/Recent content on PicoBlogHugo -- gohugo.ioen-usSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/don-t-try-this-meet-the-high-schooler-who-made-300k-trading-penny-stocks-under-his-desk.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/don-t-try-this-meet-the-high-schooler-who-made-300k-trading-penny-stocks-under-his-desk.htmlIt was just a few weeks into the new school year when Connor Bruggemann decided to play sick. He holed up in his bedroom, shut the door, and opened his laptop. Over the summer his father had opened an Etrade account for him, using around $10,000 Bruggemann had saved up over two years working as a busboy and waiter at a local BBQ joint. At first Bruggemann had used that cash to buy some big, well-known stocks: Apple, Verizon, and a few others./news/hold-on-for-dear-life-driving-the-incredible-terrifying-tesla-model-s-p85d.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hold-on-for-dear-life-driving-the-incredible-terrifying-tesla-model-s-p85d.htmlFear; confusion; moments of spontaneous euphoria. Side effects of a prescription painkiller? No. Well… yes, maybe. But it’s also the rapid-fire spectrum of emotion you experience when you ride in the Tesla Model S P85D for the first time. I cabbed out to Flushing, Queens last week to drive the P85D, a modified Model S equipped with two motors — one in front, one in the rear. If you’re keeping count, that’s exactly twice as many motors as the standard Model S that’s been available for the past couple years./news/breaking-bad-is-now-available-on-netflix-in-4k.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/breaking-bad-is-now-available-on-netflix-in-4k.htmlNetflix said back at CES that it was going to do its best to get 4K content out to the masses this year, and today they've announced that Breaking Bad is available to stream in the highest resolution currently possible. If you have a 4K set and a connection that's up to it, the show should be available to all streaming customers, according to a tweet from Netflix's Joris Evers. Breaking Bad now joins Netflix's own House of Cards as an option for those looking to stream content in 4K, and Netflix has already promised that all of its original series will be available in 4K sooner than later./news/8-easy-ways-to-make-a-gif.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/8-easy-ways-to-make-a-gif.htmlGIFs are the condiments of a healthy social media diet. The short visual loops are the best way to make pop culture references, avoid responding to emails with full sentences, capture a moment of natural beauty that can’t be done justice with a photo, save a precious memory of your friend or lover doing something embarrassing, or memorialize your own face with an animated alien munching your nose off. But how does one make a GIF without sinking cash into Photoshop and After Effects?/news/8bitdo-s-tiny-20-keychain-controller-is-now-available.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/8bitdo-s-tiny-20-keychain-controller-is-now-available.html8BitDo, which is known for its high-quality third-party controllers and its retro-inspired designs, is launching a tiny, keychain-sized Bluetooth controller called the Zero 2. It’s compatible with Windows, macOS, Raspberry Pi, Android devices, and both the Nintendo Switch and the Switch Lite. The controller, which was first teased last summer at E3, is now available to purchase for $20 and it comes in pink, yellow, and turquoise. Unfortunately, it seems the retro Nintendo finish from last year’s teaser image isn’t available just yet./news/a-comedian-s-fight-with-barstool-sports-shows-how-twitter-s-copyright-system-can-hurt-creators.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-comedian-s-fight-with-barstool-sports-shows-how-twitter-s-copyright-system-can-hurt-creators.htmlEarlier today, Los Angeles-based writer and comedian Miel Bredouw claims she received a peculiar message from the general counsel of Barstool Sports, a sports and lifestyle website that caters to young men and is widely known for its aggressive and sometimes offensive approach to cultural commentary. The lawyer, named Mark Marin, was offering Bredouw $2,000 to retract a copyright strike she filed on Twitter. “That’s brand new for me,” Bredouw, whose short-form videos and other work have often gone viral over the years, told The Verge./news/a-glitch-in-the-matrix-review-quirky-creepy-and-way-too-unreal.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-glitch-in-the-matrix-review-quirky-creepy-and-way-too-unreal.htmlIn February 2003, a 19-year-old named Joshua Cooke shot his parents to death in their Virginia home. Cooke told his lawyers that he believed he was living in the Matrix, a simulated universe outlined in the 1999 Keanu Reeves blockbuster of the same name. Cooke pleaded guilty, and the defense was never used. But years later, he still offers a chilling, painful account of the moment he realized that killing another human being felt nothing like an action movie./news/a-group-of-customers-has-bought-failed-smart-home-company-insteon.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-group-of-customers-has-bought-failed-smart-home-company-insteon.htmlFollowing the report yesterday that smart home company Insteon’s servers had mysteriously fired up overnight, there is good news: Insteon is back, and it was resurrected by its customers. This message appeared on the Insteon blog today, posted by the company's new CEO Ken Fairbanks: We are a small group of passionate Insteon users that have successfully acquired Insteon. Like many of you, our homes are powered by Insteon’s amazing dual-mesh technology and highly configurable products./news/acer-chromebook-spin-714-review-worse-than-its-predecessor.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/acer-chromebook-spin-714-review-worse-than-its-predecessor.htmlAcer’s Chromebook Spin 713 has been at the top of our Best Chromebook list for a few years running now. It’s one of the most beloved Chromebooks of the past several years, and it had a laundry list of things going for it: blazing fast Intel processors, a crisp and high-resolution 3:2 screen, a generous port selection with Thunderbolt 4, all-day battery life, and one of the better keyboards you could find in the Chromebook space./news/aclu-challenges-section-702-surveillance-in-alleged-terrorism-case-against-neo-nazi.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/aclu-challenges-section-702-surveillance-in-alleged-terrorism-case-against-neo-nazi.htmlThe American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has joined the defense team for a neo-Nazi accused of plotting to sabotage Baltimore’s electrical grid, The Baltimore Banner reports. Attorneys from the ACLU’s National Security Project will be working with Brandon Clint Russell’s defense “for the limited purpose of challenging the government’s secretive warrantless surveillance under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,” Ashley Gorski, a senior staff attorney with the National Security Project, said in a statement to The Verge./news/activision-blizzard-faces-lawsuit-and-employee-backlash-over-sexual-harassment.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/activision-blizzard-faces-lawsuit-and-employee-backlash-over-sexual-harassment.htmlWorkers at Activision Blizzard’s Proletariat studio are organizing. Less than a month after a second group of Activision Blizzard workers voted to unionize, the Communications Workers of America announced the latest group filing for a union representation election. The 57 workers in the unit include animators, designers, engineers, producers and quality assurance workers. Earlier this year, quality assurance workers at Activision’s Raven Software studio in Wisconsin and Blizzard Albany won their union elections, despite Activision Blizzard’s repeated attempts to prevent workers from voting./news/activist-investor-carl-icahn-wants-apple-to-part-with-more-of-its-huge-cash-pile.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/activist-investor-carl-icahn-wants-apple-to-part-with-more-of-its-huge-cash-pile.htmlActivist investor Carl Icahn just got what he wanted out of eBay, and now he's turning his sights back on Apple again. In a lengthy letter to Tim Cook, Icahn argues that Apple should make a tender offer to begin buying back stock from shareholders. Icahn says that there is a "massive undervaluation" in its stock right now, which would make buying up shares a good deal for Apple. Apple also has an enormous stockpile of money that it could be spending — $133 billion and growing — far beyond what it needs to make large acquisitions or fund new infrastructure./news/adobe-fresco-brings-the-joy-of-painting-to-the-ipad.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/adobe-fresco-brings-the-joy-of-painting-to-the-ipad.htmlI’ve always preferred working with Wacom tablets on the desktop over drawing on tablets like the iPad Pro, as I could never get used to drawing directly on a screen. But a week with the beta version of Fresco, Adobe’s latest drawing and painting app for the iPad Pro, has rekindled a lot of the muscle memory I’ve forgotten from art classes since I started working digitally. This can be attributed to what Fresco excels at, which is mixing oil paint colors and letting watercolors bloom naturally on the canvas./news/adobe-s-firefly-generative-ai-tools-are-now-generally-available.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/adobe-s-firefly-generative-ai-tools-are-now-generally-available.htmlFollowing several months of beta testing, Adobe has announced that its Firefly generative AI model is now commercially available across Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Express, and Adobe Experience Cloud. That means the Firefly-powered workflows that have so far been limited to the beta versions of Adobe’s apps — like Illustrator’s vector recoloring, Express text-to-image effects, and Photoshop’s Generative Fill tools — are now generally available to most users (though there are some regional restrictions in countries with strict AI laws like China)./news/all-the-news-about-blue-origin-s-first-crewed-flight-since-2022.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/all-the-news-about-blue-origin-s-first-crewed-flight-since-2022.htmlSafe and accounted for. All of the crew of Blue Origin’s NS-25 flight have emerged from the capsule, safe and sound. That includes Ed Dwight, who was selected as the first Black Astronaut candidate in the early days of NASA’s space program but never went to space before today. “I thought I really didn’t need this in my life,” he said during Blue Origin’s livestream, “but now I need it in my life./news/all-the-news-of-nasa-s-artemis-program-the-agency-s-attempt-to-returns-humans-to-the-moon-pag.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/all-the-news-of-nasa-s-artemis-program-the-agency-s-attempt-to-returns-humans-to-the-moon-pag.htmlThe giant rocket that NASA is building to send astronauts to the Moon will likely be delayed and over budget — yet again. That’s according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, which reviewed the hardware NASA has been developing for deep space human exploration. The report, originally leaked to The Washington Post, is the latest in a long string of reviews that have identified schedule problems and cost overruns with the rocket’s development program./news/amazon-gives-its-fire-7-tablets-more-storage-and-speed-for-the-same-price.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-gives-its-fire-7-tablets-more-storage-and-speed-for-the-same-price.htmlAmazon has announced a new Fire 7 tablet that has a faster processor than the older version. It’s still a 1.3GHz quad-core CPU, though Amazon claims it has more memory bandwidth. This new tablet also has more storage by default — twice as much as before, bringing it up to 16GB. In addition, this tablet can work with 512GB microSD cards, doubling what the last-gen model could support. Everything else about it is the same; it’s even keeping the reasonable $49./news/amazon-is-acquiring-self-driving-car-startup-zoox.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-is-acquiring-self-driving-car-startup-zoox.htmlAmazon is acquiring self-driving car startup Zoox in a deal estimated to be worth over $1 billion. The deal will give Amazon control of the nearly 1,000-person startup that has been developing an electric self-driving vehicle. Rumors of the acquisition first emerged last month, when it was reported that Amazon would acquire Zoox for less than the $3.2 billion it was valued at back in July 2018. “Zoox is working to imagine, invent, and design a world-class autonomous ride-hailing experience,” said Amazon CEO of Global Consumer Jeff Wilke, “Like Amazon, Zoox is passionate about innovation and about its customers, and we’re excited to help the talented Zoox team to bring their vision to reality in the years ahead./news/amazon-s-fire-tv-will-soon-be-able-to-connect-to-hotel-wi-fi.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-s-fire-tv-will-soon-be-able-to-connect-to-hotel-wi-fi.htmlAmazon today announced its latest Fire TV and Fire TV Stick software update, which is set to begin rolling out today. The company says that the OTA release will add a few significant new features, led by support for expandable USB storage for the set-top box. You'll be able to plug in an external USB drive to boost the amount of space for your Fire TV apps and games — if you've somehow already managed to exceed the built-in storage, that is./news/amazon-s-latest-fire-tv-accessory-is-an-ir-blaster-that-lets-your-echo-control-your-tv.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-s-latest-fire-tv-accessory-is-an-ir-blaster-that-lets-your-echo-control-your-tv.htmlAmazon has announced a new Fire TV accessory called the Fire TV Blaster. It’s a $34.99 IR blaster that’s designed to let you control hardware like your TV set or cable box using Alexa in concert with your existing Fire TV setup. The added IR blaster allows you even greater control over your TV setup through Alexa, allowing you to switch inputs and control things like power, volume, and playback through Echo voice controls./news/amazon-s-new-echo-pop-has-dropped-back-to-its-prime-day-price.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-s-new-echo-pop-has-dropped-back-to-its-prime-day-price.htmlSince Prime Day was an Amazon event, a lot of the best Prime Day deals we saw earlier this month naturally landed on Amazon’s smart speakers and displays. While Amazon’s deals have since long gone, other retailers are jumping in to give you a second chance if you missed out. Right now, for example, you can buy the latest Echo Dot for $22.99 ($27 off) from Best Buy and The Home Depot./news/amazon-s-alexa-together-launches-today-offering-more-elder-care-features.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-s-alexa-together-launches-today-offering-more-elder-care-features.htmlFirst announced at Amazon’s fall hardware event, Alexa Together is officially launching today, Tuesday, December 7th. A new subscription service that expands on the existing Alexa Care Hub, Alexa Together is designed to offer a minimally invasive way to use Amazon’s voice assistant and associated Echo speakers to both assist and keep tabs on an elderly loved one or other person who requires a caregiver.  Almost since Alexa launched, industrious families have found ways to make the artificially intelligent assistant help them when it comes to looking after a remote loved one./news/an-absolutely-wild-mod-has-brought-real-time-ray-tracing-to-the-snes.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/an-absolutely-wild-mod-has-brought-real-time-ray-tracing-to-the-snes.htmlRay-tracing technology, available for a few years on PC, has finally come to consoles: the PS5 has it, the Xbox Series S and X have it, and, 30 years after its release, the SNES is getting it. No joke — the Nintendo console from 1990 has had ray tracing run on it, thanks to an incredible mod by programmer Ben Carter (via Gizmodo). And it’s done by a chip he’s calling SuperRT./news/android-the-verge.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/android-the-verge.htmlQualcomm is working on easing the pain of Android updates. Speaking to Android Authority, Qulacomm’s head of handsets, Chris Patrick, says that the company will make announcements later this year about how it plans to help “keep Android phones closer to up to date.” While definitely improved in recent years, updates are still slow to come for some OEMs — and plenty of budget phones only see one or two OS updates./news/another-one-the-verge.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/another-one-the-verge.htmlAnother one. Two more authors, Nicholas Basbanes and Nicholas Gage, have filed a class action lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, as reported by Reuters. The complaint alleges that OpenAI and Microsoft “engaged in a massive and deliberate theft of copyrighted works” created by the authors to help train their LLMs. This new complaint joins a growing pile of lawsuits from writers against OpenAI. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfZnx2e5FtZ2tvZGt%2FcK3NqKuhnaJivK%2Bx/news/apple-now-finally-sells-usb-c-earpods.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-now-finally-sells-usb-c-earpods.htmlNow that the iPhone has USB-C ports, Apple is selling wired EarPods with a USB-C connector that you can use with the new smartphones — and, thankfully, a bunch of Apple devices. According to Apple’s page for the USB-C EarPods, they’ll work with iPhones, iPads, and Macs with USB-C ports; however, they’ll have to be on semi-recent operating systems to be compatible with the updated headphones. Specifically: Mac models with USB-C running macOS Monterey 12./news/apple-says-lightning-to-hdmi-and-lightning-to-vga-adapters-are-on-the-way.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-says-lightning-to-hdmi-and-lightning-to-vga-adapters-are-on-the-way.htmlThere's been some confusion as to what Apple's new all-digital Lightning connector will be capable of, but the company has just cleared some of that up. An Apple spokesperson told The Verge that Lightning to HDMI and Lightning to VGA cables "will be available in the coming months." Originally, the fact that the $29 Lightning to 30-pin adapter doesn't support video output led to worries that the Lightning connector itself was to blame, and that Apple would steer customers who wanted to share audio and video towards wireless technologies like AirPlay./news/asteroid-city-s-first-trailer-is-the-most-wes-anderson-thing-you-ll-see-today.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/asteroid-city-s-first-trailer-is-the-most-wes-anderson-thing-you-ll-see-today.htmlWhether there are actually aliens hiding somewhere in Focus Features’ Asteroid City from director Wes Anderson is up for debate. What’s quite clear, though, is that the movie’s playing to all of Anderson’s strengths and going to give all of his fans exactly what they showed up for. Set in a fictional American town during the mid-1950s, Asteroid City tells the story of a beleaguered widower (Jason Schwartzman) who’s busy schlepping his four children across the country to see their grandfather (Tom Hanks) when their car suddenly breaks down./news/aston-martin-s-racy-hybrid-is-coming-in-2024.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/aston-martin-s-racy-hybrid-is-coming-in-2024.htmlAston Martin’s racy hybrid is coming in 2024. Here are some of the first images of the prototype Vahalla, which is the luxury British automaker’s first plug-in car, on track to enter production in early 2024. This is a limited production run, with Aston Martin only making 999 units. But the hybrid racer sounds powerful enough for Le Mans or F1, sporting a bespoke twin-turbo flat-plane V8 engine, together with three e-motors, in a 1,012 PS hybrid all-wheel drive hybrid powertrain./news/at-t-can-bail-on-48-5-billion-merger-if-directv-loses-nfl-sunday-ticket.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/at-t-can-bail-on-48-5-billion-merger-if-directv-loses-nfl-sunday-ticket.htmlIf DirecTV fails to lock up NFL Sunday Ticket beyond this coming season, AT&T has given itself the right to back away from thecolossal $48.5 billion acquisition announced yesterday. The out clause contained in the proposal’s fine print shows just how valuable of a property the NFL is. "The parties also have agreed that in the unlikely event that DirecTV’s agreement for the NFL Sunday Ticket service is not renewed substantially on the terms discussed between the parties, AT&T may elect not to consummate the merger,"/news/august-stops-selling-view-doorbell-less-than-three-weeks-after-launch.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/august-stops-selling-view-doorbell-less-than-three-weeks-after-launch.htmlWe recently began shipping the August View, our first battery-powered doorbell camera. While we remain excited to bring this product to more customers, we are aware of some performance challenges in specific user environments. When you purchase an August product, you trust us with the most important parts of your life: your home and your family. We value your trust greatly and it is our top priority. In order to fully evaluate the user feedback, implement critical improvements, run further testing, and keep our commitment to you, we are pausing shipping of the August View./news/auto-industry-pleads-with-biden-administration-to-reconsider-automatic-braking-rule.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/auto-industry-pleads-with-biden-administration-to-reconsider-automatic-braking-rule.htmlThe auto industry’s main lobbying group is requesting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “reconsider” its recent rule requiring all vehicles sold in the US to have robust automatic emergency braking (AEB), calling the current technology insufficient to meet the high standards outlined by the government. In letters sent to NHTSA as well as members of Congress, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents most of the major automakers, argues that the rules finalized earlier this year are “practically impossible with available technology./news/axon-halts-taser-drone-project-as-majority-of-ethics-board-resigns.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/axon-halts-taser-drone-project-as-majority-of-ethics-board-resigns.htmlAfter fierce pushback, development is being halted on a Taser-wielding drone proposed as a solution to mass shootings in schools. On Sunday, Axon, the maker of the Taser stun gun, announced that it was pausing work on its drone-mounted Taser project just days after the idea was presented to the public. The announcement marks the end – at least for now – of a project that was widely seen as unfeasible at best, and at worst, a dystopian extension to an already fatal line of police weaponry./news/babies-learn-to-anticipate-touch-in-the-womb-new-study-reveals.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/babies-learn-to-anticipate-touch-in-the-womb-new-study-reveals.htmlYou're no doubt familiar with the image of a baby sucking his thumb, but unborn babies in the later stages of development do it too. In fact, new research reveals that fetuses actually open their mouths in anticipation of a good thumb suck, which may point to better ways of tracking fetal development and understanding the limitations of babies born prematurely. In a finding out of the University of Durham, researchers used 4D ultrasound scans to track the movements of 15 fetuses during development in the third trimester./news/best-buy-offers-discount-on-new-macbook-air-pro-with-retina-display.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/best-buy-offers-discount-on-new-macbook-air-pro-with-retina-display.htmlApple's new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Retina display have only been on the market for a few weeks, but they're already available on discount from Best Buy. This week, the retailer reduced the price of Apple's Retina MacBook Pros by up to $140, with prices starting at $2,089 for the 15.4-inch, 8GB model with 256GB of flash storage. Prices for the MacBook Air, on the other hand, start at $949 for the 11./news/biden-administration-acknowledges-it-can-force-bitcoin-mines-to-disclose-pollution.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/biden-administration-acknowledges-it-can-force-bitcoin-mines-to-disclose-pollution.htmlFederal agencies have the authority to force crypto mining companies to divulge how much energy they use and greenhouse gas emissions they create, according to letters between the agencies and Democratic lawmakers shared exclusively with The Verge. Bitcoin miners have flocked to the US over the past couple years, triggering concerns about electricity usage and greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the proliferation of crypto mines across the US, there hasn’t been solid data on what impact they each have on the power grid and national climate goals./news/biden-campaign-joins-donald-trump-s-truth-social-platform.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/biden-campaign-joins-donald-trump-s-truth-social-platform.htmlPresident Joe Biden’s reelection campaign launched its own account on former President Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, on Monday, as first reported by Fox News.  “Well. Let’s see how this goes. Converts welcome!” the campaign wrote in its first post to the platform on Monday under the handle @BidenHQ. “Well. Let’s see how this goes. Converts welcome!” Speaking with Fox, the campaign said that it was joining the site in a bid to reach conservative voters and correct any “mis and disinformation” related to the president on the platform./news/bmw-s-vision-motorrad-next-100-motorcycle-is-built-for-superheroes.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bmw-s-vision-motorrad-next-100-motorcycle-is-built-for-superheroes.htmlThe bike, like the Rolls-Royce and Mini concepts introduced earlier this year, is indeed radical in form and function. Its body is culled from a slinky carbon fiber shell that forms a menacing swoosh. A turn of the handlebars redirects the bike. It boasts zero carbon emissions and has incorporated driver assistance, a camera-based sensor technology, making it essentially the anti-crash motorcycle. One feature of this system is called the Visor, a set of spectacles that are controlled through eye movements./news/bungie-s-classic-sci-fi-shooter-marathon-is-now-free-on-steam.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bungie-s-classic-sci-fi-shooter-marathon-is-now-free-on-steam.htmlBefore there was Halo and Destiny, there was Marathon — and now Steam users can check out the classic sci-fi shooter for themselves. Bungie just announced that the first game in the original trilogy has surprise-dropped on Steam, and it’s available on both Mac and PC. Even better, you can play it for free. The game is actually credited to Aleph One Developers, which is described as an “open source continuation of Bungie’s Marathon 2 game engine./news/can-your-device-run-ios-15-ipados-15-macos-monterey-and-watchos-8.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/can-your-device-run-ios-15-ipados-15-macos-monterey-and-watchos-8.htmlApple announced iOS 15, macOS Monterey, watchOS 8, and iPadOS 15 software at WWDC 2021. The public beta period will begin in July, and whether you’re curious to download them then, or just waiting for the final release, you’ll need to have the right hardware to do it. Apple usually eliminates support for a few devices each year as it leaps ahead with major software releases, so you’ll want to check below to see if your iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, or computer makes the cut./news/can-t-stand-your-friends-rumr-lets-you-chat-with-them-anonymously.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/can-t-stand-your-friends-rumr-lets-you-chat-with-them-anonymously.htmlJames Jerlecki can’t tell me exactly how his new app is going to be useful, but he thinks teens are gonna love it. "My sister is a teacher and works a lot with teens," he says, "and they want her to respect them, but they are afraid about what they share." Jerlecki’s sister wishes there were an open forum where students could share thoughts and ask questions about things like drugs, sex, and "/news/cheap-steroid-reportedly-improves-survival-for-severe-covid-19-cases.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/cheap-steroid-reportedly-improves-survival-for-severe-covid-19-cases.htmlA cheap, common steroid improves survival rates for COVID-19 patients on ventilators, according to a press release from the research team. The drug, called dexamethasone, reduced deaths by one-third in patients on ventilators, and by one-fifth in patients who needed supplemental oxygen, according to the team. It did not help patients who were able to breathe on their own. Steroids like dexamethasone blunt inflammation in the body. Researchers think that some patients with severe cases of COVID-19 have dangerously high levels of inflammation as part of an overactive immune response to the virus and that calming that down with an anti-inflammatory like dexamethasone could help ease their symptoms./news/chinese-site-exploits-apple-s-own-tools-to-distribute-pirated-apps-without-jailbreaking.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/chinese-site-exploits-apple-s-own-tools-to-distribute-pirated-apps-without-jailbreaking.html"First of all, we would like to thank all Apple users around the world and your support for Kuaiyong. Statistics have shown that a significant amount of Apple users are Chinese based. However, the fact is that in China, a large number of Apple users are not very familiar with the iTunes system and how to effectively manage it. In order for Chinese Apple fans to download applications securely, Kuaiyong developed its own method of giving users access to thousands of free apps without having to jailbreak their devices./news/classic-action-game-karateka-is-being-turned-into-a-playable-documentary.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/classic-action-game-karateka-is-being-turned-into-a-playable-documentary.htmlLast year, Digital Eclipse released Atari 50, a sprawling, interactive tour through Atari’s long history. I described it as “a cross between an interactive documentary and a virtual museum exhibition,” and it really set a new bar for retro game collections. Now, the studio is tackling another project: Karateka, the game Jordan Mechner made before the iconic Prince of Persia. Called The Making of Karateka, the new project sounds much like Atari 50, only focused on a specific game./news/d-wave-is-now-shipping-its-new-15-million-10-foot-tall-quantum-computer.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/d-wave-is-now-shipping-its-new-15-million-10-foot-tall-quantum-computer.htmlQuantum computing is a very complicated subject branch of computer science that could one day radically change the way our computers function. At the forefront of that field is a Canadian company called D-Wave, which created the world’s biggest quantum computing chip last year, with over 2000 qubits (quantum bits) to perform calculations. Now, that chip is finally shipping in a 10-foot-tall, $15 million dollar quantum computer called the D-Wave 2000Q, which is a successor to the company’s earlier 1000Q, which only had half the number of qubits./news/doordash-is-accused-of-blocking-unionization-efforts-in-arizona.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/doordash-is-accused-of-blocking-unionization-efforts-in-arizona.htmlBloomberg reports a regional director for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a complaint alleging that DoorDash illegally fired an office employee who tried to organize a union in Arizona. The complaint also says DoorDash threatened to reprimand workers who attempted to assemble and lied to them, saying it’s unlawful to discuss worker conditions on days off. The NLRB specifically accuses DoorDash of violating employees’ federal rights by “interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees,” the May 30th filing reads./news/edward-snowden-holds-up-a-piece-of-paper-and-that-s-how-memes-are-born.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/edward-snowden-holds-up-a-piece-of-paper-and-that-s-how-memes-are-born.htmlEdward Snowden's impact on how we look at security and privacy cannot be understated. Even today, years later, we're still learning more and more about the extent of government surveillance. He has fundamentally changed how we look at and talk about the internet. Given his knowledge of how the world wide web works, surely he must've seen this coming. But we aren't telling you anything the internet didn't already figure out:/news/elon-musk-cites-eminem-song-in-latest-volley-with-the-sec.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/elon-musk-cites-eminem-song-in-latest-volley-with-the-sec.htmlThe latest court filing in Elon Musk’s battle to wrest back control of his Twitter account from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) includes a citation of the 2002 song Without Me by rapper Eminem. Yes, really (see the filing embedded below). In the song, the rapper complains that “The FCC won’t let me be or let me be me so let me see/ They tried to shut me down.” That’s a reference to a 2002 penalty the Federal Communications Commission handed out to a Colorado radio station for playing Eminem’s 2000 song The Real Slim Shady (after clutching its collective pearls for a bit, the FCC ultimately decided not to fine the radio station)./news/emoji-shouldn-t-look-realistic-the-verge.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/emoji-shouldn-t-look-realistic-the-verge.htmlThe days of cute peach butts are dead. Apple’s 10.2 update will gift us a much needed shrugging emoji, but that which gives can also take away. As the first images of emoji circulate on Twitter, people are mourning the death of the second-best sexting emoji. You can spot the difference by locating the peach near the bottom left corner. No longer will we have its shapely, suggestive curve. Its giggle-worthy crack still exists, but our dear peach is now rounded out, nerfed, normalized to better mimic its real-life counterpart./news/even-google-has-a-virtual-fidget-spinner-now.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/even-google-has-a-virtual-fidget-spinner-now.htmlIf you search for “fidget spinner” on Google, you’ll learn that the fad du jour currently occupies what physicists call “quantum superposition.” Fidget spinners “are over,” but they’re also “producing local success stories.” Fidget spinners are dangerous, but they also have secret meanings, according to priests. Fidget spinners, like Schrödinger’s cat, are all of these things at the same time — until you metaphorically kill the cat by clicking through to one of the stories./news/famed-film-critic-roger-ebert-dies-at-70.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/famed-film-critic-roger-ebert-dies-at-70.htmlRoger Ebert, possibly the world's most famous movie critic, died today at the age of 70 following an extended battle with cancer. Ebert spent his entire writing career at the Chicago Sun Times, where he began reviewing movies in 1967. One of his most famous early reviews was for George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, which was released in 1969 and which Mr. Ebert said caused him to feel "/news/figma-s-new-figjam-ai-can-spare-designers-from-boring-planning-prep.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/figma-s-new-figjam-ai-can-spare-designers-from-boring-planning-prep.htmlFigma, best known for its product design applications, has announced FigJam AI — a new suite of generative AI tools for its collaborative whiteboard service FigJam that creates ready-to-use templates for common design and planning projects. The idea is that FigJam AI can reduce the preparation time needed to manually create these collaborative whiteboard projects from scratch, leaving designers with time to concentrate on more pressing tasks. FigJam AI is available in open beta starting November 7th and is “currently free” for all customer tiers./news/first-person-to-person-transmission-of-coronavirus-reported-in-the-united-states.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/first-person-to-person-transmission-of-coronavirus-reported-in-the-united-states.html“CDC experts have expected to identify some person-to-person spread in the US,” said CDC Director Robert Redfield. There are now six confirmed cases of the virus in the US. As of January 29th, 92 people are being tested for the virus. Sixty-eight people who were under investigation in the US have tested negative. In China, the coronavirus has passed between individuals since December, but the majority of cases outside of China have been in patients who had recently traveled there./news/fly-is-a-simple-video-editing-app-that-lets-you-shoot-from-four-iphones-at-once.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fly-is-a-simple-video-editing-app-that-lets-you-shoot-from-four-iphones-at-once.htmlThere are simple video-editing apps, and then there's Fly, a new iPhone app that lets you edit a short movie inside literally one screen. Fly works by importing four of your videos into the app's editor, and then letting you tap on each one to make live cuts and switch between clips instantly. You can add a voice over or background music from your device, and then export your video to post on Instagram or elsewhere./news/ford-s-self-repossessing-car-patent-is-a-nightmare-of-the-connected-car-future.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ford-s-self-repossessing-car-patent-is-a-nightmare-of-the-connected-car-future.htmlThe electric and digital transformation of the car industry comes with a lot of promises for a better tomorrow. Electric vehicles could dramatically reduce carbon emissions in the transportation sector; connected cars will give us access to services and features we don’t currently enjoy; over-the-air software updates could eliminate high repair costs; and automated vehicles may make driving significantly safer. But it’s worth remembering that, at the end of the day, car companies are just out to make a buck, not make the world a better place./news/fortnite-s-new-party-worlds-put-the-focus-firmly-on-socializing.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fortnite-s-new-party-worlds-put-the-focus-firmly-on-socializing.html“Party Worlds” are new spaces coming to Fortnite which are designed to focus on socializing over combat, the game’s developer Epic Games has announced. “These are experiences that are designed as places for players to hang out, play fun mini-games, and make new friends,” the developer says, adding that Party Worlds cannot be centered on “combat or damage.”  To kick off the initiative, Epic has collaborated with community members fivewalnut and TreyJTH on a pair of example Party Worlds./news/friends-is-leaving-netflix-in-january-and-disappearing-for-five-months.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/friends-is-leaving-netflix-in-january-and-disappearing-for-five-months.htmlSo no one told you Friends was going to go away. [handclaps] As of January 1st, 2020, Friends won’t be available to stream on Netflix, and won’t be available to stream on any of the major subscriber-based streaming services for another five months. Between January, when Friends leaves Netflix, and May, when it premieres on HBO Max, the only way to watch the series is through actually purchasing individual episodes, seasons, or the collection through digital retailers./news/gabe-newell-has-big-plans-for-brain-computer-interfaces-in-gaming.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gabe-newell-has-big-plans-for-brain-computer-interfaces-in-gaming.htmlValve co-founder and president Gabe Newell talks about Valve’s exploration of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) for gaming and beyond, in an interview with New Zealand’s 1 News. Although Newell admits that the idea of having your brain interface directly with a computer sounds “indistinguishable from science fiction,” he says developers would be making a “silly mistake” if they ignore the area.  Newell says that Valve is currently working with OpenBCI headsets to develop open-source software with the aim of making it easier for developers to understand the signals coming from people’s brains./news/gdc-watching-coronavirus-concerns-closely-as-as-epic-microsoft-and-others-cancel-appearances.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gdc-watching-coronavirus-concerns-closely-as-as-epic-microsoft-and-others-cancel-appearances.htmlGame Developers Conference organizers are still moving ahead with the annual conference, despite losing exhibitors such as Epic, Microsoft, and Unity amid coronavirus concerns. In a statement published on its website today, organizers said they are “closely monitoring the COVID19 (coronavirus) situation and want to assure everyone that your health and safety are a top priority.” The novel coronavirus has had an unexpected impact on the gaming industry, from delays to game league cancellations./news/ge-takes-on-philips-hue-with-a-lower-priced-connected-light-bulb.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ge-takes-on-philips-hue-with-a-lower-priced-connected-light-bulb.htmlGE has been stepping into the smart home market, and its newest entry is a connected LED light bulb called Link. Link bulbs are basic, single-color lights primarily meant to allow homeowners to control lighting straight through a smartphone app. But more importantly, Link bulbs are also some of the least expensive connected options out there. The bulbs will sell through Home Depot and are available from just below $15 to just below $25, depending on the type./news/get-google-s-pixel-2-for-100-less-on-iphone-x-day.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/get-google-s-pixel-2-for-100-less-on-iphone-x-day.htmlHappy iPhone X preorder day! If you’re an Android user that doesn’t mean much. But, lucky for you, if you were eyeing an Android flagship, Best Buy is still offering a $100 savings on the Google Pixel 2 (the Pixel 2 XL isn’t part of the deal). The sale is limited to all colors and capacities of the Verizon Pixel 2, and requires a two year contract. While the reduced price has been available for weeks, today seemed like a good day to remind people that they can buy two Pixel 2 phones for about the same price of a single iPhone X (which starts at $999)./news/gmail-youtube-google-docs-and-other-google-services-hit-by-massive-outage.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gmail-youtube-google-docs-and-other-google-services-hit-by-massive-outage.htmlMultiple Google services and websites including YouTube, Gmail, Google Assistant, and Google Docs were down for around an hour on Monday morning after being hit with a widespread outage. Google acknowledged the issues with Gmail, affecting both its business and personal services, at 6:55AM ET, and said the problem was fixed for the “vast majority” of users at 7:52AM ET. Identical notices were posted across the status pages for the rest of Google’s services./news/google-is-working-on-a-more-user-friendly-way-to-find-files-in-drive.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-is-working-on-a-more-user-friendly-way-to-find-files-in-drive.htmlGoogle is preparing to beta test new search filters in Google Drive, which will hopefully make it easier to find the exact file you’re looking for. Dubbed “search chips,” the feature adds a line of filters to the top of the Drive interface, letting you limit your search by things like file type, last modification date, or which other users are associated with a specific file.  Google Drive already has some search filtering options, but they’re relatively basic and hidden in a sub-menu in the search bar./news/google-launches-a-made-for-google-certified-accessories-program.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-launches-a-made-for-google-certified-accessories-program.htmlGoogle just announced onstage during its Pixel event that it’s launching a “Made for Google” certification program for third-party accessories. The news, which was reported earlier this week by 9to5Google, means that the company will adopt a similar approach to how Apple handles recommending things you might want to plug into (or slap onto) your phone. Made for Google will include everything from phone cases, to USB-C earbuds, power adapters, and more, many of which are already available in the Google store alongside the company’s new hardware./news/google-will-stop-charging-search-providers-for-chance-to-be-android-default-in-europe.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-will-stop-charging-search-providers-for-chance-to-be-android-default-in-europe.htmlGoogle is changing how its Android search engine choice screen works in Europe, following complaints from rivals about its pay-to-play model, the company has announced in a blog post. The selection screen appears for users when they first set up an Android device, and is designed to offer a choice of search engines after Google was hit by a record $5 billion antitrust fine in 2018. From September, the search giant is making it free for search engines to be included, and is increasing the number of services that’ll be shown on the selection screen./news/google-owned-blogger-bans-sexually-explicit-content.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-owned-blogger-bans-sexually-explicit-content.htmlGoogle-owned blogging platform Blogger will no longer allow its users to post sexually explicit content, the company confirmed today. In a statement sent via email to selected Blogger users, Google said it would no longer allow blogs to feature "graphic nude images or video" from March 23rd. Any blogs that continued to show explicit images would be made private after that date — while graphic images and videos would remain, Google says they would only be visible to the blog owner, admins, and other people with whom the owner shared it./news/google-how-do-i-ask-your-ai-the-right-questions.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-how-do-i-ask-your-ai-the-right-questions.htmlA few weeks ago, my spouse and I made a bet. I said there was no way ChatGPT could believably mimic my writing style for a smartwatch review. I’d already asked the bot to do that months ago, and the results were laughable. My spouse bet that they could ask ChatGPT the exact same thing but get a much better result. My problem, they said, was I didn’t know the right queries to ask to get the answer I wanted./news/google-s-ai-chatbot-bard-makes-factual-error-in-first-demo.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-s-ai-chatbot-bard-makes-factual-error-in-first-demo.htmlOn Monday, Google announced its AI chatbot Bard — a rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT that’s due to become “more widely available to the public in the coming weeks.” But the bot isn’t off to a great start, with experts noting that Bard made a factual error in its very first demo. A GIF shared by Google shows Bard answering the question: “What new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope can I tell my 9 year old about?/news/google-s-latest-ai-experiment-lets-software-autocomplete-your-doodles.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-s-latest-ai-experiment-lets-software-autocomplete-your-doodles.htmlGoogle Brain, the search giant’s internal artificial intelligence division, has been making substantial progress on computer vision techniques that let software parse the contents of hand-drawn images and then re-create those drawings on the fly. The latest release from the division’s AI experiments series is a new web app that lets you collaborate with a neural network to draw doodles of everyday objects. Start with any shape, and the software will then auto-complete the drawing to the best of its ability using predictions and its past experience digesting millions of user-generated examples./news/gopro-earnings-hero-8-black-is-the-company-s-fastest-selling-camera-ever.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gopro-earnings-hero-8-black-is-the-company-s-fastest-selling-camera-ever.htmlGoPro’s new Hero 8 Black had the best first month of sales of any camera in the company’s history, according to third quarter financial results released Thursday. What’s more, GoPro says sales of the new camera were up 40 percent compared to the first month of Hero 7 Black sales in 2018 — the camera that set the company’s previous record. People have spent years guessing that the rise in smartphone photography would lead to GoPro’s demise./news/gopro-s-karma-drone-is-easy-to-fly-but-i-still-broke-it.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gopro-s-karma-drone-is-easy-to-fly-but-i-still-broke-it.htmlI’ve never flown a drone before, so of course I crashed the GoPro Karma. Okay, "crashed" might be a strong word for it — I broke a rotor when I landed the quadcopter too close to a rock. Other than that, my first flight was a blast. GoPro’s been teasing Karma since May of 2015, and the no-longer-just-an-action-camera company finally unveiled the drone this morning during an event at Squaw Valley Ski Resort in California./news/gritty-became-a-leftist-meme-because-philly-loves-a-righteous-hooligan.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gritty-became-a-leftist-meme-because-philly-loves-a-righteous-hooligan.htmlAs one of the oldest cities in America, Philadelphia is an ancestral home of this country’s political culture. Throughout its tumultuous history — from a site of revolutionary anger in the earliest days of this country to the proud, post-manufacturing metropolis it is today — you can find the story of the United States, writ small. That’s also probably why the city takes its teams so seriously: this was, in a real sense, the birthplace of America, and what’s more American than taking sports too seriously?/news/gta-vi-isn-t-launching-on-pc.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gta-vi-isn-t-launching-on-pc.htmlGTA VI isn’t launching on PC. According to Rockstar’s press release for the just-released Grand Theft Auto VI trailer, the game will launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X / S in 2025 — PC isn’t a listed platform. Unfortunately, the absence of PC isn’t too surprising, given that the PC version of GTA V was released more than a year and a half after the game first came out on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360./news/harassment-accusations-in-hollywood-continue-to-pile-up-in-wake-of-weinstein-scandal.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/harassment-accusations-in-hollywood-continue-to-pile-up-in-wake-of-weinstein-scandal.htmlAmazon has suspended its studio head, Roy Price, in the wake of harassment allegations from The Man in High Castle executive producer Isa Hackett. "Roy Price is on leave of absence effective immediately,” a spokesperson tells The Verge. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hackett recounted Price’s gross and repeated misconduct. In addition to crudely propositioning Hackett several times, telling her, “You will love my dick,” Hackett says he also approached her at a party and loudly said “Anal sex!/news/here-s-a-reminder-to-make-your-venmo-transactions-private-courtesy-of-clarence-thomas.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/here-s-a-reminder-to-make-your-venmo-transactions-private-courtesy-of-clarence-thomas.htmlRichard Painter, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W Bush administration and has been a vocal critic of the role of dark money in politics, said it was “not appropriate” for former Thomas law clerks who were established in private practice to – in effect – send money to the supreme court via Venmo. “There is no excuse for it. Thomas could invite them to his Christmas party and he could attend Christmas parties, as long as they are not discussing any cases./news/here-s-what-we-learned-from-ifixit-s-iphone-11-teardown.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/here-s-what-we-learned-from-ifixit-s-iphone-11-teardown.htmliFixit’s annual iPhone teardown is always a great opportunity to take a peek inside Apple’s latest hardware, but this year’s edition has raised some intriguing questions. The big discovery is a second battery connector within the iPhone 11 Pro Max, which could be an indicator that the hardware was supposed to support bidirectional wireless charging at one point. iFixit also confirmed the size of the phone’s large L-shaped battery, the manufacturer of the phone’s modem, and found a hint of the amount of RAM inside Apple’s most powerful iPhone./news/highlightcam-for-android-and-ios-automatically-edits-your-videos-into-a-showreel.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/highlightcam-for-android-and-ios-automatically-edits-your-videos-into-a-showreel.htmlGot masses of videos on your phone but no time to edit them into a masterpiece? HighlightCam promises to take over the editing process for you, producing a highlight reel cut to a length you specify. The app uses a combination of face, motion, and voice detection to decide what the important parts are of each clip, filtering out the slower and less action-packed elements. The editorial options are fairly simple, though — along with dictating whether the video should focus on people, voices or action, you can choose the order of the clips, effects, titles, and music./news/hitoki-saber-review-it-s-a-laser-bong.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hitoki-saber-review-it-s-a-laser-bong.htmlWeed and lasers just seem to go together. Like weed and black light velour paintings. Or weed and peanut butter. Or weed and my friend’s 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse. When you stop and really think about the pairing, you are simply left saying “nice.” And that’s exactly what I said the first time I fired up the Hitoki Saber. It’s a $299.99 bong powered by a laser and it’s expensive, but it is, again, a laser bong, and can one truly put a price on the delight of watching weed light up via a laser?/news/horseshoe-crabs-are-in-danger-because-everyone-wants-their-blood.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/horseshoe-crabs-are-in-danger-because-everyone-wants-their-blood.htmlConservationists fear that horseshoe crabs, a 450-million-year-old living fossil, will be pushed to the brink of extinction because of the value of their blood to the pharmaceutical industry. Horseshoe crab blood provides a natural source of limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) which is used to test vaccines, drugs, and medical devices to ensure that they aren’t contaminated with dangerous bacterial toxins called endotoxins. With hundreds of thousands of horseshoe crabs captured and bled of their milky-blue blood each year, conservation groups are now stepping up their advocacy efforts and taking legal action to help save horseshoe crabs and the other species that rely on them./news/how-a-2019-twitter-thread-full-of-anime-trolls-and-lawyers-created-a-legal-super-team.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-a-2019-twitter-thread-full-of-anime-trolls-and-lawyers-created-a-legal-super-team.htmlHow a 2019 Twitter thread full of anime trolls and lawyers created a legal super team. It’s been five years since “threadnought,” a giant Twitter thread in which lawyers battled trolls who were trying to silence critics of an anime voice actor accused of sexual misconduct. Now, with a law firm drafted from the thread’s funniest people, lawyer Akiva Cohen represents many former Twitter employees who are suing Elon Musk over how he fired them after buying the company./news/how-to-enable-android-s-dark-mode-for-google-docs-sheets-and-slides.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-enable-android-s-dark-mode-for-google-docs-sheets-and-slides.htmlI’ve become a firm believer in using dark mode on my phone. Not because of its presumed battery-saving advantages (although those are nothing to sneeze at), but because I have the unfortunate habit of reading in low-light (or nearly no-light) conditions, and dark mode is a lot gentler on my eyes. While Android has a system-wide dark mode, you can also set your Google apps to show in dark or light mode individually — for example, if you like using light mode for most apps during the day, but want to use dark mode for Docs all the time./news/how-to-switch-your-twitter-feed-to-a-chronological-timeline.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-switch-your-twitter-feed-to-a-chronological-timeline.htmlTwitter’s non-chronological timeline was always a bit controversial. After all, the beauty of Twitter is that things are happening in real time, and what’s the point of reading through Twitter if you’re not discovering things as they are occurring? Whatever reasons Twitter had for implementing this policy, it decided to reverse its course back in late 2018 and allowed users to opt back into a chronological Twitter feed. The keyword here is “opt in” — you still have to manually elect this option to read Twitter the classic way./news/how-to-take-screenshots-on-your-mac.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-take-screenshots-on-your-mac.htmlScreenshots can be really handy. You can use them to show your grandparent how to use a new app. You can use them to send a shot of that strange error message to your company’s IT department. You can use them to capture tweets before they disappear down the deletion black hole. So in case you need to capture a screenshot or two, here’s a quick and simple guide to taking screenshots on your Mac./news/how-to-turn-off-icloud-music-library.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-turn-off-icloud-music-library.htmlIf you’re an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscriber, you can make use of Apple’s iCloud Music Library. So long as you’re logged into the same iCloud account, the feature allows you to sync your music library on up to 10 Apple devices. But there are reasons you may not want your tunes synced up to the iCloud Music Library. In this article, I discuss why — and explain how you can disable it if you want./news/hulk-learns-to-talk-in-the-new-trailer-for-thor-ragnarok.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hulk-learns-to-talk-in-the-new-trailer-for-thor-ragnarok.htmlThor: Ragnarok is looking like the roadtrip movie of the fall, and Marvel definitely delivered at Comic-Con today. In the movie’s latest trailer, Thor starts out saying he’s been on a “journey of self-discover.” He’s been reunited with Bruce Banner, who vanished after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, and the two are out to defeat Hela (Cate Blanchett), who’s bent on destroying Asgard. Directed by What We Do In the Shadows director Taika Waititi, Thor: Ragnarok has been stunning fans for months thanks to its surprising sense of humor and quirky characters./news/hulu-now-has-an-app-for-samsung-gear-vr.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hulu-now-has-an-app-for-samsung-gear-vr.htmlHulu's first virtual reality app is now available. The streaming service announced back in September that it would be releasing an app for Samsung's Gear VR headset, but the company ended up delaying the launch a few months, according to a report from Variety. It's available now in the Gear VR Oculus store. Hulu's app comes equipped with around 30 non-exclusive 360-degree videos from outlets like Discovery, National Geographic, and Showtime./news/hype-machine-is-struggling-to-stay-online-and-that-s-a-shame.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hype-machine-is-struggling-to-stay-online-and-that-s-a-shame.htmlI went to college at a strange time for the music industry. Napster had already come and gone, digital music stores like iTunes and Amazon Music were growing quickly, and the big streaming sites were just getting popular. While there were file sharing options out there for acquiring new music, there was one site that I turned to anytime I was looking for something new and interesting: Hype Machine. Unfortunately, the site recently announced that it’s turning to crowdfunding to survive, and is hoping that its users will chip in to keep the site running./news/hyperloop-startup-arrivo-is-shutting-down-as-workers-are-laid-off.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hyperloop-startup-arrivo-is-shutting-down-as-workers-are-laid-off.htmlFuturistic transportation startup Arrivo shut down its operations this week, The Verge has learned. All of the company’s 30 or so employees were furloughed in late November, with about half being completely laid off at the end of that month, according to two employees who were granted anonymity because they signed non-disclosure agreements. Now, the Los Angeles startup is shutting down because it hasn’t been able to secure new funding, these people say./news/hyundai-recalls-kona-evs-over-battery-fire-risk.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hyundai-recalls-kona-evs-over-battery-fire-risk.htmlHyundai is finally recalling some 76,000 Kona EVs built between 2018 and 2020 after more than a dozen reported fires related to the electric SUV’s battery pack. It’s the second recall of the Kona EV, but the first global recall, and it will cost Hyundai around $900 million to perform. Hyundai is also recalling some Ioniq EVs and electric buses built between November 2017 and March 2020 that use the same LG Chem cells./news/in-birdgut-you-try-to-escape-a-dystopian-society-in-a-bird-s-stomach.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/in-birdgut-you-try-to-escape-a-dystopian-society-in-a-bird-s-stomach.htmlIt can be difficult to find time to finish a video game, especially if you only have a few hours a week to play. In our biweekly column Short Play we suggest video games that can be started and finished in a weekend. I’ve written about a number of weird games for Short Play, but BirdGut might have the strangest premise so far. It’s about a disabled bee who is kicked out of their hive after being born./news/intel-core-i9-14900k-review-a-refresh-in-name-and-nature.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/intel-core-i9-14900k-review-a-refresh-in-name-and-nature.htmlIntel has yet to answer to AMD’s excellent 3D V-Cache processors like the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, but its refreshed 14th Gen processors that go on sale today aren’t quite there yet. AMD is still dominating on the gaming side, and that looks set to continue for the rest of 2023. The flagship Core i9-14900K is still the star of the show, though, with a 6GHz boost at stock speeds, 24 cores, and 32 threads./news/iphone-17-slim-rumors-point-to-a-redesigned-model-in-2025.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/iphone-17-slim-rumors-point-to-a-redesigned-model-in-2025.htmlSince the iPhone X’s introduction of OLED and Face ID in 2017, Apple’s phones haven’t changed their look significantly, but now The Information reports a major redesign is underway for a new “Slim” iPhone. The outlet says it could arrive in 2025 as part of the iPhone 17 refresh, with a price even higher than Apple’s current most expensive model, the iPhone Pro Max. 9to5Mac reported on a rumor from Haitong International analyst Jeff Pu saying the new iPhone 17 models could have a refreshed design with a smaller Dynamic Island./news/iphone-sales-plummet-allowing-samsung-to-retake-top-spot.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/iphone-sales-plummet-allowing-samsung-to-retake-top-spot.htmliPhone sales plummet allowing Samsung to retake top spot. According to IDC, iPhone sales fell by nearly 10 percent globally compared to the same Q1 last year as Chinese companies like Huawei, Xiaomi, and budget maker Transsion surged. While Samsung won the quarter (after Apple took the lead for all of 2023), it’s still down slightly YoY and not keeping up with the 7.8 percent increase in smartphone demand. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfaXxygY5ra2prYGuGenvIqZ%2BoppViwKK4xKxkqaSlorqmwIyao6Wnp567qHnSmqSsrZ6cerW7jKucrZmbmnq1u89mqqmnpA%3D%3D/news/it-s-officially-beyonc%C3%A9-day-in-minnesota.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/it-s-officially-beyonc%C3%A9-day-in-minnesota.htmlMinnesota Governor Mark Dayton has declared that today is officially Beyoncé Day. He issued a decree and everything, with his official seal. This is a thing that governors do when they want attention, so here is some attention for you, Governor Dayton. Here is your tweet with the official proclamation: As long as everybody else is attaching random things to stories about Beyoncé, I'll attach this random thing about Governor Mark Dayton./news/it-s-metal-gear-solid-delta-not-metal-gear-solid-triangle.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/it-s-metal-gear-solid-delta-not-metal-gear-solid-triangle.htmlSony and Konami just revealed a Metal Gear Solid 3 remake, but it has a curious logo that reads Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater. While preparing our article about the announcement, I assumed that triangle symbol translated to Metal Gear Solid Delta, but when I read Kotaku’s very good piece about the news, my stomach dropped: Kotaku called the new game Metal Gear Solid Triangle: Snake Eater, and I wondered if we had made an error./news/joanne-the-scammer-is-finally-making-her-way-to-tv.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/joanne-the-scammer-is-finally-making-her-way-to-tv.htmlJoanne the Scammer — an Instagram, then Vine, then YouTube star who’s been cranking out work from inside the Super Deluxe incubator for the last two years — is finally making the transition to television. In a press release, the internet-first entertainment company announced that it’s developing a Joanne the Scammer TV series written by Parks and Recreation writer and The Good Place producer Joe Mande and executive produced by Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Chelsea Peretti./news/john-carmack-resigns-from-id-software-to-focus-on-oculus-vr.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/john-carmack-resigns-from-id-software-to-focus-on-oculus-vr.htmlFamed game developer John Carmack has been an instrumental part of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headgear from the start. He helped to popularize the device before Oculus became a company, and before its successful Kickstarter project. The Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein programmer believed in virtual reality so much that he joined Oculus as Chief Technical Officer in August. Now, he's quitting the game company he co-founded twenty-two years ago — id Software — to focus on virtual reality as a full-time project./news/largest-known-prime-number-in-the-world-discovered-by-gimps-in-missouri.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/largest-known-prime-number-in-the-world-discovered-by-gimps-in-missouri.htmlThe largest prime number in the world has been discovered in Missouri by the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search project, better known as GIMPS. The record breaking number — which, like all primes, can only be divided by itself and one — is a staggering 22 million digits in length. That's 5 million digits longer than the previous record-holder, which was also discovered by GIMPS back in January 2013. If you really want to know, the new biggest Prime in the world starts with a "/news/leica-s-cine-1-is-a-laser-projector-that-sits-just-inches-from-the-wall.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/leica-s-cine-1-is-a-laser-projector-that-sits-just-inches-from-the-wall.htmlToday, Leica — yes, the camera company — announced its first ultra-short throw (UST) laser projector at the big IFA show in Germany, capable of producing a 4K image of up to 100 inches with Dolby Atmos sound.  This isn’t Leica’s first foray into digital projectors, which it once sold under the Pradovit brand. It’s also collaborated with other projector makers, including this obscure UST model from last year. The announcement was light on details, so my colleague Jon Porter chased down a demonstration of an early Cine 1 prototype at the Leica booth./news/lenovo-smart-display-review-a-google-assistant-speaker-with-a-screen.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lenovo-smart-display-review-a-google-assistant-speaker-with-a-screen.htmlThe basic idea behind the new Google-powered Smart Displays that are coming this summer is simple: take a Google Home smart speaker and put a screen on it, just like Amazon’s Echo Show. Really if that’s all you take away from this review, you’ve got the basics. The Lenovo Smart Display is the first of these new devices on the market. LG, Sony, and JBL have also signed on to make them./news/lg-intuition-hands-on-with-verizon-s-galaxy-note-competitor.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lg-intuition-hands-on-with-verizon-s-galaxy-note-competitor.htmlIt's big. Really big. And it's coming to Verizon. The 5-inch LG Intuition has finished its trek from overseas — where it's known as the Optimus Vu – and we got to spend some time with the device at an event LG held in New York City to celebrate the new launch. The phone's an obvious competitor to the even-larger Galaxy Note, which has sold extraordinarily well — there's clearly a market for a device like this./news/lg-is-cramming-ads-everywhere-it-can-on-its-tvs.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lg-is-cramming-ads-everywhere-it-can-on-its-tvs.htmlThis afternoon, I was updating the streaming apps on my 2020 LG CX OLED TV, something I do from time to time, but today was different. Out of nowhere, I saw (and heard) an ad for Ace Hardware start playing in the lower-left corner. It autoplayed with sound without any action on my part. Now I’m fully aware that it’s not unusual to see ads placed around a TV’s home screen or main menu./news/lgbtq-tiktok-creators-push-back-against-uncomfortable-sponsorship-deals.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lgbtq-tiktok-creators-push-back-against-uncomfortable-sponsorship-deals.htmlA few times per month, Anania Williams posts sponsored content to his TikTok account, sandwiched in between memes, social commentary, and amateur drag videos. The sponsorships offer financial security, alleviating “a lot of the pressure of coming from a poorer family” by helping him pay for rent and school in Boston, Williams said. This past July, he was able to quit his summer job, turning TikTok into his primary money-making gig./news/lg-s-new-16-18-monitor-looks-like-a-multitasking-powerhouse.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lg-s-new-16-18-monitor-looks-like-a-multitasking-powerhouse.htmlAre monitors with traditional aspect ratios just not getting the job done for you? LG might have the answer. Today the company has announced what it touts as “a completely new format in the monitor market” called the DualUp. With a unique 16:18 aspect ratio, LG claims the DualUp gives you “the same screen real estate as two 21.5-inch displays and has a vertical split view function that lets users see more in one glance./news/lg-s-new-v60-thinq-5g-launches-on-march-20th-for-799-99-on-t-mobile.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lg-s-new-v60-thinq-5g-launches-on-march-20th-for-799-99-on-t-mobile.htmlToday, T-Mobile and Verizon shared pricing and availability for LG’s newest flagship, the LG V60 ThinQ 5G. LG first showed off the phone at the end of February, but only said at the time that the phone would be releasing in spring and that specific pricing and availability would be announced “soon.” The V60 ThinQ 5G will be available starting this Friday, March 20th, on T-Mobile for $799.99 or $899.99 with a case that gives the phone a second screen (aptly called the Dual Screen case), T-Mobile announced today (via 9to5Google)./news/live-nation-confirms-a-massive-ticketmaster-data-breach.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/live-nation-confirms-a-massive-ticketmaster-data-breach.htmlOn May 20, 2024, Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (the “Company” or “we”) identified unauthorized activity within a third-party cloud database environment containing Company data (primarily from its Ticketmaster L.L.C. subsidiary) and launched an investigation with industry-leading forensic investigators to understand what happened. On May 27, 2024, a criminal threat actor offered what it alleged to be Company user data for sale via the dark web. We are working to mitigate risk to our users and the Company, and have notified and are cooperating with law enforcement./news/microsoft-acquires-surface-pen-technology-from-n-trig.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-acquires-surface-pen-technology-from-n-trig.htmlMicrosoft's belief in the digital pen has seemingly worked out for them, with Surface boss Panos Panay telling The Wall Street Journal that the company has seen a "massive increase in usage" with the stylus on the Surface Pro 3, and noted that Microsoft will continue to invest in the technology. With the digital ink capabilities of Microsoft Edge, it's not surprising Microsoft decided to bring the company behind the Surface Pen in-house./news/microsoft-excludes-minecraft-s-creator-from-anniversary-event-over-his-comments-and-opinions.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-excludes-minecraft-s-creator-from-anniversary-event-over-his-comments-and-opinions.htmlMicrosoft says “comments and opinions” from Minecraft creator Markus Persson, better known as Notch, have led the company to exclude him from an upcoming event celebrating the game’s 10th anniversary. Microsoft told Variety, “His comments and opinions do not reflect those of Microsoft or Mojang and are not representative of Minecraft.” Notch hasn’t been involved with ‘Minecraft’ for years Microsoft has never been particularly close to Persson, but it hasn’t actively rebuked him like this in the past./news/microsoft-now-says-the-cma-was-tough-and-fair-over-activision-blizzard-deal.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-now-says-the-cma-was-tough-and-fair-over-activision-blizzard-deal.htmlMicrosoft president Brad Smith wasn’t happy with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last year after the regulator blocked Microsoft’s giant Activision Blizzard deal. Now that Microsoft has restructured its deal and won approval in the UK, Smith has kinder words for the CMA, describing the regulator as “tough and fair” in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today program. Smith originally criticized the CMA and said confidence in the UK had been “severely shaken” after the regulator moved to block Microsoft’s $68./news/microsoft-q3-2024-surface-and-xbox-hardware-take-a-big-hit.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-q3-2024-surface-and-xbox-hardware-take-a-big-hit.htmlMicrosoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent. This is the second quarter in a row that Microsoft is including its additional revenue from its Activision Blizzard acquisition that briefly pushed gaming to be Microsoft’s third-largest business. This time around, gaming is back into fourth place behind Windows thanks to stronger than expected Windows OEM revenue this quarter./news/microsoft-surface-studio-review-a-beautiful-invader-of-apple-s-base.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-surface-studio-review-a-beautiful-invader-of-apple-s-base.htmlThe last desktop PC I owned was a 2009 iMac. I now use a laptop every day for work, connected up to two monitors and a keyboard and mouse. Desktop computing hasn’t really changed for nearly 40 years of boring beige or black PCs, but Microsoft’s new Surface Studio is trying to shake things up in a surprising new way. It’s going after the Mac’s oldest stronghold: creatives. Apple’s iMac might have tempted me a few years ago with its pretty looks and the chance to get familiar with macOS, but like a lot of people I simply don’t need an all-in-one desktop PC./news/microsoft-can-we-please-just-call-it-windows-11-1-already.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-can-we-please-just-call-it-windows-11-1-already.htmlEvery time I see a big Windows 11 update I wonder why it wasn’t a Windows 11.1 or Windows 11.2 release. Instead, Microsoft has used a number of confusing ways to name Windows updates in recent years instead of a simple method like point releases. Let me illustrate my point to you: Windows 10 Anniversary UpdateWindows 10 Creators UpdateWindows 10 Fall Creators UpdateWindows 10 October 2020 UpdateWindows 10 May 2021 UpdateWindows 11 22H2Windows 11 2023 UpdateAs you can see, Microsoft is gradually getting to a more understandable naming strategy for Windows releases, but it still regularly uses 22H2 and 23H2 monikers that sound like weird codenames to regular people./news/miner-problem-big-changes-are-coming-for-bitcoin-s-working-class.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/miner-problem-big-changes-are-coming-for-bitcoin-s-working-class.htmlNew chips from Butterfly Labs, a leading Bitcoin equipment manufacturer, promise speeds of 4.5 gigahashes per second to 1,500 gigahashes per second. Jim O’Shea, a web programmer, gadget lover, and family man living in Pennsylvania, became a digital gold miner in June of 2011. The resource he mines is not World of Warcraft currency, personal data, or fancy new domain names. It’s Bitcoin, the internet-native currency that many believe has the potential to become a revolutionary new universal currency independent of governments, banks, and PayPal./news/motorola-s-moto-z4-is-keeping-the-moto-mod-dream-alive.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/motorola-s-moto-z4-is-keeping-the-moto-mod-dream-alive.htmlAs one might expect, the Z4 is essentially an upgraded version of last year’s Moto Z3. The basic design is still the same: the phone is a glass sandwich with POGO pins on the back for snapping on the Mods. Motorola has followed recent phone trends by excising the bezels on the front in favor of a teardrop notch and a 19:9 OLED panel. Additionally, Motorola has also undone a few of the changes it made on the Z3 that people didn’t particularly like./news/moto-s-newest-mods-are-a-mophie-battery-and-incipio-car-dock.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/moto-s-newest-mods-are-a-mophie-battery-and-incipio-car-dock.htmlMoto is releasing two new Moto Mods for its Z line of smartphones, a Mophie Juice Pack battery and a car dock from Incipio. The $79.99 Mophie is larger in capacity than the earlier Moto Mod battery packs, and packs a 3,000mAh battery that is said to provide 60 percent more battery life than a phone without it. It also has a status indicator light and a USB Type-C port so that it can be charged independently of being connected to the phone./news/msi-made-a-5-000-laptop-with-an-rgb-trackpad.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/msi-made-a-5-000-laptop-with-an-rgb-trackpad.htmlMSI is debuting a bunch of new laptops at CES 2024, but none are quite as over the top as the Titan 18 HX A14V, a boat anchor of a gaming laptop that costs as much as a beater car and has one of the coolest (or most garish, depending on your preference) trackpad designs I’ve ever seen. The Titan 18 HX sports an 18-inch Mini LED display with 3840 x 2400 resolution and 120Hz refresh, Intel’s new 14th Gen Core i9 14900HX processor, an RTX 4080 or 4090 GPU with DLSS 3./news/need-for-speed-heat-will-be-ea-s-first-game-with-pc-ps4-and-xbox-one-crossplay.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/need-for-speed-heat-will-be-ea-s-first-game-with-pc-ps4-and-xbox-one-crossplay.htmlNeed for Speed Heat will become EA’s first title with cross-platform multiplayer, thanks to an update that will be available tomorrow, EA announced in a blog today. The new crossplay feature will let you play with friends on PC via Origin and Steam, PS4, and Xbox One. After you’ve installed the update, you’ll be prompted with the option to turn on crossplay, according to patch notes for the update. If you choose not to opt in, you can do so at a later time in the game’s privacy settings./news/netflix-s-official-vtuber-is-part-sheep-and-promotes-anime.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-s-official-vtuber-is-part-sheep-and-promotes-anime.htmlNetflix has joined the Vtuber trend, unveiling a virtual streamer this week who will host a weekly show on the company’s YouTube channel to promote its original anime series. The character is named N-ko Mei Kurono, and Netflix describes her as the company’s “anime ambassador.” She also happens to be a “sheep-human lifeform.” Vtubers, or “virtual YouTubers,” are animated hosts who often vlog on YouTube or stream on Twitch. In general, these characters are operated by a single human, who will use motion capture software (and sometimes a motion-capture outfit) to transform themselves into a cartoony character on-screen./news/netflix-s-path-to-being-a-giant-began-16-years-ago-today.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-s-path-to-being-a-giant-began-16-years-ago-today.htmlNetflix streaming is getting into its angsty teenage years, as today marks 16 years since it launched its streaming services. It’s easy to forget what things were like before the age of streaming, but a decade-and-a-half ago, if you had a Netflix subscription, that meant paying a monthly subscription for a rotation of DVDs mailed to your door. But while things are vastly different today, and Netflix has grown into a juggernaut in the entertainment world, the chatter even then was all about Netflix’s competition — though, in this case, instead of Amazon, Apple, and Warner Discovery: it was Blockbuster./news/nintendo-wii-u-controller-will-include-near-field-communication.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nintendo-wii-u-controller-will-include-near-field-communication.htmlNintendo's ramping up for a big re-reveal of the Wii U video game console at E3 2012 — the device will ship by the end of the year — but company president Satoru Iwata is already spoiling surprises this evening. Not only might the Wii Ufinally ditch friend codes, but its hefty touchscreen controller will also support near-field communication (NFC). Iwata revealed the new functionality in a Q3 financial presentation, explaining that there are several potential uses for the tech:/news/nvidia-ceo-says-his-blackwell-b200-ai-gpu-will-cost-30k-40k-a-pop.