theverge--2020-01-30--Maisie Williams wants you to ‘Let It Go’ and buy an electric Audi in new Super Bowl ad

Sick of ICE ?
Audi is too — ICE , as in the “ internal combustion engine , ” which Audi wants customers to “ Let It Go ” in proper Frozen fashion in its new Super Bowl advertisement promoting its E-Tron Sportback electric car , starring Maisie Williams .
The commercial sees Williams — best known for her role as Arya Stark on HBO ’ s Game of Thrones , and presumably no stranger to being sick of ice and ice-related things — driving Audi ’ s new electric car while stuck in traffic with gasoline-fume-spewing cars .
She @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and belts out the chorus to Disney ’ s animated ear-worm along with other disaffected car owners , a singing gas station mascot , an angry businessman in a limo , and other satisfied E-Tron owners .
Audi squeezes out as many double meanings as it can from nearly every line of the licensed tune , which makes sense , given that it almost certainly wasn ’ t cheap to get Disney to let them use the song .
But while working toward more sustainable cars is definitely a good thing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ ll almost certainly get “ Let It Go ” stuck back in your head again when it airs Sunday during the game .

Sick of ICE? Audi is too — ICE, as in the “internal combustion engine,” which Audi wants customers to “Let It Go” in proper Frozen fashion in its new Super Bowl advertisement promoting its E-Tron Sportback electric car, starring Maisie Williams.
The commercial sees Williams — best known for her role as Arya Stark on HBO’s Game of Thrones, and presumably no stranger to being sick of ice and ice-related things — driving Audi’s new electric car while stuck in traffic with gasoline-fume-spewing cars. She quickly turns around in her E-Tron Sportback, and belts out the chorus to Disney’s animated ear-worm along with other disaffected car owners, a singing gas station mascot, an angry businessman in a limo, and other satisfied E-Tron owners.


theverge--2020-01-30--Snapchat’s Bitmoji TV is a Saturday morning cartoon starring you and your friends

Snap announced today that it ’ s launching Bitmoji TV , which will be a weekly “ show ” within Snapchat that stars you and your friends ’ Bitmoji avatars .
The show will launch this Saturday , February 1st , and it will have a 10-episode season , with new episodes debuting weekly , reports Variety .
In each episode , your personalized Bitmoji ( if you ’ ve created one in Snapchat or the Bitmoji app ) will pal around with Bitmojis of your friends through scripted episodes written by the Bitmoji team .
The first episode , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your friends ’ Bitmojis vying for the fictional “ America ’ s Best Bitmoji ” award .
The second and third episodes are titled “ Mime Cops ” and “ Spy Squad , ” according to Variety .
Bitmoji TV will have celebrity cameos as well Your friends won ’ t be the only familiar faces appearing in the episodes , as the show will also have celebrity cameos .
Former American Idol host Randy Jackson is a judge for “ America ’ s Best Bitmoji , ” and Andy Richter , Jon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appearances this season as well , reports Variety .
Bitmoji ’ s CEO and co-founder Ba Blackstock , who also created , wrote , and directed Bitmoji TV , described the new show to Variety as “ the return of Saturday morning cartoons , ” and based on descriptions of the show by TechCrunch , it seems like the episodes will be full of silly antics and shenanigans .
One gag apparently has a basketball player on the moon going up for a dunk but instead crashing through the ceiling of a glass @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cartoons of my youth , Bitmoji TV won ’ t have ads , at least in this first season , according to Variety .
You can subscribe to Bitmoji TV right now by taking a picture of this Snapcode in Snapchat : Snap has continued to incorporate Bitmoji into Snapchat and other apps in fun ways since buying Bitmoji ’ s parent company in 2016 .
Last April , Snap launched an SDK that lets developers incorporate Bitmoji into their games , and back in 2017 , Snap introduced lenses that let you @ @ @ @ @ @ @

Snap announced today that it’s launching Bitmoji TV, which will be a weekly “show” within Snapchat that stars you and your friends’ Bitmoji avatars. The show will launch this Saturday, February 1st, and it will have a 10-episode season, with new episodes debuting weekly, reports Variety.
In each episode, your personalized Bitmoji (if you’ve created one in Snapchat or the Bitmoji app) will pal around with Bitmojis of your friends through scripted episodes written by the Bitmoji team. The first episode, for example, will show you and your friends’ Bitmojis vying for the fictional “America’s Best Bitmoji” award. The second and third episodes are titled “Mime Cops” and “Spy Squad,” according to Variety.
Bitmoji TV will have celebrity cameos as well
Your friends won’t be the only familiar faces appearing in the episodes, as the show will also have celebrity cameos. Former American Idol host Randy Jackson is a judge for “America’s Best Bitmoji,” and Andy Richter, Jon Lovitz, and Riki Lindhome will make appearances this season as well, reports Variety.
Bitmoji’s CEO and co-founder Ba Blackstock, who also created, wrote, and directed Bitmoji TV, described the new show to Variety as “the return of Saturday morning cartoons,” and based on descriptions of the show by TechCrunch, it seems like the episodes will be full of silly antics and shenanigans. One gag apparently has a basketball player on the moon going up for a dunk but instead crashing through the ceiling of a glass dome. And unlike the Saturday morning cartoons of my youth, Bitmoji TV won’t have ads, at least in this first season, according to Variety.
You can subscribe to Bitmoji TV right now by taking a picture of this Snapcode in Snapchat:
Image: Snapchat


theverge--2020-01-30--World Health Organization declares global public health emergency over coronavirus outbreak

The ongoing coronavirus outbreak is a global health emergency , the World Health Organization determined today .
Since it started last month , the virus ’ s spread has reached nearly two dozen countries , sickened thousands , and impacted both travel and business around the world .
“ The main reason is not because of what is happening in China , but because of what is happening in other countries , ” said Tedros Adhanom , director general of the WHO , in a press conference today .
“ Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ systems , which are ill prepared to deal with it.
” The WHO defines a global emergency — formally , a Public Health Emergency of International Concern — as “ an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response.
” This is the sixth declared in the past decade .
Despite the emergency declaration , the WHO is not recommending any restrictions on travel or trade at this time .
Countries should implement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , share data , and work together to stop the spread of the virus , Adhanom said .
The WHO also called for an acceleration in efforts to develop vaccines and treatments , and stressed that support be given to countries with weak health systems which might not be able to cope with the virus .
The International Health Regulations Committee at the WHO is tasked with examining the evidence around an ongoing public health crisis and recommending that an emergency be declared .
The committee met twice last week , and both @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recommend an emergency declaration .
At that time , committee members who did not want to declare a global emergency said there weren ’ t enough cases outside of China to warrant it .
The committee has now decided to recommend that an emergency be declared because of an increased number of cases , an increased number of countries affected , and news of “ questionable ” measures taken against travelers in some countries , said committee chair Didier Houssin during the press conference .
Declaring a global health emergency gives the director @ @ @ @ @ @ @ offer recommendations that could prevent the spread of a disease , like travel advisories or restrictions , and allow them to review public health measures in place in affected countries .
The recommendations are just recommendations , but there ’ s pressure on countries to follow them .

The ongoing coronavirus outbreak is a global health emergency, the World Health Organization determined today. Since it started last month, the virus’s spread has reached nearly two dozen countries, sickened thousands, and impacted both travel and business around the world.
“The main reason is not because of what is happening in China, but because of what is happening in other countries,” said Tedros Adhanom, director general of the WHO, in a press conference today. “Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to other countries with weaker health systems, which are ill prepared to deal with it.”
The WHO defines a global emergency — formally, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern — as “an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response.” This is the sixth declared in the past decade.
Despite the emergency declaration, the WHO is not recommending any restrictions on travel or trade at this time. Countries should implement evidence-based public health policies, combat misinformation, share data, and work together to stop the spread of the virus, Adhanom said. The WHO also called for an acceleration in efforts to develop vaccines and treatments, and stressed that support be given to countries with weak health systems which might not be able to cope with the virus.
The International Health Regulations Committee at the WHO is tasked with examining the evidence around an ongoing public health crisis and recommending that an emergency be declared. The committee met twice last week, and both times were split fifty-fifty on whether to recommend an emergency declaration. At that time, committee members who did not want to declare a global emergency said there weren’t enough cases outside of China to warrant it.
The committee has now decided to recommend that an emergency be declared because of an increased number of cases, an increased number of countries affected, and news of “questionable” measures taken against travelers in some countries, said committee chair Didier Houssin during the press conference.


theverge--2020-01-31--Microsoft to block crapware downloads in its Edge browser

Microsoft is planning to block potentially unwanted apps from being downloaded through its Edge browser .
Known as crapware or @ @ @ @ @ ’ t necessarily malware but could be toolbars , stuffed with annoying ads or notifications @ @ @ @ @ .
Edge already uses a SmartScreen Filter to protect against phishing and malware , but @ @ @ @ @ downloads that contain this potentially unwanted code .
The new feature is appearing in beta @ @ @ @ @ which suggests it will roll out to the stable channel soon .
Microsoft isn ’ @ @ @ @ @ default , though .
You ’ ll need to enable it from the privacy and @ @ @ @ @ .
Google and Mozilla also offer similar browsing protections for malware and phishing , but @ @ @ @ @ feature goes further than Google ’ s Safe Browsing service .
Microsoft used to only @ @ @ @ @ customers using Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection , and it ’ s now making its @ @ @ @ @ consumers through Edge .

