China’s electric vehicle upstart Nio has joined Tesla in sourcing raw materials directly from mines rather than its own battery suppliers as soaring prices of lithium, a critical component of EV batteries, hurt manufacturers’ supply chain stability and bottom lines. Lithium carbonate prices in China hit a record 501,500 yuan/tonne in September, tripling the number … Read more
Tumblr announced a “community labels” feature this week that will make it easier for bloggers to filter out sensitive content that they may not want to see. Now, users can tag posts with labels pertaining to drug and alcohol addiction, violence and sexual content. Tumblr stopped allowing pornography in 2018 after the Tumblr app was temporarily … Read more
Now that the U.S. has finally committed to electrifying cars and trucks, there’s been a lot of handwringing over where they’ll charge. The Biden administration just approved all 50 states’ plans for where to install DC fast chargers, and while those plans will help fill massive infrastructure gaps, those chargers won’t be nearly enough to … Read more
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You can set up your username right from the games tab in the Android app. | Image: Netflix Netflix is officially introducing gamertag-style handles subscribers can use in its mobile games. The company first began rolling out handles that will be shown in multiplayer games and on online leaderboards in some games last month, but … Read more
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Image Credits: TechCrunch The crypto world has never shied away from making big promises, but as the industry matures and its audience widens, now’s a good time to take a step back and look at how the space is delivering on its vision. Welcome to Chain Reaction, where we unpack and explain the latest in crypto … Read more
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Some of the most prominent women in venture capital descended upon Paris this week for the first-ever Women in VC Summit, European edition. The event, organized by investors Sophie Winwood, Ruth Foxe Blader and Clarisse Lam, brought together top minds to discuss creating a more inclusive and equitable venture landscape. The conference was open only to … Read more
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Apple’s latest iPadOS 16 developer beta brings Stage Manager to older iPad Pro models, as an M1 chip is no longer required. Stage Manager, which offers easier multitasking and switching between apps, was previously only compatible with the M1-powered iPad Air and the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models released last year. Now, the feature … Read more
If you love a great comeback story, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more dramatic one than Parker Conrad, the former CEO of Zenefits. A legendary Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur, Conrad took Zenefits on a meteoric rise to a $4.5 billion valuation just three years after launching the company in 2013. But there is rarely … Read more
Currently, the wallet only supports Polygon — no relation to Vox Media’s gaming-focused publication. | Image: Robinhood Robinhood has launched the beta for its “Web3 wallet” for 10,000 iOS users who signed up for the waitlist. The company teased this product earlier this year after making an earlier crypto wallet more broadly available. Unlike its … Read more
YouTube Shorts continues to compete with TikTok by adding loads of new features that are popular on the other app. Today, the Google-owned platform is rolling out a narration voiceover feature on iOS, a tool that is already often used on TikTok. Creators use narration to add commentary on top of already-recorded videos. Such content … Read more
Stage Manager is coming to some older iPad Pros. | Photo by Brennan King / The Verge In a major turnaround, Apple is bringing Stage Manager, one of iPadOS’s signature new features, to more iPads. Stage Manager, a new multitasking system, was previously set to be available only on iPads with M1 chips. Now, however, … Read more
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The Ethereum system upgrade known as the Merge was executed about two weeks ago. And while things have been running smoothly, not everyone is impressed by the upgrade. Cardano founder and CEO Charles Hoskinson is among them, telling TechCrunch he didn’t expect Ethereum’s design of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) to be “as rough as it is.” Prior … Read more
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Netflix announced today it’s introducing a new feature to its games service that will allow its members to create game handles when they’re playing its exclusive titles. TechCrunch had previously reported the feature was in development and had been quietly tested on select titles, including The Breach, Bowling Ballers, Mahjong Solitaire and Heads Up. Now, … Read more
Image: Intel Samsung Display and Intel are working on “slidable” PCs. During Intel’s Innovation keynote today, Samsung Display CEO JS Choi appeared onstage to show off a prototype PC that slides from a 13-inch tablet into a 17-inch display. “We’re announcing the world’s first 17-inch slidable display for PCs,” said Choi. “This device will satisfy … Read more
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Image: Blizzard The launch date of Overwatch 2 slowly approaches, bringing with it a new battle pass, a new hero, and, announced today in a blog post, a new anti-cheat, community protection, and moderation tool called the Defense Matrix. Named after the D.Va ability that allows her to absorb and negate incoming attacks, the Defense … Read more