theverge--2020-02-12--Amazon’s PR campaigns keep blowing up in the company’s face

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A little over a year ago , when Amazon ’ s phony “ search ” for a site for a second “ headquarters ” was revealed to be a sham , I noted that for a rich tech giant the company seemed surprisingly tone-deaf .
A billion-dollar giveaway to one of the world ’ s biggest corporations caused an outcry with the electorate and their representatives .
As a result , the deal that Amazon negotiated for itself in New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ company to pay for office space with its own money rather than taxpayers ’ .
In the aftermath of that debacle , I wondered if the company might be chastened , or even apologetic .
Instead , though , it has plowed ahead with the confidence of the god Maui in Moana — and the response to any criticism has been a smug “ You ’ re Welcome.
” The basic idea , borrowed from Steve Jobs-era Apple , is to cow any critics by referring loudly and constantly to the company ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Amazons ’ s policymaking through self-congratulation comes from Jay Carney , the company ’ s public relations chief .
In an op-ed in the New York Times , Carney reminisces about the time Sen. Bernie Sanders called him to praise Amazon raising its minimum wage to $ 15 .
( That ’ s an annual salary of $ 31,200 ; meanwhile , CEO Jeff Bezos made $ 4.1 billion selling Amazon stock in the past 11 days alone . )
The point of this reminiscence is to take credit for doing more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , while attempting to shift the pressure for improving worker conditions back onto members of Congress like Sanders : We know $ 15 is not a lot .
In fact , we believe $ 15 should be the minimum anyone in the United States is paid for an hour of labor , and in most areas of the country our starting wage is even higher .
But while the debate about Amazon ’ s impact at times focuses on how our hourly jobs compare to jobs of the past , or to an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ truth is that more than 40 million Americans earn less than the lowest-paid Amazon associate .
For many people , a job at one of our fulfillment centers is by far the best option available in their region .
And we are proud of that — even as we agree that our political and business leaders must work together to create more and better options for all America ’ s workers .
One place to start : Raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15 from its current rate of $ 7.25 — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sanders can do .
If Congress were to follow our lead , all it would take to greatly improve the lives of America ’ s lowest-paid workers is the president ’ s signature .
It ’ s certainly a good thing that Amazon pays more than the federal minimum wage .
And it ’ s also a good thing that Amazon creates lots of jobs , even if it ’ s able to create so many jobs in part because it excels at crushing competition .
( Diapers.com might have hired a lot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , had Amazon not dropped prices by 30 percent in an effort to drive it out of business . )
But there are at least two big issues that Carney glosses over while patting his company on the back .
The first is that many of the jobs that Amazon creates come with brutal working conditions .
Whether it ’ s the back-breaking work in fulfillment centers , where workers are seriously injured at four times the industry average , or white-collar work at headquarters , where a 2015 investigation found that employees @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Amazon has a lot to answer for .
( Carney responded to the latter case with a legendarily peevish Medium post in which he denigrated several former employees by name , attacked the integrity of the reporters who wrote it , and said almost nothing in defense of what he called the company ’ s “ demanding culture.
” ) The second big issue glossed over in Carney ’ s op-ed is that all those jobs the company is creating can come with terrible externalities .
For example , BuzzFeed last year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deliveries to hundreds of delivery vehicle accidents , resulting in at least six fatalities .
When BuzzFeed ’ s reporters pointed this out on Twitter , Carney was characteristically dismissive : Not wanting people to get run over Amazon delivery vehicles does not , in my opinion , make you a “ political advocate.
” Nor does writing about the phenomenon strike me as being outside the bounds of good journalism .
In truth there ’ s very little daylight between this kind of lazy , pouty everyone ’ s-out-to-get-us media criticism and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fake news / witch hunt verbal diarrhea .
Some of which is aimed at ... Jeff Bezos , in his capacity as owner of the Washington Post .
In both his private actions and his public comments , Bezos has been a strong supporter of a free and independent press .
Which makes it all the stranger that his chief attack dog for nearly five years has been so dismissive of one .
Even more so because the primary effect of that attitude has been to build enormous and consequential blind spots .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In the meantime it ’ s striking that Bezos has been so much more effective at managing the story around his colorful personal life — a story that has recently involved divorce , blackmail , and a WhatsApp-based attack by the the crown prince of Saudi Arabia — than he has been at managing the story about Amazon ’ s day-to-day business practices .
Then again , it ’ s always easier to play the victim when you actually are one .
Today in news that could affect public perception of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Google announced a new initiative to give federal campaigns access to free Titan Security Keys , a strong form of two-factor authentication .
The move is part of the company ’ s broader effort to increase election security .
Trending up : Snapchat is launching a new set of tools and custom content around mental health and wellness .
One tool includes a search function that surfaces health and wellness resources on topics including depression , suicide and anxiety .
⭐ The Federal Trade Commission announced that it will begin reviewing past acquisitions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Alphabet , Amazon , Apple , Facebook , and Microsoft .
If the FTC finds evidence of anticompetitive activity in past mergers , it could prompt the agency to take enforcement action .
( This inquiry won ’ t look at Facebook ’ s acquisition of Instagram or WhatsApp , though — the FTC approved those . )
The Verge ’ s Makena Kelly reports : ⭐ The CIA secretly bought a company called Crypto AG that sold encryption devices across the world .
Then it rigged those devices so it could easily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s Greg Miller at The Washington Post with an all-time holy-wow of an investigation : ⭐ US officials say Huawei can covertly access mobile-phone networks around the world through “ back doors ” designed to be used by law enforcement .
The news comes as the Trump administration ramps up its push for US allies to block the Chinese company .
Bojan Pancevski at The Wall Street Journal has the story , which will be cited every single time lawmakers call for the installation of a “ backdoor ” in encryption technology @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg , the leading presidential candidates , are calling each other out in Facebook ads aimed at driving last-minute donations ahead of Tuesday ’ s New Hampshire primary .
The increasingly personal ads mirror the infighting among Democrats following the razor-close finish in Iowa .
( Cat Zakrzewski / The Washington Post ) Mike Bloomberg ’ s presidential campaign is asking tech leaders to refer their most talented colleagues and friends to his massive election operation in New York .
The request stands in contrast to Bloomberg ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actively criticizing Big Tech .
( Theodore Schleifer / Recode ) Roughly a dozen law enforcement agencies in Florida have tried or bought access to Clearview AI ’ s facial recognition app .
Privacy experts warn the app could allow police officers to identify anyone on the street , deterring political rallies or even people going about their daily lives .
( Allison Ross , Malena Carollo and Kathryn Varn / Tampa Bay Times ) A profile of Sarah Miller , a Treasury Department aide turned antitrust activist who wants to reshape the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ industries from tech to agriculture and medicine .
( David McCabe / The New York Times ) The European Union backed away from plans to call for a five-year moratorium on the use of facial recognition technology in public spaces .
It ’ s leaving the responsibility of choosing to impose a ban to member states , despite concerns from privacy groups that the technology will harm civil liberties .
( Javier Espinoza and Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times ) An apparent glitch prevented Facebook users in Myanmar from posting in the Jinghpaw @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Kachin population .
The bug spread fears of censorship and oppression among the already embattled group .
( Emily Fishbein / The Verge ) ⭐ Apple ’ s built-in voice assistant Siri can now answer questions about the election .
The feature is part of Apple News ’ 2020 election coverage , which also includes curated news , resources and data .
Here ’ s Sarah Perez at TechCrunch : Google ’ s head of human resources , Eileen Naughton , is stepping down later this year amid rising tensions between the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Naughton has been dealing with intensifying employee anger over the company ’ s alleged handling of sexual harassment claims and the firing of employees who organized protests .
( Danielle Abril / Fortune ) Alphabet moved Jigsaw , a technology incubator that creates tools to curb online misinformation , harassment and other issues , under Google .
It ’ s the third Alphabet subsidiary over the past two years to be shifted to Google .
( Nick Bastone / The Information ) Google is testing out adding free direct links to competitor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vacation rental and flight options in Europe .
The move is likely an attempt to appease regulators , who have been calling for a crackdown on the search giant .
( Dennis Schaal / Skift ) Students at the online coding bootcamp Lambda School say the program hasn ’ t always delivered on its promise .
These programs are a key way to increase diversity in tech , but they only work if the curriculum properly prepares people for a job .
( Zoe Schiffer and Megan Farokhmanesh / The Verge ) The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ progressive news channels on YouTube , is receiving funding from YouTube to launch an online course called TYT Academy that will focus on creating digital local news .
The investment is part of Google ’ s $ 300 million news initiative announced in 2018 .
( Axios ) The popular Edison email app , one of the top productivity apps in the App Store , scrapes users ’ email inboxes and sells products based off that information to clients in the finance , travel , and e-Commerce industries .
Some companies , like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make better investment decisions .
Some companies actually do sell data !
( Joseph Cox / Vice ) Here are 10 ways TikTok will change product design , according to a former top executive at Facebook .
( Sam Lessin / The Information ) And here is the first known “ why I deleted my TikTok ” essay .
An important rite of passage for any social app , from a student at Cornell .
Companies including Intel , AT & T , Cisco and Sprint are canceling plans to attend the wireless @ @ @ @ @ @ @ response to the coronavirus .
Mobile World Congress , held each year in Barcelona , is apparently still going to happen , although attendees will need to prove they haven ’ t set foot in mainland China in the two weeks prior to showing up .
( Thomas Seal and Rodrigo Orihuela / Bloomberg ) Send us tips , comments , questions , and a crisis PR strategy for Amazon : casey @ theverge.com and zoe @ theverge.com .

