Sean Hollister
The Verge
California, United States
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Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
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Recent articles by Sean:
Have I Been Pwned — which tells you if passwords were breached — is going open source
Nearly all modern password checkup tools owe something to Troy Hunt’s Have I Been Pwned, which was something of a novel idea when it first launched 7 years ago — and Hunt is now open-sourcing his website codebase so the idea can spread even further. → Read More
Did Fortnite just copy Ana Coto’s viral roller-skating dance from TikTok?
Actress and dancer Ana Coto says Epic’s upcoming Freewheelin’ emote doesn’t credit her for its eerily similar dance moves or its mid-riff baring, glasses-wearing, roller-skating skin — and it seems impossible that Epic wouldn’t be aware of her contribution. → Read More
Etsy helped sell $346 million worth of homemade masks
Etsy released its Q2 earnings report, saying it sold $346 million worth of homemade masks during the pandemic, accounting for 14 percent of all sales across small sellers on the platform. 4 million people came to Etsy for masks alone, buying nothing else, and 112,000 different sellers made money by selling those homemade masks on the platform. → Read More
Alleged Twitter teen hacker’s hearing got zoombombed big time
On July 31st, a 17-year-old Florida teen was arrested and charged as the "mastermind" behind the massive bitcoin scam that ensnared the accounts of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Apple, and more. On August 5th, his hearing got seriously trolled. → Read More
A Florida teen just got arrested for Twitter’s huge hack
Early July 31st, the FBI, IRS, US Secret Service and Florida law enforcement knocked on the door of a 17-year-old in Tampa, Florida and placed him under arrest — accusing him of being the “mastermind” behind the biggest security and privacy breach in Twitter’s history. → Read More
The iconic Flip Video almost became Google’s first camera, emails show
Before Android, before the iPhone, and before GoPro became a known brand, Pure Digital’s Flip Video camcorder took the world by storm. But the Flip Video was almost a Google-branded camera, internal Google emails show. → Read More
Amazon doesn’t sell Echo speakers at a loss, says Bezos — unless they’re on sale
Amazon has long been accused of undercutting its rivals with its Echo smart speakers, allegedly keeping competitors like Sonos from getting a foothold in the market — but Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says that at their full retail price, the company isn’t taking a loss on these products. → Read More
Mellow made its ‘smart’ sous vide machine dumb unless you pay a monthly fee
Mellow, “the world’s first smart sous-vide machine” is now requiring users to pay $6 a month to access smart features that were previously free, arguing it’s experiencing financial strain due to the coronavirus pandemic. → Read More
Google’s new ‘for context’ links could give you the big picture around big news stories
Google appears to be experimenting with a new "for context" feature in Google News that links to a second, broader story on the same topic. → Read More
One week later, it looks like Microsoft already broke a big promise with Xbox Series X
Did Microsoft convince you that you wouldn’t need to upgrade to next-gen hardware to play Xbox Series X games? Think again: half of the new titles that Microsoft showcased at its Xbox Series X showcase today, including Forza, aren’t currently coming to Xbox One. It looks like a broken promise. → Read More
Corning’s new Gorilla Glass Victus could let your phone survive a six-foot drop, plus scratch resistance
Your next Samsung Galaxy or iPhone may soon include the toughest gadget glass Corning has ever created. The company’s announcing Gorilla Glass Victus — a glass that can not only resist a six-foot drop, but also the first in six years to meaningfully improve your phone’s ability to shrug off nasty scratches. → Read More
Twitter cracks down on QAnon conspiracy group, including a ban on 7,000 accounts
Twitter has announced an crackdown on QAnon, the far-right wing conspiracy theory group, by banning 7,000 accounts and taking several specific actions that could prevent the spread of their propaganda from as many as 150,000 more, reports NBC News. The company confirmed the numbers to The Verge. → Read More
Read Twitter’s update on the huge hack — 8 accounts may have had private messages stolen
Twitter issued its first full blog post about what happened after the biggest security lapse in the company’s history, one that led to attackers getting hold of some of the highest profile Twitter accounts in the world — including Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, President Barack Obama, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Kanye West, Michael Bloomberg, and more. → Read More
Because you definitely want to watch Henry Cavill build a gaming PC
Henry Cavill’s latest Instagram video shows The Witcher actor building a gaming computer. This five-minute-long video shows a bearded Cavill flexing his biceps while he assembles the new desktop in his home. → Read More
Skydio says it’s not pivoting away from consumer drones, won’t weaponize its self-flying tech
Self-flying drone company Skydio announced a shift to enterprise and military with its new Skydio X2 drone, but it’s still building new consumer drones too, CEO Adam Bry tells The Verge. → Read More
Samsung’s 5G Galaxy Z Flip may have been fully revealed in these latest leaks
Samsung’s 5G variant for the Galaxy Z Flip foldable still has yet to be officially unveiled, but new leaks strongly hint that most of the big takeaways for this phone are already publicly available. → Read More
Microsoft is force-feeding Edge to Windows users with a spyware-like install
An automatic Windows update now forces Microsoft’s Chromium Edge browser on your PC, like it or not — and shoves it down your throat in a variety of invasive ways. It undermines Microsoft’s argument that automatic updates are critical. → Read More
Dr Disrespect breaks silence, but Twitch still refuses to say what’s going on
Twitch has repeatedly refused to confirm that Dr Disrespect has been banned — and declined to deny a new statement from Beahm this evening that claims Twitch won’t even tell him what’s going on. → Read More
Sounds like Google’s Pixel 4A is nearly ready — and won’t have radar
A new FCC filing, spotted by XDA-Developers, suggests the Pixel 4a is nigh. Google had seemingly missed the window to release its affordable followup to the Pixel 4 flagship, but perhaps it’s coming soon. → Read More
The Skydio 2 self-flying drone is back on sale, with a fix we’ve been waiting for
Skydio is going to be an easier choice in drones soon. Skydio is greatly increasing its production capacity, and the company just issued a huge software update that could make landing your drone way easier. → Read More