sent the tweet at 5:55PM ET on Thursday in response to a question from a user with the display name “Hopeful Pope of Muskanity.” “Kids are essentially immune, but elderly with existing conditions are vulnerable. Family gatherings with close contact between kids & grandparents probably most risky,” Musk wrote. Twitter announced earlier this week that it was joining forces with Facebook and others to fight misinformation about the growing pandemic. And while experts agree that elderly people with preexisting conditions are at high risk, the first clause of Musk’s tweet appeared to be at odds with new guidelines from Twitter about how it plans to moderate coronavirus content. In a blog published this week, Twitter said it was “[b]roadening our definition of harm to address content that goes directly against guidance from authoritative sources of global and local public health information.” One of the examples the company gave was this: Denial of established scientific facts about transmission during the incubation period or transmission guidance from global and local health authorities, such as “COVID-19 does not infect children because we haven’t seen any cases of children being sick.” While younger people do, on average, seem to be less affected by COVID-19, there is early evidence that it can still cause major health issues in some children, and especially infants. But that’s not enough to put Musk’s tweet into the territory of misinformation, according to Twitter. “When reviewing the overall context and conclusion of the Tweet, it does not break our rules, the company said in a statement to The Verge. “We’ll continue to consult with trusted partners such as health authorities to identify content that is most harmful.” Musk has repeatedly underplayed the coronavirus pandemic throughout the month of March. After saying the panic over the virus was “dumb,” he compared the lethality of COVID-19 to that of car crashes — which do not spread virally and are not contagious — in an email to employees at SpaceX. He continued this trend on Thursday, even after offering to make desperately-needed ventilators. The thread that led up to the tweet in question started with Musk sharing a New York Times story about how China had reported no new cases of domestic spread of the novel coronavirus on Thursday. When asked if he believed the numbers coming from China’s authoritarian leadership, Musk said yes. He then followed up with another tweet where he said he believed there would “probably” be no new cases of COVID-19 by the “end of April.” Just hours after Musk’s tweets, California governor Gavin Newsom ordered the state’s 40 million residents to stay in their homes until further notice (except for essential activities like buying food) to help stomp out the spread of the coronavirus. The governor said Thursday he believes over 25 million California residents could become infected within the next eight weeks. Earlier this month, Twitter removed tweets from John McAfee, David Clarke, and others as part of a “zero-tolerance approach to platform manipulation and any other attempts to abuse our service at this critical juncture.”

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21187760/twitter-elon-musk-tweet-coronavirus-misinformation

Policy

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Monica Chin

The MacBook Pro, iPad mini, and more are discounted at Best Buy

Best Buy is currently offering discounts on products from Apple, Samsung, and more. The retailer is holding a three-day sale that starts today and ends on March 22nd at 9:59PM PT / 12:59AM ET. If you’re looking to upgrade your home office or just looking for more gadgets to occupy your quarantined days, check out some of these discounts. Although the company’s stores remain open at this time, we strongly encourage you to only order online from Best Buy if you’re interested in buying something. Stay home. Now, on to the deals. Apple’s 13.3-inch MacBook Air is down to $799, which is $200 off its original price of $999. The discounted model has an Intel Core i5 processor with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of flash storage. (Note that this is an older MacBook Air model from mid-2017, not the latest model with a vastly improved keyboard.) Apple MacBook Air (13.3 inches) A number of MacBook Pro models are more affordable than usual, too. To start, you can get the latest 13-inch model with a Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD for $1,099. There are a total of 14 MacBook Pro models on sale for a discount; at the top end, Core i9 models are listed at $2,999 and $3,199 with an AMD Radeon Pro 560X and an AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20, respectively. Apple MacBook Pro (15 inches) Apple MacBook Pro (13 inches) Certain iPad models are $50 off. You can get the Wi-Fi iPad mini with 64GB of storage for $349 up to the Wi-Fi + Cellular model with 256GB of storage for $629. The iPad mini is “a killer small tablet,” according to Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel. Apple iPad mini Apple iPad mini with Wi-Fi + Cellular There are a number of discounts on Samsung’s Galaxy S20 5G series, depending on the carrier and installment plan you select. You’ll get a $200 discount if you purchase the models through Verizon or AT&T’s 30-month installment plan. You can also save up to $1,000 if you purchase through Sprint monthly installments on a new line, and up to $200 if you purchase the phone unlocked and activate immediately. The Galaxy S20 and S20 Ultra are excellent phones with standout battery lives and optional 120Hz screens. Samsung Galaxy S20 5G Apple’s Beats by Dr. Dre Studio3 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones are down to $199, $150 off their original price. Note that only the gray, “desert sand,” and “crystal blue” models are available at this price; the other colors are still $349. The headphones feature a collapsible design, so they’re easy to tuck into a bag or purse. They also come with four free months of Apple Music if you’re a first-time subscriber. Beats by Dr. Dre Studio3 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones Verge Deals Correction 3/20/20 3:01 PM EST: This story has been updated to reflect that the discounted iPad Mini models have 64GB of and 256GB of storage, respectively. A previous version of the article stated that they had 64GB and 256GB of RAM. We regret the error.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188142/apple-macbook-pro-ipad-mini-best-buy-deal-sale

