Amazon enforces TikTok ban on employee phones due to “security risks”

Enlarge / A person using the video-sharing application TikTok on a smartphone in Faridabad in India on June 30, 2020. (credit: AFP) Amazon ordered employees to delete TikTok from their phones today, citing "security risks." Amazon's email to employees did not specify what security risks the company is worried about or whether TikTok has already...

14m

Review: Charlize Theron shines as a world-weary immortal in The Old Guard

Andy (Charlize Theron) and her right-hand man Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts), aka Sebastian le Livre. [credit: Netflix ] Four immortal warriors who have secretly protected humanity for centuries become targeted by a corporate CEO keen...

45m

For the second time in a year, Amazon Games puts a new title into hiding

Enlarge / An ominous explosion of a previous release window, as seen in this New World obelisk. (credit: Amazon Games) After years of fumbling with game launches, mostly in the mobile and free-to-play sector, Amazon Game Studios seemed poised to make a splash in 2020 with two major new games with heavy online components. Today, that count drops back...

1h

IBM has a problem with Google’s Open Usage Commons

Enlarge / Nobody from IBM is proposing any lawsuits over Google's addition of Istio to its new Open Usage Commons foundation. But they're not happy about it. (credit: Nick Youngson) This Wednesday, Google announced a new open source initiative—the Open Usage Commons, a sort of stewardship project for open source trademarks. The move drew immediate...

1h

Google’s new Nest smart speaker is all cloth

The new Google Nest smart speaker. This is an official photo from Google. [credit: Google ] Say hello to Google's next smart speaker, which is expected to be a replacement for the original Google Home. Earlier this week, the speaker leaked...

1h

Charter’s hidden “Broadcast TV” fee now adds $197 a year to cable bills

(credit: Getty Images | DonNichols) Charter Communications is raising the "Broadcast TV" fee it imposes on cable plans from $13.50 to $16.45 a month starting in August, Stop the Cap reported. Charter says the Broadcast TV fee covers the amount it pays broadcast television stations (e.g. affiliates of CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox) for the right to carry...

2h

Commerce “Sharpiegate” report finally released without redaction

Enlarge / Hurricane Dorian on September 3, 2019. (credit: NASA EO) Recent weeks have seen some additional drama over last September’s hurricane dust-up between President Trump and the National Weather Service. Last week, the Commerce Department’s Inspector General was crying foul over leadership stonewalling the release of her report on any legal...

2h

Florida men charged with selling bleach as COVID-19 cure, threatening “a Waco”

Enlarge / Bottles of MMS, the bleach product that Genesis II Church of Health and Healing was ordered to stop selling. (credit: Genesis II Church of Health and Healing) Four members of the infamous “Church of Bleach”—a father and his three adult sons—are facing fraud and contempt charges in Florida in connection to selling industrial bleach as a...

3h

Tesla rival Rivian raises $2.5 billion to make electric trucks and SUVs

Enlarge / Rivian's R1T at the New York Auto Show in 2019. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin / Ars) Upstart electric vehicle maker Rivian has added $2.5 billion to its war chest, the company announced on Friday. It's Rivian's fifth fundraising round in just 18 months. The company raised $2.85 billion in four previous fundraising rounds between February and...

3h

Apple’s AirPods and wireless charging case are down to their lowest Amazon price

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica) Today's Dealmaster is headlined by a return of the best price we've seen on Apple's AirPods and Qi wireless charging case combo, which is now down to $150 on Amazon. For reference, Apple's MSRP for this configuration is $199, though we typically see it go for $169 on Amazon. The wireless charging case, meanwhile, usually...

4h