Nick Barclay / The Verge Earlier this year, Google announced a pilot that would allow Spotify (and eventually other apps) to bypass the standard Google Play billing on Android in favor of their own payment systems. Crucially, Google still gets a cut of those payments under this new User Choice Billing initiative, but in Spotify’s…
Monthly Archives: November 2022
Enlarge / Microsoft’s Surface Pro 9. (credit: Andrew Cunningham) Let’s talk about the Surface Pro 9. Which Surface Pro 9? Not the version with 5G, which comes with a Qualcomm-made Microsoft SQ3 Arm processor and the typical shortcomings of an Arm Windows device (relatively low performance, continued app compatibility issues)—but the vanilla, plain-old Surface Pro…
Enlarge / On the left, the full Hubble image. On the right, different images of the gravitationally lensed object. (credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Wenlei Chen, Patrick Kelly) Over the last few decades, we’ve gotten much better at observing supernovae as they’re happening. Orbiting telescopes can now pick up the high-energy photons emitted and figure out…
Welcome back to Chain Reaction. Last week on the podcast, we talked about trouble brewing for bitcoin miners. This week, we had to tear up our plans to cover pretty much anything else and turn our attention to what we think is the biggest story in crypto to unfold this year: the fall from grace…
I rarely update my Twitter display name, except maybe when I am on vacation and want to warn people that if you email me, I will either not see it or I will become very annoyed that you emailed me about NFTs. But I was convinced to add a little emoji to my name by…
Google says it has evidence that a commercial surveillance vendor was exploiting three zero-day security vulnerabilities found in newer Samsung smartphones. The vulnerabilities, discovered in Samsung’s custom-built software, were used together as part of an exploit chain to target Samsung phones running Android. The chained vulnerabilities allow an attacker to gain kernel read and write…
Zoom has revealed that its video conferencing software will be making an appearance in Tesla cars, although it’s unclear as to when the service will be made publicly available. The announcement came at the company’s Zoomtopia event, by Nitasha Walia, Zoom Group Product Manager for Meetings, who said that the company is expecting to bring…
“Yellowstone.” Paramount Network Taylor Sheridan cautioned execs that “Yellowstone” would be expensive when he pitched the series in 2017. He also expressed how he wanted full creative control, with no writers’ room or executive notes. “Yellowstone” is now the biggest series on cable. Taylor Sheridan, the creator of Paramount Network’s “Yellowstone,” had an unusual strategy…
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia speaks ahead of former President Donald Trump at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on September 3, 2022. Mary Altaffer/Associated Press The Georgia Democratic Party accused Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s campaign of violating federal election law. It accused Greene’s campaign of exceeding federal limits in supporting Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign….
Hannah Towey/Insider A luxury high-rise has over 400 “micro-suites” with rent ranging from $1,300 to $2,675 a month. Residents have access to 27,000 sq. ft of amenities including co-working spaces and an indoor pool. The tiny bedrooms convert into a living space with mattresses that fold into the wall. As New York City rent continues…