Good Deals

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Natt Garun

Peloton temporarily suspends sales and deliveries of its treadmill

Peloton this week announced that it will temporarily suspend the sale and delivery of its Tread, a treadmill with a touchscreen to stream live and on-demand classes, that the company released in 2018. In a blog post, Peloton says it has decided to put a hold on Tread deliveries because the size of the machine is too big to deliver to customers while attempting to maintain physical distance during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Customers who placed their orders before March 18th and have yet to receive their orders will see heir orders cancelled and refunded. “After [March 18,] we will cancel any Tread deliveries and issue a full refund on the original form of payment in the next 7-10 business days,” the company said. “Peloton will reach back out to these customers prior to beginning Tread sales again to allow them to place their order and receive a Tread as early as possible.” Peloton this week also emailed customers saying that while sales of its popular bike will continue, it is changing its home delivery service by dropping the preassembled bike upon arriving at the customer’s door, leaving it for them to take inside on their own to avoid potential person-to-person contact. (The Peloton bike weighs 135 pounds and typically requires two delivery people for installation.) Last week, Peloton extended its digital membership trial from 30 to 90 days in an effort to help people exercise at home during the quarantine period.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188221/peloton-treadmil-deliveries-suspends-temporary-social-distancing

Business

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Jay Peters

Google and YouTube launch new remote education resources

Google and YouTube have launched new resource pages to help teachers and families continue to educate students while they’re home from school due to the novel coronavirus. Google’s page, called Teach From Home, offers recommendations on how teachers can teach remotely using Google products. Right now, the page features ideas like doing a video call with a class using Hangouts or creating an online quiz using Google Forms. The page will “continue to evolve,” according to Google. There’s also a “Teach from Home toolkit,” which has resources about how to teach remotely organized into a series of slides. Teach from Home is currently only available in English, but the downloadable toolkits are available in Danish, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and Polish, and Google says more languages are “coming soon.” YouTube’s resource, Learn@Home, highlights educational YouTube channels that students can watch at home. The page categorizes the channels that are recommended for families with kids 13 and older, for families with kids five and older, and for families with preschoolers. YouTube is partnering with Khan Academy and other education-focused creators on the effort, and some channels highlighted include CrashCourse, Discovery Education, Cool School, PBS Kids, and Sesame Street. Learn@Home is available now in English, and will be available in Italian, French, Korean, Spanish, Japanese, and more “in the coming days,” according to YouTube. Google is also launching a $10 million Distance Learning Fund as part of the company’s $50 million contribution made through its philanthropic arm, Google.org, to COVID-19 response efforts. Google.org will first give a $1 million grant from the fund to Khan Academy to help it “provide remote learning opportunities to students affected by COVID-19 related school closures.”

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188489/google-youtube-remote-education-resources-teach-from-home-students-coronavirus

Google

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Casey Newton

Facebook is nearing a settlement with its content moderators in a class action lawsuit

Facebook is close to reaching a settlement with a group of content moderators who developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suffered other harms while working to remove disturbing content from the social network. In a court filing this week, lawyers for the plaintiffs said the parties had reached a tentative agreement with Facebook on February 7th. In September 2018, a former Facebook moderator named Selena Scola sued Facebook in San Mateo County Superior Court, alleging that she developed PTSD after being placed in a role that required her to regularly view photos and images of rape, murder, and suicide. In the complaint, Scola said that she developed symptoms of PTSD after nine months of working at the company. The proposed settlement now needs to be approved by a judge. The terms of the proposed settlement could not be learned. Facebook and lawyers for the plaintiff declined to comment. In the aftermath of the 2016 US presidential election, when Facebook came under fire for failing to effectively police its platform, the company contracted with large consulting firms, including Accenture, Cognizant, and Genpact, to hire thousands of people. Last year, The Verge reported that moderators hired through Cognizant were working in dire conditions in Phoenix and Tampa. Working for as little as $28,800 a year, employees reported working in highly stressful and dangerous conditions. Several workers reported that they had developed symptoms of PTSD after working as moderators, including some who had spent just a few months on the job. In the wake of The Verge’s reporting, Cognizant announced that it would leave the content moderation business and shut down its sites earlier this year. The settlement would cover moderators working in California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida from 2015 until the day that the settlement is signed.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188356/facebook-content-moderator-lawsuit-class-action-settlement