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nvidia-ceo-says-his-blackwell-b200-ai-gpu-will-cost-30k-40k-a-pop.htmlNvidia CEO says his Blackwell B200 AI GPU will cost $30K–$40K a pop. Will the ‘world’s most powerful chip’ for AI actually cost up to 25 times less than the H100? Maybe not per part: Huang told CNBC that the B200 chip costs between $30,000 and $40,000. That was the going rate for H100 cards on eBay, so it doesn’t sound like they’ll be cheaper. (But maybe he meant you get two?/news/okta-ends-lapsus-hack-investigation-says-breach-lasted-just-25-minutes.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/okta-ends-lapsus-hack-investigation-says-breach-lasted-just-25-minutes.htmlThree months after authentication platform Okta was breached by hacking group Lapsus$, the company has concluded its internal investigation after finding that the impact was less serious than initially believed. In a blog post published Tuesday, Okta’s chief security officer David Bradbury noted that the company had been transparent by sharing details of the hack soon after it was discovered but that further analysis had downgraded early assessments of the potential scope. “As a result of the thorough investigation of our internal security experts, as well as a globally recognized cybersecurity firm whom we engaged to produce a forensic report, we are now able to conclude that the impact of the incident was significantly less than the maximum potential impact Okta initially shared on March 22, 2022,” Bradbury wrote./news/oneplus-integrates-further-with-oppo-if-that-s-even-possible.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/oneplus-integrates-further-with-oppo-if-that-s-even-possible.htmlOnePlus CEO Pete Lau has announced a “new journey” for the company including a plan to “further integrate our organization with Oppo.” Lau made the announcement by way of a post on OnePlus’ forums, saying “we’re at a turning point for the future of OnePlus” and “we must adapt as a team and a brand.” It sounds like a dramatic move for OnePlus, the company Lau started with Carl Pei after ostensibly leaving Oppo in 2013./news/openai-and-stack-overflow-partner-to-bring-more-technical-knowledge-into-chatgpt.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/openai-and-stack-overflow-partner-to-bring-more-technical-knowledge-into-chatgpt.htmlOpenAI and the developer platform Stack Overflow have announced a partnership that could potentially improve the performance of AI models and bring more technical information into ChatGPT. OpenAI will have access to Stack Overflow’s API and will receive feedback from the developer community to improve the performance of AI models. OpenAI, in turn, will give Stack Overflow attribution — aka link to its contents — in ChatGPT. Users of the chatbot will see more information from Stack Overflow’s knowledge archive if they ask ChatGPT coding or technical questions./news/openai-co-founder-greg-brockman-is-leaving-too.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/openai-co-founder-greg-brockman-is-leaving-too.htmlhi everyone, i'm super proud of what we’ve all built together since starting in my apartment 8 years ago. we’ve been through tough & great times together, accomplishing so much despite all the reasons it should have been impossible. but based on today’s news, i quit. genuinely wishing you all nothing but the best. i continue to believe in the mission of creating safe AGI that benefits all of humanity./news/openai-introduces-jukebox-a-new-ai-model-that-generates-genre-specific-music.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/openai-introduces-jukebox-a-new-ai-model-that-generates-genre-specific-music.htmlArtificial intelligence research laboratory OpenAI today debuted a new generative model that’s able to make music called Jukebox. It’s technologically impressive, even if the results sound like mushy versions of songs that might feel familiar. According to the post on OpenAI’s blog, the researchers chose to work on music because it’s hard. And even if they’re not exactly what I’d call music, the results the researchers got were impressive; there are recognizable chords and melodies and words (sometimes)./news/peloton-cuts-prices-of-exercise-equipment-while-raising-subscription-costs.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/peloton-cuts-prices-of-exercise-equipment-while-raising-subscription-costs.htmlPeloton announced in a press release today (via CNBC) that it plans to raise the cost of its all-access subscription for live and on-demand classes from $39 / month to $44 / month starting on June 1st, 2022. However, new, lower prices for Peloton’s exercise equipment are set to go into effect at 6PM ET today, according to CNBC — the Bike will cost $1,445 (including a $250 shipping fee) instead of $1,745, the Bike Plus will go for $1,995 instead of $2,495, while the Tread will drop to $2,695 (including a $350 shipping fee) from $2,845./news/pentiment-s-pretty-pages-protect-otherwise-poor-play.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pentiment-s-pretty-pages-protect-otherwise-poor-play.htmlWhen Pentiment launched on Xbox and Game Pass a couple of weeks ago, my social media feeds were inundated with trusted friends and colleagues ranting and raving about the game. Curious, I checked it out for myself and discovered that this is one of those times when we’re just gonna have to agree to disagree. I’m well into the game’s third act, and I still can’t figure out what it is about Pentiment that caused so many friends and colleagues, whose opinions I value and whose tastes are, on the whole, similar to mine, to love this game so much./news/pixel-phones-can-use-wear-os-smartwatches-as-a-camera-viewfinder.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pixel-phones-can-use-wear-os-smartwatches-as-a-camera-viewfinder.htmlThe new Google Camera app for Pixel 3 phones touts a lot of widely publicized features like the wide-angle selfie camera and updated AR stickers, but another lesser-known feature is that it can add a remote viewfinder to any smartwatch running Wear OS. The Google Camera Wear OS app also adds a timer and flip camera button. The new feature was first spotted by Redditor AimarChirico, via Android Police. The feature is a big improvement over the last Wear OS Camera app, which only allowed for remote photo taking./news/ps5-console-covers-will-be-available-in-three-new-galactic-colors-in-june.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ps5-console-covers-will-be-available-in-three-new-galactic-colors-in-june.htmlThe PlayStation 5 is getting three new console cover colors — starlight blue, galactic purple, and nova pink — on June 17th, but preorders are open on PlayStation Direct right now. All three colors are available in the US, UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Sony has been slowly releasing accessories to make its PS5 more customizable, starting with the custom console covers it announced last December. Despite previewing a full range of colors, it only released the black and red options to start./news/ps5-ssd-speed-test-slower-drives-work.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ps5-ssd-speed-test-slower-drives-work.htmlIf your PS5 is already running out of speedy solid state storage, there’s a fix. Sony’s new update for the PS5, released in full on September 14th, allows you to expand your paltry 667GB of usable space by popping in the same sort of M.2 SSD stick you might slip into your laptop or desktop PC. My colleague Mitchell has a PS5 SSD buying guide right here that meets all of Sony’s recommendations, such as speeds of at least 5,500MB/s./news/qi2-s-magsafe-like-wireless-charging-is-finally-almost-here.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/qi2-s-magsafe-like-wireless-charging-is-finally-almost-here.htmlQi2 — the next version of the wireless charging standard, now with more magnets! — is more almost-here than ever. The Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) announced today that the first Qi v2.0 devices are nearly through the certification process, with the first available “in time for the holiday season” and more than 100 either in certification testing or waiting in line. The iPhone 15 series will be the first Qi2-certified phones./news/ratatouille-the-tiktok-musical-to-become-an-actual-one-night-broadway-style-show.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ratatouille-the-tiktok-musical-to-become-an-actual-one-night-broadway-style-show.htmlThe so-called Ratatouille musical — based on the 2007 Disney / Pixar film — has been percolating over the past several months on TikTok. What started as a one-off bit has slowly snowballed into a massive undertaking, with bored Broadway fans, composers, set designers, costume makers, choreographers, and more working together to build bits and pieces of the (until now) fictional show. There aren’t many details yet on what the actual show will look like, although the musical promises to “celebrate the delectable crowd-sourced creation by giving it the full high-kicking, lip-smacking Broadway treatment./news/ravpower-s-thin-powerful-usb-c-wall-charger-is-cheaper-for-verge-readers.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ravpower-s-thin-powerful-usb-c-wall-charger-is-cheaper-for-verge-readers.htmlIf you own a device that gets its power via a USB-C port — like a Google Pixel 3, a new MacBook, a 2018 iPad Pro, or a Nintendo Switch — your charger should be three things: powerful, low-profile by design, and inexpensive. RavPower’s 45W gallium nitride (GaN) wall charger fits these criteria better than most other options, and it has the distinct advantage of being on the bleeding edge of fast charging speeds even within a smaller form factor than standard silicon wall chargers have been able to accomplish./news/really-bad-chess-makes-chess-fun-even-if-you-re-really-bad.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/really-bad-chess-makes-chess-fun-even-if-you-re-really-bad.htmlLast summer, game designer Zach Gage — best known for mobile titles like Spelltower and Ridiculous FIshing — went for a walk with a friend, and eventually the discussion turned to chess. His friend had recently taken up the game and become quite proficient, whereas Gage was never able to get into it, despite multiple attempts. This gulf in skill and experience meant that the two couldn’t play together in a meaningful way; if they tried, Gage would get crushed, and the match wouldn’t be much fun./news/reddit-is-going-public-and-inviting-power-users-to-invest.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/reddit-is-going-public-and-inviting-power-users-to-invest.htmlIn its S-1 document, Reddit said it made $804 million in revenue last year, the vast majority of which came from advertising. However, the company is unprofitable, with a net loss of $90.8 million in 2023. In an unusual twist, Reddit is also giving an unspecified number of its top users, including moderators and those with high karma scores, the chance to buy shares in its IPO. That’s a privilege usually reserved for professional investors who want to buy stock at a theoretically lower price before everyone else gets to purchase it on the public market./news/redesigning-google-how-larry-page-engineered-a-beautiful-revolution.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/redesigning-google-how-larry-page-engineered-a-beautiful-revolution.htmlProject KennedyProject Kennedy lifts off "What might a cohesive vision for Google look like?" The Bravest Man in the Universe, a Mobile Chrome Experiment featuring the music of Bobby Womack, created by B-Reel. When Page took office, his first directive was clear. "Larry said ‘hey everyone, we’re going to redesign all of our products,’" recalls Jon Wiley, lead designer on Google Search. Wiley and co had just two months to give Google a fresh coat of paint, and to start thinking holistically about how Google as a whole was perceived./news/samsung-sur40-with-microsoft-surface-2-hands-on-video.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-sur40-with-microsoft-surface-2-hands-on-video.htmlIt wouldn't be CES without a demo of Microsoft's Surface technology, but this year is a little different — it's very close to being an actual product. We took it upon ourselves to visit the Samsung booth to check out the Korean manufacturer's SUR40, which should be shipping this month. The SUR40 was loaded up with a variety of apps, games, and tech demos, including a raw view of what the SUR40's internal tracking cameras see./news/samsung-s-new-galaxy-buds-are-blatant-airpod-clones-in-both-form-and-function.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-new-galaxy-buds-are-blatant-airpod-clones-in-both-form-and-function.htmlAlongside its latest folding phones and wearables, Samsung is introducing the new Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and Galaxy Buds 3. As leaks (and early sales) confirmed, the company has moved away from the subtle in-ear design of past generations to a stemmed look that gives these an AirPods-esque look and feel — especially in white. Both earbuds also come in a gunmetal gray finish that, combined with the angular “blade” design, makes me think of Tesla’s Cybertruck./news/scarlett-johansson-pulls-out-of-rub-tug.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/scarlett-johansson-pulls-out-of-rub-tug.htmlIn light of recent ethical questions raised surrounding my casting as Dante Tex Gill, I have decided to respectfully withdraw my participation in the project. Our cultural understanding of transgender people continues to advance, and I’ve learned a lot from the community since making my first statement about my casting and realize it was insensitive. I have great admiration and love for the trans community and am grateful that the conversation regarding inclusivity in Hollywood continues./news/seawalls-alone-won-t-save-coastal-cities-major-un-report-says.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/seawalls-alone-won-t-save-coastal-cities-major-un-report-says.htmlRelying solely on seawalls and other engineering fixes won’t be enough to keep communities safe from rising sea levels or other consequences of climate change, a major new United Nations report warns. Seawalls might be able to temporarily fend off rising tides and storm surges, but the report’s authors say more “transformative changes in our behaviour and infrastructure” are needed as the climate crisis worsens. Greener cities and healthy ecosystems are just as important as built infrastructure for keeping people safe, the report emphasized./news/see-the-fifth-avenue-apple-store-s-dazzling-iridescent-rainbow-glass.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/see-the-fifth-avenue-apple-store-s-dazzling-iridescent-rainbow-glass.htmlOne of Apple’s most iconic Apple Stores, the all-glass cube on Fifth Avenue, has been under renovations since 2017. Last week, Apple revealed a new look for the cube that makes it shine with a rainbow iridescence — and we sent our photographer Amelia to capture it for you. The new look is gorgeous, but also not permanent. Apple told The Verge that the iridescence is caused by a wrap covering the glass that is “temporary,” so see it while you can./news/small-satellite-launcher-vector-pauses-operations-after-ousting-ceo.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/small-satellite-launcher-vector-pauses-operations-after-ousting-ceo.htmlAerospace startup Vector — a US company developing small rockets to send small satellites into orbit — announced on Friday it is pausing operations due “to a significant change in financing.” The company’s CEO, Jim Cantrell, has also left and been replaced by John Garvey, one of the company’s co-founders. Those abrupt changes for the company come just a few days after Vector received its first launch contract from the US Air Force valued at $3./news/social-media-might-be-bad-for-teens-mental-health-at-certain-age-windows.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/social-media-might-be-bad-for-teens-mental-health-at-certain-age-windows.htmlSocial media use is more strongly linked to bad mental health for adolescents and teenagers during years around puberty and when they’re probably about to leave home, according to a new study. Teenagers who used social media more frequently in those periods scored lower on measures of life satisfaction one year later. Many researchers say things like Instagram and TikTok probably aren’t entirely bad for all adolescents. They’re not entirely good, either, and can cause documented problems with body image, but the impact varies: for some kids at some points in time, it might help them socialize and build relationships; for others at other times, it might be a hit to their self-esteem./news/spending-a-weekend-with-hasselblad-s-8-200-907x-cfv-100c.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/spending-a-weekend-with-hasselblad-s-8-200-907x-cfv-100c.htmlThe resurgence of film photography has shown me that casual photographers are looking for a different experience and a different photographic look from what our phones or traditional mirrorless cameras are offering. And no company can provide as different a camera experience as Hasselblad. Yesterday, the company announced its latest digital camera, the 907X & CFV 100C. It’s a mirrorless, medium format camera with a 100-megapixel sensor, phase detection autofocus, and 1TB of internal storage./news/spotify-layoffs-made-it-harder-to-discover-new-music-on-the-platform.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/spotify-layoffs-made-it-harder-to-discover-new-music-on-the-platform.htmlSpotify sucks at new music discovery. That’s not exactly a hot take considering how long users have been complaining about it over the years, but it used to be much easier to forgive when alternative services like Pandora and SoundCloud could help to make up for Spotify’s shortcomings. With the company’s domination over the music streaming industry now becoming difficult to ignore, it’s getting harder to organically find new songs and artists — especially on the Spotify platform itself./news/stanford-scientists-create-world-s-first-carbon-nanotube-computer.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/stanford-scientists-create-world-s-first-carbon-nanotube-computer.htmlComputers of the future could be even smaller, faster, and more efficient — all by doing away with the very material that currently comprises their core. In a finding that builds on earlier work from several institutions, including IBM, a team of electrical engineers at Stanford University today announced the creation of the first-ever computer based on carbon nanotubes. The nanotubes are used to create a novel kind of transistor, one that doesn't rely on conventional silicon./news/status-symbols-teenage-engineering-op-1.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/status-symbols-teenage-engineering-op-1.htmlWith retro-futurism at a peak, the OP-1 represents the platonic ideal of the movement. The synthesizer mixes the form factor of a Casio VL-Tone, 80s vector graphics for a UI, and an expansive set of modern tone- and beat-creation utilities that blend digital power and analog concepts. For instance, recording takes place on a digital representation of a four track tape recorder, but you can vary speed and even record backwards, just like in olden days, and match the tape speed to your sequencer clock, just like in the here and now./news/street-fighter-v-will-feature-the-character-that-always-dies.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/street-fighter-v-will-feature-the-character-that-always-dies.htmlCharlie Nash has been part of the Street Fighter canon since Street Fighter 2. In its story, we learn that Nash's death at the hands of M. Bison inspired his mentee, the military beefcake Guile, to join the Street Fighter tournament, creating a morbid loop in the franchise's mythos. Nash first appeared as a playable character in the prequel series, Street Fighter Alpha. Because Nash's death must motivate Guile's involvement in Street Fighter 2, Nash never survives his storylines in the Alpha games./news/super-mario-maker-64-exists-thanks-to-a-new-rom-hack.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/super-mario-maker-64-exists-thanks-to-a-new-rom-hack.htmlNintendo’s Super Mario Maker series of games lets you create your own sidescrolling platformer levels using sprites and 3D objects from several entries in the franchise. It’s created a deeply devoted fan base, but it’s only ever let you make sidescrolling levels. Now, a pair of fans have changed that with Mario Builder 64, a new way to make and play your own Super Mario 64 levels — and do so on Nintendo 64 hardware./news/t-mobile-introduces-a-credit-check-free-version-of-its-5g-home-internet.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/t-mobile-introduces-a-credit-check-free-version-of-its-5g-home-internet.htmlT-Mobile has announced a new plan for its 5G home internet service, which won’t require applicants to undergo a credit check. The prepaid service will carry T-Mobile’s Metro branding, and customers will be able to sign up for it at Metro retail locations. This brings a prepaid option to T-Mobile’s $50 a month service, which doesn’t have any data caps or contracts, which could be appealing to users who don’t have great internet options available from traditional ISPs./news/t-mobile-s-new-phone-leasing-program-lets-you-upgrade-three-times-a-year.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/t-mobile-s-new-phone-leasing-program-lets-you-upgrade-three-times-a-year.htmlT-Mobile today announced a new smartphone leasing program called Jump On Demand. With the new program, customers pay a monthly fee in addition to their service plan that provides them with a new smartphone and the ability to trade that smartphone in towards another new smartphone anytime they want, up to three times a year. T-Mobile says there are no upfront costs or out of pocket expenses, not even taxes, with Jump On Demand, and it addresses the requests of customers that want the ability to upgrade their smartphones more often./news/tamagotchi-s-new-smartwatch-lets-you-strap-a-needy-digital-pet-to-your-wrist.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tamagotchi-s-new-smartwatch-lets-you-strap-a-needy-digital-pet-to-your-wrist.htmlEveryone’s favorite digital pet, the Tamagotchi, is being reinvented for its 25th anniversary. The new Tamagotchi Smart puts the creature into a colorful smartwatch, allowing you to strap your digital pet — and all the chores that come with it — directly to your wrist. Kotaku reports that the new device features a touchscreen for petting your little friend, voice recognition for chatting, and a pedometer. Oh, and it can also display the time./news/taylor-swift-gets-custom-collab-with-tiktok-as-umg-battle-continues.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/taylor-swift-gets-custom-collab-with-tiktok-as-umg-battle-continues.htmlTikTok has launched a new hub to promote Taylor Swift’s new album where you can earn in-app rewards for completing certain tasks, like following Swift’s account on the platform. The update comes just days after Swift’s music returned to TikTok as the app continues to feud with the singer’s record label, Universal Music Group (UMG). You can access the hub by searching for The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) and then clicking on the banner that appears at the top of the results./news/tesla-cybertruck-is-here-electric-truck-will-start-at-60-990-and-get-up-to-340-miles-of-range.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tesla-cybertruck-is-here-electric-truck-will-start-at-60-990-and-get-up-to-340-miles-of-range.htmlFour years after its debut, the Tesla Cybertruck has finally reached its first batch of customers. The truck was delivered to about a dozen people during a lavish event at the company’s headquarters in Austin, Texas, at which Elon Musk predicted the truck would usher in a new, more exciting future. The company also provided updated details about the pricing, range, and features for the truck, much of which has changed significantly from the originally announced numbers./news/that-time-elaine-threatened-to-kill-herself-with-a-gun-on-seinfeld.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/that-time-elaine-threatened-to-kill-herself-with-a-gun-on-seinfeld.htmlSeinfeld is not without its share of controversial episodes, chiefly by design. But one episode that was conceived in late 1990 was deemed too dark to even film by the show's cast, leading to it being scrapped at the last minute. The story behind that never-made episode, "The Bet," was first recounted by the cast and writers on the DVD commentary for season two. More recently, the writer of the episode, Larry Charles, and its would-be director, Tom Cherones, reminisced about what went wrong to ScreenCrush./news/the-atari-400-mini-is-a-cute-little-slice-of-video-game-history.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-atari-400-mini-is-a-cute-little-slice-of-video-game-history.htmlNow that the miniature game console trend has already covered most of the biggest devices from Nintendo, Sega, and Sony, we’re starting to enter more niche territory. The Atari 400 Mini isn’t a rerelease of the company’s most recognizable console (that’d be the 2600). And it isn’t full of household names. But that’s also part of what makes it so interesting — the little gadget is a cute, playful way to explore a very specific and formative niche of video game history./news/the-best-of-e3-2018.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-best-of-e3-2018.htmlAhead of this year’s E3 conference, a number of game studios and publishers announced news that, in years past, would typically have been reserved for the big press conference keynotes. That left many wondering whether there would be any substantial surprises in store for fans and critics who were tuning into the industry’s biggest annual gathering here in Los Angeles. Thankfully, it was a show jam-packed with news. Nearly every press conference contained an eye-popping number of big reveals, new trailers, and confirmed release dates./news/the-best-science-fiction-right-now-is-happening-in-comics.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-best-science-fiction-right-now-is-happening-in-comics.htmlMy favorite comic book from the last few years is an ongoing epic about warring alien planets and star-crossed lovers on the run. Called Saga, it has everything you'd expect from a good space opera, including plenty of sex and lots of violence. But there are also spaceships that grow like trees, aliens with analog televisions for heads, and a talking cat that knows when you're lying. It's Star Wars on LSD, and it's amazing./news/the-biden-administration-gives-a-green-light-to-a-fuel-that-could-be-even-dirtier-than-regular-gas.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-biden-administration-gives-a-green-light-to-a-fuel-that-could-be-even-dirtier-than-regular-gas.htmlIn an attempt to lower gas prices, the Biden administration wants to turn to a fuel that’s potentially even dirtier than regular gasoline, the White House announced today. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to issue an emergency waiver that will allow the year-round sale of a fuel called E15, which is banned in most of the US during the summer months when smog is a bigger risk. E15 is a gasoline blend with up to 15 percent ethanol — a fuel made of plant material./news/the-gone-world-is-a-brilliant-complicated-novel-about-the-consequences-of-time-travel.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-gone-world-is-a-brilliant-complicated-novel-about-the-consequences-of-time-travel.htmlIn his debut novel, author Tom Sweterlitsch constructed a fascinating mystery with Tomorrow and Tomorrow, set in a virtual version of Pittsburgh after a terrorist attack leveled the city. In The Gone World, he introduces an even more ambitious investigation: one that jumps back and forth in time, and which could decide the fate of humanity. It’s a complicated, dazzling novel that keeps the reader hooked until the last pages. The Gone World opens with a 20th-century NCIS agent named Shannon Moss on a training mission in the distant future of 2199./news/the-google-wifi-routers-are-little-white-pucks-you-can-scatter-throughout-your-house.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-google-wifi-routers-are-little-white-pucks-you-can-scatter-throughout-your-house.htmlGoogle just couldn’t stop releasing new hardware products today. It’s part of a new strategy: instead of letting other companies take its software and make stuff, Google is making the first version itself. Just so with the Google Wifi, a router that follows the latest trend: instead of having a single, powerful (and ugly), centrally located router, you distribute a bunch of smaller, nice-looking devices throughout your house in a mesh network./news/the-latest-low-cost-cameras-to-buy-on-a-budget.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-latest-low-cost-cameras-to-buy-on-a-budget.htmlThese days, most of us tend to use our smartphone cameras for our full-time photographing needs rather than buy a separate product. After all, even lower-end cameras such as Google’s Pixel 4A or Apple’s iPhone SE both boast cameras that are as good as, if not better than, many of their more expensive peers. So why bother with a regular camera? Well, possibly because some people simply like having a separate camera./news/the-mandalorian-finale-why-the-future-of-star-wars-should-be-a-smaller-one.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-mandalorian-finale-why-the-future-of-star-wars-should-be-a-smaller-one.htmlTwo months ago, just before The Mandalorian was about to premiere on Disney+, I made a joke to some friends: wouldn’t it be funny if this show was better than Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker? I thought it was unlikely, but possible: ending a trilogy well is hard, and The Mandalorian didn’t have nearly as many expectations riding on it. Eight weeks later and The Rise of Skywalker is out, a very profitable hot mess, and The Mandalorian concludes its first season with a finale that doesn’t try for much, but also rocks./news/the-new-ring-video-doorbell-uses-radar-motion-detection-for-more-accurate-alerts.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-new-ring-video-doorbell-uses-radar-motion-detection-for-more-accurate-alerts.htmlSmart home security company Ring has announced a new battery-powered doorbell. The $229.99 Battery Doorbell Pro builds on the Ring Battery Plus released last year — which brought 1536p HD video and a head-to-toe view to Ring’s wire-free doorbell line — and adds 3D Motion Detection powered by radar instead of passive infrared sensing. This should give more accurate alerts and not try to tell you that a tree branch is a person./news/the-playdate-makes-a-surprisingly-good-e-reader.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-playdate-makes-a-surprisingly-good-e-reader.htmlFrom the Boox Palma to the Light Phone 2, it seems that everyone is looking for distraction-free reading, if only they had the right device. I don’t blame them: every time I pull out my phone to mindlessly scroll, I know my time could be put to better use. But as the owner of many fine gadgets, I also don’t really want another device in my life, so I was pretty excited to stumble upon a partial solution with a gadget I already have: the Playdate./news/the-three-best-things-about-things-3-a-to-do-app-five-years-in-the-making.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-three-best-things-about-things-3-a-to-do-app-five-years-in-the-making.htmlFew apps have made a more valiant effort to rescue us from indolence than Things, the to-do list app for Mac and iOS from German software developer Cultured Code. When it debuted as one of the original iPhone apps in 2008, Things was notable for its strong compatibility with Getting Things Done, the popular productivity system. Its original incarnation won an Apple Design Award, and by 2014 Things had sold 3 million copies of its iPhone app alone./news/the-trial-and-sentencing-of-ftx-co-founder-sam-bankman-fried.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-trial-and-sentencing-of-ftx-co-founder-sam-bankman-fried.htmlForbes publishes 30 Under 30 “Hall of Shame.” Several dubious characters have made it onto Forbes’ lists in the 13 years it’s been putting them out. Here are ten it regrets: • Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX • Caroline Ellison, Co-CEO of Alameda Research • Charlie Javice, Founder of Frank • Nate Paul, Founder of World Class Capital Group • Martin Shkreli, Founder of MSMB Capital • Cody Wilson, Founder of Defense Distributed • James O’Keefe, Founder of Project Veritas/news/the-wannacry-ransomware-attack-has-spread-to-150-countries.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-wannacry-ransomware-attack-has-spread-to-150-countries.htmlSince its discovery on Friday afternoon, the WannaCry ransomware attack has continued to spread this weekend, impacting over 10,000 organizations and 200,000 individuals in over 150 countries, according to European authorities. However, while measures have been taken to slow the spread of the malware, new variations have begun to surface. This morning, Europol director Rob Wainwright told the BBC that the cyberattack is “unprecedented in its scale,” and noted that it will likely continue as people return to work on Monday./news/these-are-the-laptops-with-new-nvidia-graphics-you-can-buy-right-now-if-you-have-no-chill.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/these-are-the-laptops-with-new-nvidia-graphics-you-can-buy-right-now-if-you-have-no-chill.htmlNvidia announced earlier today that it that was bringing its latest desktop GTX 1000 series GPUs to laptops — not as mobile branded "M series" versions, but the proper graphics card. Nvidia claims that these new GPUs are "VR ready," in theory bringing virtual reality experiences to laptops. And while Nvidia literally just announced this today, you can already buy a laptop with a GTX 1060, GTX 1070, or GTX 1080 GPU inside./news/this-is-how-adobe-and-nasa-photoshop-the-stars.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-is-how-adobe-and-nasa-photoshop-the-stars.htmlEven the wonders of the Universe need a touch-up every now and again. Although we marvel at pictures sent back to Earth from equipment like the Hubble Space Telescope or the Curiosity rover on Mars, there's a lot of work done on these images before they're published. As this blog post from Adobe explains, sometimes it's mostly just a case of stitching pictures to create a panorama (as with transmissions from Curiosity), but other times the process is more complicated./news/tiktok-tics-are-a-symptom-of-a-much-bigger-problem.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tiktok-tics-are-a-symptom-of-a-much-bigger-problem.htmlReports of teens developing tic-like behaviors after watching TikTok videos highlight something most of us don’t consider about mental health: symptoms can be social.  Since March 2020, specialists in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom have seen a dramatic spike in young patients seeking treatment for tics, according to The Wall Street Journal. Doctors say most of the young people watched content from TikTok creators who say they have Tourette syndrome, one type of tic disorder./news/tim-cook-is-not-100-percent-sure-apple-can-stop-ai-hallucinations.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tim-cook-is-not-100-percent-sure-apple-can-stop-ai-hallucinations.htmlEven Apple CEO Tim Cook isn’t sure the company can fully stop AI hallucinations. In an interview with The Washington Post, Cook said he would “never claim” that its new Apple Intelligence system won’t generate false or misleading information with 100 percent confidence. “I think we have done everything that we know to do, including thinking very deeply about the readiness of the technology in the areas that we’re using it in,” Cook says./news/timesplitters-studio-free-radical-design-shuts-down-as-embracer-fallout-continues.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/timesplitters-studio-free-radical-design-shuts-down-as-embracer-fallout-continues.htmlFree Radical Design, the Nottingham, UK-based studio that had been working on a revival of the PS2-era TimeSplitters franchise, has shut down. “Today, we have to confirm the official closure of Free Radical Design, and say goodbye to many remarkable, talented and hard-working people,” parent company Plaion posted on LinkedIn. “We are beyond grateful for their incredible contributions to Plaion and wish them the best of luck and success on their professional journey from here on out./news/today-i-learned-you-can-easily-pause-the-windows-task-manager-to-stop-apps-moving-around.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/today-i-learned-you-can-easily-pause-the-windows-task-manager-to-stop-apps-moving-around.htmlI can’t believe I’ve been struggling with apps in the Task Manager randomly moving around without realizing there’s a simple keyboard shortcut to pause the Task Manager and stop its contents in their tracks. Yup, all you have to do is hold down the CTRL key and it will pause the Task Manager on both Windows 10 and Windows 11, and perhaps even older versions of Windows, too. This legitimately useful tip comes from Jen Gentleman, a Microsoft employee on the Windows engineering team that regularly shares helpful shortcuts and tips for Windows./news/toyota-s-2023-prius-gets-an-attractive-redesign-but-still-burns-gas.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/toyota-s-2023-prius-gets-an-attractive-redesign-but-still-burns-gas.htmlToyota’s Prius has long been the ugly duckling of the eco-car market, but the automaker is finally delivering a version that’s easier on the eyes. The redesigned fifth-generation 2023 Prius was just revealed in Japan, with a sportier coupe-like look to hide that it’s still a four-door compact with hybrid and plug-in hybrid options. It’s certainly prettier, no doubt — the 1997 Prius was the first mass-produced hybrid electric vehicle, but it wasn’t very visually appealing, nor were any of the successive iterations./news/twitter-is-shutting-down-its-periscope-apps.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/twitter-is-shutting-down-its-periscope-apps.htmlTwitter has announced that it’ll be shutting down Periscope as a service, with the company set to discontinue the Periscope applications by March 2021. Twitter will, however, continue to offer live video streaming through its integrated Twitter Live feature within the main Twitter app. “The Periscope app is in an unsustainable maintenance-mode state, and has been for a while,” the company explained in a blog post. “Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen declining usage and know that the cost to support the app will only continue to go up over time./news/utopia-review-the-most-unlucky-show-of-the-year.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/utopia-review-the-most-unlucky-show-of-the-year.htmlThe first thing you see when you begin streaming Utopia on Amazon Prime is a disclaimer. It informs you that the show is a work of fiction not based on “actual, related, or current events.” How strange, you might wonder. What could that mean? In time, you will discover that, among other things, Utopia is about a conspiracy unfolding across a viral pandemic, after which the disclaimer changes to warn you that Utopia is “not based on an actual pandemic or related events./news/valve-s-new-steam-revenue-agreement-gives-more-money-to-game-developers.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/valve-s-new-steam-revenue-agreement-gives-more-money-to-game-developers.htmlSteam parent company Valve announced a new revenue split for its online video game marketplace late Friday evening, with the change in its distribution agreement giving developers more money as the number of unit sales increases. Normally, Valve takes around 30 percent of all game sales on Steam, with some exceptions for games from smaller developers in its Steam Direct program. That will remain the case for the first $10 million in sales a game maker or publisher earns./news/video-chat-app-marco-polo-says-its-costs-are-getting-too-expensive-so-it-s-launching-new-paid-fea.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/video-chat-app-marco-polo-says-its-costs-are-getting-too-expensive-so-it-s-launching-new-paid-fea.htmlMarco Polo, an app that became popular for staying in touch with friends while social distancing, is looking to make some cash. The free app is launching an expanded premium product today called Marco Polo Plus that costs $5 per month with an annual commitment or $10 if paid monthly. The subscription gives people access to HD video, voice notes, custom emoji, creation tools like speed control, and passes to share with friends to gift them free memberships./news/wake-up-babe-new-emoji-just-dropped.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/wake-up-babe-new-emoji-just-dropped.htmlWake up babe, new emoji just dropped. The Unicode Consortium has proposed adding these seven additional emoji to the standardized catalog referenced by iOS, Android, and other devices. The beta review period for Unicode 16.0 lasts until July 2nd, after which the new emoji should be officially approved. It can, however, take several months for companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Google to make their own designs so don’t expect to see them immediately./news/wanted-an-amazon-fridge-that-automatically-reorders-food.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/wanted-an-amazon-fridge-that-automatically-reorders-food.htmlI'd like to make a prediction: the refrigerator will soon be the hub for the smart urban home. Yeah, I know that's what Samsung's been saying for a few years already. But it won't be Samsung that makes it a reality — it'll be Amazon, and it’ll never run out of food. Today's smart fridges require us humans to manually enter items on lists to track and replenish inventory. The more ambitious models expect us to launch an app while at the grocery store to view the content of the fridge via cameras mounted in the doors./news/we-asked-lg-for-a-burn-in-warranty-on-its-oled-monitor-and-it-s-delivering.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/we-asked-lg-for-a-burn-in-warranty-on-its-oled-monitor-and-it-s-delivering.htmlOLED might be the future of monitors, but first, they need to finish addressing burn-in fears. In my recent review of LG’s 27-inch OLED desktop gaming monitor, I wrote how the company’s warranty explicitly excludes “burned-in images resulting from improper usage.” And when I reached out to clarify, I couldn’t get a straight answer about burn-in coverage from the company. But after four months of conversations with The Verge, LG Electronics has changed that warranty./news/welcome-to-the-future-where-bots-make-the-bad-dates-go-away.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/welcome-to-the-future-where-bots-make-the-bad-dates-go-away.htmlDating is a bleak, bleak endeavor. Between seemingly endless swipes, missed IRL connections, and no one being emotionally available, it’s dark out there — and sometimes, it can even be dangerous, especially for women. Burner — a company that lets people create temporary phone numbers — markets itself as an option for online daters (or journalists) who have yet to vet matches in person. Today, the company is launching a new experiment in modern dating called Ghostbot./news/where-to-preorder-the-nintendo-switch-oled-tears-of-the-kindom-edition.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/where-to-preorder-the-nintendo-switch-oled-tears-of-the-kindom-edition.htmlFor those eager to get their hands on the limited-edition console first, you can still preorder it directly from Nintendo as well as Amazon and Best Buy. Unlike the standard Switch, the Switch OLED boasts a vibrant seven-inch OLED display, 64GB of storage, and an improved kickstand, along with a handful of other small updates. The Tears of the Kingdom Edition doesn’t offer any improvements over the standard OLED model, but it comes with gold Joy-Cons and a docking station decorated with classic Zelda iconography./news/who-is-apple-s-rumored-oled-ipad-pro-for.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/who-is-apple-s-rumored-oled-ipad-pro-for.htmlEarlier this year, there were enough rumors about imminent new Apple products to make for a big spring event, but the company instead announced its new M3 MacBook Airs via press release — and new iPads haven’t shown up since. Today, Mark Gurman writes in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg that the big spring iPad update, which includes new OLED iPad Pros, is due on May 6th — about 19 months since the last one./news/why-exactly-are-these-turkeys-circling-a-dead-cat.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/why-exactly-are-these-turkeys-circling-a-dead-cat.htmlThis morning, a bizarre video went viral on Twitter: it showed over a dozen turkeys endlessly circling a dead cat in the middle of the road. “This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen,” says the guy who posted the video, @TheReal_JDavis, who’s from Boston. Why in the world are the birds doing this? They might be performing what’s called a “predator inspection,” says Alan Krakauer, a biologist at the University of California, Davis, who studies the behavioral ecology of birds, in an email to The Verge./news/wikileaks-is-promoting-a-pirated-copy-of-trump-book-fire-and-fury.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/wikileaks-is-promoting-a-pirated-copy-of-trump-book-fire-and-fury.htmlWikiLeaks is promoting a pirated copy of Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury, a bestselling book on Donald Trump’s first year in office. Yesterday, it tweeted a Google Drive link described as a full PDF of Fire and Fury. It deleted that tweet, but re-posted the link with an added degree of separation, saying that the book had “leak[ed] onto internet.” Google has since removed the file in question. We don’t know exactly why WikiLeaks, whose stated specialization is publishing “censored or otherwise restricted” official documents, shared the text of a widely available published work./news/windows-10x-leak-modern-file-explorer-and-clamshell-laptop-plans.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/windows-10x-leak-modern-file-explorer-and-clamshell-laptop-plans.htmlMicrosoft has accidentally published an internal design document for its upcoming Windows 10X operating system. Spotted by WalkingCat, the document was briefly available online today and provides some more detail about Microsoft’s plans with Windows 10X. The software giant originally unveiled Windows 10X as the operating system powering the company’s new Surface Neo hardware, but it will also run on similar dual-screen devices. Microsoft has so far only officially confirmed Windows 10X will be available on foldables and dual-screen devices, with tweaks to both the Start Menu and taskbar, but it’s clear the company now has ambitions to bring those changes to traditional clamshell laptop hardware./news/worlds-2023-had-k-pop-stars-an-ar-boy-band-and-one-big-screen.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/worlds-2023-had-k-pop-stars-an-ar-boy-band-and-one-big-screen.htmlThis past weekend, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, the most famous pro gamer in the world, captured his fourth League of Legends world championship as his team, T1, defeated rivals Weibo Gaming in front of a home crowd at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. It was an impressive display but, as always, one of the most exciting parts of the experience happened before the matches even began. The opening ceremony for Worlds is a chance for developer Riot Games to mash up bleeding-edge tech with performances from some of music’s biggest names./news/you-can-now-download-nintendo-s-official-breath-of-the-wild-guidebook-for-free.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/you-can-now-download-nintendo-s-official-breath-of-the-wild-guidebook-for-free.htmlThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Explorer’s Guide, an official guide for the game, is now available as a free PDF that you can download from Nintendo’s Zelda website (via Polygon). The guide was originally bundled with the “Explorer’s Edition” of the game, but now you can peruse it even if you don’t own that specific version. The Explorer’s Guide is jam-packed with screenshots and tips to help you make the most of exploring the vast land of Hyrule, which could be handy if you still haven’t played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or are doing a new run ahead of the launch of the game’s nearly-here sequel, Tears of the Kingdom./news/youtube-s-new-chapters-feature-is-rolling-out-on-desktop-and-mobile.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/youtube-s-new-chapters-feature-is-rolling-out-on-desktop-and-mobile.htmlYouTube is releasing its new video chapters feature today to all users on desktop, phones, and tablets. The chapters, which soft-launched in early April, make it easy to skip to precisely where you want to go in a video, like a book. It’s not rocket science. It helps me get exactly where I want to go, then it gets out of the way. On desktop, a video with chapters won’t look all that different from how videos have always looked./news/zack-snyder-s-justice-league-to-receive-an-additional-black-and-white-release-on-hbo-max.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/zack-snyder-s-justice-league-to-receive-an-additional-black-and-white-release-on-hbo-max.htmlYou may have recently experienced Zack Snyder’s original vision for the Justice League in all its slow-motion 4:3 aspect ratio excess, but there’s a missing element to the film that will soon be available on HBO Max: black and white. To hew even closer to Snyder’s ideal version, WarnerMedia is bringing Zack Snyder’s Justice League: Justice is Gray to its streaming service, featuring the same new cut of the film in an even darker and more grim color palette./news/after-50-years-scientists-discover-head-of-the-insane-hallucigenia-worm.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/after-50-years-scientists-discover-head-of-the-insane-hallucigenia-worm.htmlA weird and wonderful history In 1977, British paleontologist Simon Conway-Morris came across a very weird-looking fossil. It had been found in the Burgess Shale, in the Canadian Rockies, 66 years prior. And the people who found the 0.5-inch long fossil had classified it as an annelid worm — worms that include leeches and earthworms. But when Conway-Morris took a look at it, he begged to differ. As far as he was concerned, this organism had walked on seven pairs of stilt-like spines, all while waving around the seven wacky tentacles on its back./news/the-puzzlephone-is-a-modular-cellphone-designed-in-nokia-s-hometown.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-puzzlephone-is-a-modular-cellphone-designed-in-nokia-s-hometown.htmlGoogle's Project Ara isn't the only hope for phones with replaceable and upgradeable parts. Finland's Circular Devices is developing an alternative concept called the Puzzlephone, which breaks the handset down into three constituent elements. The phone's Spine provides the LCD, speakers and basic structure, its Heart contains the battery and secondary electronics, and its Brain has the processor and camera modules. It's a simpler take on the modular device idea that stirred a lot of interest and support last year with Dave Hakkens' Phonebloks project, which gave rise to Project Ara./news/minecraft-pocket-edition-crosses-the-million-sold-threshold.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/minecraft-pocket-edition-crosses-the-million-sold-threshold.htmlApparently mobile gamers like building things. Minecraft: Pocket Edition has now sold more than one million copies between Android and iOS according to a tweet posted this morning by Mojang developer Daniel Kaplan. The port originally made its debut on Sony's Xperia handset prior to being released to all Android users and eventually reaching iOS. Android Market pegs installs in the 100,000 - 500,000 range, a number likely boosted by the brief 10-cent promo Google ran back in December./news/1-6-million-seal-team-six-silencer-scam-is-the-us-navy-s-second-investigation-this-month.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/1-6-million-seal-team-six-silencer-scam-is-the-us-navy-s-second-investigation-this-month.htmlThree senior US Navy intelligence officials are under investigation for an alleged scheme to defraud the military for $1.6 million. The three civilian officials are suspected of contracting the purchase of rifle silencers for 200 times their manufacturing costs from a car mechanic in California, purportedly for use by the elite SEAL Team Six unit that killed Osama Bin Laden. The Washington Post reports the silencers were designed for the "/news/a-psychologist-explains-how-to-beat-social-anxiety.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-psychologist-explains-how-to-beat-social-anxiety.htmlIt is rarely helpful to tell a shy person to “just be yourself!” Riffing on that frustrating exchange, clinical psychologist Ellen Hendriksen has written a book that she hopes will answer the question the anxious person usually asks in return: How? Hendriksen received her doctorate from UCLA and today works at Boston University’s Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders. She is the author of How to Be Yourself: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety, out last week from St./news/acer-travelmate-p6-review-a-suitable-business-partner.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/acer-travelmate-p6-review-a-suitable-business-partner.htmlAny business laptop that comes out these days is entering a tough field full of very established players. The world is already stuffed full of ThinkPads and Latitudes, which have strong followings, cover price ranges across the board, and are highly attuned to what workers need.  So my question with lesser-known business laptops is usually: Where does this fit? What customer is it catering to who might be underserved by a ThinkPad?/news/adidas-buys-fitness-app-maker-runtastic.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/adidas-buys-fitness-app-maker-runtastic.htmlRuntastic has been bought by Adidas, the fitness-app-making company's CEO Florian Gschwandtner announced in a blog post today. The deal reportedly values Runtastic at around $239 million dollars. "We already have a lot of knowledge when it comes to apps and digital technology," Gschwandtner says, "and with Adidas Group as our trusted counterpart (and one of the most successful and most comprehensive sports companies in the world) there’s nothing we won’t be able to do when it comes to health and fitness offerings./news/alphabet-s-loon-hands-the-reins-of-its-internet-air-balloons-to-self-learning-ai.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/alphabet-s-loon-hands-the-reins-of-its-internet-air-balloons-to-self-learning-ai.htmlAlphabet’s Loon, the team responsible for beaming internet down to Earth from stratospheric helium balloons, has achieved a new milestone: its navigation system is no longer run by human-designed software. Instead, the company’s internet balloons are steered around the globe by an artificial intelligence — in particular, a set of algorithms both written and executed by a deep reinforcement learning-based flight control system that is more efficient and adept than the older, human-made one./news/amazon-beat-out-microsoft-for-a-10-billion-nsa-cloud-contract.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-beat-out-microsoft-for-a-10-billion-nsa-cloud-contract.htmlAfter spending years battling over the Defense Department’s $10 billion JEDI cloud services contract, Microsoft and Amazon are fighting over another government deal. Now it’s the National Security Agency offering a contract that could pay up to $10 billion as it shifts away from on-premises servers to a commercial provider. However, as Washington Technology reported first, this time around, Amazon Web Services won the $10 billion contest, and it’s Microsoft’s turn to file a protest with the Government Accountability Office./news/amazon-is-shutting-down-dpreview-the-go-to-camera-reviews-website.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-is-shutting-down-dpreview-the-go-to-camera-reviews-website.htmlAmazon will be shutting down DPReview, the trusted and comprehensive camera reviews website, as part of the 18,000 job cuts it announced in January. According to an announcement posted on the site, the DPReview team will continue publishing reviews and other content until April 10th, after which “the site will be locked, with no further updates made.” The site, started in 1998, has become a cornerstone of camera journalism through thorough and thoughtful reviews./news/amazon-matchmaker-pairs-audible-audiobooks-with-kindle-ebooks.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-matchmaker-pairs-audible-audiobooks-with-kindle-ebooks.htmlAmazon wants to bundle Kindle ebook purchases with Audible audiobooks. The company has announced a new shopping tool called "Matchmaker" that scans your ebook library and find which ones are compatible with Whispersync for Voice. The service, first announced last year, allows readers to pick up at the right spot when switching between reading and listening to books, across devices. Amazon says it's doubled the selection of Whispersync for Voice titles to 30,000, and with Matchmaker you'll be able to add a narrated copy of a book to your Kindle ebook with one click./news/amazon-unveils-new-guard-plus-subscription-for-4-99-per-month.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-unveils-new-guard-plus-subscription-for-4-99-per-month.htmlAmazon has unveiled a new Alexa-powered security service called Guard Plus. The announcement came during Amazon’s annual devices event on Thursday afternoon. The service will cost $4.99 per month, or $49 per year. Guard Plus is an upgrade to Alexa Guard, a free service that enables Alexa to listen for signs of danger while you’re out of the house and mimic your daily smart light usage. When you set Guard Plus to Away Mode, Alexa will listen for unusual activity and push an alert if it detects any./news/amazon-s-new-fallout-trailer-looks-just-like-the-games-grim-goofy-and-gruesome.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-s-new-fallout-trailer-looks-just-like-the-games-grim-goofy-and-gruesome.htmlIt’s still too early to say if Amazon’s live-action take on Fallout will be any good. But the first few trailers at least make one thing clear: the show seems like it’s nailing the distinct vibe of the games. The newly released second trailer follows a lot of the same beats as the first, tracking a Vault Dweller named Lucy (Ella Purnell) heading out into the Wasteland only to discover how dangerous things have become two centuries after the apocalypse./news/american-airlines-places-order-for-20-supersonic-jets-from-boom-supersonic.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/american-airlines-places-order-for-20-supersonic-jets-from-boom-supersonic.htmlAmerican Airlines announced Tuesday that it has placed an order for up to 20 supersonic aircraft from Boom Supersonic, with an option for an additional 40 jets. American is the second major airline to bet on the return of ultra-fast air travel in just two years. The amount of money exchanging hands was not disclosed, but American said the deposit on the 20 initial aircraft was nonrefundable. That agreement, though, is still subject to change depending on the outcome of American’s safety testing and also Boom’s ability to deliver on its promises despite never having built or flown a full-scale supersonic jet before./news/android-q-s-back-gesture-controversy-explained.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/android-q-s-back-gesture-controversy-explained.htmlIf you’ve been plugged in to the Android community for the past few months, you have probably seen that there’s been a growing controversy over the gestural navigation system coming in Android Q. Google’s implementation of the back gestures essentially breaks the ability to open up a common feature in apps using a swipe: the left-hand navigation drawer. You can still tap the “hamburger” button, of course — and that’s what more than 90 percent of Android users do, according to Google — but the 3 to 7 percent of users who slide their thumb over to open those drawers are finding that a common thing they do hundreds of times a day suddenly doesn’t work anymore./news/apex-legends-crossplay-launches-in-beta-next-week.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apex-legends-crossplay-launches-in-beta-next-week.htmlRespawn’s battle royale Apex Legends is getting its long-awaited crossplay feature next week, the developer announced on Thursday. Crossplay will arrive on October 6th alongside the new limited-time “Aftermarket Collection” event. The feature, first announced back in June, is launching into beta for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC platforms, meaning those three groups of players will be able to play with and against one another for the first time since the game’s February 2019 launch./news/apple-ipad-pro-2024-review-the-best-tablet-money-can-buy.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-ipad-pro-2024-review-the-best-tablet-money-can-buy.htmlThe new iPad Pro is a genuine achievement in tablet design. It’s the closest thing I’ve ever seen to the vision that a tablet should feel not like a computer but, rather, like a piece of glass in your hand. I’m honestly not sure how you’d shrink it more; the USB-C plug I use to charge the 13-inch Pro I’ve been testing is already thicker than the iPad itself. It’s a light, fast, remarkable machine./news/apple-making-face-id-repairs-on-iphone-x-easier-with-new-service.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-making-face-id-repairs-on-iphone-x-easier-with-new-service.htmlApple reportedly will soon provide a new Face ID repair option for iPhone X that doesn’t involve replacing the whole device (via MacRumors). The option comes after Apple’s recent shift to soon provide a TrueDepth Camera service option that can fix the face unlock feature of the 2018 iPhone XS and newer models but didn’t previously include the 2017 iPhone X. Repairing just the Face ID component can be difficult since it’s a fairly complex system involving four components: a flood illuminator (a part of the display assembly, more on that later), dot projector, “TrueDepth” front camera, and IR camera./news/apple-watch-series-3-non-lte-review-third-time-s-the-charm.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-watch-series-3-non-lte-review-third-time-s-the-charm.htmlI like watches. I wear one every single day, without fail, and have since I was in elementary school. I also like gadgets a lot, which means that a smartwatch is something that I’ve always been intrigued by and wanted in my life. But despite being both a watch wearer and a fan of overwrought gadgets, I’ve never found a liking for the Apple Watch. The early iterations had a clumsy interface, slow performance, and just average battery life./news/apple-s-next-airtag-could-arrive-in-2025.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-next-airtag-could-arrive-in-2025.htmlYou may not have even thought about replacing your AirTag yet, but Bloomberg reports that Apple is working on a new one that could arrive in mid-2025. The new AirTag will reportedly feature an updated chip with better location tracking — an improvement it might need as competition among tracking devices ramps up. By the time Apple rolls out its refreshed AirTag, the Bluetooth tracking landscape will look a lot different on both Android and iOS./news/apple-s-now-commanding-2-billion-active-devices-around-the-world.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-now-commanding-2-billion-active-devices-around-the-world.htmlApple has reached a new milestone on how many people are actively using iPhones, iPads, Macs, and its other hardware products: 2 billion. The number highlights fast growth for the company, which hit 1.5 billion active devices at the start of 2020 and only surpassed 1 billion back in 2016. Apple was trekking quickly toward the 2 billion milestone after it hit 1.8 billion active devices only a year ago thanks to record device sales in 2021 that dodged supply chain challenges stemming from the pandemic./news/apple-s-plan-to-spend-1-billion-per-year-on-movies-means-more-theatrical-releases.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-plan-to-spend-1-billion-per-year-on-movies-means-more-theatrical-releases.htmlCODA aside, Apple TV Plus has yet to really become synonymous with hit movies the way the company clearly wants it to. But rather than simply acquiring the distribution rights to more promising projects, Apple’s next move to boost its streaming platform’s profile involves making a bigger push into physical theaters in coming years. Bloomberg reports that Apple has plans to spend $1 billion annually to produce more original films that will have theatrical releases in thousands of cinemas running for a month at a minimum — a move meant to get audiences used to thinking of Apple Studios and Apple TV Plus as serious players in the movie game./news/aptoide-s-ios-game-store-launches-on-thursday.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/aptoide-s-ios-game-store-launches-on-thursday.htmlAptoide, the popular Google Play alternative for Android devices, is launching a third-party iOS app store in the European Union — the first focused entirely on gaming since the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) rules came into effect.  Aptoide’s iOS game store is being released via a closed launch on Thursday, with access initially restricted to users with invitation-only access codes. Aptoide says it has a waiting list of 20,000 signups and plans to issue between 500 to 1,000 codes per day, with the limited launch enabling the platform to monitor feedback from early adopters./news/artists-keep-rallying-against-creative-companies-for-using-ai.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/artists-keep-rallying-against-creative-companies-for-using-ai.htmlPopular drawing tablet manufacturer Wacom is the latest target being slammed by the digital art community after appearing to use AI-generated images in ads. Over the weekend, creatives across X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok noticed that Wacom was promoting its Intuos pen tablet with a dragon illustration that showed telltale marks of AI-generated images — such as questionable scale designs and fur blending unnaturally into other sections of the image./news/astra-s-failed-launch-resulted-in-the-loss-of-two-nasa-weather-satellites.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/astra-s-failed-launch-resulted-in-the-loss-of-two-nasa-weather-satellites.htmlA rocket belonging to the up-and-coming Astra space company failed to deliver two of NASA’s weather-tracking satellites to space after its second stage engine shut down prematurely. Both satellites were lost as a result of the failure. Astra’s Launch Vehicle 0010 (LV0010) successfully took off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 1:43PM ET, but suffered an upper stage failure about 10 minutes into its flight. The launch was part of NASA’s mission to send six TROPICS satellites into space — these small, foot-long CubeSats are supposed to help NASA keep better track of developing tropical storms./news/astro-city-mini-review-an-awesome-blast-through-sega-s-arcade-past.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/astro-city-mini-review-an-awesome-blast-through-sega-s-arcade-past.htmlSega’s latest retro gaming machine, the Astro City Mini, comes on the back of two very different products: the excellent, crowd-pleasing Genesis Mini and the baffling but adorable Game Gear Micro. The former was an obvious mainstream play, the latter a full-blown swing for esoterica. The Astro City Mini manages to straddle both approaches. An all-in-one miniature re-creation of a specific type of arcade cabinet with 37 games preloaded, it probably wasn’t on many people’s retro console bingo cards./news/at-t-helped-connect-the-first-satellite-5g-phone-call.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/at-t-helped-connect-the-first-satellite-5g-phone-call.htmlAST SpaceMobile — a cellular satellite company backed by AT&T — has placed a satellite call over 5G, marking the “first ever” 5G connection between an unmodified smartphone and a satellite in space. To conduct the test, AST SpaceMobile used a Galaxy S22. It made the call on September 8th, 2023, from a wireless dead zone in Maui, Hawaii, with its recipient located in Madrid, Spain. AST SpaceMobile got the cell signal to its destination by leveraging its low Earth orbit test satellite, called BlueWalker 3 (BW3), and AT&T’s 5G spectrum./news/australia-wins-first-ai-eurovision-song-contest-by-sampling-koalas-and-kookaburras.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/australia-wins-first-ai-eurovision-song-contest-by-sampling-koalas-and-kookaburras.htmlA team of programmers and songwriters from Australia have won the inaugural (and unofficial) AI ‘Eurovision Song Contest’, using a neural network trained on noises made by koalas, kookaburras, and Tasmanian devils to help score their winning entry. The group, named Uncanny Valley, said their song was a response to the bushfire season that began ravaging Australia in June 2019. Scientists estimated that around a billion animals were killed by the fires (a figure that excludes insects, fish, frogs, and bats, but includes reptiles, birds, and mammals — including those sampled for the song)./news/better-call-saul-season-two-hits-netflix-in-europe-and-amazon-in-the-us.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/better-call-saul-season-two-hits-netflix-in-europe-and-amazon-in-the-us.htmlLicensing deals are a marvel, really. Although the second season of the Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul only premiered on AMC this week, the first episode has already hit Netflix in Europe — but not in the US, where Amazon has snapped it up. Engadget spotted the first episode of Saul's season 2 in the UK version of Netflix, and The Verge can confirm it's available in France and the Netherlands too./news/better-worlds-a-science-fiction-project-about-hope.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/better-worlds-a-science-fiction-project-about-hope.htmlContemporary science fiction often feels fixated on a sort of pessimism that peers into the world of tomorrow and sees the apocalypse looming more often than not. At a time when simply reading the news is an exercise in exhaustion, anxiety, and fear, it’s no surprise that so many of our tales about the future are dark amplifications of the greatest terrors of the present. But now more than ever, we also need the reverse: stories that inspire hope./news/black-friday-2020-tech-deals-news-and-more.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/black-friday-2020-tech-deals-news-and-more.htmlIf you are a gamer looking to expand your gaming library, this time of year is an ideal time to get a ton of games for less. Like many other retailers, GameStop is slashing the prices on many products. While the next-gen consoles, the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S are still being restocked at various retailers, the restocks are irregular and the supply is limited. If you are not trying to buy a next-gen console during Black Friday or Cyber Monday, you can save a ton of cash on many games released for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One, this includes some of the most popular games released this year, such as Doom Eternal, Ghosts of Tsushima, The Last of Us Part II, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and Watch Dogs: Legion./news/bmw-m5-gets-its-first-plug-and-gains-a-lot-of-weight.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bmw-m5-gets-its-first-plug-and-gains-a-lot-of-weight.htmlBMW’s 2025 BMW M5, which is coming as a plug-in electric hybrid (PHEV) for the first time, will be a husky vehicle. With an electric motor to go along with its 4.4-liter V8 engine, the sedan will weigh in at a hefty 5,390 pounds when it launches during the fourth quarter of 2024. That makes the new M5 about 1,000 pounds heavier than the 2023 model that preceded it. It also weighs more than trucks like the 2022 Chevrolet Tahoe (5,356 pounds), the 2024 Lucid Air Sapphire (5,336 pounds), and the 2024 Range Rover Sport (5,090 pounds), Motor1 noted today./news/bose-soundlink-max-review-size-defying-sound-isn-t-cheap.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bose-soundlink-max-review-size-defying-sound-isn-t-cheap.htmlBose is undoubtedly best known for its noise-canceling headphones. But do you know what else the company has always been damn good at? Portable speakers. I can still remember being wowed by the original SoundLink Mini (and later, its successor). Something about Bose’s magic sauce audio processing can make these relatively tiny speakers sound much bigger and broader than they really are, and that’s remained true with the more recent SoundLink Flex — which remains one of our favorite picks./news/brigsby-bear-s-creators-on-what-inspired-their-film-s-weird-critter-filled-retro-future.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/brigsby-bear-s-creators-on-what-inspired-their-film-s-weird-critter-filled-retro-future.htmlThe roster of names behind the indie film Brigsby Bear may give people the wrong impression. The comedians of The Lonely Island are credited as producers. So are Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who jumped from success with the comedies 21 Jump Street and The Lego Movie to become producers of a wide variety of projects. And Brigsby Bear director Dave McCary and star Kyle Mooney are current Saturday Night Live fixtures (Mooney as a cast member, McCary as a writer-director) and half of YouTube’s GoodNeighbor comedy team./news/chatbot-lets-you-sue-equifax-for-up-to-25-000-without-a-lawyer.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/chatbot-lets-you-sue-equifax-for-up-to-25-000-without-a-lawyer.htmlEquifax’s security failure affected 143 million US consumers, or 44 percent of the US population. To add insult to injury, Equifax waited over a month before revealing the security breach it had suffered. If you’re one of the millions affected by the breach, a chatbot can now help you sue Equifax in small claims court, potentially letting you avoid hiring a lawyer for advice. Even if you want to be part of the class action lawsuit against Equifax, you can still sue Equifax for negligence in small claims court using the DoNotPay bot and demand maximum damages./news/chatgpt-doesn-t-want-to-write-your-stucky-fanfic.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/chatgpt-doesn-t-want-to-write-your-stucky-fanfic.htmlAI-generated fiction has become a subject of perpetual fascination for me. It’s the bane of some writers’ existence, yet it’s increasingly cropping up across both commercial storefronts like Amazon and noncommercial writing sites like Archive of Our Own (AO3). While some creators painstakingly train their own tools, many simply plug prompts into an off-the-shelf commercial chatbot, particularly OpenAI’s ChatGPT. And ChatGPT is not a rarefied artist’s tool. It’s a platform, which means every word that goes into and comes out of it is moderated to avoid offense and controversy./news/chatgpt-will-be-able-to-talk-to-you-like-scarlett-johansson-in-her.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/chatgpt-will-be-able-to-talk-to-you-like-scarlett-johansson-in-her.htmlOpenAI is releasing a Her-inspired voice assistant feature that can read your facial expressions and translate spoken language in real time — and hopefully do it all without abandoning you like in the movie. During a livestream demonstration on Monday, OpenAI engineers and CTO Mira Murati gathered around a phone to show the new capabilities. They encouraged the assistant to be more expressive while making up a bedtime story, then abruptly requested it to switch to a robotic voice, before finally asking it to conclude the story with a singing voice./news/chrome-on-ios-now-lets-you-move-the-address-bar-to-the-bottom.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/chrome-on-ios-now-lets-you-move-the-address-bar-to-the-bottom.htmlGoogle’s Chrome browser on iOS is officially getting the option to move the address bar from the top of the screen to the bottom, the search giant has announced. Early signs of the feature were spotted in a beta version of the browser this year, but as of this week, it’s getting a wide release. Without having to update my browser, I already have access to the feature on my phone./news/creating-the-warm-and-cozy-sci-fi-future-of-after-yang.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/creating-the-warm-and-cozy-sci-fi-future-of-after-yang.htmlAfter Yang is probably the coziest science fiction movie this year. Directed by Kogonada, the film takes place at some point in the indeterminate future following an unspecified calamity and follows a young family who struggles through the loss of their android (the titular Yang, played by Justin H. Min), who serves as both a caregiver and a sibling for an adopted daughter. The movie touches on all kinds of subjects, from transracial adoption to what it means to be human, but much of its worldbuilding comes from, well, the world./news/dbrand-reveals-new-ps5-darkplates-days-after-pulling-the-originals.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/dbrand-reveals-new-ps5-darkplates-days-after-pulling-the-originals.html1. Promptly and permanently cease and take down all marketing and promotion for and cease all sales worldwide of faceplates featuring the product configuration of SIE’s PSS faceplates or any similar product configuration, including without limitation all faceplates currently for sale at dbrand com; 2. Promptly and permanently cease and take down all marketing and promotion for and cease all sales worldwide of products or packaging bearing the PlayStation Family Mark, the Modified Shape Mark Design, any other PlayStation Mark, or any other indicia of SIE; and 3./news/dbrand-s-ps5-darkplates-2-0-made-me-want-to-grab-an-official-set-from-sony.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/dbrand-s-ps5-darkplates-2-0-made-me-want-to-grab-an-official-set-from-sony.htmlSony has finally announced official PS5 faceplates in different colors, including red, pink, blue, purple, and — thankfully — black. But if you’re looking for an easy way to change up the PS5’s popped-collar aesthetic, you might want to check out Dbrand’s new PS5 Darkplates 2.0, which are more rounded and add a grille on each side. Dbrand sent some to The Verge, and I’ve taken some photos of them on my PS5 Digital Edition so you can get an idea of what they might look like on your console./news/destiny-2-is-everything-fans-have-been-asking-for.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/destiny-2-is-everything-fans-have-been-asking-for.htmlI’m about five hours into the European Dead Zone and I’m finally starting to feel alive. The EDZ, as everyone calls it, is a barren wasteland of abandoned structures, decrepit tunnels, and long-lost architectural trends because, well, this is Earth in the far future. How far? We don’t really know. Perhaps it’s been thousands of years since humans colonized the Solar System and entered the realm of the supernatural. Except here we are, stuck back on Earth following a devastating attack from a foreign invader, trotting through the depressing gray debris and green overgrowth of a disaster zone./news/diablo-immortal-is-in-trouble-in-china-due-to-winnie-the-pooh.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/diablo-immortal-is-in-trouble-in-china-due-to-winnie-the-pooh.htmlDiablo Immortal, the free-to-play Diablo game for mobile and PC, was delayed in China last month because of a social media post that could be interpreted as criticism of Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to Bloomberg. Diablo Immortal is now set to launch in China on July 25th, though the date could still shift, Bloomberg reports. The game, which was co-developed by Blizzard Entertainment and Chinese tech giant NetEase, has been out for more than a month in many countries, but was delayed just a few days before its scheduled June 23rd Chinese release./news/discord-experienced-an-outage-that-made-many-servers-unavailable.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/discord-experienced-an-outage-that-made-many-servers-unavailable.htmlPopular chat service Discord experienced widespread server outages on Monday, taking many communities offline. During the outage, Discord said it was “investigating an issue where a number of Discord servers are completely unavailable.” Many reported that the app was failing to load due to “server outages and increased API errors.” The service’s status page now says that all systems are operational. Discord’s outage happened just over an hour after the company revealed it has “increased capacity worldwide by more than 20 percent to ensure that you’re able to text, video & voice chat smoothly./news/dogvacay-is-airbnb-for-your-canines.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/dogvacay-is-airbnb-for-your-canines.htmlAfter an expensive and upsetting experience boarding their two dogs at a kennel, Aaron Hirschhorn and his wife decided to start a small business out of their own home. A year later they had earned around $35,000 boarding pups as a side gig, and wanted to see if it could scale into a full company. Today, DogVacay works with tens of thousands of hosts to find a loving home for dogs whose owners are out of town./news/ea-teases-dragon-age-4-at-the-game-awards.