News

Amazon’s Dash buttons are no more. The tiny stick-on buttons that allowed customers to quickly reorder popular household items with a press have been discontinued by the online retailer, as confirmed by CNET . Dash buttons were priced at only $5 and were available for a slew of brands spanning many categories — from paper towels and laundry detergent to condoms . They could be mounted wherever made the most sense, whether in the kitchen, bathroom, or any other spot where users might need a reminder to order more of something. Existing Dash buttons will continue to function “so long as the public keeps using them,” CNET says. The company seems to believe that the smart home and its Alexa voice assistant have obviated the need for Dash buttons. Plus, some appliance makers have built the Dash Replenishment Service directly into their products to help consumers quickly reorder associated items. Last month, a German court ruled that the Dash buttons violate the country’s consumer prote

The Apple Pencil that works with the sixth-generation iPad, as well as iPad Pro models released prior to 2018, is $20 off of its usual $99 price tag at Amazon, per MacRumors . At $79.88, it’s a more affordable purchase if you’ve been wanting to use your iPad to jot down notes or practice drawing. Compared to more affordable styluses for the iPad, like Logitech’s Crayon, the Apple Pencil offers pressure and tilt sensitivity, which makes it the better choice for those who want to get creative with it. If you want to know more about what the Apple Pencil is capable of, The Verge ’s resident comics artist Dami Lee put each of these devices to the test . The Apple Pencil 2 released alongside the 2018 iPad Pros handles charging in a more elegant way: wirelessly by magnetically attaching to the side of the iPad Pro, instead of plugging into a port. However, the $129 accessory will only operate on the newer models, while today’s discounted Apple Pencil is geared toward older devices.

Some TikTok users are having their accounts and videos deleted without warning after inputting a birthdate that would make them younger than 13, following a change to the app’s terms yesterday regarding children’s privacy law. TikTok is prompting users to prove they’re of age to use the app following an FTC settlement agreement that required the app to come into compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, which dictates that apps and websites get parental approval for users under 13. Typically, social media companies and web services tend to make 13 the age requirement, to avoid the liability of requiring parental consent. Some companies like Facebook have developed separate kid-friendly apps, such as Messenger Kids , to stay complaint. It appears TikTok is taking the latter approach , but choosing to keep users within the main app. The new policy, which went into effect yesterday, deleted accounts and videos for users younger than 13, as well as users w

Sony has announced the new CFexpress Type B spec and its newest CompactFlash memory card that’s supposed to be faster than anything else on the market. The new card’s read and write speeds are 1,700 MB/s and 1,480 MB/s, respectively. That stomps out Sony’s previous fastest card, which topped out at 630MB/s. The new CEB-G128 memory card will come in 128GB and 256GB storage versions, with an even bigger 512GB variant “planned for the future.” Sony also announced a new CFexpress card reader — so you can move files off the card — that’s sold separately, called the MRW-G1 and optimized specifically for the Type B card. It’s designed to be durable, by withstanding up to 70N of bend force, and can supposedly withstand falls from up to five meters high. The card reader also comes with Sony’s Media Scan Utility and Memory Card File Rescue, two free desktop apps that assist users in managing their new super fast memory cards. While microSD and SD cards are far more common in smartphones and

A political action committee has placed hundreds of thousands of illegal robocalls impersonating President Trump’s reelection campaign, according to a new report from CNN today . According to CNN, the Support American Leaders PAC has placed over 200,000 calls raising more than $100,000 in January alone. None of the money raised is going to the Trump campaign, CNN said. It’s going to the PAC which is supposedly affiliated with the campaign, but has yet to spend any money on the 2020 elections or even the last election cycle. Most of that money is going toward making more robocalls. The calls used recordings of President Trump asking for support, likely taken from former speeches and events. “I’m Donald Trump. Tonight I am asking you to defend our very dangerous southern border, out of love and devotion to our country,” CNN reported one call script saying. Pre-recorded political robocalls are not necessarily illegal on their own, but the Federal Communications Commission requires the

