No two tech executives are quite as enigmatic and private as Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The two men, who started Google more than 20 years ago while computer science graduate students at Stanford University, have hardly been seen or heard from in the last half-decade or so, since restructuring the company to create Google parent Alphabet and leaving Sundar Pichai in charge of a newly streamlined Google.Yet on Tuesday afternoon, Page and Brin dropped a bombshell announcement: they’re relinquishing control of Alphabet to current Google CEO Sundar Pichai as well, and...…No two tech executives are quite as enigmatic and private as Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The two men, who started Google more than 20 years ago while computer science graduate students at Stanford University, have hardly been seen or heard from in the last half-decade or so, since restructuring the company to create Google parent Alphabet and leaving Sundar Pichai in charge of a newly streamlined Google.Yet on Tuesday afternoon, Page and Brin dropped a bombshell announcement: they’re relinquishing control of Alphabet to current Google CEO Sundar Pichai as well, and...WW…

The Verge logo. Apple announced at WWDC this week that you’ll be able to add a digital car key to your iPhone or Apple Watch to wirelessly unlock and start your car. The feature is part of the , and it will work over NFC, Apple says. The first car supported will be the new 2021 BMW 5 Series, which comes out next month, and Apple says it’s working on an industry-wide standard that would use its new U1 ultra wideband chip instead of relying solely on NFC. Once you’ve paired your iPhone or Apple Watch with a car that supports the digital car keys, if you want to unlock your car, you’ll just...…The Verge logo. Apple announced at WWDC this week that you’ll be able to add a digital car key to your iPhone or Apple Watch to wirelessly unlock and start your car. The feature is part of the , and it will work over NFC, Apple says. The first car supported will be the new 2021 BMW 5 Series, which comes out next month, and Apple says it’s working on an industry-wide standard that would use its new U1 ultra wideband chip instead of relying solely on NFC. Once you’ve paired your iPhone or Apple Watch with a car that supports the digital car keys, if you want to unlock your car, you’ll just...WW…

The Verge logo. The Twitter accounts of major companies and individuals were compromised on Wednesday in one of the most widespread and confounding breaches the platform has ever seen, all in service of promoting a bitcoin scam that earned its creators nearly $120,000. , including one from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, are now actively probing the situation over far a deeper concern: that the exploited vulnerability in Twitter’s systems — a result it seems of mid-level employees having powerful access to site-wide admin tools that can fall into the wrong hands — has exposed serious...…The Verge logo. The Twitter accounts of major companies and individuals were compromised on Wednesday in one of the most widespread and confounding breaches the platform has ever seen, all in service of promoting a bitcoin scam that earned its creators nearly $120,000. , including one from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, are now actively probing the situation over far a deeper concern: that the exploited vulnerability in Twitter’s systems — a result it seems of mid-level employees having powerful access to site-wide admin tools that can fall into the wrong hands — has exposed serious...WW…

The Verge logo. Yahoo Answers, one of the longest-running and most storied web Q&A platforms in the history of the internet, is shutting down on May 4th. That’s the day the Yahoo Answers website will start redirecting to the Yahoo homepage, and all of the platform’s archives will apparently cease to exist. The platform has been operating since 2005, and in the years since its relevance as a meme haven has remained intact while its practicality as a forum has waned during the rise of Reddit, Quora, and other competing internet hangouts. Yahoo, which is now part of Verizon Media Group...…The Verge logo. Yahoo Answers, one of the longest-running and most storied web Q&A platforms in the history of the internet, is shutting down on May 4th. That’s the day the Yahoo Answers website will start redirecting to the Yahoo homepage, and all of the platform’s archives will apparently cease to exist. The platform has been operating since 2005, and in the years since its relevance as a meme haven has remained intact while its practicality as a forum has waned during the rise of Reddit, Quora, and other competing internet hangouts. Yahoo, which is now part of Verizon Media Group...WW…

The Verge logo. Amazon is intensifying its bizarre online public relations strategy of picking increasingly petty fights with sitting US Congress members, with the company’s Amazon News account on Friday shifting targets from Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). “You make the tax laws @SenWarren; we just follow them. If you don’t like the laws you’ve created, by all means, change them. Here are the facts: Amazon has paid billions of dollars in corporate taxes over the past few years alone,” the account tweeted Thursday in response to a...…The Verge logo. Amazon is intensifying its bizarre online public relations strategy of picking increasingly petty fights with sitting US Congress members, with the company’s Amazon News account on Friday shifting targets from Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). “You make the tax laws @SenWarren; we just follow them. If you don’t like the laws you’ve created, by all means, change them. Here are the facts: Amazon has paid billions of dollars in corporate taxes over the past few years alone,” the account tweeted Thursday in response to a...WW…

