Technology

It’s not often I receive a phone I immediately want to show off to everyone around me, but the Asus Zenfone 7 Pro is exactly that. The second I got the device set up, I ran into each of my flatmates’ rooms in turn and happily flipped and un-flipped its three rear cameras, swinging them around the top edge of the phone to turn them into selfie cameras. It’s far from a unique trick (you can find a similar flipping array on last year’s Zenfone 6, among other handsets), but it’s still hardly mainstream. That means the Zenfone 7 Pro is almost guaranteed to get a reaction, whether it’s from friends when you try to take a selfie together or from strangers when you go to make a video call in public. There’s a lot to like about the Zenfone 7 Pro, but you’ve got to get behind the idea of cameras tha...

Astro’s latest wireless gaming headset, the A20 Gen 2, is an upgraded version of the 2017 model. It will ship in October for $119, which is considerably down from the $149 that the previous-generation A20 was priced at. Despite the price cut, Astro says it has increased the wireless range from the 30 feet offered by the first-gen model to 50 feet, and it charges via a convenient USB-C port. The A20 Gen 2 headset will ship in two different color mixes: blue, white, and black for a PlayStation-like vibe or green, white, and black for an Xbox look. Each includes a USB Type-A wireless adapter that lets it easily connect to the console their color mix corresponds to as well as a PC. Each headset can work with the other console out of the box (e.g., the blue headset can work with the Xbox Series...

American Airlines and Delta Air Lines both said they would permanently eliminate fees associated with changing or canceling a flight. The news comes less than a day after United Airlines first announced a permanent end to its change fee policy. All three carriers have been waiving change fees since March 2020, when the novel coronavirus pandemic first disrupted global air travel. With demand dried up, the airlines are seeking to make flying look safe, stress-free, and, most of all, cheap. And that means eliminating many of the fees and surcharges associated with air travel. “We’ve said before that we need to approach flexibility differently than this industry has in the past, and today’s announcement builds on that promise to ensure we’re offering industry-leading flexibility, space and ca...

Videoconferencing platform Zoom had a huge second quarter, with $663.5 million in revenue compared to $145.8 million a year ago, the company announced on Monday. It now has around 370,000 customers with more than 10 employees, an increase of 458 percent year over year. “Our ability to keep people around the world connected, coupled with our strong execution, led to revenue growth of 355% year-over-year in Q2,” Zoom founder and CEO Eric S. Yuan said in a statement announcing the earnings. On a call with analysts— over Zoom, of course— Zoom CFO Kelly Steckelberg said subscriptions from new customers accounted for 81 percent of the second quarter revenue growth. The company did not see the customer churn it had expected, she added. Yuan noted that those new customers included ExxonMobil and A...

Google’s Chromecast is a fantastic way to fling streaming video from phone to TV — but these days, you can often get a Roku Streaming Stick or Amazon Fire Stick with a dedicated remote control for the same money. But what if Google launched an Android TV dongle with its own remote control for the same $50 you’d pay for a high-end Roku or Fire stick? That’s exactly what 9to5Google seems to have discovered, thanks to a new Home Depot leak. The home improvement story briefly listed a Google “Sabrina” for $49.99, and 9to5Google’s sources were able to provide pictures of that price tag in the Home Depot’s internal systems as well. Sabrina, of course, would be that Android TV dongle that leaked in June, only to seemingly appear again at the FCC just last week, ahead of a rumored “summer” launch ...

Facebook plans to block the sharing of local and international news stories on its platforms if legislation requiring tech platforms to pay publishers for content becomes law, the company said in a blog post Monday. “Australia is drafting a new regulation that misunderstands the dynamics of the internet and will do damage to the very news organisations the government is trying to protect,” Will Easton, managing director of Facebook Australia and New Zealand wrote in the blog post, arguing that the commission overseeing the process “ignored important facts,” including the relationship between social media and news media. “Assuming this draft code becomes law, we will reluctantly stop allowing publishers and people in Australia from sharing local and international news on Facebook and Instag...

