Photo by Jeff Bottari/NBAE via Getty ImagesAmazon and the Women’s National Basketball Association have announced a multi-year deal that’ll see several games streamed live on Prime Video. It’s the first time Amazon has ever secured exclusive Prime Video rights to pro basketball, following earlier forays into streaming sports content like Thursday Night Football and the Premier League. Amazon’s Twitch has also partnered with USA Basketball to stream international games from events like the FIBA World Cup. The WNBA deal includes exclusive international streaming rights for 16 regular season games, as well as the inaugural Commissioner’s Cup game taking place on August 12. The WNBA says this “marks the first time Prime Video has exclusive global streaming rights to a women’s... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeAntonio García Martínez is no longer working at Apple hours after employees circulated a petition calling for an investigation into his hiring. Martínez, a former Facebook product manager on the ad targeting team, authored a controversial book about Silicon Valley where he expressed misogynistic views on women. “We are deeply concerned about the recent hiring of Antonio García Martínez,” employees wrote in the petition. “His misogynistic statements in his autobiography — such as ‘Most women in the Bay Area are soft and weak, cosseted and naive despite their claims of worldliness, and generally full of shit’ (further quoted below this letter) — directly oppose Apple’s commitment to Inclusion & Diversity.” More than 2,000 employees signed... Continue reading…

Illustrator by Alex Castro / The VergeThe security researcher who discovered the Krack Wi-Fi vulnerability has discovered a slew of other flaws with the wireless protocol most of us use to power our online lives (via Gizmodo). The vulnerabilities relate to how Wi-Fi handles large chunks of data, with some being related to the Wi-Fi standard itself, and some being related to how it’s implemented by device manufacturers. The researcher, Mathy Vanhoef, calls the collection of vulnerabilities “FragAttacks,” with the name being a mashup of “fragmentation” and “aggregation.” He also says the vulnerabilities could be exploited by hackers, allowing them to intercept sensitive data, or show users fake websites, even if they’re using Wi-Fi networks secured with WPA2 or even WPA3. They... Continue reading…

One of the more impressive aspects of Grand Theft Auto V is how closely the game’s San Andreas approximates real-life Los Angeles and Southern California, but a new machine learning project from Intel Labs called “Enhancing Photorealism Enhancement” might take that realism in a unsettlingly photorealistic direction (via Gizmodo). Putting the game through the processes researchers Stephan R. Richter, Hassan Abu Alhaija, and Vladlen Kolten created produces a surprising result: a visual look that has unmistakable similarities to the kinds of photos you might casually take through the smudged front window of your car. You have to see it in motion to really appreciate it, but the combination of slightly washed-out lighting, smoother pavement,... Continue reading…

After months of testing its TikTok competitor in India and a limited beta rollout in the states, YouTube is finally launching YouTube Shorts for everyone in the U.S. So now you might be asking yourself...what is YouTube Shorts in the first place? And how do I use it? It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it, and it offers yet another way for you to connect with your favorite creators. Allow Mashable to break it all down for you. What is YouTube Shorts? YouTube Shorts is basically the platform's attempt to take on TikTok, the hugely popular short-form video app.  However, unlike TikTok, YouTube Shorts is not a standalone service. You won't find a YouTube Shorts app in the App Store or on Google Play. YouTube Shorts instead lives within the service's main mobile app. To use it, just open up the YouTube app you already have on your smartphone. Scroll down slightly, and you'll see a "Shorts" section. Read more...More about Youtube, Tiktok, Tech, Social Media Companies, and Big Tech Companies