Samsung’s promised Bixby remapping update is now available for owners of older Galaxy flagships, including the S8 and S8 Plus, S9 and S9 Plus, Note 8, and Note 9, after debuting on the soon-to-be-released S10 line . Assuming you have a compatible device that’s running Samsung’s Android Pie / One Touch UI software, you should be getting a new update that’ll bring the much requested feature to your phone. There are a few caveats to the feature, as noted by The Verge ’s Dan Seifert on Twitter : you can’t remap the Bixby button to launch another voice assistant, like Google Assistant or Cortana, even if you have those apps installed. my S10+ review unit has received an update to the Bixby app that lets me natively remap the button to a more useful command. guess what app CAN'T be mapped to it? Google Assistant. pic.twitter.com/732k0E5vDp — the Original Tweeter™️ (@dcseifert) February 28, 2019 Users also can’t disable the button entirely or remove Bixby. The best you can do

All Amazon Prime customers in the US can now set which day of the week they want to receive their packages. Customers can set which day they want as their default delivery day for future packages, and change them at checkout later. Items will come bundled in one package, saving boxes and making shipment deliveries more predictable. The feature, called Amazon Day, was first introduced in November as an invite-only program . The concept is part of Amazon’s “Shipment Zero” sustainability initiative, which aims to make all of Amazon’s shipments carbon neutral, with half its shipments being carbon neutral by 2030. Amazon says that since testing began with a group of Prime members last year, the company has reduced packaging by “tens of thousands of boxes.” Amazon Prime members can also use Prime one-day, two-day, and no-rush shipping options. Customers can also choose not to bundle items into an Amazon Day package, and just receive a shipment separately as normal.

From the NBA to FC Barcelona, Nike dresses some of the biggest athletes in the world — and now the company is turning its attention to gaming. Today Nike and the League of Legends Pro League, China’s biggest e-sports competition, announced a deal that would see Nike become the official apparel provider for the league. That includes clothing, sneakers, and, eventually, team jerseys. The LPL says that the first Nike-designed jerseys will be unveiled during the 2019 League of Legends World Championship in Paris later this year. The deal runs through the 2022 season. The LPL debuted back in 2013 and currently features 16 teams, along with big-name sponsors like Mercedes-Benz. The league has been gaining popularity and prominence in recent years, and reached a new level in 2018 when Invictus Gaming became the first Chinese League of Legends team to capture a world championship. The LPL is also a pioneer of sorts, with many of its teams based in specific cities with their own home

20th Century Fox debuted a second trailer for the long-awaited next (and presumably final) installment its X-Men franchise, Dark Phoenix . Directed by Simon Kinberg, the film reunites James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, and others to adapt the Dark Phoenix storyline from the X-Men comics. The story is one of the best-known from the X-Men comics franchise, in which mutant Jean Grey is exposed to radiation, which boost her powers. We see a bit of this in the trailer: the X-Men head to space and are hit by a “mysterious cosmic force.” Jean vanishes and reappears on Earth, and we see her speaking with someone (played by Jessica Chastain), who tells her that “if you stop fighting that force inside you, if you embrace it, we will possess the very power of a god.” That spells trouble for the rest of the X-Men, who have to find a way to contain that power and save their friend. The film is the sequel to 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse , The Dark

The eighth season of Fortnite has arrived to the sound of an erupting volcano. The biggest change is the addition of two new locations that have formed in the aftermath — Lazy Lagoon and Sunny Steps — which can be found in the northwest of the island, around the volcano that sprouted where Wailing Woods used to be. There’s now lava to look out for, and volcanic vents that will give you a boost into the air. The snowy portion of the island that formed in season 7, meanwhile, is still in place leading to the most diverse iteration of the Fortnite island yet. This season has a pirate and adventure theme, which means not only the changes to the map itself, but also a new pirate cannon weapon. Meanwhile, a number of prominent elements have been eliminated from the game: planes, ATKs, shopping carts, chiller grenades, and sneaky snowman disguises are all gone from Fortnite starting today. You can check out the complete patch notes here . A new season also means a new battle pass, and

A storm in northern California dumped so much water on the region that roads turned into moats, isolating two California towns . It’s the kind of storm that experts project might become more extreme as climate change continues — which could mean a future of even worse flooding for California. Over the past few days, parts of northern California have been drenched with record levels of rain. North of San Francisco, the Russian River rolled over its banks to surround the Sonoma County towns of Guerneville and Monte Rio , The Press Democrat reports . Yesterday , thousands of people were told to evacuate. By today, it was too late for some: “Guerneville is officially an island,” the Sonoma County sheriff announced on Facebook . “You will not be able to get into or out of town without a boat today.” The storm, which has tapered off , is an atmospheric river. These bands of warm moist air roll in off the Pacific, hit the coastal mountains, and cool down — showering California with ra

