Tech Talk

Shopping online should soon be a lot safer thanks to a new Google Chrome update using virtual cards. Announced at the company's Google IO 2022 event, the move will boost user privacy by giving the option to autofil details of a virtual card when prompted in the browser , including the long card number, expiry date, and three-digit CVV number. Doing so should help keep a user's actual card details safe from fraud, as well as making sure they aren't stored on a merchant's database, where they could be compromised in a data breach. Chrome virtual cards Google is working with Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Capital One to launch the new system, which will initially only be available in the US before hopefully rolling out to other markets soon. The company says the move will add an extra layer of security when paying online using a payment gateway , removing the need to manually enter card details for each purchase, much like how paying via contactless card in

AMD has hit a new record high overall CPU market share (when it comes to x86 processors), despite an overall drop in the total sales of these chips. The latest report from Mercury Research found AMD reached an all-time high of a 27.7% market share in processors (with Intel holding the remainder, of course) for the first quarter of 2022. That’s up strongly from 20.7% in the same quarter of 2021, meaning that year-on-year, AMD has piled on 7% market share (an increase of a third). This includes all x86 silicon, meaning not just desktop, laptop and server processors, but also custom-built chips for the likes of games consoles (along with Internet of Things devices too). AMD record Dean McCarron of Mercury told Tom’s Hardware : “For all-inclusive share … AMD gained share in the first quarter and set a new record high at 27.7%, beating the 25.6% record set last quarter. Recall last quarter AMD broke the record it had set more than 15 years ago of 25.3%.” So Team Red is now in a stro

After spending the last three years insisting that Diablo Immortal will be a mobile exclusive, Blizzard revealed last month that it was bluffing all along. The next entry in the infernal action RPG series is, in fact, coming to PC, and will release on both platforms next month. That’s exactly what fans wanted. Skeptics had initially balked at Diablo Immortal ’s mobile exclusivity, but many have been won over now they know they can face Sanctuary’s fiends using a mouse and keyboard. Others had worried the game would be little more than a pared-down Diablo clone created for the mobile market, but are now excited at the thought of playing the first original Diablo release in five years. The announcement of Diablo Immortal’s PC port has certainly done wonders for the game’s image, but it’s a good thing that it started life as a mobile exclusive. As game director Wyatt Cheng tells TechRadar, by designing the game for mobile, the team was able to explore new design principles and experim

We're rapidly approaching the expected launch window of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 – some point in August, as far as we know – and a new leak sheds some light on the rear camera setup that we can look forward to from this flagship foldable. Seasoned tipster Ice Universe says that the phone will come with a triple lens 50MP + 12MP + 12MP setup on the back, with ultrawide and telephoto zoom capabilities. The same source says the 12MP 3x zoom camera will be the "strongest 3x camera ever" as far as Samsung phones go. In other words it'll beat the 10MP 3x zoom found in the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra launched earlier this year – though it's worth bearing in mind that the S22 Ultra has a 10x zoom camera on board as well. Galaxy Z Fold4 camera：50MP Main camera+12MP Ultrawide angle+12MP 3x zoom May 14, 2022 See more Potential camera setups To date there's been plenty of speculation on how Samsung might improve the rear camera module of the Galaxy Z Fold 3

Steam Deck owners who want to install Windows 11 on the portable, rather than running with SteamOS, will doubtless be pleased to hear that Valve has fixed one of the major problems with going this route – namely the audio side of the equation. As we’ve seen with many complaints from folks adopting Microsoft’s OS on Valve’s compact gaming PC, there has been an issue with sound drivers which means that with Windows 11, you don’t get audio – not unless you use Bluetooth speakers (or a USB-C headset). But now, Valve has provided Windows audio drivers (two of them) which cure the problem, so you’ll now get sound via the Deck’s built-in speakers (or you can use headphones with the audio jack, rather than relying on a Bluetooth pair). Instructions are provided along with the drivers on Valve’s Windows resources page , and note that there’s an APU driver here which you must install first to get audio support working. Analysis: A step in the right direction – but it is just one step It

It looks as though the Apple TV 4K is getting another refresh, with one of the top analysts in the business predicting that a cheaper model will see the light of day in the second half of 2022 – though it's not clear exactly what it will look like. This comes from Ming-Chi Kuo , who is usually spot on when it comes to Apple leaks. Apple's media streaming device last got an update in April 2021, when it got a faster processor and a redesigned remote control. It's possible that the new box will replace the Apple TV HD that launched in 2015 and which is still on sale – that retails for $149 / £139 / AU$209 at the time of writing, compared to a starting price of $179 / £169 / AU$249 for the Apple TV 4K. Apple will launch a new version of Apple TV that improves cost structure in 2H22. I think that Apple's aggressive strategy of integrating hardware, content, and service amid the recession will help close the gap with its competitors. May 13, 2022 See more The ne