Microsoft is planning to block potentially unwanted apps from being downloaded through its Edge browser. Known as crapware or adware, these apps aren’t necessarily malware but could be toolbars, stuffed with annoying ads or notifications, or bundle crypto miners. Edge already uses a SmartScreen Filter to protect against phishing and malware, but this feature also optionally blocks downloads that contain this potentially unwanted code.
The new feature is appearing in beta builds of Microsoft Edge, which suggests it will roll out to the stable channel soon. Microsoft isn’t enabling this feature by default, though. You’ll need to enable it from the privacy and services part of Edge settings.


theverge--2020-01-31--Amazon wants Alexa to feel normal, Google wants its assistant to feel nostalgic

Happy Friday — the Super Bowl is this weekend and some of the ads have begun to be released .
The two that have struck me the most are from Google and Amazon , each taking a different tack to sell you on their respective intelligent assistants .
They are very different .
Amazon got Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi leading off the joke about what life was like before Alexa , then people asking other people throughout history things they ’ d normally ask Alexa .
I was with it until there was a joke about refusing to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a little too on the nose given this past year ’ s voice-recording scandals .
In any case , the motive is clear : make Alexa seem like an integral part of our lives now , like electricity or running water .
But do that in a way that makes it seem lighthearted and fun , not oppressive .
The ad mostly works on both of those levels .
If you ’ re Amazon and you want to try to affect people ’ s feelings about Alexa , I don ’ t know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ associating a little of Ellen with Alexa .
Just , you know , it ’ s still okay to ask real people questions .
Google , meanwhile , went directly for the emotional jugular in a spot so blatantly designed to tug at your heartstrings it was immediately uncomfortable to the point where it felt manipulative .
It felt that way all the more so because it was based on a real relative of a Google employee .
In the spot , an 85-year-old widower asks Google to bring up various memories he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says “ remember when ” about those moments .
Guess what ?
That ’ s a little-known Google Assistant feature , asking it to remember things .
It is very earnest if you think about how a computer could help , but also very dystopian if you think about sharing your fond remembrances with an uncaring algorithm instead of other actual humans .
This is very nearly a trend now , by the way .
Apple also recently created an ad that played on our emotions and sympathies for a widower who was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ medium of technology ( an iPad keynote presentation ) .
Apple , at least , had the presence of mind to include actual human relatives in its ad to share that moment , instead of it being simply shared with a smart display .
Tying a product to deep emotions is an ad tale as old as time , I suppose .
And I would argue that we are going to need to find better ways to talk about how we invest genuine sentiment , nostalgia , and loving affection into our digital @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at a commercial with a Kodak print in the ‘ 80s pulling exactly these same tricks , but somehow when you integrate software it still feels different — even though both are technological products .
It probably won ’ t feel different for very long .
Speaking of Kodak , Google ’ s ad reminds me of nothing so much as the famous Mad Men Don Draper Carousel pitch .
Only now , instead of a slide projector , it ’ s a smart display .
I ’ ll quote it in full @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t be the pitch for Google ’ s ad if you changed just a few words .
Well , technology is a glittering lure .
But , uh , there is the rare occasion when the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash , if they have a sentimental bond with the product .
My first job , I was in-house at a fur company , with this old-pro copywriter , a Greek named Teddy .
Teddy told me the most important idea in advertising is new .
Creates an itch @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there as a kind of calamine lotion .
But he also talked about a deeper bond with the product .
Nostalgia .
It ’ s delicate , but potent .
Sweetheart .
Teddy told me that in Greek , “ nostalgia ” literally means “ the pain from an old wound ” .
It ’ s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone .
This device isn ’ t a spaceship , it ’ s a time machine .
It goes backwards , forwards , takes us to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s not called the wheel .
It ’ s called the carousel .
It lets us travel the way a child travels .
Round and around , and back home again , to a place where we know we are loved .
Does it feel really crass and manipulative for a company to say that a technological product driven by machine-learning algorithms will help us remember our lost loved ones ?
That we will have some sort of emotional connection to an ephemeral piece of software instead of a physical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that inevitable ?
Is it in fact already happening every day ?
Also yes .
We should probably figure out what that means .
└ AT & T tried to buy out the streaming wars — and customers are paying for it Good news : you no longer have to sign up for a two-year contract that subsidizes the cost of your very expensive smartphone .
Bad news : you are subsidizing AT & T ’ s harebrained scheme to turn into a media conglomerate that turns 5G subscribers into HBO Max watchers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it has more than 150 million Prime members after huge holiday season It occurred to me today that Amazon Prime is also a kind of infrastructure service that includes hidden costs for video content .
└ Here ’ s what you need to watch the Super Bowl in 4K HDR Good story from Cameron Faulkner .
The whole story is way more complicated than it should be !
It ’ s also low-key a win for Amazon , because the short answer to “ how do you get the best Super Bowl stream @ @ @ @ @ @ @ TV.
” └ Twitch and Caffeine are hosting their own Super Bowls before the big game └ Nintendo says it has no plans for a new Switch this year Apparently it ’ s going to be the “ Moto G Stylus.
” The G line is Motorola ’ s branding for low-end and mid-range phones .
What this rumor tells us , then , is that this isn ’ t quite going to be a heads-up competitor to Samsung ’ s Galaxy Note and this isn ’ t the “ flagship ” phone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Motorola teased the return to flagships back when the Razr launched , but so far as I know that high-end phone hasn ’ t leaked yet .
That either means Motorola has done an incredible job keeping it under wraps or that it isn ’ t likely to hit stores imminently .
My money ’ s on the latter .
More than other companies , Samsung announces major products and then just goes radio silent on them .
Exhibit A : the Bixby Cauldron Smart Speaker .
Glad to see this ARM-based @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but very curious about the hold-up .
Also very curious to see how Qualcomm ’ s 8CX processor holds up without the custom enhancements that are present on its variant in the Surface Pro X .
└ OnePlus just took a big step toward supporting wireless charging in future phones More from The Verge └ Today , NASA turns off a space telescope that peered into the extra cold Universe The satellite was designed to last less than five years .
It has lasted 17 .
It could keep going but there ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like a tragic mistake .
└ The Hummer is coming back as a 1,000-horsepower electric truck └ Apple ’ s redesigned maps are now available for all US users If you ’ re an iPhone user , you should give Apple Maps another shot .
First game in a while that has a shot at replacing Holedown as my subway game .
└ I love this : This Untitled Goose Game app turns your Windows PC into pure mayhem └ Pilots just sued American Airlines to force a halt to China flights