Tech

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Jon Porter

YouTube joins Netflix in reducing video quality in Europe

YouTube is reducing the quality of its videos in Europe, as an increase in home usage strains the continent’s internet during the novel coronavirus outbreak, Reuters reports. “We are making a commitment to temporarily switch all traffic in the EU to standard definition by default,” the company said in a statement. The decision comes after EU industry chief Thierry Breton called on streaming platforms to help reduce their load on the continent’s infrastructure. Internet traffic is increasing as more people spend time at home in line with social-distancing guidelines during the pandemic. There are fears about the strain this could place on the internet’s infrastructure, and cause further disruption to remote workers and e-learning activities now that businesses and schools have been shuttered. The decision follows Netflix’s announcement that it will reduce the bitrate of its streams for 30 days, in an attempt to lower its network traffic by 25 percent. Video streaming is a major source of internet traffic, BBC News notes, alongside game downloads, while remote-work technologies like webmail and video-conferencing are thought to place relatively less strain on networks. However, internet providers have stressed that their networks have enough headroom to handle the increased demand. British telecoms provider BT recently put out a statement in which it said that while weekday daytime traffic has increased by between 35 and 60 percent, it is still half of average evening peak usage, and “nowhere near” its network’s full capacity. Vodafone and TalkTalk, which also provide services to UK households, gave similar assurances to BBC News despite also seeing increases in web traffic.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21187930/youtube-reduces-streaming-quality-european-union-coronavirus-bandwidth-internet-traffic

US & World

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Kim Lyons

AT&T gave California stores talking points to explain to law enforcement why they’re open

AT&T sent a notice to its authorized retailer companies in California with instructions for how to handle potential questions, including from law enforcement, about why they were remaining open during the COVID-19 pandemic. Describing it as “best practice only,” the guidance sent Thursday “is to be used in the event that any officials, individuals or groups inquire about why the AT&T store is open.” On Wednesday, AT&T said it was closing 40 percent of its retail stores across the country, with all stores closing on Sundays and the rest open for modified hours. That decision applied to AT&T’s company-owned retail stores, however, not the ones privately owned and operated. A number of states have issued orders requiring all but essential businesses to close down. AT&T is arguing that it qualifies as an essential business as a “critical communications provider” under Department of Homeland Security guidance. The company also provides technical support at its retail locations for first responders under its FirstNet program. “Our customers and first responders find the service we provide in our retail locations invaluable, especially at moments like this,” a company spokesman said in an email to The Verge. “Because of the evolving circumstances and guidelines for social distancing, we are balancing the need to serve the public in our retail stores with the health and safety of our customers and our employees.” AT&T says it was told by the DHS that its retail stores provide “essential services that are critical to the public’s ability to communicate during the current emergency.” If a store is “visited by local government officials or police and they are asking why we’re open during the Shelter in Place order,” the letter instructs workers to “explain that AT&T is an essential business providing essential services and show them the printed copy of the attached letter. If they have further questions please engage your management team.” The spokesperson added that all AT&T retail workers have received instructions about social distancing and personal hygiene, and stores have posted signs reminding customers of the CDC’s best practices. Store workers have been “asked to clean their hands and wipe down doors, devices, phones, and surfaces after each customer interaction,” and to wipe down the entire store every two hours. “We are aware of various guidelines and, in some cases, orders that set out requirements for businesses and individuals to follow during the COVID-19 pandemic” according to the memo to stores. “AT&T is committed to adhering to those requirements while also providing essential services to our communities.” Quarantine orders have spread across the US over the past week. California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide shelter-in-place order which limits the businesses that can remain open. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf issued an order Thursday for all “non-life-sustaining” businesses to close. On March 13th, AT&T told employees to start working from home, but the order didn’t apply to workers in its retail stores or workers who install equipment for customers. AT&T previously suspended its arbitrary broadband caps in response to the coronavirus pandemic and has signed onto the FCC’s “Keep Americans Connected Pledge,” vowing not to disconnect subscribers or charge late fees during the outbreak. Update: March 20th, 3:30PM: Corrects information from AT&T that the notice was sent to authorized retail stores in California, not to company-owned stores.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188164/att-retail-stores-coronavirus-leaked-memo-essential-business-services