A little over a year ago, when Amazon’s phony “search” for a site for a second “headquarters” was revealed to be a sham, I noted that for a rich tech giant the company seemed surprisingly tone-deaf. A billion-dollar giveaway to one of the world’s biggest corporations caused an outcry with the electorate and their representatives. As a result, the deal that Amazon negotiated for itself in New York City blew up, forcing the company to pay for office space with its own money rather than taxpayers’.
In the aftermath of that debacle, I wondered if the company might be chastened, or even apologetic. Instead, though, it has plowed ahead with the confidence of the god Maui in Moana — and the response to any criticism has been a smug “You’re Welcome.” The basic idea, borrowed from Steve Jobs-era Apple, is to cow any critics by referring loudly and constantly to the company’s successes.
The latest example of Amazons’s policymaking through self-congratulation comes from Jay Carney, the company’s public relations chief. In an op-ed in the New York Times, Carney reminisces about the time Sen. Bernie Sanders called him to praise Amazon raising its minimum wage to $15. (That’s an annual salary of $31,200; meanwhile, CEO Jeff Bezos made $4.1 billion selling Amazon stock in the past 11 days alone.)
The point of this reminiscence is to take credit for doing more than the absolute least that Amazon could do, while attempting to shift the pressure for improving worker conditions back onto members of Congress like Sanders:
We know $15 is not a lot. In fact, we believe $15 should be the minimum anyone in the United States is paid for an hour of labor, and in most areas of the country our starting wage is even higher. But while the debate about Amazon’s impact at times focuses on how our hourly jobs compare to jobs of the past, or to an idealized vision of the future, the truth is that more than 40 million Americans earn less than the lowest-paid Amazon associate. For many people, a job at one of our fulfillment centers is by far the best option available in their region. And we are proud of that — even as we agree that our political and business leaders must work together to create more and better options for all America’s workers. One place to start: Raise the federal minimum wage to $15 from its current rate of $7.25 — something only members of Congress like Senator Sanders can do. If Congress were to follow our lead, all it would take to greatly improve the lives of America’s lowest-paid workers is the president’s signature.
It’s certainly a good thing that Amazon pays more than the federal minimum wage. And it’s also a good thing that Amazon creates lots of jobs, even if it’s able to create so many jobs in part because it excels at crushing competition. (Diapers.com might have hired a lot of people, and continued to exist, had Amazon not dropped prices by 30 percent in an effort to drive it out of business.)
But there are at least two big issues that Carney glosses over while patting his company on the back. The first is that many of the jobs that Amazon creates come with brutal working conditions. Whether it’s the back-breaking work in fulfillment centers, where workers are seriously injured at four times the industry average, or white-collar work at headquarters, where a 2015 investigation found that employees were constantly found crying at their desks, Amazon has a lot to answer for. (Carney responded to the latter case with a legendarily peevish Medium post in which he denigrated several former employees by name, attacked the integrity of the reporters who wrote it, and said almost nothing in defense of what he called the company’s “demanding culture.”)
The second big issue glossed over in Carney’s op-ed is that all those jobs the company is creating can come with terrible externalities. For example, BuzzFeed last year connected Amazons’ relentless push for faster deliveries to hundreds of delivery vehicle accidents, resulting in at least six fatalities. When BuzzFeed’s reporters pointed this out on Twitter, Carney was characteristically dismissive:
Not wanting people to get run over Amazon delivery vehicles does not, in my opinion, make you a “political advocate.” Nor does writing about the phenomenon strike me as being outside the bounds of good journalism. In truth there’s very little daylight between this kind of lazy, pouty everyone’s-out-to-get-us media criticism and the president’s daily torrent of fake news / witch hunt verbal diarrhea. Some of which is aimed at ... Jeff Bezos, in his capacity as owner of the Washington Post.
In both his private actions and his public comments, Bezos has been a strong supporter of a free and independent press. Which makes it all the stranger that his chief attack dog for nearly five years has been so dismissive of one. Even more so because the primary effect of that attitude has been to build enormous and consequential blind spots.
Perhaps Amazon will learn that lesson eventually. In the meantime it’s striking that Bezos has been so much more effective at managing the story around his colorful personal life — a story that has recently involved divorce, blackmail, and a WhatsApp-based attack by the the crown prince of Saudi Arabia — than he has been at managing the story about Amazon’s day-to-day business practices. Then again, it’s always easier to play the victim when you actually are one.
The Ratio
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms.
🔼 Trending up: Google announced a new initiative to give federal campaigns access to free Titan Security Keys, a strong form of two-factor authentication. The move is part of the company’s broader effort to increase election security.
🔼 Trending up: Snapchat is launching a new set of tools and custom content around mental health and wellness. One tool includes a search function that surfaces health and wellness resources on topics including depression, suicide and anxiety.
Governing
⭐ The Federal Trade Commission announced that it will begin reviewing past acquisitions made by big tech companies, including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft. If the FTC finds evidence of anticompetitive activity in past mergers, it could prompt the agency to take enforcement action. (This inquiry won’t look at Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram or WhatsApp, though — the FTC approved those.) The Verge’s Makena Kelly reports:
In orders issued to the companies, the FTC said that it was seeking “information and documents on the terms, scope, structure, and purpose of” small and unreported transactions made between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2019. The commission’s study will focus on quiet acquisitions and acqui-hires, not large deals like Facebook’s purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp.
⭐ The CIA secretly bought a company called Crypto AG that sold encryption devices across the world. Then it rigged those devices so it could easily listen in on encrypted messages. Here’s Greg Miller at The Washington Post with an all-time holy-wow of an investigation:
“It was the intelligence coup of the century,” the CIA report concludes. “Foreign governments were paying good money to the U.S. and West Germany for the privilege of having their most secret communications read by at least two (and possibly as many as five or six) foreign countries.”
⭐ US officials say Huawei can covertly access mobile-phone networks around the world through “back doors” designed to be used by law enforcement. The news comes as the Trump administration ramps up its push for US allies to block the Chinese company. Bojan Pancevski at The Wall Street Journal has the story, which will be cited every single time lawmakers call for the installation of a “backdoor” in encryption technology from now until the end of time.
“We have evidence that Huawei has the capability secretly to access sensitive and personal information in systems it maintains and sells around the world,” said national security adviser Robert O’Brien. “Huawei does not disclose this covert access to its local customers, or the host nation national-security agencies,” another senior U.S. official said.
Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg, the leading presidential candidates, are calling each other out in Facebook ads aimed at driving last-minute donations ahead of Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary. The increasingly personal ads mirror the infighting among Democrats following the razor-close finish in Iowa. (Cat Zakrzewski / The Washington Post)
Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign is asking tech leaders to refer their most talented colleagues and friends to his massive election operation in New York. The request stands in contrast to Bloomberg’s Democratic rivals, who have been actively criticizing Big Tech. (Theodore Schleifer / Recode)
Roughly a dozen law enforcement agencies in Florida have tried or bought access to Clearview AI’s facial recognition app. Privacy experts warn the app could allow police officers to identify anyone on the street, deterring political rallies or even people going about their daily lives. (Allison Ross, Malena Carollo and Kathryn Varn / Tampa Bay Times)
A profile of Sarah Miller, a Treasury Department aide turned antitrust activist who wants to reshape the American economy by targeting big companies in industries from tech to agriculture and medicine. (David McCabe / The New York Times)
The European Union backed away from plans to call for a five-year moratorium on the use of facial recognition technology in public spaces. It’s leaving the responsibility of choosing to impose a ban to member states, despite concerns from privacy groups that the technology will harm civil liberties. (Javier Espinoza and Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times)
An apparent glitch prevented Facebook users in Myanmar from posting in the Jinghpaw language, used by the country’s Kachin population. The bug spread fears of censorship and oppression among the already embattled group. (Emily Fishbein / The Verge)
Industry
⭐ Apple’s built-in voice assistant Siri can now answer questions about the election. The feature is part of Apple News’ 2020 election coverage, which also includes curated news, resources and data. Here’s Sarah Perez at TechCrunch:
For example, you may ask Siri something like “When are the California primaries?,” which is a more straightforward question, or “Who’s winning the New Hampshire primaries?,” which requires updated information. Siri will speak the answers to the question in addition to presenting the information visually, which makes the feature useful from an accessibility standpoint, too.
Google’s head of human resources, Eileen Naughton, is stepping down later this year amid rising tensions between the company’s top executives and employees. Naughton has been dealing with intensifying employee anger over the company’s alleged handling of sexual harassment claims and the firing of employees who organized protests. (Danielle Abril / Fortune)
Alphabet moved Jigsaw, a technology incubator that creates tools to curb online misinformation, harassment and other issues, under Google. It’s the third Alphabet subsidiary over the past two years to be shifted to Google. (Nick Bastone / The Information)
Google is testing out adding free direct links to competitor websites above its own featured hotel, vacation rental and flight options in Europe. The move is likely an attempt to appease regulators, who have been calling for a crackdown on the search giant. (Dennis Schaal / Skift)
Students at the online coding bootcamp Lambda School say the program hasn’t always delivered on its promise. These programs are a key way to increase diversity in tech, but they only work if the curriculum properly prepares people for a job. (Zoe Schiffer and Megan Farokhmanesh / The Verge)
The Young Turks, one of the largest progressive news channels on YouTube, is receiving funding from YouTube to launch an online course called TYT Academy that will focus on creating digital local news. The investment is part of Google’s $300 million news initiative announced in 2018. (Axios)
The popular Edison email app, one of the top productivity apps in the App Store, scrapes users’ email inboxes and sells products based off that information to clients in the finance, travel, and e-Commerce industries. Some companies, like JP Morgan, buy the data to make better investment decisions. Some companies actually do sell data! (Joseph Cox / Vice)
Here are 10 ways TikTok will change product design, according to a former top executive at Facebook. (Sam Lessin / The Information)
And here is the first known “why I deleted my TikTok” essay. An important rite of passage for any social app, from a student at Cornell.
Companies including Intel, AT&T, Cisco and Sprint are canceling plans to attend the wireless industry’s biggest annual event in response to the coronavirus. Mobile World Congress, held each year in Barcelona, is apparently still going to happen, although attendees will need to prove they haven’t set foot in mainland China in the two weeks prior to showing up. (Thomas Seal and Rodrigo Orihuela / Bloomberg)
And finally...
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theverge--2020-02-12--Microsoft and Samsung partner on Xbox cloud-based game streaming