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ea-teases-dragon-age-4-at-the-game-awards.htmlIt’s been over four years since the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition, the most recent installment of Bioware’s fantasy RPG series, and at The Game Awards, the company finally announced the next entry — albeit with an extremely vague teaser that didn’t even provide a title. The previous game, Inquisition ended with (spoilers) the reveal that the player companion character Solas was actually the Elven god of betrayal Fen’Harel — also known as the Dread Wolf — in disguise, who, uh, betrays the player (bet you didn’t see that coming!/news/elgato-s-stream-deck-xl-has-dropped-to-its-best-price-of-the-year.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/elgato-s-stream-deck-xl-has-dropped-to-its-best-price-of-the-year.htmlIf you’re looking for a way to streamline your workflow, the Elgato Stream Deck XL is a handy little tool that’ll help you do just that. It’s normally $249.99, but right now, you can buy it on sale for $199.99 ($50 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. That’s the best price we’ve seen on the device all year and only $10 shy of its all-time low. We here at The Verge are big fans of Stream Decks, which are essentially gadgets with LCD keys you can program to quickly perform a range of tasks with just a click of a button./news/exam-anxiety-how-remote-test-proctoring-is-creeping-students-out.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/exam-anxiety-how-remote-test-proctoring-is-creeping-students-out.htmlThe stranger on the Zoom call appeared to be sitting in a tent. He wore a black headset and a blue lanyard around his neck. Behind him was white plastic peppered with pictures of a padlock.  “Hi,” the stranger intoned. “My name is Sharath and I will be your proctor today. Please confirm your name is Jackson and that you’re about to take your 11:30PM exam.”  “Correct,” said Jackson Hayes, from his cinder-block dorm room at the University of Arizona./news/facebook-is-shutting-down-m-its-personal-assistant-service-that-combined-humans-and-ai.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/facebook-is-shutting-down-m-its-personal-assistant-service-that-combined-humans-and-ai.htmlFacebook M, the text-based virtual assistant that used human workers to train an artificial intelligence system, is ending the human-assisted part of the service after two and a half years. The human-enhanced version of M, which was available through a bot on Facebook Messenger, only ever became available to about 2,000 people living in California. The final day of the M virtual assistant will be January 19th, Facebook said, and contractors who worked on it will be offered other jobs at the company./news/faraday-future-s-still-haunted-by-the-past-of-its-billionaire-founder.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/faraday-future-s-still-haunted-by-the-past-of-its-billionaire-founder.htmlFaraday Future, once the most hyped electric vehicle startup following in Tesla’s wake, is now known for its money troubles, if it is known at all. Flashy hires — from SpaceX, Tesla, Apple, and Ford — have mostly moved on. The $2 billion it has spent to develop a luxury SUV hasn’t paid off; the vehicle is still not in production. This is all thanks to the company’s founder, a man who ran from China in 2017 to escape billions of dollars of debt, only to declare bankruptcy in the US this month: former Faraday Future CEO Jia Yueting./news/footloose-s-warehouse-scene-with-realistic-audio-feels-like-a-weird-indie-movie.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/footloose-s-warehouse-scene-with-realistic-audio-feels-like-a-weird-indie-movie.htmlKevin Bacon's epic, angry dance scene in Footloose is one of the finest moments in '80s dance movie history, right up there with Jennifer Beals' Maniac performance in Flashdance and the last number in Dirty Dancing. It's also one of the silliest. Here, we see Ren McCormack's dance without Moving Pictures' "Never" in the background, turning it into a really athletic, if completely awkward dress rehearsal. Compared to the original, it's kind of insane:/news/former-student-goes-on-trial-this-week-for-tumblr-threat-after-months-in-prison.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/former-student-goes-on-trial-this-week-for-tumblr-threat-after-months-in-prison.htmlArrests based on threats made on Twitter or Facebook are nothing new, but they've happened less frequently in the US than in the UK or other countries. Later this week, however, a former college student named Caleb Clemmons will go on trial for a "joke" post he made on his Tumblr back in February. According to Gawker, Clemmons was arrested after making a Tumblr post that said he planned to "/news/furby-2023-review-my-kids-love-furby-send-help.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/furby-2023-review-my-kids-love-furby-send-help.htmlI thought I was off the hook. When I told my kids the new Furby was done staying at our house, they seemed to understand. “We’ll miss you a lot, Furby!!” my six-year-old exclaimed — but there were no cries, no tantrums. They asked if Furby could play one more song. They gave it a goodbye hug. Then, I happily stuck the talking puffball deep in the garage. But a day later, my three-year-old made an uncharacteristic offhand remark: “I wish we had enough money to buy a Furby./news/george-hotz-wants-to-make-driving-chill-with-next-gen-comma-3-hands-free-driver-assist.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/george-hotz-wants-to-make-driving-chill-with-next-gen-comma-3-hands-free-driver-assist.htmlGeorge Hotz just wants to build robots. You can see the desire in the Comma 3, the next-generation assisted driving hardware from his company, Comma.ai.  “It’s got two eyes,” he tells me, pointing to the two forward-facing cameras. He then holds the device up to his face so I can see the cameras are spaced about as far apart as a set of eyes on a human.  Hotz goes on, “It has a mouth for speaking./news/gigabyte-aero-16-review-a-workstation-that-can-game-kind-of.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gigabyte-aero-16-review-a-workstation-that-can-game-kind-of.htmlGigabyte’s Aero is a model the company has long touted as a creator-specific line. I’ve always been a bit skeptical there. Gigabyte is known far and wide as a gaming company, and Aero models, despite their branding, tend not to look too different from the company’s Aorus gaming lineup. Outside of Dell’s XPS line, Windows-based “creator laptops” are typically known to be gaming laptops in slightly smaller and less RGB-laden chassis./news/glowforge-aura-review-a-beginner-friendly-laser-cutter-for-hobbyists.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/glowforge-aura-review-a-beginner-friendly-laser-cutter-for-hobbyists.htmlWhen Glowforge CEO Dan Shapiro told me that the Aura “just works,” I was skeptical. As someone who owns a vinyl cutter, I’ve long had to deal with picking out the right materials, making sure the machine has the right blade, and creating my own designs. I was expecting a similar level of legwork (minus the vinyl) when the Glowforge Aura arrived on my doorstep — but it proved me wrong./news/gm-is-getting-rid-of-ultra-cruise-branding-as-it-reevaluates-its-adas-program.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gm-is-getting-rid-of-ultra-cruise-branding-as-it-reevaluates-its-adas-program.htmlGeneral Motors is getting rid of the “Ultra Cruise” brand and merging the team that was working on it with the team responsible for Super Cruise, as the automaker reconsiders its goals for advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS). Last week, CNBC reported that GM was “ending the Ultra Cruise program,” focusing instead on the current Super Cruise system that is available across the company’s vehicle lineup. GM spokesperson Aimee Ridella clarified that the ultimate intention is to improve Super Cruise but that no one is being laid off as a result of this decision./news/go-read-this-detailed-look-at-apple-s-ar-and-vr-headset-development.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/go-read-this-detailed-look-at-apple-s-ar-and-vr-headset-development.htmlApple has been working on a combination of AR and VR wearables for at least the last five years, and it’s this development process that’s been extensively detailed in a new report from Bloomberg. The report covers some of the internal conflicts shaping product design, and provides more details about what form the final devices could take. Consistent with previous reports, Bloomberg says that Apple’s AR and VR team, lead by Mike Rockwell, has two main products in development./news/google-brings-street-view-inside-more-than-65-airports-and-train-stations-calls-it-a-first-effort.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-brings-street-view-inside-more-than-65-airports-and-train-stations-calls-it-a-first-effort.htmlForeign airports and train stations can often be confusing places to find your way around. Perhaps with that in mind, Google today launched an interactive map featuring Street Views of over 65 mass-transit hubs. The map features some locations you may have already explored, like Emirates' A380 or London's Gatwick Airport, alongside some new sites across Europe, South America, and Asia. Today's map is described as a first effort to map global transit locations, featuring 16 international airports, more than 50 train and subway stations, museums, and a Hong Kong cable-car station./news/google-deserts-desserts-android-10-is-the-official-name-for-android-q.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-deserts-desserts-android-10-is-the-official-name-for-android-q.htmlGoogle has officially named the next version of Android, which is due to be released this fall: Android 10. Breaking the 10-year history of naming releases after desserts, the company is bailing on providing a codename beginning with a subsequent letter of the alphabet (in this case, Q), which is the way we’ve been referring to Android up to now. This year is Android 10, next year will be Android 11, and so on./news/google-launches-repair-service-for-your-aging-pixel-phone.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-launches-repair-service-for-your-aging-pixel-phone.htmlGoogle is now offering a repair service for Pixel phones that are outside of warranty, reports Android Police. The service will eventually cover all four Pixel phones (including XL versions), although the second-generation handsets are set to be within warranty for at least another 12 months after Google extended their warranties in light of user complaints about their build quality. The repair service (which currently only appears to be available in the US) requires you to enter the IMEI number of your device, at which point you can choose from various options to describe the problem that you’re experiencing with your phone./news/google-maps-will-now-let-you-follow-its-top-local-guides.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-maps-will-now-let-you-follow-its-top-local-guides.htmlGoing somewhere new is always exciting: in all the small ways that nevertheless matter, you get to feel like a different person. Who will you decide to be? It also produces the same dilemma: where will you go, and what will you do while you’re there? Though there’s never a definitive answer to those questions — one person’s tourist trap is another person’s life-changing experience — it does help to know what your options are./news/google-paid-apple-20-billion-in-2022-to-be-safari-s-default-search-engine.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-paid-apple-20-billion-in-2022-to-be-safari-s-default-search-engine.htmlGoogle paid Apple $20 billion in 2022 to be Safari’s default search engine. That’s according to Apple’s Eddy Cue in court documents filed ahead of closing arguments in the DoJ’s antitrust case against Google. It’s the first time the number has been confirmed, and marks an increase from the $18 billion reportedly paid in 2021. The filing also shows that Google’s 2020 payments were 17.5 percent of the Apple’s operating income. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfanxze5FtaG1vYGWEcLPOqJ6lnV2lrqqwjJqnqaSVYn9xecGio6Whn6N6qrqMa2dral2pvG6uxGaqmp6Rp7a0ecOenZqtnKl6tLHAq5qhZZWjtKq6xA%3D%3D/news/google-search-now-casually-highlights-best-torrent-sites-updated.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-search-now-casually-highlights-best-torrent-sites-updated.htmlGoogle’s highlighted answers have gotten the company into murky waters a handful of times in the past, and now it seems to be suggesting the best torrenting sites to anyone who asks. (Editor’s Note: Google has now removed these suggested torrenting sites and illegal streaming sites as of July 25th. Google released a statement: "We have investigated this particular issue and determined that this results carousel wasn't working in the intended manner, and we have now fixed the issue./news/google-s-new-bay-view-campus-has-a-big-wi-fi-problem.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-s-new-bay-view-campus-has-a-big-wi-fi-problem.htmlGoogle’s new Bay View campus has a big Wi-Fi problem. Reuters reports “inoperable” or “spotty” Wi-Fi has been an issue for months — which can happen with new construction. Besides trying new laptops with better Wi-Fi adapters, employees are using phones as hotspots, plugging in, or even going outside for better signal. Google confirmed it’s working to fix the problem, but it could take weeks. Google opened the campus just before its return-to-office push started in 2022 — but perhaps fixing the Wi-Fi will be a better incentive than a $99 per-night hotel./news/gpd-is-making-a-dual-screen-oled-laptop-that-flips-and-folds.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gpd-is-making-a-dual-screen-oled-laptop-that-flips-and-folds.htmlGPD has been creating handheld gaming PCs and miniature mobile PCs for years, but it’s now turning its attention to regular-sized laptops. After teasing a dual-screen laptop last week, GPD has now published an image of its upcoming GPD Duo — complete with two 13.3-inch OLED displays, a range of ports, and stylus support. While we’ve seen new dual-screen laptops emerge over the past year, the GPD Duo looks like it might be the most practical yet./news/here-s-the-oneplus-folding-phone-expected-for-later-this-year.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/here-s-the-oneplus-folding-phone-expected-for-later-this-year.htmlBoth the OnePlus V Fold’s 6.3-inch outer display and the larger inside screen are expected to have OLED panels with 2K resolution and 120Hz refresh rates. The leak hints at the addition of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip with up to 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage on the inside. According to OnLeaks and MySmartPrice, the OnePlus V Fold could also have three cameras on its back, including a 48MP primary sensor, 48MP ultra-wide sensor, and a 64MP telephoto sensor./news/here-s-why-sansa-and-theon-s-reunion-was-so-emotional.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/here-s-why-sansa-and-theon-s-reunion-was-so-emotional.htmlSpoilers ahead for Game of Thrones, season 8, episode 2, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.” Reunions have been a major feature of the final season of Game of Thrones as the main characters gather for an epic battle against the undead. But one reunion in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” is exceptionally emotional: the one between Sansa Stark and Theon Greyjoy. “I want to fight for Winterfell, Lady Sansa./news/holmes-watson-s-failure-shows-how-the-world-is-changing-for-cinematic-comedy.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/holmes-watson-s-failure-shows-how-the-world-is-changing-for-cinematic-comedy.htmlRight now, there’s a new Will Ferrell comedy playing on more than 2,000 screens, and yet it’s barely attracted any attention or commentary. Trailers for Holmes & Watson, a comic take on Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, starring Ferrell and John C. Reilly, were relatively scant. And pre-release buzz was nonexistent, due in part to Sony refusing to screen the movie for critics. The few critics who dutifully slogged out to theaters to cover the movie’s Christmas Day release have no words of encouragement that suggest Holmes & Watson is some overlooked gem./news/honda-prologue-ev-range-battery-and-charging-specs-revealed.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/honda-prologue-ev-range-battery-and-charging-specs-revealed.htmlHonda revealed that the upcoming 2024 Honda Prologue is “expected” to get an EPA-estimated 300 miles of range on a single charge while announcing a slew of new specs for its first all-electric SUV. Built on GM’s Ultium platform, it achieves this range thanks to the 85kWh battery inside, which is the same size as the Chevy Blazer EV. The two vehicles have many similarities inside and out, from the 121./news/how-blade-runner-got-its-name-from-a-dystopian-book-about-health-care.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-blade-runner-got-its-name-from-a-dystopian-book-about-health-care.htmlAs of November 2019, we’ve officially caught up with Blade Runner’s dystopian future. But we’re already ten years past the very different book that inspired its name. Most fans of Ridley Scott’s 1982 film are aware that it’s based on a novel by Philip K. Dick, and that the book is not called Blade Runner. If you pick up Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, you’ll notice the term never appears in it./news/how-the-biggest-decentralized-social-network-is-dealing-with-its-nazi-problem.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-the-biggest-decentralized-social-network-is-dealing-with-its-nazi-problem.htmlOver the past few years, Mastodon has become the model for a friendlier kind of social network, promising to keep out the hateful or ugly content that proliferates on larger and more centralized networks. Journalists hailed it as “Twitter without Nazis” and for years, it’s generally lived up to that promise. But last week, the social network Gab migrated to Mastodon — and Mastodon’s admins have been forced to deal with the internet’s Nazi problem head-on./news/how-to-add-instagram-close-friends.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-add-instagram-close-friends.htmlFor the first few years of Instagram’s existence, it was a pain to hide Stories from people. You had to dig into an individual Story’s settings and select followers to hide it from. Then, if you wanted to let those followers see the next Story, you had to go into that Story’s settings and undo the block. But in 2018, Instagram launched the close friends feature, which makes it much easier to share content with a limited group./news/how-to-find-your-forgotten-gmail-accounts.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-find-your-forgotten-gmail-accounts.htmlLast May, Google announced it was planning to delete any accounts that hadn’t been used in two years (with a few exceptions, such as accounts that have YouTube videos). And sure enough, about two months after that, I got an email from Google warning me that accounts that have not been accessed for two years will indeed be eligible for deletion starting on December 1st, 2023. I’ve been wandering around Google’s apps for some time now, and it occurred to me that I could have Google accounts I haven’t used for years — and which, if I didn’t check them, might have content I’d want to save./news/how-to-improve-the-quality-of-the-audio-in-your-streaming-apps.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-improve-the-quality-of-the-audio-in-your-streaming-apps.htmlWhen you load your music streaming app of choice onto your mobile device, your audio quality settings are worth taking a minute or two to configure. If you don’t have these set to as high a quality as possible, you’re missing out on the best audio experience your streaming apps can offer. Because they are managed separately for streaming music over cell and Wi-Fi networks and for downloading tracks to your device for offline listening, there is a tradeoff./news/how-to-pick-a-new-monitor-for-working-from-home.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-pick-a-new-monitor-for-working-from-home.htmlThe shift to remote work has sent millions scrambling to improve their home office. There are many ways to do this, but the most important upgrade is the most obvious: the monitor.  A monitor is key. You’ll use it hour after hour, day after day, year after year. Monitors even have the audacity to resist obsolescence, so the monitor you buy today might be the one you’re still using in a decade./news/how-to-set-up-an-ipad-for-web-development.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-set-up-an-ipad-for-web-development.htmlA few months ago, I detailed my process for setting up a Pixelbook to code on. It wasn’t easy or simple or straightforward, but it worked in the end: I had all the power and flexibility of Linux, access to my favorite code editor (VS Code), and, of course, the slick web browsing experience that Chromebooks are known for. Around that same time, I attempted to set up an iPad for coding./news/how-to-trade-in-your-old-android-phones.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-trade-in-your-old-android-phones.htmlWhether you want to go with Samsung, Google, or a different manufacturer, trading in your old Android phone — or selling it — is a smart way to do that, especially since there are those who will decide instead to buy a lightly used phone from an older generation that will suit their needs without breaking the bank. If you’ve got an older model and are ready for an upgrade, here are a few steps to take in order to get your device ready to sell, followed by how much cash you can expect to earn back./news/hp-elite-dragonfly-chromebook-review-incredible-with-one-big-problem.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hp-elite-dragonfly-chromebook-review-incredible-with-one-big-problem.htmlThere is not much I need to say about the HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook that has not already been evident from the leaks, announcements, and general hype surrounding this thing. It is a beautiful device. It’s fast, with enterprise-grade specs — one of the first Chromebooks, in fact, to support Intel’s vPro platform. And yet, the exceptional nature of the chassis really lays bare, more so than any other device I’ve tested this year, one of the biggest complaints I have about the current Chromebook space: ChromeOS./news/huawei-put-a-7-inch-screen-on-its-latest-smartphone.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/huawei-put-a-7-inch-screen-on-its-latest-smartphone.htmlHuawei is introducing a new phone in its Honor Note series, and this model is coming with the line’s biggest screen yet: just a touch under seven inches. Back in an ancient smartphone era of, I guess, 2013 or like two years ago, that size was considered a tablet. The Honor Note 10 isn’t the first phone to breach the 7-inch mark — it isn’t even the first phone from Huawei to do so — but it is another sign that phones aren’t going to stop growing, especially now that manufacturers are better than ever at slimming down their bezels, making these mammoths take up less space than they have in the past./news/i-expect-you-to-die-2-review-the-most-fun-i-ve-had-solving-puzzles-this-year.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/i-expect-you-to-die-2-review-the-most-fun-i-ve-had-solving-puzzles-this-year.htmlYou’re not really a secret agent until you put on a funny hat and fake mustache while you’re trying to stop an evil conglomerate from filling a theater with poison gas. At least, that’s what I Expect You To Die 2 posits, and I think it’s about right. I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and The Liar is a sequel to one of the first hit virtual reality titles, which was released by Schell Games in 2016 for first-gen VR headsets./news/i-want-a-smart-visor-to-block-out-the-sun-because-i-lose-all-my-sunglasses.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/i-want-a-smart-visor-to-block-out-the-sun-because-i-lose-all-my-sunglasses.htmlThere’s something called a “Visual Visor” here at CES. It comes from Bosch, and it can detect when there’s sunlight shining on your face, directly into your eyes, and block out the rays. It’s designed to keep your vision clear while you drive without you having to move the visor around and potentially block your view of the road. The visor, which is just a transparent LCD with 166 hexagonal pixels, relies on an RGB camera and a proprietary algorithm to shade your eyes./news/iconic-wright-brothers-photo-was-photographer-s-first.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/iconic-wright-brothers-photo-was-photographer-s-first.htmlMore than a century ago, a man named John T. Daniels photographed the most iconic moment in aviation history, when he captured the Wright brothers' first flight in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. History remembers Daniels as an "amateur photographer," but as PetaPixel explains, that's something of an understatement. Because although his black-and-white image is now widely recognized as the world's first photograph of manned flight, what's lesser known is the fact that it was also the first photo Daniels had ever taken./news/in-resurrection-s-first-trailer-rebecca-hall-is-steadily-losing-her-mind.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/in-resurrection-s-first-trailer-rebecca-hall-is-steadily-losing-her-mind.htmlOf all the movies I watched at the Sundance Film Festival this year, the one that stuck with me the most is Resurrection. That’s mostly because of just how intense and unsettling the film is — and now you can get a taste of that via the first teaser trailer. Resurrection stars Rebecca Hall as a woman whose well-ordered life is upended after a former partner (Tim Roth) unexpectedly appears. In some ways, it’s a standard thriller, with pressure steadily mounting on Hall’s character until it’s almost too much to take./news/instagram-is-testing-unskippable-ads-that-you-can-t-scroll-past.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/instagram-is-testing-unskippable-ads-that-you-can-t-scroll-past.htmlInstagram is testing “ad breaks” that force you to stop and look at an ad for a period of time before you can continue scrolling. Several X and Reddit users reported seeing the feature, and Instagram spokesperson Matthew Tye confirmed to The Verge that ad breaks are being tested. Tye said Instagram would “provide updates should this test result in any formal product changes.” One Redditor spotted the feature when scrolling through stories and posts./news/intel-doubles-the-speed-of-next-generation-thunderbolt-interface.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/intel-doubles-the-speed-of-next-generation-thunderbolt-interface.htmlIntel today announced that the next version of its Thunderbolt interface will support 20Gbps transfers, twice the speed of the current 10Gbps interface. The extra bandwidth allows for 4K video to simultaneously be streamed across the interface the simultaneous displaying of 4K video and sending of 4K video files at the interface's full speed, and its initial production is set to begin later this year. The company also debuted an updated version of its current Thunderbolt interface that adds DisplayPort 1./news/io-interactive-to-bundle-hitman-1-2-and-3-into-a-single-game.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/io-interactive-to-bundle-hitman-1-2-and-3-into-a-single-game.htmlIO Interactive is drastically changing how players will purchase its Hitman games. Instead of offering Hitman 1–3 individually, the developer has announced it will bundle all three games together in a single package that will be named Hitman World of Assassination. “HITMAN 3 will become ‘HITMAN World of Assassination’, which will also include access to HITMAN 1 and HITMAN 2 through our existing Access Pass system,” IO wrote on its website./news/ios-17-1-2-and-ipados-17-1-2-are-out-with-some-important-security-fixes.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ios-17-1-2-and-ipados-17-1-2-are-out-with-some-important-security-fixes.htmliOS 17.1.2 and iPadOS 17.1.2 are out with some important security fixes. The updates fix two WebKit vulnerabilities that “may have been exploited against versions of iOS before iOS 16.7.1,” according to an Apple support page. macOS Sonoma 14.1.2 is out, too, with fixes for the same vulnerabilities. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2tfZn5wf49oaWxxaGiBd4COoqasZWFsenJ5kWaYp5xdnr2isM6sZGpvXWZ6c3nAq5xmp6Wperi106FkrKedmnqquc%2Boqa2Znql6tLHCrqmirKlis6rExKw%3D/news/iphone-6s-has-twice-as-much-ram-as-iphone-6-teardown-confirms.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/iphone-6s-has-twice-as-much-ram-as-iphone-6-teardown-confirms.htmlWhenever Apple announces a new iPhone, there are certain things the company keeps secret for one reason or another. RAM is one of those things — year after year, Apple simply refuses to officially comment on how much memory its phones have to work with. Thankfully, all it takes is an iPhone and a few tools to see exactly what changes Apple has made. The first teardowns are in, and now we can see what little secrets lie within the iPhone 6S./news/it-s-on-sight-between-ali-wong-and-steven-yeun-in-beef-s-first-trailer.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/it-s-on-sight-between-ali-wong-and-steven-yeun-in-beef-s-first-trailer.htmlFor many people, the waves of rage that take hold whenever someone cuts them off in traffic come as quickly as they go, but that could not be further from the truth for the aggrieved strangers in the first trailer for Netflix and A24’s upcoming series Beef from Lee Sung Jin starring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun. Before the pair first meets one fateful day, neither Danny Cho (Yeun) nor Amy Lau (Wong) have any way of knowing just how hopeless, burned out, and adrift the other is feeling about their personal lives./news/kojima-productions-ham-fisted-cover-up-helps-to-confirm-overdose-leak.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/kojima-productions-ham-fisted-cover-up-helps-to-confirm-overdose-leak.htmlHenderson’s report goes on to highlight details of the leaked footage he received from the game that apparently features Death Stranding’s Margaret Qualley. Henderson describes Qualley, who played the bespectacled Mama in Death Stranding, running through a dark hallway with a flashlight. There’s a jump scare, then the screen cuts to text that says “GAMEOVER.” Henderson later tweeted that his interaction with Kojima Productions wasn’t antagonistic, and they were “very understanding all things considered./news/listen-to-these-wild-sounds-nasa-recorded-from-jupiter-s-moon.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/listen-to-these-wild-sounds-nasa-recorded-from-jupiter-s-moon.htmlNASA unveiled a 50-second audio clip from Juno’s Ganymede flyby at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meeting on Friday. Generated from data captured on June 7th during the spacecraft’s closest approach yet to Ganymede, the sound, similar to a robot or dial-up modem, is the latest fascinating return from the Juno mission’s years-long exploration of the Solar System’s largest gas giant and its moons. The audio comes from data gathered using Juno’s Waves instrument, designed to measure radio and plasma waves detected in Jupiter’s magnetosphere, the bubble of charged particles that envelop the gas giant./news/logitech-is-acquiring-blue-microphones-for-117-million-in-cash.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/logitech-is-acquiring-blue-microphones-for-117-million-in-cash.htmlLogitech is making a big purchase to secure a foothold in high-end audio recording. Tonight, the company announced that it’s acquiring Blue Microphones for $117 million. The all-cash transaction will result in Blue, known for USB condenser microphones including the Snowball and Yeti, joining Logitech’s existing portfolio of brands. Aside from Logitech and Logitech G, the company also owns Astro Gaming, Jaybird, and Ultimate Ears. Yeah, it’s putting together quite the roster./news/lore-of-thrones-diving-into-jon-snow-s-history-lesson-from-this-week-s-game-of-thrones.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lore-of-thrones-diving-into-jon-snow-s-history-lesson-from-this-week-s-game-of-thrones.htmlHBO’s Game of Thrones is a dense series with a huge weight of history behind its story, so in practically every episode, something happens that could use a little explanation. So every week, The Verge will be diving into a scene or event from the latest installment of the series and explain how we got here. Whether you’re basically a Game of Thrones maester or you need a little reminder about previous events, we’ll try to help you keep your history straight./news/mailchimp-cancels-pineapple-street-studios-podcast-after-refusing-to-work-with-union-producers.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/mailchimp-cancels-pineapple-street-studios-podcast-after-refusing-to-work-with-union-producers.htmlThis is Hot Pod, The Verge’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more. Mailchimp, one of the podcast industry’s best-known sponsors, recently reached out to Pineapple Street Studios about making a new show. Pineapple and Mailchimp first collaborated in 2019, producing narrative ads for Mailchimp and branded series. So given their longstanding relationship, Pineapple Street staff were shocked when management at their parent company, the radio giant Audacy, informed them at a meeting on October 3rd that the new Mailchimp contract required all work on the series to be performed by non-union workers./news/mastodon-puts-trump-s-social-network-on-notice-for-improperly-using-its-code.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/mastodon-puts-trump-s-social-network-on-notice-for-improperly-using-its-code.htmlMastodon has sent former President Donald Trump’s company a formal notification that it’s breaking the rules by using Mastodon’s open-source code to build its social network, named Truth. This news comes from a blog post by Mastodon’s founder Eugen Rochko, but others have previously pointed out that the organization behind Truth, the Trump Media and Technology Group (or TMTG), was violating Mastodon’s software license by not providing the source code for the site built on top of it./news/meta-s-new-quest-plus-subscription-gets-you-two-free-vr-games-per-month.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/meta-s-new-quest-plus-subscription-gets-you-two-free-vr-games-per-month.htmlMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg just announced Quest Plus, the company’s new “virtual reality subscription” that gives users access to “the best titles on the platform,” he said. “With a combination of VR’s biggest hits, hidden gems, and back-catalog classics, this is the most affordable way to grow your library with killer content,” Meta wrote in a blog post about the subscription. A video from Meta notes that Quest Plus subscribers will get “two titles every month,” which should feel like a familiar perk if you pay for services like PlayStation Plus that also give free titles to subscribers./news/metroid-dread-review-moody-cryptic-and-frequently-frustrating.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/metroid-dread-review-moody-cryptic-and-frequently-frustrating.htmlFrom the very beginning, Metroid has been about feeling alone. The games typically drop players on a harsh alien world, stripped of most of their abilities and with little guidance on how to survive and escape. When it works, it’s incredible; there’s a good reason why the series spawned an entire genre of 2D exploration games. Even with a host of modern contemporaries, there’s still something about Metroid’s particular blend of sci-fi solitude that remains distinct./news/microsoft-is-bringing-its-swiftkey-keyboard-to-windows-10.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-is-bringing-its-swiftkey-keyboard-to-windows-10.htmlMicrosoft is planning to bring its SwiftKey keyboard to Windows 10 later this year. The software giant has started testing SwiftKey in its public beta program for Windows 10 testers. The keyboard includes autocorrections and predictions just like on iOS and Android, and it will power the touch keyboard when Windows 10 devices are used in tablet mode. The latest Windows 10 preview, codenamed Redstone 5, includes access to SwiftKey in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian./news/microsoft-paint-is-getting-killed-off-in-the-windows-10-fall-creators-update.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-paint-is-getting-killed-off-in-the-windows-10-fall-creators-update.htmlThe era of Microsoft Paint appears to be coming to an end with the upcoming release of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. The image-editing application is officially being classified by Microsoft as a “deprecated feature,” as noted by The Guardian. That means that, come this fall, Paint will “not be in active development and might be removed in future releases.” Paint has long been a mainstay of Windows Paint has long been a mainstay of Windows, dating back to a 1-bit monochrome version of the program released alongside Windows 1./news/microsoft-surface-pro-x-2020-review-arm-gets-more-muscle.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-surface-pro-x-2020-review-arm-gets-more-muscle.htmlWhat a difference a year makes. I loved the Surface Pro X design when I pitted it against the Surface Pro 7 last year, but in practice this ARM-powered device wasn’t quite ready. I couldn’t install a bunch of apps I use daily, and even Microsoft’s own Chromium Edge browser wasn’t available. I had to rely on an emulated version of Chrome that ran poorly, and just give up on getting some of my favorite apps to work./news/microsoft-to-permanently-close-all-of-its-retail-stores.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-to-permanently-close-all-of-its-retail-stores.htmlMicrosoft is giving up on physical retail. Today the company announced plans to permanently close all Microsoft Store locations in the United States and around the world, except for four locations that will be “reimagined” as experience centers that no longer sell products. Those locations are New York City (Fifth Ave), London (Oxford Circus), Sydney (Westfield Sydney), and the Redmond campus location. The London store only just opened about a year ago./news/microsoft-won-t-stop-you-installing-windows-11-on-older-pcs.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-won-t-stop-you-installing-windows-11-on-older-pcs.htmlMicrosoft is announcing that it won’t block people from installing Windows 11 on most older PCs. While the software maker has recommended hardware requirements for Windows 11 — which it’s largely sticking to — a restriction to install the OS will only be enforced when you try to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 through Windows Update. This means anyone with a PC with an older CPU that doesn’t officially pass the upgrade test can still go ahead and download an ISO file of Windows 11 and install the OS manually./news/microsoft-s-unified-copilot-is-coming-to-windows-edge-and-everywhere-else.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-s-unified-copilot-is-coming-to-windows-edge-and-everywhere-else.htmlToday, Microsoft announced a new unified Copilot experience in Windows 11, launching on September 26th. The new “everyday AI companion,” now called Microsoft Copilot in Windows, will be “seamlessly available across all the apps and experiences you use most,” including the Windows 11 desktop, Microsoft 365, Outlook, the Edge browser, and (uh) Bing. During the event, Yusuf Mehdi, consumer chief marketing officer, called Copilot “a handshake between you and technology — available when you need it and out of the way when you don’t./news/more-cancer-causing-chemicals-found-in-electronic-cigarettes.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/more-cancer-causing-chemicals-found-in-electronic-cigarettes.htmlThe vapor from electronic cigarettes contains two previously unidentified chemicals that can cause cancer, according to a new study. The new research, published in Environmental Science & Technology, also shows that levels of harmful chemicals vary between e-cigs. Researchers in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory used two different electronic cigarettes and simulated vaping at different battery power settings. Then they analyzed the e-cigs’ vapor. They found that the vaporizers released 31 harmful chemicals, including two possibly cancer-causing compounds that had never been previously found in e-cig vapor./news/more-than-one-person-can-now-use-google-tv.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/more-than-one-person-can-now-use-google-tv.htmlOne of the big features that shipped with the Chromecast with Google TV in late-2020 was its namesake Google TV software and dashboard. Google’s latest attempt at putting its services in front of your eyeballs while watching TV was a launcher that put personalization and smart recommendations at the forefront, as long as you’re a one-person household, of course. Google TV only supported one user profile, and after later adding kid profiles so you don’t have to subject yourself to endless Baby Shark-adjacent recommendations, Google promised to support more profiles./news/neeva-once-a-promising-competitor-to-google-search-is-shutting-down.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/neeva-once-a-promising-competitor-to-google-search-is-shutting-down.htmlNeeva, which for a while looked like one of the startups with a real chance to challenge the supremacy of Google Search, announced on Saturday that it is shutting down its search engine. The company says it’s pivoting to AI — and may be acquired by Snowflake, The Information reported — but mostly seems to believe it failed. “Building search engines is hard,” Neeva co-founders Sridhar Ramaswamy and Vivek Raghunathan wrote in a blog post announcing the shutdown./news/netflix-warns-against-bird-box-challenge-as-dangerous-trend-goes-viral.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-warns-against-bird-box-challenge-as-dangerous-trend-goes-viral.htmlNetflix has warned fans against participating in a potentially dangerous online challenge that’s inspired by its recent original horror film Bird Box. The challenge takes the core concept of Bird Box — wearing a blindfold at all times while wandering around outside — and applies it to a certain period of time. Some people, like YouTube creator Morgan Adams, have tried to go about their daily lives for 24 hours while blindfolded, while others have attempted the challenge for a shorter period./news/no-appearance-from-bts-this-year-instead-we-get-txt.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/no-appearance-from-bts-this-year-instead-we-get-txt.htmlNo appearance from BTS this year, instead we get TXT. Somewhere in Seoul, I think our former laptop reviewer Monica Chin is fangirling. BTS is still mostly going through their military service, but K-pop stars making an appearance at Unpacked is a time-honored Samsung tradition. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfbHxyfI5ra2pxZWuBc3vNqGSaqKCarrOtzZycZp6ipLpurtOsZK2gmah6urHAq2SipqOpsqKwjLCcZp%2BVqXq1xNM%3D/news/nokia-says-it-s-up-to-something-with-picture-of-mysterious-black-box.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nokia-says-it-s-up-to-something-with-picture-of-mysterious-black-box.htmlNokia promised it was about to resurrect its brand on new products imminently, and it looks like we'll see the first device tomorrow. In a cryptic tweet from Nokia's official Twitter account, the company hints that it's "up to something" to coincide with Finland's Slush conference tomorrow. An image accompanying the tweet is simply a mysterious black box furnished with a Nokia logo. All will be revealed tomorrow morning when Nokia’s product business head, Sebastian Nystrom, presents a "/news/nsync-makes-it-official-on-spotify-and-apple-music-it-s-gonna-be-may.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nsync-makes-it-official-on-spotify-and-apple-music-it-s-gonna-be-may.htmlToday is April 30th, which means in the modern Gregorian calendar system — and in the immortal, misquoted words of NSYNC member Justin Timberlake — it’s gonna be May tomorrow. And to celebrate the occasion, NSYNC appears to have taken the extra step of changing the name of the band’s hit song “It’s Gonna Be Me,” from their 2000 album No Strings Attached to “It’s Gonna Be May” across streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music (via Ben Newton on Twitter)./news/one-of-net-neutrality-s-top-foes-retires-from-at-t-amid-michael-cohen-scandal.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/one-of-net-neutrality-s-top-foes-retires-from-at-t-amid-michael-cohen-scandal.htmlFacts around AT&T & Michael Cohen • In early 2017, as President Trump was taking office, AT&T hired several consultants to help us understand how the President and his administration might approach a wide range of policy issues important to the company, including regulatory reform at the FCC, tax reform, and antitrust enforcement, specifically our Time Warner deal. Companies often hire political consultants, especially at the beginning of a new presidential administration, and we have done so in previous administrations./news/openai-pulls-its-scarlett-johansson-like-voice-for-chatgpt.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/openai-pulls-its-scarlett-johansson-like-voice-for-chatgpt.htmlOpenAI is pulling the ChatGPT voice that sounds remarkably similar to Scarlett Johansson after numerous headlines (and even Saturday Night Live) noted the similarity. The voice, known as Sky, is now being put on “pause,” the company says. “We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity’s distinctive voice— Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice,” OpenAI wrote this morning./news/paramount-s-rumored-merger-all-the-news-on-the-potential-deals.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/paramount-s-rumored-merger-all-the-news-on-the-potential-deals.htmlParamount and Skydance are even closer to making a deal. Yesterday, the NYT said there were discussions of entering exclusive talks, and now multiple outlets report the companies have entered a 30-day exclusive negotiating window. Bloomberg even says, “Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, has reached a tentative agreement to sell her stake to Skydance.” The hold up now is apparently the second step of Paramount and Skydance reaching a merger agreement./news/peloton-co-founder-tom-cortese-is-stepping-down.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/peloton-co-founder-tom-cortese-is-stepping-down.htmlTom Cortese, Peloton co-founder and chief product officer, is stepping down from his role. In a press release shared on Tuesday, Peloton says it will replace Cortese with former Twitter executive Nick Caldwell. “After nearly 12 years of pouring myself into Peloton and serving our Members, I have decided it is time to move on and create space for new perspectives,” Cortese says. “I’m eager for new growth for Peloton and for me personally, but I’m also excited to support and watch this next phase of Peloton’s evolution./news/periscope-will-ask-flash-juries-of-viewers-to-vote-on-whether-comments-are-abusive.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/periscope-will-ask-flash-juries-of-viewers-to-vote-on-whether-comments-are-abusive.htmlIn a novel step to curb harassment on its platform, Periscope said today it would ask viewers of live-streaming broadcasts to evaluate comments that other viewers report as abusive. An update rolling out today will convene "flash juries" of randomly selected viewers whenever a fellow viewer reports a comment for being abusive or spam. Jurors vote with a single tap, and if a majority of jurors find the comment guilty, it disappears — and the offending commenter is given a 60-second timeout from further commenting./news/pirated-copies-of-the-sims-4-are-creating-pixelated-works-of-art.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pirated-copies-of-the-sims-4-are-creating-pixelated-works-of-art.htmlIf you pirated Grand Theft Auto IV, the camera would wobble and shake uncontrollably — a perpetual state of drunkenness. If you tried to download Guster MP3s from Kazaa in the early 2000s, all the vocals would be replaced with meows. Now add The Sims 4 to the list of entertainingly bizarre anti-piracy (intentional or otherwise). Reports are coming in that torrented copies of Electronic Arts' latest life simulator will permanently pixelate your character, which happens normally when you take a shower but not when you, say, try to play guitar or eat a sandwich./news/pixel-2-xl-teardown-shows-how-its-squeezable-sides-work.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pixel-2-xl-teardown-shows-how-its-squeezable-sides-work.htmlThe Pixel 2 comes out today, and so of course iFixit has torn open the first unit it could find to let us see what’s going on inside. The site published its inside look at the Pixel 2 XL this morning, and while there aren’t a ton of surprises to be found (the camera module is pretty large; Google is hiding a secret chip), cracking open the phone does reveal one thing we didn’t know a ton about: how the Pixel’s Active Edge feature actually works./news/pocket-casts-is-making-its-podcast-app-free-and-launching-a-subscription-service.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pocket-casts-is-making-its-podcast-app-free-and-launching-a-subscription-service.htmlPocket Casts, a popular podcast app, is changing up its money-making strategy and launching a subscription service. The company previously charged users between $4 and $10 to download the app, depending on the OS and platform. The app will now be free, but users will have the option to pay $0.99 per month, or $10 per year, for a premium service. The subscription service, called Pocket Casts Plus, includes access to desktop apps, exclusive app icons and themes, and 10GB of cloud storage for people who want to upload their audio and video content./news/pok%C3%A9mon-legends-z-a-teased-for-2025-release.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pok%C3%A9mon-legends-z-a-teased-for-2025-release.htmlThe big news out of today’s Pokémon Presents is that the next major Pokémon game is in the works — and it’s launching next year. There aren’t many details yet, but the game is called Pokémon Legends: Z-A (yes, that’s the real title), and it takes place in Lumiose City, where 2013’s Pokémon X and Y were set. The game is expected to launch in 2025 with a simultaneous global release, and it’s coming to the Nintendo Switch./news/pok%C3%A9mon-sleep-is-now-available-in-the-us-on-android-and-ios.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pok%C3%A9mon-sleep-is-now-available-in-the-us-on-android-and-ios.htmlPokémon Sleep, the app that aims to designate Pikachu as your certified sleep neurologist, is now available in the United States. The app was announced way back in 2019, suffered a four-year delay, and is now quietly rolling out all over the world. Earlier this week, Pokémon Sleep arrived in Canada, allowing my boss, Andrew Webster, to try it out before me (to my great envy, I might add). He’ll have more words for you on the app soon./news/qhd-screens-might-be-the-best-thing-to-happen-to-gaming-laptops-in-2021.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/qhd-screens-might-be-the-best-thing-to-happen-to-gaming-laptops-in-2021.htmlOne of the biggest announcements at CES 2021 seemed to come and go without much fanfare. Overshadowed by Nvidia’s debut of its RTX 3000-series graphics chips for laptops, you might have missed hearing that a growing number of manufacturers are finally building fast-refreshing QHD screens into their portable gaming machines. Standalone QHD (1440p) monitors are a popular choice for discerning gamers who use desktop computers for several reasons. First, the displays are often more affordable and feature-packed than most 4K monitors while looking nearly as good./news/radius-starts-with-an-unbeatable-science-fantasy-premise-then-gets-weird.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/radius-starts-with-an-unbeatable-science-fantasy-premise-then-gets-weird.htmlWelcome to Cheat Sheet, our brief breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review was first posted out of Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. It is being republished to coincide with the film’s release on Amazon Prime Video. One of the serious advantages to smaller, indie speculative-fiction movies is that you generally don’t know what you’re getting up front. In today’s anticipation culture, websites often drool over every possible detail and reveal about the bigger nerd-friendly properties./news/reddit-demands-moderators-remove-nsfw-labels-or-else.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/reddit-demands-moderators-remove-nsfw-labels-or-else.htmlMany communities on Reddit have used the NSFW (Not Safe For Work) designation in some form to protest Reddit’s new API pricing, which forced apps like Apollo and rif is fun for Reddit to shut down, as well as a recent pattern of behavior toward its unpaid volunteer moderators that they find “threatening.” Subreddits, including r/PICS and r/military, had made the NSFW switch, pointing to language from Reddit websites to justify the change./news/reddit-has-restored-services-after-major-outage.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/reddit-has-restored-services-after-major-outage.htmlReddit says it has “restored services” after a major outage that, depending on the situation, stopped posts and comments from loading. I had observed a few different issues. When logged out, I couldn’t see any posts or comments at all; I would just get an error message or a blank page under the Reddit search bar. When logged in on an account that’s not on the old Reddit layout, posts loaded on the homepage, but when I clicked into a post from the homepage, comments didn’t./news/reddit-vs-wall-street-the-latest-in-the-gamestop-saga.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/reddit-vs-wall-street-the-latest-in-the-gamestop-saga.htmlRobinhood has announced that, beginning on Friday, January 29th, it will allow “limited buys” on restricted stocks, potentially signaling the end of a brutal day-long hold on GameStop, AMC, BlackBerry, Nokia, and other stocks. “Starting tomorrow, we plan to allow limited buys of these securities,” the company said in a blog post. “We’ll continue to monitor the situation and may make adjustments as needed.” The company’s statement does not elaborate on how limited purchases will be for GameStop and the other restricted stocks./news/reddit-winds-down-dubsmash-but-its-video-creation-tools-live-on.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/reddit-winds-down-dubsmash-but-its-video-creation-tools-live-on.htmlReddit will shut down its short-form video platform, Dubsmash, on February 22nd, 2022. After February, the app will no longer be available on apps stores and will stop functioning on devices that already have the app. A competitor to TikTok, Dubsmash was acquired by Reddit late last year with the purpose of embedding its video creation tools into the larger platform. Now that the integration is nearing completion, Reddit is introducing a slew of new video creation tools to its own TikTok-like video feed, courtesy of the Dubsmash team that came over with the buyout./news/removing-the-music-makes-the-firestarter-video-even-creepier.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/removing-the-music-makes-the-firestarter-video-even-creepier.htmlThe Prodigy's video for seminal '90s dance hit Firestarter was always unsettling. But remove the music, replace the siren-like samples, and strip away the cycling bass loop, and you're left with something even weirder. By turns hilarious and somehow creepier than the original video, Mario Wienerroither's "Musicless Musicvideo" scores Keith Flint's restless underground jittering with the sound of shuffling, sneezing, and unexpected subway trains. Wienerroither has also produced musicless videos for Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, and Queen's I Want To Break Free, but the most popular take on the concept so far has been YouTube user Moto2h's 2012 version of Gangnam Style./news/riot-confirms-it-s-making-a-league-of-legends-mmo.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/riot-confirms-it-s-making-a-league-of-legends-mmo.htmlLeague of Legends developer Riot Games is working on a massively multiplayer online (MMO) roleplaying game in the League universe, Riot’s VP of IP and entertainment, Greg Street, tweeted on Thursday. “My recent job at Riot has been to help develop the League universe, which we’re going to need!” Street said. “My new job is to kick off a big (some might say massive) game that many of you, and many Rioters, have been asking us to create./news/samsung-s-fridge-of-the-future-will-let-you-check-spoilage-from-your-phone.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-fridge-of-the-future-will-let-you-check-spoilage-from-your-phone.htmlAccording to the Korean announcement, the device's most interesting feature is an embedded camera keeping an eye on what's in the fridge, accessible through remote apps or the touchscreen tablet built into the fridge's right door. The fridge will also have sophisticated humidity and temperature sensors, which are also accessible through the fridge's network hub. Having those components in the same place lets Samsung try out some interesting features. The camera is designed to help monitor spoilage, letting you eye a particular bowl of leftovers without opening the door./news/samsung-s-5g-a71-will-release-in-the-us-starting-on-june-19th.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-5g-a71-will-release-in-the-us-starting-on-june-19th.htmlSamsung’s Galaxy A71 5G, which sits at the top of its midrange A-series lineup, will launch in the US starting on June 19th, the company announced today. Initially, the handset will be available from T-Mobile, Sprint, and Samsung.com, and AT&T says that it will have the phone available in its stores on July 10th. Samsung says that the phone will be coming to Verizon and other carriers later this summer along with an Unlocked by Samsung model./news/samsung-s-galaxy-buds-2-pro-are-at-a-new-low-price-of-154.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-galaxy-buds-2-pro-are-at-a-new-low-price-of-154.htmlEarly Black Friday deals keep coming in hard and fast, with one of the latest dropping Samsung’s flagship earbuds to a new low. The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro in all three colors are selling for $154 ($75 off) at Wellbots. The noise-canceling earbuds offer some fancy extras when paired with a Galaxy phone, like spatial audio head tracking and auto device switching among Samsung gadgets. But even if you don’t have a phone made by Samsung, the Bluetooth buds offer a fairly light and comfy fit with 24-bit audio and IPX7 water and sweat resistance./news/samsung-s-galaxy-view-2-is-a-portable-tv-that-happens-to-be-a-tablet.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-galaxy-view-2-is-a-portable-tv-that-happens-to-be-a-tablet.htmlThe Samsung Galaxy View 2 is a new 17-inch 1080p tablet that’s being sold by AT&T, reports Engadget. Its size means that it’s essentially a portable TV that happens to be an Android tablet. AT&T is no doubt hoping you’ll use it to watch the company’s upcoming streaming service, or else its existing, and increasingly embattled, DirecTV Now service. As the name implies, this isn’t Samsung’s first attempt at a weird TV / tablet hybrid./news/samsung-s-new-ai-enabled-smart-fridge-can-design-recipes-for-you.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-new-ai-enabled-smart-fridge-can-design-recipes-for-you.htmlSamsung has a smart fridge in the works for the new year that includes some interesting AI features, including an internal camera that can identify individual food items and a connected app that can suggest recipes based on what you have in stock. The company plans to unveil the 2024 Bespoke 4-Door Flex Refrigerator with AI Family Hub Plus at CES next year. Users can mirror the display of their Galaxy phones to the 32-inch Family Hub touchscreen, and there are even separate apps for TikTok and YouTube videos./news/scientists-make-cheese-from-human-toe-jam.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/scientists-make-cheese-from-human-toe-jam.htmlEating the coagulated lactations of other animals is one of humanity's stranger habits, but rest assured that cheese derived from cow's, goat's, and sheep's milk has nothing on this. Selfmade is an exhibit that hosts a number of cheeses crafted from cells collected from human bodies. Part art, part science, it's the work of Christina Agapakis and Prof. Sissel Tolaas, who sampled microbes from human mouths, toes, navels, and even tears to craft a set of 11 unique cheeses for Grow Your Own, a synthetic biology exhibition at Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin./news/searching-for-the-dankest-ipod-knockoffs-of-the-mid-2000s.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/searching-for-the-dankest-ipod-knockoffs-of-the-mid-2000s.htmlIn a land of vinyl sickos, Spotify normies, and Winamp elitists, Wade Nixon, the man behind the incredibly popular YouTube channel “DankPods,” stands alone with a pair of MP3-playing Oakley sunglasses. They were manufactured in 2004 at the sizzling zenith of the iPod craze, and they probably would’ve been completely lost to history if Nixon hadn’t snagged them off of eBay as part of his quest to resuscitate the many baffling misfires of the portable music boom./news/shure-announces-aonic-40-wireless-anc-headphones.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/shure-announces-aonic-40-wireless-anc-headphones.htmlShure has expanded its headphone lineup with the release of the new Aonic 40. The Aonic 40 are a set of wireless over-ear headphones with adjustable active noise cancellation, Environment Mode, 40mm composite drivers, USB-C quick charging, and an estimated 25 hours of battery life with ANC turned on. Priced at $249, this new model sits below the current $299 Aonic 50 in Shure’s lineup — which earned a nod in The Verge’s best noise-canceling headphones of 2021 — and shares some features like a user-customizable EQ through the ShurePlus Play app./news/sms-provider-said-168-000-valentine-s-texts-were-delayed-now-it-says-the-number-is-higher.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sms-provider-said-168-000-valentine-s-texts-were-delayed-now-it-says-the-number-is-higher.htmlThe company at fault for the tens of thousands of delayed text messages that were sent out early Thursday morning says that more messages were delayed than it originally believed. Syniverse, the company in question, originally stated that 168,149 messages were delayed. It now says that the number was based on “preliminary data” and that further review shows the message total “is higher than initially reported.” Syniverse didn’t indicate how much higher the number might be or whether it would release final numbers once it had figured out the total./news/snap-prices-its-ipo-at-17-a-share-valuing-the-company-around-24-billion.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/snap-prices-its-ipo-at-17-a-share-valuing-the-company-around-24-billion.htmlSnap, parent company of the popular Snapchat app, will reportedly price its offering at $17 a share, giving it a valuation of $24 billion and putting around $4 billion in cash into its coffers. The company had been hoping to sell around $3 billion worth of stock at around $15 a share, which would have given it a valuation of roughly $21 billion. During its last big round of funding Snapchat was reportedly valued at about $20 billion./news/some-volvos-will-get-a-youtube-app-and-google-assistant-controlled-ac.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/some-volvos-will-get-a-youtube-app-and-google-assistant-controlled-ac.htmlGoogle has announced that cars with its services built-in will be getting the ability to play YouTube videos while parked later this year, starting with Volvo. For those with a V90, XC40 Recharge, or other supported cars, this should make waiting in a parking lot more bearable since you’ll be able to see videos on your car’s built-in screen, which is probably going to be slightly larger and more ergonomic than a phone./news/sony-announces-new-ps5-vr-controllers-with-adaptive-triggers.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-announces-new-ps5-vr-controllers-with-adaptive-triggers.htmlSony is revealing its new VR controllers for the PS5 today. The orb-shaped controllers look more like typical VR controllers than existing PlayStation Move motion controllers, and they also include the same adaptive trigger technology found on the DualSense PS5 controller. Each controller has tensions in the triggers, and Sony is aiming to use this tech in future VR games. The controllers also have haptic feedback, and finger touch detection that will let them detect fingers without having to press areas where you rest your thumb, index, or middle fingers./news/sony-claims-its-new-earbuds-won-t-suffer-battery-drain-problems-like-the-wf-1000xm4.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-claims-its-new-earbuds-won-t-suffer-battery-drain-problems-like-the-wf-1000xm4.htmlAlthough there’s never been a recall or official replacement program, Sony seems well aware of the issue by now. And at least in the United States, customers often have a relatively easy time getting a replacement pair of 1000XM4 earbuds under warranty (or sometimes even out of warranty). Obtaining a new set in other countries can be more of a hassle, however, so ahead of the 1000XM5 announcement, I pressed Sony for answers about whether this model risks sharing any battery longevity concerns./news/sony-ericsson-will-upgrade-entire-xperia-2011-android-line-to-ice-cream-sandwich.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-ericsson-will-upgrade-entire-xperia-2011-android-line-to-ice-cream-sandwich.htmlIt's going be fascinating to see how Ice Cream Sandwich fits on the smaller members of that family, particularly the Mini and Mini Pro, which also have the corner UI enhancement that helps make more efficient use of their relatively cramped 480 x 320 screen resolution. Sony Ericsson says it's working on merging its current Xperia experience with the features of Android 4.0, and further details on timing and availability will be forthcoming "/news/sony-playmemories-online-cloud-storage-launches-in-the-uk-france-and-germany.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-playmemories-online-cloud-storage-launches-in-the-uk-france-and-germany.htmlSony's PlayMemories online storage service is now available in the UK, France, and Germany, allowing users to store up to 5GB of photos and videos in the cloud. From there, they can be accessed by a number of means — the service is integrated into the PlayStation 3, Bravia TVs, and the company's digital photo frames, as well as offering apps for iOS and Android. As the name suggests, there's an online element too, allowing you to organize your images wherever you are./news/spotify-is-losing-its-audiobooks-chief.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/spotify-is-losing-its-audiobooks-chief.htmlSpotify is losing another talk content executive. The Verge has learned that Nir Zicherman, who leads the company’s new audiobook vertical, will be leaving the company this year. He will depart as one of the last remaining executives who built Spotify’s podcasting business. Zicherman co-founded podcast creation and distribution tool Anchor with Michael Mignano, who left Spotify last year. Spotify bought Anchor in 2019 for $150 million, at which point Zicherman and Mignano joined the company’s product division./news/starlink-mini-is-now-available-for-anyone-in-the-us-to-roam.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/starlink-mini-is-now-available-for-anyone-in-the-us-to-roam.htmlThe laptop-sized all-in-one dish can even be powered directly by a USB-PD power source capable of 100W (20V/5A) — that means anywhere from an hour of usage when using a small power bank to a few days when connected to a solar generator. Initially, Starlink Mini was only available as an add-on for current Residential subscribers in the US. Now, just a few weeks since launch, it’s available to a wide spectrum of vanlifers and digital nomads who want to stay connected no matter where they set up shop./news/stoner-cats-nfts-were-unregistered-securities-sec-says.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/stoner-cats-nfts-were-unregistered-securities-sec-says.htmlThe Stoner Cats NFTs, associated with a cartoon including the voice talent of Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher, were actually unregistered securities, the Securities and Exchange Commission said today. The company behind the NFTs, called Stoner Cats 2, paid $1 million in fines and agreed to destroy all of the NFTs in its possession without admitting guilt. This is the second action the SEC has taken against NFTs, and unlike the last one, it may have broad consequences for the industry./news/streamers-who-rely-on-twitch-prime-gaming-subs-are-getting-a-slight-pay-cut.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/streamers-who-rely-on-twitch-prime-gaming-subs-are-getting-a-slight-pay-cut.htmlTwitch is making big monetization changes again in an attempt to make a more sustainable system, lowering earnings in some places and raising them in others. This new batch of changes includes expanding its Partner Plus program and changing the way its integral Twitch Prime Gaming subscription pays out creators. In a blog post, CEO Dan Clancy outlined three major changes coming to the ways streamers make money from Twitch. First, Twitch is eliminating the $100,000 cap on its 70 / 30 revenue split for the platform’s highest-earning creators./news/surface-pro-8-hands-on-new-screen-new-keyboard-new-processors-and-more.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/surface-pro-8-hands-on-new-screen-new-keyboard-new-processors-and-more.htmlWith the new Surface Pro 8, Microsoft has finally gone and done the thing we’ve all been waiting years for: modernized the design of its flagship device. I had a chance to briefly use the new 2-in-1 Windows machine at Microsoft’s San Francisco office yesterday and found much more to like than dislike. The redesign takes cues from the Arm processor-based Surface Pro X, which means it has a larger 13-inch touchscreen and much narrower bezels./news/tears-of-the-kingdom-players-have-made-the-game-into-a-korok-torture-chamber.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tears-of-the-kingdom-players-have-made-the-game-into-a-korok-torture-chamber.htmlTears of the Kingdom has been out over a weekend, and y’all, it’s getting grim out there. While I expected players to get wild and weird with their creations and was totally delighted to see that it only took about 24 hours before the first flame-spouting phallus hit my timeline, players’ creations have taken a decidedly unexpected and concerning dark turn. It’s about the Koroks, you see. As in Breath of the Wild, the twee forest spirits litter the land in remote places and in odd configurations./news/telehealth-startup-cerebral-under-investigation-over-prescriptions-for-controlled-substances.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/telehealth-startup-cerebral-under-investigation-over-prescriptions-for-controlled-substances.htmlMental health startup Cerebral is under investigation by the US Department of Justice over its prescribing of controlled substances like Adderall and Xanax. The company received a grand jury subpoena asking for documents from the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York on May 4, Insider first reported. The company said the same day that it was pausing its prescriptions for controlled substances for new patients. Cerebral offers therapy and counseling for conditions like anxiety, insomnia, and ADHD./news/the-amazon-echo-auto-2nd-gen-is-smaller-but-not-smarter.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-amazon-echo-auto-2nd-gen-is-smaller-but-not-smarter.htmlAmazon’s second-generation Echo Auto is a tiny Echo for your car’s dashboard. It has good microphones, is easy to install and to stow when you’re parked, and provides a simple way to add hands-free music playback to your car stereo if it lacks Bluetooth. But it’s not as smart as your smartphone’s built-in assistant, and unless you already have an ecosystem of Amazon smart home gadgets, it doesn’t make sense for most people, myself included./news/the-best-tv-streaming-service-deals-for-february-2023.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-best-tv-streaming-service-deals-for-february-2023.htmlNow that winter’s cold weather is upon us, a lot of us are spending more time indoors and bingeing movies and shows like The Last of Us, Poker Face, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Wednesday, and House of the Dragon. And while it’s true that most streaming services don’t cost very much, we all know that those monthly subscription fees have a way of adding up in the long run./news/the-button-on-canon-s-image-stabilized-binoculars-unlocked-superhuman-sight.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-button-on-canon-s-image-stabilized-binoculars-unlocked-superhuman-sight.htmlFrom pirates to spies to kid detectives, it’s a common Hollywood trope: hold a simple spyglass or binoculars up to your eyes, and you’ll get a crystal-clear cylindrical picture of what’s going on. That’s horseshit, of course. Unless you’ve got the hands of a surgeon, it’s surprisingly hard to line up eyeballs, multiple pieces of glass, and a faraway subject. Kid Sean was sad to learn that fact. But I’ll never forget the day Teen Sean pressed the magic button that made all the difference: the button atop the image-stabilized binoculars that Canon still sells today./news/the-copyright-fight-over-fortnite-dance-moves-is-back-on.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-copyright-fight-over-fortnite-dance-moves-is-back-on.htmlThe panel held that “poses” are not the only relevant element, and a choreographic work also may include body position, body shape, body actions, transitions, use of space, timing, pauses, energy, canon, motif, contrast, and repetition. The panel concluded that Hanagami plausibly alleged that the creative choices he made in selecting and arranging elements of the choreography—the movement of the limbs, movement of the hands and fingers, head and shoulder movement, and tempo—were substantially similar to the choices Epic made in creating the emote./news/the-imac-pro-is-a-beast-but-it-s-not-for-everybody.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-imac-pro-is-a-beast-but-it-s-not-for-everybody.htmlThe iMac Pro is available to order today, and if you're a Mac user, you're almost surely going to covet it. But for most people, it's a better idea to covet this machine than it is to actually acquire it. It starts at $4,999 and configuring its various options will rocket the price up from there. Apple originally announced the iMac Pro back in June, so if you're in the market for a computer like this, you likely already know most of what I'm about to tell you./news/the-macbook-pro-s-new-force-touch-trackpad-is-great-pity-about-the-name.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-macbook-pro-s-new-force-touch-trackpad-is-great-pity-about-the-name.htmlThe way to impress somebody with Apple's new trackpad is to have them try to click it when the computer is off. Nothing happens, it's just an inert piece of glass with just the tiniest amount of give when you press hard on it. Then boot up the Mac and have them try it again. It feels just like any other trackpad on any other Mac. It feels like a normal click./news/the-massive-car-dealership-outage-could-be-cleared-up-by-july-4th.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-massive-car-dealership-outage-could-be-cleared-up-by-july-4th.htmlCar dealerships hamstrung by outages following two cyberattacks against CDK Global in June might finally be able to use their systems again this week, as the company says it aims to get dealers back online by July 4th. “We are continuing our phased approach to the restoration process and are rapidly bringing dealers live on the Dealer Management System (DMS),” Lisa Finney, a CDK Global spokesperson, says in a statement to The Verge./news/the-old-twitter-was-an-idealist-s-workplace-and-a-naive-business.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-old-twitter-was-an-idealist-s-workplace-and-a-naive-business.htmlnIn the early ’10s, Twitter was at the height of its power. The company had yet to turn a profit, but it had played a crucial role in the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street, which was nearly as effective for recruiting. While it would never reach the scale of its competitors, the platform dominated in terms of cultural and political relevance. Twitter was fast, its reach was far, and its influence was shaping the world in ways that seemed progressive./news/the-only-camera-to-make-it-to-the-moon-and-back-sells-at-auction-for-910-000.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-only-camera-to-make-it-to-the-moon-and-back-sells-at-auction-for-910-000.htmlTerukazu Fujisawa, founder of Japan's Yodobashi Camera retail chain, is the proud new owner of a unique piece of photographic history: a Hasselblad 500 camera that was used on the moon during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971. The Japanese collector won a hotly contested auction with a bid of 550,000 euros, which together with a premium for the auctioneers' expenses brings its total price to 660,000 euros or just over $910,000./news/the-openai-negotiations-are-being-fueled-by-boba-tea-and-mcdonalds.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-openai-negotiations-are-being-fueled-by-boba-tea-and-mcdonalds.htmlThe OpenAI negotiations are being fueled by boba tea and McDonalds. The NYT has been updating its piece on the OpenAI negotiations all day — the paper of record has a reporter staked out in front of the building, so we know what delivery is being ordered. It is very funny that a bunch of people concerned with existential AI risk are ordering McDs! As deliberations continued on Sunday, executives at OpenAI called in resources./news/the-quirks-and-features-of-youtube-car-reviews-with-doug-demuro.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-quirks-and-features-of-youtube-car-reviews-with-doug-demuro.htmlToday I’m talking to Doug DeMuro, one of my all-time favorite YouTubers. Doug’s channel is real simple: he reviews cars. New cars, old cars, weird cars: he drives them, pushes all the buttons, and tells you about their quirks and features, a phrase that is now inextricably linked to Doug in the car community. And last year, Doug expanded beyond YouTube and launched a car auction website called Cars and Bids, which is tightly focused on selling cars made after 1981, something Doug told me he will never change./news/the-rabbit-r1-s-first-software-update-addresses-its-dismal-battery-life.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-rabbit-r1-s-first-software-update-addresses-its-dismal-battery-life.htmlJust a week after its initial launch, the Rabbit R1’s first software update is here — and not a moment too soon. Right on top of the list of improvements in the OTA update is “up to 5x” improved idle battery performance, addressing a major pain point for early R1 adopters. It’s also great news for me, specifically, because my R1 is constantly out of power. Today’s update consists of two parts: an OTA update pushed directly to R1 devices and a cloud update to Rabbit OS./news/the-shift-to-evs-is-slowly-killing-off-am-radio-and-that-s-bad-for-emergency-broadcasts.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-shift-to-evs-is-slowly-killing-off-am-radio-and-that-s-bad-for-emergency-broadcasts.htmlAM radio is under the gun, with more and more automakers discontinuing its use, especially as the industry undergoes a rapid shift to electrification. Lawmakers and regulators are worried that the slow demise of AM radio could make it more difficult to broadcast emergency information during a natural disaster or other related events. But automakers are undeterred and seem determined to sweep AM radio into the dustbin of history. The latest model to hit dealerships without the first-generation radio broadcast technology is the 2024 Ford Mustang, according to Ars Technica, citing Ford Authority./news/the-tsa-has-been-quietly-tracking-american-travelers-who-are-not-on-government-watch-lists.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-tsa-has-been-quietly-tracking-american-travelers-who-are-not-on-government-watch-lists.htmlAccording to a new report from The Boston Globe, federal air marshals are tracking American citizens who are not currently under investigation or on a terrorist watch list by way of a previously unknown Transportation Security Administration (TSA) program. The program is called “Quiet Skies,” which directs federal air marshals to track Americans on domestic flights who may be affiliated with someone on a watch list or whose travel patterns mirror those of suspected terrorist./news/the-uk-will-finally-allow-electric-scooter-rentals-starting-july-4th.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-uk-will-finally-allow-electric-scooter-rentals-starting-july-4th.htmlRented electric scooters will be legal to ride on some British roads starting this Saturday, July 4th, as part of trials to be held in cities around the country. Around 50 councils are reportedly interested in hosting trials. The government said the first trials are expected to commence next week. Privately owned electric scooters will continue to remain illegal to use on public roads. The news was initially reported by BBC News, before the Department for Transport officially made the announcement./news/the-walking-dead-redemption-club-season-7-episode-3-the-cell.