Happy Friday — the Super Bowl is this weekend and some of the ads have begun to be released. The two that have struck me the most are from Google and Amazon, each taking a different tack to sell you on their respective intelligent assistants.
They are very different. Amazon got Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi leading off the joke about what life was like before Alexa, then people asking other people throughout history things they’d normally ask Alexa. I was with it until there was a joke about refusing to erase the Nixon tapes which maybe was a little too on the nose given this past year’s voice-recording scandals.
In any case, the motive is clear: make Alexa seem like an integral part of our lives now, like electricity or running water. But do that in a way that makes it seem lighthearted and fun, not oppressive. The ad mostly works on both of those levels. If you’re Amazon and you want to try to affect people’s feelings about Alexa, I don’t know that you could possibly do better than associating a little of Ellen with Alexa.
Just, you know, it’s still okay to ask real people questions.
You are reading Processor, a newsletter about computers, software, and tech by Dieter Bohn. Dieter writes about consumer tech, software, and the most important tech news of the day from The Verge. You can read an archive of Processor newsletters here and subscribe to all of The Verge’s great videos here! Subscribe
By subscribing, you are agreeing to receive a daily newsletter from The Verge that highlights top stories of the day, as well as occasional messages from sponsors and / or partners of The Verge.
Google, meanwhile, went directly for the emotional jugular in a spot so blatantly designed to tug at your heartstrings it was immediately uncomfortable to the point where it felt manipulative. It felt that way all the more so because it was based on a real relative of a Google employee.
In the spot, an 85-year-old widower asks Google to bring up various memories he has of his late wife, then says “remember when” about those moments. Guess what? That’s a little-known Google Assistant feature, asking it to remember things. It is very earnest if you think about how a computer could help, but also very dystopian if you think about sharing your fond remembrances with an uncaring algorithm instead of other actual humans.
This is very nearly a trend now, by the way. Apple also recently created an ad that played on our emotions and sympathies for a widower who was brought to a tearful moment through the medium of technology (an iPad keynote presentation). Apple, at least, had the presence of mind to include actual human relatives in its ad to share that moment, instead of it being simply shared with a smart display.
Tying a product to deep emotions is an ad tale as old as time, I suppose. And I would argue that we are going to need to find better ways to talk about how we invest genuine sentiment, nostalgia, and loving affection into our digital lives. Nobody would bat an eye at a commercial with a Kodak print in the ‘80s pulling exactly these same tricks, but somehow when you integrate software it still feels different — even though both are technological products. It probably won’t feel different for very long.
Speaking of Kodak, Google’s ad reminds me of nothing so much as the famous Mad Men Don Draper Carousel pitch. Only now, instead of a slide projector, it’s a smart display. I’ll quote it in full below — tell me this couldn’t be the pitch for Google’s ad if you changed just a few words.
Well, technology is a glittering lure. But, uh, there is the rare occasion when the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash, if they have a sentimental bond with the product. My first job, I was in-house at a fur company, with this old-pro copywriter, a Greek named Teddy. Teddy told me the most important idea in advertising is new. Creates an itch. You simply put your product in there as a kind of calamine lotion. But he also talked about a deeper bond with the product. Nostalgia. It’s delicate, but potent. Sweetheart. Teddy told me that in Greek, “nostalgia” literally means “the pain from an old wound”. It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a spaceship, it’s a time machine. It goes backwards, forwards, takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called the wheel. It’s called the carousel. It lets us travel the way a child travels. Round and around, and back home again, to a place where we know we are loved.
Does it feel really crass and manipulative for a company to say that a technological product driven by machine-learning algorithms will help us remember our lost loved ones? That we will have some sort of emotional connection to an ephemeral piece of software instead of a physical token? Yes.
Is all of that inevitable? Is it in fact already happening every day? Also yes. We should probably figure out what that means.
Verge Deal of the day Apple’s AirPods Pro are $30 off at Amazon Normally $250, the Apple AirPods Pro wireless earbuds are down to $220 at Amazon. Compared to the standard AirPods, these feature better sound quality and noise cancellation. We’ve seen these drop a bit lower in price before, but that’s a pretty rare occurrence. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy . Prices displayed are based on the MSRP at time of posting.
Streaming and the Superbowl
Good news: you no longer have to sign up for a two-year contract that subsidizes the cost of your very expensive smartphone.
Bad news: you are subsidizing AT&T’s harebrained scheme to turn into a media conglomerate that turns 5G subscribers into HBO Max watchers and vice versa.
It occurred to me today that Amazon Prime is also a kind of infrastructure service that includes hidden costs for video content.
Good story from Cameron Faulkner. The whole story is way more complicated than it should be! It’s also low-key a win for Amazon, because the short answer to “how do you get the best Super Bowl stream?” is “get a Fire TV.”
Bijan Stephen:
If you squint, the Twitch Rivals tournament makes sense in terms of negotiating a new, better deal with the NFL; it can’t have escaped the league’s notice that a lot of its players — who are young and internet-literate — are interested in streaming, either professionally or personally.
Gadget news
The jump is especially surprising given Huawei’s continued presence on the USA’s entity list, which prevents the company from installing Google’s apps and services on its new devices, limiting their appeal outside of China. As a result, Huawei’s main strength was in its home country. Counterpoint Research says China accounted for 60 percent of its sales.
Apparently it’s going to be the “Moto G Stylus.” The G line is Motorola’s branding for low-end and mid-range phones. What this rumor tells us, then, is that this isn’t quite going to be a heads-up competitor to Samsung’s Galaxy Note and this isn’t the “flagship” phone that Motorola promised to deliver this year.
Motorola teased the return to flagships back when the Razr launched, but so far as I know that high-end phone hasn’t leaked yet. That either means Motorola has done an incredible job keeping it under wraps or that it isn’t likely to hit stores imminently. My money’s on the latter.
More than other companies, Samsung announces major products and then just goes radio silent on them. Exhibit A: the Bixby Cauldron Smart Speaker. Glad to see this ARM-based laptop finally getting released, then, but very curious about the hold-up. Also very curious to see how Qualcomm’s 8CX processor holds up without the custom enhancements that are present on its variant in the Surface Pro X.
Earlier this year on The Vergecast, Lau commented that even 10W fast wireless charging was too slow and “not worth it” compared to the wired fast-charging Warp Charge that OnePlus’ current phones offer.
Guess he changed his mind.
More from The Verge
The satellite was designed to last less than five years. It has lasted 17. It could keep going but there’s no funding for it. Seems like a tragic mistake.
While there are plenty of electric SUVs already on the road, the electric truck market is still wide open. That won’t be the case for long. Ford is working on an all-electric F-150 that it promises will be just as capable a truck as people have come to expect from its most popular nameplate, and Tesla’s Cybertruck will serve as an option for more contrarian customers. A number of startups are entering the space, too. Most notably, Michigan’s Rivian plans to release its luxury electric pickup truck later this year. Others, like Bollinger, Karma, and Lordstown Motors, are all trying to be among the first to sell electric pickup trucks as well.
If you’re an iPhone user, you should give Apple Maps another shot.
First game in a while that has a shot at replacing Holedown as my subway game.
└ I love this: This Untitled Goose Game app turns your Windows PC into pure mayhem


theverge--2020-01-31--Facebook’s trust problem isn’t about being understood

The Interface is a daily column and newsletter about the intersection of social media and democracy .
Subscribe here .
One of the most common and beloved tropes on a reality show comes when a contestant announces , often with a melodramatic flourish , that they are “ not here to make friends.
” It ’ s an ingenious and endlessly useful phrase — one that is both recognizably true ( the contestant ’ s only real goal is victory ) and terrifying in its implications .
A person who is not here to make friends is signaling that they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lie , they cheat , they throw a glass of pinot grigio in your face — whatever it takes to become become the bachelorette .
I thought of the phrase on Wednesday while reading Mark Zuckerberg ’ s comments , during Facebook ’ s quarterly earnings call , about his new goal for the 2020s .
He said ( emphasis mine ) : What views did Facebook express unclearly because it didn ’ t want to offend us ?
Zuckerberg didn ’ t say , but I have my guesses .
That people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their data privacy , maybe .
Or that it ’ s more important to preserve a wide arena for free speech than it is to prevent certain kinds of harms .
These are views that would offend many if a Facebook executive said them out loud , and yet also the company acts as if it holds these things to be true .
A fun question to ponder after reading these remarks is on which subjects Zuckerberg will now be willing to offend us .
Here ’ s another : What does it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ understood than be liked ?
In an environment where Facebook has more power than ever — its quarterly earnings were stellar as usual , even if growth has slowed a bit from its peak — the answer feels important .
Being liked is , of course , a basic human need , even for CEOs .
Like any other group of people , the tech executives I ’ ve known vary in how deeply they seem to need affirmation .
But starting a successful company has historically been a pretty good way to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ You create jobs , you grow the economy , you earn wealth for yourself and your family , and people begin to hang on your every word .
Success also breeds backlash , though .
The company ’ s work typically has externalities that the CEO has not accounted for , or has begun to address only belatedly .
As the second-order consequences of your success compound , the world begins to doubt your motives .
They excoriate you in the press , they haul you before Congress , and they threaten to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It is in such a world , I think , that a CEO might say that , going forward , his goal is no longer to be liked but to be understood .
Not because he doesn ’ t want to be liked — but because the people who like him like him already , the people who don ’ t are not likely to change their minds , and really the whole matter of reputation seems largely beyond his control .
Being understood , though — that at least seems possible .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ understand about Facebook ?
Here ’ s Jeff Horwitz in the Wall Street Journal : Presumably , what Zuckerberg really wants here isn ’ t simply to be understood , but to have more people agree with him .
It seems like a stretch to suggest that the growing number of people opposed to highly targeted advertising don ’ t understand its value .
Rather , they believe it does more harm than good .
It ’ s the same with the “ right to associate.
” On one hand , I suspect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to free assembly .
But do they believe Facebook ought to provide a platform for anti-vaccine zealots to congregate and hijack Facebook ’ s viral machinery to recruit new followers ?
Either way , the issue doesn ’ t strike me as one of understanding , per se .
“ In order to be trusted , people need to know what you stand for , ” Zuckerberg said later in his remarks .
That ’ s true enough , but it ’ s also the case that many people don ’ t trust @ @ @ @ @ @ @ company stands for .
In fact , it ’ s some of the qualities about Facebook that are best understood — its continuous rapid growth , expansive data collection , and feeds ranked by how likely they are to generate an emotional charge — that most upset the company ’ s critics .
If Facebook is to turn public opinion around , it has to do more than remind us that it provides a suite of free communication tools .
It has to make the case that those tools have a net-positive effect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the high cost it takes to deliver them .
It has to address the viewpoint of some current and former employees that the product is better compared to sugar or nicotine than to a Millsian marketplace of ideas .
And it can ’ t make that case through argument alone .
The products , and their user base , will have to make the case for themselves .
They will have to persuade .
They will have to make friends .
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Twitter will allow users in the United States to report tweets with misleading information about how to participate in the election .
It ’ s the first time this tool has been available in the United States .
Trending down : A study of YouTube comments suggests the video sharing platform can have a radicalizing effect .
A significant amount of users systematically migrated from commenting exclusively on milder content to commenting on more extreme content .
Trending down : TikTok told some employees in Europe that tackling inappropriate adult commentary underneath @ @ @ @ @ @ @ core business .
⭐ Facebook agreed to pay $ 550 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over its use of facial recognition technology in Illinois .
The news marks a major victory for privacy groups , report Natasha Singer and Mike Isaac from The New York Times : Mark Zuckerberg is slated to visit Brussels in mid-February , meeting with European Union officials as Facebook fends off antitrust and privacy scrutiny over how it handles user data .
A judge in Texas temporarily blocked the roll out of Facebook ’ s Off-Facebook Activity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ data that third-party apps share with the social media giant .
A suit filed in 2018 alleged that a woman was lured into sex trafficking via Facebook .
Now , the plaintiff argued that the tool could cause evidence in the case to be changed or deleted .
( Dwight Silverman / Houston Chronicle ) Our current political failures aren ’ t the result of bad algorithms , argues this writer .
Drawing on Ezra Klein ’ s new book on polarization , the author suggests that social networks should not be blamed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lewis-Kraus / Wired ) Republicans and Democrats distrust social media sites for political and election news .
The social media sites with the highest percentage of distrust are Facebook ( 59 percent ) , Twitter ( 48 percent ) , Instagram ( 42 percent ) , and YouTube ( 36 percent ) .
Perhaps they ’ re all simply misunderstood !
( Pew Research Center ) The US House Ethics Committee informed House members that posting deepfakes on social media might be a violation of House rules .
( Jay Peters / The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from big brands and getting more experimental on social media .
In other words : weird tweets .
The move seems aimed at expanding their limited bureaucratic footprint .
( Luke Winkie / The New York Times ) A new social network called Column is hoping to entice millions of people to pay to get close to superstars of technology , business , and academia .
The nascent site , which has not yet launched , is allegedly backed by Peter Thiel .
Thiel has denied the connection .
( Angela Chen / @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hopkins was suspended from Twitter after being accused of spreading hate on the platform .
Several of her tweets have been shared by President Trump .
( Lizzie Dearden / The Independent ) ⭐ A woman discovered a Facebook business page had been created in honor of her anatomy , against her will , and couldn ’ t get anyone to take it down until Katie Notopoulos at BuzzFeed intervened .
Good for Katie , and bad for Facebook : Google temporarily shut down all of its China offices due to the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in mainland China , as well as Google ’ s offices in Hong Kong and Taiwan .
( Nick Statt / The Verge ) Teens are now claiming they have the coronavirus in order to go viral on TikTok .
So far , it appears to be working .
Teens !
( Blake Montgomery / Daily Beast ) Avast , an antivirus program with more than 435 million users worldwide , said it will stop collecting and selling the private web browsing histories of its users .
The company is also shutting down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to sell this data , after an excellent investigation at Vice .
( Jason Koebler / Vice ) Snapchat launched Bitmoji TV , 4-minute cartoons that put you and your friends ’ customizable Bitmoji avatars into a flurry of silly animated situations .
Fun !
( Josh Constine / TechCrunch ) The Unicode Consortium has revealed 117 new emoji that will be rolled out later this year as part of Emoji 13.0 .
There are 62 new emoji and 55 new gender and skin tone variants of emoji , including more gender-inclusive options @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( Jay Peters / The Verge ) People seem to think Corona beer is related to the coronavirus , as searches for ‘ Corona beer virus ’ are trending , according to Google Trends .
But you have to admit — it does sound delicious .
Send us tips , comments , questions , and reasons that you both like and understand us : casey @ theverge.com and zoe @ theverge.com .