OnePlus may have accidentally revealed a first look at the OnePlus 8T, thanks to an image found in the latest Android 11 developer preview for OnePlus 8-series devices by OxygenUpdater. The leaked image doesn’t offer much to go on, just a front-facing view of the device, which appears to be pretty similar to the existing OnePlus 8. It’s possible that this image — which is labeled OnePlus_8T.webp and is a distinct file from the images for the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro — is simply a placeholder for a different, final design for the OnePlus 8T. But given the timing of the leak (OnePlus usually releases its fall T-series refreshes in the October to November range) and the fact that it was found in OnePlus’ own firmware update, it seems likely that this will be what the OnePlus 8T will look l...

The Google Photos app for iOS is getting an updated video editor that adds several useful new features, including the ability to trim video clips, add filters, crop, and make adjustments like exposure, contrast, and saturation. The new video editor options work similarly to the existing image editing tools. Simply tap the “edit” button when previewing a video, and you’ll be taken to the new editor, which adds several new tabs, in addition to the existing “export frame” option. There’s a variety of filters, including an “Auto” filter that intelligently adjusts your video. There are manual adjustment controls, divided into a Light menu (for exposure, contrast, whites, highlights, shadows, blacks, and vignette sliders) and Color (to adjust saturation, warmth, tint, skin tone, and deep blue). ...

If you still play Pokémon Go on a smartphone or tablet running Android 5.0 “Lollipop” or iOS 10 or 11, you’ll no longer be able to access the game when Niantic pushes an update in October. The Pokémon Go Twitter account confirmed that two popular older phones also won’t make the cut: the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 are being left behind, despite the fact both phones can be upgraded to run iOS 12. All things considered, the performance on those devices probably wasn’t great. Pokémon Go might not be as demanding as some other titles, but it relies heavily on your phone’s cameras, GPS tracking, and general chops to keep up with its 3D visuals, and can be quite a drain on an aging phone battery. All that being said, it’s going to be a loss for a non-trivial amount of people around the globe who don...

Apple accidentally approved common malware disguised as an update for Adobe Flash Player to run on macOS, according to a new report. According to security researcher Patrick Wardle, Apple approved an app that contained code used by a well-known malware called Shlayer. Shlayer is a trojan downloader that spreads through fake applications, bombarding users with an influx of adware. Shlayer is the “most common threat” to Macs, cybersecurity and anti-virus firm Kaspersky said in 2019. Apple announced the macOS notarizing process in 2019 Wardle says this is the first time he knows of that Apple mistakenly notarized malware following the debut of its new notarization process. Apple announced the macOS notarizing process in 2019, requiring every app to be reviewed by Apple and signed by a develop...

This story is part of a group of stories called Only the best deals on Verge-approved gadgets get the Verge Deals stamp of approval, so if you’re looking for a deal on your next gadget or gift from major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and more, this is the place to be. Amazon’s Echo Buds wireless earbuds are $40 off at Amazon, which brings them down to their lowest-yet price of $90. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this deal, but it doesn’t happen regularly. (It happened once before in January 2020.) If you’re in the market for wireless earbuds, these are a particularly good value if you’re seeking a solid set of noise-canceling buds. They utilize Bose noise-reduction technology to help block out sound, and they’re also worth the price, thanks to their excellen...

Federal Bureau of Investigation documents warned that owners of Amazon’s Ring and similar video doorbells can use the systems — which collect video footage sometimes used to investigate crimes — in order to watch police instead. The Intercept spotted the files in the BlueLeaks data trove aggregated from law enforcement agencies. One 2019 analysis describes numerous ways police and the FBI could use Ring surveillance footage, but it also cites “new challenges” involving sensor- and camera-equipped smart home devices. Specifically, they can offer an early warning when officers are approaching a house to search it; give away officer locations in a standoff; or let the owner capture pictures of law enforcement, “presenting a risk to their present and future safety.” These are partly hypothetic...