Samsung launched its new Galaxy S20 and Galaxy Z Flip smartphones yesterday , but the company also broadened its Microsoft partnership at the same time .
Samsung and Microsoft are teaming up on a cloud-based game streaming service , and it ’ s likely this will involve xCloud appearing on Samsung devices in the future .
“ This is just the beginning of our gaming partnership with Xbox , ” explained David S. Park , head of Samsung ’ s US marketing , as he unveiled Microsoft ’ s Forza Street game for Galaxy devices .
“ Both Samsung and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gaming experiences to mobile players around the world .
With our 5G-enabled portfolios and Microsoft ’ s rich history in gaming , we are working closely together to create a premium cloud-based game streaming experience .
You ’ ll hear more about it later this year.
” Microsoft confirmed the partnership in a statement to The Verge , but both companies have offered very little details on exactly what this will mean for the future .
“ Having partners join us on our journey to delivering high-quality game streaming to players is of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Choudhry , Microsoft ’ s Project xCloud chief , in a statement to The Verge .
“ We ’ ve seen positive feedback from Project xCloud preview participants testing a range of Galaxy devices , and it will only get better as we continue to work closely with Samsung on refining the experience .
It ’ s an exciting time to be working on Project xCloud , and we can ’ t wait to share more about our work with Samsung later this year.
” It ’ s clear this is related to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of partnership we saw Sony embark on with Microsoft for fundamental access to the company ’ s Azure cloud-based architecture .
Microsoft and Samsung partnered last year to bridge Android and Windows closer together with tighter integration of apps like OneDrive and Your Phone into Samsung ’ s devices .
Microsoft and Samsung designers are also working in the same rooms on part of this project , as both companies look to benefit from better software integration .
Right now all we have is a promise of more details later this year , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Microsoft to fully launch its xCloud game streaming service .
Microsoft has promised an xCloud launch in 2020 , complete with PC streaming and PS4 controller support .
Currently , xCloud is in open beta and Microsoft has regularly been improving the number of games available on the service to more than 50 as it looks to move beyond just the US , UK , and Korea .

Samsung launched its new Galaxy S20 and Galaxy Z Flip smartphones yesterday, but the company also broadened its Microsoft partnership at the same time. Samsung and Microsoft are teaming up on a cloud-based game streaming service, and it’s likely this will involve xCloud appearing on Samsung devices in the future.
“This is just the beginning of our gaming partnership with Xbox,” explained David S. Park, head of Samsung’s US marketing, as he unveiled Microsoft’s Forza Street game for Galaxy devices. “Both Samsung and Xbox share a vision for bringing great gaming experiences to mobile players around the world. With our 5G-enabled portfolios and Microsoft’s rich history in gaming, we are working closely together to create a premium cloud-based game streaming experience. You’ll hear more about it later this year.”
Microsoft confirmed the partnership in a statement to The Verge, but both companies have offered very little details on exactly what this will mean for the future. “Having partners join us on our journey to delivering high-quality game streaming to players is of the utmost importance,” says Kareem Choudhry, Microsoft’s Project xCloud chief, in a statement to The Verge. “We’ve seen positive feedback from Project xCloud preview participants testing a range of Galaxy devices, and it will only get better as we continue to work closely with Samsung on refining the experience. It’s an exciting time to be working on Project xCloud, and we can’t wait to share more about our work with Samsung later this year.”
It’s clear this is related to xCloud somehow, rather than the type of partnership we saw Sony embark on with Microsoft for fundamental access to the company’s Azure cloud-based architecture. Microsoft and Samsung partnered last year to bridge Android and Windows closer together with tighter integration of apps like OneDrive and Your Phone into Samsung’s devices. Microsoft and Samsung designers are also working in the same rooms on part of this project, as both companies look to benefit from better software integration.


theverge--2020-02-12--Galaxy Home Mini emerges as an S20 preorder bonus in South Korea

Despite not appearing at yesterday ’ s Unpacked event , Samsung ’ s long delayed Bixby smart speaker is finally getting something resembling a release .
TizenHelp has spotted the Galaxy Home Mini as a preorder bonus for customers in South Korea .
From what we can tell via Google Translate , the offer appears to be available for preorders of the Galaxy S20 placed between February 14 and February 26 , ahead of the phone ’ s release next month .
The promotional release is the latest development in Samsung ’ s strange smart speaker saga .
The initial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ August 2018 was typical enough , but since then the device has faced numerous delays , and has failed to make an appearance at any of Samsung ’ s subsequent launches .
Then , seemingly out of nowhere , the Galaxy Home Mini appeared as a public beta in South Korea last year , and Samsung then said that the speaker would be released early this year .
A promotional page that briefly appeared on Samsung ’ s site claimed that the release would happen on February 12th .
The Home Mini was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Then , over the weekend , footage emerged of a working Galaxy Home Mini speaking in English , raising hopes that a global release was imminent .
The leak also revealed plenty of details about the kinds of things the speaker would be capable of .
These included standard smart speaker functions like setting timers or controlling smart home devices , as well as built-in IR blasters which could let it control devices like TVs , similar to the Amazon Fire TV Cube .
When it actually came time to announce the Galaxy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ smart speakers were nowhere to be seen .
For now , it seems the Galaxy Home Mini is only going to be offered as a promotional item in South Korea .
There ’ s currently no word about if or when it ’ ll be released as a standalone device , or whether it will ever leave Samsung ’ s home country .

Despite not appearing at yesterday’s Unpacked event, Samsung’s long delayed Bixby smart speaker is finally getting something resembling a release. TizenHelp has spotted the Galaxy Home Mini as a preorder bonus for customers in South Korea. From what we can tell via Google Translate, the offer appears to be available for preorders of the Galaxy S20 placed between February 14 and February 26, ahead of the phone’s release next month.
The promotional release is the latest development in Samsung’s strange smart speaker saga. The initial announcement of the full-sized Galaxy Home in August 2018 was typical enough, but since then the device has faced numerous delays, and has failed to make an appearance at any of Samsung’s subsequent launches.
The smart speaker is being offered as a Galaxy S20 pre-order bonus. Image: Samsung
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the Galaxy Home Mini appeared as a public beta in South Korea last year, and Samsung then said that the speaker would be released early this year. A promotional page that briefly appeared on Samsung’s site claimed that the release would happen on February 12th.
The Home Mini was announced as a public beta last year
Then, over the weekend, footage emerged of a working Galaxy Home Mini speaking in English, raising hopes that a global release was imminent. The leak also revealed plenty of details about the kinds of things the speaker would be capable of. These included standard smart speaker functions like setting timers or controlling smart home devices, as well as built-in IR blasters which could let it control devices like TVs, similar to the Amazon Fire TV Cube.


theverge--2020-02-12--This Sony remote control for TVs is also a portable speaker

Sony ’ s new SRS-LSR200 remote control isn ’ t just elegantly named , it ’ s also a portable speaker with a 13-hour battery .
That way you can take your television audio to the kitchen , toilet , or wherever you ’ d like it without having to blast the TV ’ s volume from across the house .
The LSR200 features a pair of 2W stereo speakers and a center “ clear voice ” unit tuned for human voice frequencies .
The speaker rests in a charging base that ’ s attached to the TV — any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sony .
The base can charge the speaker from zero to full in about three hours .
The speaker communicates to the base ( and thus , the TV ) over 2.4GHz wireless and can be used to play audio simultaneously with the TV ’ s speakers .
Sony says that its “ drip-proof ” infrared remote and speaker combo weighs 630 grams / 1.4 pounds .
There ’ s even a headphone jack .
It ’ s scheduled for release on February 22nd in Japan for 20,000 yen , or roughly $ @ @

Sony’s new SRS-LSR200 remote control isn’t just elegantly named, it’s also a portable speaker with a 13-hour battery. That way you can take your television audio to the kitchen, toilet, or wherever you’d like it without having to blast the TV’s volume from across the house.
The LSR200 features a pair of 2W stereo speakers and a center “clear voice” unit tuned for human voice frequencies. The speaker rests in a charging base that’s attached to the TV — any TV, not just those sold by Sony. The base can charge the speaker from zero to full in about three hours. The speaker communicates to the base (and thus, the TV) over 2.4GHz wireless and can be used to play audio simultaneously with the TV’s speakers. Sony says that its “drip-proof” infrared remote and speaker combo weighs 630 grams / 1.4 pounds. There’s even a headphone jack.