Mobile

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Tom Warren

A first look at Microsoft’s xCloud game streaming service for Windows PCs

Microsoft has started testing its Project xCloud game streaming service for Windows 10 PCs this week. The software giant is making the preview version, which lets you stream Xbox games to a PC, available to all Microsoft employees. The Verge has been able to obtain exclusive screenshots of how xCloud will work on PCs. Microsoft has developed an Xbox Game Streaming app for Windows 10 that will be available in the Windows Store. Much like the Android or iOS versions, the app requires a Bluetooth Xbox One controller, a Microsoft account, and a good internet connection. The PC app will also support streaming games from an Xbox One console locally or remotely, instead of using Microsoft’s xCloud server blades. There are a variety of games available to Microsoft employees to test, but the app is currently limited to 720p streams for now. “This internal preview is running at 720p resolution with 1080p just around the corner,” reveals an internal Microsoft support note. The experience is very similar to what is available on Android and iOS, even down to the user interface and the way you access and stream games. It certainly looks ready to be tested broadly, and it’s likely that Microsoft will roll this out to external Xbox testers soon. Microsoft also recently upgraded its xCloud server blades to include eight Xbox One S consoles in a single server instance. That’s up from the four the company was previously testing. Microsoft is now working to eventually transition these xCloud servers to the Xbox Series X processor. This next-gen processor is far more powerful and capable of running four Xbox One S game sessions simultaneously on a single chip. It also includes a new built-in video encoder that is up to six times faster than the current external encoder that Microsoft uses on existing xCloud servers. Microsoft has committed to launching xCloud this year, with PS4 controller support and this Windows 10 streaming on the way. The Xbox maker is planning to integrate Project xCloud with Xbox Game Pass later this year, allowing players to stream games from the company’s subscription service directly from the cloud.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188787/microsoft-xcloud-windows-10-pc-app-game-streaming-service-preview

