No Man’s Sky updates are going strong with Starfield around the corner

August 24, 2023
With a big budget space exploration game debuting in days, indie spacefaring mainstay No Man’s Sky continues to deepen its own world with no signs of slowing down. No Man’s Sky is one of gaming’s biggest unlikely success stories: After launching as a widespread letdown, the team at Hello Games dedicated themselves to steadily enriching […]

Astropad’s latest is a combo iPad screen protector/Apple Pencil Tip

August 24, 2023
One thing you can definitely say about Astropad: they didn’t let a good old fashioned Sherlocking keep them down. Over the years, new Apple features have scorched the earth of many a startup, and while the introduction of Sidecar for macOS certainly knocked the company for a loop, they learned an important lesson about diversifying. […]

Social media giants urged to tackle data-scraping privacy risks

August 24, 2023
A joint statement signed by regulators at a dozen international privacy watchdogs, including the UK’s ICO, Canada’s OPC and Hong Kong’s OPCPD, has urged mainstream social media platforms to protect users’ public posts from scraping — warning they face a legal responsibility to do so in most markets. “In most jurisdictions, personal information that is […]

Starbucks is experimenting with ‘scanless checkout’ for drive-through users

August 24, 2023
Starbucks is testing a new way for customers to pay for their favorite beverages — without even having to pull out their phone. The company confirmed an internal test of “scanless pay,” a new contactless checkout method that would leverage a Starbucks app’s user’s current geolocation to identify them in the drive-through lane so they […]

Amazon brings new AI-driven features to Thursday Night Football

August 24, 2023
As Amazon’s Prime Video gears up for its second year as the exclusive rights holder to NFL’s Thursday Night Football (TNF), the streaming service hopes to give fans a more enhanced viewing experience with a slew of new AI-driven features. During a demo with Prime Video executives, TechCrunch learned about the AI elements coming to […]

Sony is buying gaming headphone maker, Audeze

August 24, 2023
Sony Interactive Entertainment (basically the PlayStation wing) today announced plans to acquire Audeze. The Orange Country, CA-based firm is best known for its high-end headphones, targeted at gamers and audio producers. Sony has confirmed the deal with TechCrunch. In a release announcing the news, the companies are quick to note that operating under the Sony […]

X (Twitter) blocked links to a Democratic political tool for a week

August 24, 2023
Formerly known as Twitter, the social platform X temporarily blocked links to EveryAction’s NGP VAN, possibly the most popular political organizing software for Democratic and progressive campaigns. For a week, links to volunteer event signups, donation portals and other resources for left-leaning political causes were unable to be shared on the platform, limiting their reach. […]