theverge--2020-02-12--Olympus’ OM-D E-M1 Mark III wants to make it easier to aim for the stars

Olympus today announced the OM-D E-M1 Mark III , following up its predecessor from 2016 .
The weather-sealed design is almost untouched from last generation , though it ’ s more capable in the image quality department .
In some cases , it even outclasses the 2019 E-M1X , Olympus ’ pro-grade mirrorless Micro Four Thirds camera , while being more compact and affordable .
This new entry costs $ 1,799.99 ( body only ) , which is $ 200 less than Olympus charged for the E-M1 Mark II body .
The design is identical to that of the E-M1 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the same vertical grip on the Mark III ) — but there are a few changes to note .
Olympus added an extra custom mode option on the dial for a total of four user-customizable options .
And like the E-M1X , this new model features a USB-C PD port that supports fast charging speeds .
It takes two hours to charge the camera , which is on par with other cameras in this class .
The bright side here is that you can plug a battery pack directly into the camera to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ charge and shoot simultaneously ) , so there ’ s no need to hunt for a power outlet .
As it relates to shooting , most of the new features here are made possible by the new TruePic IX image processor .
The most impressive feat seems to be Starry Sky AF .
It ’ s a mode that allows shooters to take astrophotography shots without a tripod in autofocus mode , no longer restricting you to make subtle tweaks via manual focus .
Olympus told The Verge that it ’ s able @ @ @ @ @ @ @ detection ( you ’ re aiming at the great beyond , after all ) or contrast autofocus , instead using luminance information gathered by the sensor .
Olympus says that its new image processor also allowed it to make significant improvements to its face and eye tracking algorithm .
The company claims that the new model is better than prior models at tracking smaller faces and smaller eyes .
The Mark III has the same 20.4-megapixel Live MOS sensor found in the OM-D E-M1 Mark II and E-M1X .
Also unchanged is its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 60 fps high-speed continuous shooting with AF / AE locked , or up to 18 fps with continuous autofocus and autoexposure .
However , like the E-M1X , the Mark III body supports seven-step in-body image stabilization — an improvement over the Mark II ’ s 5.5-step IBIS .
Also adopted from the E-M1X is its shutter that promises 400,000 operations , doubling the lasting power of what Olympus claims for the Mark II .
Another improvement is Olympus ’ shift to 5GHz built-in Wi-Fi support , which should yield faster image transfers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first Olympus camera to be able to use the mobile app to update its firmware .
The app allows you to import and export profiles , which lessens the concern of someone messing with your camera settings .
The E-M1 Mark III body-only price of $ 1,799 keeps it at the high end of Micro Four Thirds cameras , even though it ’ s less than the prior model ’ s starting price .
Olympus will also sell two kits : an M.Zuiko 12-40mm lens with f/2.8 aperture for $ 2,499.99 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 2,899.99 .
Olympus is marking the occasion by launching a new lens , the M.Zuiko 12-45mm lens with f/4.0 aperture .
This general purpose zoom can also double for macro work , and Olympus claims its can focus on subjects as close as 12cm away .
You can find one on sale now for $ 649.99 .
Olympus also announced availability in the US and Canada for the PEN E-PL10 Micro Four Thirds camera .
It released outside of the US late last year , and you can buy it now starting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This new version makes few adjustments from the E-PL9 , for better and worse .
The retro styling is hard to dislike , and the same goes for its built-in flash .
The same TruePic VIII image processor from last generation also makes a return , so you won ’ t be getting a huge leap in capabilities .
Of the big changes between iterations , the E-PL10 can transfer images to a smartphone via an app ; it has some new “ art filter ” effects to help you get expressive ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ does nothing more than turn off sound effects emitted by the camera in all modes ; and the ability to take panoramic images .
Lastly , Olympus is introducing an all-black version ( seen above ) of the camera that it officially refers to as “ kuro.
” Previously , it made a black-colored camera , but with silver detailing .
This new color joins the moka and shiro ( brown and white , respectively ) options it already made available in previous models .
A kit that also includes an M.Zuiko 14-42mm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 100 more .
Another kit that includes the aforementioned pancake lens , plus an M.Zuiko 40-150mm lens is yet another $ 100 , totaling $ 799.99 .

Olympus today announced the OM-D E-M1 Mark III, following up its predecessor from 2016. The weather-sealed design is almost untouched from last generation, though it’s more capable in the image quality department. In some cases, it even outclasses the 2019 E-M1X, Olympus’ pro-grade mirrorless Micro Four Thirds camera, while being more compact and affordable. This new entry costs $1,799.99 (body only), which is $200 less than Olympus charged for the E-M1 Mark II body.
The design is identical to that of the E-M1 Mark II — you can even use the same vertical grip on the Mark III) — but there are a few changes to note. Olympus added an extra custom mode option on the dial for a total of four user-customizable options. And like the E-M1X, this new model features a USB-C PD port that supports fast charging speeds. It takes two hours to charge the camera, which is on par with other cameras in this class. The bright side here is that you can plug a battery pack directly into the camera to charge (though you can’t charge and shoot simultaneously), so there’s no need to hunt for a power outlet.
Image: Olympus
As it relates to shooting, most of the new features here are made possible by the new TruePic IX image processor. The most impressive feat seems to be Starry Sky AF. It’s a mode that allows shooters to take astrophotography shots without a tripod in autofocus mode, no longer restricting you to make subtle tweaks via manual focus. Olympus told The Verge that it’s able to do this without relying on phase detection (you’re aiming at the great beyond, after all) or contrast autofocus, instead using luminance information gathered by the sensor.
Olympus says that its new image processor also allowed it to make significant improvements to its face and eye tracking algorithm. The company claims that the new model is better than prior models at tracking smaller faces and smaller eyes.
Image: Olympus
The Mark III has the same 20.4-megapixel Live MOS sensor found in the OM-D E-M1 Mark II and E-M1X. Also unchanged is its 121-point AF system that supports up to 60 fps high-speed continuous shooting with AF / AE locked, or up to 18 fps with continuous autofocus and autoexposure. However, like the E-M1X, the Mark III body supports seven-step in-body image stabilization — an improvement over the Mark II’s 5.5-step IBIS. Also adopted from the E-M1X is its shutter that promises 400,000 operations, doubling the lasting power of what Olympus claims for the Mark II.
Another improvement is Olympus’ shift to 5GHz built-in Wi-Fi support, which should yield faster image transfers. Also, the Mark III is the first Olympus camera to be able to use the mobile app to update its firmware. The app allows you to import and export profiles, which lessens the concern of someone messing with your camera settings.
The E-M1 Mark III body-only price of $1,799 keeps it at the high end of Micro Four Thirds cameras, even though it’s less than the prior model’s starting price. Olympus will also sell two kits: an M.Zuiko 12-40mm lens with f/2.8 aperture for $2,499.99, and an M.Zuiko 12-100mm f/4.0 kit for $2,899.99.
Image: Olympus
Olympus is marking the occasion by launching a new lens, the M.Zuiko 12-45mm lens with f/4.0 aperture. This general purpose zoom can also double for macro work, and Olympus claims its can focus on subjects as close as 12cm away. You can find one on sale now for $649.99.
PEN E-PL10 gets a US release date
Olympus also announced availability in the US and Canada for the PEN E-PL10 Micro Four Thirds camera. It released outside of the US late last year, and you can buy it now starting at $599.99 for the body. This new version makes few adjustments from the E-PL9, for better and worse. The retro styling is hard to dislike, and the same goes for its built-in flash. The same TruePic VIII image processor from last generation also makes a return, so you won’t be getting a huge leap in capabilities.
Image: Olympus
Of the big changes between iterations, the E-PL10 can transfer images to a smartphone via an app; it has some new “art filter” effects to help you get expressive; a “silent shooting” mode that does nothing more than turn off sound effects emitted by the camera in all modes; and the ability to take panoramic images. Lastly, Olympus is introducing an all-black version (seen above) of the camera that it officially refers to as “kuro.” Previously, it made a black-colored camera, but with silver detailing. This new color joins the moka and shiro (brown and white, respectively) options it already made available in previous models.
A kit that also includes an M.Zuiko 14-42mm pancake lens with f/3.5-5.6 variable aperture is $100 more. Another kit that includes the aforementioned pancake lens, plus an M.Zuiko 40-150mm lens is yet another $100, totaling $799.99.


theverge--2020-02-12--Nikon’s D6 pro camera is coming in April for $6,500

Last September , Nikon announced its new D6 pro camera but declined to provide any details on it .
Today @ @ @ @ @ : unsurprisingly , it ’ s a speed-focused DSLR that ’ ll likely be picked @ @ @ @ @ sports photographers headed to Tokyo for this summer ’ s Olympic games .
The D6 @ @ @ @ @ sensor , but it has a new Expeed 6 processor that allows for 14 fps @ @ @ @ @ to 10.5 fps in live view .
The camera can also take 8-megapixel shots at @ @ @ @ @ 60 fps for times when resolution is not a priority .
Native ISO goes from @ @ @ @ @ has revamped the autofocus system for the D6 , reducing the number of points from @ @ @ @ @ all of them cross-type and selectable ; the company claims that this makes the autofocus @ @ @ @ @ ” The center point can focus down to -4.5EV , while all the others work @ @ @ @ @ is going on sale in April for $ 6,499.95 body-only .