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-walking-dead-redemption-club-season-7-episode-3-the-cell.htmlAMC’s The Walking Dead has always had a knack for manipulating its audience, but this year’s hyper-violent season premiere went too far. In fact, it went so far that we canceled our ongoing series The Walking Dead Quitter’s Club, with co-author Bryan Bishop swearing off the show entirely. Now, Nick Statt is trying to change his mind. Instead of tearing the show down, Nick will be finding something to highlight. It might be a subtle change in character, a great action scene, or a new development in a narrative arc./news/the-xbox-series-x-could-launch-on-november-6th.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-xbox-series-x-could-launch-on-november-6th.htmlMicrosoft confirmed this week that the Xbox Series X will launch in November, but the company could be targeting a very specific date: November 6th. While the ongoing coronavirus pandemic may affect Microsoft’s exact launch date for the Xbox Series X, distributors seem to be getting ready for November 6th specifically. An anonymous tipster, who recently purchased an unreleased Xbox Series X controller, sent me an image earlier this week of what is claimed to be the box that these controllers are stored in at distributors./news/this-is-your-desk-on-drugs.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-is-your-desk-on-drugs.htmlIn a music video more dump.fm than slick sound stage, the unearthly electronic musician and media artist Holly Herndon has teamed up with the Japanese director Akihiko Taniguchi to make a mind-bending accompaniment to the composer's latest single, "Chorus." The video, which begins with an uncanny series of echoing mouse-clicks and "move-to-trash" sound effects, rapidly descends into an internet K-hole when its focus shifts first to a badly pixelated girl, then to a series of 3D-rendered desks and laptops, each autonomously surfing the internet and undulating in synchronicity with Herndon's spooky, bass-heavy track./news/this-tiny-wearable-robot-can-zip-your-jacket-for-you.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-tiny-wearable-robot-can-zip-your-jacket-for-you.htmlDARPA's Atlas robot can respond to disasters, and the US Navy's SAFFiR can put out fires, but what about robots that can perform the necessary but mundane tasks of daily life? MIT's Personal Robotics Group is attempting to answer that question with its Sartorial Robotics project, whose goal is to "enhance the social aspects of human-robotic interaction." Autonomous zipper control One of Sartorial Robotics' inventions is the Zipperbot, a small wearable robot capable of opening and closing zippers./news/three-youtube-travel-influencers-die-in-waterfall-accident-in-british-columbia.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/three-youtube-travel-influencers-die-in-waterfall-accident-in-british-columbia.htmlThree Canadian social media celebrities died Tuesday after they were swept over a 100-foot waterfall at Shannon Falls, near Squamish, British Columbia, the CBC reports. Two of the three, Ryker Gamble and Alexey Lyakh, who were two of the creators behind the popular travel YouTube channel High On Life, dove into the pool above the falls in an attempt to save Megan “Mindy” Scraper, Lyakh’s longtime partner, who’d slipped into the water./news/tony-hawk-s-pro-skater-1-2-review-the-perfect-remaster.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tony-hawk-s-pro-skater-1-2-review-the-perfect-remaster.htmlFor developers, revisiting a classic game has always been a tricky proposition. Games tend to age poorly — whether it’s the graphics, controls, or subject matter — and so they’re regularly rereleased in an attempt to update them for modern tastes. It’s a tricky balancing act. Change too much, and the game loses what made it interesting in the first place. Change too little, and it will feel like a relic./news/transportation-the-verge.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/transportation-the-verge.htmlFord’s answer to Texas blackouts: loads of generators on wheels. 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. Product communications director Mike Levine posted a map showing where F-150 trucks generated at least one kilowatt of electricity. Correction: Corrected the spelling of Mike Levine’s name./news/tumblr-is-explicitly-banning-hate-speech-posts-that-celebrate-school-shootings-and-revenge-porn.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tumblr-is-explicitly-banning-hate-speech-posts-that-celebrate-school-shootings-and-revenge-porn.html“It’s on all of us to create a safe, constructive, and empowering environment,” Tumblr writes in its blog post. “Our community guidelines need to reflect the reality of the internet and social media today.” The previous version of the guidelines can still be viewed on GitHub for comparison. “The internet is being exploited by hate groups.” Tumblr struck out words in its hate speech policy that encouraged users to argue with negative speech that “doesn’t rise up to the level of violence or threats of violence” and to only report something if it was “especially heinous./news/twitch-bans-f%C3%A9lix-xqc-lengyel-for-cheating-at-twitch-rivals.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/twitch-bans-f%C3%A9lix-xqc-lengyel-for-cheating-at-twitch-rivals.htmlFélix “xQcOW” Lengyel — former pro Overwatch player and currently one of the top streamers on Twitch — has been temporarily banned from the site for cheating at Twitch Rivals, a site-sponsored tournament series. Lengyel was playing this summer’s breakout smash Fall Guys, when he stream-sniped an opponent live on air and sent them home early. (Stream-sniping is looking at another player’s stream and intentionally griefing them when you happen to queue into a game together./news/twitch-ups-its-underground-music-cred-with-a-boiler-room-partnership.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/twitch-ups-its-underground-music-cred-with-a-boiler-room-partnership.htmlWhen you get an invitation to a Boiler Room show, the directions usually sound something like this: make a right turn at the pot hole, make a left at the abandoned FedEx truck, and crawl under three fences until you see the rusty door on the side of the warehouse. The music platform hosts live events and DJ sets in cities around the world — Barcelona, London, Tel Aviv — from artists like Black Milk and Hudson Mohawke, but the shows are (intentionally) tough to get into./news/twitter-says-source-code-was-leaked-on-github-now-it-s-trying-to-find-the-culprit.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/twitter-says-source-code-was-leaked-on-github-now-it-s-trying-to-find-the-culprit.htmlParts of Twitter’s source code were recently leaked online via GitHub, the New York Times reports, but were taken down after the social media platform filed a DMCA request. The request, which GitHub has published online, notes that the leaked information included “proprietary source code for Twitter’s platform and internal tools.”  The NYT notes that the source code maybe have been public for several months before being removed — the GitHub profile associated with the DMCA takedown lists a single (non-public) code contribution from early January./news/valve-made-a-bite-sized-new-portal-game-for-the-steam-deck.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/valve-made-a-bite-sized-new-portal-game-for-the-steam-deck.htmlAperture Desk Job reimagines the been-there-done-that genre of walking simulators and puts them in the lightning-spanked, endorphin-gorged world of sitting still behind things. You play as an entry-level nobody on their first day at work — your heart full of hope and your legs full of dreams, eager to climb that corporate ladder. But life’s got other plans, and they all involve chairs. Designed as a free playable short for Valve’s new Steam Deck, Desk Job walks you through the handheld’s controls and features, while not being nearly as boring as that sounds./news/valve-says-it-won-t-publish-game-about-raping-women.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/valve-says-it-won-t-publish-game-about-raping-women.htmlOver the past week you may have heard about a game called ‘Rape Day’ coming soon to Steam. Today we’ve decided not to distribute this game on Steam. Given our previous communication around Who Gets To Be On The Steam Store?, we think this decision warrants further explanation. Much of our policy around what we distribute is, and must be, reactionary—we simply have to wait and see what comes to us via Steam Direct./news/verizon-says-the-droid-brand-isn-t-dead-but-it-sure-looks-like-it.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/verizon-says-the-droid-brand-isn-t-dead-but-it-sure-looks-like-it.htmlVerizon is the exclusive US carrier of Motorola’s new Moto Z2 Play, but if you take a close look at the phone, you’ll notice something missing: there’s no Droid branding anywhere. Motorola has been Verizon’s closest partner on the Droid family of products for years. Just take a look at this history. On last year’s Moto phones, the Droid logo had a prominent position right beneath the camera lens. But it’s nowhere to be found on the Moto Z2 Play, and none of the marketing material from Motorola (or Verizon) make any mention of the long-running brand./news/vimeo-s-new-ai-script-generator-will-write-corporate-marketing-filler-in-seconds.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/vimeo-s-new-ai-script-generator-will-write-corporate-marketing-filler-in-seconds.htmlVideo platform Vimeo is integrating new AI tools for paying users, including an AI script generation feature powered by OpenAI’s tech. The company is promoting the tools as a way for users to “create a fully produced video in minutes,” and stressing the utility for corporate customers — potential use-cases range “from quickly creating highlight reels, to hosting virtual events or company meetings, to exporting quote clips for short marketing videos.” There are three new features./news/visa-created-a-ring-that-can-make-purchases.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/visa-created-a-ring-that-can-make-purchases.htmlWhat better way to express your wealth than to literally wear your credit card around and use it to buy more things to wear and adorn your life? Visa would very much like it if you did that, so it's made an NFC-enabled ring that's able to make purchase at terminals that accept contactless payments. The idea is to make it as quick and easy as possible to make a payment; no need to pull our your credit card or phone — you can just tap your ring to the terminal./news/watch-rihanna-s-nsfw-video-for-needed-me-directed-by-harmony-korine.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/watch-rihanna-s-nsfw-video-for-needed-me-directed-by-harmony-korine.htmlRihanna just released her video for ANTI highlight "Needed Me," a gift she's bestowing on the internet "just because it's 4/20." It's the third single she's released from the album to date — "Work" and "Kiss It Better" came first — and the video was directed by Harmony Korine, the director best known for 2013's lurid Florida fantasy Spring Breakers. (He's also directed videos for Cat Power and Sonic Youth.) She teased the video on Twitter and Instagram early this morning, and the NSFW label definitely applies here — there's plenty of nudity and violence crammed into three minutes./news/wb-s-smash-bros-style-fighter-multiversus-is-launching-in-may.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/wb-s-smash-bros-style-fighter-multiversus-is-launching-in-may.htmlThere seemed to be hints that some news from the fighting game would be coming soon. Last week, the game’s X account tweeted for the first time after more than a six months of quiet. Last year, Multiversus underwent an open beta that lasted more than a year before shutting down on June 25th. Though the game was no longer widely available, those who downloaded the game before it was removed from storefronts were still available to play offline in the practice room and local co-op./news/why-figma-is-selling-to-adobe-for-20-billion-with-ceo-dylan-field.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/why-figma-is-selling-to-adobe-for-20-billion-with-ceo-dylan-field.htmlDylan Field is the co-founder and CEO of Figma, which makes a very popular design tool that allows designers and their collaborators to all work together right in a web browser. You know how multiple people can edit together in Google Docs? Figma is that for design work. We just redesigned The Verge; we used Figma extensively throughout that process. So for years, people have been waiting on the inevitable Figma vs./news/why-rdio-died-the-verge.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/why-rdio-died-the-verge.htmlIt’s easy to forget now, but the first modern music streaming service to arrive in America was Rdio. Like its founders, Skype billionaires Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, Rdio was awkwardly spelled and a little hard to pronounce. When it arrived in August 2010, the smartphone era was young enough that the company offered a $5 web-only streaming plan (on the assumption you might not have a mobile device) and a BlackBerry app (in case you had a bad one)./news/windows-11-now-lets-you-write-anywhere-you-can-type.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/windows-11-now-lets-you-write-anywhere-you-can-type.htmlMicrosoft is starting to roll out new changes to Windows Ink that let you write anywhere you can type in Windows 11. After months of previewing the changes, the handwriting-to-text conversion now works inside search boxes and other elements of Windows 11 where you’d normally type your input. Microsoft has started rolling out the KB5031455 non-security update as a preview to Windows 11 users yesterday. You simply have to head to Windows Update and toggle the “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” setting to get this update before it’s available fully in the coming weeks./news/x-wants-permission-to-start-collecting-your-biometric-data-and-employment-history.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/x-wants-permission-to-start-collecting-your-biometric-data-and-employment-history.htmlX, the platform previously known as Twitter, is expanding the amount of data it collects on users. The social network has updated its privacy policy to include carveouts for “biometric information” and “employment history,” as spotted by Bloomberg. “Based on your consent, we may collect and use your biometric information for safety, security, and identification purposes,” the privacy policy reads. It doesn’t include any details on what kind of biometric information this includes — or how X plans to collect it — but it typically involves fingerprints, iris patterns, or facial features./news/yahoo-will-delete-all-yahoo-groups-content-on-december-14th.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/yahoo-will-delete-all-yahoo-groups-content-on-december-14th.htmlYahoo Groups, like much of Yahoo, are a relic of a previous internet age. Although they aren’t widely used now, groups once served as a watering hole for discussion on wonderfully niche interests, such as TV show fan communities and extremely geeky computing topics — almost like Reddit does now. Looking through the directory today, you can still find groups with thousands of members, and some groups have been active as recently as this year./news/yes-sperm-counts-may-be-dropping-but-it-s-not-time-to-panic-yet.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/yes-sperm-counts-may-be-dropping-but-it-s-not-time-to-panic-yet.htmlThe internet was abuzz about sperm last week, thanks to a new study that revealed an alarming drop in sperm counts for men in Western countries. Does this mean men are becoming infertile? Will we have problems having babies? It’s not time to panic — at least, not yet. To be clear: the findings are worrisome. The researchers dug through thousands of studies from around the world, and found that for men living in Western countries sperm count has plummeted by between 50 and 60 percent since 1973./news/you-can-now-return-android-apps-for-up-to-two-hours-after-purchase.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/you-can-now-return-android-apps-for-up-to-two-hours-after-purchase.htmlGoogle Play's return policy has always been a nice perk of being an Android user. If you don't like an app you've just paid for and downloaded, you can simply head back into Google's store, say you want a refund, and you're done. The amount of time you've had to make a decision on keeping versus returning has fluctuated in recent years, though; in the old days, Google gave people an entire 24 hours to initiate a refund./news/you-can-now-make-multiple-stops-on-your-uber-trip.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/you-can-now-make-multiple-stops-on-your-uber-trip.htmlUber just added a new feature that allows riders to make up to three stops along their trip from within the app. Gone are the days when riders needed to verbalize their words using an antiquated form of communication called “speech” to tell a driver about multiple destinations. Now, riders can pick up friends or a bottle of booze on the way to a party by adding the stops in the app./news/you-might-be-able-to-get-up-to-100-from-the-settlement-for-yahoo-s-data-breaches.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/you-might-be-able-to-get-up-to-100-from-the-settlement-for-yahoo-s-data-breaches.htmlYahoo famously suffered numerous data breaches from 2012 to 2016 (including one in 2013 that affected all 3 billion of its users), and the company is informing users that they can now submit claims for either credit monitoring or cash compensation as part of a proposed class action lawsuit settlement. Yahoo says if you had a Yahoo account anytime between 2012 and 2016 and are a resident of the US or Israel, the class action settlement may affect you./news/zoox-citing-covid-19-shutdown-lays-off-its-autonomous-vehicle-backup-drivers.htmlFri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/zoox-citing-covid-19-shutdown-lays-off-its-autonomous-vehicle-backup-drivers.htmlZoox, the ambitious self-driving startup said to be worth over $3 billion, laid off almost all of its contract workers last week, including its backup drivers who ride around in the company’s autonomous vehicles. Around 120 people are said to be out of work. Zoox workers were informed in an email sent on Friday that their jobs were being terminated effective immediately. They were told that they were being locked out of the company’s email, Zoom, and Slack, and would be required to turn in their company-issued laptops and badges./news/that-week-i-tried-to-unplug-from-slack.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/that-week-i-tried-to-unplug-from-slack.htmlI know it's cool to hate on email but sometimes I wake up to 176 Slack notifications and think pls pls condense this into a coherent email — Lauren Goode (@LaurenGoode) August 25, 2015 In the two years since it launched, Slack has become a major force in group communication, used by over a million people daily and worth an estimated $2.8 billion. It has become an indispensable tool for Vox Media: in the 18 months since we moved the company over, nearly 800 people (making up full-time employees and contributing writers) across a half-dozen countries have sent almost 17 million messages — an average of over 50,000 per work day, not including bots or integrations./news/haha-has-killed-lol-says-facebook.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/haha-has-killed-lol-says-facebook.htmlIf you still "lol" at jokes online then you might be in the minority. Anew report from Facebook into how users express laughter shows that "haha" and its variants are by far the most common terms used on the social network. They accounted for 51.4 percent of mirth in the anonymized comments and posts looked at by Facebook's data team, with laughter emoji claiming 33.7 percent, and "hehe" and its cognates 13./news/2018-mitsubishi-outlander-phev-first-drive-winner-by-default.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/2018-mitsubishi-outlander-phev-first-drive-winner-by-default.htmlRemember Mitsubishi? Not the company that made your old projection TV or your air conditioning unit, but the automaker. Maybe you remember the Eclipse, Galant, or Montero (not that Mitsubishi Motors makes any of those cars now). Perhaps sticking too closely to their appliance siblings, the automaker has been selling bland cars and enticing buyers with generous finance offers and ads with catchy songs. You’re probably more likely to get into a Mitsubishi elevator these days than one of its cars./news/a-dog-s-breed-doesn-t-determine-much-about-its-behavior.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-dog-s-breed-doesn-t-determine-much-about-its-behavior.htmlElinor Karlsson has never owned a dog. But ever since she was a graduate student, she’s been studying dog genetics. (They’re good models for studying genetic diseases in humans.) Part of that work involved collecting genetic and behavioral data on thousands of dogs. And all that data meant the research team could ask a question Karlsson had been wondering for years: does a dog’s breed really say anything about how that dog acts?/news/a-month-with-dji-mini-3-pro.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-month-with-dji-mini-3-pro.htmlI always thought the DJI Mini 2 was the perfect drone for most pilots — either beginners looking for a reliable drone or experienced pilots who want a more portable solution. Aside from its compactness, it was also affordable at $449 and provided very good, if not quite great, image quality. The newly announced DJI Mini 3 Pro drastically improves image quality, but at a starting price of $759 (with the remote controller), it is no longer easy to recommend for everyone./news/a-new-trailer-for-american-gods-second-season-teases-a-coming-war-between-gods.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-new-trailer-for-american-gods-second-season-teases-a-coming-war-between-gods.htmlStarz has released a new trailer for its upcoming second season of American Gods, showing off a building confrontation between the old gods and new. The series is based on the 2001 fantasy novel by Neil Gaiman, which follows a former convict, Shadow Moon (played by Ricky Whittle in the show), after he’s hired by a mysterious individual named Mr. Wednesday (played by Ian McShane). He acts as a body guard and driver for the man as he travels across the country on a secretive mission./news/a-human-is-a-sci-fi-fashion-show-about-changing-your-body-instead-of-your-clothes.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-human-is-a-sci-fi-fashion-show-about-changing-your-body-instead-of-your-clothes.htmlI spent at least half an hour wandering A.Human — an art installation about a futuristic body modification fashion house — before realizing one of the models was a human being. This wasn’t totally unreasonable: he was mostly hidden behind a wall, revealing only a torso embellished with glowing lines. According to a small sign beside him, the lines were transdermal blacklight implants designed as club wear, which the label’s mysterious designer A./news/airtags-are-sending-a-new-kind-of-false-alarm-report-says.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/airtags-are-sending-a-new-kind-of-false-alarm-report-says.htmlApple’s AirTags have been sending out “phantom” alerts that are confusing iPhone users, according to a new Wall Street Journal report. The AirTags, which launched last year, feature anti-stalking measures that are designed to alert users when an unknown AirTag has been detected on their person over an extended period of time. The idea is to discourage AirTags from being used to track people without their consent. The WSJ reports that these false alerts generally occur in the middle of the night and have started popping up in recent weeks./news/alice-cooper-joe-perry-and-johnny-depp-have-a-band-called-hollywood-vampires.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/alice-cooper-joe-perry-and-johnny-depp-have-a-band-called-hollywood-vampires.htmlTonight, possible Satanist Alice Cooper, Aerosmith member Joe Perry, and possible actor Johnny Depp got together for a little fellas time at the Grammys, and revealed to the world their band called Hollywood Vampires. Naturally, I have some questions. 1. What is a Hollywood Vampire? Is it an actual vampire who lives in Hollywood or is this just a reference to Robert Pattinson? 2. Did you consider the name Mighty Monsters, or was that too '90s sports movie?/news/alto-s-adventure-and-odyssey-quietly-arrive-on-nintendo-switch-on-sale-for-7-49.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/alto-s-adventure-and-odyssey-quietly-arrive-on-nintendo-switch-on-sale-for-7-49.html(Check out the video above to get a pretty good sense of what the games are like; we called Alto’s Adventure “the next great iPad game” in our review way back in 2015.) Originally, you’d control Alto and his snowboarding / sandboarding friends by simply tapping the iPhone, iPad or Android touchscreen to jump and perform tricks, but the games now have full controller support as well. You’ve also been able to pick them up on PS4, Xbox One, and the Epic Game Store since August, if Switch isn’t your platform./news/amazon-echo-sub-a-129-99-subwoofer-that-pairs-with-echo-speakers.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-echo-sub-a-129-99-subwoofer-that-pairs-with-echo-speakers.htmlIn Amazon’s second (perhaps now annual) surprise Alexa event, it is making a bigger push into the home audio space with the Amazon Echo Sub. As was leaked yesterday, it’s a 100W subwoofer that is meant to supply the bass for a home audio setup. It can be paired with two “of the same compatible Echo devices” for full stereo pairing, and it will be controlled with the Alexa app or with your voice./news/amazon-s-alexa-app-gets-a-big-redesign-with-a-focus-on-smart-home-control.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-s-alexa-app-gets-a-big-redesign-with-a-focus-on-smart-home-control.htmlIt’s been 87 years ... (okay, three), but Amazon has finally updated its Alexa app. The revamp is rolling out fully this week to iOS and Android devices, but it started this summer with some small changes you may have already spotted. The end result is an app that’s more streamlined and more tailored to smart home control. And while it’s not appreciably faster (boo), it is considerably more intuitive and easier to use (yay)./news/amazon-s-carbon-emissions-fell-last-year.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-s-carbon-emissions-fell-last-year.htmlAmazon’s carbon emissions decreased slightly in 2023 after the company ramped up renewable energy purchases and cut down on pollution from construction, hardware, and equipment, according to its latest sustainability report. Back in 2019, Amazon pledged to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040. Despite that goal, its carbon emissions actually ballooned soon after — climbing from around 51 million metric tons of CO2 in 2019 to more than 71 million metric tons in 2021./news/amazon-s-press-to-order-dash-buttons-are-officially-discontinued.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-s-press-to-order-dash-buttons-are-officially-discontinued.htmlAmazon’s Dash buttons are no more. The tiny stick-on buttons that allowed customers to quickly reorder popular household items with a press have been discontinued by the online retailer, as confirmed by CNET. Dash buttons were priced at only $5 and were available for a slew of brands spanning many categories — from paper towels and laundry detergent to condoms. They could be mounted wherever made the most sense, whether in the kitchen, bathroom, or any other spot where users might need a reminder to order more of something./news/android-14-beta-adds-the-ability-to-use-your-phone-as-a-webcam.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/android-14-beta-adds-the-ability-to-use-your-phone-as-a-webcam.htmlThe Android 14 QPR1 Beta 1 update released for Pixel devices on Wednesday enables an upcoming Android feature to use your phone as a webcam. The new webcam capability doesn’t rely on third-party apps or software and instead requires physically connecting the phone to a laptop or desktop computer via a USB cable (seen via XDA-Developers). The feature is located in the “Charging this device via USB” option that appears in the notification tray after the phone is connected./news/android-15-just-reached-a-major-milestone.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/android-15-just-reached-a-major-milestone.htmlIt’s beta software season, baby. Google is releasing Android 15’s third beta today, taking it one step closer to its final release. With this update, it reaches platform stability, meaning that APIs are finalized and developers can start testing their apps with this near-final version. Not much appears to have changed since the last beta dropped, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few interesting tidbits to still uncover. In a blog post announcing the new beta, Google highlights one significant change to the passkey UI./news/android-will-now-store-google-searches-offline-and-deliver-them-when-you-get-a-signal.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/android-will-now-store-google-searches-offline-and-deliver-them-when-you-get-a-signal.htmlGoogle is rolling out an update for its Android app that makes it easier to search the internet with an inconsistent internet connection. Users can make searches when offline and the Google app will store them, delivering the results later (with an optional notification) when the device gets a signal again. As Google product manager Shekhar Sharad writes in a blog post: “So the next time you lose service, feel free to queue up your searches, put your phone away and carry on with your day./news/apple-brings-imessage-to-icloud.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-brings-imessage-to-icloud.htmlApple is bringing iMessage to its iCloud platform. The company announced during WWDC that in iOS 11, users will be able to sign in on any device and have all of their messages, thanks to iCloud integration. Messages will now sync more seamlessly across all devices iMessage in the Cloud also means if you delete a message on your iPhone, the deletion will be reflected on your Mac, a major update to a major annoyance noticed by anyone who’s ever used the Messages app on an Apple desktop or laptop./news/apple-bumps-itunes-match-and-apple-music-upload-limit-to-100-000-songs.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-bumps-itunes-match-and-apple-music-upload-limit-to-100-000-songs.htmlApple users are now able to store a lot more music in the cloud. Following a June announcement by internet software and services SVP Eddy Cue, the company has "started rolling out support" for iTunes Match and Apple Music libraries of up to 100,000 songs — the previous limit was 25,000. Cue confirmed the news to MacRumors, which first reported on users noticing the change. The move means you'll be able to have an online music library twice as big as the 50,000 tracks Google Play Music offers, although that service is free./news/apple-is-taking-up-to-150-off-the-beats-studio-pro-and-studio-buds-plus.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-is-taking-up-to-150-off-the-beats-studio-pro-and-studio-buds-plus.htmlApple rarely discounts its own products, which is why I was pleasantly surprised to find Apple welcoming the weekend with some terrific deals on Beats headphones and earbuds. Both the Beats Studio Pro and Beats Studio Buds Plus are down to some of their best prices to date, with numerous third-party retailers matching Apple’s pricing. That means you can pick up the Beats Studio Pro for $199.95 ($150 off) directly from Apple, or at Amazon and Best Buy for around the same price./news/apple-macbook-pro-14-and-16-2021-review-return-to-form.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-macbook-pro-14-and-16-2021-review-return-to-form.htmlLet’s start simply: the new MacBook Pros with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips are incredible — the fastest laptops we’ve ever tested in some tasks, with some of the longest battery life we’ve ever seen. Apple’s big bet on moving away from Intel CPUs and AMD GPUs in favor of its own Apple Silicon chips is paying off in meaningful ways, and if you can afford one of these machines, you will be very happy with them./news/apple-made-the-vision-pro-blurry-on-purpose.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-made-the-vision-pro-blurry-on-purpose.htmlApple made the Vision Pro blurry... on purpose?! I’m not the one making this very big claim. That’d be Hugo Barra, former VP of Android and head of Oculus. Go check out his in-depth blog about his Vision Pro experience. It’s a great read overall, but this bit stood out: Intentionally making the Vision Pro optics blurry is a clever move by Apple because it results in way smoother graphics across the board by hiding the screen door effect (which in practice means that you won’t see pixelation artifacts)./news/apple-google-and-comcast-s-plans-for-l4s-could-fix-internet-lag.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-google-and-comcast-s-plans-for-l4s-could-fix-internet-lag.htmlA few months ago, I downgraded my internet, going from a 900Mbps plan to a 200Mbps one. Now, I find that websites can sometimes take a painfully long time to load, that HD YouTube videos have to stop and buffer when I jump around in them, and that video calls can be annoyingly choppy. In other words, pretty much nothing has changed. I had those exact same problems even when I had near-gigabit download service, and I’m probably not alone./news/apple-s-16-inch-macbook-pro-is-here-and-it-has-a-good-keyboard.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-16-inch-macbook-pro-is-here-and-it-has-a-good-keyboard.htmlApple has launched a new 16-inch MacBook Pro today, available for pre-order now and in stores later this week. The starting price of $2,399 is the same price as the previous 15-inch MacBook Pro, which this one replaces. It has new processors, better speakers, and (obviously) a larger screen. But I know the most important question you have is whether the keyboard is any good. Reader, it is good. I shouldn’t be that definitive in this hands-on with the laptop since I’ve only been typing on it for half a day, but I don’t expect my opinion to change with more time./news/apple-s-most-expensive-m2-ultra-mac-pro-is-40-000-cheaper-than-the-maxed-out-intel-model.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-most-expensive-m2-ultra-mac-pro-is-40-000-cheaper-than-the-maxed-out-intel-model.htmlApple’s just-announced Mac Pro with an M2 Ultra chip isn’t a cheap computer — it’s designed for extreme workloads, after all — but you might be surprised to hear that the most expensive version of the machine is more than $40,000 cheaper than the maxed-out version of its Intel-powered predecessor. You get a total computer cost of $12,348. If you throw in Final Cut Pro ($299.99) and Logic Pro ($199.99), it comes out to $12,847./news/april-fools-day-2023-the-best-and-cringiest-pranks.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/april-fools-day-2023-the-best-and-cringiest-pranks.htmlApril Fools’ 2023: Overwatch 2. Blizzard’s team-based shooter has gone all googly-eyes for its characters on April 1st in past years, which is back, along with other changes, including new voice lines to accompany ultimate abilities. There’s also a new super serious arcade mode that tries out the most unbalanced version of each hero. How would you like a Ramattra who can stay in Nemesis form forever, a Reinhardt who can fly, or Symmetra turrets that do damage before they even land and deploy?/news/armslist-inside-the-crime-friendly-craigslist-of-guns.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/armslist-inside-the-crime-friendly-craigslist-of-guns.htmlThomas Caldwell was a veteran in his 60s with a soft physique, oval glasses, no income, and a history of mental illness. “I’ve been schizophrenic all my life, hearing voices,” he once said in a courtroom. He didn’t have a license to sell firearms, but that hadn’t stopped him. In 2015, according to prosecutors, police found a Glock in a Milwaukee drug house and quickly linked it to him. He’d purchased it only the day before./news/audible-will-stop-working-with-sonos-next-week.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/audible-will-stop-working-with-sonos-next-week.htmlOnce a new software update arrives for Sonos devices next week, Audible audiobooks will no longer be supported on the platform. In an email to customers, Sonos has apologized for suspending support of the popular audiobook service, stating that Audible's current implementation wouldn't work with the new update Sonos is preparing to release. Sonos — which has only worked with downloaded Audible audiobooks — tried to integrate streaming audiobooks with Audible, but compatibility with the existing setup wasn't working properly, so support for the entire service has been pulled./news/bbc-iplayer-finally-arrives-on-ps5-with-4k-support.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bbc-iplayer-finally-arrives-on-ps5-with-4k-support.htmlThe BBC is finally bringing its iPlayer app to the PS5 in the UK today, more than a year after the console’s original release. Brits have been waiting patiently for BBC iPlayer on the PS5, especially as the app is already available on more than 15,000 devices, including Xbox Series X / S consoles. The BBC iPlayer app is now available in the media tab on the PS5 home screen, and it includes support for streaming 4K content from the service./news/behind-the-scenes-with-perfume-japan-s-most-futuristic-pop-group.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/behind-the-scenes-with-perfume-japan-s-most-futuristic-pop-group.htmlPerfume has been one of the most ubiquitous and highest-selling artists in Japan for more than a decade, with a distinctive electro-pop sound backed by a stylish, futuristic image. But the trio’s musical output is only one part of the equation. Perfume’s live shows are a dazzling collision of technology and choreography that turn cavernous arenas into sci-fi wonderlands.  Perfume’s Future Pop world tour hits North America tomorrow with a show at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom./news/behold-doctor-strange-in-the-multiverse-of-madness-super-bowl-trailer.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/behold-doctor-strange-in-the-multiverse-of-madness-super-bowl-trailer.htmlThe Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness teaser that played at the very end of Spider-Man: No Way Home was an unexpected surprise that, for all its flashiness, didn’t say a thing about the movie’s plot or how Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) are meant to help Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) fix the existence of all things. The movie’s latest trailer does, though. Somewhere out there in the multiverse, one of the countless variants of Stephen Strange has gone and put a dent in the multiverse that the original live-action variant now has to put right./news/best-cheap-phone-five-smartphones-for-under-500.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/best-cheap-phone-five-smartphones-for-under-500.htmlSome of us take a kind of “I eat to live” rather than an “I live to eat” approach to gadgets. They’re tools that help you get things done, not something you want to invest a lot of time or money in. If that’s you — and there’s no judgment here from a certifiable gadget nerd — then you can probably think of more worthwhile ways to spend $1,000 than on a phone./news/black-panther-wakanda-forever-review-a-cathartic-step-forward-for-marvel.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/black-panther-wakanda-forever-review-a-cathartic-step-forward-for-marvel.htmlRyan Coogler’s first Black Panther film hit like a meteorite in 2018 and singlehandedly disproved the (still extant) notion that predominantly Black films can’t become global phenomenons that smash all kinds of box office records while also racking up critical acclaim. Even before Chadwick Boseman’s untimely death in 2020, the prospect of recreating the first film’s success was already a nigh-unimaginable task that led many to wonder how Marvel could ever hope to top itself with a sequel./news/braid-anniversary-edition-finally-has-a-release-date.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/braid-anniversary-edition-finally-has-a-release-date.htmlRemember Braid, Anniversary Edition — the updated version of the time-bending puzzle platformer that was first announced in 2020 with a 2021 release date? The game obviously missed that release window, but on Thursday, developer Thekla finally announced an exact release date: April 30th, 2024. The anniversary edition will offer a bunch of updates that seem like they’ll improve the core essence of the game without changing too much. There are new “hand-repainted” graphics, according to a press release, and you can swap between the old graphics and the new ones at will./news/chance-the-rapper-backed-vine-tribute-moves-local-woman-to-tears.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/chance-the-rapper-backed-vine-tribute-moves-local-woman-to-tears.htmlCompelling others to feel emotions disproportionate to their experiences is called, as the terrible man T.S. Eliot used to say, messing around with the “objective correlative.” In his opinion, if you felt too much while reading a poem, it was because the language therein was Way Too Floral, and also you were probably a woman. If you weren’t feeling enough, it was because there weren’t enough Facts or Metaphors. This is why he hated the famous play Hamlet./news/chemicals-banned-from-air-conditioners-and-refrigerators-are-making-a-comeback-and-scientists-do.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/chemicals-banned-from-air-conditioners-and-refrigerators-are-making-a-comeback-and-scientists-do.htmlChemicals that were banned after they punched a hole in Earth’s ozone layer are still building up at an alarming rate in our atmosphere, according to research published today in the journal Nature Geoscience. The chemicals were once widely used in air conditioning and refrigeration but were supposed to be phased out globally by 2010. Scientists were surprised to find that concentrations of several types of those chemicals have climbed since then, reaching a record high in 2020./news/chimpanzees-recognize-each-other-s-butts-the-way-we-recognize-faces.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/chimpanzees-recognize-each-other-s-butts-the-way-we-recognize-faces.htmlFor chimpanzees, it’s all about the butt. You won’t find a female chimp going “My eyes are up here,” as it turns out that chimps often tell each other apart based on their behinds. Their brains even process butts in the same way that we process faces. For a study published this week in the journal PLoS One (delightfully titled “Getting to the Bottom of Face Processing”), Dutch researchers recruited both humans and chimpanzees to match photos of various body parts and compared how they did./news/coffee-talk-review-a-chill-game-about-coffee-and-vampires.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/coffee-talk-review-a-chill-game-about-coffee-and-vampires.htmlThere’s something supremely satisfying about the ritual of making coffee: the smell, the heat, the way all of the tiny details eventually become second nature. For some, the process can be as important and gratifying as the end product. And it turns out that can be true even when you’re brewing a virtual cup. Coffee Talk is a game about, well, coffee and talking. It’s a sort of visual novel where you play the proprietor of a coffee shop in an alternate version of Seattle./news/comcast-and-co-will-have-to-slap-nutrition-labels-on-their-internet-soon.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/comcast-and-co-will-have-to-slap-nutrition-labels-on-their-internet-soon.htmlSix years after we saw the FCC formally propose “nutrition labels” for your carrier’s potentially confusing array of plans, the agency says it’s finally happening. This week, it’s ordering US internet service providers to adopt the label format you’re looking at below — or it will, as soon as some last bureaucratic elements get worked out. 2022’s Broadband Facts nutrition label format. Image: FCC They’ve changed a bit since 2016 — now, each plan will apparently have its own label rather than ISPs trying to cram all of them into a single sheet, they don’t warn you about coverage, and apparently, ISPs will be able to point you to their network management policy legalese instead of having to ding themselves for throttling data or giving some apps a fast lane./news/comparing-angry-birds-pigs-to-the-bad-piggies.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/comparing-angry-birds-pigs-to-the-bad-piggies.htmlIn theory, the pigs of Angry Birds should be no different from those featured in Bad Piggies, Rovio's recently released spinoff. But according to Wired's Rhett Allain, there are some differences — most notably, their size. Using Newtonian physics to calculate their real-world size, Allain determined that each pig in Bad Piggies would have a girth of about 96 centimeters. That's 83 percent the size of the original Angry Birds pigs, which measured at around 1./news/dashlane-is-ready-to-replace-all-your-passwords-with-passkeys.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/dashlane-is-ready-to-replace-all-your-passwords-with-passkeys.htmlPasswords are dying, long live passkeys. Practically the entire tech industry seems to agree that hexadecimal passwords need to die, and that the best way to replace them is with the cryptographic keys that have come to be known as passkeys. Basically, rather than having you type a phrase to prove you’re you, websites and apps use a standard called WebAuthn to connect directly to a token you have saved — on your device, in your password manager, ultimately just about anywhere — and authenticate you automatically./news/deadly-premonition-2-a-blessing-in-disguise-review.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/deadly-premonition-2-a-blessing-in-disguise-review.htmlDeadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is almost as awkward to review as Deadly Premonition must have been to follow up. So let me just get this part out of the way: Deadly Premonition fans, by which I mean people who genuinely, unironically liked Deadly Premonition, may well dig this game. It is delirious in most of the same ways as its predecessor, from the surreal writing to the endlessly twisting plot./news/dish-adds-hbo-max-and-will-now-offer-hbo-and-cinemax.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/dish-adds-hbo-max-and-will-now-offer-hbo-and-cinemax.htmlFollowing a prolonged standoff between Dish Network and AT&T over licensing terms to carry HBO channels, Dish has reached an agreement with WarnerMedia to offer HBO, HBO Max, and Cinemax. Dish TV customers nationwide will be able to access both the HBO and Cinemax networks today, though they’ll need to subscribe to HBO Max to get linear HBO. To promote the deal, Dish will run a free 10-day preview of the premium networks for existing customers right around the time the Olympics Games will be wrapping up, from August 6 to August 15./news/donald-mustard-head-of-fortnite-s-story-is-leaving-epic-and-retiring.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/donald-mustard-head-of-fortnite-s-story-is-leaving-epic-and-retiring.htmlDonald Mustard ran a successful studio that showed what the Xbox and iPhone were capable of. Then, he became the face of one of the biggest and boldest storytelling experiments in history, to borrow a phrase, with Fortnite’s massive metaverse. “I’m excited to spend time with my wife and family and am forever grateful for @TimSweeneyEpic and the Epic Games family,” he writes. I will always remember Mustard best for Shadow Complex, one of the best Metroidvania games ever made, which helped prove out the market for digital-only titles when it arrived on the Xbox 360’s Xbox Live Arcade platform in 2009./news/drawing-on-tvs-with-panasonic-s-electronic-touch-pen-hands-on.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/drawing-on-tvs-with-panasonic-s-electronic-touch-pen-hands-on.htmlA recurring theme we’re hearing this year at CES is the idea of getting the family around the TV instead of isolated on their own devices. One way Panasonic thinks that might happen is with its Electronic Smart Pen — a new product for 2013 that lets you write on the screen of your 2013 Panasonic 1080p plasma. After you connect your battery-powered pen to your TV with Bluetooth, you can use Panasonic’s Swipe and Share app to flick images off your mobile device and onto your big screen./news/epic-removes-all-infinity-blade-games-from-the-app-store.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/epic-removes-all-infinity-blade-games-from-the-app-store.htmlInfinity Blade, the medieval fighting / role-playing mobile game series from Epic Games, is no more, as the developer has removed all three entries in the franchise from Apple’s App Store. The series has been dormant since 2013, when Infinity Blade III was released and Epic and co-developer Chair Entertainment announced the third game would mark the end of the planned trilogy. However, Epic has continued to support the games throughout the last half-decade — until today, it seems./news/epic-v-google-everything-we-re-learning-live-in-fortnite-court-page-11.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/epic-v-google-everything-we-re-learning-live-in-fortnite-court-page-11.htmlGoogle points out Epic makes Fortnite available on consoles, which don’t offer sideloading. Google also tried to draw him into some questions to promote its “we compete with the iPhone” narrative, asking if Android was much less restrictive than iOS (he agreed) and if Apple hammers Android on security in its marketing. Google asked if Apple would have a field day if it dropped its sideloading warnings — setting up a straw man, since Mickens doesn’t propose dropping them entirely./news/essential-phone-review-the-verge.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/essential-phone-review-the-verge.htmlEven though it was announced less than three months ago at the Code Conference, there's already enough mythology surrounding the Essential Phone to fill a book. It comes from a brand-new billion-dollar startup led by the person who helped create Android itself, Andy Rubin. That origin binds it up with the history of all smartphones in a way that doesn't usually apply to your run-of-the-mill device. The phone was also delayed a bit, a sign that this tiny company hasn't yet quite figured out how to punch above its weight class — which it's certainly trying to do./news/facebook-s-clear-history-tool-is-now-available-to-everyone.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/facebook-s-clear-history-tool-is-now-available-to-everyone.htmlFacebook’s Clear History tool is now available in all countries, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a blog post today. It’s part of a new section in your settings called “Off-Facebook activity,” and it lets users see which third-parties have shared user interactions with the social network — even when they’re not using Facebook directly. Off-Facebook activity is the information that businesses and websites share with Facebook based on your interactions with those sites or apps./news/fbi-takes-down-hive-ransomware-network.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fbi-takes-down-hive-ransomware-network.htmlThe Department of Justice announced this week that FBI agents successfully disrupted Hive, a notorious ransomware group, and prevented $130 million worth of ransom campaigns that targets no longer need to consider paying. While claiming the Hive group has been responsible for targeting over 1,500 victims in over 80 countries worldwide, the department now reveals it had infiltrated the group’s network for months before working with German and Netherlands officials to shut down Hive servers and websites this week./news/final-cut-pro-for-the-ipad-incredibly-fun-but-lacking-features.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/final-cut-pro-for-the-ipad-incredibly-fun-but-lacking-features.htmlOne of my favorite ways to edit photos is on an iPad — pinching the screen to zoom feels natural, the Apple Pencil is the perfect way to brush in adjustments, and even the apps are getting better over time. But I have not been able to replicate that setup for video editing. LumaFusion never did it for me, and despite my YouTube recommendations being filled with “I switched to DaVinci Resolve./news/fortnite-has-the-most-interesting-video-game-story-in-years.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fortnite-has-the-most-interesting-video-game-story-in-years.htmlI couldn’t name a single character in Fortnite. I’m not able to tell you anything about the lore or the plot, or even really explain where the game takes place. Yet somehow Epic’s multiplayer shooter has produced the most arresting video game narrative I’ve experienced in some time — and it’s only getting stronger as Fortnite evolves. This weekend provided the most powerful example of Fortnite’s storytelling potential yet. At exactly 1:30PM ET on Saturday, a rocket launched from a mountain on the far west of the game’s ever-changing map./news/fortnite-s-black-hole-event-was-a-new-ambitious-kind-of-storytelling.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fortnite-s-black-hole-event-was-a-new-ambitious-kind-of-storytelling.htmlLast night, I spent six hours staring at a black hole. The anomaly appeared on multiple screens surrounding me: it was on a TV playing a Twitch stream, on my Switch as I logged into Fortnite, and in countless images and GIFs that popped up in my Twitter feed as I tracked theories about just what the black hole was. From the outside, it probably looked a bit silly, all of this attention focused on a virtual anomaly that wasn’t even doing much./news/gene-simmons-producing-kiss-and-hello-kitty-mashup-for-my-little-pony-network.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gene-simmons-producing-kiss-and-hello-kitty-mashup-for-my-little-pony-network.htmlIf you've always felt that children's television shows are lacking in lessons on anarchy, you're in luck: the ubiquitous Hello Kitty franchise is set to be mashed up with the aesthetics of hair metal band Kiss, reports USA Today. The show's working title is Kiss Hello Kitty, and it's being produced for The Hub — the same network that aired the surprise cult hit My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. The new show is set to be about four Hello Kitty characters living the rockstar dream and creating anarchy in each scenario they're put into./news/george-lucas-explains-how-he-invented-lightsabers.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/george-lucas-explains-how-he-invented-lightsabers.htmlLightsabers, as Obi Wan Kenobi once said, are an elegant weapon for a civilized age. In Star Wars' galaxy, they're graceful and otherworldly things. In ours, as the 15-minute Birth of the Lightsaber featurette shows, they were little more than sticks onto which the movie's visual effects artists grafted glowing colors in post-production. Birth of the Lightsaber was first seen as a special feature on the original Star Wars trilogy's DVD boxset in 2004, but this marks the first time the video has made its way onto the internet in an official capacity./news/giphy-cam-now-lets-you-create-star-wars-gifs.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/giphy-cam-now-lets-you-create-star-wars-gifs.htmlDon't have enough Star Wars in your life this week? Giphy can now help put a little extra Star Wars all around you. Its Giphy Cam app has been updated with six Star Wars filters ahead of The Force Awakens, which will be sticking around for a "limited time" to promote the movie. The effects can make it look like the Millennium Falcon is soaring past you, like you're swinging a tiny lightsaber, like you're chilling with BB-8, or like you're about to hit light speed./news/google-drive-on-the-web-goes-to-the-dark-mode-side.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-drive-on-the-web-goes-to-the-dark-mode-side.htmlGoogle Drive on the web goes to the dark (mode) side. You may find that your Google Drive account has Dark mode on the web now — I have it on just one of mine, so far. If Google has blessed you with the update, you’ll get a “New! Dark mode” prompt at login. After, the option lives under the gear icon > Settings > General > Appearance. Check the gallery below for more./news/google-flutter-is-out-of-beta-here-s-what-it-means-for-cross-platform-apps.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-flutter-is-out-of-beta-here-s-what-it-means-for-cross-platform-apps.htmlToday, Google is holding a developer conference in London for Flutter, a new development environment for developing mobile apps for both Android and iOS. Google calls Flutter a “portable UI toolkit,” and Paul Miller has called it “a Frankenstein’s monster of various Google projects.” The big announcement is that it’s coming out of beta, and it has hit 1.0, opening the door for developers who have been waiting for something more official before adopting it./news/google-glass-enterprise-edition-is-no-more.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-glass-enterprise-edition-is-no-more.htmlGoogle Glass largely went off sale to consumers in 2015, and Google has since been focusing on how the headset could be useful for businesses and developers. But even those efforts have come to an end. The company is no longer selling Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2, Google spokesperson Patrick Seybold told The Verge. A help document spotted by 9to5Google says the company will end support for the AR headset on September 15th./news/google-i-o-2020-will-kick-off-on-may-12th.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-i-o-2020-will-kick-off-on-may-12th.htmlGoogle has just revealed that its next I/O developer conference will take place from May 12th to May 14th. The company revealed the date after users participated in its annual I/O teaser, which this year was a collaborative online game to restore a fictional satellite network. When the game was completed, the constellation of satellites spelled out the date. In a tweet, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said I/O 2020 will be at the Shoreline Amphitheatre, which is in Mountain View near Google’s HQ and is where Google has hosted the event for the past few years./news/google-is-officially-a-2-trillion-company.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-is-officially-a-2-trillion-company.htmlGoogle has spent the past year dealing with two of the biggest threats in its 25-year history: the rise of generative AI and the growing drumbeat of regulation. AI, in particular, has shaken the company to its core: it’s made big search changes, realigned the Search, Android, and hardware teams around AI, and launched its own Gemini AI model to capitalize on the opportunity. Google execs cut projects and laid off employees to refocus, and yesterday, it announced its first-ever dividend and a $70 billion share buyback alongside its Q1 2024 earnings./news/google-nest-why-google-finally-embraced-nest-as-its-smart-home-brand.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-nest-why-google-finally-embraced-nest-as-its-smart-home-brand.htmlStarting today, Google is done holding smart home appliance maker Nest at arm’s length. It was folded into the Google Home division last year, but now, the entire group has a new name: Google Nest. The new name is more than just a rebranding effort. It also includes a new product philosophy and — critically — a new set of data privacy policies for Nest customers. One way to look at the change is to say that Nest has fully become an extension of Google and its ambitions in the smart home after years of bouncing around within the Alphabet / Google org chart nightmare./news/google-nest-cam-with-floodlight-review-good-security-camera-awkward-design.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-nest-cam-with-floodlight-review-good-security-camera-awkward-design.htmlIf you’re going to install one outdoor security camera at your home, a floodlight camera is the best option. You get lights and a camera in one unit to capture all the action and you don’t have to mess with charging batteries or drilling holes through your walls for power cables — a floodlight cam can go wherever you have existing outdoor lighting. It’s a win-win smart home device. The only downsides are a high upfront price and a more involved installation./news/google-pixel-5a-review-boring-but-better-than-ever.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-pixel-5a-review-boring-but-better-than-ever.htmlGoogle is revealing a phone this year where it’s pulling out all the stops and going big on a cutting-edge, in-house designed SoC, upgraded camera specs, and a bold new look.  That phone is not the Pixel 5A. If those kinds of show-stopping improvements are what you’re looking for, then I’d like to point you to the Pixel 6, coming this fall. The new Pixel 5A on the other hand, is kind of a boring update by comparison./news/google-sells-motorola-to-lenovo-for-2-91-billion.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-sells-motorola-to-lenovo-for-2-91-billion.htmlGoogle is selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo, giving the Chinese smartphone manufacturer a major presence in the US market. Lenovo will buy Motorola for $2.91 billion in a mixture of cash and stock. Google will retain ownership of the vast majority of Motorola's patents, while 2,000 patents and a license on the remaining patents will go to Lenovo. At the deal's closing, Lenovo will pay Google $660 million in cash and $750 million in stock, while the remaining $1./news/google-s-rumored-genesis-ai-tool-for-journalists-could-probably-write-this-article.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-s-rumored-genesis-ai-tool-for-journalists-could-probably-write-this-article.htmlIn partnership with news publishers, especially smaller publishers, we’re in the earliest stages of exploring ideas to potentially provide AI-enabled tools to help journalists with their work. For instance, AI-enabled tools could assist journalists with options for headlines or different writing styles. Our goal is to give journalists the choice of using these emerging technologies in a way that enhances their work and productivity, just like we’re making assistive tools available for people in Gmail and in Google Docs./news/got-another-job-for-you-621-only-this-time-you-re-up-against-the-world.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/got-another-job-for-you-621-only-this-time-you-re-up-against-the-world.htmlGot another job for you, 621 — only this time you’re up against the world. Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon is getting a fresh v1.05 patch on December 19th, complete with new ranked online matchmaking and a global leaderboard. The PvP mode is also getting a batch of new maps and personalized nameplates for mecha sickos to feast on. It’s a good time to jump into FromSoftware’s big robot resurgence, as the game is also on sale right now./news/gta-vi-bonnie-and-clyde-female-protagonist-miami-2024-release.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gta-vi-bonnie-and-clyde-female-protagonist-miami-2024-release.htmlGrand Theft Auto VI, the next entry in Rockstar’s blockbuster open-world franchise, will reportedly be the first to let you play as a female character in its story mode. That’s according to a new report from Bloomberg, which just published a lengthy feature on the game’s development. The report also includes new details on the game’s release, which sources suggest is likely to be at least two years away. Rockstar has reportedly made efforts to overhaul its internal culture ever since the release of its last major title, 2018’s Red Dead Redemption 2, was marred by reports of poor working conditions at the studio./news/here-s-the-evidence-a-fired-blizzard-developer-s-cosby-suite-existed.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/here-s-the-evidence-a-fired-blizzard-developer-s-cosby-suite-existed.htmlIn case you’re catching up, the state of California sued Blizzard for gender discrimination last week. The allegations include claims specifically naming Alex Afrasiabi, the former senior creative director of World of Warcraft. The suit says that on top of sexually harassing women, Afrasiabi had a hotel room during BlizzCon 2013 nicknamed the “Cosby Suite” — and it suggested that other employees knew about it. Neither Kotaku’s report nor the California lawsuit say anyone was sexually abused specifically in the Cosby Suite, but it’s increasingly clear the suite was a real thing./news/how-bunny-the-dog-is-pushing-scientists-buttons.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-bunny-the-dog-is-pushing-scientists-buttons.htmlLike many devoted dog owners, Alexis Devine spends hours every day sitting in her living room talking to her dog, Bunny. The peculiar thing is that Bunny “talks” back. Scroll through Devine’s TikTok page and you’ll see a stream of videos that follow the same general pattern. Bunny stands next to a collection of buttons on the floor, raises a paw, and presses down. The prerecorded buttons sound off in the order she presses them: “More, Scritches, Now./news/how-heavyweight-podcast-host-jonathan-goldstein-helps-strangers-resolve-their-past-traumas.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-heavyweight-podcast-host-jonathan-goldstein-helps-strangers-resolve-their-past-traumas.htmlI love the podcast series Heavyweight, which started as a Gimlet Media show in 2016 and is now part of Spotify’s podcast empire. It’s funny, well-scripted, and surprising. Also, it’s heart-warming. I need it! On the show, host Jonathan Goldstein assists his guests in confronting unresolved past conflicts, which can range from genuinely traumatic experiences to smaller spats. The fourth season premieres this week, so I spoke with Goldstein about his process for creating the show, what he looks for in guests, and, of course, whether he buys this idea that we’re all living through the “golden age of podcasts./news/how-to-charge-your-non-tesla-ev-at-a-tesla-supercharger.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-charge-your-non-tesla-ev-at-a-tesla-supercharger.htmlThe electric vehicle market is growing by leaps and bounds every month in the US, but most of these new EV owners are quickly figuring out they have one big thing in common: our public charging infrastructure sucks very badly. EV drivers face everything from illogical charging station placement and broken equipment to being forced to use a hodgepodge of payment apps. The fact that America is still in the Wild West days of EV charging becomes readily apparent the moment your range starts dwindling and you’re far from home./news/how-to-edit-delete-and-restore-a-facebook-post.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-edit-delete-and-restore-a-facebook-post.htmlNone of us are perfect, and all of us have published Facebook posts with misspellings, grammatical errors, mistaken “facts,” or opinions that we immediately realized might not need to be aired in public. When that happens, you’re going to want to hop into your post and fix the problem — either by changing it or deleting it altogether. Luckily, it’s really easy — if you know how. What follows are directions on how to edit a Facebook post, delete it, and restore it on the web and using the mobile app./news/how-to-make-green-text-messages-easier-to-read-on-iphone.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-make-green-text-messages-easier-to-read-on-iphone.htmlBy default, any texts you send to a device that doesn’t have iMessage turned on show up as a harsh, bright green bubble. It’s a very obvious signal that you aren’t texting somebody with an Apple device and losing out on things like smoother group chats and snazzy message effects. Frankly, those green texts can also be difficult to parse, something Google has pointed out on its “Get the Message” website./news/how-to-remove-amazon-s-ads-from-an-echo-show.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-remove-amazon-s-ads-from-an-echo-show.htmlAmazon’s Echo Show smart displays are genuinely great devices. For between $90 and $250 (often much cheaper with Amazon’s perma-sales), you get a smart speaker with a touchscreen that can play music, show you photos, fire up a video call with friends and family, act as a security camera, double as a Bluetooth speaker, and control your smart locks, lights and security cameras. However, there is a big caveat: Amazon’s hardware is heavily subsidized by its services, and when you buy an Echo Show, you are essentially bringing a little billboard for Amazon’s services into your home./news/how-to-try-android-10-s-best-new-features.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-try-android-10-s-best-new-features.htmlIf you’ve got a Pixel or the Essential Phone, chances are that you’ve got — or are about to get — the full stable release of Android 10, which has a bunch of interesting new features that are worth checking out. But where do you find them? I installed Android 10 on my original Pixel XL late yesterday (yes, I’ve still got the first version of the Pixel — so sue me), and except for a few stylistic changes, the new features weren’t immediately obvious./news/how-to-turn-off-the-useless-notification-sounds-on-your-apple-watch.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-turn-off-the-useless-notification-sounds-on-your-apple-watch.htmlOne arguably overlooked feature of the Apple Watch is that it supports not just haptic notifications, but also audible ones — in fact, they're turned on by default. Calls, emails, text messages, and so on will all cause a ping to emanate from your wrist. Perhaps there's value in this somewhere, particularly since wearing the watch automatically silences the phone that it's attached to. But since it's physically attached to your wrist, you will always feel each notification as it comes in — there's no need to hear it as well./news/how-to-use-android-12-s-call-screening-features.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-use-android-12-s-call-screening-features.htmlBack in February 2020, we ran an article explaining how to use the handy call screening functionality that Google had introduced for its Pixel phones. Screen Call, Google’s screening app, allows you to screen calls for numbers you don’t recognize (or people you don’t particularly want to talk to). Nearly two years later, and with Android 12, the company has added some useful features that can not only save you from having to deal with spam calls but can keep you from having to deal with the tedious and frustrating process of working through call menus./news/how-to-use-youtube-s-gestures-to-make-it-bearable-on-a-portrait-locked-phone.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-use-youtube-s-gestures-to-make-it-bearable-on-a-portrait-locked-phone.htmlIf you use your phone in portrait lock all the time, it can be frustrating trying to get YouTube videos into full screen with the tiny button in the UI. Thankfully, there’s a better way, using the app’s built-in gestures: you can simply swipe up on a video to fill up the screen and swipe down on it to go back to portrait orientation. Of course, this feature works on Android phones as well, which I personally like better than having to hit the auto-rotate button built into the OS./news/how-video-chat-fuels-the-american-deportation-machine.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-video-chat-fuels-the-american-deportation-machine.htmlWaitingto bethrown out Detained, dehumanized,deported.Inside the cruel bureaucracy of ICE's immigrant detention centers. by Gaby Del Valle Sep 8, 2020, 10:00am EDTphoto illustrations by Alex Parkin Sep 4, 2020, 11:13am EDT Sep 4, 2020, 11:13am EDT waitingto bethrownout Detained, dehumanized,deported.Inside the cruel bureaucracy of ICE's immigrant detention centers. by Gaby Del ValleSep 8, 2020, 10:00am EDTphoto illustrations by Alex Parkin Samuel’s journey to America took six months, and it wasn’t even where he wanted to go./news/humane-ai-pin-review-the-post-smartphone-future-isn-t-here-yet.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/humane-ai-pin-review-the-post-smartphone-future-isn-t-here-yet.htmlThe idea behind the Humane AI Pin is a simple one: it’s a phone without a screen. Instead of asking you to open apps and tap on a keyboard, this little wearable abstracts everything away behind an AI assistant and an operating system Humane calls CosmOS. Want to make a phone call, send a text message, calculate the tip, write something down, or learn the population of Copenhagen? Just ask the AI Pin./news/ikea-s-ai-assistant-gives-design-inspiration-at-least-it-tries-to.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ikea-s-ai-assistant-gives-design-inspiration-at-least-it-tries-to.htmlTrips to Ikea can easily be an overwhelming exercise if you go in without a plan. Ikea’s AI assistant on the GPT Store was created to help — it will tell you all about its products and visualize them in a room. Francesco Marzoni, chief data and analytics officer at Ingka Group, the largest Ikea franchise holder, said in a press release the AI assistant is part of a series of experiments the company is doing “so that we can take part in the AI evolution as we shape our company strategy./news/in-marvel-we-no-longer-trust.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/in-marvel-we-no-longer-trust.htmlVariety had a new report yesterday about the many challenges facing the Marvel Cinematic Universe. From new Marvel villain Jonathan Majors’ significant legal issues to the overworked and recently organized VFX teams, the piece is a fascinating look at what happens when a company focuses too much on the business of making entertainment and not on the entertainment itself. It’s clear the studio is losing the trust of audiences, but its latest move to regain it seems to be less about fixing the problems and more about assigning blame to others./news/inboard-m1-review-high-speed-and-high-priced-fun.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/inboard-m1-review-high-speed-and-high-priced-fun.htmlIf nothing else, 2016 was the year that electric skateboards grew up. Some of the first companies in the market released their second-generation boards, like the Boosted Board 2, the ZBoard 2, and the Yuneec E-Go2, making electric skateboards broadly available. People who want to ride and don’t mind paying a several-hundred-dollar premium for the convenience of premade board finally had a handful of options. This boom created space for new ideas, new companies, and — finally — some healthy competition./news/instagram-is-sticking-to-short-videos-says-adam-mosseri.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/instagram-is-sticking-to-short-videos-says-adam-mosseri.htmlA creator asked me recently: “are we going to do longform video on Instagram?” The answer is no and I wanted to explain why. We do a number of different things on Instagram but at the heart of it there are really two jobs. One: connecting you with friends. Two: helping you explore your interests, usually through shortfrom video. It turns out that those two things are symbiotic. You see an amazing video that makes you laugh out loud from a comedian doing a bit, and you send it to someone who you know is going to laugh just as loud as you did./news/instagram-s-pinned-comments-feature-is-rolling-out-to-everyone-now.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/instagram-s-pinned-comments-feature-is-rolling-out-to-everyone-now.htmlInstagram on Tuesday started the official rollout of its pinned comment feature, which the company first began testing back in May. The feature lets any user pin three comments on a post to the top of a thread, and it’s designed to allow the author of a post to better control the tone of the comment thread through highlighting positivity and moderating more negative and abusive responses that show up below the pinned comments./news/ios-17-standby-apple-s-docked-display-is-the-best-iphone-feature-in-years.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ios-17-standby-apple-s-docked-display-is-the-best-iphone-feature-in-years.htmlIt only took a few minutes of using the iPhone’s new StandBy mode before I started using it all the time. After a few weeks of testing the early betas of Apple’s iOS 17, I’ve already changed my daily phone routine around it — and acquired a new desk accessory in the process. I can’t remember the last time a new iOS feature clicked so well for me, and I almost can’t believe the iPhone hasn’t always had it./news/ipados-review-better-browser-multitasking-file-management-and-more.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ipados-review-better-browser-multitasking-file-management-and-more.htmlZeno’s most famous paradox involves a runner trying to go some distance. But to go that distance, they have to get halfway there, then half the remaining distance, then half again, and half again. The runner can get incredibly close but never cross the finish line. Instead, they’re stuck reaching an infinity of halfway points. This little parable is my new default response when somebody asks me if the iPad can really be your main computer./news/it-seems-even-apple-s-eddy-cue-can-t-find-an-xbox-without-twitter.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/it-seems-even-apple-s-eddy-cue-can-t-find-an-xbox-without-twitter.htmlMore than a year after their release, the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles are still very difficult to find — and it seems that even Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, is looking for some tips on Twitter on how to snag one of the elusive consoles. According to the Big Tech Alert Twitter account, he followed @XboxStockAlerts, an account that posts about Xbox console restocks, on Monday evening./news/jamie-clayton-and-freema-agyeman-on-isolation-loneliness-and-geek-culture-in-sense8.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/jamie-clayton-and-freema-agyeman-on-isolation-loneliness-and-geek-culture-in-sense8.htmlThe second season of Netflix’s Sense8 went live on May 5th, and it jumps the series’s action forward in a major way. The central characters — eight psychically connected “sensates” from around the globe, capable of sharing skills and experiences — are taking aim at BPO, a shadowy organization that wants to capture and contain or destroy them. Two of the characters most central to that fight are trans hacktivist Nomi Marks (Jamie Clayton) and her girlfriend Amanita (Doctor Who vet Freema Agyeman), who use computer skills to disable security systems and gather data from around the world./news/joe-biden-invokes-defense-production-act-for-ev-batteries-and-clean-energy.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/joe-biden-invokes-defense-production-act-for-ev-batteries-and-clean-energy.htmlThe Biden administration plans to use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to ramp up the mining and processing of key minerals used in batteries for renewable energy and electric vehicles. That could include nickel, lithium, cobalt, graphite, and manganese, according to the White House fact sheet. “The President is also reviewing potential further uses of DPA – in addition to minerals and materials, to secure safer, cleaner, and more resilient energy for America,” the fact sheet says./news/kohler-s-new-smart-bidet-adds-voice-control.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/kohler-s-new-smart-bidet-adds-voice-control.htmlFor most people, flushing $10,000 down the drain for an entire smart toilet is a bit much. But if you’ve always wanted a fancy toilet, Kohler is kicking off CES 2024 with a more accessible option. The $2,149 PureWash E930 is a voice-controlled bidet seat that lets you transform your existing toilet into a much smarter one. As in, you can now boss your toilet around. The appeal of bidet seats is that they let you turn your boring toilet into a much fancier one for a fraction of the price./news/lastpass-confirms-attackers-stole-some-source-code.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lastpass-confirms-attackers-stole-some-source-code.htmlEarlier this week, LastPass started notifying its users of a “recent security incident” where an “unauthorized party” used a compromised developer account to access parts of its password manager’s source code and “some proprietary LastPass technical information.” In a letter to its users, the company’s CEO Karim Toubba explains that its investigation hasn’t turned up evidence that any user data or encrypted passwords were accessed. Toubba continues on to explain that the company has “implemented additional enhanced security measures” after containing the breach, which it detected two weeks ago./news/lego-s-new-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-set-comes-with-a-teensy-controversy.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lego-s-new-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-set-comes-with-a-teensy-controversy.htmlIt also looks a lot like a fan design! This fan design, which twice gathered the required 10,000 votes to become a Lego Ideas set and was rejected by Lego each time: I definitely prefer the more thatched, lively look of Lego’s official playset, though — and it’s worth noting Lego has repeatedly recognized that particular fan designer in a different way. So I wouldn’t personally feel too guilty about snapping up a Snow White, particularly since Lego might well have been working on this set (and its larger Disney licensing relationship) long before the fan creator’s Ideas submissions anyhow./news/lenovo-thinkpad-x130e-launch-date-slips-to-february.