One of the most common and beloved tropes on a reality show comes when a contestant announces, often with a melodramatic flourish, that they are “not here to make friends.” It’s an ingenious and endlessly useful phrase — one that is both recognizably true (the contestant’s only real goal is victory) and terrifying in its implications. A person who is not here to make friends is signaling that they might do anything to win. They lie, they cheat, they throw a glass of pinot grigio in your face — whatever it takes to become become the bachelorette.
I thought of the phrase on Wednesday while reading Mark Zuckerberg’s comments, during Facebook’s quarterly earnings call, about his new goal for the 2020s. He said (emphasis mine):
“We’re also focused on communicating more clearly what we stand for. One critique of our approach for much of the last decade was that, because we wanted to be liked, we didn’t always communicate our views as clearly because we were worried about offending people. So this led to some positive but shallow sentiments towards us and towards the company. And my goal for this next decade isn’t to be liked, but to be understood, because in order to be trusted, people need to know what you stand for.”
What views did Facebook express unclearly because it didn’t want to offend us? Zuckerberg didn’t say, but I have my guesses. That people like personalized ads more than they value their data privacy, maybe. Or that it’s more important to preserve a wide arena for free speech than it is to prevent certain kinds of harms. These are views that would offend many if a Facebook executive said them out loud, and yet also the company acts as if it holds these things to be true. A fun question to ponder after reading these remarks is on which subjects Zuckerberg will now be willing to offend us.
Here’s another: What does it mean that a CEO would rather be understood than be liked? In an environment where Facebook has more power than ever — its quarterly earnings were stellar as usual, even if growth has slowed a bit from its peak — the answer feels important.
Being liked is, of course, a basic human need, even for CEOs. Like any other group of people, the tech executives I’ve known vary in how deeply they seem to need affirmation. But starting a successful company has historically been a pretty good way to get the world to like you. You create jobs, you grow the economy, you earn wealth for yourself and your family, and people begin to hang on your every word.
Success also breeds backlash, though. The company’s work typically has externalities that the CEO has not accounted for, or has begun to address only belatedly. As the second-order consequences of your success compound, the world begins to doubt your motives. They excoriate you in the press, they haul you before Congress, and they threaten to smash your company into little pieces.
It is in such a world, I think, that a CEO might say that, going forward, his goal is no longer to be liked but to be understood. Not because he doesn’t want to be liked — but because the people who like him like him already, the people who don’t are not likely to change their minds, and really the whole matter of reputation seems largely beyond his control.
Being understood, though — that at least seems possible. So what does Zuckerberg hope that we understand about Facebook? Here’s Jeff Horwitz in the Wall Street Journal:
Mr. Zuckerberg said he would defend users’ rights to associate with groups of their choosing, the societal value of targeted advertising and the model of providing free communications services — all of which he said are under attack. He also defended the company’s plans to further integrate its products, which critics have said are meant to make it harder for antitrust regulators to take action against the company.
Presumably, what Zuckerberg really wants here isn’t simply to be understood, but to have more people agree with him. It seems like a stretch to suggest that the growing number of people opposed to highly targeted advertising don’t understand its value. Rather, they believe it does more harm than good. It’s the same with the “right to associate.” On one hand, I suspect most Americans do believe in a right to free assembly. But do they believe Facebook ought to provide a platform for anti-vaccine zealots to congregate and hijack Facebook’s viral machinery to recruit new followers? Either way, the issue doesn’t strike me as one of understanding, per se.
“In order to be trusted, people need to know what you stand for,” Zuckerberg said later in his remarks. That’s true enough, but it’s also the case that many people don’t trust Facebook even when they know what the company stands for. In fact, it’s some of the qualities about Facebook that are best understood — its continuous rapid growth, expansive data collection, and feeds ranked by how likely they are to generate an emotional charge — that most upset the company’s critics.
If Facebook is to turn public opinion around, it has to do more than remind us that it provides a suite of free communication tools. It has to make the case that those tools have a net-positive effect on the world — and are worth the high cost it takes to deliver them. It has to address the viewpoint of some current and former employees that the product is better compared to sugar or nicotine than to a Millsian marketplace of ideas.
And it can’t make that case through argument alone. The products, and their user base, will have to make the case for themselves. They will have to persuade. They will have to make friends.
The Ratio
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms.
🔼 Trending up: Starting today, Twitter will allow users in the United States to report tweets with misleading information about how to participate in the election. It’s the first time this tool has been available in the United States.
🔽 Trending down: A study of YouTube comments suggests the video sharing platform can have a radicalizing effect. A significant amount of users systematically migrated from commenting exclusively on milder content to commenting on more extreme content.
🔽 Trending down: TikTok told some employees in Europe that tackling inappropriate adult commentary underneath childrenʼs videos was not part of their core business.
Governing
⭐ Facebook agreed to pay $550 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over its use of facial recognition technology in Illinois. The news marks a major victory for privacy groups, report Natasha Singer and Mike Isaac from The New York Times:
The case stemmed from Facebook’s photo-labeling service, Tag Suggestions, which uses face-matching software to suggest the names of people in users’ photos. The suit said the Silicon Valley company violated an Illinois biometric privacy law by harvesting facial data for Tag Suggestions from the photos of millions of users in the state without their permission and without telling them how long the data would be kept. Facebook has said the allegations have no merit. Under the agreement, Facebook will pay $550 million to eligible Illinois users and for the plaintiffs’ legal fees. The sum dwarfs the $380.5 million that the Equifax credit reporting agency agreed this month to pay to settle a class-action case over a 2017 consumer data breach.
A judge in Texas temporarily blocked the roll out of Facebook’s Off-Facebook Activity tool, which lets users control the data that third-party apps share with the social media giant. A suit filed in 2018 alleged that a woman was lured into sex trafficking via Facebook. Now, the plaintiff argued that the tool could cause evidence in the case to be changed or deleted. (Dwight Silverman / Houston Chronicle)
Our current political failures aren’t the result of bad algorithms, argues this writer. Drawing on Ezra Klein’s new book on polarization, the author suggests that social networks should not be blamed for larger societal problems. (Gideon Lewis-Kraus / Wired)
Republicans and Democrats distrust social media sites for political and election news. The social media sites with the highest percentage of distrust are Facebook (59 percent), Twitter (48 percent), Instagram (42 percent), and YouTube (36 percent). Perhaps they’re all simply misunderstood! (Pew Research Center)
The US House Ethics Committee informed House members that posting deepfakes on social media might be a violation of House rules. (Jay Peters / The Verge)
Government agencies are taking notes from big brands and getting more experimental on social media. In other words: weird tweets. The move seems aimed at expanding their limited bureaucratic footprint. (Luke Winkie / The New York Times)
A new social network called Column is hoping to entice millions of people to pay to get close to superstars of technology, business, and academia. The nascent site, which has not yet launched, is allegedly backed by Peter Thiel. Thiel has denied the connection. (Angela Chen / MIT Technology Review)
Far-right commentator Katie Hopkins was suspended from Twitter after being accused of spreading hate on the platform. Several of her tweets have been shared by President Trump. (Lizzie Dearden / The Independent)
Industry
⭐ A woman discovered a Facebook business page had been created in honor of her anatomy, against her will, and couldn’t get anyone to take it down until Katie Notopoulos at BuzzFeed intervened. Good for Katie, and bad for Facebook:
“I feel like if anybody has found it, it would probably feel way too weird to talk to me about it,” she said. “And if I didn’t get a job over it, they definitely wouldn’t call me and say, ‘Hey, found the Page about your butthole, not going to hire you, bye.’” Nevertheless, her years long battle has been somewhat frustrating: “I feel like I should’ve been able to get it removed based off the fact that it was my real name, and I was underage, and since it had my old address.”
Google temporarily shut down all of its China offices due to the coronavirus outbreak. The shutdown includes all offices in mainland China, as well as Google’s offices in Hong Kong and Taiwan. (Nick Statt / The Verge)
Teens are now claiming they have the coronavirus in order to go viral on TikTok. So far, it appears to be working. Teens! (Blake Montgomery / Daily Beast)
Avast, an antivirus program with more than 435 million users worldwide, said it will stop collecting and selling the private web browsing histories of its users. The company is also shutting down Jumpshot, the subsidiary organization it used to sell this data, after an excellent investigation at Vice. (Jason Koebler / Vice)
And finally...
But you have to admit — it does sound delicious.
Talk to us