Microsoft

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Josh Dzieza

Amazon workers are on the frontlines of the pandemic

Last night, speaking from the state’s emergency operations center in Sacramento, California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered everyone in the state to stay home to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Malls, retail stores, and other businesses not considered critical infrastructure were to close in the most sweeping lockdown so far in the US. That same night, also in Sacramento, an Amazon worker received an automated call telling him that his job at a distribution center was essential, and he should continue to come to work. In Washington, an early epicenter of the US outbreak, managers at an Amazon warehouse told employees that they would continue doing their jobs despite the state-mandated closure of nonessential businesses and the fact that workers in Amazon’s nearby corporate offices have been working remotely since March 5th. As the virus spreads and cities lock down, Amazon workers across the country are finding themselves thrust into a new role: delivering goods to a nation in quarantine. But many fear that the safety precautions, benefits, and protections have not changed sufficiently to reflect the new reality, and that if their warehouses continue operating as everything else shuts down, many will fall ill. “We’re all going to get sick eventually,” said a worker at a facility in Washington. “The vibe with coworkers is that we are all probably going to get it. It’s just a matter of time.” Amazon is uniquely positioned to thrive in the crisis. It’s spent more than two decades building a robust logistics network capable of delivering almost anything to anyone, and now Americans stuck at home are turning to the company to supply basic necessities. Data supplied by JungleScout shows search volume surging first for face masks and hand sanitizer, then for rice, soup, webcams, monitors — anything Americans might need as they hunker down. Already infrastructure for a huge portion of e-commerce, Amazon is becoming infrastructure for a house-bound populace. But the virus also poses an unprecedented threat to Amazon’s logistics system and, more importantly, the workers who make it run. The company’s fulfillment centers depend on staffs of a thousand or more working in close proximity. The Verge spoke with 24 warehouse workers and delivery drivers, many of whom spoke of crowded workplaces, nonexistent screenings for symptoms, a lack of cleaning supplies, and a pace of work that made proper sanitation difficult. Across the country, workers are weighing the need for an income against the fear that they might become infected and endanger their loved ones. These concerns will only become more acute as the pandemic worsens. On March 18th, The Atlantic reported that a worker at an Amazon distribution center in New York tested positive for the virus. Workers on the following shift said they weren’t notified and were expected to come in but refused when learning of the case from co-workers, shutting down the facility. (Amazon said it notified workers and that they weren’t expected to work the following shift, and that it has temporarily closed the facility for cleaning.) In Italy and Spain, Amazon has refused to shut down facilities where workers have been infected, prompting protests. “I think what will wind up happening is the warehouse is going to stay open pretty much no matter what,” said Tyler Hamilton, a worker at a fulfillment center in Minnesota, where the governor has ordered schools and many businesses closed. “I understand why, because everything else is closed, and to make sure for society that people get basic necessities, food, toiletries — that’s important. But if you’re going to have that happening you should be taking proper precautions for your workers so they’re not suffering at the expense for everyone else.” In response to the pandemic, Amazon has altered policies and instituted new procedures. Last week, Amazon announced that employees who test positive for COVID-19 will get two weeks paid leave, though testing is still largely unavailable, and workers who take time off when symptoms appear risk going without pay if it turns out they were ill with something else. Amazon also announced that workers can take unlimited time off without pay. (Previously, they would have been fired for overdrawing their quota of unpaid time off.) While some workers have taken unpaid leave because they fear infection or need to care for children who have been sent home from school, many more say they cannot afford to go without a paycheck. Reached for comment about Amazon’s status as an essential service and safety concerns among workers, an Amazon spokesperson said that the company had instituted new cleaning procedures, taken measures to encourage social distancing in its warehouses, and made other changes. “The health and safety of our employees and contractors around the world continues to be our top priority,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “As communities around the world are requiring social distancing, we’re seeing that our teams—much like grocery stores, pharmacies and other essential services—have a unique role getting customers the critical items they need and this is especially vital for the elderly, people with underlying health issues, and those sick or quarantined.” But while workers say they have been told to wipe down their stations and wash their hands with sanitizer, they’re still expected to maintain the same intense pace, which leaves little time to do so. “The longer you take to do it, the faster you’re going to have to work later on,” Hamilton said. “They should allow associates to go to the bathroom, to wash their hands regularly, as opposed to counting it against them.” Warehouse workers in Washington, California, and Minnesota say they are not being screened for symptoms when arriving at work and that their jobs often require them to stand far closer than the six-foot distance recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “If you try to stretch your hand, it would reach next person,” said Hibaq Mohamed, who works on the packaging line in a Minnesota fulfillment center. Workers pass items to each other and often share equipment. “If someone has a virus, all of us have it,” she said. William Stolz, another worker at the facility, worries that operating without testing every worker and implementing other safety measures will cause the warehouse to become a major vector for transmission. “I really think that with this pandemic, if Amazon is staying open with the risk of the transmission being what it is, if this pandemic gets worse, they’re going to be part of the reason why.” Last week, Amazon workers in New York began circulating a petition calling for paid sick leave regardless of diagnosis, hazard pay, the shutdown of facilities if workers test positive for the virus, and an end to penalties for not meeting the rate. “As the coronavirus pandemic unfolds and communities everywhere prepare for the worst, Amazon workers have become crucial in getting people their food, water, and sanitation supplies,” the group wrote. Safety measures have also been uneven for delivery drivers, according to interviews with a dozen drivers, most of whom work for third-party companies that have contracts with Amazon. A delivery driver in Indianapolis said he was given sanitizing wipes on Monday but none after that. A driver in Virginia said some vans have hand sanitizer and wipes but others don’t and that every morning, he gathers with 20 to 30 other drivers to collect their keys. A driver in Georgia said she’d been told to sanitize her van and wash her hands but was given no supplies to do so. “Our packages go through so many hands before we even get them,” she said, noting that research found the virus can live on plastic for three days and cardboard for 24 hours. She’s scared, but she can’t afford not to work. Nevertheless, some workers are choosing to take the financial hit and stay home. For some, they need to care for children who are no longer at school. Others fear becoming infected and passing the virus to others. “There’s more attrition day-to-day, so you don’t have the same amount of staffing,” said a worker at the Minnesota facility. The reduced staffing comes at a time of unprecedented demand. Amazon typically hires thousands of temporary workers to handle the surges of Prime Day and holiday shopping, but it lets them go in January. “It’s like Prime Day every day — Prime Week,” said one warehouse worker, but without the staff to keep up. On Amazon, a growing number of items are showing up as out of stock, and deliveries that normally take a day or two now stretch to a week or more. The bottleneck is being felt farther down the delivery chain. Drivers in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, and elsewhere said their routes have been shorter than usual all week. When a driver for Amazon Flex, the company’s on-demand delivery program, pulled up to their warehouse this weekend, the worker directing traffic said several workers had called out and deliveries were backed up, while another worker announced that they were starting hiring that day. On Tuesday, Amazon announced that it was hiring 100,000 new workers and raising wages by $2 per hour, but it’s unclear whether that will be enough to entice people to venture into a crowded warehouse during a pandemic. “All warehouses right now are going to have a very difficult time maintaining manpower,” says Marc Wulfraat of the logistics consulting company MWPVL International. E-commerce companies like Amazon are particularly labor-intensive, he says, because they ship out individual products rather than bulk pallets. “Those buildings that Amazon has are extremely populated, they have the biggest parking lots of any distribution centers that are being made. They’re like little cities of two thousand, three thousand people working under one roof. The only thing I can predict is that even with the extra money that they’re offering, they are going to be hit hard with throughput shortages.” Workers worry that if Amazon’s recruitment drive succeeds, their warehouses will become even more crowded at a time when other businesses are being ordered to shift to telework, reduce staff, or close entirely. Local governments vary on what businesses are considered essential and can maintain operations, but so far most orders exempt warehouses, food, and other categories Amazon could reasonably fall under. On Tuesday, Amazon announced that it was temporarily halting deliveries of nonessential items to its warehouses, an effort to meet surging demand for medical supplies and household staples, but also a move that would bolster its case that it needs to keep running. Many workers agree that the pandemic has transformed their jobs into something more essential, though several noted that they’re still shipping plenty of phone cases, house decorations, and other low-priority goods. (“We physically cannot keep up with the amount of orders,” one worker pleaded. “If you want to buy non-essentials, put it in your shopping cart, get it later, because it’s coming at the cost of sanitation supplies and food. It’s people staying fed and people staying healthy.”) But the virus has also transformed their jobs into something more dangerous, and if operations are going to continue as everything else shuts down, workers feel more substantive safety measures need to be taken. “You would have something like Amazon that does stay open and provide that basic service, but the workers would have the full precautions and protection to deal with it, because you are working in a pandemic in an area full of people,” said Hamilton, the Minnesota warehouse worker. “Just like at a hospital, that is also mission critical. “You need the hospital during a pandemic, you need that service to make sure you get through it. But people in a hospital get protection, at least as much as we can,” he said, acknowledging that even medical workers currently lack necessary protective gear. “If we were to actually prepare better as a society, or in Amazon’s case as a company, it would look something like that.” Update March 21, 11AM ET: The story has been updated to include a statement from Amazon.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188292/amazon-workers-coronavirus-essential-service-risk

