Technology

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...

Reddit says it’s releasing a fix for a piece of code that copied contents from users’ clipboards. Users in a beta version of iOS 14, which sends an alert when an app tries to copy clipboard information, reported receiving the alerts with each keystroke in Reddit’s iOS app. “We tracked this down to a codepath in the post composer that checks for URLs in the pasteboard and then suggests a post title based on the text contents of the URL,” a Reddit spokesperson wrote in an email to The Verge. “We do not store or send the pasteboard contents. We removed this code and are releasing the fix on July 14th.” User Donald Morton posted a video of the issue to Twitter: UPDATE: Seems like Reddit is capturing the clipboard on each keystroke as well Seeing the notification come up just as much. pic.twitt...

Like seemingly everyone else right now, I watched back through Avatar: The Last Airbender for the first time in years (actually, just the second and third seasons since my wife got through most of the first one without me) because it’s come back to Netflix. It’s been really wonderful seeing such a brilliant, funny, epic, and deserving show suddenly getting this widespread recognition. On (what is probably my fourth) rewatch, what really stood out to me is the incredible attention the show gives to building out vibrant, fascinating cultures throughout its world. The show’s protagonists are constantly traveling, yet even towns and characters that only show up for an episode get distinct traits and humanizing moments. It adds up to a fantasy world that feels uniquely rich and complete. One ex...

Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo has been restored in India after being unreachable for many users there since July 1st, Android Police reported. Reports about what was causing the outage have varied. Some users reported the Indian government appeared to be behind the block, and others said they were getting what appeared to be DNS lookup errors, according to Android Police. DuckDuckGo tweeted that the service appeared to be restored in India as of Saturday morning. We’re seeing our services being broadly restored in India. Thank you for all of your reports, bringing attention to this issue. If you’re still having trouble accessing DuckDuckGo Search, please report it to @internetfreedom using this form: https://t.co/jVYFgXTiV7 — DuckDuckGo (@DuckDuckGo) July 4, 2020 On June 2...

Rocket Lab’s 13th mission ended in failure on Saturday, after the company’s rocket experienced “an anomaly” after launching to space. As a result, Rocket Lab lost its rocket, as well as all the satellites it carried on board. The company’s Electron rocket successfully took off at 5:19PM ET from Rocket Lab’s primary launch facility on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. The launch seemed to proceed just fine for the first crucial minutes, but about six minutes into the launch, live video from the rocket stalled. At that point, Rocket Lab’s livestream indicated that the rocket started to lose speed, and the vehicle dropped in altitude. Rocket Lab eventually cut the livestream. Afterward, the company revealed that the Electron rocket had been lost during flight. The company said in a statemen...

First, boards covered businesses in New York and Oakland. Then, so did art. Graffiti artists, muralists, and others, including artists who’d never before put up large-scale works — famous and not — used the boards as blank canvases. Memorials to George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, as well as others who were killed by police, graced many walls; another way of saying Black Lives Matter. Other art included calls to defund the police, poems, and expressions of all kinds. Some neighborhoods became ersatz outdoor galleries, often empty of the usual crowds, unless protesters passed through. The Verge’s staff was impressed by the art, so a couple photographers took pictures of the works. Where possible, we’ve credited the artists. We’ve also talked to a few of them to get their perspective on their a...

If you have spent the holiday weekend watching the Hamilton movie on repeat, let’s just say I’m not judging you. At all. Polygon has an interesting analysis about how different the musical is on film. But if you’re looking for a break from Lin Manuel & co. and want something a little different to watch this week however, there are a few new originals on Netflix and Hulu worth checking out. [embedded content] The Baby-Sitters Club (Netflix, now playing) OK so maybe we’re not quite the target audience for The Baby-Sitters Club, but there is a great deal of nostalgia around this new show based on the beloved Ann M. Martin book series (that’s right, I said “beloved”). Polygon says the production meets the challenge of setting the series in 2020 “updating small details of the bigger plotlin...

Back in 2015, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said he had started a school to teach his five kids, eventually expanding it as a non-profit school for some children of SpaceX employees. He said at the time that his kids’ school wasn’t “doing things I thought should be done,” so he hired away his kids’ teacher to help found the Ad Astra School. It did away with formal grade structures and put a focus on problem solving, per Musk’s direction, and he paid for all the costs involved. Now, he’s given an initial donation to a new online, for-profit school in Los Angeles, according to an investigation by The Daily Beast. According to business filings uncovered by The Daily Beast, the Astra Nova School, which plans to open in September was incorporated by Musk associate Jared Birchall. Astra Nova’s ...

After watching contestants keep their fingers attached to a phone screen for more than 70 hours, YouTube creator Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson called an early end to a massive competition originally designed with one winner and a $25,000 prize in mind. The result? Four winners, each walking away with $20,000 in hand. Donaldson’s “Finger on the App” was a one-time game designed in partnership with internet collective MSCHF. The rules were simple: be the last person to take your finger off a phone screen, and win $25,000. The game kicked off at 3PM ET on June 30th, and ran until Donaldson called an end to the madness on Twitter at 1:15PM ET today. “Dear the four remaining contestants with your finger still on the app, I’m ending it here,” Donaldson tweeted. “Three days is insane! You ALL win and...