Technology

The Coca-Cola Company is pausing all digital advertising on social media platforms globally for at least 30 days starting July 1st, the soda giant announced on Friday evening. The move is part of a broader boycott of Facebook and Instagram organized by the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, and other organizations called the “Stop Hate For Profit” campaign. Coca-Cola is going one step further than some of those companies and banning all ads globally on social media platforms, not just Facebook and Instagram. That would suggest the boycott will hit Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms as well. “We will let them know we expect greater accountability, action and transparency from them.” “Starting on July 1, The Coca-Cola Company will pause paid advertising on all social media platforms globa...

An inside joke about a TikTok meme among a group of friends on Twitter grew into a minor social media mystery before morphing into a fundraiser for anti-racism causes. Yes, that might be the most 2020 sentence I’ve written to date. On Thursday, the eye-mouth-eye emoji meme started appearing in people’s Twitter handles and almost immediately, the buzz started about what it all meant, Gizmodo reported. On TikTok, the meme is usually used to express cringe or embarrassment. Soon an itiseyemoutheye Twitter handle appeared, then its website was featured on Product Hunt (even though there’s no actual product), prompting discussion on Reddit, and receiving some media coverage before the group revealed themselves in a post late Friday. “A group of us changed our Twitter names to include “[the emoj...

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. 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. GameStop is hosting several deals on video games and gaming accessories like controllers and headsets that last until the end of the day. The discounts apply both in stores around the US that have reopened, as well as online. While the Steam summer sale is a great opportunity to save on PC games, GameStop’s one-day sale is for console gamers, whether you play PS4, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch. And if yo...

I’ve been making my way through Studio Ghibli films now that they’re up on HBO Max, and last week I got around to watching Kiki’s Delivery Service for the first time. It’s a remarkably charming film, and it shows Ghibli coming a long way in figuring out what, uh, plot is after the extremely bare bones My Neighbor Totoro came out just a year earlier. Kiki’s Delivery Service adds just enough stakes to Ghibli’s beautiful worlds to make you care about what’s happening, but not so much to actually get you stressed out. The film is serene to watch — almost every character is remarkably nice and generous, the landscapes are gorgeous, and the talking cat doesn’t hurt either. Check out 11 trailers from this week below. [embedded content] Foundation Here’s our first look at Apple TV Plus’ adaptation...

As the coronavirus spread across the US this spring, authorities warned people not to purchase N95 respirator masks, lest they contribute to a shortage of the masks for medical personnel. The N95 respirators are considered the most effective masks to filter out droplets in the air that may transmit the virus. Sites like Amazon suspended sales of N95 masks to the general public and cracked down on sellers who tried to sell counterfeit versions. But a ProPublica investigation uncovered an operation in Texas that was repackaging masks marked as “prohibited” for medical use into unlabeled bags. A man who answered an ad for a TaskRabbit gig told ProPublica what he witnessed: …five or six other “Taskers” earning about $20 an hour were ripping Chinese masks out of plastic bags and stuffing ...

Google Meet is working on several new features that will match its competitors, including allowing users to add images or a blur effect to backgrounds on video calls, 9to5 Google reported. As they can on rival videoconferencing platforms Zoom and Microsoft Teams, users will be able to either choose their own image or pick from several default options. Google confirmed to The Verge that in addition to background blur and background replacement images, real-time captioning, low-light mode, hand-raising, and a tile view of up to 49 meeting participants will be rolled out to the consumer version of Meet. The company didn’t provide details about when the changes would be available, but 9to5 Google reported Meet was already previewing some of the upcoming features for its education and enterpris...

Some of League of Legends’ most popular characters are getting a medical-themed makeover. Today, developer Riot revealed a new initiative featuring a line of cosmetics for the strategy game, sales of which will be donated to pandemic-related charity efforts. The lineup includes skins for three characters — Akali, Shen, and Kennen — along with various icons, emotes, and other cosmetic upgrades. Each item will be sold individually, but there’s also a bundle available that comes with an exclusive icon. Riot says that the items will be available through July 23rd and that 100 percent of the proceeds from sales will go directly to the developer’s charitable arm, the Riot Games Social Impact Fund. “Your donations will directly support pandemic relief by giving doctors, nurses, and other frontlin...

Apple is reclosing 14 more of its retail locations in Florida due to a resurgence of COVID-19 cases. Of the 18 Apple Store locations in Florida, only two currently remain open, one in Jacksonville and another in Sarasota, according to Bloomberg. The tally of closed US Apple stores is currently at 32, which represents 10 percent of the company’s total number of 272 stores in the country. Apple last month began reopening a majority of its US retail locations. Yet last week saw Apple’s first wave of store reclosures in Florida, as well as Arizona, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Despite Apple’s staggered approach to reopening its stores that started in late May, the number of COVID-19 cases across the US — particularly in states that have more quickly reopened — has started to spike. Seve...

Seattle’s NHL team doesn’t have a name yet, but its arena does, after Amazon secured the naming rights to the former Key Arena. But if you guessed the new name would be Amazon Arena, surprise! It will officially be known as the Climate Pledge Arena, a nod to the $2 billion initiative CEO Jeff Bezos announced last year, which sets goals for Amazon to become net carbon neutral by 2040. Of course, that initiative only came after thousands of Amazon employees signed an open letter to Bezos and Amazon’s board of directors asking the company to adopt a wide-ranging plan to fight climate change. It’s worth noting that earlier this year, Amazon warned several employees who were part of that push that they had violated its communications policy. Looks like that one guy is offsides…Image: Amaz...

“Where is Google’s Pixel 4A?” That’s the question we asked two weeks ago, bringing you up to speed on how Google had seemingly missed the typical window to release its thoroughly-leaked followup to the company’s impressive but short-battery-lived Pixel 4 flagship. But a new FCC filing today, spotted by XDA-Developers, suggests the more affordable Pixel 4A is nigh. Technically, it’s not a given that the Google phone newly authorized by the Federal Communications Commission actually is the Pixel 4A, nor that Google is actually going to announce it anytime soon, if ever. All we know for sure is that the Google “G025J” can now be sold in the United States, and that we typically see the FCC authorize such phones shortly before they’re official. Google doesn’t make a lot of phones, and it seems ...

You’d think that months of reading about overflowing hospitals and mounting death statistics would scare almost anyone into following the current Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations: wear a mask in public spaces to protect others from possible infection, especially since there is no current way to be sure who may be an asymptomatic transmitter — particularly in relatively crowded urban areas. However, these days, when I go out for a walk or to run errands, at least half the people I see are not wearing masks — or are wearing their masks around their necks, as though those pieces of cloth or paper are good-luck totems rather than items with a specific purpose. Admittedly, face masks are not convenient or particularly pleasant to wear. They can be hot on summer days; they can b...

Verizon is the latest, and far and away largest, company to join an ongoing advertising boycott of Facebook and Instagram, the cell carrier announced Thursday. The boycott, organized by the Anti-Defamation League, is in response to the social media giant’s handling of incendiary posts from President Donald Trump, as well as ongoing issues with misinformation that have intensified in recent weeks due to protests against police brutality and racism and other news events that have exposed the flaws of Facebook’s moderation approach. Verizon joins ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s and numerous sports and outdoor lifestyle companies, including The North Face and Patagonia, and film distributor Magnolia Pictures in the boycott. A number of digital ad agencies have also begun advising clients on ...