US & World

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Joshua Rivera

Little Fires Everywhere wants you to know it’s definitely about race

In Little Fires Everywhere, people are constantly talking about how they would never “make something about race.” They often say it with shocked indignation — they don’t see color, how could you think that? — because they think of themselves as good people, in the way only wealthy white folks can. You know the kind of people who describe themselves as “comfortable?” Little Fires Everywhere is a show about that very specific demographic, and what happens when their carefully constructed world starts to tear at the seams. People are challenged with the notion that maybe they aren’t as progressive and open-minded as they think they are. Hulu’s adaptation of Celeste Ng’s excellent novel is set in Shaker Heights, a real-life suburb of Cleveland. Taking place in the ‘90s, the story follows the well-to-do Richardson family, outlining the events that would lead to their house being burned down by their youngest daughter, Izzy (Megan Stott) — the event that kicks off the show. The eight episodes (the first three are out now, the rest weekly) that follow illustrate how the Richardsons got here, starting with the arrival of Mia Warren (Kerry Washington) and her daughter Pearl (Lexi Underwood), two people who get hopelessly tangled in the Richardsons’ lives, inadvertently exposing their worst traits. Mia, an artist, leads an itinerant life and has arrived in Shaker Heights with the hopes of giving Pearl a stability they’ve never had together. She leases an apartment from the Richardsons, and over time, she and Pearl slowly become more integrated in their daily life. Pearl attends the same school as the four Richardson children, befriending middle son Moody (Gavin Lewis) and pining after his older brother Trip (Jordan Elsass). Meanwhile, misfit Izzy begins to strike up a relationship with Mia, as Mia and Elena Richardson, the family matriarch, become increasingly wary of the influence each has on the other’s children. From here, Little Fires Everywhere slowly starts to simmer, putting each of its cast of privileged white characters in situations that gradually escalate until they are forced to finally ditch their preferred euphemisms. Each encounter exposes another way in which they believe themselves to be good and decent because they’ve built a world where their sense of selves are not challenged. Elena’s daughter Lexie thinks herself virtuous for dating a black classmate, Brian, although she swears it doesn’t enter the equation. Elena hires Mia as her housekeeper, willfully ignorant of the race and class dynamics at play by hiring someone who pays her rent. Bill Richardson (Joshua Jackson), Elena’s husband, admonishes her for not getting a background check before offering the apartment to Mia. Elena, repeatedly, compliments herself for what a good thing she’s doing by helping the Warrens. Over and over again, the Warrens collide against the polite racism of those who pride themselves as not racist, and those small collisions slowly build to something catastrophic, as a friend of the Richardsons adopts a Chinese baby whose mother suddenly resurfaces, demanding her child back. It’s a crisis that compels the people in it to directly say what they’ve spent their lives talking around, and the results are not pretty. While Little Fires Everywhere has its sights set squarely on being a withering takedown of petty suburban class dynamics, it’s also remarkably understanding of the people within it. While its heart lies with the Warrens, every major player is considerably complicated. Elena Richardson is perfectly played by Reese Witherspoon — every passive-aggressive action cheerily delivered, and every boundary violation couched in the language of good intentions. As deft as the characterization is, the series is also interested in the forces that produce it — how a woman’s ambitions are stifled by societal pressures, and how she ultimately can end up reinforcing the boundaries that initially penned her in. That depth extends in every direction — Mia, as played by Kerry Washington, is a quiet force of nature, slowly realizing that she has just enough leverage to upend the neatly ordered worlds of the people who don’t know how much power they indiscriminately wield. As her past becomes less of a mystery, viewers begin to understand why she would apply that pressure. Through Pearl, Mia’s heartbreak is felt when the fault lines that she sees are clearly exposed for the first time. Through each of the Richardson children, the costs of perpetuating the life their parents made for them begin to manifest in unexpected ways. This is what Little Fires Everywhere most clearly conveys: there are no easy answers, but there are people who benefit from the questions that go unasked. And when things get hard, there will always be people who have the option to make good choices and those who do not. Most times, the world counts on these questions going unasked, under the guise of manners. It’s not polite to remind white people that they might benefit from whiteness or that people of color are not afforded the same opportunities. How could you make this about race? They would never.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188528/little-fires-everywhere-review-hulu-miniseries-race-kerry-washington-reese-witherspoon