Last September, Nikon announced its new D6 pro camera but declined to provide any details on it. Today, the details are here: unsurprisingly, it’s a speed-focused DSLR that’ll likely be picked up by a lot of sports photographers headed to Tokyo for this summer’s Olympic games.
The D6 still uses a 20.8-megapixel full-frame sensor, but it has a new Expeed 6 processor that allows for 14 fps full-resolution burst shooting or up to 10.5 fps in live view. The camera can also take 8-megapixel shots at 30 fps or 2-megapixel at 60 fps for times when resolution is not a priority. Native ISO goes from 100 to 102,400.
Nikon has revamped the autofocus system for the D6, reducing the number of points from 153 to 105 but making all of them cross-type and selectable; the company claims that this makes the autofocus coverage 1.6 times “denser.” The center point can focus down to -4.5EV, while all the others work at -4EV.


theverge--2020-02-11--Nintendo’s latest SNES games for Switch include two US debuts

Nintendo isn ’ t just playing the hits when it comes to adding NES and SNES games to its Switch @ @ @ @ @ additions are some pretty deep cuts , including two SNES titles that were never before @ @ @ @ @ The SNES titles are Pop ’ n Twinbee , the sixth entry in Konami ’ @ @ @ @ @ ” series , and Namco ’ s Smash Tennis .
Both of these games were @ @ @ @ @ release in Europe as well as Japan , but neither series ever really took off @ @ @ @ @ month are Natsume ’ s hardcore side-scrolling NES action game Shadow of the Ninja and @ @ @ @ @ , which I confess I have never heard of , but it looks pretty wild @ @ @ @ @ powerboats .
All four games will arrive on February 19th .

Nintendo isn’t just playing the hits when it comes to adding NES and SNES games to its Switch Online service. The latest additions are some pretty deep cuts, including two SNES titles that were never before released in the US.
The SNES titles are Pop’n Twinbee, the sixth entry in Konami’s colorful Twinbee “cute-em-up” series, and Namco’s Smash Tennis. Both of these games were translated into English and saw release in Europe as well as Japan, but neither series ever really took off stateside.
Also coming this month are Natsume’s hardcore side-scrolling NES action game Shadow of the Ninja and something called Eliminator Boat Duel, which I confess I have never heard of, but it looks pretty wild for a NES game about powerboats. All four games will arrive on February 19th.


theverge--2020-02-11--Andrew Yang has withdrawn from the 2020 presidential race

Andrew Yang , the tech savvy Democratic presidential candidate who ran on a platform warning against the threats of artificial intelligence and automation , is dropping out of the race .
Yang is doing so on the night of the New Hampshire primary , after earning just 1 percent of the delegates in the Iowa Caucuses last week .
A New York native and the son of Taiwanese immigrants , Yang has a storied career spanning corporate law to startups and venture capital and onward to activist organizations , including the Venture for America nonprofit he founded in 2011 that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis .
He spun his expertise and career experience into a surprisingly vibrant presidential campaign that positioned Yang as a politician concerned about job loss and the unforeseen economic impacts of technology .
Eager acolytes of his political vision referred to themselves as “ Yang Gang , ” and Yang showed a strong fluency in internet memes and other web-based organizing that made him a popular candidate among some younger voters .
Yang ’ s signature issue was the universal basic income , which he branded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to provide $ 1,000 a month to every American regardless of income or demographic status .
“ We stood on a debate stage and shifted our national conversation to include the fourth industrial revolution , a topic that no one wanted to touch , until we made it happen with this campaign , ” Yang told supporters in his farewell speech on Tuesday night .
At the time of his announcement , he stood at roughly three percent in the early New Hampshire results .

Andrew Yang, the tech savvy Democratic presidential candidate who ran on a platform warning against the threats of artificial intelligence and automation, is dropping out of the race. Yang is doing so on the night of the New Hampshire primary, after earning just 1 percent of the delegates in the Iowa Caucuses last week.
A New York native and the son of Taiwanese immigrants, Yang has a storied career spanning corporate law to startups and venture capital and onward to activist organizations, including the Venture for America nonprofit he founded in 2011 that focused on job creation in Midwest cities in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
He spun his expertise and career experience into a surprisingly vibrant presidential campaign that positioned Yang as a politician concerned about job loss and the unforeseen economic impacts of technology. Eager acolytes of his political vision referred to themselves as “Yang Gang,” and Yang showed a strong fluency in internet memes and other web-based organizing that made him a popular candidate among some younger voters.
Related Andrew Yang is the candidate for the end of the world
Yang’s signature issue was the universal basic income, which he branded as the Freedom Dividend — a promise to provide $1,000 a month to every American regardless of income or demographic status.
“We stood on a debate stage and shifted our national conversation to include the fourth industrial revolution, a topic that no one wanted to touch, until we made it happen with this campaign,” Yang told supporters in his farewell speech on Tuesday night.


theverge--2020-02-12--Apple’s free learn-to-code Swift Playgrounds sandbox arrives on Mac

Nearly four years after it launched as an iPad-exclusive in 2016 , Apple ’ s Swift Playgrounds app is now available for Mac as part of Apple ’ s Catalyst app initiative , designed to help bridge the software gap between its macOS and iOS platforms ( via 9to5Mac ) .
The free app cleverly disguised as a video game teaches kids how to use Apple ’ s Swift programming language , and to maybe build apps of their own .
Now that it ’ s on Mac , it might be easier for kids to publish those Swift apps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those skills on the same laptop they ’ d need for the company ’ s Xcode software .
Xcode isn ’ t available on Apple ’ s tablets .
Apple ’ s product page also says your code will seamlessly move from iPad to Mac as you write it , and the new app comes with a few Mac-exclusive features , like the option to drag and drop snippets of common code directly into your lesson with your mouse or trackpad .
According to 9to5Mac , it also has support for the MacBook @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they don ’ t say how it might help .

Nearly four years after it launched as an iPad-exclusive in 2016, Apple’s Swift Playgrounds app is now available for Mac as part of Apple’s Catalyst app initiative, designed to help bridge the software gap between its macOS and iOS platforms (via 9to5Mac).
The free app cleverly disguised as a video game teaches kids how to use Apple’s Swift programming language, and to maybe build apps of their own. Now that it’s on Mac, it might be easier for kids to publish those Swift apps, too; they can now use those skills on the same laptop they’d need for the company’s Xcode software. Xcode isn’t available on Apple’s tablets.