theverge--2020-01-31--Facebook and Instagram to remove coronavirus misinformation

Facebook will remove false claims and conspiracy theories about the coronavirus if it risks causing harm to people who believe them , the company has announced .
The policy applies across both Instagram and Facebook , and includes misinformation about fake cures or prevention methods , or any claim that could confuse people about what health resources are available .
Hashtags used to spread misinformation on Instagram will also be blocked or restricted .
The social media company has previously agreed to limit the reach of public health misinformation — such as anti-vax conspiracy theories — but removing content entirely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it has a policy of removing content when it creates the risk of physical harm .
For example , last year it agreed to remove online rumors about the polio vaccine when the rumors were putting health workers at risk in Pakistan , The Wall Street Journal reports .
The announcement came after the coronavirus was declared a global public health emergency The decision came just hours after the World Health Organization declared a global public health emergency over the coronavirus outbreak .
Facebook says it will rely on health organizations to flag @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There are now almost 10,000 cases of the virus confirmed globally , across as many as 19 countries , according to BBC News .
In addition to removing actively harmful content related to the coronavirus , Facebook also says it will limit the spread of misinformation that ’ s flagged as false by its fact-checkers .
It will notify people that the information could be inaccurate if they have shared or are attempting to share a flagged post .
Facebook will also attempt to point users towards accurate information by placing messages at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Feed , or providing educational popups when people make certain searches or Facebook or tap certain hashtags on Instagram .
The decision to outright remove harmful misinformation sits in contrast to Facebook ’ s position on political falsehoods .
Earlier this year , for example , the company said it would continue to allow lies to be spread via political ads , to allow political claims to be scrutinized in public , “ warts and all .
”

Facebook will remove false claims and conspiracy theories about the coronavirus if it risks causing harm to people who believe them, the company has announced. The policy applies across both Instagram and Facebook, and includes misinformation about fake cures or prevention methods, or any claim that could confuse people about what health resources are available. Hashtags used to spread misinformation on Instagram will also be blocked or restricted.
The social media company has previously agreed to limit the reach of public health misinformation — such as anti-vax conspiracy theories — but removing content entirely is much rarer. The company says it has a policy of removing content when it creates the risk of physical harm. For example, last year it agreed to remove online rumors about the polio vaccine when the rumors were putting health workers at risk in Pakistan, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The announcement came after the coronavirus was declared a global public health emergency
The decision came just hours after the World Health Organization declared a global public health emergency over the coronavirus outbreak. Facebook says it will rely on health organizations to flag conspiracy theories that could be harmful. There are now almost 10,000 cases of the virus confirmed globally, across as many as 19 countries, according to BBC News.
In addition to removing actively harmful content related to the coronavirus, Facebook also says it will limit the spread of misinformation that’s flagged as false by its fact-checkers. It will notify people that the information could be inaccurate if they have shared or are attempting to share a flagged post. Facebook will also attempt to point users towards accurate information by placing messages at the top of Facebook’s News Feed, or providing educational popups when people make certain searches or Facebook or tap certain hashtags on Instagram.


theverge--2020-01-31--Microsoft launches Xbox bug bounty program with rewards of $20,000 or more

Microsoft is launching a new Xbox Bounty Program to reward gamers , security researchers , and anyone else who discovers security vulnerabilities in the Xbox Live network and services .
Bounty rewards will range from $ 500 up to $ 20,000 , and Microsoft notes there could even be higher payouts depending on the quality of the report and the vulnerability impact .
The biggest payouts will be handed out for critical remote code execution and elevation of privilege flaws , while security feature bypasses , information disclosure , spoofing , and tampering will all include rewards up to $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up to gamers and anyone who has the skills to find flaws , it ’ s expecting high-quality reports with a detailed write-up or video demonstration , and a clear proof of concept .
Microsoft isn ’ t looking for people to perform DDoS testing , social engineering attacks , or going too far on server-side execution issues .
Microsoft has run bug bounty programs for a number of its products over the years , including payouts of up to $ 250,000 for Windows 10 security bugs .
This new Xbox Bounty Program @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its Xbox Series X console and xCloud game streaming service .
Both will operate on the Xbox Live network .
Sony and Nintendo also accept security bug reports , with Nintendo rewarding up to $ 20,000 and Sony only providing a t-shirt as recognition .

Microsoft is launching a new Xbox Bounty Program to reward gamers, security researchers, and anyone else who discovers security vulnerabilities in the Xbox Live network and services. Bounty rewards will range from $500 up to $20,000, and Microsoft notes there could even be higher payouts depending on the quality of the report and the vulnerability impact.
The biggest payouts will be handed out for critical remote code execution and elevation of privilege flaws, while security feature bypasses, information disclosure, spoofing, and tampering will all include rewards up to $5,000. As Microsoft is opening this up to gamers and anyone who has the skills to find flaws, it’s expecting high-quality reports with a detailed write-up or video demonstration, and a clear proof of concept. Microsoft isn’t looking for people to perform DDoS testing, social engineering attacks, or going too far on server-side execution issues.


theverge--2020-01-31--Elon Musk releases Don’t Doubt Ur Vibe music track on SoundCloud

Elon Musk is on a roll .
Tesla stock is on a rocket ship and the Model Y SUV is @ @ @ @ @ to share the good times , he ’ s released a music track on SoundCloud @ @ @ @ @ Doubt Ur Vibe .
Seriously .
Musk has been teasing the track for several hours @ @ @ @ @ can listen to it yourself , courtesy of “ Emo G ” Records ( say @ @ @ @ @ ’ ll catch the pun ) : The track is a followup to Musk ’ @ @ @ @ @ , that payed homage to the beloved Cincinnati Zoo gorilla that suffered an untimely death @ @ @ @ @ , E “ D ” M according to his new Twitter handle , says he @ @ @ @ @ the vocals himself .
That ’ s really not saying too much unless you ’ @ @ @ @ @ to rhyme “ you ” with “ true.
” Still , what better way to @ @ @ @ @ with some chill vibes from the internet ’ s favorite billionaire .

