Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Uber is overhauling its four-year-old app safety toolkit, adding a new feature for riders to contact security company ADT during rides. The company is also expanding the availability of a feature enabling customers to text 911. The safety toolkit is a section of Uber’s app through which customers…
Monthly Archives: August 2022
The JBL Bar 1000 with detachable wireless rear speakers that include their own upward-firing speakers | Image: JBL JBL is launching a quartet of new Atmos-capable soundbars for the fall, and two of them have battery-powered wireless rear speakers that quickly deploy for a tidy home theater setup. When not watching a movie, the speakers…
The JBL Tour Pro 2 wireless earbuds feature a touchscreen charging case that reminds us of a smartwatch interface. | Image: JBL JBL has just announced the Tour Pro 2 wireless earbuds, featuring adaptive noise cancellation and customizable ANC alongside a charging case with a 1.45-inch LED touchscreen control panel. The display on the charging…
Enlarge (credit: Google) The Android update treadmill continues with the release of Android 13. It’s one of the smallest Android releases in recent memory, with barely any user-facing features to point to. Keep in mind, though, that this update follows the monster Android 12 release from last year. This is also the second Android OS release this…
Elon Musk is adding allegations from Twitter security whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko to his list of reasons for pulling out of the $44 billion Twitter acquisition he proposed back in April. Musk’s messy acquisition bid has taken numerous twists and turns since April, with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO ultimately deciding that he didn’t want to…
Keyboard tech licensing startup Fleksy has expanded its SDK offering with an eye on winning over indie devs and app makers with an accessible, SaaS-like platform entry-point to its software licensing business. CEO Olivier Plante says Fleksy now has a dozen enterprise customers for its keyboard SDK — which offers a suite of features like…
Digital avatar startup Genies, known its for high-profile partnerships with celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Migos and Cardi B, has just released its long-anticipated NFT storefront, “The Warehouse.” Genies last earned a $1 billion valuation from heavy-hitting tech investors including Silver Lake and Mary Meeker’s Bond Capital during its most recent raise, a $150 million…
Twitter is launching its Circle feature — which lets you post a tweet to a select set of people — globally. The company started testing this Instagram “Close Friends”-like feature in limited beta in May, and now it’s making it available to all users. Users can add up to 150 people to their Circle, and…
More than three years in the making, the UK government today announced a new, sweeping set of rules it will be imposing on broadband and mobile carriers to tighten up their network security against cyber attacks — aimed at being “among the strongest in the world” when they are rolled out, said the Department for…
Facebook is shutting down its Facebook Gaming platform after two years. From Oct. 28, the company’s standalone Gaming app will no longer work, with Facebook moving games, streams, and related groups to a Gaming section in its main app. In a statement, the Facebook Gaming team posted a message to the community. “We want to…