Technology

Apple released iOS 13.5 today with two new features that are a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic: changes to Face ID to make it easier to unlock your phone if you’re wearing a face mask and support for the first phase of Apple and Google’s jointly-developed exposure notification system. On previous versions of iOS, if you were wearing a face mask and tried to use Face ID to access your phone, you’d have to wait for a couple seconds while your iPhone attempted to identify your face before it would let you enter a passcode. In iOS 13.5, though, if you swipe up once from the bottom of the screen while you’re wearing a mask, you’ll see the option to enter your passcode right away. iOS 13.5 also supports Apple and Google’s exposure notification API, meaning you’ll be able to use apps devel...

AT&T’s actual 5G network is rolling out to major parts of the US this year, but the company’s fake 5G network — which it calls “5G Evolution” and shortens to “5G E” when it appears in the corner of smartphones — has remained the subject of controversy for the last two years. Now, the carrier says it may stop the charade after the National Advertising Review Board (NARB) recommended it cease using the misleading term as well as the phrase ”5G Evolution, The First Step to 5G,” in marketing material (via MacRumors). As a reminder, 5G E is simply a faster version of the 4G LTE standard, but it comes nowhere close to the speeds promised by the actual 5G spec finalized by the international cellular standards group 3GPP in 2018. AT&T uses its custom logo anyway, putting it in the corner o...

If you tuned into Microsoft’s Build developer keynote yesterday, one of the things you may have seen was a mysterious “RGV2cw” 3D-printed object on the shelf behind CEO Satya Nadella. It was part of many Easter eggs hidden throughout Microsoft’s Build stream, spelling out “devs” in Base64 format. The shelf also had little Easter eggs hidden away, including an 8-inch floppy disc, an original Microsoft cap, the GitHub Octocat mascot, and even a Gold Master CD-ROM that Microsoft used to use for shipping final software to PC makers. As Build moved on from Nadella’s opening remarks to Scott Hanselman, a partner program manager at Microsoft, the Easter eggs ramped up. With most of Microsoft’s employees working from home and streaming from their living rooms, Hanselman created an hour-long TV sho...

Microsoft is late. The company’s first truly wireless earbuds, the Surface Earbuds, were latecomers when they were first announced back in October, and they are even later now that they are finally available. In 2020 alone, Google has released its second-gen Pixel Buds, Samsung made strides with the Galaxy Buds Plus, and Sennheiser debuted another set of hi-fi truly wireless earbuds. And as always, you’ve got Apple, Sony, and Jabra in the mix. This wide field of competition has already led Microsoft to launch them at a lower price ($199.99) than initially planned. So how does Microsoft differentiate? The company says its Surface Earbuds were built with an eye toward unrivaled comfort, a standout design, rich sound quality, and integration with the Office 365 suite. They deliver on several ...

When you buy a new Windows 10 computer, out of the box, it will default to having you enter your Outlook or Microsoft account password every time you sign in. This can be a hassle, especially if you have a long, secure, and complicated password. Thankfully, Windows has several other ways you can sign in to your laptop that are a little simpler. We’ll walk you through how to adjust your settings and opt into signing in using a PIN, your fingerprint, or picture password. (Facial recognition is also available, but only on specific Windows 10 systems.) We’ll also show you how to remove your password altogether (although, to keep your device secure, we recommend that you go with one of the options above rather than eliminating any kind of sign-in). Windows 10 also gives you the option to use a ...

Consumer robotics firm Sphero, best known for making remote-controlled BB-8 and R2-D2 toys for Disney, announced today that it’s spun off a new company catering to the robotic needs of first responders, law enforcement, and military clients. Exactly what the new outfit, named Company Six (CO6), is building isn’t clear, but Sphero says it will be adapting technology developed within its former Public Safety Division. According to a press release, Company Six will be “applying the experience used to bring more than 4 million robots to market at Sphero” to create products that offer a “lightweight, yet highly advanced robotic solution that provides critical awareness for those we depend on the most, including police, fire, EMT, military, and others with dangerous jobs.” Sphero’s most recent p...

Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pro keeps getting a little more affordable. B&H Photo is offering $300 off the cost for the base model, which brings it down to $2,100. Earlier this week, Best Buy was taking $200 off, so it worked out in your favor if you waited. In case you aren’t up to speed on what’s new in this model, Apple debuted its new Magic Keyboard with this, ditching the much-maligned butterfly switches for something far better. Aside from having a slightly larger screen than the previous 15-inch model, it also has improved thermals and better speakers. It’s tough to say how long this deal at B&H Photo will last or how long this will be the lowest price available. Given that Apple refreshed the 2020 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro (13-inch) models with the improved keyboard, among ot...

Lil Nas X’s “Panini,” NASA’s social media presence, Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty line, and John Krasinski’s Some Good News YouTube show are among the winners of this year’s Webby Awards. The annual awards show celebrates the wide variety of things that happen online, from websites and podcasts to design and data visualizations to video series and social media accounts, and they tend to touch on a big swath of what happened in the preceding year. This year’s winners, announced on Tuesday, were largely dominated by media and entertainment companies. National Geographic took away this year’s most awards, 15 total, with wins for its science podcasts, travel videos, and photos on social media, among other things. Google came in a close second, with 14 wins, for categories including best navigation an...

Microsoft surprised Windows users with a new package manager yesterday. It’s a command line tool that allows developers, power users, and really any Windows user to install their favorite apps from a simple command. If you’ve ever had to wipe a Windows machine clean or set up a new device, you’ll know the pain of having to reinstall apps, find download links, and get a PC ready again. Windows Package Manager aims to solve that, and it’s relatively simple to create a script to have your favorite apps installed from a command prompt. The Windows Store should be the central location for all Windows apps, but Microsoft’s initial Universal Windows Platform (UWP) push meant traditional and useful win32 desktop apps were never listed in the store. That’s changed in the years since Windows 10’s de...

Over the past few weeks, the occasional breathless news reports have warned that the novel coronavirus is mutating or that there are multiple strains of the virus circling around the globe. That sounds concerning. If the virus is changing, that could imply that it’s getting worse — but that’s not the case. Although it’s true that the virus is mutating, that doesn’t mean it’s getting more dangerous. When the virus first emerged in Wuhan, China, its genome had a certain sequence of around 30,000 nucleotides, the building blocks of genetic material. A handful of those nucleotides changed as the virus spread from person to person because the mechanism the virus uses to make copies of itself sometimes makes mistakes. But those changes haven’t made the virus behave any differently, scientists sa...

The League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) is expanding to Friday nights and eliminating the Monday Night League (MNL) broadcast in the process. Earlier this year, developer Riot experimented with changing viewership behavior around its North American esports league by introducing games on Monday nights. But things didn’t quite go as planned. Riot says that viewership was down in the new time slot, but adds that it “learned a lot from the experience.” Because of this, when the LCS kicks off its spring season in June, it will look a little different. “We’re disappointed that Monday Night League didn’t work out as we hoped, but we’re excited for the shift to Friday, and being able to incorporate a lot of the lessons from Monday Night League into our broadcast this summer,” LCS commissio...

Micromobility rental company Tier is introducing new electric scooters which come with a helmet to protect their riders, the company announced today. 200 of the helmet-equipped scooters will be deployed to Paris and Berlin this month, followed by 5,000 more over the course of the summer. Tier says it’s the first e-scooter company to introduce integrated helmets like this. The helmets are foldable, and are stowed inside a lockable compartment attached below the scooter’s handlebars when not in use. The compartment is unlocked using the Tier app. Tier says the helmets comply with European safety standards, and that the company will check the helmets after every five rides. This check will include disinfecting the helmets as part of the company’s COVID-19 safety precautions. Getting scooter r...