theverge--2020-02-12--Snapchat is testing a big new redesign

Snapchat is testing a big new redesign

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Snap is working on two significant tests that could reshape its flagship app in a critical year .
Tipsters have provided me with screenshots of two ongoing tests that have rolled out to a small percentage of Snapchat ’ s user base .
One is a redesign of the app for Android and iOS that provides a new home for the Snap Map and the company ’ s original video programming .
The other is a test of breaking news @ @ @ @ @ @ @ news briefs into Snapchat to complement the existing magazine-style stories on the Discover page .
Let ’ s look at them in turn .
The redesign takes an app that has long been limited to three screens and splits them into five .
Snapchat currently opens to the camera , with a space for chats to the left and the Discover page — which features a collection of ephemeral stories from friends , creators , third-party publishers , and Snap itself — to the right .
In the new design , the Snap @ @ @ @ @ @ @ physical locations on an animated map , and was previously accessed by pulling down from the camera screen — is now on the left of your chats .
Discover has been renamed “ Community.
” And Snap ’ s slate of original series , which includes serialized dramas and reality-style programs , can be found to the right of Community in a new tab that has inherited the “ Discover ” name .
Perhaps most dramatically for Snap , which once seemed to pride itself in its obscure design choices , Snapchat is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ll be able to see where you are within the app at a glance , and move directly from screen to screen with a single tap instead of swiping .
It ’ s both a totally obvious thing to do and , for Snap , a radical departure .
“ We ’ re exploring ways to streamline navigation across Snapchat , soliciting feedback from our community to inform future versions of our app , ” a Snap spokeswoman told me .
“ This test ’ s UI offers more space to innovate and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ discover even more of what Snapchat has to offer.
” The test of this new look comes three years after Snap ’ s last redesign , which was widely panned and spurred 2 percent of active users to stop using Snapchat entirely .
Snap gradually walked back some of the most hated changes , and that combined with new attention to its long-neglected Android app and marketing itself internationally led the company to have something of a comeback last year .
Snapchat has added uses for the past four straight quarters , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a month .
Still , the company is not profitable .
And while it remains a hit with high school and college-age users , adults who try the app still complain — loudly — that they find Snapchat difficult to use .
I find these complaints somewhat overstated — I think most people avoid learning how to use any technology they don ’ t have to , and that if boomers ’ friends were all using Snapchat they would manage to figure it out within a couple of days .
But still , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has a learning curve higher than , say , Facebook Messenger .
And for everything that did to give Snapchat a sense of cool in its early days , there ’ s a good argument to be made that its more arcane user decisions are holding it back .
I ’ d put the location of the Snap Map high on that list — it ’ s a clever feature that Facebook has found itself totally unable to copy due to privacy concerns , and today it ’ s basically invisible inside Snapchat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ within the app feels like a no-brainer .
Similarly , Snap has invested heavily in premium programming for its Snap Originals .
( Although not quite as heavily as , say , Quibi . )
Currently , what Snap calls Shows are displayed in a row next to other publisher content on the Discover page , where they are easily ignored .
Giving them a place of prominence within the app feels like a similarly obvious step .
Still , Snap learned its lesson from the great redesign debacle of 2017 , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testing .
Today Snap , like every other social company , is taking a deliberate approach to major changes .
I suspect this one will be popular and ultimately implemented , though .
Where the bad redesign scrambled a bunch of popular elements and moved them into unfamiliar places , the five-screen design feels additive to the experience .
You navigate the app less , and use it more .
That ’ s a win for the company .
The second test , while less dramatic , is more relevant to our everyday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are two basic ways to put news on your social platform .
The first is to let everyone fight it out in a feed , and do some light curating around the big moments .
Think the Twitter timeline plus Moments , or Facebook ’ s News Feed plus a news tab .
The upside to this approach is that you make room for lots of voices , including some who have been historically marginalized .
The downside is that lots of voices have historically been marginalized for a reason — they ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or they tell you that drinking bleach will cure your cancer .
The second approach , and the one favored by Snap , has been to allow only whitelisted publishers onto the platform .
In theory , this should elevate high-quality and mainstream news publishers while limiting the amount of misinformation on the platform .
It hasn ’ t always been perfect — Snapchat ’ s Discover page has long been criticized for clickbait and sexually provocative stories — but the company has seen far fewer scandals around hosting dangerous and extremist content @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I saw featured timely headlines from publishers include NowThis , the Wall Street Journal , and the Washington Post .
Called “ Happening Now , ” the section curates top headlines about developments in the United States and the world .
Each one-sentence headline can be tapped to bring up a full screen news brief containing a photo and a short article .
( The one I saw , about the New Hampshire primary , was about 75 words . )
“ We are in the very early stages of exploring how to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the company said .
“ We are working with a handful of partners and testing with a small percentage of Snapchatters in the U.S. We don ’ t have additional details to share at this time.
” A collection of news briefs may look like a small thing , and perhaps it is .
But surfacing high-quality mainstream news outlets like the Post and the Journal to a young audience strikes me as a good thing , particularly in an election year .
Snap emphasized to me that both of these tests are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ substantially before they are released to a global audience , if they are released globally at all .
But it seems clear to me that at least in the case of the redesign , larger forces will continue pulling them toward the more accessible version of the app I saw in screenshots .
Having a reputation for being inaccessible benefited Snapchat — until it didn ’ t .
As the app grows up , it ’ s working to become a more welcoming place .
Which means being a little bit more like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ edition we referred to Maui in Moana as a god .
A sharp-eyed reader pointed out that Maui is , in fact , a demi-god .
The Interface regrets the error .
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms .
Trending up : Twitter partnered with the US Census Bureau to launch a new tool aimed at combating misinformation about the Census .
When someone searches for certain keywords associated with the Census , a prompt will direct them to an official government website .
Trending up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ combat misinformation about the coronavirus .
Now , when users click on the # coronavirus hashtag , they ’ ll see a notice encouraging them to visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for credible information .
Trending down : Coronavirus rumors are still going viral on YouTube despite the company ’ s efforts to stop them from spreading .
The video platform is doing better than many other social networking sites , but misinformation abounds .
⭐ Mike Bloomberg has outspent Trump on Facebook ads since joining the presidential race @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the former mayor of New York has spent an average of $ 1 million a day on Facebook ads .
Here ’ s David Ingram at NBC : The UK government is planning to give platforms like YouTube , Twitter , and Facebook a mandate to protect their UK users from illegal content related to child exploitation and terrorism , as well as harmful content more generally .
The regulations will apply to any websites that allow user-generated content .
What will this mean in practice ?
Seems like it could be big @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) Facebook suspended a network of accounts used by Russian military intelligence to plant misinformation online .
The network targeted Ukraine and other countries in Eastern Europe .
( Jack Stubbs / Reuters ) Facebook also suspended two more networks of accounts that were each engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a government .
The first operation originated in Iran and focused mainly on a US audience .
The second originated in Myanmar and Vietnam and targeted audiences in Myanmar .
( Facebook ) Facebook has been trying to ban gun @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But gun sellers are finding workarounds , gaming the Marketplace by using coded language .
( Matt Drange / Protocol ) Facebook delayed the rollout of its dating feature in Europe after the Irish Data Protection Commission raised issues with the feature ’ s compliance with European Union data protection rules .
The feature was supposed to debut before Valentine ’ s Day .
( Sad trombone . )
( Parmy Olson / The Wall Street Journal ) A man experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles is suing the city over a Facebook @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asserts that Facebook groups where residents were complaining about homeless encampments led to the man being harassed by police .
( Emily Alpert Reyes / Los Angeles Times ) The Department of Homeland Security is buying up cell phone location data for immigration and border enforcement purposes .
While this seems like it could infringe on peoples ’ Fourth Amendment rights , it ’ s unclear whether using location data to target people constitutes an unreasonable search and seizure .
( Gilad Edelman / Wired ) WeChat users in the US and Canada @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blocked to prevent contacts in China from seeing them .
It ’ s yet another example of China trying to censor unflattering information , even on international soil .
( David Gilbert / Vice ) ⭐ Essential Products , a consumer electronics start-up founded by the former Google executive Andy Rubin , is shutting down .
The company was dogged by news about Rubin ’ s departure from Google , which involved a $ 90 million exit package and credible sexual misconduct allegations from an employee .
( Rubin denied the allegations .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ The New York Times have the story : Tim Sweeney , co-founder of Epic Games , criticized Facebook and Google onstage at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas .
“ They provide free services then make you pay for their service in loss of privacy and loss of freedom , ” he said .
Carlos Maza , a journalist who calls YouTube “ deeply unethical and reckless , ” left Vox to work full-time as a YouTube creator .
The move shocked fans who ’ d come to know Maza as a critic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ failed to stop a right-wing pile-on against him last year .
Fun little profile .
( Kevin Roose / The New York Times ) YouTube is testing out a new clap feature to let fans donate to creators .
The emphasis on donations suggests YouTube is closely watching what ’ s working for creators on Twitch .
Look what happens when platforms have something meaningful to compete against !
( Julia Alexander / The Verge ) WhatsApp hit two billion users , up from 1.5 billion two years ago .
The Facebook-owned messaging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ platform .
Seems like it will be a strong and growing business when the FTC forces Facebook to spin it into a separate company !
( Manish Singh / TechCrunch ) In the early days of Facebook , Mark Zuckerberg kept his plans for world domination in handwritten journals .
He destroyed them .
But a few revealing pages survived in this excerpt from a new book that I just got my hands on yesterday .
( Steven Levy / Wired ) Reuters launched a new business unit to fact check misinformation on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and photos as well as news headlines and other content in English and Spanish submitted by Facebook or flagged by the wider Reuters editorial team .
( Josh Constine / TechCrunch ) Digital blackface — the appropriation of words , dances , GIFs , and memes originating within communities of color — has found its way to TikTok .
Questionable hashtags like # Ghetto , # InTheGhetto , and # NWordPass have taken off , as have challenges like # CripWalk .
We should be talking a lot more about digital blackface , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ looking for it .
( Tatiana Walk-Morris / OneZero ) Gossip influencers are creating an entire economy around chronicling the lives and romantic adventures of social media stars .
In the process , they ’ re blurring the line between reporting and influencing .
We ’ re here for it !
( Rebecca Jennings / Vox ) Tech billionaires give away billions — but it ’ s just a small fraction of their staggering wealth .
When you look at how much they ’ re giving away verses how much is in their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ admirable .
( Theodore Schleifer / Recode ) This is what happens when you finally talk to the person you ’ ve been swiping left on , on Tinder ( and why they keep showing up ) .
Kaitlyn Tiffany has an absolutely perfect piece in The Atlantic on a phenomenon familiar to any longtime Tinder user ( ahem ) : the person who keeps swiping right on you and showing up in your feed no matter how many times you say no to them : Send us tips , comments , questions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ theverge.com and zoe @ theverge.com .

