Technology

A recurring theme of this column has been that we have no meaningful antitrust enforcement in the United States. But last year, lawmakers and federal agencies began to stir, with the Federal Trade Commission requesting information from Facebook, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple. The potential action against Google, in particular, has been gathering momentum for some time. Fifty state attorneys general have opened an inquiry into the company, and in January they began collaborating with the Department of Justice. The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic raised the prospect that any antitrust action could see a further delay. But on Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that a lawsuit may be arriving shortly. Here are Brent Kendall and John D. McKinnon: Both the Justice Department and a gr...

Vivo has started teasing its next flagship phone, the X50. A video posted to Weibo shows off the camera module, which includes a periscope telephoto, two normal-looking lenses, and one much larger module that is presumably for the primary camera. The lens rotates as the module is manipulated by a robotic gimbal, suggesting the key feature here is image stabilization. One of the big inclusions in Vivo’s Apex 2020 concept phone, which we weren’t able to see in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was “gimbal-like” stabilization on a 48-megapixel camera. Vivo said the design was inspired by chameleons’ eyes and is 200 percent more effective than typical OIS, allowing for longer nighttime exposures and smoother video. It looks like the X50 will be the first commercial deployment of this idea; ...

The head of NASA’s human exploration program, Doug Loverro, has resigned less than six months after assuming the position within the agency, according to a NASA memo. The drastic change in leadership comes just a week before NASA will launch its first astronauts from the US in nearly a decade, on top of SpaceX’s new Crew Dragon spacecraft. This is the second time during the Trump administration that this role has been in turmoil. In July 2019, NASA demoted the original person in this position, William Gerstenmaier, who had been serving as the associate administrator for human exploration at NASA for nearly 15 years. Loverro took over the position in December after a long search by NASA, but now his tenure has been cut short. “Loverro hit the ground running this year and has made significan...

The SD Association, the group that sets the standards for memory cards, announced a new SD 8.0 specification for SD Express memory cards today that will allow the cards to transfer data at a rate of nearly four gigabytes per second, in large part thanks to utilizing PCIe 4.0 and NVMe interfaces commonly found in solid-state drives. That faster transfer rate could be useful as new technologies, like 8K video, create ever-larger files, which in turn require faster throughput if you want to transfer data in a timely manner. Specifically, the 8.0 specification allows for transfer speeds of up to 3,938 megabytes per second, according to an SD Association white paper. That’s a significant jump from the maximum transfer speeds of 985 megabytes per second you’d find in cards built to the SD 7.0 an...

Google is rolling out the ability to use Google Fi via eSIM for existing customers of the cellular service on iOS, assuming their iPhone supports it (via 9to5Google). You’ll need the latest version of the Google Fi iOS app and an iPhone XR, XS, XS Max, 11 series, or 2020 SE, as those phones offer Dual SIM functionality. Google added eSIM support for new Google Fi customers last month. Although the release notes for yesterday’s Google Fi iOS update say that “you can now activate Fi via eSIM on select iPhone devices,” some Google Fi users on Reddit have had to uninstall their Google Fi app and follow the instructions on the Google Fi website to add a cellular plan to their iPhone to get eSIM to work. Google hasn’t replied to a request for comment about when eSIM for current Google Fi custome...

Panasonic is restarting production at Tesla’s Buffalo, New York solar panel factory this week after some businesses in the Western New York region have been given the green light to reopen, The Verge has learned. The factory has been idle for roughly two months. “I decided to reopen the factory from Wednesday, 5/20,” Mark Shima, the president of Panasonic’s North American solar energy division, said in a Monday evening email to his 400 employees that was obtained by The Verge. The first two days will be spent doing equipment checks, he said, and “standard manufacturing” will start on Friday, May 22nd. Panasonic has “completed preparations under close collaboration with Tesla, such as preparation of masks, sanitizers and wipes, set new protocol for entrance, new rules in cafeteria and produ...

