Tech

A report from Bloomberg highlights how a couple’s washable swim diaper business suffered after Amazon’s returns service recirculated a used diaper, leading to a scathing review that hurt sales:

The Barons told Amazon repeatedly that they weren’t at fault and that the review should be taken down. Yet it remains on the site, inflicting lasting harm. The couple says they’re $600,000 in debt, including a loan secured by their home that complicates the prospect of filing for bankruptcy.

The Russian cybersecurity company confirmed the move in a statement to Zero Day, saying business opportunities in the US “are no longer viable” and that it’s laying off less than 50 workers.

Last month, the US government announced a ban on Kaspersky’s antivirus software over concerns about national security.

Amazon’s brand-specific reordering buttons only lasted from 2015 through 2019, but in that time, they made enough of an impact to earn an eventual featured spot as a Button of the Month.

Some people did try to keep using them — let us know if your hacks are still working.

The two tech CEOS (and jacket-swapping friends) will have a live-streamed “fireside chat” at the SIGGRAPH conference to discuss AI. Their conversation will take place on July 29th at 6PM ET.

Pre-orders are available for the Hyperkin DuchesS, which re-imagines Microsoft’s Xbox Controller S (the one that replaced the console's original “The Duke” gamepad) for Xbox One and Series X / S consoles, and PC.

The wired controller is available in White or Black variants, both priced at $49.99. Hyperkin says pre-orders will ship on August 21st.

IHMC showcased improvements to its Nadia robot that lower the latency of its VR-controlled inputs enough to play table tennis against a human.

The ultimate design goal for Nadia — named after famed gymnast Nadia Comăneci — is to achieve a human range-of-motion, having demonstrated its boxing capabilities last year in a Real Steel-like fashion.

Ford is taking the opportunity to advertise its Pro Power Onboard generators available in some F-150 models, including gas and Lightning EV versions, after Hurricane Beryl caused major outages in the Houston area. Communications director Mark Levine posted a map showing where F-150 trucks generated at least one kilowatt of electricity.

The company is rolling out new firmware (V3.5.3) that will address a common complaint with its E Ink devices. The update includes a redesigned user interface with cleaner icons plus navigation elements and toolbars that are more intuitive.

The new firmware also introduces a new system-wide annotation tool, screen mirroring to any device with a browser, and a Dark Mode that boosts contrast by inverting text.

There are four CPUs in the new Ryzen 9000 series, which includes the beastly 16-core, 32-thread Ryzen 9 9950X flagship. Pricing still hasn’t been disclosed, but it’s currently expected to align with the Zen 4 series chips.

A nice gesture from the new owners who have everything to lose if they don’t earn back trust:

The new VanMoof has launched a global initiative to help riders who ordered a bike before the bankruptcy and never received it. The company offers a €1000 / $1000 / £850 discount code off a VanMoof S5, A5 or future product to riders affected by this issue.

“Future product” presumably applies to the new electric scooter that should be launching soon, or even the dual-motor V superbike that’s still planned. You can apply for the discount here which is valid until the end of 2027.

Google has been testing adding Ultra HDR image capture to a limited camera API for Android 14 that’s aimed at the basic camera needs of social media apps, according to Android Authority.

Once the changes are available to developers, you’d no longer need to capture Ultra HDR images in a separate app to upload to Instagram.

A change included in a new Windows beta would sort apps by labels like “Music” and “Entertainment,” according to posts on X spotted by XDA Developers. (Windows 8.1 had a similar option.)

The change is apparently tucked away in Windows Insider Preview build 22635.3930, but requires some finagling to enable.

In the old days, running Disk Defragmenter in Windows took forever but was a welcome, meditative reminder that you can’t control everything.

I’m kidding, it was awful. Here’s a website that simulates it, hard drive sounds and all, from developer Dennis Morello. It’s nicer when it’s not keeping you from playing Starcraft.