Snap is working on two significant tests that could reshape its flagship app in a critical year. Tipsters have provided me with screenshots of two ongoing tests that have rolled out to a small percentage of Snapchat’s user base. One is a redesign of the app for Android and iOS that provides a new home for the Snap Map and the company’s original video programming. The other is a test of breaking news headlines inside the app that injects timely news briefs into Snapchat to complement the existing magazine-style stories on the Discover page.
Let’s look at them in turn.
The redesign takes an app that has long been limited to three screens and splits them into five. Snapchat currently opens to the camera, with a space for chats to the left and the Discover page — which features a collection of ephemeral stories from friends, creators, third-party publishers, and Snap itself — to the right. In the new design, the Snap Map — which displays your friends’ physical locations on an animated map, and was previously accessed by pulling down from the camera screen — is now on the left of your chats. Discover has been renamed “Community.” And Snap’s slate of original series, which includes serialized dramas and reality-style programs, can be found to the right of Community in a new tab that has inherited the “Discover” name.
Perhaps most dramatically for Snap, which once seemed to pride itself in its obscure design choices, Snapchat is getting a navigation bar. You’ll be able to see where you are within the app at a glance, and move directly from screen to screen with a single tap instead of swiping. It’s both a totally obvious thing to do and, for Snap, a radical departure.
“We’re exploring ways to streamline navigation across Snapchat, soliciting feedback from our community to inform future versions of our app,” a Snap spokeswoman told me. “This test’s UI offers more space to innovate and increases the opportunity to engage with and discover even more of what Snapchat has to offer.”
The test of this new look comes three years after Snap’s last redesign, which was widely panned and spurred 2 percent of active users to stop using Snapchat entirely. Snap gradually walked back some of the most hated changes, and that combined with new attention to its long-neglected Android app and marketing itself internationally led the company to have something of a comeback last year. Snapchat has added uses for the past four straight quarters, and is now used by 218 million people a day.
Still, the company is not profitable. And while it remains a hit with high school and college-age users, adults who try the app still complain — loudly — that they find Snapchat difficult to use. I find these complaints somewhat overstated — I think most people avoid learning how to use any technology they don’t have to, and that if boomers’ friends were all using Snapchat they would manage to figure it out within a couple of days. But still, there’s no denying that Snapchat has a learning curve higher than, say, Facebook Messenger.
And for everything that did to give Snapchat a sense of cool in its early days, there’s a good argument to be made that its more arcane user decisions are holding it back. I’d put the location of the Snap Map high on that list — it’s a clever feature that Facebook has found itself totally unable to copy due to privacy concerns, and today it’s basically invisible inside Snapchat. Giving the map an easy-to-find screen within the app feels like a no-brainer.
Similarly, Snap has invested heavily in premium programming for its Snap Originals. (Although not quite as heavily as, say, Quibi.) Currently, what Snap calls Shows are displayed in a row next to other publisher content on the Discover page, where they are easily ignored. Giving them a place of prominence within the app feels like a similarly obvious step.
Still, Snap learned its lesson from the great redesign debacle of 2017, which it rolled out globally with very little testing. Today Snap, like every other social company, is taking a deliberate approach to major changes. I suspect this one will be popular and ultimately implemented, though. Where the bad redesign scrambled a bunch of popular elements and moved them into unfamiliar places, the five-screen design feels additive to the experience. You navigate the app less, and use it more. That’s a win for the company.
The second test, while less dramatic, is more relevant to our everyday interests here at The Interface. There are two basic ways to put news on your social platform. The first is to let everyone fight it out in a feed, and do some light curating around the big moments. Think the Twitter timeline plus Moments, or Facebook’s News Feed plus a news tab. The upside to this approach is that you make room for lots of voices, including some who have been historically marginalized. The downside is that lots of voices have historically been marginalized for a reason — they’re overtly racist, for example, or they tell you that drinking bleach will cure your cancer.
The second approach, and the one favored by Snap, has been to allow only whitelisted publishers onto the platform. In theory, this should elevate high-quality and mainstream news publishers while limiting the amount of misinformation on the platform. It hasn’t always been perfect — Snapchat’s Discover page has long been criticized for clickbait and sexually provocative stories — but the company has seen far fewer scandals around hosting dangerous and extremist content than its peers.
The news briefs I saw featured timely headlines from publishers include NowThis, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. Called “Happening Now,” the section curates top headlines about developments in the United States and the world. Each one-sentence headline can be tapped to bring up a full screen news brief containing a photo and a short article. (The one I saw, about the New Hampshire primary, was about 75 words.)
Snap confirmed the test.
“We are in the very early stages of exploring how to evolve news offerings on Snapchat,” the company said. “We are working with a handful of partners and testing with a small percentage of Snapchatters in the U.S. We don’t have additional details to share at this time.”
A collection of news briefs may look like a small thing, and perhaps it is. But surfacing high-quality mainstream news outlets like the Post and the Journal to a young audience strikes me as a good thing, particularly in an election year.
Snap emphasized to me that both of these tests are in their early stages and might change substantially before they are released to a global audience, if they are released globally at all. But it seems clear to me that at least in the case of the redesign, larger forces will continue pulling them toward the more accessible version of the app I saw in screenshots.
Having a reputation for being inaccessible benefited Snapchat — until it didn’t. As the app grows up, it’s working to become a more welcoming place. Which means being a little bit more like everyone else.
Correction, 10:11 p.m.: This article originally said Snapchat is used by 218 million people a month. It is actually used by 218 million people a day.
Pushback
In Tuesday’s edition we referred to Maui in Moana as a god. A sharp-eyed reader pointed out that Maui is, in fact, a demi-god. The Interface regrets the error.
The Ratio
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms.
🔼 Trending up: Twitter partnered with the US Census Bureau to launch a new tool aimed at combating misinformation about the Census. When someone searches for certain keywords associated with the Census, a prompt will direct them to an official government website.
🔼 Trending up: Instagram rolled out an update to combat misinformation about the coronavirus. Now, when users click on the #coronavirus hashtag, they’ll see a notice encouraging them to visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for credible information.
🔽 Trending down: Coronavirus rumors are still going viral on YouTube despite the company’s efforts to stop them from spreading. The video platform is doing better than many other social networking sites, but misinformation abounds.
Governing
⭐ Mike Bloomberg has outspent Trump on Facebook ads since joining the presidential race. Over the past two weeks, the former mayor of New York has spent an average of $1 million a day on Facebook ads. Here’s David Ingram at NBC:
On a single day, Jan. 30, Bloomberg bought $1.7 million worth of Facebook ads, signaling just how much he’s willing to put his personal wealth behind his long shot bid. “His campaign budget is virtually limitless, so he has the luxury of being able to engage on all of the campaign battlefronts,” said Fernand Amandi, a Democratic political consultant in Miami who is not working for a presidential candidate this year. Bloomberg, with an estimated net worth of around $61 billion, said after the muddled results from the Iowa caucuses that he would ramp up his budget for ads and staff. He’s focused on the dozen-plus states that will cast votes on Super Tuesday, March 3, which is reflected in his Facebook spending.
The UK government is planning to give platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook a mandate to protect their UK users from illegal content related to child exploitation and terrorism, as well as harmful content more generally. The regulations will apply to any websites that allow user-generated content. What will this mean in practice? Seems like it could be big. (Jon Porter / The Verge)
Facebook suspended a network of accounts used by Russian military intelligence to plant misinformation online. The network targeted Ukraine and other countries in Eastern Europe. (Jack Stubbs / Reuters)
Facebook also suspended two more networks of accounts that were each engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a government. The first operation originated in Iran and focused mainly on a US audience. The second originated in Myanmar and Vietnam and targeted audiences in Myanmar. (Facebook)
Facebook has been trying to ban gun sales on the platform for four years. But gun sellers are finding workarounds, gaming the Marketplace by using coded language. (Matt Drange / Protocol)
Facebook delayed the rollout of its dating feature in Europe after the Irish Data Protection Commission raised issues with the feature’s compliance with European Union data protection rules. The feature was supposed to debut before Valentine’s Day. (Sad trombone.) (Parmy Olson / The Wall Street Journal)
A man experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles is suing the city over a Facebook page used by police. The lawsuit asserts that Facebook groups where residents were complaining about homeless encampments led to the man being harassed by police. (Emily Alpert Reyes / Los Angeles Times)
The Department of Homeland Security is buying up cell phone location data for immigration and border enforcement purposes. While this seems like it could infringe on peoples’ Fourth Amendment rights, it’s unclear whether using location data to target people constitutes an unreasonable search and seizure. (Gilad Edelman / Wired)
WeChat users in the US and Canada are having their messages about the coronavirus blocked to prevent contacts in China from seeing them. It’s yet another example of China trying to censor unflattering information, even on international soil. (David Gilbert / Vice)
Industry
⭐ Essential Products, a consumer electronics start-up founded by the former Google executive Andy Rubin, is shutting down. The company was dogged by news about Rubin’s departure from Google, which involved a $90 million exit package and credible sexual misconduct allegations from an employee. (Rubin denied the allegations.) Daisuke Wakabayashi and Erin Griffith at The New York Times have the story:
In 2018, Essential received buyout interest from larger companies like Amazon, Walmart and several telecom carriers, according to a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to speak on behalf of the company. Walmart and Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Any potential buyout would have valued the company below its $1 billion valuation, the person said. But interest evaporated, in part because of the risk associated with Mr. Rubin’s workplace scandals. In 2017, The Information, a technology news site, reported that he had departed Google after an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, prompting him to take a leave of absence from Essential to deal with “personal matters.”
Tim Sweeney, co-founder of Epic Games, criticized Facebook and Google onstage at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas. “They provide free services then make you pay for their service in loss of privacy and loss of freedom,” he said.
Carlos Maza, a journalist who calls YouTube “deeply unethical and reckless,” left Vox to work full-time as a YouTube creator. The move shocked fans who’d come to know Maza as a critic of the video-sharing platform, after it failed to stop a right-wing pile-on against him last year. Fun little profile. (Kevin Roose / The New York Times)
YouTube is testing out a new clap feature to let fans donate to creators. The emphasis on donations suggests YouTube is closely watching what’s working for creators on Twitch. Look what happens when platforms have something meaningful to compete against! (Julia Alexander / The Verge)
WhatsApp hit two billion users, up from 1.5 billion two years ago. The Facebook-owned messaging app is now the most popular chat platform. Seems like it will be a strong and growing business when the FTC forces Facebook to spin it into a separate company! (Manish Singh / TechCrunch)
In the early days of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg kept his plans for world domination in handwritten journals. He destroyed them. But a few revealing pages survived in this excerpt from a new book that I just got my hands on yesterday. (Steven Levy / Wired)
Reuters launched a new business unit to fact check misinformation on Facebook. The team will review videos and photos as well as news headlines and other content in English and Spanish submitted by Facebook or flagged by the wider Reuters editorial team. (Josh Constine / TechCrunch)
Digital blackface — the appropriation of words, dances, GIFs, and memes originating within communities of color — has found its way to TikTok. Questionable hashtags like #Ghetto, #InTheGhetto, and#NWordPass have taken off, as have challenges like #CripWalk. We should be talking a lot more about digital blackface, which you see everywhere once you start looking for it. (Tatiana Walk-Morris / OneZero)
Gossip influencers are creating an entire economy around chronicling the lives and romantic adventures of social media stars. In the process, they’re blurring the line between reporting and influencing. We’re here for it! (Rebecca Jennings / Vox)
Tech billionaires give away billions — but it’s just a small fraction of their staggering wealth. When you look at how much they’re giving away verses how much is in their bank accounts, the situation appears less admirable. (Theodore Schleifer / Recode)
And finally...
This is what happens when you finally talk to the person you’ve been swiping left on, on Tinder (and why they keep showing up). Kaitlyn Tiffany has an absolutely perfect piece in The Atlantic on a phenomenon familiar to any longtime Tinder user (ahem): the person who keeps swiping right on you and showing up in your feed no matter how many times you say no to them:
I had heard from women on Twitter, and from one of my offline friends, that Alex was rude in their DMs after they matched on Tinder. When I asked him about this, he said, “I’m very narcissistic. I own that.” Hammerli works in digital marketing, though he would not say with what company. He uses Tinder exclusively for casual sex, a fact that he volunteered, along with an explanation of his views on long-term relationships: “Idiotic in a culture where we move on from shit so easily and upgrade iPhones every year.” When I asked whether he’s ever been in love, he responded: “lmao no.” Monogamy, he said, is “a fly-over state thing.”
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Talk to us


