Technology

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced that in order to remain in the country for the fall 2020 semester, international students must take in-person classes at their schools. Students who remain in the US but take entirely online courses may face “immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings.” “There will still be accommodations to provide flexibility to schools and nonimmigrant students, but as many institutions across the country reopen, there is a concordant need to resume the carefully balanced protections implemented by federal regulations,” states ICE’s announcement. New students matriculating at schools offering fully online programs will not receive visas, per ICE. Students who are already enrolled at such schools w...

Slack is now letting you choose when you get notifications on a per-day basis, meaning you can finally stop getting Slack pings over the weekend. Previously, Slack let you set when you were “available” to receive notifications, but those preferences would also roll over to the weekends. That meant you could get Slack distracting and unnecessary notifications on your computer or phone while you were enjoying an otherwise lazy Sunday. You can set per-day notification preferences Now, though, you’ll be able to set when you are comfortable getting notifications but turn on a blanket no-notification policy for weekends (or whichever days/times work best for your schedule) if you want. When you have notifications turned off, you’ll be in Slack’s Do Not Disturb (DND) mode, meaning other users in ...

Chinese EV startups Byton, Nio, and Karma Automotive were among the companies that received the largest loans from the government’s COVID-19-related Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in April, with each receiving loans of between $5 million and $10 million, according to new data released by the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration (SBA). Byton received its loan shortly after it furloughed hundreds of employees in April, according to the US government. The company — which is backed by Chinese state-owned automaker First Auto Works — said in its application to the Treasury Department and the Small Business Association (SBA) that the loan would help it retain 387 jobs. But just last week, the startup announced it is halting operations for at least six months and laid off ...

Emmy Insider The Emmy race has begun! Vulture is taking a close look at the contenders until nomination-round voting closes on July 13. Illustration: Vulture and Photos Courtesy of Quibi Last year, Scott Gairdner, a comedy writer and director who had worked on Conan and created the animated series Moonbeam City, went to the Hollywood offices of the new streaming platform Quibi for a pitch meeting. He is also the co-creator of a viral Adult Swim video called Live at the Necropolis: Lords of Synth, which Quibi was considering adapting. Gairdner was provisionally excited. In a business where new players pop up only to evaporate, he was used to deals never quite materializing. But a new, deep-pocketed buyer was cause for optimism. Quibi, the brainchild of Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former Disney ...

Audio company Sennheiser received between $2 million and $5 million as part of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), according to newly released US Department of Treasury data. It’s one of many privately held tech companies to receive support through the program, which offers small businesses forgivable loans that can be spent on payroll, rent, or utility costs. Treasury data indicates that the loan is intended to help Sennheiser retain 128 jobs during the coronavirus pandemic. (The German company employed a total of 2,800 employees in 2019, approximately 10 percent of whom were based in the Americas.) While we don’t know the precise dollar number, it’s one of the PPP’s larger payments — single loans top out at $10 million, and the average loan size is listed as approximately $100,000. It...

Bird, the beleaguered e-scooter company, received a loan worth between $5 million and $10 million from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in late April. The company said in its application to the Treasury Department and the Small Business Association that the loan would help it retain 341 jobs. But less than a month later, Bird laid off over 400 employees, or about 30 percent of its staff. But Bird contends that it should not be included in the government’s list. “Bird was erroneously listed as a company that filed for a PPP Loan,” a company spokesperson said. “We did not apply for nor did we receive a PPP Loan. We decided as a company not to file an application as we did not want to divert critical funding from small and local businesses.” Bird CEO Travis VanderZan...

Microsoft will hold its Xbox Series X games event on July 23rd at 9AM PT / 12PM ET. The company is planning on showing games made by its Xbox Game Studios, including Halo Infinite. 343 industries briefly teased Halo Infinite in a trailer a couple of weeks ago, revealing that The Banished antagonists are returning for the next big installment in the Halo franchise. There will be more than just Halo, though. Microsoft has been steadily acquiring game studios, and the company now has 15 Xbox Game Studios in total. Xbox fans are now hoping to see what those studios are working on for the Xbox Series X. Microsoft recently created a Fable placeholder Twitter account, leading fans to wonder if the game might make a return during July’s Xbox event. Microsoft also recently extended its Fable tradem...

HyperJuice’s 100W gallium nitride (GaN) USB-C charger — which the company says is the first of its kind — is now available to buy for $99.99, following a successful Kickstarter campaign last fall. The new charger is only about the size of a deck of cards (the brick itself measures 3.36 x 2.39 x 1.14 inches), thanks to the gallium nitride technology that’s far more energy-efficient than traditional silicon, allowing for smaller chargers that waste less energy. Hyper’s new brick offers a total of four ports: two USB-C ports and two USB-A ports. The USB-C ports support the USB-C PD 3.0 specification and can output the full 100W between them. (For example, you can change a USB-C laptop at the full 100W with a single plug or divide it between a laptop and an iPad at 60W and 30W, respectively.) ...

Microsoft is planning to launch its xCloud game streaming service later this year as part of Xbox Game Pass, and accessory makers are getting ready. 8BitDo, a company that specializes in retro and modern alternative gamepads, has adapted its retro NES controller for Microsoft’s Project xCloud service. The tiny Bluetooth controller is designed to be compatible with all Android smartphones and tablets, and it’s officially licensed as a compatible xCloud and Xbox controller. The built-in battery should last for around 18 hours, and there’s a USB-C port for charging. The controller even ships with a clip to attach to phones, with adjustable positioning. 8BitDo has worked with Microsoft to license this Xbox controller and ensure it’s fully functional with xCloud. There’s even separate software ...

I spend a lot of time trying to personalize every aspect of my laptop: pasting stickers on the top, separating all of my icons into folders on my desktop, and, thanks to a little trick I learned on TikTok, using my favorite GIFs as backgrounds on Google Chrome. It’s a super simple process that makes using Google Chrome feel a little more personalized. All it takes is a few seconds and you go from having a dreary white non-background like this: to this very good GIF of Marceline performing a song in Adventure Time. To customize your own Google Chrome page, here’s what to do: Find any GIF you want to use. Right-click to bring up the drop-down menu. After selecting the “Save As” option, make sure to add “.PNG” after the name Under “Format,” change it from GIF to “All Files.” It should look so...

Facebook is testing Instagram’s Reels feature in India, Business Insider reports. Reels is a video editing tool designed to let people create TikTok-style 15 second videos that can be shared on their Instagram Stories, sent via DM, or posted to a section of the Explore tab called Top Reels. The news emerged just days after the Indian government banned TikTok along with 58 other China-based apps. Business Insider reports that some Instagram users in India have already started receiving Instagram’s new feature in an update, and a Facebook spokesperson confirmed that the company plans to release the feature more widely. “We’re planning to start testing an updated version of Reels in more countries” “We’re planning to start testing an updated version of Reels in more countries,” a Facebook spo...

The UK may reverse its decision to allow Huawei as a supplier for the country’s 5G network buildout after a report concluded that US sanctions would make the Chinese telecom giant’s equipment less safe. The report from GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre, leaked by The Telegraph and corroborated by Bloomberg, claims that the restrictions on Huawei’s operations “will force the company to use untrusted technology that could increase the risk to the UK.” The report “is likely to force Boris Johnson to abandon the company entirely,” according to The Telegraph. A source told Bloomberg that the British prime minister is preparing to phase out Huawei as soon as this year, although the exact timetable is reportedly yet to be confirmed. “We are considering the impact.” “We are considering the imp...