Tom Hiddleston in The Essex Serpent . | Image: Apple How much you enjoy The Essex Serpent , an Apple TV Plus adaptation of Sarah Perry’s 2016 novel, might depend on how much you enjoy seeing Tom Hiddleston brooding in a misty field while wearing cozy wool sweaters. For a lot of people, that will probably be enough of a hook. (It was for me.) But thankfully, the six-episode series offers a lot more than great hair blowing in the wind — it’s a tense and heartfelt exploration of grief and belief and how much those two things can mess with you. The great sweaters are just a bonus. The show primarily follows two characters. One is Cora Seaborne (Claire Danes), a recent widow and a budding natural history scholar who has quite the fixation with sea serpents. She spends her spare time researching them via old books, maps, and newspaper clippings. When rumors pop up that a serpent has been terrorizing a small fishing village in Essex, she — along with her young son (Caspar Griffiths) and f

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta is continuing the Meta-fication of its brands by renaming Facebook Pay, its payment system available across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp, to Meta Pay. The change is set to happen “soon,” according to a blog post from Stephane Kasriel, Meta’s head of commerce and financial technologies, and is the latest indication that the company formerly known as Facebook is all in on the metaverse . “We’re focused on enhancing the payments experiences we already provide with Facebook Pay where we’re seeing good adoption,” Kasriel wrote. “And with this, an emphasis on quality in the countries that we are already in, rather than expanding to new countries right now.” People in businesses in 160 countries use Meta’s platforms to make payments, according to Kasriel’s post. Meta is also looking at how to simplify the payments experience on its platforms. While Kasriel painted a broad picture, he didn’t share much in the way of specifics:

EcoFlow Wave portable air conditioner | Image: EcoFlow EcoFlow is taking a detour from its usual pursuit of making big-ass batteries to launch this portable air conditioner that would give campers, RV roamers, and everyone living the van life more incentive to own a few of the aforementioned batteries . The EcoFlow Wave is a portable air conditioner it’s building that claims to have “the world’s most powerful cooling and the longest run time.” As you can see, based on the environment of the gentleman pictured above, the idea is that keeping cool isn’t just for places with permanent walls or, apparently, any walls at all. Image: EcoFlow The unit weighs 38.58 lbs by itself and 55.98 lbs with the 1,008Wh add-on battery attached. Unlike some earlier EcoFlow projects, this isn’t a Kickstarter, but it has a similar promotional hook, offering cheaper options for those who sign up to buy one sooner. The Wave Portable Air Conditioner is available at $300 off for $1,199, while the most

A major feature on Twitch is finally coming to YouTube. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is launching gifted memberships in beta, and they’ll be available for select channels beginning Wednesday. Memberships are YouTube’s take on Twitch’s subscriptions, which viewers can use to show financial support for creators and get access to certain perks like custom emoji. Twitch users have been able to buy gift subscriptions for some time, but if you’ve wanted to buy gift memberships to other fans of a YouTube channel, you haven’t been able to. The memberships gifting beta will be available to a “small group of creators” to start and will be expanded to more “over the next several months,” YouTube says on a page about the feature . Channels interested in trying the feature can fill out this Google Form , though you’ll need to already be eligible to enable memberships in the first place, which has its own set of requirements . And gifting will only be available for viewers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla is recalling 130,000 cars due to an issue causing the CPU in vehicles’ infotainment systems to overheat during fast charging, potentially making the car’s touchscreen malfunction or go completely blank (via The Associated Press ). The electric car maker started rolling out an over-the-air update (OTA) on May 3rd to fix the issue on affected vehicles, which include the 2022 Model 3 and Y, as well as the 2021 and 2022 Model X and S. “During fast-charging or preparation for fast-charging, the infotainment central processing unit (“CPU”) may not cool sufficiently to prevent higher than expected temperatures, which may cause the CPU to slow processing or restart,” the recall notice from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reads. “Slower processing or restarted processing could cause the center screen display to lag or appear blank.” The recall doesn’t explain exactly what caused the problem or how the software update

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images I have been told to blog about Senator Josh Hawley’s new copyright bill , and I do this with nothing but the greatest reluctance. Normally, I love talking about copyright! I’ll talk about copyright all day long! [Ed note: And she does.] But writing this post is agony, because the thought of giving this absolutely asinine piece of legislation any attention is killing me on the inside. This is a deeply unserious bill. There is not a line in it that is meant to pass muster. It is knowingly in violation of the Constitution , and an insult to the democratic process. In brief, the bill is targeted at the Walt Disney Company, also known as, a person that (i) has a market capitalization of more than $150,000,000,000; and (ii)(I) is classified under North American Industry Classification System code 5121 or 71; or (II) engages in substantial activities for which a code described in subclause (I) could be assigned. The bill would set copy

Image: Google TV Last fall, Google announced a key improvement to devices running its Google TV front end with personalized access so that each user in a home could have individual profiles with their own recommendations and Assistant responses . In December, that feature was delayed until “the coming months,” and it’s still nowhere to be found; however, 9to5Google reports glanceable cards for Google TV’s ambient mode screen saver that were also announced at the same time are starting to roll out. When they were announced in October, Google showed a version of the UI (the picture above) with large personalized cards scrolling across the middle of the screen. They could display information like weather, sports scores, and news or toss in shortcuts to content you might like, including podcast episodes, music, and photos. Image: 9to5Google The new Google TV screen saver On the devices where it’s showing up so far, however, 9to5Google mentions that it actually looks a bit diffe