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lenovo-thinkpad-x130e-launch-date-slips-to-february.htmlLenovo's education-oriented ThinkPad x130e was supposed to launch yesterday, but now the company's website is saying that we should expect the knock-proof tablet to arrive in February next year. Engadget spoke to a rep from the firm and was told that the delay was due to the laptop's popularity with school districts, which have collectively bought the entire first manufacturing run. The 11.9-inch laptop is designed for use by K12 students, with a rubber bumper on the outer shell to offer some protection from dings and scrapes, reinforced hinges, ports, and bezel corners, a choice of lower-end processors from Intel and AMD, an 8./news/lenovo-s-rollable-laptop-and-smartphone-are-a-compelling-unfinished-pitch-for-the-future.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lenovo-s-rollable-laptop-and-smartphone-are-a-compelling-unfinished-pitch-for-the-future.htmlThe last time I was at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in 2019, foldables were the new hotness in town. Samsung had announced — but not released — its first Galaxy Fold, and Huawei showed off a foldable of its own at the show — the Mate X. Four years and one pandemic later, and Lenovo is back at the same show to make a pitch for a subtly different kind of future, one where laptop and smartphone screens alike can gradually expand to offer more screen real estate, rather than needing to be completely unfolded like books./news/leonard-nimoy-s-final-tweet-is-beautiful-and-it-broke-my-heart.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/leonard-nimoy-s-final-tweet-is-beautiful-and-it-broke-my-heart.htmlMy dad was — and is — a huge Star Trek nerd, and when I was a kid he'd excitedly show me episodes of the original series in syndication. It was a show that he watched in college, he'd say, explaining why Kirk was Kirk, Bones was Bones, and most importantly, why Leonard Nimoy's Spock was Spock. One of my earliest moments of geek fandom was when I tracked down the script for the original Star Trek pilot, "/news/lg-s-brightest-oled-tv-ever-starts-at-2-200.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lg-s-brightest-oled-tv-ever-starts-at-2-200.htmlLG today announced the pricing for its 2021 lineup of 4K OLED TVs. The most buzz-worthy part for home theater enthusiasts is the new G1 series, which includes LG’s new “OLED evo” panel with a brighter picture than any of the company’s past OLEDs. But the G1 doesn’t come cheap: it’s $2,199 for a 55-inch model, $2,999 for a 65-inch, and $4,499 if you want a 77-inch screen. LG says the G1 sets also “have an unbelievably thin bezel with included wall mounting leaving virtually no gap from screen to wall./news/man-who-leaked-nude-photos-of-scarlett-johansson-and-hacked-other-celebrities-sentenced-to-10-years.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/man-who-leaked-nude-photos-of-scarlett-johansson-and-hacked-other-celebrities-sentenced-to-10-years.htmlChristopher Chaney, a "Hollywood hacker" whoinfiltrated email accounts and leaked nude photos of celebrities and other women, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison,the AP reports. Chaney was caught three years after he began efforts to illegally gain access to private accounts and photos, and broke into accounts belonging to Hollywood notables including Christina Aguilera, Mila Kunis, and Scarlett Johansson — prosecutors said that he accessed more than 50 email accounts between November 2010 and October 2011./news/marvel-snap-publisher-nuverse-reportedly-lays-off-hundreds.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/marvel-snap-publisher-nuverse-reportedly-lays-off-hundreds.htmlTikTok parent company ByteDance is planning to wind down its Nuverse gaming brand and walk away from the mainstream video game industry, according to a new report by Reuters. Four unnamed sources told the publication on Monday that the decision will likely impact hundreds of employees, some of whom were only informed about the company’s restructuring efforts over the weekend. “We regularly review our businesses and make adjustments to centre on long-term strategic growth areas./news/microsoft-edge-is-crowdsourcing-data-to-show-or-hide-notification-requests.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-edge-is-crowdsourcing-data-to-show-or-hide-notification-requests.htmlMicrosoft is trying a new solution for the persistent “would you like to allow notifications from this website” requests that you see across the internet: crowdsourcing data on which ones people block and which ones they allow. According to a blog post today, Microsoft is calling this feature adaptive notification requests, and the company is rolling it out in Edge 88 after it received positive feedback from testers. For an example of how this works, say there’s a website that commonly asks for notifications, and nobody wants them./news/microsoft-flight-simulator-2024-launches-on-november-19th.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-flight-simulator-2024-launches-on-november-19th.htmlMicrosoft Flight Simulator 2024 is arriving on Xbox and PC on November 12th. The next installment in the legendary franchise will include hot air balloon trips, aerial firefighting, and much more. During the Xbox Games Showcase, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 developer Asobo showed off commercial flight, air ambulances, and even aerial advertising. Asobo has been working on adding a variety of new planes to the game, and you’ll even be able to fly as part of a search and rescue team, or help with agricultural aviation and aerial firefighting./news/microsoft-rebrands-bing-chat-to-copilot-to-better-compete-with-chatgpt.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-rebrands-bing-chat-to-copilot-to-better-compete-with-chatgpt.htmlMicrosoft launched its big AI push earlier this year as part of its Bing search engine, integrating a ChatGPT-like interface directly into its search results. Now less than a year later, it’s dropping the Bing Chat branding and moving to Copilot, the new name for the chat interface you might have used in Bing, Microsoft Edge, and Windows 11. Microsoft initially talked up the Google search competition for its AI ambitions earlier this year, but it now looks like it has its sights set on ChatGPT instead./news/microsoft-says-windows-11-file-explorer-ads-were-not-intended-to-be-published-externally.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-says-windows-11-file-explorer-ads-were-not-intended-to-be-published-externally.htmlMicrosoft appears to be testing a new type of ad inside File Explorer on Windows 11. Microsoft MVP and Twitter user Florian Beaubois discovered an ad in the latest test build of Windows 11, prompting users to check out the Microsoft Editor. While the ads might have appeared for some Windows 11 users, Microsoft says it was a mistake. “This was an experimental banner that was not intended to be published externally and was turned off,” says Brandon LeBlanc, senior program manager for Windows, in a statement to The Verge./news/microsoft-s-icloud-photos-integration-for-windows-11-is-now-rolling-out.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-s-icloud-photos-integration-for-windows-11-is-now-rolling-out.htmlMicrosoft is starting to roll out iCloud Photos integration into Windows 11. A new update to the Photos app in Windows 11 is now available, which will include the ability to link an iCloud Photos library straight into the built-in Windows Photos app. Windows 11 users will need to update their Photos app from the Microsoft Store and then install an iCloud for Windows app from the Store, sign in, and choose which photos or libraries automatically sync to the Photos app./news/microsoft-s-new-share-button-makes-it-easy-to-show-people-what-bing-ai-is-saying.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-s-new-share-button-makes-it-easy-to-show-people-what-bing-ai-is-saying.htmlMicrosoft is trying to make it easier to share your experiences with its GPT-4-powered Bing Chat by adding a button that lets you post the AI’s response to Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. People have already been sharing the interesting (and sometimes upsetting) things that the chatbot has been saying via screenshots, but it seems like Microsoft is leaning into it now. Perhaps that’s a sign that it’s more confident in all the guardrails it’s put up around the system after users pushed it to the breaking point./news/microsoft-s-surface-laptop-5-and-intel-pro-9-are-down-to-their-lowest-price-to-date.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-s-surface-laptop-5-and-intel-pro-9-are-down-to-their-lowest-price-to-date.htmlIf you’re looking for a good Windows laptop for general use, the Surface Laptop 5 is still a worthwhile investment despite its age. The stunning laptop is both powerful and portable, with a thin chassis and a spacious 3:2 display that supports Dolby Vision IQ, which allows it to optimize HDR content for better lighting. And while we wish Microsoft had included a few more ports in addition to its lone USB-C and USB-A offerings, it at least supports Thunderbolt 4, unlike its last-gen predecessor./news/more-tesla-employees-laid-off-as-bloodbath-enters-its-fourth-week.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/more-tesla-employees-laid-off-as-bloodbath-enters-its-fourth-week.htmlTesla’s brutal round of layoffs entered its fourth week, with more employees posting on LinkedIn and elsewhere about receiving notice that their time at the company has come to an end. The most recent layoffs, which were first reported by Electrek and Business Insider, appear to be hitting different segments of the company, including software, services, and engineering. Employees said they received layoff notices over the weekend and on Monday. It’s unclear how many employees have been affected./news/most-americans-think-nasa-s-10b-space-telescope-is-a-good-investment-poll-finds.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/most-americans-think-nasa-s-10b-space-telescope-is-a-good-investment-poll-finds.htmlToday, marketing and data analytics firm YouGov released an online poll of 1,000 Americans, asking them their overall opinion of NASA and whether or not various space programs have been good investments. Roughly 70 percent of those polled had a favorable opinion of NASA, and 60 percent thought that the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, was worth it. YouGov notes this poll was conducted between July 14th and July 18th, after NASA released the first dazzling JWST images of sparkling galaxies and nebulas on July 12th./news/most-of-2020-s-best-holiday-deals-could-end-later-this-week.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/most-of-2020-s-best-holiday-deals-could-end-later-this-week.htmlWhen the calendar flips over to 2021 this Friday, January 1st, some of the best deals that we’ve been featuring for the past few months could come to an end. Assuredly, not every single one will end, but judging from previous years, the start of a new year means the holiday season is over and most companies will likely want to raise their prices. Here are a few mainstay deals that might not be around for much longer./news/my-tamagotchi-is-everything-that-went-wrong-with-our-future.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/my-tamagotchi-is-everything-that-went-wrong-with-our-future.htmlA few weeks ago, my troll boyfriend found a Tamagotchi in a GameStop, and he decided on the spur of the moment to get it for me. I was a kid when the Tamagotchi craze hit, and I was always envious of my friends and cousins who got to hand-rear their little digital babies. (My parents wouldn’t let me have one.) Part of me always wondered what I missed in my childhood./news/netflix-confirms-shuffle-play-feature-will-officially-launch-this-year.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-confirms-shuffle-play-feature-will-officially-launch-this-year.htmlNetflix’s Shuffle Play feature, which the company was spotted testing last year, is getting a widespread launch in the first half of 2021. Variety reports the company made the announcement as part of its latest financial results. In its testing phase, Shuffle Play has worked by picking content based on your viewing history, helping you avoid feeling overwhelmed by Netflix’s home screen full of content. Netflix’s COO and chief product officer Greg Peters said the feature is designed for users to “indicate to us that they just want to skip browsing entirely, click one button and we’ll pick a title for them just to instantly play./news/netflix-is-now-streaming-insecure-and-more-hbo-shows-are-coming.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-is-now-streaming-insecure-and-more-hbo-shows-are-coming.htmlSome big HBO titles are heading to Netflix — just not the absolute biggest. Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery have reached a deal to start streaming select HBO series on Netflix’s platform. All five seasons of Insecure, which ran on HBO between 2016 and 2021, are now available, and others are on the way. Deadline reports that Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Six Feet Under, and Ballers will come to Netflix, too, and True Blood will stream on Netflix outside the US./news/netflix-will-stop-working-on-older-apple-tvs.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-will-stop-working-on-older-apple-tvs.htmlNetflix says it’ll no longer be available on second- and third-generation Apple TVs, which came out more than a decade ago. The first three generations of Apple TVs are already considered “obsolete” by Apple, which discontinues service for hardware seven years after it has stopped selling a product. Netflix didn’t get into specifics about why it made the decision to end support for second- and third-generation Apple TVs now. But both generations are so old that they don’t have Apple’s App Store./news/netflix-s-cheaper-ads-plan-is-now-on-apple-tv.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-s-cheaper-ads-plan-is-now-on-apple-tv.htmlIf you want to watch content through the ad-supported plan, you’ll need to be on version 2.3.0 of the Netflix app for Apple TV. I tested the plan on my laptop when it first launched, and whatever you’re imagining Netflix with ads is like, you’re probably right. Personally, I’d recommend the no-ads plans, but if you want to save a few bucks, the ads tier isn’t a bad option. When Netflix Basic with Ads launched in November, it also wasn’t supported by older Chromecasts, but a Netflix support document no longer has a specific section calling that out./news/netflix-s-gudetama-an-eggcellent-adventure-review-meh-in-a-good-way.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-s-gudetama-an-eggcellent-adventure-review-meh-in-a-good-way.htmlOf all the many Sanrio characters, none speak to me quite like Gudetama: a genderless, aimless egg that wants nothing besides some soy sauce and to be left alone. Same. The character makes for adorable stickers and T-shirts, and now it’s being stretched out into its own series on Netflix. It seems entirely unnecessary, and it mostly is — we don’t really need to know any more about Gudetama other than its distinct lack of motivation./news/new-macbook-air-and-mac-mini-are-made-of-100-percent-recycled-aluminum.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/new-macbook-air-and-mac-mini-are-made-of-100-percent-recycled-aluminum.htmlOnstage at today’s hardware announcement event, Apple proudly announced that the 2018 models of its MacBook Air and Mac mini would both be manufactured with 100 percent recycled aluminum. Additionally, it announced that its Mac mini would be constructed from 60 percent recycled plastic. These are different kinds of recycled materials. Specifically, the recycled plastic is “post-consumer,” which means that it’s material that’s previously been used in other products and was recycled./news/new-patent-may-reveal-how-apple-could-pull-off-a-no-notch-iphone-14-pro.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/new-patent-may-reveal-how-apple-could-pull-off-a-no-notch-iphone-14-pro.htmlApple is rumored to ditch the notch in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max in favor of a pill-shaped cutout and a spot for the selfie cam, and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has published a patent application that seems to show how the company could do that, according to Patently Apple (via 9to5Mac). The patent application covers several possible variants of a device that combines a camera, an infrared light emitter, and a “light folding element” that can redirect the IR light./news/new-sony-breach-attempt-affects-93-000-psn-and-soe-accounts-credit-cards-not-at-risk.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/new-sony-breach-attempt-affects-93-000-psn-and-soe-accounts-credit-cards-not-at-risk.htmlDon't panic, this isn't the start of another ordeal affecting tens of millions of accounts and necessitates testimony before legislative bodies. In his inaugural post to the US PlayStation blog, Sony's recently-hired Chief Information Security Officer Philip Reitinger revealed that his company has detected "attempts on Sony Entertainment Network, PlayStation Network, and Sony Online Entertainment services to test a massive set of sign-in IDs and passwords." Less than 0.1 percent (that is to say, one tenth of one percent) were reportedly affected, which breaks down to 60,000 from PSN / SEN and 33,000 from SOE./news/new-trailers-the-tragedy-of-macbeth-invasion-spencer-and-more.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/new-trailers-the-tragedy-of-macbeth-invasion-spencer-and-more.htmlWe’re nearing the season finale of Ted Lasso (only two more new episodes!), and it seems like the show’s got a lot of story threads that need to be knitted together after episode 10. Titled No Weddings and a Funeral, episode 10 was solid, but I didn’t quite love it. I’m trying to write about the episode without spoiling it, let’s just say I didn’t love how the session between Ted and Sharon which we’ve been waiting for all season was edited together with Rebecca’s retelling of a traumatic event with her own father./news/new-trailers-westworld-season-2-the-handmaid-s-tale-terminal-and-more.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/new-trailers-westworld-season-2-the-handmaid-s-tale-terminal-and-more.htmlAbout a month ago, I saw American Made while on an international flight to Barcelona. It seemed like it would be a big and fun enough film to work on a small, dull screen — it’s based on a real story about a guy who simultaneously worked for the CIA, the DEA, and the foreign drug cartels they were trying to bust — and for the most part, it was./news/niantic-is-shutting-down-its-ar-catan-game-after-a-year-of-early-access.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/niantic-is-shutting-down-its-ar-catan-game-after-a-year-of-early-access.htmlPokémon Go developer Niantic is shutting down its augmented reality game Catan: World Explorers, the company announced on Friday (via Protocol). An AR adaptation of the popular board game Catan announced in 2019, World Explorers was the company’s latest attempt to recreate the magic of Pokémon Go, but soon it’s all coming to an end. After a year of early access, the game will not be playable after November 18th and Niantic says later today it “will be taking the game down from the App Store and removing real-money purchases from the Shop./news/nikon-announces-16-1-megapixel-coolpix-p310-compact-camera-new-s-series-lineup.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nikon-announces-16-1-megapixel-coolpix-p310-compact-camera-new-s-series-lineup.htmlNikon's announced a number of new cameras this evening, including the Coolpix P310, a 16.1-megapixel compact shooter with up to 3200 ISO (Hi1 6400 equivalent) and a lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.8. The camera incorporates Nikon's VR image-stabilization technology, and features a number of control features borrowed from the company's DSLR line, including manual exposure control, a top-mounted control wheel for adjusting shutter speed and aperture, and a new Zoom Memory function that allows users to jump immediately to popular lens focal lengths on command./news/nine-inch-nails-just-released-two-new-albums-for-free.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nine-inch-nails-just-released-two-new-albums-for-free.htmlIt’s been two years since Nine Inch Nails released its last album, Bad Witch, but today, the band dropped a surprise pair of records as part of its Ghosts collection. Ghosts V - VI are a product of the times: the uncertain world we’re now living in as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread. “Music — whether listening to it, thinking about it or creating it — has always been the thing that helped us get through anything — good or bad,” reads a post on the band’s website from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross./news/nintendo-switch-online-2-0-app-update-adds-easier-way-to-copy-your-friend-code.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nintendo-switch-online-2-0-app-update-adds-easier-way-to-copy-your-friend-code.htmlNintendo has updated its Switch Online mobile apps for iOS and Android to version 2.0, which brings a tweaked design as well as some minor quality-of-life improvements. The app launched shortly after the Nintendo Switch in 2017. It’s designed to work in tandem with the console, offering features like online voice chat that aren’t available on the Switch itself. For my money, the 2.0 update’s most interesting improvement is that it offers an easier way to find and share your friend code, the cumbersome 12-digit identifier that’s the primary way of adding friends on Nintendo’s online service./news/nintendo-s-new-3ds-xl-is-coming-to-north-america-next-month.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nintendo-s-new-3ds-xl-is-coming-to-north-america-next-month.htmlIt's been available in Japan since last year, but the New Nintendo 3DS XL is finally coming to North America very soon — Nintendo just announced that the revamped handheld will be making its way to American and Canadian gamers starting on February 13th. Rumors of the release date first came yesterday, after several retail sources leaked promotional materials for the New 3DS. Only the larger, XL version of the device was announced for North America and you can buy the device in either red or black when it launches for $199./news/one-third-party-reddit-app-on-ios-is-going-charge-you-3-99-per-month-to-use-it.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/one-third-party-reddit-app-on-ios-is-going-charge-you-3-99-per-month-to-use-it.htmlReddit’s new usage-based API pricing is now in effect, and while the potential costs forced many third-party apps to shut down, a handful of apps are pivoting to paid subscriptions to help pay for Reddit’s API fees. On Monday, the developer of one surviving iOS app, Narwhal, announced the monthly fee for the app: $3.99 per month. Narwhal’s developer, who goes by det0ur on Reddit, went into more detail about the fee in a Monday post./news/paramount-s-rumored-merger-with-skydance-is-off.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/paramount-s-rumored-merger-with-skydance-is-off.htmlFollowing weeks of discussions, Paramount’s potential merger deal with Skydance has fallen apart, as reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal. In a statement on Tuesday, Paramount’s parent company, National Amusements, said the companies couldn’t “reach mutually acceptable terms” for its deal with Skydance Media. One possible issue may have been Skydance’s decision not to include legal protection that would shield National Amusements head Shari Redstone from a lawsuit filed by shareholders, according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter./news/paste-magazine-is-bringing-jezebel-back.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/paste-magazine-is-bringing-jezebel-back.htmlPaste Magazine is bringing Jezebel back. After shutting down Jezebel and laying off its remaining staff earlier this month, G/O Media has now sold the trailblazing feminist website to Paste Magazine. “I think of it as the quintessential site for millennial women who grew up on this, and it’s a site that taught them what they could be,” Paste co-founder Josh Jackson told The New York Times. “And I want the same for Gen Z, and to bring in Gen Z voices./news/perfect-days-review-a-little-too-neat.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/perfect-days-review-a-little-too-neat.htmlIn Perfect Days, Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) is a bathroom cleaner. He starts his day early, gets a coffee from the vending machine, pops a classic rock tape into the stereo, and drives his van to various public restrooms, where he gets to work. He scrubs and tidies the sink meticulously. The various parts of a bidet are wiped. He uses a small mirror to check the underside of a toilet to make sure it’s sparkling in places no one will ever see./news/play-this-momodora-iii-demo.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/play-this-momodora-iii-demo.htmlNeed dungeons to explore and demons to fight before the release of Diablo III? Side-scrolling exploration platformer Momodora III won't be ready until later this year, but this free demo includes three of the seven intended areas, with plenty of adorable boss battles and tricky jumps. The game follows Momodora II fairly directly, as protagonist Momo journeys to Hell to save her sister with a weaponized maple leaf. Of course, plot isn't all that vital, and the demo stands alone as a fun way to spend a few hours./news/pour-one-out-for-the-steam-controller-sold-out-forever-after-5-fire-sale.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pour-one-out-for-the-steam-controller-sold-out-forever-after-5-fire-sale.htmlThe Steam Autumn Sale is now over, but it included one deal that stood out from the pack — a $5 farewell to Valve’s weirdly wonderful Steam Controller gamepad. For several days, you could buy the Steam Controller for just $5 plus shipping ($13 total for me), and Valve confirmed to The Verge that it was the last batch of these gamepads that will ever be made. They’re now completely out of stock./news/proton-mail-finally-gets-a-desktop-app-for-encrypted-email-and-calendar.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/proton-mail-finally-gets-a-desktop-app-for-encrypted-email-and-calendar.htmlProton has released a desktop version of its Proton Mail app that will give users full access to both Proton Mail and Proton Calendar and (eventually) the ability to view your emails offline. The desktop app is available in beta is optimized for both Windows and macOS, and encrypts sent emails end-to-end just like with the browser version, according to the Swiss company, while offline access to emails will be available “soon./news/ps5-slim-teardown-shows-the-clever-engineering-of-its-detachable-disc-drive.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ps5-slim-teardown-shows-the-clever-engineering-of-its-detachable-disc-drive.htmlThe new PlayStation 5 hasn’t come out yet — it doesn’t even have a specific release date — but a few YouTubers have gotten their hands on it, including Dave Lee from the Dave2D channel. Lee posted his teardown of the console yesterday, and if you’ve been curious about how that detachable disc drive works, this is the best look you’ll get at it without buying the $499.99 PS5 yourself later this month./news/psa-it-s-time-to-update-winrar-due-to-a-big-security-vulnerability.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/psa-it-s-time-to-update-winrar-due-to-a-big-security-vulnerability.htmlIf you use WinRAR, it’s time to update to the latest version after a serious security vulnerability has been discovered that’s already in use by attackers. Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has found that multiple government-backed hacking groups have been exploiting the WinRAR vulnerability since early 2023. “A patch is now available, but many users still seem to be vulnerable,” says TAG in a blog post detailing the WinRAR exploit. “TAG has observed government-backed actors from a number of countries exploiting the WinRAR vulnerability as part of their operations./news/record-labels-win-right-to-take-vimeo-to-court-in-lip-synching-lawsuit.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/record-labels-win-right-to-take-vimeo-to-court-in-lip-synching-lawsuit.htmlCapitol Records, EMI, and other labels can move forward with a lawsuit against Vimeo, a New York federal judge has ruled. Vimeo is fighting claims that it failed to take down videos using songs by the Beatles, Radiohead, Jay Z, and other artists without paying for a license, saying it's not responsible to vet every video on the site. Judge Ronnie Abrams, though, thinks the company could have known perfectly well about the infringement — after all, its employees uploaded some of the videos./news/ring-video-doorbell-pro-2-review-ring-s-best-doorbell-yet.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ring-video-doorbell-pro-2-review-ring-s-best-doorbell-yet.htmlRing’s new $249.99 Video Doorbell Pro 2 is the best video doorbell yet from a company that has nearly become a household name for video doorbells. It has an excellent field of view and video quality; plenty of customizable features for notifications and recording zones; and speedy performance, whether that’s sending alerts to your phone or smart speaker when someone rings the bell or pulling up the live feed from the Ring app on a phone./news/rivian-s-pricing-the-upcoming-r2-electric-suv-similarly-to-tesla-s-model-y.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/rivian-s-pricing-the-upcoming-r2-electric-suv-similarly-to-tesla-s-model-y.htmlRivian has had a few interesting weeks that included its alignment with big legacy automakers to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) on future vehicles and a little poaching of Tesla’s head of raw materials. But under the radar is one more surprise: CarBuzz is reporting the growing EV company revealed some pricing details last week on its upcoming R2 platform vehicle. The smaller-size SUV, built on the lower-cost R2 platform, will cost from $40,000 to $60,000./news/rocket-lab-is-now-building-customizable-satellites.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/rocket-lab-is-now-building-customizable-satellites.htmlSmall satellite launcher Rocket Lab is getting into the business of making satellites in addition to launching them. The company announced today that it is offering a new service to customers: a standard satellite that can be tailored to anyone’s low Earth orbit business needs. Such satellites are designed to launch to orbit on Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket, creating a streamlined mission to space. Rocket Lab’s offering is a circular satellite called the Photon./news/samsung-galaxy-s23-vs-s23-plus-vs-s23-ultra-spec-comparison.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-galaxy-s23-vs-s23-plus-vs-s23-ultra-spec-comparison.htmlSamsung announced a new batch of Galaxy S flagship phones at its Unpacked event this week, all of which are set to arrive soon. As expected, the new class to choose from this year includes the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23 Plus, and Galaxy S23 Ultra. Samsung’s trio of flagships for 2023 offer some refined designs — which look a little iPhone-like, if I’m being candid — with some camera, battery, and processor improvements over last year’s S22 generation./news/samsung-galaxy-watch-ultra-hands-on-ultra-d%C3%A9j%C3%A0-vu.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-galaxy-watch-ultra-hands-on-ultra-d%C3%A9j%C3%A0-vu.htmlLast month, Samsung announced a cheaper, entry-level Galaxy Watch FE. And today, it announced a refreshed $299.99 Galaxy Watch 7 and the all-new $649.99 Galaxy Watch Ultra. It doesn’t take a genius to see that Samsung’s taking a page from Apple’s smartwatch playbook — and nowhere is that more obvious than with the new Ultra. The Galaxy Watch Ultra replaces the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro as the premium smartwatch in Samsung’s lineup./news/samsung-s-galaxy-gear-is-a-smartwatch-like-no-other.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-galaxy-gear-is-a-smartwatch-like-no-other.htmlThe Galaxy Gear, Samsung's latest foray into the smartwatch category, is now official and it's quite unlike anything you've seen before. Yes, it's a smartphone accessory that can pick up notifications, control music playback, and keep time with a rich variety of watch faces, but Samsung takes it a few steps further by integrating a 1.9-megapixel camera, a speaker, and two microphones — allowing you to shoot short 720p movies and even conduct phone calls with the Galaxy Gear./news/samurai-jack-will-return-to-cartoon-network-in-2016.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samurai-jack-will-return-to-cartoon-network-in-2016.htmlAfter over 10 years on ice, Samurai Jack is heading back to Cartoon Network next year. Adult Swim just announced that Genndy Tartakovsky, the animator behind the acclaimed series as well as favorites like Dexter's Laboratory and the animated Star Wars: Clone Wars microseries, is back to produce a new season that will land on Toonami in 2016. Samurai Jack debuted in 2001, and, over the course of four seasons and 52 episodes, went on to become a cult favorite./news/simplisafe-s-new-outdoor-camera-monitoring-service-combines-ai-with-live-agents.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/simplisafe-s-new-outdoor-camera-monitoring-service-combines-ai-with-live-agents.htmlSimpliSafe is bringing live monitoring to its outdoor cameras, adding to the indoor live monitoring service it launched last year. The new live guard outdoor protection service lets SimpliSafe’s human agents view a live feed from its outdoor camera when the system is armed, the camera detects a person, and its AI and facial recognition algorithms determine that person is likely to be a stranger. The idea is that SimpliSafe could more proactively prevent someone from breaking in than traditional alarm systems, which typically only trigger after a home's perimeter has been breached./news/skip-s-new-scooter-has-a-sturdier-deck-bigger-wheels-and-a-swappable-battery.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/skip-s-new-scooter-has-a-sturdier-deck-bigger-wheels-and-a-swappable-battery.htmlOn Wednesday, Skip unveiled a new scooter model that’s “purpose built” for heavy fleet use. It’s the latest sign that the dockless scooter industry is intent on shoring up its losses by introducing more rugged vehicles that are safer to ride and last long enough to recoup their cost. The original scooters deployed by companies like Skip, Bird, and Lime — mostly sourced from Chinese companies like Xiaomi and Segway-Ninebot — weren’t built for shared use, so they were prone to breakdowns, often within weeks of being rolled out./news/snapchat-introduces-memories-a-searchable-shareable-archive-of-your-snaps.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/snapchat-introduces-memories-a-searchable-shareable-archive-of-your-snaps.htmlAt a time when its social networking rivals are racing to promote more real-time sharing, Snapchat is turning its attention to the past. The company today introduced Memories, a way of saving and sharing old snaps in a private archive inside the main app. It’s a living, social camera roll in which photos and videos can be organized, edited, and shared long after they are taken. The introduction of Memories represents a significant shift for the famously ephemeral Snapchat — and reflects the app’s growing status as the default camera for millions of users./news/snapchat-s-paid-subscription-is-already-a-hit.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/snapchat-s-paid-subscription-is-already-a-hit.htmlSnap is finding early success with its paid subscription service Snapchat Plus. The company says it has amassed 1 million paid users since launching Snapchat Plus in late June. A Snapchat Plus subscription gives users early and exclusive access to features for $3.99 a month, including changing the app icon and seeing who rewatched your story. In July, the company rolled out Snapchat for desktop to subscribers — the first major feature for paid users./news/solar-eclipse-accessories-apple-ipad-pro-google-home-and-more-great-tech-deals.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/solar-eclipse-accessories-apple-ipad-pro-google-home-and-more-great-tech-deals.htmlYou’ve probably already heard that a total solar eclipse will travel across the United States from coast to coast on August 21st, and that it’s going to be perhaps the biggest celestial event of the decade. (For more information, we’re sharing everything you need to know about the celestial phenomenon.) There are some great deals this week — including discounts on computers, tablets, headphones, and more — but perhaps one of our favorites is the Lunt Solar System products (binoculars and telescopes) at B&H, allowing you to safely view the eclipse./news/solar-impulse-2-breaks-the-world-record-for-the-longest-solo-flight.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/solar-impulse-2-breaks-the-world-record-for-the-longest-solo-flight.htmlAndré Borschberg, the pilot at the controls of the Solar Impulse 2 aircraft, has broken the world record for the longest solo flight. Borschberg has now been aloft in the solar-powered plane for more than 80 hours without refueling or touching down, breaking the 76-hour record set by Steve Fossett in 2006 on board the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer. And Borschberg isn't done yet — the pilot and co-founder of Solar Impulse has another 40 hours in the air before he's due to reach his destination in Hawaii./news/sony-s-playstation-handheld-reportedly-arriving-in-november.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-s-playstation-handheld-reportedly-arriving-in-november.htmlSony officially confirmed its new PlayStation handheld last night and now a fresh rumor claims the 8-inch device will arrive in November. The claim comes from Tom Henderson, the same reporter that originally detailed Sony’s Project Q handheld last month. “Currently scheduled to release mid-late November 2023,” said Henderson in a tweet this morning. Sony hasn’t announced pricing or an exact release late just yet, only revealing that the PlayStation handheld will launch “later this year./news/spacex-s-fourth-starship-test-is-the-first-one-to-reach-splashdown.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/spacex-s-fourth-starship-test-is-the-first-one-to-reach-splashdown.htmlThe fourth Starship Super Heavy flight test has ended with a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The vehicle launched from its pad in Texas at 8:50AM ET, before successfully performing a hot-stage separation from its booster rocket. The Super Heavy booster then performed a landing burn as planned before it came down in the Gulf of Mexico. The Starship vehicle continued along its planned flight path before reentry. Live camera views showed a damaged flap burning and starting to come apart./news/spice-up-your-playdate-with-a-new-cover.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/spice-up-your-playdate-with-a-new-cover.htmlSpice up your Playdate with a new cover. Panic showed off a great-looking “aqua” cover for its little yellow handheld console during Wednesday’s Playdate Update. During the show, the company revealed that another cover is on the way that will be available exclusively to people who subscribe to the Playdate email newsletter. The purple cover that launched alongside the Playdate isn’t available right now, but it will “be back later,” Greg Maletic, director of special projects and Playdate at Panic, says in a statement to The Verge./news/spotify-s-new-hate-content-rules-apply-to-r-kelly-other-horrible-human-beings.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/spotify-s-new-hate-content-rules-apply-to-r-kelly-other-horrible-human-beings.htmlMusicians that either perform “hate content” or demonstrate hateful conduct will no longer be welcome on Spotify. The company announced today that it will refrain from promoting or remove content that it deems hateful. “It’s important to us that our values are reflected in all the work that we do, whether it’s distribution, promotion, or content creation,” the company said. Spotify defines hateful content as music that “expressly and principally promotes, advocates, or incites hatred or violence against a group or individual based on characteristics, including, race, religion, gender identity, sex, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, veteran status, or disability./news/super-dark-times-is-super-dark-and-the-most-honest-teen-movie-of-2017.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/super-dark-times-is-super-dark-and-the-most-honest-teen-movie-of-2017.htmlThis fall, The Verge is making a choice. The choice is fear! We’ve decided to embrace the season by taking in as many new horror movies as possible and reporting back on which ones are worth your time. We’re calling this series Hold My Hand, as we look at films you might want to watch with a supportive viewing partner. Get comfortable, put the kettle on, check the closet for ghosts, then find a hand to squeeze until the bones pop./news/t-mobile-s-new-plan-has-four-lines-of-unlimited-data-and-sd-video-for-100.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/t-mobile-s-new-plan-has-four-lines-of-unlimited-data-and-sd-video-for-100.htmlT-Mobile is today announcing the first unified plan it’s offering to all customers of the combined T-Mobile / Sprint mega-carrier. Starting on July 24th, the company will offer four lines of unlimited data for $25 per line (if you enable autopay), totaling $100 each month. 5G access is included as part of the plan, and T-Mobile will also throw in a Samsung Galaxy A71 5G if you pay a few extra dollars per month./news/ted-lasso-season-3-review-big-and-unwieldy-but-stuck-the-landing.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ted-lasso-season-3-review-big-and-unwieldy-but-stuck-the-landing.htmlIn the opening episode of Ted Lasso’s third season, the perpetually cheerful coach (Jason Sudeikis) found himself stuck between two worlds: the desire to stay with his soccer club, AFC Richmond, in England and complete some unfinished business with a found family and his need to go back home to the US and be with a son who is missing him very badly. It provoked a full-on existential crisis — and as the season wore on, the show itself experienced something similar./news/tesla-whistleblower-martin-tripp-ordered-to-pay-400-000-to-settle-hacking-case.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tesla-whistleblower-martin-tripp-ordered-to-pay-400-000-to-settle-hacking-case.htmlMartin Tripp, the former Tesla worker who has been embroiled in a bitter legal battle with CEO Elon Musk for over two years, was ordered to pay his former employer $400,000 after admitting to leaking confidential information to a reporter. The settlement is intended to bring an end to one of the more sordid stories at Tesla, in which Tripp, a former process technician, locked horns with the billionaire CEO over allegations that Tesla was wasting a “jaw-dropping” amount of raw material as it ramped up production of the Model 3 sedan./news/the-best-camera-you-can-buy-for-under-250.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-best-camera-you-can-buy-for-under-250.htmlFor the vast majority of people, the compact camera is dead. Today’s smartphones take good enough pictures, easily fit in our pockets, and are always with us. But there are situations where the fixed lens on a smartphone just doesn’t cut it. If you’re looking for a camera that can do more than a smartphone, you have a number of options — including some good ones under $250. The right camera should cover the basics: it should be compact enough to fit in your pocket or the bag you’re already carrying around./news/the-best-sonos-speakers-to-buy-right-now.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-best-sonos-speakers-to-buy-right-now.htmlSonos has built out a large collection of smart speakers, soundbars, subwoofers, portable devices, and more. And we can’t forget about the many Symfonisk speakers that the company has released in partnership with Ikea. 2023 has seen the company introduce major new products including the Era 100 and Era 300, and more are on the way. With such a broad portfolio of hardware at prices ranging anywhere from $120 to $899, picking the best Sonos speaker for your needs isn’t always as straightforward as it might seem./news/the-dexcom-g7-now-lets-you-monitor-real-time-blood-sugar-on-the-apple-watch.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-dexcom-g7-now-lets-you-monitor-real-time-blood-sugar-on-the-apple-watch.htmlStarting today, Dexcom G7 continuous glucose monitor (CGM) users will be able to monitor their real-time blood sugar data straight from an Apple Watch. According to Dexcom’s press release, the Direct to Apple Watch feature was one of the most requested by users. Once paired to the Apple Watch, the G7 will use its own dedicated Bluetooth connection to send both glucose readings and personalized alerts to the wrist. Meaning, you don’t have to whip out your phone if you want to view your data, nor does your phone have to be on your person./news/the-disaster-artist-review-so-good-it-actually-makes-me-want-to-rewatch-the-room.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-disaster-artist-review-so-good-it-actually-makes-me-want-to-rewatch-the-room.htmlWelcome to Cheat Sheet, our brief breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the Toronto International Film Festival. I’ve never really considered The Room, the midnight cult favorite from writer-director-producer-star Tommy Wiseau, to be a movie as much as it is an immersive experience. It’s a film so bad, it actually can’t be enjoyed alone at home, even by viewers under the influence./news/the-disunited-state-of-android.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-disunited-state-of-android.htmlAn extensive survey has detailed what the Android market looks like with stunning clarity. OpenSignal (OS) looked at some 682,000 devices currently in use — the same sample size as its 2012 survey — revealing the split between manufacturers, their devices, Android versions, and screen sizes. There can be few charts that better demonstrate how Samsung has come to completely dominate the Android smartphone market: saturation. According to OS's data, Samsung now has a 47./news/the-dropout-s-trailer-gets-deep-into-elizabeth-holmes-deceptions.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-dropout-s-trailer-gets-deep-into-elizabeth-holmes-deceptions.htmlThe Dropout, Hulu’s upcoming miniseries based on ABC’s podcast by the same name about disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, has the unenviable task of dramatizing an already out-there story revolving around a rather unbelievable person and getting audiences to take it seriously. But judging from the serious first trailer, The Dropout might just be able to pull it off. The trailer traces the by-now-familiar arc of Holmes’ (Amanda Seyfried) story that began with her dropping out of Stanford to start what would eventually become Theranos and more recently saw the disgraced inventor being found guilty for defrauding Theranos’ investors./news/the-eu-s-tough-new-moderation-rules-are-about-to-cover-a-lot-more-of-the-internet.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-eu-s-tough-new-moderation-rules-are-about-to-cover-a-lot-more-of-the-internet.htmlThe European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a tough new piece of regulation that imposes new rules around content moderation and online advertising, is about to expand to cover huge swathes of the internet. Starting tomorrow, February 17th, the rules will apply to every online platform with users in the EU, in addition to the 19 Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) that have had to comply with the rules since last August./news/the-fda-approved-a-new-ketamine-depression-drug-here-s-what-s-next.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-fda-approved-a-new-ketamine-depression-drug-here-s-what-s-next.htmlFor years, ketamine clinics across the country have offered intravenous infusions as a fast-acting treatment for severe depression. But last week, the US Food and Drug Administration approved a version of ketamine, called esketamine, to do the same thing — so what’s the difference and what will this mean for newly interested patients? Ketamine, sometimes known as the party drug Special K, is a compound made of two mirror-image molecules. It has long been approved as an anesthetic, isn’t covered by a patent, and is widely used — meaning it’s not going to make much money for a pharmaceutical company./news/the-google-home-app-s-new-tv-remote-adds-volume-and-play-controls.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-google-home-app-s-new-tv-remote-adds-volume-and-play-controls.htmlThe Google Home app for Android and iOS has been updated with an improved mobile-based remote for compatible smart TVs and “connected streaming or media devices.” In a tweet announcing the update last week, Google said that Home App users can now “easily control playback, switch inputs, adjust the volume, and more.” The new remote feature isn’t for controlling Chromecast devices or Android TVs — both of which are already supported by the Google Home app./news/the-latest-baldur-s-gate-3-patch-introduces-a-new-epilogue-and-lets-you-wear-slutty-crab-armor.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-latest-baldur-s-gate-3-patch-introduces-a-new-epilogue-and-lets-you-wear-slutty-crab-armor.htmlChristmas miracles are rare, they are beautiful, and with Patch 5 of Baldur’s Gate 3 out now, they have come early. Patch 5 is a massive update that adds new difficulty modes, patches a notorious slowdown bug, lets you wear armor that gives the Wavemother’s Robe a run for its money, and gives the adventurers of Faerûn what they’ve been clamoring for: a big-ass party with all their friends. I could jump right into the biggest changes coming with Patch 5, but with one specific quality-of-life update, the addition of new game modes or new epilogue scenes feels inconsequential in comparison./news/the-mandalorian-s-darkest-moment-is-now-available-in-funko-pop-form.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-mandalorian-s-darkest-moment-is-now-available-in-funko-pop-form.htmlFunko has announced its latest figurine based on The Mandalorian, commemorating our protagonist’s latest seemingly simple job. If you haven’t watched the second episode of the show’s second season, then it looks like an innocent-enough model. Everyone’s favorite Baby Yoda* is excited at the prospect of helping a frog-like alien transport her eggs across the galaxy for fertilization. Cute, right? Except for the fact that Baby Yoda is less interested in transporting these eggs as he is in eating them raw./news/the-nba-s-first-free-channel-launches-on-roku.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-nba-s-first-free-channel-launches-on-roku.htmlThe NBA’s first free channel launches on Roku. The latest entrant into the world of FAST (free ad-supported streaming, like Tubi and Pluto TV) is the NBA. Today it’s introducing the new, free, channel and the NBA Zone that will be exclusive to the Roku Channel for a limited time. While it might try to upsell viewers to an NBA League Pass subscription, the only live games in it will be from the G League this season, along with highlights, classic games, and more./news/the-new-steve-jobs-documentary-is-an-unforgiving-look-at-tech-s-most-complicated-man.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-new-steve-jobs-documentary-is-an-unforgiving-look-at-tech-s-most-complicated-man.htmlThe day that Steve Jobs died, people around the world flocked to Apple Stores in a sort of spontaneous mass pilgrimage. They left letters and signs, holding up iPhones and iPads in tribute. Director Alex Gibney shows the event early on in his new documentary Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, and it stirred up a flurry of emotions in me, because I was one of those people. I couldn’t really tell you why I felt compelled to visit back in 2011, and I doubt any of the others that stopped by could explain it either — at least not in any coherent fashion./news/the-rabbit-r1-is-an-ai-powered-gadget-that-can-use-your-apps-for-you.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-rabbit-r1-is-an-ai-powered-gadget-that-can-use-your-apps-for-you.htmlJesse Lyu, the CEO and founder of an AI startup called Rabbit, says he doesn’t want to replace your smartphone. At least not right away. His company’s new gadget, a $199 standalone AI device called the R1, is so staggeringly ambitious that Lyu seems to think he can’t help but replace your phone at some point. Just not quite yet. (Update January 10th, 4:45PM ET: Rabbit announced its initial 10,00 unit run of R1 units has already sold out, and now it’s taking pre-orders for a second shipment in the spring./news/the-reddit-moderators-who-coordinate-many-celebrity-amas-will-no-longer-do-so.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-reddit-moderators-who-coordinate-many-celebrity-amas-will-no-longer-do-so.htmlActive solicitation of celebrities or high profile figures to do AMAs. Email and modmail coordination with celebrities and high profile figures and their PR teams to facilitate, educate, and operate AMAs. (We will still be available to answer questions about posting, though response time may vary). Running and maintaining a website for scheduling of AMAs with pre-verification and proof, as well as social media promotion. Maintaining a current up-to-date sidebar calendar of scheduled AMAs, with schedule reminders for users./news/the-t-mobile-and-sprint-merger-is-already-resulting-in-hundreds-of-layoffs.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-t-mobile-and-sprint-merger-is-already-resulting-in-hundreds-of-layoffs.htmlOnly a couple months after the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint was completed, the enormous combined telecom company has now announced layoffs affecting hundreds of Sprint employees. TechCrunch obtained audio of a conference call that took place yesterday between T-Mobile VP James Kirby and the people who are losing their jobs. It was just one of “several calls held by T-Mobile leadership throughout the day to lay off staff across the organization./news/the-verge-archives-entertainment.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-verge-archives-entertainment.htmlSome big changes are coming to League of Legends esports. For 2025, Riot Games is adding a third international event, a new type of draft for certain series to encourage teams to use different champions (aka player characters), and new, condensed leagues for Asia-Pacific and the Americas. I’m excited to see how these adjustments play out. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jp6lrZ2iqa6qusyepa1nkaewqbXVnqpoaWB0wrO4nLCusGaSmsC1r8uaqqyhlp6ypXrBorE%3D/news/the-witcher-3-s-next-gen-update-makes-a-beautiful-game-much-smoother.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-witcher-3-s-next-gen-update-makes-a-beautiful-game-much-smoother.htmlThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has always been a beautiful game. One of my favorite things to do when I played for the first time in 2015 was just wander around on horseback soaking in the incredible atmosphere, from the crumbling ancient ruins to the bustling towns. Seven years later and I found myself awed once again while playing it on the PlayStation 5. A free next-gen patch for The Witcher 3 launches on December 14th, giving the aging open-world a boost if you’re playing on a PS5, Xbox Series X/S, or high-end PC./news/these-carry-on-bags-almost-turned-my-twins-airplane-seats-into-beds.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/these-carry-on-bags-almost-turned-my-twins-airplane-seats-into-beds.htmlMy husband and I have flown with our twin sons since they were infants. I’ve breastfed them next to a couple of middle-aged men who were on their way to a golf vacation. They’ve slept cradled in our arms, across our laps, and against our chests, La-Z-Boy style, as we’ve crisscrossed the country. Whatever the position, I’m not sure any of us were ever really comfortable — especially those two golfers. For our most recent trip, however — a flight from our home in Denver to DC for my cousin’s wedding — we tested the JetKids by Stokke’s BedBox, a kid-sized rideable carry-on that converts an economy-class seat into a makeshift bed./news/this-is-not-the-snapdragon-8-gen-4.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-is-not-the-snapdragon-8-gen-4.htmlThis is not the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. But it is the modem-RF chip that’s likely to be paired with Qualcomm’s next-gen processor in 2025’s big Android flagships. The Snapdragon X80 5G modem is an update to the X75 and supports six-carrier aggregation, 5G Advanced standards, and certain satellite-based non-terrestrial communications. And there’s a bunch of new AI optimization, because it’s 2024 and of course there is. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfZ3xzgo5ra2lwY2iGdnvToaCsZZmoeq%2B702aroZ1dqLuivMOrmKCnnmKFbrPEp2Rt/news/this-is-why-you-shouldn-t-use-texts-for-two-factor-authentication.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-is-why-you-shouldn-t-use-texts-for-two-factor-authentication.htmlFor a long time, security experts have warned that text messages are vulnerable to hijacking — and this morning, they showed what it looks like in practice. A demonstration video posted by Positive Technologies (and first reported by Forbes) shows how easy it is to hack into a bitcoin wallet by intercepting text messages in transit. The group targeted a Coinbase account that was registered to a Gmail account also protected by two-factor./news/threads-finally-lets-you-delete-your-account-separately-from-instagram.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/threads-finally-lets-you-delete-your-account-separately-from-instagram.htmlMeta is rolling out a way for you to delete your Threads profile without having to delete your Instagram account, too. You’ll be able to access the new feature from the settings menu in a new “Delete or Deactivate Profile” section, according to a post from Instagram boss Adam Mosseri. I don’t have the feature yet myself, but I suspect Meta will make it available to everyone soon enough. This new ability to delete just your Threads profile addresses an early complaint with the app, which currently requires that you sign up with an Instagram account./news/trans-streamers-are-creating-the-visibility-twitch-won-t-give-them.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/trans-streamers-are-creating-the-visibility-twitch-won-t-give-them.html“Identity shapes what we want to share and what we want to broadcast, [so] it is part of our content,” says Yana Calou, PR director of Trans Lifeline. The nonprofit operates a peer support and crisis hotline and offers microgrants to trans and nonbinary recipients. More recently, it launched a streaming discovery tool called Peer2Peer that functions as a searchable directory. Broadcasters can tag themselves in categories like “trans,” “Black,” or “lesbian,” and viewers can search for the tags they want to see./news/tumblr-introduces-gif-posts-on-mobile.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tumblr-introduces-gif-posts-on-mobile.htmlTumblr loves GIFs. So now it's making it even easier to create and post GIFs. Today on iOS, Tumblr is rolling out a new feature called GIF posts. It's a new post type that's built around the GIF-creation tools that Tumblr introduced late last year. When you select it, Tumblr will automatically look through your camera roll for videos and bursts of photos that can be turned into GIFs. When we checked it out last year, it seemed to work well./news/twitch-cuts-how-much-its-biggest-streamers-earn-from-subscriptions.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/twitch-cuts-how-much-its-biggest-streamers-earn-from-subscriptions.htmlTwitch is reducing how much money it shares with some of the biggest streamers on the platform. Right now, the majority of partnered streamers receive a 50 / 50 revenue share on subscriptions to their channel. That means 50 percent of net revenue goes to Twitch, while 50 percent goes to the streamer themselves. However, Twitch has negotiated premium subscription terms with some bigger streamers that give them a 70 / 30 revenue split, and that split is what’s going to change./news/two-year-old-girl-receives-new-trachea-made-from-her-own-stem-cells.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/two-year-old-girl-receives-new-trachea-made-from-her-own-stem-cells.htmlDoctors announced today that two-and-a-half year old Hannah Warren just became the youngest person in history to receive a bioengineered organ transplant, a new windpipe made of a synthetic scaffold and her own stem cells. The nine-hour long procedure was performed April 9th, at Children's Hospital of Illinois in Peoria, but the results were just made public. Doctors expect that Warren will be able to return home in a few months and breathe, eat, drink and swallow using the new windpipe, all of which she couldn't do without the aid of machines until now./news/watch-batman-v-superman-reviews-take-a-toll-on-sad-ben-affleck.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/watch-batman-v-superman-reviews-take-a-toll-on-sad-ben-affleck.htmlI like Ben Affleck. Good Affleck, bad Affleck — I don't care. I like Reindeer Games. I love Shakespeare in Love. I don't like Clerks 2 or Runner Runner or Surviving Christmas, but I can make the most of them, similar to the way I use over-ripe bananas to make delicious banana bread. I do not wish to see Batman v Superman. It looks and sounds and smells like a movie so over-ripe, that it will not produce the Affleck banana bread I seek./news/watch-the-first-teaser-trailer-for-ralph-breaks-the-internet-wreck-it-ralph-2.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/watch-the-first-teaser-trailer-for-ralph-breaks-the-internet-wreck-it-ralph-2.htmlDisney’s 2012 film Wreck-It-Ralph followed a pair of arcade game characters as they tried to find some purpose beyond their programming and ended up saving one another. The film was a delightful, self-aware movie, and judging from the first teaser, its sequel looks as though it’s going to have all the same elements that made the first one so much fun to watch. The trailer for Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 debuted this morning, and as its title suggests, Ralph (John C./news/welcome-to-googletown-the-verge.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/welcome-to-googletown-the-verge.htmlNot a cash cow That growth might not be so bad if Google had more to offer than higher property values. City council member Mike Kasperzak is generally proud to call Google a neighbor, but he points out that the company’s presence isn’t the economic windfall you might think. There's no sales tax on Google's search or ad businesses, and no sales tax on the free meals that Google dishes out to employees./news/what-birds-can-tell-us-about-climate-change.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/what-birds-can-tell-us-about-climate-change.htmlI t’s hard to know how much drinking will kill a person until it does. In the early ’00s, Chris was in Maine’s music industry. He was the baritone sax player for a screamo band called Animal Suit Driveby, later rebranded The Killing Moon after the label asked for a more serious name. But more importantly, he was part of the scene. “We were raging, we were rampaging, having a good time,” he recalls./news/what-do-maps-and-dbrand-s-phone-cases-have-in-common.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/what-do-maps-and-dbrand-s-phone-cases-have-in-common.htmlWhat do maps and Dbrand’s phone cases have in common? A “trap street” is a fake element added to a map to help its maker catch anyone plagiarizing the work. Here’s a fun video about it. I was reminded of this when reading about Dbrand’s lawsuit against Casetify for allegedly copying its teardown skins and cases. Turns out Dbrand likes to include easter eggs in its designs, which for whatever reason also appear on Casetify’s models./news/what-s-next-with-ai-the-verge.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/what-s-next-with-ai-the-verge.htmlArtificial intelligence is undeniably the story of the year.  To better understand the rapid rise and adoption of generative AI tools, in late June 2023, The Verge and Vox Media partnered to conduct a representative study of how adult Americans are using and thinking about AI. The Verge published its initial findings at the time on The Verge and in Vox Media’s press room. This initial AI report was a follow-up to our major consumer tech trust surveys conducted in 2017, 2020, and 2021./news/who-is-carl-icahn-and-why-does-he-want-to-buy-dell.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/who-is-carl-icahn-and-why-does-he-want-to-buy-dell.htmlOn monday, word spread that Carl Icahn has made a bid for Dell that could oust its founder and CEO Michael Dell from the company. But who is Icahn, and what does he want with Dell? Often described as an "activist investor," he's one of the world's richest men. He's made a name for himself over recent years with a series of high-profile investments. Just a few months ago, he bought a large share in Netflix with a view to sell the company, forcing the company's board to enact a "/news/yes-netflix-just-got-even-more-expensive.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/yes-netflix-just-got-even-more-expensive.htmlNetflix’s latest price hikes in the US are starting to come into effect. Subscribers may have recently been contacted by the company alerting them that the price of their plan will change starting with their next billing cycle. I was recently sent such an email letting me know that my monthly bill would go up starting March 30th, 2022 — but some Netflix users may have already seen their bill increases hit./news/youtube-is-lowering-the-eligibility-requirements-for-creators-to-make-money.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/youtube-is-lowering-the-eligibility-requirements-for-creators-to-make-money.htmlYouTube will allow more creators to monetize their presence on the platform, including creators with smaller followings. The company announced today it is lowering the eligibility requirements for the YouTube Partner Program and opening up a handful of monetization methods to smaller creators, including paid chat, tipping, channel memberships, and shopping features. Under the new eligibility policy, the YPP will be open to creators once they reach 500 subscribers — half the number that YouTube previously had./news/youtube-premium-now-costs-an-extra-2-each-month.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/youtube-premium-now-costs-an-extra-2-each-month.htmlYouTube Premium’s price has increased to $13.99 a month in the US, a $2 increase compared to what it used to cost. That’s according to Google’s signup page for the service, which has been quietly updated to reflect the new pricing, as was first spotted by 9to5Google. Alongside the monthly price increase, the cost of an annual subscription to YouTube Premium is increasing by $20 to $139.99. Google confirmed the price increase in a statement given to The Verge./news/youtube-says-it-s-fixing-the-bug-that-let-someone-fake-a-new-oldest-video.htmlThu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/youtube-says-it-s-fixing-the-bug-that-let-someone-fake-a-new-oldest-video.htmlYouTube is setting the record straight: “Me at the zoo” is still the oldest YouTube video. “Me at the zoo,” uploaded on April 23rd, 2005 and featuring YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim standing in front of elephants at the San Diego Zoo, is an important piece of internet history, as it marks the oldest video on one of the most influential video services on the planet. But earlier on Thursday, a video started circulating that, somehow, had an even earlier upload date: April 5th, 2005./news/animals-they-re-just-like-us-std-edition.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/animals-they-re-just-like-us-std-edition.htmlChlamydia threatens koala populations Chlamydia pneumoniae (Eutensist / Wikimedia Commons) Chlamydia is a serious problem for Australia's koalas. It affects males and females alike, and can be transmitted to baby koalas — called joeys — through suckling. Infected koalas develop conjunctivitis, urinary infections, and incontinence. Some also become blind. And because it causes infertility in half the females it infects, researchers think it's one of the main drivers of koala population decline./news/the-director-of-studio-ghibli-s-the-red-turtle-went-deep-into-the-origins-of-the-film-at-tiff.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-director-of-studio-ghibli-s-the-red-turtle-went-deep-into-the-origins-of-the-film-at-tiff.htmlNote: This Q&A has been edited for clarity and brevity. Full disclosure: I asked the question about the studios that collaborated on the film, and how they coordinated. On the origins of The Red Turtle's story: I had to think up the story straight away in one go. One morning I received an email from Studio Ghibli, especially from Toshio Suzuki, saying "If you're ever thinking of making a feature, we're interested in being the producer./news/the-future-of-fear-how-los-angeles-became-the-heart-of-immersive-horror.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-future-of-fear-how-los-angeles-became-the-heart-of-immersive-horror.htmlIt’s a tradition that actually dates back to the 1980s in LA, long before Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More began its iconic New York run. That’s when John Krizanc’s play Tamara took up shop at Hollywood’s American Legion Hall for a multi-year residency. Starring Anjelica Huston, Tamara was a groundbreaker, inviting audiences to move freely through a re-created Italian villa while the characters walked, talked, and interacted around them. Despite that head start, however, the immersive theater scene in Los Angeles stalled out, and it wasn’t until Jon Braver’s interactive horror play Delusion opened in 2011 — and the extreme haunted house Blackout came to town a year later — that the community began to develop newfound momentum./news/low-priced-plastic-iphone-revealed-by-china-labor-watch-report.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/low-priced-plastic-iphone-revealed-by-china-labor-watch-report.htmlEarlier today, China Labor Watch released a report accusing Taiwan-based Pegatron Group — one of Apple's main suppliers — of committing labor abuses at three of its factories. The report, which was gathered between March and July of this year, listed off at least 86 labor rights violations, including forced long hours, withholding of pay, and safety and environmental issues. "Our investigations have shown that labor conditions at Pegatron factories are even worse than those at Foxconn factories,"/news/a-houston-radio-station-is-now-playing-beyonc%C3%A9-songs-24-hours-a-day.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-houston-radio-station-is-now-playing-beyonc%C3%A9-songs-24-hours-a-day.htmlThe radio news business ain't what it used to be. So after three years as a 24-hour news channel, a Houston radio station, News92 FM, announced this week that it will from now on play nothing but Beyoncé songs, Beyoncé songs, and more Beyoncé songs. There won't even be commercials, unless you count when she talks about watermelons and Vogue. Queen Bey has five albums to her credit, totaling 63 songs and a little over four hours — those long Texas drives are going to get a little repetitive./news/a-new-tinder-test-lets-people-pay-to-turn-read-receipts-on-for-specific-chats.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-new-tinder-test-lets-people-pay-to-turn-read-receipts-on-for-specific-chats.htmlTinder’s beginning two tests today that might entice more people to pay for the dating app. One of the tests builds on top of the app’s paid subscriptions — Tinder Gold and Tinder Plus — by offering some subscribers the opportunity to break the algorithm and push their profile to the top of people’s potential match stacks. Non-subscribers can participate in the other test that allows them to pay to view read receipts on chats./news/a-phishing-attack-scored-credentials-for-more-than-50-000-snapchat-users.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-phishing-attack-scored-credentials-for-more-than-50-000-snapchat-users.htmlIn late July, Snap’s director of engineering emailed the company’s team in response to an unfolding privacy threat. A government official from Dorset in the United Kingdom had provided Snap with information about a recent attack on the company’s users: a publicly available list, embedded in a phishing website named klkviral.org, that listed 55,851 Snapchat accounts, along with their usernames and passwords. The attack appeared to be connected to a previous incident that the company believed to have been coordinated from the Dominican Republic, according to emails obtained by The Verge./news/adobe-general-counsel-dana-rao-on-ai-copyright-and-the-failed-figma-deal.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/adobe-general-counsel-dana-rao-on-ai-copyright-and-the-failed-figma-deal.htmlToday, I’m talking to Dana Rao, who is general counsel and chief trust officer at Adobe. That’s the company that makes Photoshop, Illustrator, and other key creative software. Now, if you’re a longtime Decoder listener, you know that I have always been fascinated with Adobe, which I think the tech press largely undercovers. After all, this is a company that makes some of the most important tools that exist across design, video, photography, and more./news/adobe-has-fixed-a-premiere-pro-cc-issue-that-blew-some-macbook-pro-speakers.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/adobe-has-fixed-a-premiere-pro-cc-issue-that-blew-some-macbook-pro-speakers.htmlEarlier this month, CNet and 9to5Mac reported that a number of Adobe Premiere CC users experienced a worrying problem with the program: a bug seemed to be blowing the speakers on their late-model MacBook Pros in some instances. This week, Adobe released a patch for the program that corrected the issue. In a forum post, a user reported a “really loud screatching [sic] noise,” that wouldn’t let them turn it off./news/adobe-previews-ai-upscaling-to-make-blurry-videos-and-gifs-look-fresh.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/adobe-previews-ai-upscaling-to-make-blurry-videos-and-gifs-look-fresh.htmlAdobe has developed an experimental AI-powered upscaling tool that greatly improves the quality of low-resolution GIFs and video footage. This isn’t a fully-fledged app or feature yet, and it’s not yet available for beta testing, but if the demonstrations seen by The Verge are anything to go by then it has some serious potential.  Adobe’s “Project Res-Up” uses diffusion-based upsampling technology (a class of generative AI that generates new data based on the data it’s trained on) to increase video resolution while simultaneously improving sharpness and detail./news/amazon-is-making-some-management-changes-at-jfk8.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-is-making-some-management-changes-at-jfk8.htmlAmazon has reportedly fired several senior managers that were part of “operations and leadership” at JFK8, the facility in Staten Island, New York that recently voted to unionize. According to the The New York Times, Amazon told the managers it was going through an “organizational change,” but some of their co-workers see it as a punishment for the union’s win. The Times writes that “more than half a dozen” managers were fired, and that many of them had been tasked with responding to unionization efforts./news/amazon-launches-new-service-to-deliver-groceries-to-your-trunk.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-launches-new-service-to-deliver-groceries-to-your-trunk.htmlWith the beta launch of the AmazonFresh Pickup today, Amazon will give customers the ability to order groceries, drive up to an AmazonFresh location, and have the food delivered to their trunk. Orders can be filled in as little as 15 minutes, according to a video announcement from Amazon. The first two locations are in the Seattle area Among the items that customers can purchase are meats, produce, bread, dairy, and household items, and there’s no order minimum./news/amc-spending-600-million-to-add-recliners-to-movie-theaters.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amc-spending-600-million-to-add-recliners-to-movie-theaters.htmlDespite shifting to digital, pushing 3D, and raising ticket prices, the movie industry hasn't seen much growth in the last decade. According to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), last year's box office only rose one percent as compared to 2012, and theaters face tough competition from the likes of Netflix. To get moviegoers to fill more seats, AMC Entertainment is spending $600 million over the next five years to outfit 1,800 of its 5,000 auditoriums with La-Z-Boy-style recliners./news/amd-hides-then-restores-claim-that-4gb-of-vram-is-not-enough-just-as-it-launches-a-4gb-gpu.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amd-hides-then-restores-claim-that-4gb-of-vram-is-not-enough-just-as-it-launches-a-4gb-gpu.htmlAMD claimed back in 2020 that 4GB of VRAM was “insufficient” for modern PC games and could result in error messages, warning limits, lower framerates, and even gameplay stutter or pop-in issues. Today, AMD is launching the $199 RX 6500 XT with... 4GB of VRAM, and the blog post featuring AMD’s original claims has mysteriously disappeared. KitGuru reports that AMD has hidden the blog post today, as it was previously accessible yesterday, and a Google cached view version from January 16th has the post in full./news/amd-promises-rtx-3060-desktop-graphics-performance-with-new-rdna-3-laptop-gpus.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amd-promises-rtx-3060-desktop-graphics-performance-with-new-rdna-3-laptop-gpus.htmlAMD is bringing its RDNA 3 graphics architecture to laptops this year. The chip giant is promising RTX 3060-level desktop graphics on the latest laptops featuring its new Radeon RX 7600M XT GPUs. That’s games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla running at 100fps at 1080p, Borderlands 3 hitting 106fps, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider reaching 142fps. At the top end, AMD will offer laptop manufacturers the Radeon RX 7600M XT or RX 7600M./news/amd-s-new-ryzen-7-5800x3d-processor-will-be-available-on-april-20th-for-449.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amd-s-new-ryzen-7-5800x3d-processor-will-be-available-on-april-20th-for-449.htmlAMD’s latest desktop processor, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, has finally gotten a release date and price after being announced earlier this year at CES 2022. It’ll hit stores next month on April 20th for $449, ushering in what AMD proudly declares to be the “world’s fastest gaming processor. The new Ryzen 7 5800X3D is extremely similar to the original Ryzen 7 5800X model, with eight cores, 16 threads, and compatibility with AMD’s AM4 socket./news/anker-recalls-535-power-bank-amid-overheating-and-fire-risk.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/anker-recalls-535-power-bank-amid-overheating-and-fire-risk.htmlAnker has issued a recall of select Anker 535 Power Banks following the discovery of a manufacturing defect that can result in the device overheating, posing a potential fire hazard. According to the recall notice, the Chinese electronics manufacturer discovered a fault on a “small number” of Anker 535 Power Bank (PowerCore 20K) batteries, model A1366, and is now working with local government agencies to facilitate a full voluntary recall of the product./news/anybody-use-amd-link-it-s-about-to-disappear.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/anybody-use-amd-link-it-s-about-to-disappear.htmlAnybody use AMD Link? It’s about to disappear. AMD is axing the stream-and-monitor-your-own-PC-games feature, and its announcement made me laugh: For users that game remotely with AMD Link, one important announcement is that AMD is ending support for the AMD Link software application No kidding! Did you use it? I preferred the hardware-agnostic Steam Link, but there’s also Moonlight and Parsec. Nvidia also axed its similar GameStream feature in 2022. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfZnxzgo5ra2ltYW19c3vAp7Cbp5Suera%2FxGaYppxdobavt4yiq6xlkZe8tsCMraZmnJmorrG8xJqp/news/apple-acknowledges-faulty-macbook-and-macbook-pro-keyboards-with-new-repair-program.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-acknowledges-faulty-macbook-and-macbook-pro-keyboards-with-new-repair-program.htmlThe extended warranty covers replacement of one or more keys or the whole keyboard, depending on the extent of users’ problems, and it covers eligible laptops up to four years after the computer was bought at retail. (Every MacBook and MacBook Pro model with the butterfly switches seems to be included.) That’s dramatically longer than the limited warranty the computers ship with or even Apple’s extended AppleCare Plus. Complaints from users about Apple’s recent laptop keyboards have grown in the past weeks and months, with people saying that the keyboards tend to fail entirely when encountering dust and the fragile design makes them difficult to repair./news/apple-brings-diverse-emoji-to-the-iphone-with-release-of-ios-8-3.