Новости за 16.11.2021

Image: Brave

Brave has announced that its web browser now includes a native cryptocurrency wallet, replacing the previous one that was based on the MetaMask wallet extension. With it, most users should have their blockchain needs covered (depending on what blockchain they use, more on that in a second): they’ll be able to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, store their NFTs, keep track of how much coins are selling for, and experience the magic of Web3, or websites that have built-in blockchain features. Читать дальше...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Hours after The Wall Street Journal published a shocking report alleging Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick was aware of sexual misconduct allegations at the company, the company’s board of directors posted a statement voicing its support of the CEO.

Image: Netflix

After announcing last month that it will begin to shift the way it ranks its top titles, Netflix today is launching a new website where it will share those metrics every week.

Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

The Biden administration’s effort to blanket the country in half a million new EV chargers in the next half-decade got $7.5 billion in funding Monday when the president signed the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill into law. But while those chargers will be necessary as electric vehicle sales continue to climb, Biden’s plan will require institutional — and personal — patience.

Applied VR

The Food and Drug Administration authorized a virtual reality system as a prescription treatment for chronic back pain, the agency announced today. The therapy, called EaseVRx, joins the short list of digital therapeutics cleared by the agency over the past few years.

Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge

If you’re tired of long shipping times, Samsung is now partnering with Best Buy to offer a “Get It Today” pickup option. This lets you make a purchase on Samsung’s online store and then pick it up for free within just a few hours at your local Best Buy.

The Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis I mission lifted above the Space Launch System at Kennedy Space Center | NASA/Frank Michaux

Last week, NASA announced that it was bumping back plans to send humans to the Moon from 2024 to 2025, but according to a new report, the delays could be even more significant. More realistically, such a landing will probably take place several years after 2024, the report claims.

Digital tools like motivational text messages that try to nudge people to do more physical activity aren’t effective for poor people, according to a new meta-analysis. In one of the most comprehensive efforts to tease apart the impact of behavioral change programs on people with different income levels, the study authors showed that apps and wearables only helped bump physical activity levels for people with high socioeconomic status.

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge

From losing 80 percent of your business to an IPO in nine months

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

Nvidia wants you to know that AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) is a mere pretender, nothing like the Nvidia Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technique its GPUs can use to boost the framerate and/or image quality of your games. To prove it, Nvidia is trying an interesting new tactic by releasing a remarkably powerful image comparison tool called Nvidia ICAT, for free, so that anyone can see for themselves.

1Password 8 now includes a dark mode for Windows. | Image: AgileBits

1Password is getting its first major design update in more than three years today, with the launch of 1Password 8 for Windows. It includes a new design with a dark mode that better matches some of the recent UI improvements across Windows 10 and Windows 11. 1Password is also now built on Rust, to improve performance.

Microsoft is changing its Black Screen of Death in Windows 11 back to the original blue color. The software giant originally changed its infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) to black in Windows 11 earlier this year, to match the new black logon and shutdown screens. It was the first major change to the BSOD since Microsoft added a sad face to the screen in Windows 8.

An Amazon Go store in the US in 2018. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Amazon has reportedly landed its first customer outside the US for its cashierless retail technology. According to Bloomberg News, the UK’s second largest supermarket chain, Sainsbury’s, will use Amazon’s system of AI-powered surveillance cameras to power a cashierless grocery store in London.

The “Busy area” label appears when you might encounter crowds. | Screenshot by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

Google is adding a handful of new features to Google Maps in time for the holiday season, which collectively should make getting around a slightly less fraught experience. The new features were announced in a blog post today.

Characters from Naruto Shippuden are joining Fortnite. | Image: Epic Games

After a tease last week, Fortnite’s highly anticipated collaboration with Naruto is finally here. Starting Tuesday, you’ll be able to play as characters from the hugely popular anime series Naruto: Shippuden in Epic Games’ hit battle royale. There will be four Naruto characters that are now available in the in-game item shop — Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Kakashi Hatake — as well as a Naruto glider, two emotes, and two loading screens. Читать дальше...

The Balmuda Phone has a 4.9-inch 16:9 1080p display.

Japanese design company Balmuda today announced its first smartphone at a press event in Tokyo. The straightforwardly titled Balmuda Phone is the debut product from Balmuda Technologies, a new division of the company previously known for stylish, premium home appliances like air purifiers and rice cookers. Balmuda’s toaster in particular has a cult following in Japan.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

JPMorgan has sued Tesla, claiming that the electric car company owes the bank $162 million related to a 2014 stock warrant agreement. The dispute centers around adjustments the companies made to the agreement following Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s 2018 “[f]unding secured” tweet and the resulting fallout.

A major Hollywood union has voted to ratify a pair of contracts to improve labor conditions for production workers — though narrowly — after previously voting to authorize a strike over stalled negotiations with major studios.

Peloton’s on-demand classes and leaderboard are at the heart of both lawsuits. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Peloton isn’t too happy with its rivals. The company has filed lawsuits against Echelon and iFit, claiming each company violated patents related to Peloton’s on-demand classes, Bloomberg Law reports.

Yoko Kanno and Cowboy Bebop star Daniella Pineda. | Image: Netflix

The early reaction to Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop has been mixed, but there’s one thing that everyone seems to agree on: the soundtrack is killer. Yoko Kanno, who gave the original anime its distinctive jazzy songs, returned as composer on the Netflix series, while her band the Seatbelts performed the tracks. The soundtrack includes a few original songs along with rerecorded classics. Thankfully, it’ll... Читать дальше...

Image: Canoo

EV startup Canoo is moving its headquarters from California to Walmart’s hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas — though it didn’t announce any deal with the retail giant. Canoo said it will open a new manufacturing facility in Bentonville but didn’t say much about what will be done there or who will build it. The startup also said Monday that it is moving up its timeline for making its first electric vehicles to “before Q4 2022.”

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

TikTokers have demonstrated that Disney’s text-to-speech TikTok voice, meant to sound like Rocket the Raccoon, would refuse to read words like “gay,” “lesbian,” or “queer” out loud. This decision seems to have been reverted — you can now get the voice to read out those words, but it’s unclear why it was happening. The change, however, is very recent — The Verge confirmed that the voice wouldn’t say the words, but it started to do so in a subsequent test minutes later on Monday afternoon. Читать дальше...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon has been ordered to pay a fine of $500,000 for hiding the number of COVID-19 cases at its California workplaces from employees. First reported by the Los Angeles Times, the company agreed to pay the fine and improve the way it tracks cases and notifies workers and local health agencies. Amazon must also inform its warehouse workers in California of the “exact number of new COVID-19 cases in their workplaces” when cases arise.

Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/The Mercury News via Getty Images

We met an investor who won’t take a hint — or even a command

Faraday Future is launching an investigation into recent allegations of financial fraud at the startup, including claims from a recent short-seller report by J Capital. The EV startup’s board of directors has formed a “special committee of independent directors,” which has hired a law firm to perform the investigation.