T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray made it a point during an interview with PC Mag to underline the company’s recent pledge that it will not raise prices for at least three years if its colossal merger with Sprint is ultimately approved by regulators and allowed to proceed. CEO John Legere, who is set to lead the combined company, made that vow in a letter to FCC chairman Ajit Pai earlier this month. Ray directly confirmed that Legere’s remarks will also apply to 5G data plans. T-Mobile will continue to offer unlimited data for 5G, Ray said, once the carrier’s network is up and running with devices that can take advantage of the increased speeds and reduced latency of 5G. The company’s current T-Mobile One unlimited plan starts at $70 with taxes and other fees included, so presumably that’s also where 5G will start if T-Mobile stays true to Legere’s word. The upgraded T-Mobile One Plus plan (with HD streaming and LTE hotspot speeds) starts at $85/month, so that’s another possibility. Earlie

Google gave its Home app a substantial redesign back in the fall, morphing it into a command center of sorts for all smart home gadgets that are compatible with Google Assistant. Instead of opening separate apps to operate those devices (or relying on voice commands), Google moved many useful toggles and controls right into the Home app and put a centralized hub right in your hand. But it didn’t include everything. For instance, the Home app could adjust the brightness of smart lights around your home or turn them on and off, but not change their color — until now. The most recent update to the Google Home app adds a new palette of colors that you can choose for each smart light you’ve got to quickly shift its color. As Android Police notes , the options are more limited than the wide color palette you’d get using a dedicated app from companies like Philips or LIFX: you can pick between 42 different colors with the Home app. That’s still plenty if you want to switch up the vibe or

During its latest Nintendo Direct livestream this morning, Nintendo finally provided some details about its much-anticipated next Pokémon game for the Switch. Called Pokémon: Sword and Shield, the new mainline games are due to launch late this year. The new games feature a more detailed 3D art style compared to the Let’s Go games, and include a wide variety of locales in a new region called Galar that appears heavily inspired by the UK. Naturally, there are also new monsters, including a frankly adorable trio of starters called Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble. Here’s how the Pokémon Company describes the new setting: Galar is an expansive region with diverse environments — an idyllic countryside, contemporary cities, thick forest, and craggy, snow-covered mountains. The people and the pokémon who live there work together closely to develop the industries in the region. Fans will have the opportunity to visit various gyms in the Galar region in their quest to become champion.

Dating app Hinge is participating in “ National Day of Unplugging ” with a promotion encouraging users turn off the ability to find new dates in order to go out with people they’ve already matched with. The company is partnering with Freehand Hotel Group to offer two free cocktails to Hinge members who participate. The offer extends to Broken Shaker bar locations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami. Anyone who doesn’t live in a city with a Broken Shaker can enter to win a “dream date” worth up to $1,000, which users will be asked to describe when they disconnect. If they’re randomly chosen as the winner, they’ll receive $1,000 for the date. The app will prompt users to turn off their discover section at 5:30PM local time on February 28th and keep it off until midnight on March 1st — basically, Hinge is asking users to turn off the feature for a full day. If they do, they’ll receive some sort of ticket through the app that entitles them to free drinks between 6PM and 8PM on M

SanDisk’s 400GB microSD dipped below $100 for the first time just a few months ago, but today it’s down to $62.30 at Amazon. This is almost $20 off of the best price that we’ve seen recently. If you’re in the market for a microSD card to add storage to your camera, phone, computer, or Nintendo Switch, today is the day to do it. Just note that this UHS-I card isn’t rated for 4K video capture, according to SanDisk , but your mileage may vary. If you don’t see yourself reaching the 400GB limit of the aforementioned microSD card, the 200GB model is $29.21 . While technically a better deal, since you can buy two of them for less than the cost of the 400GB card, having to switch to a new card when you fill one up may be a major downside for some. This sale price is part of Amazon’s Deal of the Day where several other SanDisk and Western Digital storage products are steeply discounted. There’s a good selection of standard SD cards, portable hard drives and solid state drives to select fr