Entertainment

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Nick Statt

Sony clarifies that PS5 will support ‘overwhelming majority’ of PS4 games

Sony has issued an update to clarify its stance on backwards compatibility for the PlayStation 5, saying the upcoming console will support an “overwhelming majority” of the 4,000-plus existing PS4 titles. Prior to the update, Sony’s Mark Cerny, the system architect for the PS5 who detailed its full hardware specifications in a live-streamed presentation on Wednesday, said the console would support “almost all” of the top 100 PS4 titles. “A quick update on backward compatibility — With all of the amazing games in PS4’s catalog, we’ve devoted significant efforts to enable our fans to play their favorites on PS5,” Sony writes in the update text, which it posted at the top of its tech specs announcement post from two days ago. “We believe that the overwhelming majority of the 4,000+ PS4 titles will be playable on PS5.” Sony also says those older titles may run better on the newer system, too. “We’re expecting backward compatible titles will run at a boosted frequency on PS5 so that they can benefit from higher or more stable frame rates and potentially higher resolutions,” the company adds. “We’re currently evaluating games on a title-by-title basis to spot any issues that need adjustment from the original software developers.” Sony says Cerny “provided a snapshot into the Top 100 most-played PS4 titles” simply as demonstration of the company's current backwards compatibility efforts. “We have already tested hundreds of titles and are preparing to test thousands more as we move toward launch,” the company says. “We will provide updates on backward compatibility, along with much more PS5 news, in the months ahead.” This should hopefully clear up some confusion as to the extent of Sony’s backwards compatibility commitment. Some fans were concerned the PS5 would not have the same level of last-gen compatibility as Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox Series X. Considering the heated competition between the two devices — fans of both are already vigorously debating which is going to be the better purchase and more successful platform — Xbox fans started taking a bit of a victory lap with regard to the Series X’s support for older games. That said, Microsoft is still quite far ahead in terms of broader backlog support due to its many years of backward compatibility work. While the PS5 and Xbox Series X sound as if they’ll both support the previous generation of hardware, Microsoft’s Xbox chief Phil Spencer said last month that Xbox Series X would support “four generations of Xbox,” meaning from the original system all the way through to the latest hardware. “Our commitment to compatibility means existing Xbox One games, including backward-compatible Xbox 360 and original Xbox games, look and play better than ever before,” Spencer wrote in a blog post. “Your favorite games, including titles in Xbox Game Pass, benefit from steadier framerates, faster load times and improved resolution and visual fidelity — all with no developer work required. Your Xbox One gaming accessories also come forward with you.” Instead of taking this route, Sony has opted instead for supporting older games through its PlayStation Now cloud gaming service. That said, those worried the PS5 wouldn’t be able to play PS4 discs, or that their digital libraries wouldn't be able to move with them, should be able to rest easy now.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188585/sony-ps5-backwards-compatibility-ps4-games-support-majority-plus-titles

Microsoft

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Loren Grush

NASA is suspending development of its future deep-space rocket during coronavirus pandemic