Elon Musk is on a roll. Tesla stock is on a rocket ship and the Model Y SUV is coming early. Now, to share the good times, he’s released a song on SoundCloud titled “Don’t Doubt Ur Vibe.” Seriously. The track is also available on Spotify.
Musk has been teasing the track for several hours on Twitter. Now you can listen to it yourself, courtesy of “Emo G” Records (say it out loud and you’ll catch the pun):
The track is a followup to Musk’s first single RIP Harambe, that payed homage to the beloved Cincinnati Zoo gorilla that suffered an untimely death.
Musk — who is listed as Elon “EDM” Musk” on the Spotify version — says he wrote the lyrics and performed the vocals himself. That’s really not saying too much unless you’re impressed by his ability to rhyme “you” with “true.” Still, what better way to roll into the weekend than with some chill vibes from the internet’s favorite billionaire.


theverge--2020-01-30--Everything you need to know about the coronavirus from China

Public health experts around the globe are scrambling to understand , track , and contain a new virus that appeared in Wuhan , China at the start of December .
You can see where and how many cases have been reported in this map created by US researchers .
So far , there have been over 9,700 confirmed cases and 213 deaths .
The majority of the illnesses are in China , but cases have been reported in nearly two dozen other countries , including the US .
No deaths related to the illness have been reported outside of China @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unfold , The Verge will update this page with all the latest news and analysis .
Our hope is to answer all your questions as people work to understand this virus and contain its spread .
Where did the virus come from ?
At the end of December , public health officials from China informed the World Health Organization that they had a problem : an unknown , new virus was causing pneumonia-like illness in the city of Wuhan .
They quickly determined that it was a coronavirus , and that it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Coronaviruses are common in animals of all kinds , and sometimes can evolve into forms that can infect humans .
Since the start of the century , two other coronaviruses have jumped to humans , causing the SARS outbreak in 2002 and the MERS outbreak in 2012 .
Scientists think this new virus first became capable of jumping to humans at the beginning of December .
It originally seemed like the virus first infected people at a seafood market in Wuhan and spread from there .
But one analysis of early cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , found that the first patient to get sick did not have any contact with the market .
Experts are still trying to trace the outbreak back to its source .
The type of animal the virus originated from is not clear .
One team of researchers in China published a report arguing that it came from snakes , based on the genetic code of the virus .
However , scientists are very skeptical of that conclusion .
Another analysis found that the genetic sequence of the new virus is 96 percent identical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Both SARS and MERS originated in bats .
So is this the same as SARS ?
The new virus isn ’ t SARS , although that also began in China .
Because it comes from the same viral family as SARS , it has some similarities , but it ’ s an entirely new virus .
However , the commonalities mean scientists and public health officials can use what they ’ ve learned from the past outbreak to try to stop this one .
China lied to the WHO about SARS .
Are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ During the SARS outbreak , Chinese officials attempted to conceal cases from WHO inspectors and limit information , both internally and externally .
This time , officials quickly reported the outbreak of the new virus to the WHO , which praised their quick response and transparency in a press conference .
China is also allowing a team of WHO experts to assist Chinese public health officials with the ongoing work , the organization announced January 28th .
The US Department of Health and Human Services also said China has been more transparent than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chinese government ’ s level of cooperation is completely different from what we experienced in 2003 , ” said department Secretary Alex Azar during a press conference .
But critics and Chinese citizens are skeptical : there are concerns that Chinese officials are undercounting the number of illnesses and are classifying deaths that might have been from the virus as being from pneumonia .
Wuhan police also investigated citizens for spreading what it called rumors online a few weeks ago .
How dangerous is this new virus ?
Right now , no one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how severe an illness is and how easily it can spread to determine how “ bad ” it can be .
Epidemiologists often use this tool to assess new flus , for example , and guide decision-making : If an illness isn ’ t very severe ( and kills only a small percentage of people ) , but it ’ s highly transmissible , it can still cause devastating effects — if something affects millions , the small percentage it kills will still be a high number of fatalities .
Researchers are still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus , which have ranged from mild , like those in a cold , to severe .
Around 20 percent of confirmed cases have been severe , according to the WHO .
That ’ s 20 percent of the cases that we know about — it ’ s still possible that there are many more mild cases of the illness that haven ’ t been flagged , which would shrink the percentage of cases that are severe .
So far , the fatality rate for the new coronavirus is around 2 to 3 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ change as the outbreak progresses .
The fatality rate for SARS was about 14 to 15 percent .
Most deaths in this outbreak have been in older people who have underlying health issues , like heart disease , hypertension , and diabetes .
( That ’ s the same demographic who is most at risk of dying from illnesses like the flu . )
How fast is the virus spreading ?
We don ’ t yet know how rapidly or easily the virus can spread .
In China , sick people have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ start of January , and the WHO has reported that there have been sustained chains of people passing the virus along for at least four generations : one person got sick ( probably from an animal ) , passed the virus to another person , who passed it to another person .
People in four countries outside of China — the US , Germany , Japan , Vietnam — were infected with the coronavirus by other people , and not from direct travel to China .
Early evidence suggested that , like other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who are in very close contact with each other , and probably spreads when an infected person sneezes or coughs .
But Chinese officials have said that they have seen cases where people with the virus infected others before they start showing symptoms .
A letter to The New England Journal of Medicine also details a case where people who didn ’ t feel sick appeared to infect others in Germany .
If that ’ s happening regularly , containing the spread of the virus will be more complicated .
There ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can spread the virus , though .
And even if it was happening , it probably wouldn ’ t significantly affect the outbreak , said Anthony Fauci , director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases , in a press conference .
“ Even if there is some asymptomatic transmission , in all the history of respiratory borne illness , asymptomatic transmission has never been the driver of outbreaks , ” he said .
“ An epidemic is not driven by asymptomatic carriers.
” The WHO says that researchers think each @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , on average , between 1.4 and 2.5 additional people , though that ’ s only a preliminary estimate .
Other teams of researchers have published their own estimates , with most saying a sick person will infect an average of around two or three people .
Those numbers are called the virus ’ s R0 ( pronounced “ R-naught ” ) .
The R0 is the mathematical representation of how well an infection might be able to spread .
The higher the number , the more potentially spreadable it can be .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ was between two and five .
But that doesn ’ t mean each sick person will actually infect that many people ; quarantines and other actions taken to control outbreaks of a virus can bring down the number of people a sick person infects .
I ’ ve been coughing .
Do I have this virus ?
If you haven ’ t recently been to Wuhan , China , or been in close contact with someone who is sick and has recently been to Wuhan , China , it ’ s very unlikely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s totally normal to feel anxious , though — and there are ways to reduce that anxiety , like by distracting yourself with other activities , or keeping the risks in perspective .
If you live in the US , it ’ s far more likely that you have the flu or the common cold .
It ’ s still flu season , and high levels of flu activity aren ’ t expected to die down anytime soon .
( It ’ s not too late to get a flu shot ! )
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been to Wuhan , China , or been in close contact with someone who has , tell your doctor about your symptoms .
How can I protect myself ?
Based on what we know so far , you can protect yourself with the same measures you ’ d take ( and should be taking ) to protect yourself against the flu : wash your hands , cover your mouth when you cough , and stay away from people who are sick .
Should I cancel my trip to China ?
The US @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China to a level 4 , saying Americans shouldn ’ t travel to China because of the virus .
Level 4 is the most severe warning issued .
It applies only to areas with a “ greater likelihood of life-threatening risks.
” US citizens currently in China should “ consider departing using commercial means , ” the alert said .
How is China trying to stop the virus ?
On January 22nd , officials in Wuhan shut down all transportation in the city , which is home to over 11 million people .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ canceled all flights and trains in and out of the city .
The director general of the WHO applauded the decision , saying that it would help control the outbreak and slow the spread into other countries .
Fifteen other cities , home to a total of 46 million people , are locked down as well , The New York Times reported .
However , other officials weren ’ t sure if these quarantines would be effective : “ To my knowledge , trying to contain a city of 11 million people is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the World Health Organization ’ s representative in China , told the Associated Press .
“ It has not been tried before as a public health measure .
We can not at this stage say it will or it will not work.
” Major cities across the country canceled celebrations for the Lunar New Year , a huge holiday in China .
How at risk is the United States ?
Until we know how easily the virus spreads , it ’ s hard to say how significant of an effect it could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CDC says the risk to people in the US is currently low .
There have been six confirmed cases in the US : one in Washington state , two in Chicago , two in California , and one in Arizona , according to the CDC .
Five of the patients had recently traveled from Wuhan .
One of the patients in Chicago had not traveled to China and caught the virus from his wife ( the other patient in Chicago ) who had traveled there .
So far , there have been 165 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the United States .
As of January 29th , 68 of those cases had tested negative .
Testing is still underway for the remaining cases .
The agency said it expects to have more people under investigation and to see more cases in the US as the outbreak progresses .
The CDC is conducting enhanced health screenings for all travelers from China at 20 airports across the country to identify any people arriving in the US with symptoms .
Travelers are also given information about the virus and instructed to call a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ How is the virus affecting businesses that operate in China ?
A number of airlines , including United Airlines , British Airways , and Air Canada , are canceling some or all flights to and from China .
United Airlines said their decision to do so was due to a drop in demand for those flights .
Tech companies like Apple started limiting employee travel to China even before the US State Department and CDC warned people against traveling there .
South Korea ’ s LG banned travel to China completely , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had recently returned from China to work from home .
Foxconn , the Taiwanese electronics company that has factories in China and makes products for tech companies like Apple , said the virus won ’ t impact their production .
But China has officially extended the recent Lunar New Year holiday in an effort to curb the virus ’ spread , which could delay normal production schedules .
In a recent earnings call , Apple says it ’ s accounted for this uncertainty as it looks ahead to the next quarter .