Image: Canoo Canoo, the struggling electric vehicle startup, thinks it’s about to run out of money. In stark terms, the company reports that it only has enough cash to last another quarter and is unsure whether it will be able to stay afloat beyond that. “As of the date of this announcement, we are reporting that there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” the company states in its first-quarter earnings report. “there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern” Canoo was founded in late 2017 when former BMW executive Stefan Krause left then-struggling EV startup Faraday Future. Krause and some of the other executives who co-founded Canoo — which was then called Evelozcity — were sued by Faraday Future for poaching employees and allegedly stealing trade secrets , though the lawsuit was settled in late 2018 . The automaker has several EVs in the works, including the MPDV , a multi-purpose delivery

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook is discontinuing several services that tracked your real-time location — including Nearby Friends, weather alerts, location history, and background location — due to “low usage,” as spotted by 9to5Mac . In a notification sent to people who’ve used the feature in the past, Facebook says it will stop collecting data associated with these features on May 31st and will wipe any stored data on August 1st. Facebook parent company Meta confirmed the news to The Verge . “While we’re deprecating some location-based features on Facebook due to low usage, people can still use Location Services to manage how their location information is collected and used,” spokesperson Emil Vazquez said in an emailed statement. This doesn’t mean that Facebook will stop collecting location data altogether This doesn’t mean that Facebook will stop collecting location data altogether, though. As stated in its note to users, Facebook says it will “continue col

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple is giving engineers based in China more responsibility in managing its hardware manufacturing processes, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal . Before the pandemic, Apple frequently sent US-based engineers to the country to help oversee development, but the report says the company now leans more on China-based engineers given increased border restrictions due to COVID-19. However, Apple’s US-based engineers are still involved with overseas development efforts remotely, according to The Wall Street Journal ’s report: The iPhone maker has also adopted some technology, including live-streaming, that helps staff based at its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., remotely follow what’s happening on China’s factory floors, the people said. Apple has used iPads to communicate and augmented-reality tools to help technical experts in Cupertino check factory issues, one of the people said. And “key decisions” and product desig

Image: Alex Castro / The Verge On Monday, the Biden administration announced a new partnership with 20 broadband providers, including AT&T and Verizon, to improve their subsidized high-speed internet plans made available to low-income Americans. The move bolsters the Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides a $30 per month subsidy to cover the cost Americans pay for internet service ($75 per month on tribal lands). The program was finalized last November as part of Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law and the $65 billion investment it made to increase connectivity across the country. “Access to the internet is essential for success” “In the 21st century, access to the internet is essential for success. Every person in our nation, no matter how much they earn, should be able to afford high-speed internet and a high-speed internet plan,” Vice President Kamala Harris said during Monday’s announcement. In a fact sheet provided by th

Kevin Feige's Star Wars movie is being written by Loki scribe Michael Waldron, the writer has confirmed. Waldron, whose writing credits also include Doctor Strange 2 , Heels, and Rick and Morty , revealed that he has started work on the Star Wars flick that Feige is set to produce. Back in January 2021, Deadline claimed that Waldron had been tapped to pen the script to the untitled Lucasfilm movie project. Over a year on from that report, Waldron officially confirmed his involvement in the forthcoming film, telling Deadline's Hero Nation podcast that he passed up the chance to return as head writer on another Marvel Phase 4 project due to his Star Wars commitments. "It's been reported – and I've talked about this – that Eric Martin has taken over as head writer on [Loki] season 2 . Eric was my second in command through season 1... and obviously I've been busy off writing this little Star Wars movie as well. And yeah, that's been made by another guy

One of the perks of owning a Pixel phone is that – as well as new Android versions and security patches – you also get a quarterly Pixel Feature Drop, which includes new features and improvements, and June’s drop has got some people extremely excited. The beta is available now, and that’s led Reddit user schrombear_23 to discover that Google has brought back the vibration mode icon on the status bar, so that you can see at a glance whether your phone is on vibrate. This is an incredibly small change but also an extremely useful one, since no one wants their phone loudly ringing at an inopportune moment, and with this you can instantly be sure that your handset will only vibrate. It’s a feature that the Pixel line used to have, but which for some reason was removed a while ago. (Image credit: schrombear_23) But Google has gone slightly beyond just adding the icon. It’s also added a toggle to the sound and vibration settings screen, which lets you hide the vibrate icon if f

At one point or another, creating an online presence is something that should have crossed almost everyone’s mind. Why? Because everything we do in this day and age revolves around the web.  Higher growth potential and a wider pool of consumers for businesses can all be attained if the right website is made. When it comes to creating a solid online presence,the best   website builder services and web hosting providers are key ingredients to making that happen. Finding the right tools is imperative to your online success, but you need to know what you’re looking for. So if you are starting up a website and are scouring through website builders, here’s 10 things you need to know and look out for before you lock in and purchase. 1. Pricing and renewal cost  It is important to have a rough budget of what you are willing to spend on a website builder in order for things not to get out of hand, say if a renewal cost varies from the original price you paid to purchase the service. For