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-brings-diverse-emoji-to-the-iphone-with-release-of-ios-8-3.htmlAfter several months of beta testing, Apple has released iOS 8.3 to all iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch owners today. The latest update includes a ton of new emoji characters; Apple has redesigned the emoji selector to accommodate all the new choices — which also include more diverse options. Aside from the big emoji bump, iOS 8.3 adds support for Siri in a handful of new languages, allowing Apple's personal assistant to operate in countries where it previously couldn't./news/apple-is-developing-an-ai-tool-for-animating-images-using-text-prompts.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-is-developing-an-ai-tool-for-animating-images-using-text-prompts.htmlResearchers at Apple have unveiled Keyframer, a prototype generative AI animation tool that enables users to add motion to 2D images by describing how they should be animated. In a research paper published on February 8th, Apple said that large language models (LLMs) are “underexplored” in animation despite the potential they’ve shown across other creative mediums like writing and image generation. The LLM-powered Keyframer tool is being pitched as one example of how the technology could be applied./news/apple-says-it-doesn-t-know-why-itunes-users-are-losing-their-music-files.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-says-it-doesn-t-know-why-itunes-users-are-losing-their-music-files.htmlApple today acknowledged iTunes users who claim the software deleted their music files, saying it will issue an update to iTunes next week that includes additional safeguards. The company confirmed, in a statement given to iMore, that "in an extremely small number of cases, users have reported that music files saved on their computer were removed without their permission." However, Apple was unable to reproduce the bug, indicating it doesn't really know what's going on here./news/apple-s-mac-studio-a-new-m1-desktop-for-professionals.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-mac-studio-a-new-m1-desktop-for-professionals.htmlApple has announced the Mac Studio, a desktop system that looks like the Mac Mini on the outside but packs a lot more power on the inside. The Mac Studio features both Apple’s M1 Max chip and a new, even more powerful processor, the M1 Ultra. It looks a bit similar to the Mac Mini, but Apple claims that the new device will be faster than even its top-of-the-line Mac Pro./news/apple-s-refurbished-airpods-max-are-180-off-the-original-cost.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-refurbished-airpods-max-are-180-off-the-original-cost.htmlIf you’ve struggled to justify buying Apple’s AirPods Max at their usual $420-plus price (at Apple, they’re still $549), head over to Woot and check out this deal on refurbished models that cost just $369.99. You can choose between space gray, sky blue, and green, each of which Woot says are “Apple Certified Reconditioned” and have “no visible scratches or blemishes and appear practically brand new!” Though, as is usually the case, the warranty for these refurbished headphones isn’t as good as buying new ones./news/at-t-in-process-to-deploy-discreet-5g-small-cells-on-city-street-lights.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/at-t-in-process-to-deploy-discreet-5g-small-cells-on-city-street-lights.htmlAT&T today announced it’s field testing new 5G small cell radios that can hide on top of street lamp posts. The new radios were born out of a partnership between AT&T, mobile technology manufacturer Ericsson, and urban solutions provider Ubicquia. “It is virtually unseen from street level,” wrote Gordon Mansfield, AT&T’s VP of mobility access & architecture, in a company blog post. Mansfield touted that these new low- / mid-band 5G radios can be deployed within 15 minutes on street lamps./news/at-t-torch-9810-sprint-blackberry-bold-9930-and-torch-9850-all-coming-august-21st.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/at-t-torch-9810-sprint-blackberry-bold-9930-and-torch-9850-all-coming-august-21st.htmlVerizon officially beat Sprint to the punch on this one, but America's other major CDMA carrier has just announced availability of RIM's BlackBerry Bold 9930 and the full-touchscreen Torch 9850. An announcement on Sprint's website indicates that both new smartphones will be available starting August 21st, with the Bold costing $249.99 on a new two-year contract, and the Torch for $49.99 after a mail-in-rebate. In case you needed a quick refresher, the Bold's got a gorgeous 640 x 480 touchscreen above its spacious QWERTY keyboard, and the Torch has a bright 3./news/at-t-s-5g-network-comes-to-nyc-but-not-for-regular-customers.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/at-t-s-5g-network-comes-to-nyc-but-not-for-regular-customers.htmlAT&T technically launched 5G service in New York City today, but as with its other 5G markets, only business customers and developers will be able to access it. The carrier is selling Samsung’s Galaxy S10 5G for those who want to utilize its millimeter wave-based 5G data speeds. AT&T is calling the launch a “limited introduction” and a “first step” for now, but it boasts that this is the 21st city where the company has launched its network./news/audioquest-s-nighthawk-headphones-sound-as-beautiful-as-they-look.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/audioquest-s-nighthawk-headphones-sound-as-beautiful-as-they-look.htmlIt's impossible to tell the NightHawk story without recounting some of AudioQuest's history. This California company has been making audio cables since 1980, building a reputation among audiophiles with a penchant for extravagant over-engineering. I have my doubts about the tangible benefits of expensive cables, but I don't doubt AudioQuest's sound expertise, which manifested itself in 2012 with the critically acclaimed DragonFly digital-to-analog converter. That tiny USB accessory was the first sign of AudioQuest exploring markets beyond the fanatical audiophile community, and 2015's NightHawks are the company's arrival in the mainstream./news/bad-karma-gopro-s-first-drone-does-not-impress.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bad-karma-gopro-s-first-drone-does-not-impress.htmlHere’s the funny thing about reviewing gadgets: a hundred journalists can spend weeks with a device, say a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 or GoPro’s Karma drone, and not experience anything out of the ordinary. The drone gets flown thousands of times, the phone’s battery is charged and emptied over and over — nothing crazy happens, and you publish your take. The device is released, and a few weeks later, all hell breaks loose./news/baldur-s-gate-3-on-ps5-is-a-technically-complicated-but-still-enjoyable-experience.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/baldur-s-gate-3-on-ps5-is-a-technically-complicated-but-still-enjoyable-experience.htmlBaldur’s Gate 3 is one of my favorite games in a very long time, exemplary in nearly every way except for one — it had to be played on PC. Of course, I have nothing against PC gaming (hello, Overwatch!), but I am a creature of comfort and count the ability to play from comfortable places as important to a game’s enjoyability as the actual game itself. So when I heard about BG3’s cross-save ability with the PS5, I fell to my very knees in appreciation, excited beyond measure that I would have the ability to enjoy this masterwork of a game from the comfort of the papasan chair in my sunroom./news/best-buy-is-axing-physical-dvd-and-blu-ray-business-in-this-depressing-digital-world.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/best-buy-is-axing-physical-dvd-and-blu-ray-business-in-this-depressing-digital-world.htmlIt’s hard to imagine walking into a Best Buy with no library of movies and music that once dominated the center of most stores. If you walked into Best Buy in the late ’90s to early 2010s, you were always greeted by a curated selection of the latest releases of movies and CD albums right at the entrance. The sections shrunk down over the years into just a few aisles, and now The Digital Bits reports the company is about to remove physical media altogether, and Best Buy later confirmed the report to Variety./news/best-buy-offering-between-200-and-350-for-microsoft-surface-trade-ins.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/best-buy-offering-between-200-and-350-for-microsoft-surface-trade-ins.htmlAs it has previously done for iPads, Best Buy is now running a trade-in promotion for Microsoft's Surface tablet. The retailer is guaranteeing that customers will receive a gift card worth at least $200 when they trade in a working Surface at a participating Best Buy location. The most Best Buy will give you is $350, so if making maximum profit is your goal, eBay or Craigslist may be a better option for offloading your current Surface ahead of Microsoft's latest hardware./news/best-smart-home-deals-for-day-two-of-amazon-prime-day-2023.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/best-smart-home-deals-for-day-two-of-amazon-prime-day-2023.htmlGood evening. It’s still Prime Day. Maybe we’ll be stuck in Prime Day forever (jkjk, there are only a few hours left). Since we’re here, please enjoy these deals on smart home devices. They are for sale. Please. Amazon Prime Day 2023, day two. Before you buy any smart home device, make sure it works with the smart home platforms and the phone ecosystems you already use. Matter makes this easier — kind of, but also kind of not./news/blue-beetle-review-the-kind-of-throwback-dc-should-have-been-making-ages-ago.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/blue-beetle-review-the-kind-of-throwback-dc-should-have-been-making-ages-ago.htmlEven if it weren’t being positioned as one of the first projects introducing audiences to Warner Bros.’ shiny new cinematic universe of films based on DC Comics characters, director Ángel Manuel Soto’s Blue Beetle movie would still have all the makings of a proper franchise starter. Unlike many of the studio’s superhero features from before James Gunn and Peter Safran came on to lead its efforts, Blue Beetle feels like the end result of a creative team thoughtfully executing a plan to replicate certain elements of what’s made rival studio Marvel’s films so successful — and not just Warner Bros./news/bojack-horseman-is-a-troubled-movie-star-in-the-first-season-three-trailer.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bojack-horseman-is-a-troubled-movie-star-in-the-first-season-three-trailer.htmlBoJack Horseman has come a long way since his debut two years ago, and he's back in the first trailer for the Netflix series' third season. After starting out as the washed up former star of a '90s sitcom, he picked himself up last season to play Secretariat in his first dramatic role. This year, he's a bona fide movie star, complete with an Oscar nod. Obviously, that comes with a whole host of problems, including depression and a lot of substance abuse./news/boost-celero-5g-review-budget-phone-with-budget-battery-life.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/boost-celero-5g-review-budget-phone-with-budget-battery-life.htmlBoost Mobile, the MVNO owned by the Dish Network as a result of the Sprint / T-Mobile merger, is in a tricky spot. Not only does it need to expand its user base for nationwide 5G service, but it also needs to migrate over a million Boost customers from Sprint’s CDMA 3G network to its 4G / 5G service (operated by T-Mobile and AT&T) soon since T-Mobile will be shutting down Sprint’s CDMA network by March 31, 2022./news/bose-says-its-upcoming-earbuds-will-be-better-than-amazon-s-echo-buds.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bose-says-its-upcoming-earbuds-will-be-better-than-amazon-s-echo-buds.htmlDuring today’s hardware event, Amazon made a pretty big deal about the fact that its brand new $129.99 Echo Buds incorporate Bose technology to achieve their active noise reduction and cut down on surrounding noise. A Bose spokesperson confirmed that this is the first time its NR technology has ever been built into another company’s headphones; Amazon’s companion app for the earbuds specifically mentions “Bose ANR” in several places. But the same spokesperson also made it clear that Bose has something even better in the works./news/burger-king-s-ai-written-ads-show-we-re-still-very-confused-about-artificial-intelligence.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/burger-king-s-ai-written-ads-show-we-re-still-very-confused-about-artificial-intelligence.htmlEach of Burger King’s new ads starts with an anachronistic burst of noise from a dial-up modem and a solemn warning: “This ad was created by artificial intelligence.” Then, over shots of glistening burgers and balletic fries, a robotic-sounding narrator deploys exactly the sort of clunky grammar and conceptual malapropisms we expect from a dumb AI. “The chicken crossed the road to become a sandwich. Burger King encouraged the chicken,” says the voice./news/call-of-duty-black-ops-6-arrives-on-october-25th.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/call-of-duty-black-ops-6-arrives-on-october-25th.htmlActivision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will debut on October 25th. The next installment in the popular franchise will be set in the early ’90s, and it will launch day one on Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription service. Developed by Treyarch and Raven Software, Black Ops 6 will include a new campaign, a multiplayer mode with 16 new maps at launch, and a new zombies experience. The main campaign is set after Black Ops Cold War and even includes flashbacks to Black Ops 2./news/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-has-been-remastered-and-is-out-today.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-has-been-remastered-and-is-out-today.htmlAfter years of speculation, a remastered version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s single-player campaign is finally here, bringing an enhanced version of one of the most iconic FPS games of the late 2000s onto modern hardware. The enhanced version of Modern Warfare 2 only includes the single-player campaign. The remastered version adds high-definition visuals and audio improvements to the original story from 2009, according to a blog post by Activision./news/cardi-b-beat-out-the-biggest-pop-star-in-the-world-to-nab-her-first-no-1-hit.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/cardi-b-beat-out-the-biggest-pop-star-in-the-world-to-nab-her-first-no-1-hit.htmlCardi B’s “Bodak Yellow” is officially the No. 1 song in the country, beating out Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. This makes her the first solo female rapper to top the chart since Lauryn Hill in 1998 and only the fifth female rapper to ever have a No. 1 hit. Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” had been sitting at the top of the charts for 16 weeks when the lead single for Swift’s Reputation (her first new album since October 2014) hit the web on August 24th, debuting at No./news/check-out-these-new-heatrisk-tools-to-stay-up-to-date-on-us-heatwaves.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/check-out-these-new-heatrisk-tools-to-stay-up-to-date-on-us-heatwaves.htmlExtreme heat is in store for communities across the US this week, and the CDC and National Weather Service (NWS) have new tools to help people prepare for the health risks. Heat is the top weather-related killer in the US, a threat that’s growing worse with climate change. But even though heatwaves kill some 1,220 people in the US, according to the CDC, the health risks can often fly under the radar./news/chinese-league-of-legends-league-will-play-games-online-due-to-coronavirus-concerns.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/chinese-league-of-legends-league-will-play-games-online-due-to-coronavirus-concerns.htmlLast month, just a week into the 2020 season, the Chinese League of Legends Pro League suspended play due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus outbreak. More than a month later, the league is finally set to resume — but it’s going to look very different. On Friday the LPL announced that the season would resume on March 9th, but the league is understandably taking some precautions. To start, all players will be required to complete a 14-day monitored quarantine period and “meet all local health requirements” before they can participate./news/climate-change-is-already-a-disaster-to-health-doctors-say.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/climate-change-is-already-a-disaster-to-health-doctors-say.htmlDangerously high temperatures put hundreds of thousands of people’s health and livelihoods at risk every year, and a major new report shows how much the threat has already grown in a warming world. Among other alarming statistics, heat-related deaths among older adults grew by nearly 54 percent between 2000 and 2018, the report finds.  The sweeping health and climate change report was published today in the prominent medical journal The Lancet./news/cnn-is-going-to-live-stream-the-democratic-debates-in-virtual-reality.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/cnn-is-going-to-live-stream-the-democratic-debates-in-virtual-reality.htmlOn October 13th, CNN will live stream the US Democratic presidential debate in virtual reality. Anyone with a Samsung Gear VR headset will be able to drop in via VR streaming company NextVR's portal in the Oculus store. CNN says viewers will get a "front-row seat" from the perspective of an audience member, with the immersive stream allowing people to "hold a gaze on a particular candidate, catch off-screen interactions, and more./news/crackdown-on-silk-road-the-underground-drug-market-page-2.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/crackdown-on-silk-road-the-underground-drug-market-page-2.htmlRoss Ulbricht, the man accused of running the underground drug marketplace Silk Road, has been charged with drug trafficking and hiring a hitman to knock off one of his employees. Of course, the hitman was actually an undercover federal agent in Maryland, and no one was actually killed. Silk Road had a handful of employees, according to court documents, and apparently one of them went astray. This employee, who is not named in the indictment, stole money from users and also managed to get picked up by the police./news/daenerys-vs-cersei-who-has-the-resources-to-win-the-final-game-of-thrones.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/daenerys-vs-cersei-who-has-the-resources-to-win-the-final-game-of-thrones.htmlSpoilers ahead for Game of Thrones, season 8, episode 3, “The Long Night.” As we head into the second half of the final season of Game of Thrones, our heroes have braved one of two large wars that have been set up over the course of the series. With the great war against the undead over, there are more major survivors than expected, but the heroes’ numbers have been significantly reduced by the incredible onslaught of wights./news/dell-s-alienware-aurora-r4-starts-at-2-199-with-overclocked-six-core-processor.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/dell-s-alienware-aurora-r4-starts-at-2-199-with-overclocked-six-core-processor.htmlDell's announced the Alienware Aurora R4, an update to the Aurora ALX from last year. The R4 uses the wacky chassis from the ALX, which includes controllable vents on the top, CPU liquid cooling, easy-to-replace hard drive caddies, and many exterior lighting controls. The "base" version has a six-core Intel Core i7-3930K processor that's been overclocked to 3.9GHz, 8GB of RAM, and an AMD Radeon HD 6870 GPU with 1GB of VRAM for $2,199./news/disney-blocks-abc-and-espn-from-charter-spectrum-viewers.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/disney-blocks-abc-and-espn-from-charter-spectrum-viewers.htmlDisney has blocked its channels from being accessed by the nearly 15 million subscribers to Charter’s Spectrum service, the second-largest cable TV provider in the US. The blackout means that viewers in major markets like New York and Los Angeles can’t access ABC, ESPN, FX, Freeform, National Geographic and a dozen other Disney-owned channels. Carriage disputes happen with some frequency when network owners, like Disney, renegotiate contracts with service providers, like Charter. Disney is seeking higher fees, Charter doesn’t want to pay them, and so Disney has yanked its programming as a negotiation tactic./news/dji-s-next-smartphone-gimbal-might-include-a-telescoping-selfie-stick.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/dji-s-next-smartphone-gimbal-might-include-a-telescoping-selfie-stick.htmlDJI appears to have another smartphone gimbal on the way with a telescoping selfie stick built into its handle, according to WinFuture. The Osmo Mobile 5, which is an apparent successor to last year’s Osmo Mobile 4, is likely to make its first appearance at DJI’s September 8th launch event where it will reportedly earn a European price of €159, which roughly translates to a tax-inclusive price of $188.  The Osmo Mobile 5 reportedly folds down to around 17cm (6./news/downsizing-takes-the-dullest-path-through-a-brilliant-premise.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/downsizing-takes-the-dullest-path-through-a-brilliant-premise.htmlWelcome to Cheat Sheet, our brief breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the Toronto International Film Festival.  The greatest science fiction stories generally start with a single, significant change to the world, then consider what other changes would follow. Ambitious science fiction considers radical changes to culture and humanity, and possibly to the entire universe. The smaller-scale stuff might just consider how a hobby or an industry looks different with the advent of one new technology./news/drive-your-tesla-on-mario-kart-s-rainbow-road-with-this-cute-easter-egg.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/drive-your-tesla-on-mario-kart-s-rainbow-road-with-this-cute-easter-egg.htmlIt's public relations 101. What's the best way to draw attention away from bad news? Release some awesome news instead. That's what Tesla has done with this fantastic Mario Kart Easter egg. Right when the embargo lifted on the Model X recall this morning, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted some curious instructions to Tesla owners: More cowbell? Forget defective seats, give me Rainbow Road! When you put the Tesla Model S or Model X into Autopilot mode, the instrument cluster shows the car "/news/dutch-police-have-shut-down-anon-ib-in-the-course-of-a-revenge-porn-investigation.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/dutch-police-have-shut-down-anon-ib-in-the-course-of-a-revenge-porn-investigation.htmlAnon-IB was a free, anonymous message board that allowed users to post images, and was organized by location and subject. It was part of an online ecosystem where users traded images back and forth like trading cards. This particular investigation began in March 2017 after a woman discovered that some of her personal images had been stolen and posted online. She made a complaint to authorities, and the subsequent investigation led officers to a 31-year-old Culemborg man, who was found to have a number of other images from other women./news/epic-games-is-bringing-its-crossplay-tools-for-developers-to-consoles.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/epic-games-is-bringing-its-crossplay-tools-for-developers-to-consoles.htmlEpic Games is expanding its crossplay tools available as part of Epic Online Services from PC to PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, the company announced on Wednesday. The change could mean that developers will be able to more easily bring crossplay multiplayer to their games. The company first introduced the crossplay tools in June 2022, but at the time, they only worked to let games support crossplay across the Epic Games Store and Valve’s Steam./news/evs-are-taking-on-combustion-engines-in-a-rallycross-battle-of-technologies.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/evs-are-taking-on-combustion-engines-in-a-rallycross-battle-of-technologies.htmlAfter two seasons of all-electric racing, the World Rallycross Championship (or World RX) held its first mixed powertrain races between electric and internal combustion engine (ICE) cars this weekend in Höljes, Sweden. Unlike traditional point-to-point rally racing, rallycross puts those cars on a circuit, but with similar racing over dirt and gravel surfaces, as well as plenty of jumping and drifting through turns. There were six EVs and four ICE cars in this weekend’s races, and by the end of the first weekend, EV racers took up three of the top five spots in the provisional championship standings./news/facebook-2026.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/facebook-2026.htmlBy nearly any measure, Facebook has had a remarkable year. More than 1.65 billion people use the service every month, making it the world’s largest social network by a considerable margin. Its advertising business has grown significantly faster than analyst expectations, powered by sophisticated targeting capabilities that rivals struggle to match. And in April, CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out an ambitious 10-year vision that places the company at the frontier of computer science, making aggressive moves in bringing artificial intelligence and virtual reality to the mainstream./news/fallout-4-is-coming-out-this-year-here-s-what-you-need-to-know.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fallout-4-is-coming-out-this-year-here-s-what-you-need-to-know.htmlIt seems like only yesterday we got our first confirmation that Fallout 4 existed (seven years of unofficial anticipation notwithstanding). And now on the eve of E3 2015, Bethesda is giving us a real look at the game. More importantly, a release date: November 10th, 2015 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. In additional to the regular game, there will be a collector's edition featuring a "working" Pip-Boy (provided you use your own mobile device)./news/far-cry-new-dawn-review.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/far-cry-new-dawn-review.htmlFar Cry 5 was a great game — and that’s what frustrated me about it. Ubisoft’s Montana-based action game made some fundamental changes to the long-running series, with a clever structure that made the experience feel truly open. No matter what you did, whether killing some drugged-out cult members or hunting wild turkeys, it contributed to your progress in a way that felt meaningful. Unfortunately, all of that was tainted by the story, which used the imagery of modern American turmoil to create an artificial sheen of depth./news/final-fantasy-7-rebirth-review-modern-open-world-soul-of-1997.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/final-fantasy-7-rebirth-review-modern-open-world-soul-of-1997.htmlHere’s something I never thought I’d say: the original Final Fantasy VII was too short. I’ve played through the classic RPG, which spans three discs and more than 30 hours, multiple times and always thought I largely understood it. And yet I now realize that various elements of its convoluted plot have actually escaped me. So here I am, a few decades later, and I finally understand (most of) what the hell is going on — and that’s because of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth./news/fisker-karma-hybrid-car-breaks-down-during-consumer-reports-testing.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fisker-karma-hybrid-car-breaks-down-during-consumer-reports-testing.htmlThe Fisker Karma, a luxury hybrid sedan that sells for over $100,000, is perhaps the most attractive electric vehicle on the road. Unfortunately, the Karma Consumer Reports bought for testing didn't stay on the road for very long. During a routine speedometer calibration, the car's dashboard flashed an error message; shortly thereafter, the car stopped entirely and wouldn't shift into any gear except Neutral and Park. The testers had owned the car for only a few days, and had driven it fewer than 200 miles./news/ford-launches-godrive-car-sharing-service-in-london.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ford-launches-godrive-car-sharing-service-in-london.htmlFord had already been testing a very small car-sharing operation in London called City Driving On-Demand, but now it's getting substantially larger with the launch of GoDrive, a one-way service (meaning you don't need to return cars to their original spots like Zipcar) with guaranteed parking at your destination that charges by the minute. Overall, GoDrive sounds a little like Car2Go, the car-sharing subsidiary of Daimler that deploys fleets of pay-per-minute Smart cars to major urban centers./news/fortnite-s-new-update-lets-you-pet-dogs-and-other-animals.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fortnite-s-new-update-lets-you-pet-dogs-and-other-animals.htmlWith its latest update, Fortnite has added a very significant feature: you can finally pet dogs. The battle royale game introduced pets — which include not only dogs, but also dragons, chameleons, and other cuddly creatures — as part of season 6 back in September. But until now, you haven’t been able to interact with them. The ability to pet animals may seem out of place in a game about killing everyone around you, but Fortnite isn’t a stranger to pleasant interactions, as anyone who has ever thanked the bus driver or attended a violence-free concert can attest./news/gm-and-lg-chem-will-announce-new-tennessee-battery-factory.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gm-and-lg-chem-will-announce-new-tennessee-battery-factory.htmlOn Friday, General Motors and LG Chem announced a new $2.3 billion battery factory to open late 2023 in Spring Hill, Tennessee. It will be the second US battery joint venture for the American and South Korean giants, after the pair first announced a $2.3 billion battery cell manufacturing plant in Lordstown, Ohio back in 2019. The companies say construction will begin immediately, and that the plant will create 1,300 new jobs./news/god-of-war-grows-up-on-the-playstation-4.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/god-of-war-grows-up-on-the-playstation-4.htmlKratos has gotten old. That’s the first thing you’ll notice in the new God of War. The upcoming PS4 reboot of the series starts with the angriest Greek in gaming glowering down at a tree that you chop down with Kratos’ new weapon of choice: the Leviathan Axe. As he swings the axe, you can see more scars crossing his arms and chest since we last saw him, and his perpetually scowling face is hidden behind a beard that’s sporting a touch of gray./news/golden-globes-2016-brie-larson-leonardo-dicaprio-and-sylvester-stallone-headline-film-acting-awar.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/golden-globes-2016-brie-larson-leonardo-dicaprio-and-sylvester-stallone-headline-film-acting-awar.htmlGiven theirtrack record over the past decade, it's natural to look towards the Golden Globes when trying to surmise which actors may win when the Oscars roll around next month, and tonight Brie Larson andLeonardo DiCaprio cemented their presumptive front-runner status with wins. Larson has been steadily gaining momentum since September for her nuanced performance in Room, in which she plays a young woman who's raised her young son in total captivity after being kidnapped./news/google-fired-an-employee-who-protested-its-contract-with-the-israeli-military.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-fired-an-employee-who-protested-its-contract-with-the-israeli-military.htmlGoogle has fired an employee who publicly protested the company’s work for the Israeli military. During a presentation by an executive with Google’s Israel branch on Monday, the now-former Google Cloud engineer stood up and shouted, “I refuse to build technology that powers genocide or surveillance.” Google confirmed the firing, which was first reported by CNBC, in an email to The Verge. “Earlier this week, an employee disrupted a coworker who was giving a presentation — interfering with an official company-sponsored event,” Google spokesperson Bailey Tomson says in an emailed statement./news/google-soon-won-t-let-you-sign-in-on-devices-running-android-2-3-7-or-older.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-soon-won-t-let-you-sign-in-on-devices-running-android-2-3-7-or-older.htmlIf you still have a device running Android 2.3.7 (the final version of Gingerbread) or older, Google won’t let you sign in to your Google account on that device starting September 27th, according to a support document (via Liliputing). “As part of our ongoing efforts to keep our users safe, Google will no longer allow sign-in on Android devices that run Android 2.3.7 or lower starting September 27, 2021,” the company says./news/google-wallet-can-now-import-movie-tickets-and-boarding-passes-automatically.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-wallet-can-now-import-movie-tickets-and-boarding-passes-automatically.htmlGoogle Wallet can now import movie tickets and boarding passes automatically. Google’s release notes say that passes will be transferred to the Wallet without user action when confirmation emails show up in Gmail from “some global movie chains and airlines.” (The company says it’s “working to expand this.”) Wallet users can also now manually archive “most passes.” Check out a screenshot below from Android expert Mishaal Rahman. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfaHx6e5FtZ3JtZGWAcLPOqJ6lnV2srq24xK1knJmeYruww4yipKmnoql6rrvVopxmrJmYuKbA0maYp5xdl7yivsOipaBloJbAtLHSZpiurJ%2BirrW1wpqjpbE%3D/news/google-s-messaging-mess-a-timeline.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-s-messaging-mess-a-timeline.htmlOver the past 15 years, Google has introduced more than a dozen messaging services spanning text, voice, and video calling. This week, the company’s efforts culminated in the general availability of Google Chat, a combination of Slack / Discord-style rooms with more traditional messaging. It’s the sort of announcement that might have been expected to bring some consistency to the company’s muddled messenger messaging, but — as is traditional for Google in this area — there’s plenty of confusion to go around./news/google-s-phone-app-for-android-now-transcribes-voicemail-for-t-mobile-customers.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-s-phone-app-for-android-now-transcribes-voicemail-for-t-mobile-customers.htmlPixel and Nexus smartphone owners on T-Mobile will now have an easier time determining whether a voicemail is worth listening to. The latest update for Google’s Phone app adds “Google-powered voicemail transcriptions for T-Mobile USA customers.” That sounds very similar to what Google Voice customers are already familiar with. When someone leaves you a voicemail, Google does its best to transcribe that message and puts the text right in the voicemail tab./news/hands-on-with-the-switchbot-s10-robot-vacuum-mop.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hands-on-with-the-switchbot-s10-robot-vacuum-mop.htmlAfter previewing its latest robotic invention earlier this month, SwitchBot officially launched the S10 robot vacuum and mop at IFA 2023 in Berlin last week. The $1,199.99 bot, coming to Kickstarter in October, features an automatic water refill station that does away with the bulky water tanks housed in giant auto-empty docks that have become the hallmark of top-of-the-line floor cleaners from Roborock, Ecovacs, etc. Unlike those models that clean and dry their dirty mops in a small “sink” in the dock, the SwitchBot S10 has an internal roller brush mop that it cleans using a squeegee method as it vacuums./news/here-s-a-look-at-the-expanded-new-york-city-in-marvel-s-spider-man-2.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/here-s-a-look-at-the-expanded-new-york-city-in-marvel-s-spider-man-2.htmlMarvel’s Spider-Man 2 will come with an even bigger map. The developers behind the sequel — Insomniac Games — have announced they’re “nearly doubling” the size of Marvel’s New York. With the expanded map, you’ll get to swing your way past the East River and web your way across Queens and Brooklyn while completing story missions, side quests, and city activities along the way. There are also new “Web Wings” that help you get across the city faster./news/here-s-how-to-claim-pikachu-and-eevee-in-pok%C3%A9mon-sword-and-shield.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/here-s-how-to-claim-pikachu-and-eevee-in-pok%C3%A9mon-sword-and-shield.htmlIn addition to special moves only available in Gigantamax forms, certain pokémon also get a small makeover. (Pikachu, for example, fills out into his iconic fat Pikachu look of old.) Pikachu and Eevee are available at the game’s Wild Area Station via the game’s online functionality. Players will need to save from Let’s Go, Pikachu! or Let’s Go, Eevee! to grab whichever pokémon corresponds to their save file. Once you reach the station, look for the pair of kids in the corner./news/how-a-secretive-unknown-smartphone-app-became-the-center-of-turkey-s-post-coup-crackdown.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-a-secretive-unknown-smartphone-app-became-the-center-of-turkey-s-post-coup-crackdown.htmlHamdullah faithfully served his country in the Turkish Armed Forces for more than two decades before retiring as a specialist sergeant. Needless to say, Hamdullah, who requested we only use his first name, was shocked when he suddenly found himself jailed upon suspicion of being a member of a terrorist organization in April of last year. The charges were based on an unusual piece of evidence: the apparent presence of the messaging app ByLock on Hamdullah’s phone./news/how-to-get-gmail-maps-and-other-google-apps-on-an-amazon-fire-tablet.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-get-gmail-maps-and-other-google-apps-on-an-amazon-fire-tablet.htmlThe best thing about the Amazon Fire 7 tablet is its $49 price. The worst thing is that its Android-based Fire OS 6 software lacks most of what makes Android, well, Android. It (like Amazon’s other Fire tablets) lacks any of the standard Google apps, like Google Maps, Google Photos, or Google Drive. What’s worse is that the built-in Amazon Appstore is a stand-in for Google’s Play Store, and most of the apps you know and love aren’t available./news/how-to-make-exceptions-for-the-do-not-disturb-mode-on-your-iphone.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-make-exceptions-for-the-do-not-disturb-mode-on-your-iphone.htmlWhen you’re watching a movie, in a meeting, or just feeling mellow, you may not want your phone to interrupt whatever you’re doing. That’s where Do Not Disturb settings come in. They temporarily stop calls from getting in the way. However, sometimes life gets complicated. You may not want your phone to ring if just anyone is calling, but you also don’t want to miss a call from your kid, spouse, best friend, or pet sitter./news/how-to-make-youtube-five-times-faster-if-you-don-t-use-chrome.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-make-youtube-five-times-faster-if-you-don-t-use-chrome.htmlGoogle launched a new YouTube design nearly a year ago, but if you’ve been using Edge, Safari, or Firefox then you’ve probably wondered why YouTube is loading so slowly. Mozilla program manager Chris Peterson has highlighted the issue this week, and it’s not your alternative browser that’s to blame. Google’s redesign still relies on a deprecated shadow DOM API that’s only implemented in Chrome, making other browsers render YouTube five times slower./news/how-to-protect-your-real-body-while-playing-pok%C3%A9mon-go.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-protect-your-real-body-while-playing-pok%C3%A9mon-go.htmlSo you've been playing Pokémon Go and you've been walking a lot more than you usually do. Maybe your legs and feet are tired, maybe you have blisters, maybe you're sunburnt, maybe that really awesome Pikachu (CP ??, which means it's beefy as heck) slipped away. I can't fix the elusiveness of Pokémon, but I can probably give you some tips on how to cut down on some of the other things./news/how-to-report-problems-on-the-road-in-apple-maps-or-google-maps.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-report-problems-on-the-road-in-apple-maps-or-google-maps.htmlIt’s always frustrating to get caught in a traffic jam because of a lane closure or because everyone is rubbernecking a recent fender bender. But even if you’re stuck, you can gain some karmic points and help others avoid the situation by reporting it via Apple Maps or Google Maps. Your report on its own may not be enough to get a warning placed on the map, but if enough people make the same report — Apple calls it having “a high level of confidence” —  then Apple or Google will probably take action and add an update./news/how-to-set-up-parental-controls-on-your-ps5.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-set-up-parental-controls-on-your-ps5.htmlToday’s kids are tech-savvy at a very young age, but you might not want your children sitting down in front of a PS5 without some guardrails in place. Sony has built parental controls right into the software for its console, and they can be used in combination with the user profiles feature to put limits on what your kids are able to do. These limits cover everything from the number of hours your kid can spend gaming to how much they can spend on in-game purchases, and it all ties into the accounts you’ve got configured on your console./news/how-to-use-the-new-circle-to-search-tool.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-use-the-new-circle-to-search-tool.htmlSeeing something on my phone screen that I want to know more about is a regular occurrence, and Google always wants to make it easier to get to, well, Google. And so we have Circle to Search, a new way of looking up information on mobile devices. The idea is pretty simple — and in fact, simplicity is its main selling point. In a video, Samsung (which makes one of the phones that has this feature) gives the example of someone who sees an orange dog lamp in an image, and instead of running a text search describing what they’re looking at, they find out they can just circle the lamp with their finger to get matches from the web./news/how-to-use-these-lesser-known-features-to-become-a-google-docs-pro.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-use-these-lesser-known-features-to-become-a-google-docs-pro.htmlPart of the appeal of Google Docs is its clean, accessible interface: open up a document, and the invitation is there to simply dive in and start typing without having to bother with settings screens or page configurations. However, that doesn’t mean the word processor app is lacking in features. Since its arrival way back in 2005 under the name Writely, it’s gradually been adding more and more in the way of useful functionality./news/how-tumblr-turned-social-media-polls-into-a-game-design-challenge.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-tumblr-turned-social-media-polls-into-a-game-design-challenge.htmlOn February 3rd, Tumblr user Relientk used the site’s then-recently released poll feature to list several common baking ingredients. “Okay let’s bake a cake,” the poll urged. There were no further instructions, no rules. Users’ votes just implicitly set the percentage of things like butter, flour, sugar... and vanilla extract. If you’re already a Tumblr user, you know how this went. The resulting cake recipe was 44 percent vanilla — briefly turning the phrase “vanilla extract” into a sitewide meme./news/hyundai-and-kia-forced-to-update-software-on-millions-of-vehicles-because-of-viral-tiktok-challenge.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hyundai-and-kia-forced-to-update-software-on-millions-of-vehicles-because-of-viral-tiktok-challenge.htmlHyundai and Kia are offering free software updates for millions of their cars in response to a rash of car thefts inspired by a viral social media challenge on TikTok. The so-called “Kia Challenge” on the social media platform has led to hundreds of car thefts nationwide, including at least 14 reported crashes and eight fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Thieves known as “the Kia Boyz” would post instructional videos about how to bypass the vehicles’ security system using tools as simple as a USB cable./news/i-ate-fake-chicken-breast-that-the-maker-of-nuggs-squeezed-through-a-showerhead.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/i-ate-fake-chicken-breast-that-the-maker-of-nuggs-squeezed-through-a-showerhead.htmlA new microwavable fake chicken breast is on its way from the makers of meme-famous Nuggs. The alternative meat startup Simulate plans to launch the new product in some two dozen New York grocery stores on July 7th. Curious consumers outside of the Big Apple will also be able to buy the stuff online on Simulate’s website at $2.99 a piece. Simulate similarly launched its plant-based chicken nuggets, Nuggs, online in 2018 before offering it in stores in 2021./news/in-2010-the-social-network-was-searing-now-it-looks-quaint.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/in-2010-the-social-network-was-searing-now-it-looks-quaint.htmlDoes It Hold Up is a chance to re-experience childhood-favorite books, movies, TV shows, video games, and other cultural phenomenon, decades after release. Have they gotten better like a fine wine, or are we drinking cork? When David Fincher’s Oscar-winning movie The Social Network hit screens in 2010, Facebook had 500 million users and a valuation of $25 billion — facts which appear on the film’s closing slides, along with the information that Mark Zuckerberg had recently been minted as the world’s youngest billionaire./news/in-search-of-the-starfish-killer-the-quest-to-save-the-original-keystone-species.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/in-search-of-the-starfish-killer-the-quest-to-save-the-original-keystone-species.htmlA starfish survey of Washington State, where the wasting syndrome was first discovered. Explore the data → In October 2013, after hearing of the Vancouver die-offs, Seattle aquarium staff veterinarian Lesanna Lahner sent divers to examine local sea star populations . The results were grim: about 40 percent of the sea stars under the aquarium’s pier were sick. By November, the three species that usually lived under the pier were gone./news/instagram-is-testing-a-take-a-break-feature.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/instagram-is-testing-a-take-a-break-feature.htmlHead of Instagram Adam Mosseri said Wednesday that the platform is testing the long-awaited Take a Break feature to give users reminders when they’ve spent a long time on the platform. “It does what you think it does,” Mosseri said in a video posted to Twitter. “If you opt in, it encourages you to take a break from Instagram after you spend a certain amount of time on the app; 10, 20, or 30 minutes,” he said./news/instagram-makes-it-easier-to-see-when-you-re-broadcasting-music-you-can-t-use.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/instagram-makes-it-easier-to-see-when-you-re-broadcasting-music-you-can-t-use.htmlInstagram has posted its guidelines for using copyrighted music during live videos, Stories, and other posts on the platform, and part of the announcement includes a new update to the notification that pops up to tell users they’re using unlicensed art in ways that violate its rules. The changes to the pop-up notification are designed around helping users avoid Instagram’s automated interruptions — like muting or outright blocking — that occurs if a piece of licensed music plays for too long over or in the background of a live video./news/it-may-be-getting-easier-to-dm-via-threads.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/it-may-be-getting-easier-to-dm-via-threads.htmlIt may be getting easier to DM via Threads. A test Meta is running on some accounts puts a messaging button on the profile page with an in-app messaging box. As Meta told Engadget, this is still using Instagram’s DM system and there are currently no plans to build a standalone messaging experience on Threads. Even still, a step in the right direction. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfaXxygY5ra2prYWaBdnvIrWSmmalir6Z5xp6rraGenHqmrdKinKtlpKR6pbmMr6CaZaSdv6atw6w%3D/news/i-ve-worked-so-hard-to-do-good-for-google-and-protect-google-and-i-get-treated-so-badly.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/i-ve-worked-so-hard-to-do-good-for-google-and-protect-google-and-i-get-treated-so-badly.html“I’ve worked so hard to do good for Google and protect Google... and I get treated so badly.” While Jim Kolotouros’ chat history may have been deleted, his disgruntled comment-filled notepad file has been shared in court. Comments include: “Lack of honesty at Android leadership. Lie to your face and stab you in the back.” “I am loyal to Google; not any person” “Andy Rubin culture is rampant; but more passive aggressive, and not out in the open”/news/james-gunn-fired-from-guardians-of-the-galaxy-3-over-offensive-tweets.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/james-gunn-fired-from-guardians-of-the-galaxy-3-over-offensive-tweets.html1. Many people who have followed my career know when I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur, making movies and telling jokes that were outrageous and taboo. As I have discussed publicly many times, as I’ve developed as a person, so has my work and my humor. 2. It’s not to say I’m better, but I am very, very different than I was a few years ago; today I try to root my work in love and connection and less in anger./news/john-oliver-s-all-dog-supreme-court-on-last-week-tonight-is-hilarious-and-free-for-anyone-to-remix.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/john-oliver-s-all-dog-supreme-court-on-last-week-tonight-is-hilarious-and-free-for-anyone-to-remix.htmlComedian newscaster John Oliver has aired some hilarious and incisive sketches so far throughout the first season of his HBO show, Last Week Tonight. But there's a new top dog among them: last night's bit featuring an all-animal Supreme Court. Inspired by Keyboard Cat, the sketch — which features dogs as the nine justices, a duck as an assistant, and a pitch-perfect pecking chicken as a stenographer — is meant to mock the absurdity of the US Supreme Court's refusal to allow its proceedings to be televised, despite permitting audio recordings./news/keyboards-the-verge.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/keyboards-the-verge.htmlLogitech’s Keys-To-Go 2 for 3 devices. Keys-To-Go 2, available in Lilac, Pale Grey and Graphite, features scissor keys for a comfortable, efficient and more precise typing experience. Connect via Bluetooth with up to three devices via the Easy-Switch keys, and type seamlessly across tablets, phones and laptops. This compact keyboard is available in two layouts, Universal (Android, ChromeOS, Windows, iPadOS, iOS and MacOS) and dedicated Apple layout (iPadOS, iOS and macOS). ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jqScspqflr%2Blvw%3D%3D/news/koss-porta-pro-wireless-review-a-classic-mistake.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/koss-porta-pro-wireless-review-a-classic-mistake.htmlThe phrase “timeless technology” is an oxymoron. Even the humble wheel is constantly undergoing change and iteration from tire companies. And yet, for one pair of inimitable headphones, time really seems to have stood still for the past 34 years. Koss’ on-ear Porta Pro headphones were launched in 1984, before I was even born, and they’ve remained unchanged ever since. In that time, we’ve witnessed the rise and fall of the cassette tape Walkman, the portable CD player, MiniDisc players, MP3 players with and without hard drives, and smartphones with headphone jacks./news/larry-david-thinks-his-ftx-super-bowl-ad-in-2022-was-a-prettyyyy-prettyyy-big-mistake.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/larry-david-thinks-his-ftx-super-bowl-ad-in-2022-was-a-prettyyyy-prettyyy-big-mistake.htmlLarry David thinks his FTX Super Bowl ad in 2022 was a prettyyyy, prettyyy big mistake. That was the vibe when the Curb Your Enthusiasm star called himself “an idiot” during an interview with The Associated Press recently. He was part of the glut of FTX Super Bowl 2022 ads angled on FOMO the same year FTX collapsed, and we know how that story went. Of course, there were no crypto ads during Super Bowl LVIII — unless you count Jack Dorsey wearing a Satoshi shirt again./news/let-s-talk-about-star-wars-the-last-jedi-s-most-divisive-part-porgs.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/let-s-talk-about-star-wars-the-last-jedi-s-most-divisive-part-porgs.htmlPorgs. When fans spotted the diminutive creatures of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in the first behind-the-scenes reel, they were immediately divided. Some fell utterly in love with them, creating fan art, buttons, and shirts right off the bat, while others dismissed them as a cheap marketing gimmick for the inevitable batch of toys that would hit stores. The creatures’ next appearance in the film’s second trailer showed off one squawking alongside Chewbacca on the Millennium Falcon, which only further entrenched both sides of the love-them-or-hate-them argument./news/lg-g7-thinq-review-a-big-price-for-small-improvements.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lg-g7-thinq-review-a-big-price-for-small-improvements.htmlLG’s new G7 ThinQ has a horrendous name, but the phone itself is pretty important. It’s not a stretch to call this a restart for the company. LG has said that going forward, it’s not going to rush out new phones on the same schedule as Samsung just for the sake of it. Instead, LG plans to spend more time making its new hardware really count. The G7 is the first product designed under that philosophy./news/lian-li-keeps-making-beautiful-pc-cases.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lian-li-keeps-making-beautiful-pc-cases.htmlLian Li keeps making beautiful PC cases. Do you love the sound of the peel once you’ve built a PC? Well, Lian Li is providing a triple glass peel with its latest O11 Vision case, with tempered glass on the front, top, and left side. This beautiful fish tank case is all built on Lian Li’s dual chamber design, much like the rest of the popular O11 series. You can preorder the $140 case right now and it arrives at retailers later this month./news/listen-to-the-sounds-of-the-us-national-parks-with-parktracks.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/listen-to-the-sounds-of-the-us-national-parks-with-parktracks.htmlTo celebrate its 102nd birthday, the National Park Service is offering ParkTracks, a 12-minute mix of sounds from across various national parks. The sounds were captured by the NPS’s (wonderfully named) Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division, and the mix is available to download now. If that’s not enough, head over to the website of the Sounds and Night Skies Division where they have plenty of audio clips and soundscapes, many with evocative titles./news/magsafe-popsockets-are-here-we-tested-to-see-if-they-stick.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/magsafe-popsockets-are-here-we-tested-to-see-if-they-stick.htmlMagSafe PopSockets are finally here, after the famous phone handle company announced they would be coming in January. The PopGrip for MagSafe sells for $30, which is two to three times more expensive than the adhesive versions, but the bigger question that people have been asking since the announcement is whether they’ll be as trustworthy. I decided it was time to find out. The PopGrip for MagSafe is a retractable grip for your phone (as the name implies) that can also work as a stand for watching video or a hands-free video call./news/maybe-i-don-t-want-a-rosey-the-robot-after-all.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/maybe-i-don-t-want-a-rosey-the-robot-after-all.htmlAs a child of the 1980s, my perception of the smart home has been dominated by the idea that one day, we will all have Rosey the Robot-style robots roaming our homes — dusting the mantelpiece, preparing dinner, and unloading the dishwasher. (That last one is a must; we were smart enough to come up with a robot to wash our dishes; can’t we please come up with one that can also unload them?/news/messi-s-move-to-mls-is-a-big-deal-for-apple.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/messi-s-move-to-mls-is-a-big-deal-for-apple.htmlThe announcement comes after much consternation about where Messi would land following a stint in Paris; rumors placed him returning to Barcelona or heading for a big payday in Saudi Arabia. But in coming to MLS, he instantly makes an MLS Season Pass subscription, which is available through Apple TV Plus, much more appealing, particularly for a global audience who might otherwise be focused on the big leagues in Europe./news/meta-is-pulling-the-plug-on-messenger-lite-on-android.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/meta-is-pulling-the-plug-on-messenger-lite-on-android.htmlMeta’s Messenger Lite app for Android is being shut down in September, as reported by 9to5Google. The app launched as a more, well, lightweight way to talk to people on the company’s Messenger platform (former Verge staffer Vlad Savov was a fan), but you won’t be able to use it after September 18th. When you open the app, you’ll apparently see a prompt that pushes you toward the main Messenger app, 9to5Google says./news/microsoft-copilot-leak-shows-ai-automatically-creating-a-powerpoint-presentation.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-copilot-leak-shows-ai-automatically-creating-a-powerpoint-presentation.htmlMicrosoft is holding a big AI event later today, but one of the announcements appears to have just leaked. Twitter user h0x0d has published details of a PowerPoint Copilot feature, which appears to include ChatGPT-like AI that will create presentations for you. The Copilot appears in a sidebar in an online version of PowerPoint where you can ask the assistant to create a presentation based on a Word document. PowerPoint then immediately drafts a presentation, complete with a full slide deck based on the contents of the Word document supplied./news/microsoft-is-testing-a-new-windows-11-start-menu-with-floating-widgets.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-is-testing-a-new-windows-11-start-menu-with-floating-widgets.htmlMicrosoft has quietly started testing an intriguing change to the Windows 11 Start menu that could introduce a floating panel full of “companion” widgets. Windows watcher Albacore discovered the new Start menu feature in the latest test versions of Windows 11 that Microsoft has released publicly. While Microsoft has not yet announced this feature, the “Start menu Companions” appear to be a way to allow developers to extend the Windows 11 Start menu with widget-like functionality that lives inside a floating island that can be docked next to the Start menu./news/microsoft-is-working-on-its-own-dlss-like-upscaler-for-windows-11.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-is-working-on-its-own-dlss-like-upscaler-for-windows-11.htmlMicrosoft appears to be readying its own DLSS-like AI upscaling feature for PC games. X user PhantomOcean3 discovered the feature inside the latest test versions of Windows 11 over the weekend, with Microsoft describing its automatic super resolution as a way to “use AI to make supported games play more smoothly with enhanced details.” That sounds a lot like Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology, which uses AI to upscale games and improve frame rates and image quality./news/mode-aims-high-for-the-perfect-puff-of-weed.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/mode-aims-high-for-the-perfect-puff-of-weed.htmlFor people who use cannabis for medicinal purposes, such as pain management, anxiety, and sleep, vaping the drug can be a bit of a trial-and-error process since you can’t be totally sure of the exact dose you’re getting like you can with a standard edible or pill. The makers of the Mode smart cannabis device say it solves the dosing problem, using a high-res pressure sensor to determine how much a user is inhaling and a prediction algorithm that determines how many micromilligrams a user is getting per puff based on the cartridge./news/more-than-1-000-comcast-employees-nationwide-are-protesting-trump-s-immigration-ban.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/more-than-1-000-comcast-employees-nationwide-are-protesting-trump-s-immigration-ban.htmlAn estimated 1,200 Comcast employees left their desks for a rally on Thursday afternoon, marching through downtown Philadelphia in protest of Donald Trump’s executive order banning immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries. “Love, not hate, is what makes this country great,” chanted the protesters, who began marching through Center City around 2PM ET. It was the second major corporate protest of the week, following a company-endorsed walkout at Google on Tuesday. Employees organized the rally in a corporate Slack channel, sources told Philly news site Billy Penn./news/nerf-s-first-gel-blaster-is-coming-this-november-with-10-000-rounds.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nerf-s-first-gel-blaster-is-coming-this-november-with-10-000-rounds.htmlThis is a Nerf blaster unlike any you’ve seen before. It doesn’t shoot reusable foam darts or foam balls, but rather pellets of squishy, water-infused gel. Pellets so small you can fit 800 of them into this blaster, and so cheap it’ll come with 10,000 of them right out of the box. It’ll shoot them fully automatic with an included rechargeable, swappable 7.4V battery you can top up with a USB-C cable — just like a phone./news/netflix-s-avatar-the-last-airbender-series-finally-has-a-trailer.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-s-avatar-the-last-airbender-series-finally-has-a-trailer.htmlThe trailer was a short but packed affair, offering really good looks at both the main characters and the just-as-beloved side characters. Kyoshi Warrior Suki looks amazing, as does the Earth Kingdom city of Ba Sing Se. Avatar fans, it is looking good. Yesterday, Netflix teased that the trailer was on its way, giving us another (if a bit blurry) look at the Gaang. Earlier this year, we got our first look at Sokka, Katara, Aang, and Zuko, while Netflix later released photos of Fire Lord Ozai, Uncle Iroh, Azula, and General Zhao./news/netflix-s-carmen-sandiego-returns-to-its-gaming-roots-in-an-interactive-special.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-s-carmen-sandiego-returns-to-its-gaming-roots-in-an-interactive-special.htmlNetflix isn’t hiding its ambitions to push further into the world of interactive storytelling, and a trailer for its Carmen Sandiego Choose Your Own Adventure-style special teases what’s to come. In Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not to Steal, the iconic spy is tasked with doing the Villains International League of Evil’s (V.I.L.E.) bidding after they capture professional thief Zack and his sister Ivy during a heist. If Carmen Sandiego doesn’t succeed, Zack and Ivy will have their minds wiped and become operatives within V./news/netflix-s-in-the-shadow-of-the-moon-plays-smart-tricks-with-time.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-s-in-the-shadow-of-the-moon-plays-smart-tricks-with-time.htmlWelcome to Cheat Sheet, our breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the 2019 Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. One of the chief joys of the time travel subgenre is strictly mechanical: it’s all about the ways nonlinear characters let creators deconstruct a standard narrative, bringing different segments of the story together in unexpected ways. Construction-oriented movies like Timecrimes or Predestination scramble the order of the pieces on-screen, bait viewers to guess why certain things happen, and then slowly fit those pieces together into a startling whole./news/nintendo-s-amazing-snes-styled-3ds-is-sadly-only-coming-to-europe.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nintendo-s-amazing-snes-styled-3ds-is-sadly-only-coming-to-europe.htmlLast year, Nintendo released an incredibly cool-looking Super Famicom-themed New 3DS XL — but only in Japan. The good news is that the company announced a new Super Nintendo-themed version for Western customers that just swaps the Famicom logo for the SNES one at Gamescom (via Polygon). The bad news? It’ll only be available in Europe, so Americans are still out of luck for now. The Super Nintendo Entertainment Edition New 3DS XL is out on October 13th, although the company hasn’t said if the coat of paint will make it cost more than a standard 3DS./news/nomad-s-rugged-leather-iphone-12-cases-now-come-with-magsafe.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nomad-s-rugged-leather-iphone-12-cases-now-come-with-magsafe.htmlNomad has updated its lineup of rugged leather iPhone cases for the iPhone 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max, and 12 mini with the much-anticipated addition of support for Apple’s MagSafe charging standard. But the Nomad cases are more solidly put together than Apple’s own offerings. As the “rugged” in the name suggests, the Nomad models feature a plastic shell and rubber frame that promises to protect the phone against drops from up to 10 feet./news/now-nvidia-is-including-spider-man-as-a-pack-in-with-new-gpus.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/now-nvidia-is-including-spider-man-as-a-pack-in-with-new-gpus.htmlNvidia is bundling its higher-end RTX 30-series graphics cards with a copy of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered. If you purchase a GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, 3090, 3080 Ti, 3080 GPU — or a qualifying desktop or laptop that comes with those cards — Nvidia will include a free digital copy of the $59.99 game. You have until October 12th to take advantage of the offer. So if you’re in the market for a new GPU right now, it wouldn’t be a bad time to pull the trigger on one./news/nvidia-and-amd-are-bringing-microsoft-s-copilot-plus-ai-features-to-gaming-laptops.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nvidia-and-amd-are-bringing-microsoft-s-copilot-plus-ai-features-to-gaming-laptops.htmlNvidia and AMD are gearing up to launch gaming laptops that include the AI Copilot Plus features that Microsoft just announced for Qualcomm-powered laptops. At Computex today, Nvidia briefly teased that “RTX AI PC” laptops are on the way from Asus and MSI that will eventually include Copilot Plus PC features. “Newly announced RTX AI PC laptops from ASUS and MSI feature up to GeForce RTX 4070 GPUs and power-efficient systems-on-a-chip with Windows 11 AI PC capabilities,” says Nvidia in a blog post./news/openai-has-a-new-safety-team-it-s-run-by-sam-altman.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/openai-has-a-new-safety-team-it-s-run-by-sam-altman.htmlOpenAI is forming a new safety team, and it’s led by CEO Sam Altman, along with board members Adam D’Angelo and Nicole Seligman. The committee will make recommendations on “critical safety and security decisions for OpenAI projects and operations” — a concern several key AI researchers shared when leaving the company this month. For its first task, the new team will “evaluate and further develop OpenAI’s processes and safeguards.” It will then present its findings to OpenAI’s board, which all three of the safety team’s leaders have a seat on./news/paypal-acquires-the-company-behind-the-honey-deal-finding-extension-for-4-billion.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/paypal-acquires-the-company-behind-the-honey-deal-finding-extension-for-4-billion.htmlWhen you’re shopping on one of the 30,000 online retailers Honey works with, the extension will find coupon codes for things you add to your cart and attempt to automatically apply them for you. In my experience, though, the codes Honey finds don’t always work — Best Buy’s online store didn’t take a Honey-found coupon for an order I created for a Nintendo Switch, for example — but it’s a useful service to at least help you check for coupon codes before you buy something./news/people-with-depression-feel-better-after-listening-to-sad-music-research-suggests.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/people-with-depression-feel-better-after-listening-to-sad-music-research-suggests.htmlPeople with depression listen to sad music because it makes them feel better, according to a small study that is one of the first to investigate why people turn to tearjerkers when they’re already down. Then, the researchers gave the participants new clips of happy and sad instrumental music and asked them to describe how the tracks made them feel. Again, the depressed participants preferred the sad music, but they also stated that the sad music made them feel happier./news/persona-5-is-getting-a-promising-looking-mobile-spinoff.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/persona-5-is-getting-a-promising-looking-mobile-spinoff.htmlMobile spinoffs based on beloved console games can sometimes be hit-or-miss. But based on an initial pair of trailers, I’m cautiously optimistic about the newly announced Persona 5: Phantom of the Night (aka The Phantom X). Following a tease in April 2021, “P5X” is now official, and is in development for Android, iOS, and Windows. Unfortunately, none of the press materials mention an international launch, so it sounds like it might be exclusive to China./news/pixel-4a-review-google-s-smartphone-camera-for-349.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pixel-4a-review-google-s-smartphone-camera-for-349.htmlAs you read this review of Google’s new budget Android phone, the Pixel 4A, know that as I wrote it, I wanted to put the following line after nearly every sentence: “I should remind you that the Pixel 4A costs $349.” That price is the most important thing to know about the Pixel 4A. It makes the Pixel 4A’s many good points — like its flagship-tier camera — that much more impressive./news/pok%C3%A9mon-go-for-ios-and-android-brings-pok%C3%A9mon-into-the-real-world.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pok%C3%A9mon-go-for-ios-and-android-brings-pok%C3%A9mon-into-the-real-world.htmlThe Pokémon Company has announced a new mobile game called Pokémon Go, produced in collaboration with Nintendo and Niantic, the former Google subsidiary behind the Ingress augmented reality game. Pokémon Go looks to follow in the footsteps of Ingress, letting players find virtual Pokémon and do battle in the real world, powered by GPS. Niantic broke away from Google after the Alphabet reorganization. Nintendo is developing a companion smartwatch device called Pokémon Go Plus, designed to help you take part in the game's world without having to stare at your phone all day./news/pok%C3%A9mon-ironmon-streams-are-the-best-thing-on-twitch-right-now.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pok%C3%A9mon-ironmon-streams-are-the-best-thing-on-twitch-right-now.htmlFor the past two weeks, every time I hop onto Twitch, I’ve found myself browsing through Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen streams so I can watch people play the classic games in perhaps the most difficult ways possible. If you’ve played through a mainline Pokémon title before, you’ve probably been able to get through the game without too much trouble. I’m pretty sure all of my friends growing up experienced some variation of just letting their starter carry them to becoming the Pokémon champion./news/razer-s-new-blade-15-base-model-is-just-1-499.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/razer-s-new-blade-15-base-model-is-just-1-499.htmlRazer’s Blade 15 is one of the best 15-inch gaming laptops. It’s far from a budget purchase, but Razer has released the most affordable model you can buy. As of today, there’s a new Blade 15 Base model up for preorder that is just $1,499. It’ll ship on December 25th. The model includes a Core i7-10750H, 15.6-inch 120Hz screen, GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of SSD storage, plus an open M./news/reddit-bans-deepfakes-ai-porn-communities.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/reddit-bans-deepfakes-ai-porn-communities.htmlReddit has banned the r/deepfakes subreddit that’s devoted to making AI-powered porn using celebrities’ faces, classifying it as a form of “involuntary pornography.” In a post today, Reddit announced an update to its rules on posting sexual imagery of a person without their consent. The new rule extends a ban on posting photos or video of people who are nude or engaged in sexual acts without the subject’s permission, saying that this includes “depictions that have been faked” — including the sophisticated face-swapped videos that have become especially popular on Reddit over the past month./news/remedy-confirms-control-2-is-in-the-works.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/remedy-confirms-control-2-is-in-the-works.htmlWith Control, we leaped into the unknown. We wanted to create something new. Something different and unexpected. A world like no other. Thank you, the audience, for making Control such a success for us. With Control 2, we’ll take another leap into the unknown. It’ll be an unexpected journey. It’ll take a while, but to put it mildly, this is the most exciting project I’ve ever worked on. It’s still early days, but it will be worth the wait./news/rev-bans-underage-transcribers-following-reports-of-disturbing-audio.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/rev-bans-underage-transcribers-following-reports-of-disturbing-audio.htmlPrior to today’s update, Rev’s website explicitly stated it had “no age requirement” for working on transcriptions. US employment laws largely don’t apply to the type of freelance labor used by Rev, “so there may be people under 16 working over 40 hours a week on Rev and that’s not illegal,” Veena Dubal, associate professor of law at the University of California, Hastings previously told The Verge. In an email to The Verge last week, a Rev spokesperson added that state laws around working age requirements should be followed./news/review-blair-witch-is-a-horror-game-that-really-feels-like-getting-lost-in-the-woods.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/review-blair-witch-is-a-horror-game-that-really-feels-like-getting-lost-in-the-woods.htmlThere are lots of video games based on the illusion of choice, full of spaces designed to invisibly nudge players toward a goal. Blair Witch, a game set in the same world as iconic horror film The Blair Witch Project, makes the illusion explicit — then promises you ways to exploit it. It’s a fitting, fascinating, yet often self-defeating idea. I want to play Blair Witch over and over. I also never want to see it again./news/rick-and-morty-s-dan-harmon-and-scott-marder-on-working-smarter.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/rick-and-morty-s-dan-harmon-and-scott-marder-on-working-smarter.htmlThough Rick and Morty’s resident supergenius misanthrope was introduced as the kind of edgy cynic who would openly mock people for going to therapy, the show’s new seventh season has seen Rick Sanchez come around on the idea of talking about his feelings in a big way. Rick’s still an asshole who copes with his most difficult feelings by drowning them in booze and / or zapping them away with super science./news/samsung-galaxy-book3-ultra-review-a-lean-mean-windows-machine.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-galaxy-book3-ultra-review-a-lean-mean-windows-machine.htmlSamsung’s Galaxy Book3 Ultra is a thin and light 16-inch Windows laptop with a GPU inside. That’s like basically all you need to know.  Featuring an Intel Core i7 and an Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU, the Galaxy Book that we received is targeting a mobile crowd with graphics-heavy workloads. The aforementioned chips aren’t likely to compete with the likes of the 16-inch MacBook Pro or any number of Windows gaming laptops on raw graphics power (and, when it comes to the MacBook, certainly not on battery life)./news/samsung-galaxy-z-flip-3-review-flipping-into-the-mainstream.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-galaxy-z-flip-3-review-flipping-into-the-mainstream.htmlThe story of folding phones thus far has been one of compromise. Choosing a folding phone over a standard slab design has generally meant you compromised on performance, durability, and most of all, price. They’ve been the domain of early adopters, the people willing to put up with those compromises. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 3 is the first folding phone to challenge all that. It has the same processor as the Galaxy S21 released earlier this year./news/snapchat-s-birthday-present-to-you-is-a-new-filter.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/snapchat-s-birthday-present-to-you-is-a-new-filter.htmlSnapchat just launched Birthday Party, a new feature in today's iOS and Android update that lets users celebrate the day of their birth with decorative snaps. If you turn on the Birthday Party feature, Snapchat will give you access to a one-day-only filter on your birthday that you can add to individual snaps or to that day's story. Presumably this feature could be used to not-so-subtly remind friends when they have made the ultimate blunder of not acknowledging your big day./news/social-blade-shaped-youtube-culture-and-creators-are-trying-to-save-it.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/social-blade-shaped-youtube-culture-and-creators-are-trying-to-save-it.htmlTo those outside of YouTube, Social Blade is just another analytics site that tracks subscriber growth or loss. But it’s not. Social Blade has become a crucial component to being a YouTube creator, providing creators with numbers to prove why they matter as a community. Now, Social Blade’s time might be up. YouTube’s product team is introducing a change to the platform in August that will hide live subscriber counts. The change will affect third-party sites that use YouTube’s API to render their data, including Social Blade./news/some-suggested-events-for-peter-thiel-s-all-drug-olympics.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/some-suggested-events-for-peter-thiel-s-all-drug-olympics.htmlIn a case of life imitating Saturday Night Live, Peter Thiel has invested in a seed round of the Enhanced Games, which describes itself as “the modern reinvention of the Olympic Games that does not have drug testing.” It does seem to go a little beyond just not testing, though, at least judging by the press release. The investors “see the vision of a new model of sports, that openly celebrates scientific innovation and honestly represents the use of performance enhancements in sports today,” said Aron D’Souza, president of the Enhanced Games, in the statement./news/sony-announces-playstation-4-pro-with-4k-hdr-gaming-for-399.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-announces-playstation-4-pro-with-4k-hdr-gaming-for-399.htmlSony has officially unveiled the next big iteration of the PlayStation 4. The console — codenamed Neo, which the company discussed in brief just ahead of E3 in June — upgrades the three-year-old PS4 hardware with a faster processor, better graphics, and support for 4K resolution. It launches November 10th, and it will cost $399. It’s intended to be sold alongside the base PS4 instead of replacing it, and new games will still be playable on the older hardware./news/sony-s-big-ps4-software-update-is-now-available.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-s-big-ps4-software-update-is-now-available.htmlAsk anyone that's purchased a digital copy of a full PlayStation 4 or Xbox One game and they'll tell you it's an arduous experience — even with the "play while you wait" features that both consoles offer. Thankfully Sony is just days away from making things more convenient. The PS4's next big firmware update arrives on April 30th, the company announced today. Once it's installed, you'll be able to download games pre-ordered from Sony's store early so they'll immediately be ready to play on release day./news/sony-s-portable-laser-projector-is-everything-i-loved-about-the-old-sony.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-s-portable-laser-projector-is-everything-i-loved-about-the-old-sony.htmlJoel Johnson used to be a gadget blogger for places like Gizmodo, Wired, and Boing Boing, but now is trying to buy a farm. Every so often, a glimmer of the old Sony shines through. The Sony that made delightful metal hexahedrons that did amazing things with at least one glaring mistake that made the whole endeavor even more glorious. I have found another one, and it's called the MP-CL1./news/spec-sheet-oneplus-one-smartphone-shows-what-hardware-startups-are-capable-of.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/spec-sheet-oneplus-one-smartphone-shows-what-hardware-startups-are-capable-of.htmlA lot of products come out each week — we don't highlight all of them, but all of them make it into The Verge Database. In Spec Sheet, a weekly series, we survey the latest product entries to keep track of the state of the art. Do you have to be an established manufacturer to make a great smartphone? A number of small brands are starting to make big bets that you don't, and they've been turning out some interesting new devices to prove it, often with unlocked prices that well undercut the competition too./news/super-mario-party-is-free-when-buying-a-pair-of-nintendo-switch-joy-con.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/super-mario-party-is-free-when-buying-a-pair-of-nintendo-switch-joy-con.htmlIf you have a sudden or anticipated need for Joy-Con replacements or additional controllers to supplement the pair that came with your Nintendo Switch, the ongoing Walmart Deals event is where you want to be. Until July 11th, the retailer is selling the red and blue Joy-Con bundled with a copy of Super Mario Party for $69 ($31 off). The Joy-Con controllers retail for about that much on their own, and the game is usually around $40 to $50 when it’s on sale, so the game is effectively free./news/tennis-greats-andy-samberg-and-kit-harington-will-face-off-in-hbo-s-7-days-in-hell.