Apple is joining other streamers in becoming a foster home for movies that studios are looking to unload in the middle of this global pandemic. Tom Hanks’ Greyhound will land on Apple TV Plus (there’s no release date yet), but the film was originally reserved for a theatrical release by Sony Pictures. The movie is described by Variety as being “set in the early days of World War II as an international convoy of 37 Allied ships, led by Hanks’ Capt. Ernest Krause, crosses the treacherous North Atlantic while being hotly pursued by wolf packs of Nazi submarines.” It’ll mark the first time that Hanks is seeing one of his movies go directly to a streamer instead of a wide theatrical release, according to Deadline (Hanks both wrote and stars in Greyhound.) Sony was originally planning to release...

The Google mobile app is getting a dark mode, with Android and iOS users gaining the option to enable the feature by the end of the week. After the update, the app will automatically use whatever theme your operating system is already set to if you use Android or iOS 13. Google says the feature is starting to roll out today, but it won’t be globally available until later this week. You’ll also be able to manually toggle between light and dark mode by heading to the app’s settings, which is what users on older operating systems will have to do. Starting today & fully rolling out this week, dark mode is now available for the Google App on Android 10 and iOS 12/13. By default, the Google App will reflect your device’s system settings in Android 10 & iOS 13. If that’s set to a dark the...

Sony Alpha just tweeted out a teaser for a camera announcement coming on May 26th. All Sony will say is that it’s a “new compact camera” along with a hazy outline of some sort of camera, likely with an articulating screen. Luckily, we don’t need to guess what it is because Sony Alpha Rumors recently dropped the details. It’s almost surely the Sony ZV-1, and if Sony Alpha Rumors’ leaked specs are correct, it looks like an ideal compact vlogging camera. The publication called the camera “basically an RX100VII successor made for vloggers,” and if that turns out to be the case, I’m fairly excited for it. It will have an articulating screen so you can see yourself, what appears to be a hot shoe for attaching a mic or other accessories, and a big red button for recording videos instead of the it...

Animated Disney movies are known for their incredible music, but not until the heroic Twitter-threaded efforts of Justin McElroy (a reporter for CBC Vancouver, not to be confused with Justin “Hoops” McElroy of the McElroy Family media empire) has there been a unified classification of every song. What follows is a compressive breakdown of all 18 categories, complete with taxonomy, defining characteristics, and even a periodic table of animated Disney songs. nobody: me: in the history of disney animated movies there have been exactly 18 types of songs, and i’m going to tell you about each of them — Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020 As McElroy explains, while there are 18 possible types of songs, some elements are core to the entire canon. For example, the “This Is The Movie” so...

Joe Rogan, comedian and host of one of the most popular podcasts in the world, is taking his show to Spotify. The Joe Rogan Experience will soon become a Spotify exclusive, meaning episodes’ full audio and video will only be available through the platform starting later this year. Up until now, Rogan’s show has never been available on Spotify, let alone exclusive to any platform. The show will become available on Spotify globally starting on September 1st, and it’ll become an exclusive sometime after that point. Listeners won’t have to pay to access the episodes, but they will have to become Spotify users. Spotify said in a press release that Rogan retains creative control over his show. It didn’t disclose how much it spent on the deal. The company will also work with an ad agency to joint...

The Call of Duty League (CDL) announced today that you’ll soon be able to earn in-game rewards, or “drops,” for watching CDL broadcasts, and the Overwatch League appears to be teasing that drops are on the way as well. The announcement follows Activision Blizzard and YouTube’s multiyear deal announced in January that made the Google-owned video platform the exclusive streaming partner for Activision’s esports leagues. To earn the rewards, you’ll have to watch live matches on the CDL website or the Call of Duty Companion app while logged into your Activision account, according to a CDL blog post. The rewards will include team emblems, sprays, and animated calling cards, and they’ll be cross-platform. Image: Call of Duty League There aren’t any specific details just yet about what may be com...