NASA is shutting down production and testing of its future deep-space rocket and crew capsule in response to the worsening coronavirus pandemic. The two vehicles are critical pieces of NASA’s ambitious plan to return humans to the Moon by 2024, but with development temporarily suspended, meeting that deadline will become even more unlikely. The shutdown comes amid NASA’s decision to heighten restrictions at two of the agency’s centers. The Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana and the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi are both moving to Stage 4 within NASA’s “Response Framework” for dealing with the pandemic, which is the strictest stage. That means telework is absolutely mandatory and all travel is suspended. The change was made after an employee at Stennis tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, according to a blog post by NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine. No one at Michoud has tested positive for the virus yet, but there is a rising number of cases near the center. Both centers play critical roles in the development of NASA’s next big rocket, the Space Launch System, or SLS. Cores of the rocket are primarily built at Michoud by NASA personnel and employees of Boeing, the vehicle’s main contractor. Meanwhile, the first completed core of the SLS is currently at Stennis, where it’s scheduled to undergo a significant ground test later this year. Called the Green Run Test, the exercise will ignite all of the engines on the rocket while it’s held down, simulating a launch without actually going to space. The test is meant to pave the way for the inaugural launch of the SLS, which is currently slated for 2021. Now, with both centers restricting access, the production of new SLS cores and the work needed to prepare for the Green Run Test is coming to a halt. “The NASA and contractors teams will complete an orderly shutdown that puts all hardware in a safe condition until work can resume,” Bridenstine wrote in his update. “Once this is complete, personnel allowed onsite will be limited to those needed to protect life and critical infrastructure.” NASA is reassessing which personnel will be considered “mission critical” and allowed on site at each facility. The shutdown is another blow for the SLS program, which suffered from delays and cost overruns long before the pandemic began. Originally slated for launch in 2017, the rocket’s first flight won’t happen until late next year at the earliest, and its first flight with crew on board is currently planned for either 2022 or 2023. The program’s budget has ballooned over the last decade as well, with the total development cost expected to reach $18.3 billion by the time rocket flies, according to a recent report from NASA’s Inspector General. Despite all this trouble, the SLS is a key part of NASA’s Artemis program to land the first woman on the Moon. The vehicle’s third flight is meant to carry astronauts on that historic mission to the lunar surface. Given the 2024 deadline set by the Trump administration, there was already very little wiggle room with the current SLS schedule to meet that timeframe. A shutdown like this puts that goal in jeopardy — something NASA acknowledges. “We realize there will be impacts to NASA missions, but as our teams work to analyze the full picture and reduce risks we understand that our top priority is the health and safety of the NASA workforce,” Bridenstine wrote. The other critical piece of hardware needed for the Artemis program is the Orion crew capsule, which the astronauts will ride inside when launching on top of the SLS. The Orion capsule that will fly on the debut flight of the SLS just underwent testing in Ohio and is about to travel to Cape Canaveral, Florida, ahead of the launch next year. It now seems that once Orion makes it to Florida, work on that vehicle will shut down temporarily. Meanwhile, work on future Orion crew capsules will stop at Michoud. With this latest move, three of NASA’s centers are at Stage 4, along with Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. The rest are at Stage 3, which allows mission-essential personnel to access NASA centers and travel. As the novel coronavirus situation worsens, it likely won’t be long until all of the centers move to Stage 4. It’s unclear how that will impact the rest of NASA’s activities, such as launches out of Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston maintains that its flight controllers can continue to operate the International Space Station even at Stage 4. “I will continue to say, so none of us forget – there is no team better prepared for doing hard things,” Bridenstine wrote in his post. “Take care of yourself, your family, and your NASA team.”

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21187671/nasa-space-launch-system-rocket-development-testing-shutdown-coronavirus

Science

The Verge

2020-03-20 00:00:00

2020

3.0

20

Andrew Marino

Vergecast: Apple announces new iPad Pro and MacBook Air, Sony reveals PS5 specs

After a week of working from home, The Vergecast returns to recording remotely. There was a lot of coverage on the site this week about efforts for testing and containing the novel coronavirus pandemic, but one story, in particular, brought the discussion to the podcast: the confusion surrounding a Google-funded website meant help find coronavirus testing facilities. A week ago today, President Trump announced during an emergency declaration that Google was developing a website to help people in the US get tested if they needed it. Vergecast hosts Nilay Patel, Dieter Bohn, and Paul Miller discuss the accuracy of the statements, who is actually building a website, and what the status of getting tested looks like today. In the second half of the show, the crew shifts gears into the gadget world. Apple this week announced an updated iPad Pro and MacBook Air after weeks of rumors and leaks. Now that an iPad will have a trackpad, how thin is the line between the laptop and the tablet? There’s also a whole lot more sprinkled throughout the show — like some in-the-weeds discussion about PS5 specs and Paul’s weekly segment “I’m a Moog man now” — so listen through to hear it all. Stories discussed this week: The Vergecast

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/21188140/apple-new-ipad-pro-macbook-air-ps5-specs-google-coronavirus-website-vergecast-podcast-397

Podcasts

The Verge