Google may be working on persistent notifications similar to its phone call status pictured here. | Photo: Wes Davis / The Verge Android 16 may come with a new “Rich Ongoing Notifications” feature that lets developers keep persistent notifications in the Android status bar, according to Android 15 beta code discovered by Android Authority’s Mishaal Rahman, who frequently dives into code to surface coming features.Right now, the code enables adding a pill-shaped icon with custom text and background color to the Android status bar. Some mock notifications Rahman created show how it could be used for things like telling you when to expect your Uber to arrive. Android has already had a feature like this since Android 12 that lets you know how long you’ve been on a phone call, Rahman notes. Screenshot: Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority A... Continue reading…

Everyone generates a huge amount of data daily, and it needs to be stored securely in our devices' storage. But whether that's an external drive used on a Mac, a hard drive inside a NAS, or an SSD inside a Windows PC, our storage drives won't last forever, even if we want our data to. There are many utilities for checking the built-in S.M.A.R.T. monitoring data that every hard drive and SSD produces, but how often should you check that data to avoid failing drives? Let's answer that, and show you which tools to use to check your hard drive's health.

A Lyft sign taken in January 2023 at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. | Photo: Mat Hayward / Getty Images The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Friday that rideshare company Lyft has agreed to pay $2.1 million as part of a proposed settlement that requires it to change how it advertises driver pay. The company routinely advertised that drivers could make “specific hourly amounts” — in one instance, claiming earnings of “up to $33” per hour for driving in Atlanta — that were based not on an average, but on what the top fifth of drivers made, according to the Commission. The company also apparently included tips in those figures.Such moves “overinflated the actual earnings achieved by most drivers by as much as 30%,” writes the FTC, which says the company now must base potential pay claims on what drivers typically make, instead. And... Continue reading…

Image: Loops The fediverse answer to TikTok is on its way. Signups opened this week for Loops, a short-form looping video app from the creator of Instagram alternative Pixelfed, reports TechCrunch. Users who’ve signed up can post up to 60 seconds of video, according to details shared by developer Daniel Supernault on Mastodon. He added that using sounds and remixing others’ videos is coming, as are pinned profile videos, and that users will be able to “curate” their comment sections. Videos can be categorized, but hashtags and mentions aren’t yet supported.The Loops Pixelfed account has posted videos like the one below of Loops in action. Supernault has posted screenshots and screen recordings, as well. Creating an account isn’t instantaneous... Continue reading…

Image: Remedy Entertainment Remedy’s latest release is connective tissue for its growing video game universe. Continue reading…

The graphics processing unit (GPU) or graphics card is vital for your gaming PC. It's the part that handles all the heavy work in games, allowing you to enjoy all your favorite titles. The more powerful (and expensive) the GPU, the better your PC will be able to play games at higher resolutions. The goal is to have as many frames per second at your desired resolution as possible with no frame drops and low latency. This creates the best gaming experience, but you'll need to buy a discrete GPU. This is where our collection of the best GPUs for the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K comes into play.

It feels like every week we see someone try to squeeze an operating system on an unorthodox device, and this one is no different. This time around, someone has documented how they managed to get macOS on a Steam Deck, showing off their progress in a YouTube video. The best part is, this isn't even the first time he has done something like this.

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images Governor Tim Walz is returning to Twitch and this time, he’ll actually be playing a game. Earlier this month, Kamala Harris’ campaign teamed up with a Twitch streamer to live-stream a Walz rally as part of a World of Warcraft stream. But on Sunday afternoon, Walz will be playing Madden NFL on Twitch with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY).Like with live-streaming the Walz rally alongside WoW, the idea with this Madden livestream is to try to reach young men, a demographic that Trump polls relatively high with.Ocasio-Cortez is already well-known for her huge Among Us stream ahead of the 2020 election and a stream in July 2023 where she played Pico Park and Gartic Phone. (She’s a fan of League of Legends, too.) But while Walz is a k... Continue reading…

Fear the Spotlight. | Image: Blumhouse Games More than most genres, survival horror feels rooted in time. It started with the methodical Resident Evil on the original PlayStation and is defined in part by limitation — a slow pace, grimy visuals, and scant resources to help amplify the scares. Many of those elements stemmed from the early, awkward days of 3D gaming, whether it was Resident Evil’s clunky controls, which made zombie chases more terrifying, or Silent Hill’s fog, which lent an iconic atmosphere while also letting the developers get around technical limitations of the time.And a few decades later, developers are still finding ways to bring the most important elements of those games — namely, the mood and scares — to modern horror without feeling dated.The most obvious... Continue reading…

Many of us have to use a Windows 11 PC day in and day out for work, and while that's just a standard for modern society, it doesn't mean it's good for your health. Looking at a screen all day is going to wear down your eyes and cause discomfort, so you need to take some preventive measures.

If you're looking to build a NAS (or buy one) and want to make sure that your data is safe and secure, then there are a few ways to approach that while making sure that your data is okay no matter what happens. There are different ways to approach it, but they all basically achieve the same thing in backing up your NAS.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Apple got a mixed victory in a patent infringement lawsuit against medical device maker Masimo. On Friday, a federal jury determined that Masimo had infringed on some Apple patents, and as part of the verdict, Apple was awarded $250 — yes, just $250 — as a statutory remedy for Masimo’s infringement.$250 is the statutory minimum damages for the alleged infringement and Apple had sought that figure, Bloomberg Law reports. “We’re not here for the money,” Apple attorney John Desmarais said to jurors in closing arguments, according to the publication.Masimo’s W1 smartwatch, Freedom smartwatch, and health module infringed on one patent, while Masimo’s charger infringed on another, per the verdict form. The jury also found that Masimo’s... Continue reading…