theverge--2020-02-12--Jeff Bezos bought the most expensive property in LA with an eighth of a percent of his net worth

According to The Wall Street Journal , Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has reportedly just bought the most expensive property in Los Angeles from David Geffen , another unimaginably wealthy man , for $ 165 million .
( It ’ s the Warner Estate , which spreads out over nine acres in Beverly Hills . )
That ’ s a wild amount of money for anything — I mean , aside from a 747 ?
— but especially for a place you might presumably live in .
( Bezos spent around $ 80 million on a few New York apartments earlier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not clear where his five-foot , seven-inch frame will primarily reside . )
For context , $ 165 million is an eighth of a percent of Bezos ’ $ 131.9 billion net worth .
The Warner Estate was designed in the 1930s for Jack Warner , who was the former president of Warner Bros. ; it took a decade to construct , and has terraces , guest houses , a tennis court , and a golf course .
That ’ s a lot of house .
Dang !
It is literally impossible to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the planet are .
The difference between their bank accounts and yours — yes , you , the person reading this — is that they can spend the monthly interest on their holdings and buy things like airplanes and islands .
It is probably important to note here that Amazon paid zero dollars in federal income tax on $ 11 billion in before-tax profit in 2018 ; this year , it will pay out $ 162 million on $ 13.3 billion in profit — a whopping 0.012 percent effective tax rate .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ like this , who own corporations and utilities — Amazon Web Services , for example , is what a large portion of the web runs on — and that ’ s why you ’ ve probably paid more of your income in tax than Jeff Bezos ever has .
I hope that the palace Bezos bought is comfortable , but I also hope it ’ s full of angry ghosts .

According to The Wall Street Journal, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has reportedly just bought the most expensive property in Los Angeles from David Geffen, another unimaginably wealthy man, for $165 million. (It’s the Warner Estate, which spreads out over nine acres in Beverly Hills.) That’s a wild amount of money for anything — I mean, aside from a 747? — but especially for a place you might presumably live in. (Bezos spent around $80 million on a few New York apartments earlier this year, so it’s not clear where his five-foot, seven-inch frame will primarily reside.) For context, $165 million is an eighth of a percent of Bezos’ $131.9 billion net worth.
The Warner Estate was designed in the 1930s for Jack Warner, who was the former president of Warner Bros.; it took a decade to construct, and has terraces, guest houses, a tennis court, and a golf course. That’s a lot of house. Dang!
It is literally impossible to imagine just how rich the wealthiest people on the planet are. The difference between their bank accounts and yours — yes, you, the person reading this — is that they can spend the monthly interest on their holdings and buy things like airplanes and islands. It is probably important to note here that Amazon paid zero dollars in federal income tax on $11 billion in before-tax profit in 2018; this year, it will pay out $162 million on $13.3 billion in profit — a whopping 1.2 percent effective tax rate.
America has historically been ruled by men like this, who own corporations and utilities — Amazon Web Services, for example, is what a large portion of the web runs on — and that’s why you’ve probably paid more of your income in tax than Jeff Bezos ever has. I hope that the palace Bezos bought is comfortable, but I also hope it’s full of angry ghosts.


theverge--2020-02-12--Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney thinks games can be political, but gaming companies should stay out of po

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney thinks games can be political, but gaming companies should stay out of politics

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is one of the biggest names in video games these days , thanks to the seemingly unstoppable success of Fortnite .
And with the spotlight on him as the keynote speaker at the annual DICE Summit , ( as recapped by The Hollywood Reporter , VentureBeat , and others ) Sweeney gave his thoughts on the overall video game industry — including his view that gaming companies as platforms need to “ divorce ourselves from politics.
” As Sweeney elaborated later on Twitter , his argument isn ’ t that games should avoid politics at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ games that tackle politics should do so from a creative perspective , rather than a marketing one .
And that game platforms themselves should be “ operating as neutral venues for entertainment and employees , customers — everybody else can hold their own views and not be judged by us for that.
” Sweeney ’ s speech also touched on a wide variety of hot button issues in the gaming world right now , including marketing tie-ins ( “ If you have an awesome new product , you start releasing free stuff in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ] ” ) , loot boxes ( “ Do we want to be like Las Vegas , with slot machines ... or do we want to be widely respected as creators of products that customers can trust ?
” ) , cross-platform games ( “ What we all really want and need to accept is equal access to all customers and give up our attempts to create our own private wall guard or private monopoly ” ) , and privacy ( blaming Google and Facebook for offering free services that customers pay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and loss of freedom ” ) .
Games can be political , but game companies should not But the most contentious issues Sweeney touched on were his comments that “ we should get the marketing departments out of politics , ” he said .
“ We live in a world where your political affiliation determines what chicken restaurant you go to .
There ’ s no reason to drag divisive topics like that into gaming.
” It ’ s all a bit confusing , though , given that Sweeney would go on to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ neutral .
“ We need to create a very clear separation between church and state… employees , customers and everyone else should be able to express themselves , ” said Sweeney .
“ We as companies need to divorce ourselves from politics… platforms should be neutral.
” It ’ s unclear how Sweeney ’ s view that creatives be allowed to make political games but that game companies — that publish and distribute those games — be politically neutral are meant to gel , but that level of neutrality does fit in line @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it comes to political issues .
“ Epic supports everyone ’ s right to express their views on politics and human rights .
We wouldn ’ t ban or punish a Fortnite player or content creator for speaking on these topics , ” an Epic Games spokesperson told The Verge last year , in the wake of Blizzard ’ s ban of a Hearthstone player after he voiced support for protestors in Hong Kong in a post-game interview .
It ’ s a careful line : Epic says that it supports players and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ won ’ t go as far as to actually stand up for any particular issue — after all , that might alienate people of a particular political or social view , and offended people are less likely to buy games .
One only need look at fellow game company Ubisoft for an example , with the company ’ s constant insistence that its very political games aren ’ t actually political at all .

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is one of the biggest names in video games these days, thanks to the seemingly unstoppable success of Fortnite. And with the spotlight on him as the keynote speaker at the annual DICE Summit, (as recapped by The Hollywood Reporter, VentureBeat, and others) Sweeney gave his thoughts on the overall video game industry — including his view that gaming companies as platforms need to “divorce ourselves from politics.”
As Sweeney elaborated later on Twitter, his argument isn’t that games should avoid politics at all, but rather to say that games that tackle politics should do so from a creative perspective, rather than a marketing one. And that game platforms themselves should be “operating as neutral venues for entertainment and employees, customers — everybody else can hold their own views and not be judged by us for that.”
Sweeney’s speech also touched on a wide variety of hot button issues in the gaming world right now, including marketing tie-ins (“If you have an awesome new product, you start releasing free stuff in games and people get [engaged with it]”), loot boxes (“Do we want to be like Las Vegas, with slot machines ... or do we want to be widely respected as creators of products that customers can trust?”), cross-platform games (“What we all really want and need to accept is equal access to all customers and give up our attempts to create our own private wall guard or private monopoly”), and privacy (blaming Google and Facebook for offering free services that customers pay for with a “loss of privacy and loss of freedom”).
Games can be political, but game companies should not
But the most contentious issues Sweeney touched on were his comments that “we should get the marketing departments out of politics,” he said. “We live in a world where your political affiliation determines what chicken restaurant you go to. There’s no reason to drag divisive topics like that into gaming.”
It’s all a bit confusing, though, given that Sweeney would go on to say that game companies should be politically neutral. “We need to create a very clear separation between church and state… employees, customers and everyone else should be able to express themselves,” said Sweeney. “We as companies need to divorce ourselves from politics… platforms should be neutral.”
It’s unclear how Sweeney’s view that creatives be allowed to make political games but that game companies — that publish and distribute those games — be politically neutral are meant to gel, but that level of neutrality does fit in line with Epic’s past history when it comes to political issues.
“Epic supports everyone’s right to express their views on politics and human rights. We wouldn’t ban or punish a Fortnite player or content creator for speaking on these topics,” an Epic Games spokesperson told The Verge last year, in the wake of Blizzard’s ban of a Hearthstone player after he voiced support for protestors in Hong Kong in a post-game interview.