EV startup Faraday Future has told employees on “furlough,” or unpaid leave, that it can no longer bring them back to work on March 1st as planned, according to an internal email sent Tuesday and obtained by The Verge . The company says it is extending the furlough, but did not say for how long. These employees have been on furlough since December , with benefits. Faraday Future has been searching for new funding since last October , when it got into an ugly public fight with its biggest outside investor, Chinese real estate giant Evergrande. Evergrande committed $2 billion to the California-based EV startup at the end of 2017 , but Faraday Future spent the first $800 million installment by mid-2018 . When Faraday Future asked Evergrande to advance about half of the remaining $1.2 billion, Evergrande ultimately refused, locking the two in a power struggle that left the startup nearly out of money. As a result, Faraday Future’s workforce had their pay cut, underwent layoffs, and, eve

The film-rating aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes has announced it will no longer allow users to comment on or register early anticipation for movies, following a series of coordinated attempts to sabotage the ratings on a few select upcoming films. The most recent attack was on Captain Marvel , which received a wave of negative early ratings from people complaining about the “social-justice warrior politics” of star Brie Larson . The backlash largely stems from an interview where Larson said she was tired of being interviewed by “overwhelmingly white male” journalists and that she wanted to see more opportunities for diverse voices in the field. A new blog post from Rotten Tomatoes’ product team announced changes to tackle this issue. “Unfortunately, we have seen an uptick in non-constructive input, sometimes bordering on trolling, which we believe is a disservice to our general readership,” the post reads. “We have decided that turning off this feature for now is the best course

Just like the Pixel 3 and 3 XL before them, the upcoming, less expensive, and so-called “lite” Pixel phones from Google have been thoroughly leaked over the last few months. We know what they look like, what the hardware specs are, and have even seen some camera samples. Who wouldn’t be excited about getting the Pixel 3’s best-on-the-market camera in a more affordable device? But a release date (and price) for these phones still remains a mystery: Google had nothing to announce at this week’s Mobile World Congress, so we might be looking at a spring launch time frame or maybe even later. Android Police has reported that they’ll be available from Verizon sometime this spring. Several recent FCC filings are the latest example that things are moving along and we’re getting closer to a release. They don’t contain many details, but the confidential filings are almost certainly the Pixel 3 and 3 XL Lite. (There’s been no indication that’s actually what they’ll be called, for the record

The United States Cyber Command launched an offensive campaign to silence one of Russia’s most notorious troll operations on the day of the 2018 midterm elections, according to a new report by The Washington Post . The operation targeted the Internet Research Agency, a private company linked to the Kremlin and often used for disinformation campaigns. The US operation seems to have taken the IRA entirely offline during Election Day, to the point that many employees complained to systems administrators that they were unable to access the internet, according to the Post ’s sources. “Part of our objective is to throw a little curve ball, inject a little friction, sow confusion,” one unnamed official told the Post . It’s one of the most aggressive publicly reported campaigns the cyber command has yet taken, and the legal status of such actions remains in flux. In theory, infrastructural attacks against agents of a foreign government could have significant diplomatic repercussions, and ru

The latest trailer for Warner Bros.’ upcoming live-action Detective Pikachu movie introduces a couple of new weird-looking pokémon for longtime fans to obsess over, including a menacing-looking Mewtwo. Charizard, Machamp, Snubbull, and Ludicolo are just some of the disturbing pokémon that arrived, but there were also some cute additions. Cubone, for example, is as cute as a button. Same with Snorlax and Eevee, everyone’s favorite pokémon from Pokémon Let’s Go! . Previous trailers and TV spots for the movie have reimagined some of Pokémon ’s signature creatures as disturbing figures. Lickitung’s tongue, for example, is nearly gag-inducing , and Bulbasaur, one of the original starter pokémon, looks gross . There are also a plethora of cute reimagined pokémon, though. Detective Pikachu stars Ryan Reynolds as the voice behind Pokémon ’s most famous character — this time on a mission to save the world through the power of his investigative abilities and not thunderbolt attacks. Reynol

The Chinese government might have provided funding that was used in a controversial project to genetically edit babies, according to documents obtained by STAT . Though it’s unclear whether government officials were paying close attention to how the money was used, the documents contradict China’s narrative of scientist He Jiankui as a rebel who acted alone and against the wishes of higher-ups. Back in November, He Jiankui announced at a conference in Hong Kong that he had genetically edited twin girls using the CRISPR tool to make them more resistant to HIV. The international scientific community quickly condemned the actions, saying that not only was it ethically wrong , the editing itself was sloppy and may not have worked . At the time, the Chinese government also swiftly denounced He and started an investigation that painted an image of a lone scientist who “ defied government bans in pursuit of personal fame and gain .” But the documents obtained by STAT show that He’s resea