Part of / A guide to the COVID-19 pandemic
Public health experts around the globe are scrambling to understand, track, and contain a virus that appeared in Wuhan, China, at the beginning of December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) named the disease caused by the virus COVID-19, which references the type of virus and the year it emerged. The WHO declared that the virus is a pandemic.
The Verge will update this page as new information emerges. You can also find our breakdown of what research shows about how to live in a pandemic world here.
A newsletter highlighting the COVID-19 research, developments, and stories that matter. Subscribe here!
You can see where and how many cases of the illness have been reported on this map. As this important story continues to unfold, our hope is to keep you up to date as people work to understand this virus and contain its spread.
Table of contents
Where did the virus come from?
At the end of December, public health officials from China informed the World Health Organization that they had a problem: an unknown, new virus was causing pneumonia-like illness in the city of Wuhan. They quickly determined that it was a coronavirus and that it was rapidly spreading through and outside of Wuhan.
Photo by Kevin Frayer / Getty Images
Coronaviruses are common in animals of all kinds, and they sometimes can evolve into forms that can infect humans. Since the start of the century, two other coronaviruses have jumped to humans, causing the SARS outbreak in 2002 and the MERS outbreak in 2012.
Scientists think this new virus first became capable of jumping to humans at the beginning of December. It originally seemed like the virus first infected people at a seafood market in Wuhan and spread from there. But one analysis of early cases of the illness, published on January 24th, found that the first patient to get sick did not have any contact with the market. Experts are still trying to trace the outbreak back to its source.
The type of animal the virus originated from is not clear, although one analysis found that the genetic sequence of the new virus is 96 percent identical to one coronavirus found in bats. Both SARS and MERS originated in bats.
Where is it spreading?
The virus is now spreading all over the world.
Although it originated in China, the country took aggressive action at the start of the outbreak, shutting down transportation in some cities and suspending public gatherings. Officials isolated sick people and aggressively tracked their contacts, and had a dedicated network of hospitals to test for the virus.
Countries like New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea have successfully slowed the pandemic. The US has not, and it is an epicenter of the crisis.
How dangerous is this new virus?
It takes information about both how severe an illness is and how easily it can spread to determine how “bad” it can be. Epidemiologists often use this tool to assess new strains of the flu, for example:
Image: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
If an illness isn’t very severe (and kills only a small percentage of people), but it’s highly transmissible, it can still be devastating. An easily transmitted illness that kills a small percentage of the people it infects can still cause a lot of deaths, precisely because so many people get sick.
The WHO named the illness caused by the coronavirus COVID-19 — “co” and “vi” for coronavirus, “d” for disease, and “19” for the year when the disease emerged.
COVID-19 is a serious illness, and it’s much more dangerous than the flu. One Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) projection suggests that between 160 to 214 million people will eventually be infected in the US and that between 200,000 and 1.7 million could die.
The symptoms of COVID-19 have ranged from mild, like those in a cold, to severe. Around 80 percent of confirmed cases are mild and don’t require hospitalization — at least, 80 percent of the cases that we know about. It’s still possible that there are more mild cases of the illness that haven’t been flagged, which would shrink the percentage of cases that are severe. In about 15 percent of people, the illness is severe enough that they need to be hospitalized, and about 5 percent of cases are critical. It appears around half of the people with critical cases of the illness die from it.
“Mild” cases, though, can still be debilitating. Some people with the disease say they couldn’t get out of bed for weeks. For many people, the effects of the illness linger: some people report running fevers for months or experiencing waves of fatigue that make it hard to run errands or walk up the stairs. Researchers don’t know why symptoms last so long, even after people no longer test positive for the virus.
So far, experts say that around 1 percent of people who get sick with COVID-19 will die, though it’s still too early to say for sure how often it is fatal. In the US, around 5 percent of people with confirmed cases of the virus have died from it, but that doesn’t account for the people who didn’t know they were infected or who weren't able to get tested.
Different groups of people are more at risk of having a severe case of the illness or of dying from it. Most deaths in this outbreak have been in older people and those who have underlying health issues, like heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. In that group, people are more at risk of dying. Around 14 percent of people over the age of 80 who get sick will die, for example.
How easily can the virus spread?
The virus moves rapidly. The new coronavirus spreads quickly in contained environments, like on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
Early evidence suggested that, like other coronaviruses, the virus jumps between people who are in very close contact with each other. It also probably spreads when an infected person sneezes or coughs. Coughs and sneezes produce little droplets of mucus and saliva. If these droplets make it into another person’s eyes, mouth, or nose, they can get sick. The viruses in those little droplets can also fall onto surfaces, like tables or doorknobs — if someone touches that surface and touches their eyes, mouth, or nose, they can also get sick.
The smallest of those droplets can also linger in the air after a sick person coughs or sneezes or when they breathe and talk. People can probably get infected by those clouds of lingering droplets, even though scientists still don’t know how often that actually happens. That’s why being inside, particularly in poorly ventilated rooms, is dangerous: tiny virus-carrying droplets wouldn’t circulate out in the same way they would outdoors.
We also don’t know when people with COVID-19 become contagious or how long being contagious lasts. One study of nine people in Germany with mild cases of the illness found that they had high levels of the virus in their throats early on in the course of the disease before they felt very sick. Research out of China showed that people without symptoms still have high levels of the virus in their throats and noses.
It’s probably possible for people to spread the virus to others before they feel sick. It’s also possible that people who never feel sick and are truly asymptomatic can infect other people. Researchers still don’t know how often those people actually end up spreading the disease. Some studies suggest that people who do have symptoms are much more likely to spread the virus to others.
Each sick person will go on to infect, on average, between 1.4 and 2.5 additional people, the WHO says, though that’s an early estimate. Other teams of researchers have published their own estimates, with most saying a sick person will infect an average of around two or three people.
Those numbers are called the virus’s R0 (pronounced “R-naught”). The R0 is the mathematical representation of how well an infection might be able to spread. The higher the number, the easier the disease is to spread. For comparison, the R0 for SARS was between two and five. But that doesn’t mean each sick person will actually infect that many people; quarantines and other actions taken to control outbreaks of a virus can bring down the number of people a sick person infects.
The R0 is also just an average. Researchers think this particular illness happens in clusters and tends to cause “superspreading” events. Some estimate that as few as 10 percent of COVID-19 cases are responsible for 80 percent of the disease’s spread — that is, most people don’t infect anyone else, and a few people set off chain reactions that infect dozens.
Can we treat this virus?
Since the start of the pandemic, doctors have gotten better at treating patients with COVID-19 in the hospital. There still isn’t much doctors can do for people with mild cases of the illness who aren’t sick enough to be hospitalized. But trials of synthetic antibodies are underway, and they might be able to help prevent people who catch the virus from becoming seriously ill.
In October, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved remdesivir, an antiviral medication originally developed for Ebola, to treat the disease — even though clinical trials found that it only has a limited benefit.
There was a lot of early hype around the anti-malaria medication chloroquine, but clinical trials showed that it doesn’t actually help COVID-19 patients. Clinical trials did show, though, that a cheap steroid called dexamethasone could help people who are hospitalized with very severe cases of the disease.
Research teams and pharmaceutical companies are also working to develop a vaccine that can protect people from infection. However, vaccine development takes a long time. Even if everything goes smoothly, it will be around a year to 18 months from the start of the development process before one is available, said Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
What can I do to protect myself and others?
Stay home if you’re feeling sick, even if you’re just a little bit under the weather. Stay home as much as possible even if you’re not feeling sick. If you do go out, wear a cloth mask or face covering when you’re out in public, especially in places where it’s hard to stay far away from others. While they’re not perfect, a cloth face covering could help stop you from spreading virus-laden particles to other people, even if you don’t know you’re sick. They could also partially block the virus from reaching your nose or mouth. If everyone wears them, some studies show they could help slow the spread of the virus.
Many states are slowly starting to let restaurants, barbershops, and retail stores open, even though the disease is still spreading rapidly in some places. The CDC released guidelines on June 12th, outlining the relative risk of everyday activities and the ways people should protect themselves when they venture out to the bank or the gym.
Spending time with a few people is less risky than hanging out with a large group, and everyone should wear masks and keep at a distance, the CDC says. The risk of contracting COVID-19 (or spreading it) goes up if you spend time with other people indoors rather than outside.
Before deciding if you should do a particular activity, the agency recommends thinking about how many new cases are being reported each day in your area. If the case numbers are low, the risk is lower than if hundreds of new people are being diagnosed with COVID-19 each day. You should also think about how closely you’d be interacting with other people (and if they’d be wearing a mask).
If you’re a young, healthy person, you might not feel very sick if you catch COVID-19. But you could pass it on to someone older or with a chronic health condition who is more likely to have a severe case of the disease.
Image: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
If I already had COVID-19, am I immune?
Many researchers think that after someone is infected with the coronavirus, there’s a good chance that person won’t get sick from the virus again for some still-undetermined amount of time. That’s based on what scientists know about how most viruses work. Usually, when you’re sick from a viral infection, your body develops antibodies against that virus. The next time you’re exposed to the virus, those antibodies could stop it from turning into a raging illness — though that isn’t always the case.
There isn’t concrete evidence that people who got sick once with COVID-19 can’t get sick again because no studies have specifically tested that idea. But virologists don’t think that this virus behaves differently than most other viruses — so people who did get sick are probably protected. The question, though, is for how long: for some viruses, the protection fades after a year or a few years. There aren’t answers to that question yet.
What’s happening in the US?
US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar declared a public health emergency in response to the coronavirus at the end of January, and President Trump declared a federal emergency in March.
As the overall case counts rose through March and April, governors and local officials closed nonessential businesses and told people to work from home and stay away from others. The interventions are helped to slow the spread of the disease in some areas, but many states — including Texas, Arizona, and Florida — lifted restrictions before public health experts thought it was safe.
Through the summer of 2020, cases in those places rapidly increased. After a long plateau, spikes in some Southern and Western US states pushed up new daily case numbers in the US. A fall surge hit the whole country, sending case numbers above the summer highs. The Midwest has the highest burden of disease, but hospitalizations are climbing all over the country.
Early in 2020, the virus spread undetected for weeks in the US. Initially, CDC guidelines did not allow testing unless a sick person had been in a country with an ongoing spread of the virus or who had been in contact with someone with a confirmed case of the disease could be tested. That delayed the diagnosis of patients who did not have those risk factors.
The US is doing around one million COVID-19 tests per day, according to data collected by volunteers at the COVID Tracking Project. Testing was slow to get off the ground in the US. It took too long for the FDA and the CDC to develop and distribute a functioning test and longer still for testing capacity to increase.
Many public health agencies across the country also still aren’t getting in touch with everyone who tests positive for the virus to find the people they may have exposed — a critical public health tool called contact tracing. The US needs to scale up its contact tracing workforce in order to control the outbreak.