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tennis-greats-andy-samberg-and-kit-harington-will-face-off-in-hbo-s-7-days-in-hell.htmlMcEnroe versus Borg. Nadal versus Federer. These are some of the greatest tennis matches of all time. But what if Andy Samberg were to take on Jon Snow, the Bastard of Winterfell, for seven days straight? HBO is exploring that ridiculous possibility in its new mockumentary 7 Days in Hell. Samberg and Harington play Aaron Williams and Charles Poole, respectively, two tennis legends locked in what might be the greatest fake tennis match the world has never actually seen./news/tesla-set-to-spend-770-million-expanding-texas-gigafactory.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tesla-set-to-spend-770-million-expanding-texas-gigafactory.htmlElectric vehicle manufacturer Tesla has notified the state of Texas of its plans to spend upward of $770 million expanding its already immense Austin-based factory. Some of these projects are due to start construction within a matter of weeks. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filings showing expansion costs at the Austin location. Image: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation The aptly named “Gigafactory Texas” opened in April 2022 and has over 10 million square feet of floor space (around 100 football fields), making it the second-largest building by volume in the world./news/the-349-glasses-that-promise-multimodal-ai-superpowers.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-349-glasses-that-promise-multimodal-ai-superpowers.htmlThe $349 glasses that promise multimodal “AI superpowers.” Last year, Brilliant Labs brought AI to your existing eyewear with its $299 Monocle clip-on, and now it’s announced the Frame AI glasses, an open-source, hackable micro Python-based platform with a micro OLED display, front-facing camera, and more. There’s a Noa app to connect it with AI services from OpenAI and Perplexity (like Rabbit’s R1 AI device). Preorders are open now in black, gray, or clear, with the first glasses due to ship on April 15th./news/the-2017-hyundai-elantra-sport-when-physical-buttons-make-more-sense-than-a-touchscreen.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-2017-hyundai-elantra-sport-when-physical-buttons-make-more-sense-than-a-touchscreen.htmlCars have become expensive, rolling gadgets that are full of screens, speakers, and sensors — but are they actually good gadgets? In our new series, ScreenDrive, we'll review cars just like any other device, starting with the basics of what they’re like to use. I pulled up to my friend Colin’s apartment in Queens, New York two weeks ago in a silver 2017 Hyundai Elantra Sport. “Damn girl,” I think were his words./news/the-40-best-cyber-monday-tech-deals-you-can-still-buy.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-40-best-cyber-monday-tech-deals-you-can-still-buy.htmlCyber Monday may have ended five days ago, but there’s still a ton of great deals you can get at major online retailers. We’ve combed through our favorites and rounded up the 40 best tech deals you can still buy, including laptops, speakers, and gaming. Looking for more gaming deals? Check out Polygon’s gaming deals roundup here. Good Deals is a weekly roundup of the best deals on the internet, curated by Vox Media's commerce editor, Chloe Reznikov, in collaboration with The Verge's editorial team./news/the-ai-video-game-character-that-influenced-an-industry.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-ai-video-game-character-that-influenced-an-industry.htmlThe current wave of virtual assistants owes a lot to a sidekick from one of the most popular video games of all time. The release of Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001 introduced Master Chief’s AI partner Cortana, popularizing a lot of the common characteristics that are now shared by real-world AI helpers. Cortana was a friendly, helpful female voice in your ear, one who blurred the line between companion and digital tool./news/the-app-store-was-down-along-with-apple-tv-apple-podcasts-and-apple-music.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-app-store-was-down-along-with-apple-tv-apple-podcasts-and-apple-music.htmlApple’s online services were hit with an outage that cut many of us off from the App Store, Apple TV, and Apple Music on Wednesday night. The system status page for Apple’s online service noted an outage beginning at 6:31PM ET affecting those services, as well as Arcade, Audiobooks, Books, Podcasts, Fitness Plus, and its new Apple Sports app. Now, the status page lists them all as “outage resolved” as of 7:35PM ET, and they seem to be working again./news/the-asus-zenbo-is-a-ridiculous-home-robot-for-599.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-asus-zenbo-is-a-ridiculous-home-robot-for-599.htmlMeet Zenbo, a new robot friend for seniors, kids, and anybody else who wants to invite a less cute, real-world version of BB-8 into their own home. Asus chairman Jonney Shih showed off Zenbo on stage at Computex today, describing the robot as a smart home manager, security guard, hands-free kitchen assistant, and family photographer. Zenbo looks like an iMac G4 riding a Sony Rolly, but appears to work like Amazon's Echo, providing recipe recommendations and similar services in response to voice queries./news/the-ava-remote-is-a-sign-of-what-the-perfect-smart-home-controller-could-be.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-ava-remote-is-a-sign-of-what-the-perfect-smart-home-controller-could-be.htmlLast week, I visited the world of the professionally installed smart home. This is the promised land. Everything just works, your voice assistant doesn’t try to sell you toilet paper, and you can control your whole home with just one app. Of course, you pay a hefty price and have to give up lots of control for the privilege. The Ava smart remote could be the love child of an iPhone and a Logitech Harmony remote/news/the-best-cyber-monday-deals-on-smartwatches-and-fitness-trackers.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-best-cyber-monday-deals-on-smartwatches-and-fitness-trackers.htmlThinking of setting some new health goals or records in the coming year? Smartwatches and fitness trackers can be a helpful tool, but sifting through the dozens of models, metrics, and styles can be a headache. Even so, Cyber Monday is one of the best times to snag wearable deals for the year ahead. We’ve rounded up the best deals spanning smartwatches, multisport watches, and fitness trackers alike. Update November 27th, 7:28PM ET: Vetted existing deals and adjusted pricing as necessary./news/the-best-labor-day-2021-sales-and-tech-deals-amazon-walmart-and-more.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-best-labor-day-2021-sales-and-tech-deals-amazon-walmart-and-more.htmlLabor Day is drawing to a close, however, there is still a slew of discounts available on some major hardware and accessories across the tech spectrum. Whether you’re picking up some last-minute gear for school or preparing to hunker down for the fall TV season with your favorite streaming device, this weekend might be the last real opportunity for you to save some serious money on TVs, headphones, and other gadgets until Black Friday and Cyber Monday roll around in November./news/the-biggest-lingering-questions-about-spacex-s-mars-colonization-plans.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-biggest-lingering-questions-about-spacex-s-mars-colonization-plans.htmlOn Tuesday, thousands of people stampeded into a lecture hall in Guadalajara, Mexico, to hear SpaceX CEO Elon Musk talk about how he wants to colonize Mars. The fervor of the audience gave the room an electric charge as Musk’s speech got underway; people cheered as he avowed to create a self-sustaining Mars colony of 1 million people over the next 40 to 100 years. Musk dazzled the crowd with concepts for two new types of vehicles: a massive reusable rocket booster and a giant transporter to carry people and cargo to Mars./news/the-dice-awards-show-is-the-celebration-developers-and-fans-deserve.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-dice-awards-show-is-the-celebration-developers-and-fans-deserve.htmlThe Baldur’s Gate 3 developers won Game of the Year, again, during the 27th annual DICE Awards. But in stark contrast to their 2023 Game Awards win, this time they actually got to speak. “We don’t have shareholders, but we also don’t think about them,” said Larian Studios head of production David Walgrave. “Building a community, building a player base, building games that are actually fun is going to make you the most money./news/the-dji-pocket-3-is-almost-everything-i-wanted-my-iphone-camera-to-be.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-dji-pocket-3-is-almost-everything-i-wanted-my-iphone-camera-to-be.htmlI can’t think of anything permeating mainstream camera culture as aggressively as the DJI Osmo Pocket 3. The Fujifilm X100VI has stolen some of its thunder among film simulation enthusiasts, but DJI’s still having somewhat of a cultural moment on YouTube, Instagram, and the troubled TikTok by spurring all sorts of creator glee. Of course, the camera buffs are all over it, but serious and casual creators from other genres have paused their usual programming to rave about how it transcends amateur vlogging pursuits, whether you’re filming a wedding or self-shooting a scene for a Sundance-hopeful short film./news/the-flat-boring-dystopia-darkest-minds-misses-an-obvious-chance-at-cultural-relevance.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-flat-boring-dystopia-darkest-minds-misses-an-obvious-chance-at-cultural-relevance.htmlThe Darkest Minds is based on a 2012 young adult novel by Alexandra Bracken, but its themes and plot are up to the minute. A story about children who are taken from their parents and warehoused, government camps, and a callous, mendacious authoritarian president couldn’t be much more relevant in the Trump era. The book was pretty standard fare, but the film had an unexpected chance to capitalize on, and speak to, present policies that seem as bleak and cruel as any nightmare apocalypse./news/the-hyperx-cloud-iii-wireless-makes-a-great-headset-even-better.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-hyperx-cloud-iii-wireless-makes-a-great-headset-even-better.htmlMy colleague Cameron Faulkner called the HyperX Cloud II Wireless “among the most comfortable headsets I’ve worn.” Today, HP is announcing its successor — the Cloud III Wireless — and I’m happy to say it’s better in most every way. When I heard the new Cloud III Wireless would offer quadruple the battery life at 120 hours versus 30 hours, I figured there had to be a catch. It’s rare that a product just./news/the-kitchen-review-daniel-kaluuya-s-directorial-debut-is-a-stunner.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-kitchen-review-daniel-kaluuya-s-directorial-debut-is-a-stunner.htmlThere are no aliens or sentient killing machines menacing the ordinary people going about their lives in Netflix’s new dystopian action drama The Kitchen from co-directors Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares. But the film’s arresting story about the monsters of the future and how the most disadvantaged members of society have to stand up to them feels all too real and like a reminder of the ways systemic poverty creates its own dystopia./news/the-leica-leitz-phone-2-is-a-red-dot-rebrand-of-a-sharp-aquos-phone.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-leica-leitz-phone-2-is-a-red-dot-rebrand-of-a-sharp-aquos-phone.htmlOr you can buy basically the same phone — minus the red dot logo — for 189,360 yen, which is about $200 less. That would be the Aquos R7 made by Sharp — the licensee responsible for manufacturing the Leitz Phone 2. The Phone 2 (like the R7) includes a 6.6-inch OLED, a 5,000mAh battery, and a single rear camera with a massive Type 1 47-megapixel sensor. That’s an impressively large sensor, which Leica proclaims to be the “largest sensor ever in a smartphone,” but it shares that distinction with the Xiaomi 12S Ultra (and last year’s Phone 1, for that matter)./news/the-lg-wing-can-now-use-verizon-ultra-wideband-c-band-5g.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-lg-wing-can-now-use-verizon-ultra-wideband-c-band-5g.htmlVerizon announced this week that the LG Wing will be getting an update that will allow it to use Verizon’s newest 5G spectrum — over a year after LG left the smartphone business altogether. The LG Wing has been certified to use mid-band spectrum called C-band, an important piece of Verizon’s 5G network that delivers better than LTE speeds and wide-ranging signal. Verizon spokesperson George Koroneos says that the update started arriving on devices yesterday and will continue to be pushed out through the rest of the week./news/the-next-generation-of-thunderbolt-seems-nice-but-less-necessary-than-ever.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-next-generation-of-thunderbolt-seems-nice-but-less-necessary-than-ever.htmlIntel is showing off a preview of the next generation of Thunderbolt, which it says can “deliver up to three times the capability of Thunderbolt 4.” According to the company, its upcoming standard will be capable of: If these specs sound familiar, it’s because they’re very similar to the ones the USB Promoter Group announced last month with the reveal of USB 4 version 2.0. The official specification for that standard, released on Tuesday, shows that it’s also capable of the 120 / 40Gbps communication that Intel says makes next-gen Thunderbolt great for “video-intensive usages./news/the-original-fire-emblem-is-great-but-nintendo-s-retro-strategy-is-confusing.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-original-fire-emblem-is-great-but-nintendo-s-retro-strategy-is-confusing.htmlLike many longtime Fire Emblem fans, I’ve never actually played the first game in the series. 1990’s Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light kicked off what has slowly turned into one of Nintendo’s most important franchises, a series that blends tense tactical battles with character-driven storytelling. It’s not my fault, though: the original game never actually launched outside of Japan. Three decades later, that’s finally changing with the release of Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light on the Nintendo Switch./news/the-simplisafe-black-friday-sale-is-here.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-simplisafe-black-friday-sale-is-here.htmlThe home security experts at Simplisafe are offering big discounts on their home security systems during a Black Friday sale that runs until December 1st. This sale is marking down any new security system by up to 60 percent and will throw in a free indoor camera for your trouble. (If you’re still shopping around, make sure to pay a visit to our Black Friday hub with ongoing coverage of the best early Black Friday deals./news/the-verge-s-17-favorite-podcasts-of-2020.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-verge-s-17-favorite-podcasts-of-2020.htmlMany of us were not commuting as usual during 2020, so our podcast listening time may have been somewhat lessened. However, podcasts are still popular. They’re great to listen to while driving, cleaning your home, exercising, or just hanging out. There are podcasts to suit every taste, including topics like politics, history, music, and comedy. In fact, there are so many out there that it may be difficult to choose where to start./news/the-weird-world-of-flappy-bird-clones.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-weird-world-of-flappy-bird-clones.htmlFlappy Bird is gone. The mobile gaming sensation was pulled from both the iTunes App Store and Google Play by creator Dong Nguyen, but in its place an army of clones has arrived. A quick search for "flappy bird" in the App Store, for example, brings up names like Splashy Fish, Fly Birdie, City Bird, and Flying Flappy Unicorn Bird. Most of these games are simply reskinned versions looking to capitalize on the surprising popularity of Flappy Bird, letting you play the same exact game, only with characters like doge or a piece of poo in place of the bird./news/the-witcher-continues-on-netflix-with-the-sirens-of-the-deep-animated-movie.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-witcher-continues-on-netflix-with-the-sirens-of-the-deep-animated-movie.htmlSeason 4 of The Witcher may be far off on the horizon, but there’s still plenty more of Geralt of Rivia in store on Netflix. At its Geeked Week event today, the streamer announced The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, an animated movie that takes place right in the middle of season 1 of the live-action show and is based on the short story A Little Sacrifice. Doug Cockle, the voice actor from The Witcher 3 video game, will be reprising the role of Geralt./news/there-s-already-a-twitter-debubbler-chrome-extension-for-people-who-hate-circles-and-change.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/there-s-already-a-twitter-debubbler-chrome-extension-for-people-who-hate-circles-and-change.htmlWhenever a product is updated, there inevitably are people who grumble about change and wish things had stayed the same. Yesterday, Twitter rolled out a hefty redesign that includes a new side tab, generous amounts of white space, and most importantly to the internet writ large, rounded corners everywhere. Many weren’t ready for the new design — change is scary. Profile photos, once square, are now circles? The compose tweet box now has generous curves?/news/third-captain-america-film-gets-a-name-civil-war.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/third-captain-america-film-gets-a-name-civil-war.htmlMarvel is today unveiling the subtitle for its third Captain America movie: Civil War. The subtitle speaks directly to the Civil War plot line that Marvel is introducing in this movie, which is supposed to kick off the conflict that'll propel its next round of superhero films. Civil War film will pit Captain America against Iron Man, though Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige stated at an event this afternoon that the movie's plot will differ from the original comic series./news/threads-profiles-can-t-be-deleted-without-removing-your-entire-instagram-account.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/threads-profiles-can-t-be-deleted-without-removing-your-entire-instagram-account.htmlThreads, Meta’s just-launched Twitter competitor, uses Instagram’s account system. That has the benefit of letting you bring over your Instagram username when you join the app. But it also ties the apps together in such a way that means you can’t delete your Threads account without deleting your Instagram one, which people may not want to do if they’ve been posting on Instagram proper for years. Based on Mosseri’s message, it sounds like the company is considering a way for you to do that in the future./news/top-tech-news-for-monday-january-23-2023-page-2.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/top-tech-news-for-monday-january-23-2023-page-2.htmlMicrosoft is removing Windows 10 Home and Pro downloads from sale later this month. The downloads include license keys for Windows 10 (necessary to activate and use the download), and are being removed more than two years before Microsoft stops officially supporting Windows 10 on October 14th, 2025. Microsoft updated its Windows 10 product pages recently to note the January 31st cutoff date for sales, but it’s not clear how the company will treat similar downloads and license keys available from retailers like Amazon./news/transplanted-testicles-will-always-make-the-donor-s-sperm.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/transplanted-testicles-will-always-make-the-donor-s-sperm.htmlA veteran of the US Armed Forces has a new penis and scrotum after the most extensive penis transplant yet, Johns Hopkins Hospital announced this week. Not included in the transplant? Testicles — because the testicles would continue to make the donor’s sperm in the transplant recipient’s body. The patient, who asked Johns Hopkins not to reveal his name, suffered a devastating injury to his penis, testicles, part of his lower abdomen, and his legs in Afghanistan when an improvised explosive device blew up, The New York Times reports./news/twitch-and-caffeine-are-hosting-their-own-super-bowls-before-the-big-game.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/twitch-and-caffeine-are-hosting-their-own-super-bowls-before-the-big-game.htmlIn four days, tens of thousands of people will descend on Miami to watch Super Bowl 2020, where San Francisco will battle Kansas City for dominance and, more importantly, bragging rights. For the live-streaming platforms Caffeine and Twitch, however, the big game is happening before Sunday’s kickoff — both are hosting their own celebrations, which pair athletes, celebrities, and gamers in head-to-head faceoffs. Both platforms are in Miami for the same thing: to get more people to care about live-streaming./news/unicef-wants-you-to-mine-cryptocurrency-for-charity.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/unicef-wants-you-to-mine-cryptocurrency-for-charity.htmlUNICEF has launched a page that lets you donate to its Australian branch without giving any money at all. All you need to do is give away part of your computing power to let it mine cryptocurrency. Over 2,600 people have already donated through what UNICEF calls The Hopepage. Users are able to set what percentage of processing power they’re willing to give the website out of a max of 80 percent./news/v-moda-boompro-x-review-turn-your-favorite-headphones-into-the-perfect-gaming-or-zoom-headset.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/v-moda-boompro-x-review-turn-your-favorite-headphones-into-the-perfect-gaming-or-zoom-headset.htmlThere’s something to be said for cheap, simple gadgets. The BoomPro is a smart idea that’s executed almost perfectly. With a single cable, you get a microphone (with a flexible arm for easy repositioning), volume controls, and a mute switch. It can substitute for the 3.5mm audio cable that you’d normally plug into your favorite wireless headphones, immediately transforming them into a much better communication tool.  For years now, I’ve been using V-Moda’s BoomPro microphone to chat with people while gaming./news/vw-recalls-nearly-21-000-id-4s-over-faulty-battery-software.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/vw-recalls-nearly-21-000-id-4s-over-faulty-battery-software.htmlVolkswagen issued a recall notice for nearly 21,000 of its ID.4 electric SUVs, citing faulty battery software that could lead to a “loss of propulsion” without warning. The recall affects model year 2021 vehicles that were produced between May 26th, 2020, and January 20th, 2022. The automaker said it first received reports from Europe of a potential “software issue” with its high-voltage battery management system back in July 2021. Some owners in the US alleged that the battery software issue could lead to the vehicle stalling out./news/walmart-now-makes-and-sells-meal-kits-in-stores.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/walmart-now-makes-and-sells-meal-kits-in-stores.htmlAfter beginning to offer meal kits from third party brands last fall, Walmart announced today that it’s now producing its own brand of pre-portioned kits priced between $8 to $15 designed to serve two people. The company says the recipes were developed at Walmart’s Culinary and Innovation Center which opened in June 2016, and all kits are made and packaged in individual stores daily. Unlike Walmart’s first meal kit offerings, its own line of kits will be available for purchase at 250 stores nationwide, with plans to roll out to more than 2,000 stores this year./news/watch-this-gangnam-style-and-call-me-maybe-meet-at-last-in-youtube-s-rewind-2012-mash-up.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/watch-this-gangnam-style-and-call-me-maybe-meet-at-last-in-youtube-s-rewind-2012-mash-up.htmlGoogle has announced the most popular YouTube videos of 2012, and it's no surprise to see K-pop phenom Psy top the list with all-time number 1 "Gangnam Style." What is a surprise, however, is to see Psy take the starring role in a video called "Rewind YouTube Style" that mashes up many of the site's other biggest hits with his own. The Obama vs Romney rap battle, Walk Off The Earth's five-person-to-one-guitar "/news/whatsapp-is-developing-a-personalized-ai-avatar-generator.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/whatsapp-is-developing-a-personalized-ai-avatar-generator.htmlWhatsapp appears to be working on a new generative AI feature that should allow users to make personalized avatars of themselves for use in any imagined setting. The in-development feature, spotted in the new WhatsApp Beta for Android 2.24.14.7 by WABetaInfo, will seemingly use a combination of user-supplied images, text prompts, and Meta’s AI Llama model to generate the images. A screenshot shared by WABetaInfo says that users can imagine themselves “in any setting from the forest to outer space./news/who-decided-that-louis-tomlinson-s-baby-is-fake-why-and-is-he.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/who-decided-that-louis-tomlinson-s-baby-is-fake-why-and-is-he.htmlLouis Tomlinson used to be the least-famous member of One Direction. Since the band’s inception in 2010, Zayn Malik was the beautiful one, with the best voice; Niall Horan was the funny one with the charming accent and the bottle-blonde hair; Liam Payne was "Daddy Direction," a rule-follower and endearing killjoy who was handsome like a firefighter; and Harry Styles, was, of course, a juggernaut. Whenever anyone asked me who "/news/wickr-s-free-encrypted-messaging-app-is-shutting-down-next-year.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/wickr-s-free-encrypted-messaging-app-is-shutting-down-next-year.htmlWickr Me, the free encrypted messaging app owned by Amazon Web Services, is shutting down on December 31st, 2023. In a post on its website, Wickr says the app will stop accepting new user registrations on December 31st, 2022 before going away completely next year. AWS acquired Wickr last year and started packaging the paid version of the secure messaging app within its offerings for businesses. This version of the app, Wickr AWS, isn’t going away, and neither is Wickr Enterprise./news/wwdc-2024-how-to-watch-apple-s-event-live.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/wwdc-2024-how-to-watch-apple-s-event-live.htmlApple has a plan for AI, and we’re finally going to hear more than whispers about it on June 10th during this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference. If you’re not among the lucky few going to Cupertino, California, to see WWDC 2024 live, you can stream the keynote at 1PM ET on YouTube, in the Apple TV app, or on Apple’s events page. Plenty of these features will work on-device, but some will go to the cloud, for which Apple will reportedly use M2 Ultra-powered servers — which will almost certainly be part of the company’s privacy pitch./news/x-men-97-review-marvel-s-omega-level-nostalgia-play.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/x-men-97-review-marvel-s-omega-level-nostalgia-play.htmlOutside of a few recent cameos, the X-Men have been conspicuously absent from Marvel Studios’ projects thanks to a yearslong corporate beef with Fox, which used to own the characters’ rights. It has been fascinating but weird to watch Marvel build an entire cinematic multiverse with nary a mutant in sight considering how the popularity of X-Men: The Animated Series is part of what led to the X-Men films and the modern comic book movie boom./news/xbox-black-friday-2012-deals-and-bundles.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/xbox-black-friday-2012-deals-and-bundles.htmlMicrosoft's Xbox console holiday bundles are out, and the prices are not looking too bad. The four bundles are listed below, and it looks like the prices are valid from now through the holiday season, or likely whenever they run out. We'll be updating this post all week with more retailer-specific sales as we get them so keep checking back. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtnampfZn5wfZZoam9uYGeBc3vXm6axZZKhrqS3jJ%2BpopyRrnpzfJBrZJ2dkaHAbq3NnWSbrZ6Zuaa%2F/news/xbox-live-says-service-has-been-restored-after-more-than-two-hours-offline.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/xbox-live-says-service-has-been-restored-after-more-than-two-hours-offline.htmlMicrosoft’s Xbox Live service was experiencing issues today, meaning a lot of homebound people who are practicing social distancing weren’t able to log into Xbox consoles. The issues appear to have started around 5PM ET today, with many Xbox users reporting that they were unable to sign in to Xbox One consoles. The Xbox Support Twitter account tweeted at about 7:30PM ET that “Players should once again be able to sign in and access Xbox Live services normally./news/xbox-one-x-is-microsoft-s-next-game-console-arriving-on-november-7th-for-499.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/xbox-one-x-is-microsoft-s-next-game-console-arriving-on-november-7th-for-499.htmlAfter months of speculation, Microsoft is unveiling its “Project Scorpio” games console today, and it's officially named Xbox One X. Microsoft's Xbox One X naming comes just days after the company trademarked a mysterious S logo, and started dropping Scorpio hints in its E3 teaser videos. Microsoft is planning to launch the Xbox One X on November 7th worldwide, priced at $499. All existing Xbox One accessories will work on the new Xbox One X — which we got to see first-hand at E3 today — alongside all existing Xbox 360 backwards compatible titles and Xbox One games./news/x-s-new-terms-of-service-insist-that-tweets-are-now-posts.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/x-s-new-terms-of-service-insist-that-tweets-are-now-posts.htmlX really wants you to forget about Twitter — and that includes in its terms of service. Users are starting to see pop-ups about new terms that go into effect on September 29th, and one adjustment is two instances of “retweet” (the only use of “tweet” in the current terms) to “repost,” essentially putting the final stamp in the death of the word tweet. There are a bunch of other branding changes in the new terms, including a nearly wholesale removal of the word “Twitter” in favor of X./news/you-can-buy-the-2021-kindle-paperwhite-in-three-new-colors.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/you-can-buy-the-2021-kindle-paperwhite-in-three-new-colors.htmlThe latest Kindle Paperwhite has finally caught up with the new Kindle, which sounds weird, so let me explain: Amazon is making the 16GB Kindle Paperwhite and 32GB Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition available in new soft “denim” blue and “Agave Green” shades in addition to the standard black colorway. That means now you can buy both the 2021 Kindle Paperwhite and the new base Kindle — which Amazon released in October — in multiple colors./news/you-can-now-book-a-lyft-ride-up-to-24-hours-in-advance.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/you-can-now-book-a-lyft-ride-up-to-24-hours-in-advance.htmlUber and Lyft have resisted calls to allow customers to book their rides in advance, arguing it would defeat the purpose of being an on-demand ride-sharing platform. But starting today, Lyft is reversing course, announcing that it is testing a new feature in San Francisco to allow riders to schedule a ride 24 hours in advance. Booking a car ahead of time has previously been the exclusive realm of for-hire vehicle services like black cars and limo companies./news/you-can-now-broadcast-live-video-from-the-twitter-app.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/you-can-now-broadcast-live-video-from-the-twitter-app.htmlTwitter released an update today that will let you broadcast live video from within its app for iOS and Android. The feature is “powered by” Periscope, Twitter’s live video app, but can be used regardless of whether you have installed Periscope or created an account. The move represents an attempt to blunt Facebook’s chief advantage over Twitter in live video: everyone who has Facebook on their phone can go live without downloading a separate app./news/you-can-now-listen-to-sam-smith-s-bond-theme-song-writing-s-on-the-wall.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/you-can-now-listen-to-sam-smith-s-bond-theme-song-writing-s-on-the-wall.htmlSometimes, James Bond films don't have theme songs so much as gently crooned CVs, letting you know what Bond's good at (shooting people!) and how he's feeling (conflicted!). Sam Smith's contribution to the oeuvre with "Writing's on the Wall," the theme song for the upcoming Spectre, falls right into this category, with lines like: "I've spent a lifetime running, and I always get away," and "I'm prepared for this, I never shoot to miss!/news/you-can-now-upgrade-to-windows-10.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/you-can-now-upgrade-to-windows-10.htmlWindows 10 is here. After nine months of public beta testing, the final version is rolling out to machines across the world. You can now upgrade to Windows 10 free of charge if you have Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 on your existing PC. While not every single machine will get the upgrade instantly, Microsoft is rolling out the install to millions of devices. All you have to do is register for the upgrade from the task bar, and Microsoft will alert you once it's ready to be installed./news/you-could-soon-hire-uber-drivers-to-complete-household-tasks.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/you-could-soon-hire-uber-drivers-to-complete-household-tasks.htmlUber is experimenting with a new service that allows users to hire drivers from its app to complete everyday household chores and projects, in a bid to expand beyond its existing ridesharing and courier business. The service, called Uber Tasks, will launch as a “small pilot” in the coming weeks in Fort Myers, Florida and Edmonton, Alberta. The news, first reported by Bloomberg, confirms an earlier report from the publication in September that found evidence for a new “Chore” option within the Uber app’s code./news/your-favorite-neopets-flash-games-are-back.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/your-favorite-neopets-flash-games-are-back.htmlThe Neopets Team / Neopets.com Now, using the Ruffle emulator, all your favorites — Meepit Juice Break, Hasee Bounce, Meerka Chase II, Faerie Caves II, Faerie Bubbles — are back, and by extension, we, too, are so back. (FYI: You will need an account to play the classic games.) Neopets games were my jams. I spent so much time before, during, and after school playing games like Meerca Chase II and Hasee Bounce./news/youtube-is-disabling-comments-on-almost-all-videos-featuring-children.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/youtube-is-disabling-comments-on-almost-all-videos-featuring-children.htmlYouTube will temporarily remove comments from videos that feature minors in the coming months. Only a select few channels with children will be allowed to include a comment sections, but even that comes with a caveat: they’ll be required to monitor their comments for safety. “These channels will be required to actively moderate their comments, beyond just using our moderation tools, and demonstrate a low risk of predatory behavior,” YouTube wrote in a blog post./news/youtube-shows-have-become-a-secret-weapon-for-rising-politicians.htmlWed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/youtube-shows-have-become-a-secret-weapon-for-rising-politicians.htmlOn August 6th, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) showed up somewhere you might not expect: The Joe Rogan Experience. Rogan, a stand-up comic and podcaster, brings guests like Alex Jones and Elon Musk on his show to talk about everything from simulation theory to DMT. Rogan kicked off the show by asking Sanders whether he hates the debate format. “What they are is a reality TV show in which you have to come up with a soundbite, and it’s demeaning,” Sanders responded./news/i-am-legend-and-twilight-zone-writer-richard-matheson-dies-at-87.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/i-am-legend-and-twilight-zone-writer-richard-matheson-dies-at-87.htmlRichard Matheson, the versatile Golden Age science fiction and horror writer who created some of our most definitive visions of the unknown, has died at age 87. His daughter Ali Marie Matheson posted the news on Facebook earlier today and The Hollywood Reporter later confirmed it. The cause of death was not disclosed. "My beloved father passed away yesterday at home surrounded by the people and things he loved," she wrote./news/8-things-to-know-before-you-play-fire-emblem-heroes.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/8-things-to-know-before-you-play-fire-emblem-heroes.htmlNintendo is following up its premium mobile debut, Super Mario Run, with a new take on the Fire Emblem series. But before you try out Fire Emblem Heroes, here’s a quick crash course on one of Nintendo’s best (but lesser known) franchises. Fire Emblem Heroes is a spinoff of the series specifically made for smartphones. The game is only available on mobile platforms — Android and iOS — and launches February 2nd./news/a-thorough-review-of-chris-dixon-s-new-blockchain-book.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-thorough-review-of-chris-dixon-s-new-blockchain-book.htmlA thorough review of Chris Dixon’s new blockchain book. “The book is peppered with glowing references to companies a16z has backed, but is completely devoid of any disclosures.” There’s gotta be a more efficient way to hype your companies than a book, right? Anyway this does seem like a problem for a 15-year-old technology: “Throughout the entire book, Dixon fails to identify a single blockchain project that has successfully provided a non-speculative service at any kind of scale./news/acer-aspire-r7-review-the-verge.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/acer-aspire-r7-review-the-verge.htmlSoftware and performance Flashy, but only skin deep Inside the wild, crazy, weird body of the Aspire R7 runs a fairly vanilla version of Windows 8. Acer preloads about a dozen apps, including the popup-inducing Norton Antivirus, plus third party apps like Netflix, Ebay, and the unfortunately-named Didlr. All can be removed easily enough, and as usual they're crowded into a single section of the Start screen called "Acer apps."/news/after-trip-to-space-cherry-trees-mysteriously-blossom-years-ahead-of-schedule.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/after-trip-to-space-cherry-trees-mysteriously-blossom-years-ahead-of-schedule.htmlIt's that time of year when cherry blossoms draw crowds across the world, but a few cherry trees this year have sprouted a mystery. Four cherry tree saplings across Japan blossomed this spring, as much as six years ahead of schedule. The trees all come from a selection of seeds that took a trip to the International Space Station in 2008 as part of an experiment. Over 250 seeds made the trip, and while many are being studied in labs, 14 were planted around Japan after spending eight months in space./news/alarm-com-launches-a-new-smart-arming-feature.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/alarm-com-launches-a-new-smart-arming-feature.htmlMillions of smart home security systems are getting a bit smarter this week. A new feature called Smart Arming brings a little flexibility to Alarm.com systems’ arm and disarm settings, making you less likely to trip the alarm by mistake and more likely to actually use it.  Smart Arming is available now on systems powered by Alarm.com, a company that provides both hardware and software to hundreds of local and national home security companies./news/amazfit-band-7-review-where-did-all-the-budget-trackers-go.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazfit-band-7-review-where-did-all-the-budget-trackers-go.htmlThe Amazfit Band 7 is $50. I could end my review there — my take on Ernest Hemingway’s six-word story, “Baby Shoes.” But I’m not Hemingway. All I’m saying is everything that’s good, bad, and in-between about the Band 7 can be traced back to its absurdly cheap price. Usually, when I buy something this cheap, I’m expecting a lot of tradeoffs. Something that makes me go, “A-ha! That’s why it’s $50./news/amazon-confirms-instant-video-blocked-on-jailbroken-ipads.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-confirms-instant-video-blocked-on-jailbroken-ipads.html---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Amazon.com" <cs-reply@amazon.com> Date: Aug 1, 2012 5:33 PM Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry To: "xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx" <xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx> Hello xxxxx, I'm sorry that the Amazon Instant Video service isn't yet working on your iPad. The service is absolutely available to you. What we're finding is that this specific error is popping up for folks whose iPads have any kind of jailbreak installed. A jailbreak is a program installed on your device that lets you do stuff not necessarily supported by the manufacturer./news/amazon-fifth-generation-echo-dot-smart-speakers-get-a-host-of-new-features.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-fifth-generation-echo-dot-smart-speakers-get-a-host-of-new-features.htmlAt its annual fall event, Amazon showed off its brand-new Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock. The fifth generation of the smaller spherical speakers has been seriously souped-up. While they sport the same look, they have a completely redesigned audio architecture under the hood that delivers two times the bass of the prior model. Plus, the Alexa-powered smart speakers now use Amazon’s AZ2 neural edge processor that allows them to do more actions locally./news/amazon-prime-air-drone-deliveries-have-started-in-california-and-texas.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-prime-air-drone-deliveries-have-started-in-california-and-texas.htmlOperations from the College Station PADDC would occur during daylight hours up to five days per week. The operating area is divided into four sectors, with each sector having a maximum of approximately 50 delivery flights per operating day. Only one aircraft in each sector can be airborne at any time.   Operations from the Lockeford PADDC would occur during daylight hours up to five days per week. The operating area is divided into four sectors, with each sector having a maximum of approximately 50 delivery flights per operating day./news/amazon-prime-video-drops-dolby-vision-and-atmos-unless-you-pay-extra.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-prime-video-drops-dolby-vision-and-atmos-unless-you-pay-extra.htmlAmazon has confirmed it’s not a mistake — your Amazon Prime Video subscription no longer includes Dolby Vision HDR or Dolby Atmos surround sound. That’s on top of the ads that Amazon injected into the service on January 29th. Now, when you pay $2.99 a month to remove those ads, you can get Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos back as well. That’s the word from 4KFilme, which discovered that their smart TVs from Sony, LG, and Samsung were now displaying content in HDR10 with Dolby Digital 5./news/amazon-s-electric-rivian-vans-will-start-making-deliveries-in-16-cities-this-year.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-s-electric-rivian-vans-will-start-making-deliveries-in-16-cities-this-year.htmlAmazon’s new electric delivery vans will hit the road in more than a dozen cities starting this year, the company announced Wednesday. The vans, which are being designed and built by buzzy EV startup Rivian, are already making deliveries to customers in Los Angeles. Amazon plans to expand its testing to 15 more cities this year, as it continues to build toward a fleet of 10,000 vehicles by 2022. The companies did not name which cities they would choose./news/amazon-s-latest-echo-show-5-and-show-8-are-nearly-matching-their-all-time-lows.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-s-latest-echo-show-5-and-show-8-are-nearly-matching-their-all-time-lows.htmlIt feels like everywhere you look, there’s a Mother’s Day sale going on. Many of these promos are pretty meh, but Amazon’s latest sale on Echo devices is worth a look if you’re looking for some relatively inexpensive picks. Right now, for instance, Amazon is throwing in a free smart bulb when you buy the latest Echo Show 8 for $99.99 (about $63 off), which is just $10 shy of its all-time low./news/android-4-1-jelly-bean-review.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/android-4-1-jelly-bean-review.htmlUnfortunately, Google Now is not quite as adept at searching for content and apps on the phone itself as I would like. Strangely, you're more likely to get on-phone results (such as apps) if you type your question rather than speak it. Those phone results are available from a voice search, but all too-often they're buried way at the bottom in Google's list of search filters. One important thing to understand about Google Now is that you’re really not meant to spend time setting up and managing your cards./news/anyone-can-use-this-ai-art-generator-that-s-the-risk.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/anyone-can-use-this-ai-art-generator-that-s-the-risk.htmlType and ye shall receive. That’s the basic premise of AI text-to-image programs. Users type out descriptions of whatever they like — a cyborg Joe Biden wielding a samurai sword; a medieval tapestry of frogs jousting — and these systems, trained on huge databases of existing art, generate never-before-seen pictures that match these prompts (more or less). And while the output of current state-of-the-art models certainly isn’t perfect, for those excited about the technology, such flaws are insignificant when measured against the potential of software that generates any image you can imagine./news/apple-announces-new-ipad-pros-with-oled-displays-and-thinnest-design-ever.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-announces-new-ipad-pros-with-oled-displays-and-thinnest-design-ever.htmlAt its “Let Loose” virtual event this morning, Apple introduced its long-awaited iPad Pro updates. The new 13-inch and 11-inch tablets have a fresh design, more powerful internals, and a thinner profile than ever before, and they come with a major display upgrade. As rumored, Apple has switched to OLED screens on both sizes, bringing perfect blacks, richer color saturation, and enhanced contrast to its flagship iPads. Oh, and the front-facing camera is now in the correct (landscape) position for video calls./news/apple-issues-security-update-for-the-almost-10-year-old-iphone-5s.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-issues-security-update-for-the-almost-10-year-old-iphone-5s.htmlThe iPhone 5S got its last OS upgrade in 2018 with the release of iOS 12, but it’s not totally down for the count. As AppleInsider points out, the 2013-vintage device got a security update this week: a bump to iOS 12.5.7, to be precise. Even if you don’t have an iPhone 5S, that’s good news for anyone who’s a fan of getting the most out of their device. There’s not much to iOS 12./news/apple-paid-millions-in-iphone-repair-nude-photos-case.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-paid-millions-in-iphone-repair-nude-photos-case.htmlApple paid an unknown multimillion-dollar sum to a woman after iPhone repair technicians uploaded nude photos from her phone to Facebook. The Telegraph reported the 2016 payment based on court documents recently tied to Apple’s name, and Apple confirmed the incident in a statement to The Verge. The case involves an unnamed Oregon college student known as Jane Doe, who sent her iPhone to a major Apple repair contractor called Pegatron Technology Service./news/apple-pay-was-down-for-chase-customers-for-quite-a-while.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-pay-was-down-for-chase-customers-for-quite-a-while.htmlUpdate, February 18th, 12:40AM ET: The issue with Apple Pay and Chase credit cards has been resolved, according to Apple spokesperson Heather Norton, who further tells us that “this was not an Apple Pay issue, and we saw no problems with our systems.” (The not-so-subtle subtext there being that this was a Chase problem, of course.) That maintenance note on the status page was unrelated to this outage, she adds. Original story follows below./news/apple-s-iphone-x-notch-is-an-odd-design-choice.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-iphone-x-notch-is-an-odd-design-choice.htmlApple’s new iPhone X has a spectacular edge-to-edge display that dominates the entire front of the device. Well, nearly the entire front. Unlike Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 2, Samsung’s Galaxy S8, and LG’s V30, Apple hasn’t kept the iPhone X top bezel intact; and compared to the Essential Phone, its camera array is much, much more noticeable... and odd-looking. While the iPhone X design was leaked several times before Apple was able to officially unveil it, the company revealed this week that it is fully embracing the notch and not hiding it away with software./news/apple-s-iphone-xs-battery-case-actually-works-with-the-iphone-x.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-iphone-xs-battery-case-actually-works-with-the-iphone-x.htmlIt looks like the new $129 Smart Battery Case for the iPhone XS will support last year’s flagship iPhone X after all. Worse, even though the iPhone X and the iPhone XS are practically the exact same size and shape, Apple told us point blank that the XS case wouldn’t be compatible. It even says so on Apple’s support page. But iMore editor-in-chief Rene Ritchie has now confirmed that the case not only fits, but it seems to charge the older iPhone X just fine, though you may need to swipe away a “This accessory is not supported by this device” notification before it’ll work./news/apple-s-screen-time-gets-a-handy-new-feature-plus-updates-to-family-sharing.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-screen-time-gets-a-handy-new-feature-plus-updates-to-family-sharing.htmlI’m irrationally excited about a new feature coming to Apple’s Screen Time, the company’s gentler term for parental controls. When my kid wants that extra 15 minutes on her favorite app, her plaintive request will come through iMessage as well as a pop-up notification on my Apple devices. Why is this exciting? Well, it’s a small thing, but if you miss that Screen Time notification, which is currently the only alert you get, you have to dive into the Settings app to manually address the request./news/apple-s-vision-pro-the-first-five-months-and-where-we-go-next.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-vision-pro-the-first-five-months-and-where-we-go-next.htmlThe Apple Vision Pro is many things. But for us, and for many other users, it’s one thing in particular: a really, really, really big screen. Since Apple started shipping its spatial computing headset five months ago today, we’ve tested the device as a TV, a computer monitor, a game console, a mega-chill way to relax on the beach, and much more. On this episode of The Vergecast, we talk about the past, present, and future of the Vision Pro./news/arkane-is-making-a-blade-game.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/arkane-is-making-a-blade-game.htmlArkane Lyon is making a game based on Marvel’s Blade franchise, the studio announced at The Game Awards 2023 on Thursday. The game was revealed in a brief cinematic trailer, so we didn’t get any gameplay of the title or any details about when it might be released. But Arkane Lyon studio director Dinga Bakaba said that it would be an “immersive third-person action adventure,” so we can look forward to that./news/asia-is-officially-the-most-disaster-prone-region-in-the-world.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/asia-is-officially-the-most-disaster-prone-region-in-the-world.htmlNo other region on Earth experiences more climate, weather, and water-related disasters than Asia, according to a new report. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released its 2023 State of the Climate in Asia today, which found that risks are only rising. From heatwaves to flooding and storms, climate change makes all kinds of disasters more intense all over the world. But the problem is particularly acute in Asia, which is heating up faster than the global average thanks to greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels./news/at-t-adds-45-month-unlimited-prepaid-plan-with-5g-that-you-can-only-get-at-walmart.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/at-t-adds-45-month-unlimited-prepaid-plan-with-5g-that-you-can-only-get-at-walmart.html. While the Walmart-only Unlimited Max plan does allow for HD streaming, it streams in standard definition by default. You can stream in HD by turning off Stream Saver (a mode that plays video in 480p to save data) on AT&T’s prepaid site, or by calling 611. For comparison, several standard prepaid unlimited 5G plans, like Metro by T-Mobile’s $50 / month plan, Mint Mobile’s $40 / month plan (for three months), Cricket’s $55 / month plan, and Visible by Verizon’s $40 / month plan all don’t come with an option to stream in HD./news/bang-olufsen-s-new-hx-headphones-offer-35-hours-of-battery-life-for-499.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bang-olufsen-s-new-hx-headphones-offer-35-hours-of-battery-life-for-499.htmlBang & Olufsen’s latest pair of headphones are the Beoplay HX. They’re over-ear, noise canceling, and offer up to a truly impressive 35 hours of battery life. The headphones launch in black today for $499 (£499 / €499), but there’s a white model coming at the end of April, to be followed by a white and brown version in May.  At $499, the Beoplay HX are among the more expensive wireless noise-canceling headphones available./news/barnes-noble-is-shutting-down-the-nook-app-store-on-march-15th.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/barnes-noble-is-shutting-down-the-nook-app-store-on-march-15th.htmlBarnes & Noble has notified its users that it will shut down the Nook App Store, Nook Video, and the UK Nook Store on March 15th. The company sent out an email to users and developers on Thursday explaining that third-party app sales and in-app purchases would soon cease to work in the Nook App Store, and pushed users and developers toward the Google Play Store for future app transactions./news/bbc-news-heads-to-the-dark-web-with-new-tor-mirror.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bbc-news-heads-to-the-dark-web-with-new-tor-mirror.htmlBBC News has made a version of its website available on the Tor network, allowing it to be more securely accessed via the anonymising browser. The news organisation is putting its international edition on the network, with coverage available in a variety of languages including Arabic, Persian, and Russian. The Tor network is frequently associated with the dark web, but it’s also a vital tool for anyone looking to preserve their anonymity while accessing regular websites./news/bbc-s-ibiza-prom-is-the-perfect-90s-house-music-mix-for-the-summer.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bbc-s-ibiza-prom-is-the-perfect-90s-house-music-mix-for-the-summer.htmlIf you've ever visited the Royal Albert Hall you'll know it has no connection to Ibiza. Set in the heart of London, it plays host to The Proms annually — eight weeks of classical music concerts in a historic venue. Ibiza and the Royal Albert Hall are polar opposites, but on Wednesday night they merged together to pay homage to house music. The BBC convinced the Heritage Orchestra to play some Ibiza classics and the result is a stunning Ibiza Prom./news/become-a-true-impostor-with-an-official-among-us-costume.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/become-a-true-impostor-with-an-official-among-us-costume.htmlHalloween is just around the corner, and if you still need a costume (smh if you haven’t gotten one yet, Halloween is 46 days away, what are you doing?) might I recommend the new official Among Us crewmate costumes? If you get one of these ridiculous inflatable outfits, you’ll surely fool everyone around you into believing you’re not suspicious in any way whatsoever. Definitely not an impostor, nope. Just see for yourself:/news/beyonc%C3%A9-is-wearing-a-gold-apple-watch-band-that-you-can-t-buy.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/beyonc%C3%A9-is-wearing-a-gold-apple-watch-band-that-you-can-t-buy.htmlNowhere on Apple's website will you find a solid gold link bracelet for the Apple Watch. Jony Ive never mentions it at any point in this video describing the gold watch's creation. But in a set of photos posted to her website, Beyoncé just proved it exists. And she's not the first person to do so. On two occasions now, high-profile early owners of Cupertino's first smartwatch have been photographed wearing a gold band that's probably worth more than any single possession you own./news/bing-s-ai-image-generator-tries-to-block-twin-towers-prompts-but-it-s-not-working.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bing-s-ai-image-generator-tries-to-block-twin-towers-prompts-but-it-s-not-working.htmlAfter some users of Bing’s DALL-E 3 integration found a loophole in the tool’s guardrails and generated art featuring several beloved animated characters and the Twin Towers, Microsoft seems to have blocked prompts like ‘twin towers’ and ‘world trade center’ — although the generator will still produce the towers with some word changes. As reported by 404 Media, users of Microsoft’s Bing Chat and its Bing image generator — recently integrated with OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 — used the tools to create photos of SpongeBob SquarePants, Kirby, pilots from Neon Genesis Evangelion, and many others flying a plane into the Twin Towers./news/black-mirror-s-adult-video-game-fantasy-is-startlingly-grown-up.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/black-mirror-s-adult-video-game-fantasy-is-startlingly-grown-up.htmlThe fifth season of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, a Twilight Zone-esque anthology TV series about technological anxieties and possible futures, was released on Netflix on June 5th, 2019. We’re looking at each of the season’s three episodes to see what they have to say about current culture and projected fears. Spoiler warning: This essay does not give away the ending of “Striking Vipers,” but it does reveal the episode’s first major plot twist since it’s difficult to address any of the episode’s themes otherwise./news/blue-origin-successfully-sends-william-shatner-and-crew-to-edge-of-space-and-back.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/blue-origin-successfully-sends-william-shatner-and-crew-to-edge-of-space-and-back.htmlFamed Star Trek actor William Shatner and a crew of three fellow passengers successfully flew to the edge of space and back this morning on Blue Origin’s New Shepard tourist rocket. The foursome took off from Blue Origin’s launch facility in Van Horn, Texas at 9:50AM ET, climbed to an altitude of roughly 66 miles up, and then safely landed back on Earth. Flying alongside Shatner today were two paying customers and a Blue Origin employee./news/bmw-shows-off-its-newest-concept-car-the-3-0-csl-hommage.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bmw-shows-off-its-newest-concept-car-the-3-0-csl-hommage.htmlEvery now and then, BMW releases a concept car that is the design team's way of honoring its classic models. Last year it was the M1 Hommage (which the BMW i8 essentially pulled its design language from). In 2011 it was the crazy open-top roadster 328. BMW did it again today; the automaker introduced a reimagining of its classic 1970s coupé with the all-new 3.0 CSL Hommage concept car. Everything about it — from the big rear spoiler, to the molded body kit look, to the "/news/bose-s-new-earbuds-don-t-go-inside-your-ears-at-all.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bose-s-new-earbuds-don-t-go-inside-your-ears-at-all.htmlAfter a soft launch with fashion / culture brand Kith, Bose is officially announcing its new Ultra Open Earbuds today. Priced at $299, they feature a very unique design that wraps around and attaches to your outer ear instead of extending into your ear canal. A silicone-coated flex arm attaches the “earbud” piece to a round battery barrel that sits behind your ear and also has a button for controlling your music./news/bungie-unveils-big-destiny-2-shift-with-shadowkeep-expansion-and-free-to-play-version.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bungie-unveils-big-destiny-2-shift-with-shadowkeep-expansion-and-free-to-play-version.htmlGame studio Bungie has decided to get ahead of the E3 news cycle with the announcement of the second major Destiny 2 expansion, and its first ever without publishing partner Activision. The expansion is called Shadowkeep, in line with a data mined leak revealed on Tuesday, and will bring players back to the Moon, a popular and narratively important destination from the original Destiny. The character, Eris Morn, is also heavily hinted as a major force in the new expansion, with Bungie referring to her as an “old ally” you’ll reunite with to “confront new nightmares./news/byron-allen-places-10-billion-bid-to-acquire-abc-from-disney.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/byron-allen-places-10-billion-bid-to-acquire-abc-from-disney.htmlComedian and media mogul Byron Allen has reportedly made a $10 billion offer to acquire the ABC TV network, FX and National Geographic cable channels, and local stations from Walt Disney, according to a report from Bloomberg. The publication’s source claims that the offer is “preliminary and could change,” and that Allen would work with banks and private equity firms to finance the deal. Disney has yet to publicly acknowledge Allen’s offer./news/can-you-identify-the-hues-of-these-brand-logos.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/can-you-identify-the-hues-of-these-brand-logos.htmlTwitter Click or tap on the color that you think matches the company’s logo. 1FBAD5 CorrectGood try 3179C6 CorrectGood try 008FD8 CorrectGood try 1D9BF0 CorrectGood try ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jpxma2tlbYZxg5Nomqikn6d6ssHIs2StnaOpeqetwp6ZqKebYr%2BmsMOiq2asp57BtbHRZqWerJahtrk%3D/news/chatgpt-is-powering-a-new-kind-of-snapchat-lens.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/chatgpt-is-powering-a-new-kind-of-snapchat-lens.htmlSnapchat will soon have AR lenses that use ChatGPT. The company announced the update today at Lens Fest, its annual developer event. The new beta of Lens Studio for developers includes the ability to create filters with ChatGPT. In an example lens, Snap shows a solar system-themed filter where a user has asked, “How far away is Neptune?” Within a few seconds, the lens returns an answer to the question. The new feature could also be applied to create quizzes or randomizers, according to TechCrunch./news/chrome-adds-picture-in-picture-web-browsing-for-android-apps.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/chrome-adds-picture-in-picture-web-browsing-for-android-apps.htmlOpening a webpage inside an app is about to get a little more pleasant — in some Android apps, at least. The Chrome M124 update adds the ability to open in-app webpages in picture-in-picture mode, letting you swap between the webpage and the app without closing your browsing session. The feature is coming to the Android apps that use Chrome Custom Tabs, which let developers provide customized browsing experiences within their apps./news/coinbase-s-bouncing-qr-code-super-bowl-ad-was-so-popular-it-crashed-the-app.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/coinbase-s-bouncing-qr-code-super-bowl-ad-was-so-popular-it-crashed-the-app.htmlCoinbase just made its Super Bowl debut with a remarkable clever QR code ad that might have been too popular: the company’s “Less talk, more Bitcoin,” campaign appears to have temporarily knocked out its app following the ad airing during the broadcast The full 60-second ad almost entirely consisted of a colorful bouncing QR code, reminiscent of the iconic bouncing DVD logo meme. When scanned, the code brought viewers to Coinbase’s promotional website, offering a limited time promotion of $15 worth of free Bitcoin to new sign ups, along with a $3 million giveaway that customers can enter./news/computex-2013-taiwan-s-computer-makers-exhibit-year-s-upcoming-tech.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/computex-2013-taiwan-s-computer-makers-exhibit-year-s-upcoming-tech.htmlLast year, Acer’s Aspire S7 surprised us by bringing a whole new level of design finesse to the company’s laptop line, with solid build quality and an eye-catching anodized aluminum chassis. This year, the company is iterating on its 13.3-inch ultrabook design in a couple of ways with an updated Aspire S7 and the all-new Aspire S3 — a machine with a similar design but with some more powerful internals for the performance conscious./news/corning-s-new-gorilla-glass-5-is-meant-to-survive-epic-smartphone-drops.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/corning-s-new-gorilla-glass-5-is-meant-to-survive-epic-smartphone-drops.htmlGlassmaker Corning just unveiled its newest version of Gorilla Glass, the chemically strengthened super glass that dozens of consumer electronics makers use in their devices. Called Gorilla Glass 5, the new glass was formulated to improve drop performance from gadgets that are dropped onto rough surfaces from certain heights — specifically, waist height to shoulder height. Selfie-fumblers rejoice: Corning says Gorilla Glass 5 survives up to 80 percent of the time when dropped from 1./news/cyberpunk-2077-s-latest-patch-fixes-hundreds-of-bugs.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/cyberpunk-2077-s-latest-patch-fixes-hundreds-of-bugs.htmlCD Projekt Red released an update for Cyberpunk 2077 with hundreds of bug fixes. Patch 1.2, a 34GB or more download depending on platform, is live on PC and consoles, with a Stadia update coming later this week. Fixes range from quality-of-life improvements to game-crashing bugs, including improvements to vehicles, police forces, NPC behavior, quests, and much more. The full list is available on the game’s website. CD Projekt Red released its first major patch in January, an update it said “lays the groundwork” for future fixes./news/dan-deacon-s-mobile-app-creates-a-concert-light-show-out-of-smartphones.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/dan-deacon-s-mobile-app-creates-a-concert-light-show-out-of-smartphones.htmlWhile bands like Coldplay have used LED wristbands to turn their audiences into part of a concert's light show, musician Dan Deacon is going a somewhat different route with a new app. Available for both iPhone and Android, the mobile app is designed not only to help create a crowdsourced lighting spectacle during Deacon's concerts, but also produce sounds, serving as an extra musical instrument. According to Deacon, the app doesn't require any Wi-Fi or data connection, but instead is able to sync to the music being played during the concert./news/deep-sea-tube-worms-get-an-assist-from-methane-eating-bacteria.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/deep-sea-tube-worms-get-an-assist-from-methane-eating-bacteria.htmlScientists exploring deep-sea seeps, where methane bubbles up out of the seafloor, have made a discovery that changes our understanding of these mysterious ecosystems. They found that two species of tube worms actually trap methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, through a never-before-seen symbiotic relationship between the worms and methane-eating bacteria. By mapping the seafloor near Costa Rica with autonomous underwater vehicles, the scientists also realized that these worms were spread out up to 300 meters farther away from the methane seeps than other organisms./news/don-lemon-tulsi-gabbard-and-jim-rome-are-pivoting-to-twitter-videos.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/don-lemon-tulsi-gabbard-and-jim-rome-are-pivoting-to-twitter-videos.htmlToday, X announced that it has tapped Lemon, Gabbard, and Rome to host three new series that will stream exclusively on the website. Per X, The Don Lemon Show will air three times a week, with each 30-minute-long episode exploring topics like “politics, culture, sports and entertainment” from Lemon’s “unique and honest” perspective. Over the course of multiple years, Rome is set to produce multiple shows as part of a content partnership with X./news/draftkings-announces-it-will-now-allow-betting-on-drone-races-in-some-states.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/draftkings-announces-it-will-now-allow-betting-on-drone-races-in-some-states.htmlSports betting company DraftKings and the Drone Racing League (DRL) will now allow betting on drone races in some states, the two companies announced. DRL, which CNBC describes as a first-person view racing league, allows pilots to compete for prizes by flying their drones through courses. Residents of Colorado, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Tennessee, and West Virginia will be able to bet on the races via their phones, and regulatory approval is pending for betting on drone races in other states, the companies said./news/eboy-the-gold-standard-of-pixel-art.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/eboy-the-gold-standard-of-pixel-art.htmlSince eBoy's launch in 1997, the Berlin-based design firm has become the gold standard in pixel art, earning both commercial and critical success with their uniquely elaborate 8-bit aesthetic. Their work has appeared in innumerable ad campaigns, magazines, and art galleries, yet the company itself has remained surprisingly simple - just three men, moving pixels around a computer screen, still honing their craft to perfection. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtnamxfa3xyg45ub2lvZ2WDcK7OsmSappRiwamxjKmcq56VmMGqu81mpp9loJ7FprjSZq2inJWk/news/elon-musk-gives-complimentary-twitter-verification-to-lebron-james-stephen-king-and-william-shatne.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/elon-musk-gives-complimentary-twitter-verification-to-lebron-james-stephen-king-and-william-shatne.htmlThe Verge has confirmed that an employee at Twitter recently emailed James, who has previously said he wouldn’t pay for verification, to “extend a complimentary subscription to Twitter Blue for your account, @kingjames, on behalf of Elon Musk.” James’ longtime media advisor, Adam Mendelsohn, confirmed to The Verge that James hasn’t paid to be verified. After we first published this story, Musk said on Twitter that he’s paying “a few” subscriptions “personally,” including for the accounts belonging to Stephen King and William Shatner./news/elon-musk-pokes-fun-at-himself-while-hosting-pewdiepie-s-meme-review.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/elon-musk-pokes-fun-at-himself-while-hosting-pewdiepie-s-meme-review.htmlElon Musk’s appearance on Felix “PewDiePie”Kjellberg’s “Meme Review,” a popular series on Kjellberg’s channel where he provides commentary on memes, gave Tesla’s CEO a chance to address one of his most important customer bases directly: YouTube. Musk, with Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland, co-hosted the last third of Kjellberg’s latest episode. Their time was mostly spent reviewing memes that included Musk, including poking fun at his obsession with artificial intelligence and drawing on his love for electric vehicles./news/entire-tv-shows-and-movies-are-being-crammed-into-single-hypnotic-twitter-gifs.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/entire-tv-shows-and-movies-are-being-crammed-into-single-hypnotic-twitter-gifs.htmlYesterday Twitter expanded its size restriction on animated GIFs from 5MB to 15MB, and immediately users exploited their newfound power. Larger GIFs. Longer GIFs. Higher-resolution GIFs. What impressed us most were the folks who fit complete music videos, television shows, and movies into a single tweet. Below, we’ve included embeds for The Matrix, episodes of Seinfeld and an anime called Aiura, and the music video for Rob Thomas and Santana’s '90’s summer jam "/news/epic-v-google-everything-we-re-learning-live-in-fortnite-court-page-21.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/epic-v-google-everything-we-re-learning-live-in-fortnite-court-page-21.htmlHere is what Google planned to offer OEMs to preload Google Play and apps: As part of an executive summary titled “We are fine-tuning Android Search Rev share (ex Samsung) to protect Google from key strategic risks),” Google CFO Ruth Porat and others were presented with this ask: Ask: Spend $2.9B in total in 2020 (+141M to status quo) growing to $4.5B (+$600M) in 2023 across Search and Play for carriers and non-Samsung OEMs to secure platform protections for Search, and Play and critical apps protections on more devices/news/epic-win-jury-decides-google-has-illegal-monopoly-in-app-store-fight.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/epic-win-jury-decides-google-has-illegal-monopoly-in-app-store-fight.htmlAfter just a few hours of deliberation, the jury unanimously answered yes to every question put before them — that Google has monopoly power in the Android app distribution markets and in-app billing services markets, that Google did anticompetitive things in those markets, and that Epic was injured by that behavior. They decided Google has an illegal tie between its Google Play app store and its Google Play Billing payment services, too, and that its distribution agreement, Project Hug deals with game developers, and deals with OEMs were all anticompetitive./news/eufy-is-introducing-cross-camera-people-tracking-on-its-new-security-cameras.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/eufy-is-introducing-cross-camera-people-tracking-on-its-new-security-cameras.htmlAnker’s smart home brand Eufy is revamping its camera lineup with a new SoloCam battery-powered outdoor camera ($199.99), Floodlight Cam E340 ($219.99), Video Doorbell E340 ($179.99), and Indoor Cam S350. The signature hardware feature of the new line is its dual lenses — with one camera that’s wide angle and one telephoto for zooming in to better identify faces and license plates. But there’s also a new standout ability: cross-camera tracking and video splicing./news/facebook-expands-its-dating-feature-test-to-canada-and-thailand.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/facebook-expands-its-dating-feature-test-to-canada-and-thailand.htmlAfter launching Facebook Dating in Colombia in September, the company is now expanding its test markets to two new countries: Canada and Thailand. The test also includes a few new features that let you look back at someone you may have previously passed on, or pause from the whole dating scene altogether. The first feature is called Second Look, a self-explanatory tool that allows you to reconsider a previous right swipe./news/facebook-is-buying-giphy-and-integrating-it-with-instagram.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/facebook-is-buying-giphy-and-integrating-it-with-instagram.htmlFacebook is buying the popular GIF-making and sharing website Giphy for a reported price of $400 million, with plans to integrate the massive GIF library into Instagram and other Facebook apps. News of the deal was first reported by Axios, which revealed the $400 million value of the deal. Giphy is one of the largest GIF sites on the internet, offering tools for creating, sharing, and remixing GIFs. Facebook has already relied on Giphy’s API for sourcing GIFs in its apps for years: Instagram, the main Facebook app, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp all already work with the service./news/facebook-is-making-it-easier-to-turn-off-algorithmic-ranking-in-your-news-feed.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/facebook-is-making-it-easier-to-turn-off-algorithmic-ranking-in-your-news-feed.htmlFacebook is introducing a handful of new features that will give users greater control over their News Feed, including an easier way to turn off the feed’s algorithmic ranking and display content in the order it was posted instead. The changes build on previous tweaks to News Feed functionality. Last October, Facebook introduced a “Favorites” tool that allows users to select up to thirty friends and pages, prioritizing their content or displaying it in a separate feed./news/facebook-plans-discovery-engine-feed-change-to-compete-with-tiktok.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/facebook-plans-discovery-engine-feed-change-to-compete-with-tiktok.htmlFacebook employees were recently given a new directive with sweeping implications: make the app’s feed more like TikTok. Simply bringing Reels, the company’s short-form video feature, from Instagram into Facebook wasn’t going to cut it. Executives were closely tracking TikTok’s moves and had grown worried that they weren’t doing enough to compete. In conversations with CEO Mark Zuckerberg earlier this year, they decided that Facebook needed to rethink the feed entirely./news/facebook-s-old-web-design-will-disappear-in-september.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/facebook-s-old-web-design-will-disappear-in-september.htmlFacebook’s “classic” experience, the interface with the iconic blue navigation bar at the top, is disappearing for good in September. Engadget reports that a Facebook support page has been updated saying everyone will soon have the new design. Although you can temporarily switch back to the old interface on Facebook’s site, the button warns that “the classic Facebook will no longer be available starting in September.” Attempting to switch back to the old interface now shows a warning saying it won’t be available from September./news/fanduel-and-draftkings-just-lost-a-big-payment-processor.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fanduel-and-draftkings-just-lost-a-big-payment-processor.htmlVantiv Entertainment Solutions, a payments processor for daily fantasy sports sites DraftKings and FanDuel, told the companies this week it would stop processing wagers and would exit the space amid rising legal tensions, according to The New York Times. It's unclear what percentage of total payments Vantiv processes for DraftKings and FanDuel, which control more than 90 percent of the daily fantasy sports market. However, Vantiv's exit illustrates the mounting toll the companies face as numerous states continue to designate the activity illegal online gambling./news/firefox-gets-a-redesign-with-bigger-floatier-tabs.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/firefox-gets-a-redesign-with-bigger-floatier-tabs.htmlMozilla launched a redesign for Firefox on Tuesday, and one of the changes you might notice first is a whole new look for tabs. Firefox tabs are now bigger than they used to be, and the one that’s in focus will float above the toolbar near the top of the browser. In Chrome or Safari, by contrast, the tab that’s in focus looks like it is attached directly to the toolbar./news/ftc-says-amazon-executives-destroyed-potential-evidence-by-using-apps-like-signal.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ftc-says-amazon-executives-destroyed-potential-evidence-by-using-apps-like-signal.htmlNow, The Washington Post (which is owned by Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos) reports that Amazon is just one of several companies recently accused of turning to encrypted messaging apps like Signal that can permanently erase messages automatically. In a statement posted to the company’s “Competition” page, Amazon called the FTC’s contentions “baseless,” saying that “Amazon voluntarily disclosed employees’ limited Signal use to the FTC years ago, thoroughly collected Signal conversations from its employees’ phones, and allowed agency staff to inspect those conversations even when they had nothing to do with the FTC’s investigation./news/gadget-makers-are-bracing-for-trump-s-trade-war.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gadget-makers-are-bracing-for-trump-s-trade-war.htmlAs the White House barrels toward $250 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports, US gadget makers are bracing for impact. The White House detailed the first $35 billion in restricted goods on Friday, including new restrictions on batteries, capacitors, and touchscreens, with an additional $15 billion still to be approved. On Monday, President Trump began laying the groundwork for an additional $200 billion in tariffs, issued in response to Chinese counter-tariffs./news/galaxy-z-fold-5-and-z-flip-5-price-availability-and-how-to-preorder.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/galaxy-z-fold-5-and-z-flip-5-price-availability-and-how-to-preorder.htmlSamsung kicked off a new generation of foldable phones at its latest Unpacked event, and it’s already taking preorders for those looking to punch their tickets to hot foldable summer. This time around, the announcements of the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5 were accompanied by a pair of new smartwatches and new tablets, but the foldables were the star of the show — even if some of the annual improvements are feeling mostly iterative./news/get-a-crash-course-in-horror-in-the-new-trailer-for-netflix-s-junji-ito-anime.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/get-a-crash-course-in-horror-in-the-new-trailer-for-netflix-s-junji-ito-anime.htmlHorror master Junji Ito is bringing his particular blend of scares to Netflix very soon — and you can get a brief taste in a new trailer. The show, which has the somewhat unwieldy title of Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre, adapts 20 different stories from the manga artist, from iconic pieces like Tomie to cult material such as Layers of Terror. Netflix says that all of the included stories have “the shared theme of madness,” which, of course, is pretty standard for Ito./news/ghost-of-tsushima-is-coming-to-pc-in-may.