As noticed by Android Police , Google has begun widely rolling out the web version of its Google Duo video chat service. Duo is already available on Android, iOS, and Chromebooks, but expanded support for the web will make it easier for users of the service to chat with friends and family members on many different devices. To get started with Duo on the web, just head to https://duo.google.com . If you’ve already got a Duo account and are signed in, you’ll see a search box with a list of your Duo-using contacts beneath it. Duo’s web client worked in Chrome (no surprise there), Safari, and Firefox in my tests — but Microsoft’s Edge browser on Windows isn’t supported. You can place both video and voice calls with it — but the person on the other end must be registered with Duo to receive a call. Google’s video chat service has outlived the Allo messaging app that debuted alongside it and proven more popular. OnePlus just recently announced that it will deeply integrate Duo as the pre

Pandora launched Stories today, a tool that lets artists and creators add voice commentary to their own playlists. The Stories feature merges podcasts with music playlists, and is meant for artists to add context to an album, or for podcasters to experiment with new storytelling formats. The feature is part of Pandora AMP, the streaming service’s free Artist Marketing Platform that helps creators promote their work. To kick off the launch, Pandora’s prepared some Stories by artists like John Legend and Daddy Yankee , who tell listeners their personal stories interspersed between their own songs. There’s also a Stories playlist called Love Songs That Aren’t Really Love Songs , which includes commentary on individual songs like a podcast would, but with access to Pandora’s catalog of fully licensed music. Pandora hopes that the feature will be used by creators beyond music artists, and embraced by “actors, filmmakers, athletes, celebs, authors, and beyond.” Creators interested in maki

Scroll is an upcoming news subscription service that promises to let you read all your favorite news websites ad-free in exchange for a monthly fee. The service already has some big names in media onboard (including Buzzfeed, Gizmodo Media Group, and Vox Media) and acquired trending news app Nuzzel earlier this month. This week, the company announced another big partnership with Mozilla to test some of Scroll’s ideas in Firefox, via VentureBeat . The exact details on how Scroll and Mozilla will work together aren’t full clear yet — Scroll says that its still “early days for this partnership,” but VentureBeat says that “small groups of Firefox users will be invited at random to share feedback” and respond to surveys about ad-free browsing on the web, at least to start. And even if details aren’t quite here yet, Mozilla does make sense as a partner for Scroll on paper. After all, if you’re trying to replace ads on the internet, having some input from a browser company that has to d

Tinder users heading to a warm locale for spring break will be able to start swiping on potential matches ahead of time, in Tinder’s first foray into event-based matchmaking. Tinder’s Spring Break Mode is a new feature for college-student users launching this week, which will let Tinder U users check off where they’re going for spring break, then swipe on other college students who are traveling to the same destination. The feature is only supported for select locations, including Cabo, Mexico; Lake Havasu, Arizona; Las Vegas; Miami; New Orleans; Puerto Rico; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; San Diego, California; a “staycation;” and others. The app will prioritize students who attend the same school and have the same vacation plans, but users will eventually see students from all over the country who plan to travel to the same place. It’s reminiscent of Tinder’s Passport feature, which lets users swipe on people in other locations, typically ahead of a trip. Spring Break Mode is interestin

Since its launch in 2015, Apple has increasingly positioned the Apple Watch as a health and fitness device; something that helps users track their workouts and look after their body. But one popular feature has been missing from Apple’s built-in software: sleep-tracking. Not for much longer, says Bloomberg . The publication reports that Apple is testing sleep tracking functionality and, if it meets standards, plans to add it to the Apple Watch by 2020. You can already track your sleep on the Apple Watch using third-party apps , but the device has always been hamstrung in this regard by its relatively slim battery life. Apple promises users a full day’s use from the watch before charging it overnight (and this often looks more like two days’ use, depending on usage), but that’s not enough for regular sleep tracking. Rival fitness-focused wearables with sleep tracking like the Fitbit Versa or Withings Steel Hybrid Smartwatch, for example, last up to weeks before needing a charge. B