The Verge logo. If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. DoorDash has partnered with two US-based digital health companies, Vault Health and Everlywell, to help distribute at-home COVID-19 test kits across the country, the company announced on Monday. The partnerships will allow DoorDash customers to order the testing kits directly from the company’s app in 12 markets or, conversely, to order the kits from in 20 markets with same-day delivery from DoorDash. Both kits contain polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which is a molecular test and considered the...…The Verge logo. If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. DoorDash has partnered with two US-based digital health companies, Vault Health and Everlywell, to help distribute at-home COVID-19 test kits across the country, the company announced on Monday. The partnerships will allow DoorDash customers to order the testing kits directly from the company’s app in 12 markets or, conversely, to order the kits from in 20 markets with same-day delivery from DoorDash. Both kits contain polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which is a molecular test and considered the...WW…

The Verge logo. Amazon is expanding an existing program that gamifies warehouse work to encourage its fulfillment center employees to improve their efficiency and compete against others for digital rewards like virtual pets, according to a . The program is called FC Games, and it includes as many as six arcade-style mini-games that can be played only by completing warehouse tasks in the workplace. It’s been that Amazon uses gamification in the form of workstation games to try to incentivize employees to improve productivity, but The Information reports that Amazon is now expanding those...…The Verge logo. Amazon is expanding an existing program that gamifies warehouse work to encourage its fulfillment center employees to improve their efficiency and compete against others for digital rewards like virtual pets, according to a . The program is called FC Games, and it includes as many as six arcade-style mini-games that can be played only by completing warehouse tasks in the workplace. It’s been that Amazon uses gamification in the form of workstation games to try to incentivize employees to improve productivity, but The Information reports that Amazon is now expanding those...WW…

The Verge logo. Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass platform received a huge boost with the across Xbox consoles, PC, and xCloud last week. And now, a quarter of those games are getting performance boosts on the next-gen Xbox consoles in a new update. The performance gains are in frame rate, thanks to an appropriately named , which can roughly double frame rates of older games using new Xbox hardware without requiring developers to do any manual work. The games seeing performance boosts with frame rate jumps up to 60 frames per second include Arkane Studios’ Dishonored: Definitive Edition and Prey...…The Verge logo. Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass platform received a huge boost with the across Xbox consoles, PC, and xCloud last week. And now, a quarter of those games are getting performance boosts on the next-gen Xbox consoles in a new update. The performance gains are in frame rate, thanks to an appropriately named , which can roughly double frame rates of older games using new Xbox hardware without requiring developers to do any manual work. The games seeing performance boosts with frame rate jumps up to 60 frames per second include Arkane Studios’ Dishonored: Definitive Edition and Prey...WW…

The Verge logo. The Arizona House of Representatives just passed landmark app store legislation in a 31-29 vote on Wednesday that could have far-reaching consequences for Apple and Google and their respective mobile operating systems. The legislation, a , prevents app store operators from forcing a developer based in the state to use a preferred payment system, putting up a significant roadblock to Apple and Google’s ability to collect commissions on in-app purchases and app sales. It will now head to the state senate, where it must pass before its sent to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey. The...…The Verge logo. The Arizona House of Representatives just passed landmark app store legislation in a 31-29 vote on Wednesday that could have far-reaching consequences for Apple and Google and their respective mobile operating systems. The legislation, a , prevents app store operators from forcing a developer based in the state to use a preferred payment system, putting up a significant roadblock to Apple and Google’s ability to collect commissions on in-app purchases and app sales. It will now head to the state senate, where it must pass before its sent to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey. The...WW…

Robots are inevitably going to automate millions of jobs in the US and around the world, but there’s an even more complex scenario on the horizon, said roboticist Matt Rendall. In a talk Tuesday at SXSW, Rendall painted a picture of the future of robotic job displacement that focused less on automation and more on the realistic ways in which the robotics industry will reshape global manufacturing.The takeaway was that America, which has outsourced much of its manufacturing and lacks serious investment in industrial robotics, may miss out on the world’s next radical shift in how goods are...…Robots are inevitably going to automate millions of jobs in the US and around the world, but there’s an even more complex scenario on the horizon, said roboticist Matt Rendall. In a talk Tuesday at SXSW, Rendall painted a picture of the future of robotic job displacement that focused less on automation and more on the realistic ways in which the robotics industry will reshape global manufacturing.The takeaway was that America, which has outsourced much of its manufacturing and lacks serious investment in industrial robotics, may miss out on the world’s next radical shift in how goods are...WW…