Technology

Microsoft is planning to release some significant changes to its built-in touch keyboard for Windows 10. The updated touch keyboard design builds on the company’s work with Windows 10X, bringing new key press animations, sounds, and all the all-important ability to search for and insert animated GIFs. Microsoft called this the WonderBar for Windows 10X, and the new design in Windows 10 also includes better layouts that are optimized for typing, and the ability to move the cursor in through the space bar on the touch keyboard. This is very similar to how iOS lets you operate the cursor, by placing a finger on the space bar and sliding left, right, up, and down to navigate around. The new cursor support with the spacebar. Windows 10’s new GIF picker for the touch keyboard. Microsoft is also ...

In August 2019, after the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his jail cell, conspiracy theories about what had happened ran rampant on social networks. The theories did not necessarily originate there, but the networks did their part to amplify them, and the confusion that followed was dubbed “the disinformation World Cup.” At the center of the maelstrom was Twitter, where various baseless theories about Epstein’s death dominated the discussion. One reason why is that enough people tweet the same hashtag on Twitter, it almost always shows up on the app’s tab of “trending topics,” no matter how deranged. During the Epstein mania, for example, #ClintonBodyCount trended, and President Trump — who is known to trawl Twitter trends for material — retweeted an account that soug...

TikTok’s high-profile search for a US buyer is hitting a roadblock after weeks of public negotiations and months of national security debates. A string of reports from Reuters, Bloomberg, and The Wall Street Journal describes a growing stalemate over the algorithm behind TikTok’s For You page, arguably the most important piece of software the company has. That algorithm has become a sticking point between the US and China, and what happens to that algorithm now seems like the central issue for any possible deal. First publicly confirmed on August 2nd, the proposed TikTok acquisition comes in response to months of escalating concerns about Chinese ownership of an app used by millions of Americans. Microsoft, Oracle, and Triller have all put in bids to purchase TikTok’s operations in the US,...

Samsung has a new fitness tracker on the way called the Galaxy Fit 2. It’s an updated version of the original Galaxy Fit band that offers a larger display and more battery life — much more battery life, in fact. Samsung is promising that the new model can last for at least 15 days on a single charge and up to three weeks depending on your settings. That’s a big jump over the original model, which Samsung promised would get barely a week of usage off a single charge. That battery life is also a dramatic increase over competing trackers, like the upcoming Fitbit Inspire 2, which only lasts for up to 10 days on a charge. Most trackers generally offer a week or so of battery life, making Samsung’s a big improvement — assuming it holds up. In case the two to three weeks of battery life wasn’t a...

Twitch’s Watch Parties function is rolling out to everyone today, giving streamers and their subscribers around the world the ability to watch Amazon’s library of movies and TV shows together. It’s not just for families; as long as everyone has an Amazon Prime account, a streamer can now host a “public” movie viewing with all of their fans. Watch parties have taken off in general over the last few months as people stuck at home figure out ways to make watching TV shows and movies more social and interactive. Unlike apps like Scener, which allows people to stream Netflix, Disney Plus, and HBO titles with friends in the United States, Twitch’s Watch Parties is specifically built for Amazon Prime Video. Ah, the smell of corporate synergy in the morning. Watch Parties is currently not availabl...

Later this fall, Alienware, MSI, Asus, and Acer will each release a 25-inch 1080p monitor made for competitive gaming with an incredibly fast 360Hz refresh rate. Additionally, they’ll be the first monitors to include Nvidia’s Reflex Latency Analyzer feature that aims to help gamers accurately measure and reduce latency from their mouse, display, and PC. Nvidia discussed this feature at its launch event yesterday for its new RTX 3070, 3080, and 3090 graphics cards. The end goal is that, by reducing latency, the odds of getting a shot off first in competitive play should greatly increase in your favor. And along with fast refresh rate and minimal latency, the monitor’s G-Sync feature will ensure that it doesn’t show any screen tearing or blur while playing your games at a fast clip. Each bra...

