Technology

Microsoft founder Bill Gates said Saturday that drugs and a future vaccine to treat COVID-19 should go where they are most needed, not just to “the highest bidder,” Reuters reported. “If we just let drugs and vaccines go to the highest bidder, instead of to the people and the places where they are most needed, we’ll have a longer, more unjust, deadlier pandemic,” Gates said (remotely) during a COVID-19 conference. “We need leaders to make these hard decisions about distributing based on equity, not just on market-driven factors.” The World Health Organization said July 6th there were 21 candidate vaccines in clinical trials being tested on human volunteers. Public health experts have cautioned against “vaccine nationalism” —where countries vie against each other to get a potential vaccine ...

This weekend, you can still get the biggest discount we’ve seen yet on Apple’s AirPods Pro truly wireless earbuds. The sale is happening at Verizon, and you can save $30 on a set of Apple AirPods Pro online only. Most discounts for this model are in the $15 to $20 range, but this deal at Verizon brings them down to their best-ever price of $220. The AirPods Pro are the best truly wireless earbuds for people who own an iPhone, according to The Verge’s Chris Welch. They sound great and pack in active noise cancellation, and specifically for those who own an iPhone, Apple Watch, or other Apple tech, they can quickly switch between playing audio on different devices. Another notable deal comes from Best Buy where the GoPro Fusion 360-degree action camera is $230 for Saturday only, down from it...

Update July 11th, 9:30AM ET: SpaceX postponed the launch again on Saturday morning, “to allow more time for checkouts.” The company says it will announce a new launch day once it’s confirmed. Original Story: A little over a week after launching a GPS satellite for the Space Force, SpaceX is back with another launch of its internet-beaming Starlink satellites. The company’s Falcon 9 rocket is slated to take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, launching 57 Starlink spacecraft as well as two hitchhiking Earth observation satellites from operator BlackSky. The flight is the latest in SpaceX’s ongoing quest to flesh out its proposed massive Starlink constellation, aimed at providing broadband internet connectivity from space. The company has permission to launch nearly 12,000 Starlink satellites ...

Wells Fargo has instructed employees who installed TikTok on company devices to remove the app over privacy concerns, as first reported by The Information. “We have identified a small number of Wells Fargo employees with corporate-owned devices who had installed the TikTok application on their device,” a Wells Fargo spokesperson said in an email to The Verge. “Due to concerns about TikTok’s privacy and security controls and practices, and because corporate-owned devices should be used for company business only, we have directed those employees to remove the app from their devices.” It’s the latest company to raise security concerns about employees using the popular video-sharing app, which hit 2 billion downloads in April. On Friday, Amazon said it sent an email “in error” to employees ask...

If you, like me, find yourself writing the same email over and over again, or copying and pasting the same message multiple times, Gmail gives you an easier option. By creating and saving email templates, you can insert them the next time you compose a message and save yourself some time. You can store up to 50 templates at a time, so it’s easy to create different templates for different situations. Here’s how. Create an email template: Click on the cog icon in the top right corner of your screen. Select “See all settings.” Open the “Advanced” tab. Scroll down to “Templates” and select “Enable.” Make sure you’ve selected “Enable” under “Templates.” Click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the menu. This will take you back to your inbox. Click the “Compose” button. Now, start drafting your tem...

Facebook is reportedly considering a ban on political ads before the US elections this year. Bloomberg reported the news this afternoon, saying that the idea is being discussed internally but is not yet a firm policy. Sources also confirmed the discussion to The New York Times. The step would drastically escalate Facebook’s current plans for preventing misinformation or meddling in the 2020 elections. There’s not much detail about the policy, but based on Bloomberg’s report, the blackout would be brief — a matter of days before election day in November. Facebook has previously allowed users to “turn off” political ads and added disclosure requirements, and it’s attempting to provide reliable information with a voting hub. But it’s stopped short of banning the ads themselves, in contrast wi...

Instagram on Thursday announced a new ban on all forms of content, including posts and videos, promoting the widely discredited practice known as conversion therapy, which attempts to forcefully change an individual’s sexual orientation. The news was first reported earlier today by CNN. A spokesperson for parent company Facebook tells The Verge this recent change in policy is an expansion of an earlier rule specifically banning ads promoting the practice put in place earlier this year, and that the policy now includes a ban on any content that directly promotes the practice, too. The spokesperson confirmed the ban applies both to Instagram and the company’s main social network, which share hate speech policies. Facebook and Instagram are banning conversion therapy content under hate ...

We knew a 5G variant of Samsung’s vertically folding Galaxy Z Flip clamshell was on the way, after the first images leaked earlier this month. Now, we have an entire leaked video and a set of rumors about the new “Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G” that seems to leave nothing to the imagination — and suggest it might be ready for Samsung’s upcoming August 5th Galaxy Unpacked event. Basically, it looks like it’ll be practically the same folding phone but with a faster processor and 5G. Based on phone leaker Evan Blass’ video — which shows the phone from practically every angle — it looks practically identical to the original LTE version that went on sale on February 14th. The only differences other than 5G support and a new “mystic bronze” color, according to XDA-Developers’ Max Weinbach, is that it...

Makeup retailer Morphe has parted with YouTuber Jeffree Star, after weeks of public acrimony in the YouTube beauty community. Star has been accused of using racist and offensive language, as well as manipulating other creators and people close to him. “Today we’ve made the decision to cease all commercial activity related to Jeffree Star and affiliated products,” a tweet from Morphe’s account reads. As of right now, Star’s products remain on the site, but a tweet from the Morphe account says that will change in “the coming weeks,” without giving a specific date. Star’s relationship with Morphe was once a major source of income for the creator, who’s launched several lines with the company and become a face for its brand. “We’ve made the decision to cease all commercial activity related to ...

Though it might strike some people as obvious advice, Apple has published a support page that warns MacBook owners not to close their laptop with a camera cover in place. Damage like a cracked display could result, according to the company, because “the clearance between the display and keyboard is designed to very tight tolerances.” MacRumors spotted the advisory, which Apple posted on July 2nd. Those little plastic camera covers with a sliding mechanism are super common nowadays. Heck, I remember getting one as a holiday gift from The Verge’s parent company, Vox Media. But they could spell disaster for your laptop screen if you shut the laptop with the cover still on, and Apple’s laptop repairs are extremely costly. Even with AppleCare+ accidental coverage, the deductible isn’t cheap. In...

Amazon has delayed its upcoming open-world MMO New World, one of two tentpole games from its burgeoning games studio, from August 25th to an undefined spring 2021 date. The announcement comes less than two weeks after Amazon brought its other tentpole game, the free-to-play shooter Crucible, back into closed beta following barely a month of wide availability. It sounds like Amazon may be taking a more cautious approach to game development after early feedback from testers that the games weren’t quite what they hoped. The New World team wants to add “more features and content before we share it with a wider audience,” including “plenty of middle and endgame experiences,” studio director Rich Lawrence said in a blog post that was also shared on Twitter. “We want our players to feel completel...

Tesla has finally settled on a date for its delayed annual shareholder meeting and “battery day” for investors: September 22nd. The meeting will be held in person at the company’s vehicle factory in Fremont, California, though it will presumably also be live-streamed. Only people who are shareholders of the company’s stock can attend. The annual shareholder meeting was originally scheduled for July 7th at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. The company planned to have shareholders attend in person and watch online, and said at the time that it would “monitor public health and travel safety protocols required or recommended by federal, state and local governments.” But large gatherings have remained banned in California because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so CEO Elon Mus...