theverge--2020-01-30--‘Do not travel to China’ because of coronavirus risk, US tells citizens

Americans shouldn ’ t travel to China because of the risks from the new coronavirus , the US State Department said .
US citizens currently in China should “ consider departing using commercial means , ” the alert said .
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo echoed the warning on Twitter .
A Level 4 travel advisory is the most severe warning issued by the State Department , and it applies only to areas with a “ greater likelihood of life-threatening risks.
” The warning cites a decision earlier today by the World Health Organization to declare the outbreak a global @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reached nearly two dozen countries , sickening more than 9,000 .
Several airlines have canceled flights to China , and today ’ s warning tells travelers to prepare for travel restrictions that may occur with “ little or no advance notice.
” The first person-to-person transmission in the US was also reported today , when a woman who ’ d traveled to China passed the virus to her husband .
There are now six cases in the US ; 68 people under investigation have tested negative as of January 29 .
Another 92 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and wife were in close contact ; health officials believe the woman had symptoms of her illness when she passed the virus on .
But the question of when the novel coronavirus can be transmitted is still open .
Also today , the New England Journal of Medicine described a case in Germany where a person who had no symptoms appeared to spread the virus .
The finding is preliminary , but if it ’ s confirmed by other accounts , it may make containing the virus more difficult .
Some viruses , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before a person starts feeling sick .
That means people might feel fine and go about their normal activities , exposing others to the illness .
The New England Journal of Medicine article describes how a woman from Shanghai came to Germany for a business trip .
She got sick on the plane back to China on January 22nd .
A German businessman who met with her on January 20th and 21st also got sick — but his symptoms were mild .
He returned to work January 27th ; by the time he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seemed healthy , but the test came back positive .
Three of his other coworkers also tested positive for the coronavirus , but just one of them had met with the woman who ’ d traveled from Shanghai .
The other two had only been exposed to the German businessman .
All four German patients are in hospitals and experienced mild cases of the illness .

Americans shouldn’t travel to China because of the risks from the new coronavirus, the US State Department said. US citizens currently in China should “consider departing using commercial means,” the alert said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo echoed the warning on Twitter. A Level 4 travel advisory is the most severe warning issued by the State Department, and it applies only to areas with a “greater likelihood of life-threatening risks.”
The warning cites a decision earlier today by the World Health Organization to declare the outbreak a global public health emergency. The virus has reached nearly two dozen countries, sickening more than 9,000. Several airlines have canceled flights to China, and today’s warning tells travelers to prepare for travel restrictions that may occur with “little or no advance notice.”
The first person-to-person transmission in the US was also reported today, when a woman who’d traveled to China passed the virus to her husband. There are now six cases in the US; 68 people under investigation have tested negative as of January 29. Another 92 people are being tested. The husband and wife were in close contact; health officials believe the woman had symptoms of her illness when she passed the virus on.
But the question of when the novel coronavirus can be transmitted is still open. Also today, the New England Journal of Medicine described a case in Germany where a person who had no symptoms appeared to spread the virus. The finding is preliminary, but if it’s confirmed by other accounts, it may make containing the virus more difficult. Some viruses, like the flu, can be spread before a person starts feeling sick. That means people might feel fine and go about their normal activities, exposing others to the illness.
The New England Journal of Medicine article describes how a woman from Shanghai came to Germany for a business trip. She got sick on the plane back to China on January 22nd. A German businessman who met with her on January 20th and 21st also got sick — but his symptoms were mild. He returned to work January 27th; by the time he was tested for the coronavirus, he seemed healthy, but the test came back positive.


theverge--2020-01-30--Nintendo says it has no plans for a new Switch this year

Nintendo CEO and president Shuntaro Furukawa told investors today that the company has “ no plans ” to launch a new model of the Switch in 2020 .
Speaking as part of a corporate management policy briefing following yesterday ’ s release of financial results , Furukawa instead pointed to today ’ s announcement of the new Animal Crossing-branded model .
“ According to the conventional wisdom for dedicated video game platforms , Nintendo Switch should be entering the midway phase of the hardware lifecycle , ” Furukawa said .
“ But we believe we have built a foundation on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Nintendo Switch.
” It wouldn ’ t really be surprising if there were no new Switch hardware this year .
The original system came out in early 2017 and received its first significant updates last year with the Switch Lite and a refreshed model with better battery life , both of which were made possible by a more power-efficient version of the Nvidia chip inside .
Anything more substantial would likely require new custom silicon from Nvidia , which no longer designs general-purpose chips aimed at tablets or other mobile devices .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ but Nintendo seems happy with its current product mix .
Furukawa noted how sales of the original Switch were almost flat year-on-year between April and December , with the Switch Lite helping push Nintendo to its improved numbers overall .
The Switch now sits at 52.48 million units shipped overall as of the end of 2019 , with Furukawa believing the sell-through numbers to be more than 48 million .
“ However , we feel that we have not yet fully communicated the special features and appeal of Nintendo Switch Lite , so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forward , ” Furukawa said .
“ Regarding Nintendo Switch , we believe that it is important to continue to communicate the appeal of both Nintendo Switch systems and expand the installed base .
”

Nintendo CEO and president Shuntaro Furukawa told investors today that the company has “no plans” to launch a new model of the Switch in 2020. Speaking as part of a corporate management policy briefing following yesterday’s release of financial results, Furukawa instead pointed to today’s announcement of the new Animal Crossing-branded model.
“According to the conventional wisdom for dedicated video game platforms, Nintendo Switch should be entering the midway phase of the hardware lifecycle,” Furukawa said. “But we believe we have built a foundation on which we can pursue further growth opportunities for Nintendo Switch.”
It wouldn’t really be surprising if there were no new Switch hardware this year. The original system came out in early 2017 and received its first significant updates last year with the Switch Lite and a refreshed model with better battery life, both of which were made possible by a more power-efficient version of the Nvidia chip inside. Anything more substantial would likely require new custom silicon from Nvidia, which no longer designs general-purpose chips aimed at tablets or other mobile devices.
Things could change, of course, but Nintendo seems happy with its current product mix. Furukawa noted how sales of the original Switch were almost flat year-on-year between April and December, with the Switch Lite helping push Nintendo to its improved numbers overall. The Switch now sits at 52.48 million units shipped overall as of the end of 2019, with Furukawa believing the sell-through numbers to be more than 48 million.