You’ll be able to get your hands on the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 very soon. Samsung recently shared a lot more about its new foldable phone, which you can read right here. Preorders are now available, whether you’re looking for an unlocked model or hoping to upgrade with your carrier. And the phone will be available in less than two weeks’ time on Friday, September 18th. Like the original Galaxy Fold, its successor is by no means affordable. It costs $1,999.99 unlocked, though you can break it down to comparatively smaller monthly payments if you buy it on a payment plan or pay each month through your carrier. Samsung is making the decisions somewhat easy with the Z Fold 2. There’s only one configuration available with 256GB of storage built in. And if you want 5G service, the Z Fold 2 ...

T-Mobile on Wednesday announced a much wider rollout of its 2.5GHz midband 5G coverage, adding 81 new cities and towns to a total list of 90 markets throughout the US. Midband 5G is much faster and more appropriately fitting of the 5G moniker than the type of low-band 5G we’ve seen from AT&T and T-Mobile and more reliable than high-band mmWave 5G, which is used primarily by Verizon, although AT&T and T-Mobile also have limited support. (mmWave 5G is ultra-fast but has poor range.) T-Mobile also has low-band and mmWave coverage, but the company is touting its three-layer approach of low-, mid-, and high-band 5G as its edge over the competition. “This is our 5G strategy in action. Mid-band is the 5G spectrum, and T-Mobile has more of it than anyone. We have nearly twice as much low a...

Earlier this week, a coalition of veteran and progressive groups demanded that the Joe Biden campaign commit that no Facebook executives or registered lobbyists would be appointed to the Biden transition team or future administration if elected. Groups like Defend American Democracy, the Open Markets Institute, and Demand Progress penned their letter, addressed to transition team leaders former Sen. Ted Kaufman and Yohannes Abraham, citing Facebook’s involvement in spreading “dangerous COVID-19 health conspiracies and supercharging election misinformation” as reasons not to hire any high-level company executives into key transition or administrative roles. In the letter, the groups requested that the campaign steer clear of onboarding any current senior executive, vice president, product m...

Samsung has announced its latest high-end home entertainment device: The Premiere, a new 4K short-throw laser projector that’s meant to be a viable alternative to the QLED TVs that Samsung usually focuses on. The Premiere is the latest entrant to Samsung’s “Lifestyle” lineup, which includes other design-forward hardware like The Serif, The Frame, The Sero, and The Terrace. They’re products that are meant to blend into your living room, something that The Premiere takes to the logical conclusion by eschewing a screen entirely. Billed as an “ultra-short throw” projector, Samsung says the projector can be placed directly in front of a wall or screen while still providing optimal results. It’s also meant to be an all-in-one solution, with integrated powerful woofers and the same Acoustic Beam ...

Twitter will add pinned tweets and short descriptions to some of the trending topics on its service to help people understand why they’ve become popular. In a blog post announcing the news, the company said it would immediately start adding representative pinned tweets to some topics in the iOS and Android apps, and that these would be coming to Twitter on the web soon. Descriptions will roll out in the coming weeks, Twitter said. According to Twitter, the new feature is designed in part to help the 500,000+ people who tweeted “why is this trending?” over the course of 2019. Although the trending topics section is designed to give users an overview of what people (and bots) are discussing on the service, in reality it’s often filled with tweets from people confused about why a topic is tre...

Samsung has announced a host of new devices at its Life Unstoppable virtual event today, including the Galaxy A42 5G, which the company said during its presentation would be its most affordable 5G device yet. Alongside it, Samsung also announced a new wireless charger that can charge multiple devices at once, as well as a new Android tablet, the Galaxy Tab A7. The Galaxy A42 5G is the latest in Samsung’s midrange A-series lineup. Samsung says it has a quad camera array on the back, a 6.6-inch OLED display, and will be available in black. It will launch later this year, according to CNET. Samsung is billing the Galaxy A42 as an affordable 5G device.Image: Samsung Meanwhile the Wireless Charger Trio is a charger that can wirelessly supply power to three devices simultaneously. It’s a success...