Microsoft adds Startup Boost, Sleeping Tabs to Edge build 89

Enlarge / We're not sure why Chromium-based Edge's branding seems so thoroughly wet. (credit: Microsoft) This week, Microsoft announced several more features trickling down to Edge Stable from its Beta insider channel. These features include Startup Boost, Sleeping Tabs, Vertical Tabs, and a more navigable History dialog. The company also announced...

5h

Visual Studio Code now runs natively on M1 Macs

Enlarge / The 2020, M1-equipped Mac mini. (credit: Samuel Axon) Microsoft has released a new version of source-code editor Visual Studio Code that runs natively on Apple Silicon Macs like the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini models with Apple M1 chips. The change came in Visual Studio Code 1.54 (now 1.54.1, thanks to a bug fix update), which...

6h

Proposed law could force ISPs to stop hiding true size of monthly bills

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | McCaig) Internet service providers could be required to release "broadband nutrition labels" with detailed information about prices, speeds, and data caps under legislation introduced by US Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.). Craig's "Broadband Consumer Transparency Act" would bring back expanded transparency requirements...

6h

Torvalds warns the world: Don’t use the Linux 5.12-rc1 kernel

Enlarge / Penguins aren't all equally trustworthy. (credit: Bernard Spragg) In a message to the Linux Kernel Mailing List yesterday, founding developer Linus Torvalds warned the world not to use the 5.12-rc1 kernel in his public git tree. Hey peeps - some of you may have already noticed that in my public git tree, the "v5.12-rc1" tag has magically...

7h

White House signals coming antitrust push with Tim Wu appointment

Enlarge / The White House South Lawn, which is unfortunately not the view most folks working for a presidential administration have. (credit: Joe Daniel Price | Getty Images) Longtime tech critic Tim Wu is joining the Biden administration as an adviser on technology and competition, a signal that the White House is likely to push for policies that...

8h

How to beat Paper Mario really fast by… playing Ocarina of Time?

Probably the only Paper Mario speedrun you've ever seen that includes extensive Ocarina of Time gameplay. The idea of using video games as a way to achieve some form of Arbitrary Code Execution (ACE) on classic hardware has come a long way since seven years ago, when TASbot publicly reprogrammed a Super NES on the fly via Super Mario World. There...

8h

Under intense pressure, WHO skips summary report on coronavirus origin

Enlarge / Liang Wannian (2nd L) and Peter Ben Embarek (3rd R) both members of the WHO-China joint study team, shake hands after the WHO-China joint study press conference in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, on Feb. 9, 2021. (credit: Getty | Xinhua News Agency ) Facing intense international pressure and criticism, the World Health Organization...

9h

The Toyota Highlander hybrid is a big three-row with a buzzy engine

This is the 2021 Toyota Highlander hybrid, one of the few three-row SUVs you can buy with a hybrid powertrain. I'm not quite sure exactly when the three-row SUV became the American family car, but we're firmly in that era now. The country has always liked its vehicles to be big, and the extra height of an...

9h

Typing my way down the mechanical keyboard rabbit hole with the Drop CTRL

It's a beauty: The Drop CTRL keyboard [credit: Iljitsch van Beijnum ] The keyboard is one of the two parts of a computer setup where flesh and blood meet plastic and metal. (The other being the mouse or trackpad.) Using a keyboard effectively...

10h

Rocket Report: SpaceX explains landing failure, more on New Glenn delays

Enlarge / In mid-February, a Falcon 9 launch was successful, but the first stage failed to land. (credit: SpaceX) Welcome to Edition 3.35 of the Rocket Report! There is an incredible amount of launch news this week, but I want to start with this: my new book on the origins of SpaceX, Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX,...

14h