Tech Talk

We were somewhat disappointed with the lack of face unlock functionality on the Google Pixel 6 and Google Pixel 6 Pro when they launched last year – but as work continues on the Pixel 7, it looks as though the feature might make it to the older phones too. Sources speaking to the usually reliable 9to5Google say that Google engineers are working on a face unlock feature for the Pixel 6 that makes use of its fingerprint sensor. The idea is that a fingerprint scan could be used in combination with a face scan, when the results of the face scan aren't conclusive enough. That's not ideal, but it would mean face unlock could be brought to both the Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro without any additional hardware – despite the Pixel 6 having an inferior selfie camera that can't scan faces as quickly or as comprehensively. The Pixel 7 too Leaked marketing materials suggested that Google originally planned to bring face unlock to the Pixel 6 Pro, but it didn't make it in the e

At the moment, if you switch to a new smartphone and you're sticking with the same Wear OS smartwatch , your only (officially supported) option is to reset the watch and start again from scratch. That's not an ideal scenario – but it looks as though help is on the way. As spotted by XDA Developers , there's now code in the Google Play Services app for Android that references being able to back up Wear OS data to Google One in the cloud, before syncing it back to the wearable (presumably after a phone switch). There's now a "Back up your device with Google One" text string, for example, together with the option to choose a Google account to use for the backup. From the code that's been spotted before, it looks as though this will be an opt-in feature. The waiting game From what we know so far, there's no indication of when the feature might find its way to users. Google hasn't said anything officially, and it's not clear how much of a prior

Image: Ginsor ( Twitter ) Bungie appears to be getting ready to add Fortnite skins to Destiny 2 . After Fortnite leaker MidaRado teased a potential Destiny 2 collab over the weekend, Ginsor — a well-known Destiny dataminer — has confirmed the crossover with an image showing off several classic Fortnite skins in Destiny 2 . The image, which was likely obtained from Bungie’s own website, includes a Titan armor set that looks very much like the Black Knight skin that was originally obtainable from the season pass of Fortnite season 2. Destiny ’s Warlock is also shown with a Fortnite -like Drift Mask, and the Hunter looks very much like Fortnite ’s Omega skin. It’s not clear how Destiny 2 players will be able to obtain these Fortnite skins, or when they’ll be part of the game. It’s more than likely that the Fortnite skins will be universal ornaments in Destiny 2 , so players can apply them to any armor sets and customize characters. Rumors also suggest Fortnite could also g

The UFC heads to Utah on Saturday, with a rematch between Kamaru Usman and Leon Edwards that many MMA fans will feel is long overdue. The two fighters faced each other early in their UFC careers back in 2015. Usman came out on top that evening, but both men have gone on to improve significantly in the intervening years.  So read on to discover how to watch a UFC 278 live stream online with ESPN+ hosting exclusive coverage in the US . Watch UFC 278: live stream Usman vs Edwards Date: Saturday, August 20 Main card time: 10pm ET / 7pm PT / 3am BST / 12pm AEDT Venue: The Vivint Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah Live stream: ESPN Plus PPV (US) / BT Sport (UK) / DAZN (DE/IT/ES)/ Kayo PPV (Aus) Usman is the present welterweight champ and pound-for-pound king of the Octagon, currently enjoying a 19-bout winning streak. Edwards has been on a similarly impressive victory run of nine straight wins, with his last taste of defeat coming against his opponent here. Alongside the hea

FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) slapped the Sam Bankman-Fried-owned cryptocurrency exchange FTX with a cease-and-desist order over “false and misleading statements” that suggest its assets are FDIC-insured. The FDIC doesn’t cover stocks or crypto, and only safeguards funds held in insured bank accounts. In a letter to the exchange , the FDIC points to a now-deleted tweet from FTX president Brett Harrison, which states “direct deposits from employers to FTX US are stored in individually FDIC-insured bank accounts in the users’ names.” The referenced tweet also says that “stocks are held in FDIC-insured and SIPC [Security Investor Protection Corporation]-insured brokerage accounts.” The FDIC claims this falsely represents that FTX and the funds invested by users are FDIC-insured when they’re really not. While not flagged in the FDIC’s letter, users have also pointed out another potentially misleading tweet from Harrison that

We don't know exactly when the Google Pixel 7 and Google Pixel 7 Pro are going to get a full launch – September or October seem like good bets – but in the meantime a hands on video showing off prototypes of both phones has emerged. The revealing video is from Unbox Therapy (via 9to5Google ) and gives us a good long look at both the standard and premium versions of Google's upcoming flagship. However, there's no working software on these devices, which appear to be developer handsets. While it's important to remember that these aren't retail versions of the phones, the specs could well carry over: we've got 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage on the Pixel 7, and that goes up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage on the Pixel 7 Pro. Sizes and weights Both phones get compared to their predecessors, the Google Pixel 6 and the Google Pixel 6 Pro , though there are really only minor tweaks when it comes to the design, with a few small differences in terms of dimen

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Elon Musk’s bot-baiting aside, Twitter has had many people call for changes to how it identifies accounts and what can be done to call out which ones are more legit than others. Now engineer Jane Manchun Wong has dug up a Twitter label that would put a mark on accounts with a verified phone number. She also noted another test feature showing view counts for tweets, which some users already have access to for their own tweets under the label of “analytics.” However, she said it’s unclear if this would be limited to the author or visible to everyone. Linking an account to a number is one way to highlight that it was created with more effort than the simplest macro and could be used to filter out which tweets appear the most prominently or make it through the various levels of quality filters. Twitter also allows people to have the same phone number associated with up to ten different accounts , while developers can label automated accounts