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ghost-of-tsushima-is-coming-to-pc-in-may.htmlAside from that, Sony says that the PC port will feature “unlocked frame rates, a variety of graphics settings and presets, and customizable mouse and keyboard controls,” and is “fully optimized for 21:9 and 32:9 resolutions and even supports 48:9 resolutions for triple monitor setups.” The port is being handled by Nixxes, a studio Sony acquired in 2021. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfaHx3e5FtZ3JqYm5%2BcLPHqKqtZZ%2BberW%2F1KyfoqWRYrGqvsScq6iqo2KwtsCMqZpmqpWhsqK%2FxGabmqyVYsC1scCm/news/gm-kills-its-electric-bike-project-ariv.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gm-kills-its-electric-bike-project-ariv.htmlGM has killed its first electric bike. The automaker’s Ariv e-bikes, pronounced like “arrive” and stylized as “ARĪV,” were released last year in a handful of countries in Europe. But thanks to COVID-19, the company said it has decided to wind down its e-bike production. The website where customers previously could place orders now redirects to GM’s main site. GM was the latest automaker to try leverage its experience in manufacturing, batteries, and powertrains to build an amazing electric bike./news/go-read-this-powerful-onezero-investigation-into-a-digital-focused-cult.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/go-read-this-powerful-onezero-investigation-into-a-digital-focused-cult.htmlCults prey on lonely and desperate people looking to belong to something, and as people migrate a bigger portion of their lives online, sometimes all it takes is a small showing of support to net someone’s full trust. In OneZero’s new investigative feature, journalists Emilie Friedlander and Joy Crane dig into two connected groups: Tumple and DayLife Army, the latter of which became a physical embodiment of an online cult. Started by Eben “Wiz-EL” Carlson and KoA Malone, the groups were founded primarily through Facebook, reaching people who hung out on a section of the social media site dubbed “Weird Facebook./news/google-agrees-to-pay-publishers-in-canada-and-drops-plans-for-blocking-news.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-agrees-to-pay-publishers-in-canada-and-drops-plans-for-blocking-news.htmlGoogle announced today that it won’t pull links to Canadian news outlets after all, thanks to an agreement with the government of Canada over the contentious Online News Act or Bill C-18. Google and Alphabet president of global affairs Kent Walker published a statement saying that “following extensive discussions, we are pleased that the Government of Canada has committed to addressing our core issues with Bill C-18,” a rule designed to make large web platforms pay news outlets for using their content./news/google-celebrates-50-years-of-doctor-who-with-a-dalek-dodging-doodle.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-celebrates-50-years-of-doctor-who-with-a-dalek-dodging-doodle.htmlGoogle's latest Doodle is a playable nod to cult British sci-fi show Doctor Who on its 50th anniversary. Click the start arrow to choose one of 11 Doctors, each a cute 2D version of the actors that have played the show's lead role, and then guide them around isometric versions of appropriately Whovian settings to collect the letters to spell "Google." Mini versions of Daleks, Cybermen, and inappropriately terrifying Weeping Angels block your route./news/google-launches-calico-a-new-company-tasked-with-extending-human-life.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-launches-calico-a-new-company-tasked-with-extending-human-life.htmlGoogle said today it has created a new company called Calico to make improvements in human health and well-being. Art Levinson, chairman of Apple's board and former CEO of Genentech, will be Calico's CEO. "Illness and aging affect all our families," Google CEO Larry Page said in a statement. "With some longer term, moonshot thinking around healthcare and biotechnology, I believe we can improve millions of lives." "Art is one of the crazy ones./news/google-maps-makes-it-easier-to-share-your-location-without-an-address.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-maps-makes-it-easier-to-share-your-location-without-an-address.htmlGoogle Maps is launching a new feature that generates a unique six-digit code based on your location. This code can be given to others and used when you’re located away from a traditional street address. It’s called a “Plus Code,” and it’s available with a tap of the blue circle icon that represents your location in the app.  Plus Codes are designed for countries where a lack of street names can make it difficult to identify addresses./news/google-will-pay-170-million-for-youtube-s-child-privacy-violations.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-will-pay-170-million-for-youtube-s-child-privacy-violations.htmlOn Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it is fining Google $170 million following the agency’s investigation into YouTube over alleged violations of a children’s privacy law. In the settlement, the FTC and the New York attorney general allege that Google marketed its video platform, YouTube, to advertisers knowing that many channels were popular with younger audiences. It also alleges that the company tracked the viewing histories of children in order to serve them ads, which violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)./news/google-s-pixel-9-will-reportedly-come-in-three-sizes-this-fall.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-s-pixel-9-will-reportedly-come-in-three-sizes-this-fall.htmlGoogle plans to shake up its smartphone strategy in 2024 by releasing three different models of the upcoming Pixel 9. That’s according to 91mobiles, with the site now claiming that the renders published earlier this year (created by OnLeaks) were in fact of the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro “XL” — and not the regular Pixel 9, which it’s sharing for the first time in new images today. Google used the XL branding for its bigger Pixels until around 2019, but it went away with the one-size Pixel 5 and stayed gone when the company pivoted to the “Pro” name starting in 2021./news/group-chat-comes-to-snapchat-just-in-time-for-the-holidays.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/group-chat-comes-to-snapchat-just-in-time-for-the-holidays.htmlSnapchat today announced a Group feature for you to start chats with up to 16 friends. You can see who’s present in a group chat at the bottom of the screen, and are given the option to start a private chat by selecting individual friends’ names. Just like all things on Snapchat, chats or snaps sent to a group are deleted after 24 hours and can only be replayed once. If you don’t open them in time, they’re also gone./news/hard-drive-the-satirical-publication-about-video-games-is-starting-a-patreon.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hard-drive-the-satirical-publication-about-video-games-is-starting-a-patreon.htmlHard Drive, the satirical publication about video games, is starting a Patreon. Hard Times, the independent company that owns the very funny website Hard Drive, said today that “our sites can no longer survive without some help.” The Patreon has three tiers: $5, $10, and $25 per month. However, if Hard Times doesn’t get enough patrons, “we’ll refund everyone who subscribed and shut the Patreon down.” ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfZnx1e5FtZ2ttYmiCcLTAq5tmnKKew6Z506GcZquRqbaztcKao2aopZe5qq%2FAraCopl2Wr7DB02atopyVpHqorcyeqmaho2LAta3RraCnn12WerGt06ucqKY%3D/news/here-s-fruit-ninja-on-the-vision-pro.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/here-s-fruit-ninja-on-the-vision-pro.htmlHere’s Fruit Ninja on the Vision Pro. In Super Fruit Ninja, you’ll use your hands to chop up fruit, according to a writeup on Apple’s website. I can see how it might be fun, but I don’t know if it will be $3,499 fun — especially when I can still just play Fruit Ninja on my phone. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfZnxyhI5ra2lsY2eFeHvHnqmeq12bv7a102aloqaalnqwuoytn55lpp7AqrvNZqerpw%3D%3D/news/hey-google-stock-now-pays-a-dividend-too.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hey-google-stock-now-pays-a-dividend-too.htmlHey, Google stock now pays a dividend too. Alphabet’s first-ever dividend will pay shareholders 20 cents per share on June 17th, and the Google owner “intends to pay quarterly cash dividends in the future” too. Meta made a big splash when it announced a 50 cent per share dividend in February, and Microsoft increased its dividend to 75 cents per share last September. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfaXxzgY5ra2psYGuAc3vHnrBmn5%2BktK2xjKyrqJubYruww4ypmLKrXZZ6pbXVopueppRiwbC7/news/hori-s-new-d-pad-controller-fixes-a-big-nintendo-switch-problem.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hori-s-new-d-pad-controller-fixes-a-big-nintendo-switch-problem.htmlThe initial appeal of the Nintendo Switch had a lot to do with the way it put expansive, console-quality games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on a portable console for the first time. But since then, I’ve been spending a lot of my time with the system on less technically advanced titles. I find that I’m more likely to want to play immersive 3D games on my TV screen or PC monitor, while the Switch is the perfect system for kicking back with indies and 2D games./news/hostage-uses-pizza-hut-app-to-save-herself-and-children.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hostage-uses-pizza-hut-app-to-save-herself-and-children.htmlAccording to a press release from the Highlands County Sheriff's Office, Cheryl Treadway and her children were being held against their will by her boyfriend, Ethan Nickerson. Nickerson didn't allow Treadway to make calls or write texts, so she used the Pizza Hut app to send a discreet call for help. According to the arrest report, the couple had been arguing throughout the day while Mr. Nickerson carried a large knife./news/how-the-google-union-could-boost-labor-organizing-in-silicon-valley.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-the-google-union-could-boost-labor-organizing-in-silicon-valley.htmlJust over a year ago, I spent some time in Austin meeting with Google contractors. They had been hired through Accenture to moderate some of the most disturbing content on YouTube: videos that contain violent extremism, including murders and acts of terrorism. Several told me they had either been diagnosed with or were suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. The people I talked with made about $37,000 a year, and several had immigrated to the United States from the Middle East./news/how-to-add-a-background-to-safari-in-ios-15.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-add-a-background-to-safari-in-ios-15.htmliOS 15 has brought with it a number of features that don’t affect your privacy, your efficiency, or your fitness. They’re — well, just nice. One of them is the new ability to change the background of the mobile version of Safari so that when you open a new page, you’re looking at something beautiful or wildly colorful. Or just nice. The process is almost ridiculously simple. Here’s how to do it:/news/how-to-back-up-and-wipe-your-windows-pc.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-back-up-and-wipe-your-windows-pc.htmlIf you’re selling your Windows computer or passing it on to someone else, you’re going to want to first wipe everything. Or you may want to rid yourself of several years of data bloat and start again with a clean slate.  The good news is that wiping and reinstalling Windows is a lot easier than it used to be. I’m old enough to remember when it involved hours of file swapping, installation discs, and hours spent putting programs, emails, and files back in place./news/how-to-dislike-tiktok-videos.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-dislike-tiktok-videos.htmlTikTok’s algorithms can be very perceptive when it comes to the types of videos you want to see in your For You feed. But when it doesn’t work, you may find yourself facing a steady stream of the type of video you really don’t want to deal with. I’m not just talking about something egregious — like, for example, political or religious or social statements that you might feel are completely counter to your beliefs./news/how-to-fix-the-steam-deck-s-noisy-fan.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-fix-the-steam-deck-s-noisy-fan.html160-plus hours into Elden Ring, I’m sure of one thing: the single most annoying thing about my Steam Deck is its whiny fan. And now, I’m so happy to report there’s a way to fix it. It takes roughly 15 minutes and $30 — depending on where you live — to install a replacement fan from iFixit. Recently, the repair company finally got a large shipment of those fans, and I bought one right away./news/how-to-personalize-your-chromebook-s-lock-screen.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-personalize-your-chromebook-s-lock-screen.htmlGoogle has released the latest version of Chrome OS, with a few new features for Chromebook owners to try out. If you’re a Chromebook owner, your device should have the newest version now or very shortly. First off, your Chromebook can now function as a smart display (like Google’s Nest Hub Max) when you’re not actively using it. Like the Nest Hub, it can act like a digital photo album and display pictures on its lock screen./news/how-to-play-music-on-your-smartwatch.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-play-music-on-your-smartwatch.htmlFor a lot of people, music is an integral part of working out. But not everyone wants to schlep their phone around while hitting the trails or working up a sweat. That’s where smartwatches can come in pretty handy. While nearly every smartwatch lets you control music on your phone, a good number can also play music on-device. Whether it’s an Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, Garmin, Fitbit or Wear OS watch, you’ve got a lot of options for listening to music./news/how-to-run-a-battery-life-report-on-your-windows-laptop.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-run-a-battery-life-report-on-your-windows-laptop.htmlWhen my editor told me about Window’s built-in battery report, my first thought was: “How have I never heard of this before? Also, that sounds pretty useful!” So I looked at the guide he sent (from Laptop Magazine) and tried it out. It ended up being just as interesting as it sounded, so I figured I’d share, in case you also haven't come across this handy built-in tool. Windows has been keeping track of how your laptop’s battery is doing since it was installed./news/how-to-use-safari-s-tools-to-protect-your-privacy-while-browsing.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-use-safari-s-tools-to-protect-your-privacy-while-browsing.htmlIf you’re a Mac user, then you have a copy of Safari on your computer — it’s the default browser for macOS. If you do use it, you’ll be happy to learn that, like other major browsers, Safari has been provided with a number of safeguards to enhance user privacy. Tracking is a major threat to online privacy, and there are several different methods for tracking users, from first-party cookies (usually used to store your preferences) to third-party tracking cookies (which gather information about your online activity)./news/how-to-watch-rivian-s-r2-electric-suv-reveal-event.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-watch-rivian-s-r2-electric-suv-reveal-event.htmlRivian is pulling the cover off its latest electric vehicle today, and unless you live anywhere near Laguna Beach, California, you’ll probably be watching the livestream. The event starts at 10AM PT/ 1PM ET. According to details that leaked from the Laguna Beach City Council, the company plans to hold the event in the park adjacent to the former South Coast Theater, now named the Rivian South Coast Theater, which serves as the company’s “first flagship retail location./news/huge-leap-for-nasa-s-mars-helicopter-ushers-new-mission-support-role.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/huge-leap-for-nasa-s-mars-helicopter-ushers-new-mission-support-role.htmlThe Séítah region on Mars, filled with rocks and sand dunes, was too treacherous for NASA’s Perseverance rover to drive across. So Ingenuity, the tiny helicopter accompanying the rover, flew over the area on Monday and snapped some photos of a key spot on the other side. In less than three minutes, Ingenuity spared Perseverance the months it would have had to spend driving to take its own photos. The quick Monday morning jump across Séítah was Ingenuity’s ninth flight on Mars so far, but it marked the first time the chopper lent a helping hand to Perseverance in its hunt for ancient signs of life at the Red Planet’s Jezero Crater./news/i-wish-america-could-get-the-fun-van.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/i-wish-america-could-get-the-fun-van.htmlI wish America could get the Fun van. Honda’s cute little Japan-only N-VAN is going electric and comes in versions like “FUN” for personal use and “G” which gives you a seat and a blank canvas for commercial use. It’s got 152 miles of range with support for 50kW DC fast charging, perfect for city driving. It could very well be made into a cool camper, too. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfa3xygI5ra2pvaGuAcnvIZq6iq5hirq6x0aKammWTpMKtsIygnK1lpJ2ybrLUp2SvmZ4%3D/news/in-black-museum-black-mirror-finally-finds-a-single-person-to-blame-for-technology.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/in-black-museum-black-mirror-finally-finds-a-single-person-to-blame-for-technology.htmlThe fourth season of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, a Twilight Zone-esque anthology TV series about technological anxieties and possible futures, was released on Netflix on December 29th, 2017. In this series, six writers will look at each of the fourth season’s six episodes to see what they have to say about current culture and projected fears. Spoiler warning: This essay is very light on spoilers for “Black Museum,” but it does offer a few plot details not seen in the episode trailer./news/in-blade-runner-2049-can-a-relationship-with-a-hologram-be-meaningful.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/in-blade-runner-2049-can-a-relationship-with-a-hologram-be-meaningful.htmlIn conventional love stories, boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, girl falls for boy, and some pivotal plot point happens. Unless there’s a sequel, we assume that afterward, they live happily and inconsequentially ever after. But, what if in the future, it’s boy designs girl? In Blade Runner 2049, Officer K (Ryan Gosling) lives with his AI hologram companion Joi, who was manufactured by Wallace Corp and tailored as the perfect companion./news/in-kali-uchis-after-the-storm-video-money-can-buy-love.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/in-kali-uchis-after-the-storm-video-money-can-buy-love.htmlEvery week, a slew of new music videos hits the web. Watching them at your desk is not time theft because you deserve it; think of it as a nice reward for surviving another work week. But what if you don’t have time to watch every video — maybe you have a deadline, a hungry pet, or other grown-up concerns. In consideration of your schedule, Lizzie and Kaitlyn bring you a series called One Video./news/inside-amazon-s-canceled-plan-to-make-halo-a-fitness-success.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/inside-amazon-s-canceled-plan-to-make-halo-a-fitness-success.htmlBefore a wave of layoffs led to the shutdown of Amazon’s Halo division, the team behind those products had developed ambitious, long-term plans to better compete in fitness and health. Through discussions with current and former Amazon employees, The Verge has learned that Amazon had a road map for Halo that included a sophisticated, AI-based fitness training service, celebrity-led exercise classes, and more. Amazon’s Halo brand debuted less than three years ago and introduced mass-market health and wellness gadgets designed to square off against Apple, Samsung, Fitbit, Garmin, and other rivals./news/instagram-was-down-but-now-it-s-working-again.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/instagram-was-down-but-now-it-s-working-again.htmlFor a couple of hours on Sunday evening, Instagram was down. The app’s feed was frozen, tossing users errors saying it couldn’t refresh, while the website only gave a blank page. According to the outage tracker DownDetector, the first reports of trouble started a few minutes after 6PM ET before spiking to over 175,000 reports at its peak, but by 7:30PM ET, the issue had been resolved, and it’s working again./news/intel-graphics-chief-raja-koduri-leaves-after-five-years-battling-nvidia-and-amd.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/intel-graphics-chief-raja-koduri-leaves-after-five-years-battling-nvidia-and-amd.htmlAfter five years attempting to make Intel into a competitor for Nvidia and AMD in the realm of discrete graphics for gamers and beyond — with limited success — Raja Koduri is leaving Intel to form his own generative AI startup. By the time Koduri left, he wasn’t just in charge of graphics but also Intel’s “accelerated computing” initiatives, including things like a crypto chip. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2tfaHxzfY5ram9tYGt%2BcnvIp6uepF2nrqutjKSmna2innqovNSsZJqllGK7t7XDophmmaCluaZ5y56Yr51dlrZuv9Oaqa2toA%3D%3D/news/iphone-5-discontinued-iphone-4s-remains-as-free-option.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/iphone-5-discontinued-iphone-4s-remains-as-free-option.htmlIt's nearly an Apple tradition at this point: whenever the company unveils its latest iPhone, older models are used to fill the free and $99 on-contract price points. But with the announcement of the iPhone 5c today — which starts at $99 —Apple's decided to discontinue the iPhone 5. It's simple, really: the 5c fills the price point that would have been occupied by a discounted iPhone 5. The ancient iPhone 4 has been discontinued as well, but, surprisingly, the company will continue to sell the nearly two-year-old iPhone 4s./news/it-s-not-just-you-alicia-keys-super-bowl-halftime-show-got-changed-for-youtube.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/it-s-not-just-you-alicia-keys-super-bowl-halftime-show-got-changed-for-youtube.htmlA crane shot slowly sweeps down toward a massive, billowing rose-red cape attached to someone playing an equally red grand piano. As the camera closes in on the figure, you realize it’s Alicia Keys, playing the descending triplets that begin “If I Ain’t Got You,” one of her earliest and biggest hits. Her voice, as smooth as ever, eases in with a shortened version of the hums that begin the original recording, then she starts belting out the chorus lyrics./news/jack-thompson-the-infamous-video-game-crusader-still-has-a-grudge.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/jack-thompson-the-infamous-video-game-crusader-still-has-a-grudge.htmlWhen the video game industry is valued at $300 billion, a Halo TV series trailer is occupying prime real estate during the AFC Championship, and a GTA facsimile like Free Guy is one of the top-grossing films of the year, it is clear that Jack Thompson lost the fight. For those who don’t remember, Thompson was the attorney who led the charge against violent video games and helped morph a fringe topic into a dominant wedge issue of the mid-2000s./news/kobo-tries-to-take-on-amazon-and-barnes-noble-with-its-new-android-tablet-and-e-readers-hands-on.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/kobo-tries-to-take-on-amazon-and-barnes-noble-with-its-new-android-tablet-and-e-readers-hands-on.htmlKobo looked to take some of Amazon's thunder by announcing a couple of new e-readers and a 7-inch Android tablet just before Jeff Bezos took the stage a couple of weeks ago, and now we've had a chance to try out the new devices for ourselves. The Canadian company has a tall task in convincing consumers to consider their products in the face of Amazon and Barnes & Noble — let's see if this hardware is up to the task./news/live-a-live-review-short-story-collection-disguised-as-a-classic-rpg.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/live-a-live-review-short-story-collection-disguised-as-a-classic-rpg.htmlLive A Live is one of the most influential games you’ve probably never played. The role-playing game originally debuted back in 1994, but it never left Japan — but nearly three decades later, it’s finally getting a global release. The game is particularly notable as the directorial debut of Takashi Tokita, who went on to direct titles like Chrono Trigger and Parasite Eve. That makes Live A Live a fascinating piece of video game history — but it turns out it’s also a fascinating game./news/louis-ck-set-to-play-a-talking-terrier-in-the-secret-life-of-pets.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/louis-ck-set-to-play-a-talking-terrier-in-the-secret-life-of-pets.htmlLouis CK's next role, like so many great actors before him, is officially a talking dog. The AV Club reports that the comedian's long-gestating next film has just been titled The Secret Life of Pets, helmed by Despicable Me director Chris Renaud. In the film, CK will play a terrier forced to deal with its master's new pet, a "sloppy mongrel" played by Modern Family's Eric Stonestreet. Despite the uninspired premise, the movie does boast an impressive roster of talent./news/marco-polo-has-been-around-for-years-but-it-s-blowing-up-amid-the-pandemic.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/marco-polo-has-been-around-for-years-but-it-s-blowing-up-amid-the-pandemic.htmlIce T loves the app Marco Polo. So does P!nk, who shouted out the app on Instagram, and Amy Poehler, who mentioned it during a Late Night appearance. All three celebrities have highlighted the four-year-old video messaging app in recent weeks, saying they’re using it to stay in touch with friends and family while social distancing. It’s seen a 12 times increase in new signups over the last month, with a 745 percent increase in signups during just the week of March 30th./news/mario-lebron-trump-jesus-christ-twitter-is-playing-whack-a-mole-with-verified-users.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/mario-lebron-trump-jesus-christ-twitter-is-playing-whack-a-mole-with-verified-users.htmlTwitter verification used to mean “Twitter has checked you are who you say you are.” As of this morning, the only thing it means is that you’re coughing up eight dollars to join the club because Elon Musk decided that anyone can buy a “verified” check mark without any verification at all. In the hours since, some hilarity has ensued. Neon Prime is a phrase Valve trademarked, but it’s probably not for a return of its disc-throwing game Ricochet./news/mercedes-benz-taps-will-i-am-to-create-an-interactive-musical-experience-for-its-cars.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/mercedes-benz-taps-will-i-am-to-create-an-interactive-musical-experience-for-its-cars.htmlPeople love to play their music while driving, but unless you’re some sort of wizard with control over time and space, rarely does the beat actually match up with the rhythm of acceleration and steering. Mercedes-AMG aims to change that with a new “interactive musical experience” that it’s created along with musician and entrepreneur Will.i.am. At CES this year, the automaker announced MBUX Sound Drive, a new feature that uses sensors and software to link music to driving./news/microsoft-confirms-the-four-xbox-exclusive-games-coming-to-ps5-and-switch.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-confirms-the-four-xbox-exclusive-games-coming-to-ps5-and-switch.htmlMicrosoft confirms the four Xbox-exclusive games coming to PS5 and Switch. Microsoft is bringing Sea of Thieves to the PS5 on April 30th. It’s the second previous Xbox-exclusive that’s coming to PS5, with Hi-Fi Rush available on the PS5 on March 19th. These are part of four Xbox games coming to PS5 and Nintendo Switch: • Pentiment - PS4, PS5, and Switch on February 22nd • Hi-Fi Rush - PS5 on March 19th/news/microsoft-is-bringing-its-xbox-dashboard-to-the-web-with-party-chat-and-more.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-is-bringing-its-xbox-dashboard-to-the-web-with-party-chat-and-more.htmlMicrosoft is previewing a new Xbox Cloud Gaming interface today that includes the social features and UI you’d normally find in the Xbox dashboard. The new interface includes access to a web version of Xbox party chat, so you can use a browser to join a call with friends instead of the dedicated Xbox desktop and mobile apps. The updated web interface also includes the ability to find and manage Xbox friends, send messages, view user profiles and achievements, and even access notifications./news/microsoft-outlook-office-365-teams-and-other-services-are-back-following-outage.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-outlook-office-365-teams-and-other-services-are-back-following-outage.htmlSome Microsoft services, including Outlook, Office 365, and Microsoft Teams, experienced a multi-hour outage on Monday, but the issues have been resolved, according to the company. “We’ve confirmed that the residual issue has been addressed and the incident has been resolved,” Microsoft tweeted at 12AM ET on Tuesday. “Any users still experiencing impact should be mitigated shortly.” The company first acknowledged issues at 5:44PM ET via the Microsoft 365 Status Twitter account, and said it had rolled back a change thought to be the cause of the issue at 6:36PM ET./news/microsoft-surface-duo-2-re-review-i-get-it-now.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-surface-duo-2-re-review-i-get-it-now.htmlIt’s exceedingly rare that a product actually gets better months after it was released. But Microsoft’s oft-forgotten Surface Duo 2, which launched back in October 2021 with a steep price tag and a laundry list of bugs and issues that made it very frustrating to use, has bucked that trend. In fact, the Duo 2 has improved so much that it’s now one of my favorite mobile devices, even if it’s still weird and unique enough that I can’t exactly recommend it to most people./news/microsoft-teams-is-finally-moving-to-a-single-app-for-personal-and-work.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-teams-is-finally-moving-to-a-single-app-for-personal-and-work.htmlMicrosoft is finally creating a single version of Microsoft Teams that will allow you to switch between personal and work accounts easily. The new unified app is currently in testing and will let Microsoft Teams users switch between multiple tenants and personal or work account types. This new version of Teams will be rolled out to commercial users in April and will include an account switcher that’s accessible from the profile section./news/mike-myers-returns-to-multi-character-comedy-in-his-netflix-show-the-pentaverate.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/mike-myers-returns-to-multi-character-comedy-in-his-netflix-show-the-pentaverate.htmlMike Myers is making a return to comedy in a new, six-episode Netflix show called The Pentaverate, after years of rare movie appearances. If the trailer that premiered on Wednesday is anything to go by, it’ll be the type of project where Myers makes up almost half the cast — he’s playing eight different characters, according to Deadline. The show, which will start streaming on May 5th, also stars comedians like Ken Jeong, Keegan-Michael Key, and Jennifer Saunders./news/movies-anywhere-adds-new-ai-powered-list-feature.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/movies-anywhere-adds-new-ai-powered-list-feature.htmlMovies Anywhere is best known as the service that syncs together purchased movies across different retailers (so that you can, say, watch movies you bought on iTunes through Google Play, or vice versa). But the service also has a fairly robust app of its own, which is getting a new machine learning-powered list feature to automatically generate lists that sort your library based on what movies you like. The feature, aptly named “My Lists,” offers two options: automatically generated lists — like gathering all the Star Wars movies together or creating a list of the romantic comedies you own — and standard user-created lists./news/mrbeast-working-with-2-million-fund-to-invest-in-up-and-coming-creators.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/mrbeast-working-with-2-million-fund-to-invest-in-up-and-coming-creators.htmlMrBeast said last year that he wanted a way to invest in up-and-coming creators, help them blow up, and get a cut of their business in return — and today, he’s announcing a plan to do just about that. The hit YouTuber, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is working with a $2 million investment fund that will offer creators up to $250,000 in exchange for a stake in their channels. The fund, called Juice Funds, is part of a new company that Donaldson is a minority owner of called Creative Juice, which was announced this afternoon in The Information./news/nerfball-introduces-nerf-s-smartest-foam-yet-it-detects-dart-impacts.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nerfball-introduces-nerf-s-smartest-foam-yet-it-detects-dart-impacts.htmlHasbro has found another intriguing way to take back possession of its Nerf brand — today, it’s launching what it calls Nerf’s “first-ever official sport,” a game called Nerfball. And it comes with its own high-tech foam to keep track of the score. On September 22nd, Hasbro recruited 12 popular college athletes to play the first exhibition match in Florida, and separately previewed a “suit” that contains smart foam pads. Originally designed by Utah’s XO-Nano to measure football helmet impacts, the pads weren’t actually used during the September 22nd game, Hasbro now confirms — but the company promises they’ll detect dart hits while promising to filter out every other kind of motion./news/nest-thermostats-can-alert-homeowners-of-potential-heating-or-cooling-problems.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nest-thermostats-can-alert-homeowners-of-potential-heating-or-cooling-problems.htmlGoogle is testing a feature that can send Nest owners alerts about their furnaces when “unusual or unexpected patterns” are detected. The HVAC alerts will be automatically sent to subscribers of the Nest Home Report email list, notifying homeowners of any small issue in their heating, cooling, or ventilation system before it potentially becomes a serious problem. For example, based on the historical data your Nest thermostat has collected about your home, if it’s taking longer than usual to cool, that may trigger an HVAC alert./news/netflix-gets-global-streaming-rights-to-fx-s-american-crime-story.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-gets-global-streaming-rights-to-fx-s-american-crime-story.htmlNetflix just nabbed the global rights to the first season of FX's popular American Crime Story series, The People v. O.J. Simpson. The 10-episode season, structured like a standalone mini-series, follows the 1995 trial of O.J. Simpson (played by Cuba Gooding Jr.) for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. The People v. O.J. Simpson was widely well-received by critics for its intimate, complex look at the main players in the O./news/netflix-reveals-cast-for-its-live-action-avatar-the-last-airbender-series.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-reveals-cast-for-its-live-action-avatar-the-last-airbender-series.htmlIt’s been some time since we’ve heard news about Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but today the streaming company is finally revealing details: namely, the cast for some major roles. The show will feature Gordon Cormier (The Stand) as Aang, Kiawentiio (Beans) as Katara, Ian Ousley (13 Reasons Why) as Sokka, and Dallas Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings) as Zuko. The live-action adaptation was first announced in 2018 and ran into some trouble last year when Avatar creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko stepped away from the project citing creative differences with Netflix./news/netflix-s-gerald-s-game-turns-one-of-stephen-king-s-worst-books-into-one-of-his-best-movies.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-s-gerald-s-game-turns-one-of-stephen-king-s-worst-books-into-one-of-his-best-movies.htmlWelcome to Cheat Sheet, our brief breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas.  Some Stephen King adaptations are easier than others. 1922 writer-director Zak Hilditch had it comparatively easy: his film has to contend with a period setting and a horde of rats, but it’s a small, straightforward character piece, carried more by actors than effects. The makers of Spike’s The Mist series had it harder, between the challenge of living up to an existing popular film adaptation, and the expense of creating a citywide supernatural mist full of monsters./news/ntsb-reveals-cause-of-virgin-galactic-s-deadly-spaceshiptwo-crash.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ntsb-reveals-cause-of-virgin-galactic-s-deadly-spaceshiptwo-crash.htmlLast year's crash of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo was caused by a premature repositioning of the vehicle's tail wings, an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board found. The findings confirm a preliminary investigation made by the NTSB, which found that SpaceShipTwo's wings had shifted before the spaceplane broke apart. The vehicle's two tail wings are supposed to move when the spacecraft hits a certain speed, a maneuver known as "feathering." This repositioning helps to increase drag in order to slow the vehicle down for reentry./news/oneplus-lays-off-employees-in-europe-less-than-two-weeks-after-oneplus-8-launch.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/oneplus-lays-off-employees-in-europe-less-than-two-weeks-after-oneplus-8-launch.htmlOnePlus launched its latest flagship phones, the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro, less than two weeks ago, but the Chinese phone maker is now laying off employees in regional offices throughout Europe, as first reported by Engadget. The layoffs do not appear to be coronavirus-related, and in a blog post Saturday, Tuomas Lampen, head of strategy for OnePlus Europe said 20 employees in three offices were affected. “We have decided to make some changes to the current organizational structure within Europe to better streamline our operations while continuing to meet the needs of our growing community,” according to the post./news/only-nintendo-ds-lovers-will-fully-appreciate-this-dual-screen-handheld-pc.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/only-nintendo-ds-lovers-will-fully-appreciate-this-dual-screen-handheld-pc.htmlBoutique handheld gaming company Ayaneo has announced the Ayaneo Flip DS — a 7-inch 120Hz handheld gaming clamshell with a second screen that’s clearly inspired by the Nintendo DS, and might let it play games like one too. According to Liliputing’s Brad Linder, who deserves kudos for calling out the company’s attempt to plant a “leak,” both the Flip DS and a similar Flip KB will be powered by AMD’s Ryzen 7 7840U./news/openai-exec-some-creative-jobs-maybe-will-go-away-but-maybe-they-shouldn-t-have-been-there-in.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/openai-exec-some-creative-jobs-maybe-will-go-away-but-maybe-they-shouldn-t-have-been-there-in.htmlOpenAI exec: “Some creative jobs maybe will go away, but maybe they shouldn’t have been there in the first place.” During a recent talk at Dartmouth’s school of engineering, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati said the quiet part out loud. I’ll let you watch and be the judge: ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfa3xzfY5ra2pwY2eDdnvOqZynmZlisrmxwmaqqKWVYrCzscCtoK%2BdXZ%2B8o7%2BMppiympVixKq4y2aeqGWRrK66ecGuq2alka6vpnnToZyyZaOdvLa4w6erZqCRq7JursSepWasmJq%2FpnnIp2StoJVis6q%2B/news/openai-s-gpt-store-delayed-to-2024.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/openai-s-gpt-store-delayed-to-2024.htmlOpenAI’s GPT store will be delayed until next year, the company said in an email to people who signed up for its GPT Builder.  In the email, OpenAI said that “unexpected things have been keeping us busy,” pushing back the GPT store’s rollout. The company said it had planned to release the store in December, which itself is slightly later than originally promised; at its developer conference in November, OpenAI said the store would launch later that month./news/openai-s-sora-text-to-video-generator-will-be-publicly-available-later-this-year.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/openai-s-sora-text-to-video-generator-will-be-publicly-available-later-this-year.htmlYou’ll soon get to try out OpenAI’s buzzy text-to-video generator for yourself. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati says Sora will be available “this year” and that it “could be a few months.” OpenAI first showed off Sora, which is capable of generating hyperrealistic scenes based on a text prompt, in February. The company only made the tool available for visual artists, designers, and filmmakers to start, but that didn’t stop some Sora-generated videos from making their way onto platforms like X./news/panasonic-s-lumix-s5-is-a-more-compact-full-frame-mirrorless-camera.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/panasonic-s-lumix-s5-is-a-more-compact-full-frame-mirrorless-camera.htmlPanasonic went in at the high end when it released its first L-mount full-frame mirrorless cameras last year, but today it’s announcing a more mainstream and versatile model. Like the $2,499 Lumix S1, the new S5 is built around a 24.2-megapixel full-frame sensor and is designed for both photo and video work.  The Lumix S5 is $500 less expensive, though, and significantly more compact. Here’s a picture Panasonic supplied of its current highest-end mirrorless cameras, including the Micro Four Thirds-based GH5 on the left, the videography-focused S1H on the right, and the S5 in the middle./news/peloton-blames-extravagant-lifestyle-for-big-s-death.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/peloton-blames-extravagant-lifestyle-for-big-s-death.htmlThe punches keep coming for Peloton. Its treadmills were recalled after a series of injuries and a child’s death, people are returning to gyms, and now — spoiler alert — its stock is down 11 percent overnight after its iconic Bike was a key part of a major character’s death in the inaugural episode of And Just Like That..., HBO Max’s new Sex and the City reboot. However, Peloton is now saying its product isn’t to blame — it’s extravagant living./news/play-this-natural-selection-2-is-free-on-steam-this-weekend.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/play-this-natural-selection-2-is-free-on-steam-this-weekend.htmlIndie developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment (UWE) is making Natural Selection 2 free-to-play this weekend through Steam. Natural Selection 2 is a unique, fast-paced, exhilarating game that blends real-time-strategy with traditional first-person-shooter mechanics. Originally a popular modification for Half-Life, the game pits teams of aliens against marines, with each attempting destroying the enemy's base while protecting their own. It was released in October last year to a chorus of positive reviews, and for good reason — it offers some of the most original FPS team combat on the PC right now./news/play-this-peter-molyneux-s-curiosity-teases-the-masses-with-an-addictive-hunt-for-its-secret.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/play-this-peter-molyneux-s-curiosity-teases-the-masses-with-an-addictive-hunt-for-its-secret.htmlDeconstruct the cube, reveal the secret The game is essentially the deconstruction of a giant cube that hides an even bigger secret inside. The secret will be revealed to the person who gets to the center first. The cube is made up of over 60 billion individual "cubelets," and tapping on one removes it and reveals another underneath. Until every cubelet from a layer is removed you won't be able to move onto the next./news/qualcomm-s-next-round-of-pc-chips-will-fight-apple-under-the-name-snapdragon-x.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/qualcomm-s-next-round-of-pc-chips-will-fight-apple-under-the-name-snapdragon-x.htmlQualcomm says it has a new name for the next generation of its ARM PC platform: Snapdragon X. The platform is based on the Oryon CPU tech from its 2021 acquisition of Nuvia, a company founded by former Apple engineers who had previously worked on Apple’s A-series iPhone and iPad chips. Arm has filed a lawsuit against both companies over the deal that is set to go to trial in September 2024./news/razer-beats-wooting-to-a-speedy-new-keyboard-feature-for-pc-gaming.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/razer-beats-wooting-to-a-speedy-new-keyboard-feature-for-pc-gaming.htmlRazer is launching a new Snap Tap mode for its Huntsman V3 Pro keyboards today that’s designed to appeal to competitive gamers. Snap Tap is very similar to Wooting’s promised Rappy Snappy feature and works by prioritizing the latest input between two selected keys to allow Counter-Strike 2 and Valorant players to counter-strafe more quickly. The Snap Tap mode means you don’t have to release the previous key when you’re strafing, so if you enable A and D for Snap Tap, then it makes strafing near instant, improving directional changes and movement in esports games./news/razer-is-actually-making-its-concept-rgb-face-mask.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/razer-is-actually-making-its-concept-rgb-face-mask.htmlRazer says it’s planning to ship its concept reusable N95 face mask. Unveiled back in January, Project Hazel includes active disc-type ventilators, Chroma RGB lighting, and voice projection. The face mask is also transparent, allowing for lip-reading and the ability to see facial cues when you talk to people. “We were thinking, this is a concept project and is this going to be relevant when vaccinations and everything has been rolled out,” says Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan in an interview with Yahoo Finance./news/researchers-hope-this-tiny-wearable-could-become-smell-o-vision-for-vr.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/researchers-hope-this-tiny-wearable-could-become-smell-o-vision-for-vr.htmlSmells have always been hard to recreate in virtual reality, but researchers may have figured out a solution: wearable odor generators. Researchers from Beihang University and the City University of Hong Kong detailed two types of device formats in a paper published today in Nature Communications. The first type is a wearable that attaches to the skin directly under the nose. The other is a soft mask. (You can see both demoed in the videos below./news/samsung-galaxy-s8-and-s8-plus-will-no-longer-receive-security-updates.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-galaxy-s8-and-s8-plus-will-no-longer-receive-security-updates.htmlFour years after its launch, the Samsung Galaxy S8 has received its last security update. The Galaxy S8 was a well-timed success story for Samsung, launching in the spring of 2017 with a bold design that drew attention away from the well-documented Galaxy Note 7 battery problems of the previous six months. The S8 marked a design shift for Galaxy devices, with a wider-aspect edge-to-edge screen with minimal bezels that made it one of the best-looking phones we’d seen at that point./news/samsung-s-galaxy-note-8-will-reportedly-be-announced-in-august.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-galaxy-note-8-will-reportedly-be-announced-in-august.htmlSamsung is planning to announce the Galaxy Note 8 in August, according to a new report from Reuters, citing a source that claims to be familiar with the matter. The Reuters report also claims that the Note 8 will feature a dual-camera system and a slightly larger curved display than the Galaxy S8 Plus, which is in line with rumors from earlier this year. An August announcement would make sense, as Samsung has announced previous Note devices, including the Note 5 and the ill-fated Note 7, in a similar time frame./news/samsung-s-new-ballie-robot-is-like-a-real-life-mini-bb-8.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-new-ballie-robot-is-like-a-real-life-mini-bb-8.htmlToday, at Samsung’s keynote at CES, Samsung introduced Ballie, a small ball-shaped robot intended to help you around the house. Samsung says Ballie utilizes AI to be a security robot, a fitness assistant, a tool to help seniors connect with smart devices in their homes, and it can even be a friend to your kids and pets. In an onstage demo, Ballie followed Samsung consumer electronics division CEO H.S. Kim on the stage by rolling around, seemingly by using the camera to track Kim as he walked across the stage./news/samsung-s-new-galaxy-book-laptops-still-look-like-macbooks.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-new-galaxy-book-laptops-still-look-like-macbooks.htmlSamsung’s new Galaxy Book laptops still look like MacBooks. If MacBooks had a numpad. Anyway, as of Feb. 26th, Samsung’s Galaxy Book4 laptops, with Intel’s new Core Ultra CPUs, are available for purchase. We’re looking into possibly reviewing the 2-in-1, but there’s nothing particularly exciting about them—and with the Book4 Pro starting at $1,450, most of the configurations seem overpriced. Am I disenchanted? Anyone out there actually interested in these laptops, or have questions?/news/shut-up-and-mint-the-coin.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/shut-up-and-mint-the-coin.htmlIt’s time to mint the coin, sickos! If you have not been paying attention to the most tragically online sectors of the financial internet, here’s a summary: the government is about to grind to a halt — yes, again — to argue over the national debt. But there is a way out, and it’s been known for years. What we do is mint a $1 trillion platinum coin. Nobody in Congress appears capable of even pretending to act like an adult./news/slack-s-new-iphone-app-hits-the-app-store-ahead-of-official-launch.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/slack-s-new-iphone-app-hits-the-app-store-ahead-of-official-launch.htmlSlack announced a redesigned iPhone app with a new navigation bar at the bottom of the app in update notes today. However, it seems the redesign is still rolling out, even if you’ve updated to the latest version of the app — myself and another Verge colleague don’t have it yet, for example. The new look appears to bring the iPhone app in line with the Android redesign that rolled out on May 5th./news/snapchat-just-made-it-a-lot-easier-to-find-and-add-friends.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/snapchat-just-made-it-a-lot-easier-to-find-and-add-friends.htmlOne of the most frustrating parts of using Snapchat is trying to find and add new people. You can either take a photo of a friend's BooR code (cumbersome), or search for their username (annoying, especially when usernames are weird and long). But today Snapchat has fixed that problem. The company has quietly added a new feature in its most recent update: the ability to grab a personalized URL (like http://snapchat./news/snapchat-s-new-parental-controls-block-sensitive-content-for-minors.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/snapchat-s-new-parental-controls-block-sensitive-content-for-minors.htmlSnapchat has rolled out new parental Content Controls to help prevent minors from being exposed to potentially inappropriate content while using the app. Announced on Tuesday, parents and guardians can now access new content filtering capabilities through Snapchat’s Family Center supervision tool to block “sensitive or suggestive” content from appearing on their child’s Snapchat Stories or Spotlight feed. The feature can be enabled by selecting “Restrict Sensitive Content” within the Family Center settings./news/solar-eclipse-2024-time-locations-and-how-to-watch-it-safely.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/solar-eclipse-2024-time-locations-and-how-to-watch-it-safely.htmlThings are going to get a little wacky on April 8th, when a total solar eclipse will darken skies over North America. The Moon will line up perfectly to block the face of the Sun. Temperatures will drop around 10 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius). Birdsong will change from daytime to nighttime tunes. And millions of people are expected to hit the road to catch a glimpse of the spectacle./news/sony-alpha-zv-e10-review-interchangeable-lens-vlogging-machine.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-alpha-zv-e10-review-interchangeable-lens-vlogging-machine.htmlThe Alpha ZV-E10 is Sony’s newest addition to its lineup of mirrorless cameras. At $799.99 with Sony’s 16-50 lens ($699.99 for just the body), it is the company’s second attempt at making a vlogging-oriented camera and the successor to last year’sZV-1. It adds a headphone jack, more battery life, a larger sensor, and most importantly, an interchangeable lens design. You can think of it as a video-centric version of Sony’s more photography-oriented A6100./news/sony-zv-1-review-the-vlogging-camera.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-zv-1-review-the-vlogging-camera.htmlIn 2020, I hope I don’t have to convince you that vlogging is not a frivolous activity, but a real genre of video that can range from hobby to full-time job to full-blown media company. That is why it’s so strange to me that so few cameras are custom-designed for it. Sony’s ZV-1 is an attempt to fill that gap — and also to fill the gap between what you can achieve with your smartphone and what you can do with a more expensive mirrorless camera./news/spotify-s-new-ai-feature-builds-playlists-based-on-text-descriptions.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/spotify-s-new-ai-feature-builds-playlists-based-on-text-descriptions.htmlAfter experimenting with AI playlist generation in its DJ feature last year, Spotify is now launching a beta tool that allows users to create a curated tracklist based on text descriptions. Its new AI Playlist beta is initially rolling out to Spotify Premium subscribers on mobile devices in the United Kingdom and Australia. Android and iOS users in those locations can find the AI Playlist generator by heading into “Your Library” and tapping the “+” button at the top-right of the page./news/starfield-has-arrived-on-nvidia-s-geforce-now-the-most-important-cloud-game-yet.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/starfield-has-arrived-on-nvidia-s-geforce-now-the-most-important-cloud-game-yet.htmlWe’ve never seen a killer app for cloud gaming yet — but Starfield might be the next best thing. It has now arrived on Nvidia’s GeForce Now, the first cloud gaming service that might do it justice, and the only one with a completely free trial, no credit card required. Both the Steam and Microsoft Store versions of Starfield are live right now. That means Xbox Game Pass subscribers don’t need to purchase a copy, and even if you’ve already started the game, your savegames should come along for the ride./news/stem-splitter-for-logic-works-great.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/stem-splitter-for-logic-works-great.htmlStem Splitter for Logic works great. Here’s a quick demo of Stem Splitter, a new feature added to Logic Pro for iPad and Mac, which takes a single track of mixed instruments and splits it into individual multitrack files for remixing or sampling. This idea, using AI to separate music tracks, seemed so novel only 6 months ago when we got a new Beatles song using a similar process with John Lennon’s old tape recordings./news/sundance-2023-all-the-latest-movie-reviews-and-updates-from-the-festival.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sundance-2023-all-the-latest-movie-reviews-and-updates-from-the-festival.htmlStop me if you’ve heard this one before: a group of high school kids gets their hands on a cursed occult object, and after some fun and games, they end up being terrorized by a presence from the other side. It’s not the most original premise. But in Talk To Me — the directorial debut from brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, best known for their YouTube channel — it takes on a new urgency and ferocity with a story that races to its bloody, brutal conclusion without letting up./news/sunshine-contacts-is-an-invite-only-address-book-app-from-marissa-mayer-s-new-startup.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sunshine-contacts-is-an-invite-only-address-book-app-from-marissa-mayer-s-new-startup.htmlFormer Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has just revealed her first major product since stepping down back in 2017: a new contact management application for iOS devices called Sunshine Contacts. Sunshine’s goal is to unify and simplify your contacts across Apple’s Contacts app and Gmail, pulling down your data from those sources and combining it with publicly available information. At the same time, the app promises to help organize and clean up your contacts, filling in missing chunks of information, and deleting duplicate entries./news/syfy-is-working-on-a-series-about-superman-s-home-planet.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/syfy-is-working-on-a-series-about-superman-s-home-planet.htmlAnother superhero TV series is in the works: Syfy has ordered a pilot for a show titled Krypton, which will essentially be a prequel to Superman. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series will begin two generations before the planet Krypton's destruction (and Kal-El's expulsion toward Earth) and will focus on Superman's grandfather. David S. Goyer, who has writing credits on Man of Steel and Batman v Superman (as well as all three of Christopher Nolan's Batman films), is executive producing the new series./news/t-mobile-s-new-prepaid-10-per-month-connect-plan-is-its-cheapest-yet.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/t-mobile-s-new-prepaid-10-per-month-connect-plan-is-its-cheapest-yet.htmlT-Mobile has refreshed its prepaid Connect plan offerings, including a new $10 per month plan that the company says is its “lowest price smartphone plan ever,” offering customers 1,000 minutes of talk, 1,000 texts, and 1GB of data each month. The company’s prepaid Connect plans launched in 2020 and were part of T-Mobile’s efforts to butter up regulators to allow its massive merger with Sprint to go through. The original Connect plans included a $15 per month offering for unlimited talk, text, and 2GB of data and a $25 per month option that bumped up data to 5GB a month./news/taylor-swift-joins-elon-musk-in-trying-to-silence-student-who-tracks-celebrity-jets.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/taylor-swift-joins-elon-musk-in-trying-to-silence-student-who-tracks-celebrity-jets.htmlTaylor Swift’s attorneys have threatened legal action against Jack Sweeney, a college student who has attracted the ire of celebrities and billionaires over his social media accounts that share publicly available information about private jet landings and takeoffs. An attorney for Swift sent a cease-and-desist letter to Sweeney, a University of Central Florida junior, in December, according to The Washington Post. The letter, which Sweeney shared with the Post, says that his social media accounts cause “direct and irreparable harm, as well as emotional and physical distress./news/tcl-30-xe-5g-review-not-bad-for-200.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tcl-30-xe-5g-review-not-bad-for-200.htmlThe TCL 30 XE has a bad screen, skimpy storage, lackluster camera, and runs a version of Android that’s nearly two years behind everyone else. It’s basically a slightly cheaper, slightly worse version of the Samsung Galaxy A13 5G that only works on T-Mobile. But it’s $200, and at that price, it’s about the best phone you can get. For a $200 phone, the 30 XE 5G’s day-to-day performance is snappier than I expected./news/thai-protesters-adopt-hunger-games-salute-in-silent-opposition.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/thai-protesters-adopt-hunger-games-salute-in-silent-opposition.htmlThose involved in the movement gave differing explanations for its origin, and there appear to be different ways of making the salute. In The Hunger Games, the salute means thanks, admiration, and "goodbye to someone you love," and is represented as a form of resistance to oppressive rule. Speaking to the AP, some protesters cited the book and movie series, though others interpreted it as a symbol of France's tricolor flag — "/news/the-24-best-gifts-for-mom-for-2023.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-24-best-gifts-for-mom-for-2023.htmlWhat do you gift your mom? That’s a challenging question to answer, especially given mothers — the generous, unselfish beings they can be — are not likely to spill the beans when asked.  Luckily, we’ve done the hard work for you. With the help of The Verge staff, we’ve curated a list of some of the best tech gifts you can treat your mom — or any mother figure, really — to year-round./news/the-best-earth-wind-fire-memer-returns-right-on-time.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-best-earth-wind-fire-memer-returns-right-on-time.htmlOn the 21st of September, writer and comedian Demi Adejuyigbe releases a video of himself dancing to Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September.” It’s become a hotly anticipated web tradition since 2016, after Adejuyigbe went viral with his first rendition, a goof recorded from a bedroom. Last year, he returned with better lighting and presentation. Adejuyigbe’s credits include The Late Late Show and The Good Place, not to mention the best Ready Player One theme Warner Bros./news/the-biggest-thing-missing-from-black-mirror-s-horror-story-about-game-design.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-biggest-thing-missing-from-black-mirror-s-horror-story-about-game-design.htmlWarning: spoilers ahead for some of the endings of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch Careers in game design are widely considered dream jobs — one of the ultimate versions of getting paid to do what you love. Black Mirror’s new interactive episode Bandersnatch lets you experience one — and then concludes that a career in the arts is a nightmare dystopia with no escape. The new Netflix project is a painful parable about how creating commercial art leads to misery, despair, and the destruction of everyone and everything you love./news/the-boys-spinoff-gen-v-looks-like-a-bloody-bacchanal-in-new-trailer.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-boys-spinoff-gen-v-looks-like-a-bloody-bacchanal-in-new-trailer.htmlAmazon’s live-action adaptation of The Boys has always been a uniquely blood-filled superhero series, and the same has seemed to be true of Gen V — the streamer’s upcoming spinoff show focused on college-aged superheroes training for the big leagues. But unlike the thick, red liquid pouring out of The Boys — which has always felt like an excessively gorey detail meant to emphasize how violent the world Vought International runs really is — Gen V’s blood seems to serve an interesting purpose judging from a new trailer./news/the-european-commission-breached-eu-privacy-rules-when-using-microsoft-365.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-european-commission-breached-eu-privacy-rules-when-using-microsoft-365.htmlThe European Commission breached EU privacy rules when using Microsoft 365. A three-year probe has revealed that the European Commission’s use of Microsoft software breached strict EU privacy rules, and limits on how personal data is transferred out of the EU. Reuters reports that the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) found that “in its contract with Microsoft, the Commission did not sufficiently specify what types of personal data are to be collected and for which explicit and specified purposes when using Microsoft 365./news/the-hot-wheels-pc-was-bad-but-watching-a-restored-model-run-in-2016-is-great.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-hot-wheels-pc-was-bad-but-watching-a-restored-model-run-in-2016-is-great.htmlBy all accounts, the Patriot Hot Wheels Computer was a poorly executed idea. Released alongside the virtually identical Barbie Computer (the two were respectively "Designed specially for Boys [sic]" and "Designed specially for Girls") in the fall of 1999, it sold for $599 and came bundled with various games and educational software, plus a plastic steering wheel peripheral. "I don't think they're going to take the industry by storm," explained analyst Schelley Olhava to CNET that year./news/the-iphone-7-plus-vs-the-original-iphone-a-camera-showdown.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-iphone-7-plus-vs-the-original-iphone-a-camera-showdown.htmlBack in June of 2013, I published my first piece on The Verge. Titled "Post Processing, why the smartphone camera changed photography forever," I argued that the launch of the iPhone in 2007 made as great an impact on the world of photography as the launch of the first Leica 35mm camera back in 1913. Clearly not everyone agreed, but let's not reopen that can of worms. Instead, let's talk about just how terrible that first iPhone camera was!/news/the-last-of-us-review-a-solid-hbo-adaptation.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-last-of-us-review-a-solid-hbo-adaptation.htmlThough it was yet another survival video game about brute forcing your way through masses of infected enemies, The Last of Us’ focus on people’s relationships and how they evolve was a major part of why the Naughty Dog title remains such a critical darling with a passionate fanbase. As a video game and a zombie horror, The Last of Us’ ability to make you genuinely care about characters like Ellie and Joel, and then feel like an active participant in their quest for survival, helped make it feel distinct within the genres./news/the-lg-watch-sport-is-beautiful-precisely-because-it-s-big.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-lg-watch-sport-is-beautiful-precisely-because-it-s-big.htmlOn Wednesday, Dan Seifert published his review of the new LG Watch Sport and LG Watch Style, both of which run the new Android Wear 2.0. The Sport version, with LTE, GPS, and NFC for Android Pay, is undeniably huge. And that seems to be a bit of a problem for some in The Verge office. It also seems that LG and Google weren’t really thinking of women or anyone with small wrists at all when they designed the Sport./news/the-most-exciting-laptops-of-ces-2023.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-most-exciting-laptops-of-ces-2023.htmlIt’s going to be an interesting year for laptops. We’re coming out of CES 2023, the annual trade show where the tech industry shows off the products we’ll be seeing hit shelves throughout the upcoming year. Big players, from Dell and HP to Razer and MSI, unveiled their weirdest and wackiest new products. There’s a lot to look forward to this year when it comes to display technology, chip capability, AI features, build, and more./news/the-owner-of-vans-and-the-north-face-says-a-data-breach-is-affecting-order-fulfillment.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-owner-of-vans-and-the-north-face-says-a-data-breach-is-affecting-order-fulfillment.htmlThe owner of Vans and the North Face says a data breach is affecting order fulfillment. In a filing with the SEC, VF Corp said it detected “unauthorized occurrences” on its systems involving a “threat actor” who stole data, including personal information. While the company says it contained the incident, the breach is impacting its ability to fulfill orders ahead of the holidays. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2tfZn9wfZdoaW1oYGuCcnyOrZ%2BeZZ%2Bsu6a%2BjKidZq6Ro8Burc2dZK2glWK7sL7ToWSfmZOaerSt2KxkmmWUlsGiecGrnJqbmGK2tHnAn52em6Seu6h5zqubnqpdm8Ktssilo6adnqk%3D/news/the-portland-retro-gaming-expo-helps-keep-the-classics-alive.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-portland-retro-gaming-expo-helps-keep-the-classics-alive.html“Sega had their own console?” That was a devastating comment I heard as I sat playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on a Sega Genesis Mini at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo (PRGE) this weekend. The Sonic games on Genesis were my favorites as a kid; one time, I played so much Sonic that I peed my pants. How could this person not know about Sega consoles? Thankfully, the person’s friend was more charitable than I would have been./news/this-drone-porn-isn-t-real-it-s-just-really-creepy.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-drone-porn-isn-t-real-it-s-just-really-creepy.htmlAs a journalist I get hundreds of pitches a day for various products and services. A few weeks ago I received one that stood out. From: mike@pornhubcommunications.com Subject: Drone Catches Steamy Couple in High Rise Window; Keeps Recording Hey there - how's it going? Wanted to get in touch and let you know about a rather peculiar video that just got uploaded on the Pornhub site. Turns out a drone pilot managed to stumble onto a couple getting hot-and-heavy in their apartment - windows open and everything while he taking his gadget out for a spin./news/this-is-the-sonos-roam-2-portable-speaker.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-is-the-sonos-roam-2-portable-speaker.htmlThe most important upcoming hardware product for Sonos is undoubtedly its long-anticipated Sonos Ace headphones. They will mark the company’s debut in a massive (and highly competitive) new category. But spring and summer are always the seasons of new portable speakers, and Sonos hasn’t forgotten about that part of its business. The company has been developing a sequel to the Sonos Roam, the tiny portable speaker it released three years ago./news/thumbs-what-happened-to-the-world-s-strangest-movie-parodies.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/thumbs-what-happened-to-the-world-s-strangest-movie-parodies.htmlA few hundred billion light years from this world, where the air is little bit thinner and the kitchen tables are a little bit smaller, there exists a universe composed entirely of human thumbs. The lives of the thumbs will feel familiar to you, because their planet is a replica of ours. Our pop culture is their pop culture, but everything is a little off. Instead of Star Wars, they have Thumb Wars: the story of Loke Groundrunner, a brave young thumb who must save the universe from the Evil Thumbpire./news/tiktok-brings-its-ticketmaster-partnership-to-more-major-markets.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tiktok-brings-its-ticketmaster-partnership-to-more-major-markets.htmlAfter an initial US launch in August last year, TikTok and Ticketmaster are expanding a partnership that lets TikTok users purchase event tickets without leaving the platform to 20 additional countries. On Monday, TikTok announced that the feature will now work in the UK, Ireland, Australia, Germany, France, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, and several other major markets. That means performers can promote upcoming shows by embedding links in their videos to purchase tickets directly within the app./news/tiktok-is-reportedly-testing-a-paid-ad-free-version-of-its-app.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tiktok-is-reportedly-testing-a-paid-ad-free-version-of-its-app.htmlTikTok users might be able to pay not to see a deluge of ads in the future. Android Authority has screenshots of TikTok prompting users to select between staying on the free version of the app with ads or upgrading to an ad-free experience. According to the screenshot, some users have the option to pay $4.99 a month to not see ads. A TikTok spokesperson confirmed the existence of the test to Variety./news/tiktok-shop-is-huge-for-the-beauty-industry.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tiktok-shop-is-huge-for-the-beauty-industry.htmlOnline shopping changed how we buy things — and social media platforms are reshaping shopping again. TikTok Shop, the company’s in-app shopping feature, is quickly becoming a key retailer for the beauty industry, according to a report by Dash Hudson and NielsenIQ. TikTok Shop is now the ninth-largest online beauty and wellness retailer in the US and the second-largest in the UK, the report found. TikTok Shop’s footprint in the industry has been steadily growing over the past several months, according to prior research./news/tiktok-s-infamous-algorithm-and-its-link-to-a-failed-real-estate-app.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tiktok-s-infamous-algorithm-and-its-link-to-a-failed-real-estate-app.htmlTikTok’s infamous algorithm and its link to a failed real estate app. Zhang Yiming founded ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, but previously served as the CEO of 99Fang, a Chinese home finder startup with “very powerful” tech for search, image processing, and recommendations. Now, The New York Times reports that former contractors suing Susquehanna, an investor in both companies, claim technology they developed for 99Fang was used to create TikTok without compensating them./news/topher-grace-is-the-latest-hobbit-fan-to-recut-the-bloated-peter-jackson-movies.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/topher-grace-is-the-latest-hobbit-fan-to-recut-the-bloated-peter-jackson-movies.htmlFans have been trying to recut Peter Jackson’s overstuffed trilogy of The Hobbit films for about as long as the third movie in the series (based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s roughly 300-page novel) has been out on Blu-ray. The latest edit comes from an unlikely place — actor Topher Grace, who IndieWire reports has edited down Jackson’s trilogy into a single two-hour film. Grace isn’t exactly a stranger to fan edits of films — in 2012, he famously trimmed down George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels into a now-legendary 85-minute film./news/ubisoft-says-the-only-games-worth-making-are-blockbuster-franchises.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ubisoft-says-the-only-games-worth-making-are-blockbuster-franchises.htmlUbisoft is only interested in releasing video games that can be developed into successful (and lucrative) franchises. Tony Key, the publisher's VP of sales and marketing, made that message abundantly clear in a recent interview with A List Daily. "That's what all our games are about; we won't even start if we don't think we can build a franchise out of it," Key said. "There's no more fire and forget — it's too expensive./news/use-twitter-to-find-the-exact-time-to-play-your-favorite-song-on-new-year-s-eve.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/use-twitter-to-find-the-exact-time-to-play-your-favorite-song-on-new-year-s-eve.htmlThe best part of any party, we can all agree, is the moment when one of your friends desperately begs for access to the aux cord or the Bluetooth connection so that they can play a specific track. They don’t want to explain the choice and they don’t care if no one else knows the song, but they do need everyone to hear it, as soon as you all get done with the tense, 40-second transitional period of hearing absolutely nothing./news/user-inyerface-teaches-you-about-terrible-modern-web-design-by-making-you-suffer-through-it.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/user-inyerface-teaches-you-about-terrible-modern-web-design-by-making-you-suffer-through-it.htmlBad website user interfaces are perhaps the worst part of the internet: spammy pop-ups designed to trick you, dark patterns that are intentionally misleading, and just plain obtuse design decisions that make filling out a form virtual hell. Basically every aspect of the “game” is designed to induce rage: mislabeled buttons, complicated password rules, nearly impossible to close pop-up windows, slowly scrolling terms and conditions, and annoying CAPTCHA forms. Even if you’re a veteran internet user, chances are something here will trip you up./news/verizon-and-at-t-are-charging-a-new-fee-to-customers-on-older-plans.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/verizon-and-at-t-are-charging-a-new-fee-to-customers-on-older-plans.htmlThe carriers are at it again: Verizon and AT&T are both notifying customers on older unlimited plans to expect a new fee on their bill soon. Customers on Verizon’s 5G Start and AT&T’s Unlimited Elite plans are affected, and the fees go into effect in August. It’s a classic move from the “wireless carrier shenanigans” playbook designed to push customers to newer, more profitable plans. Verizon customers on Reddit and Twitter report that the company has just sent notice of a new monthly “Plan Rate Adjustment” charge of $3 per line./news/verizon-launches-free-service-for-identifying-and-blocking-spam-calls.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/verizon-launches-free-service-for-identifying-and-blocking-spam-calls.htmlVerizon is taking new steps to combat the unrelenting nuisance of spam calls. Well, maybe not new, but you won’t have to pay extra money to tell when the robots are calling anymore. The leading US carrier has rolled out its free call filter service to both Android and iOS customers. When activated, Verizon says the filter will let customers “get alerts when a call is likely spam, report unsolicited numbers, and automatically block robocalls based on their preferred level of risk./news/video-shows-child-grow-to-old-age-in-one-incredible-five-minute-shot.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/video-shows-child-grow-to-old-age-in-one-incredible-five-minute-shot.htmlThe facial features that clue us in to an individual's age are a bit nebulous. Wrinkles certainly tip off that someone is no longer young, but it is the entire package of one's face — not a single identifiable feature — that leaves an almost instinctual impression of how old that person is. A new time-lapse style video that's both truly eerie and wonderful will certainly make you consider these points./news/vivo-s-next-flagship-has-a-giant-gimbal-style-camera-lens.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/vivo-s-next-flagship-has-a-giant-gimbal-style-camera-lens.htmlVivo has started teasing its next flagship phone, the X50. A video posted to Weibo shows off the camera module, which includes a periscope telephoto, two normal-looking lenses, and one much larger module that is presumably for the primary camera. The lens rotates as the module is manipulated by a robotic gimbal, suggesting the key feature here is image stabilization. One of the big inclusions in Vivo’s Apex 2020 concept phone, which we weren’t able to see in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was “gimbal-like” stabilization on a 48-megapixel camera./news/watch-the-new-trailer-for-luc-besson-s-valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/watch-the-new-trailer-for-luc-besson-s-valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets.htmlEuropa has released the first full trailer for Luc Besson’s upcoming science fiction film, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, showing off more of the movie’s wild sci-fi world. We got our first look at the film back in November with a dazzling teaser trailer that introduces the two main characters, Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne). This new trailer shows off more of the story, revealing that the duo is sent to Alpha — the titular “City of a Thousand Planets” — to help save the city from an unknown threat that could destroy it./news/waze-names-former-hotwire-president-neha-parikh-as-ceo.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/waze-names-former-hotwire-president-neha-parikh-as-ceo.htmlWaze has a new CEO: Neha Parikh, the former president of Hotwire and a board member of Carvana. Parikh replaces Noam Bardin, who stepped down as CEO of the Google-owned navigation service last November after leading the company for 12 years. Parikh will join Waze as CEO starting in June, the company says. She is a veteran of online hospitality brand Expedia, having served in a variety of positions at two of the corporation’s subsidiaries: Hotels./news/we-now-have-a-better-look-at-what-s-inside-the-humane-ai-pin.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/we-now-have-a-better-look-at-what-s-inside-the-humane-ai-pin.htmlThe Humane AI Pin promises to give users a way to use generative AI in the physical world. You can clip the AI Pin to your shirt, talk to it, and project answers from chatbots onto any surface, most often your palm. We know a little bit about what powers the tiny square pin, and thanks to a new report, we have a much better view of what goes on under the hood./news/what-if-the-iphone-8-plus-is-better-than-the-iphone-x.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/what-if-the-iphone-8-plus-is-better-than-the-iphone-x.htmlIt feels like no-one cares about the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. Last week it was reported that Apple’s latest iPhones are actually being outsold by their predecessors, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. I can’t vouch for the veracity of that analysis, but it wouldn’t really surprise me if it were true. People that buy iPhones in September are early adopters. Early adopters are likely to wait for the iPhone X./news/what-s-in-your-bag-dani-deahl.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/what-s-in-your-bag-dani-deahl.htmlWhat’s in Your Bag? is a recurring feature where we ask people to tell us a bit more about their everyday gadgets by opening their bags and hearts to us. This week, we’re featuring Verge tech reporter Dani Deahl. I didn’t realize how much stuff I carry with me until I had to unpack my bag for this piece. I’ve been a traveling DJ for over a decade and so I’ve learned, over time, the varying bits and pieces I need to account for the “what ifs” that can happen while at gigs, nightclubs, or festivals./news/wordle-s-original-name-was-mr-bugs-wordy-nugz.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/wordle-s-original-name-was-mr-bugs-wordy-nugz.htmlWordle is a pretty clever name for the very good word game created by Josh Wardle. But when he was first working on it in 2013, Wardle had another name in mind that isn’t quite as catchy. “This is true: I was going to call Wordle, Mr. Bugs’ Wordy Nugz,” Wardle revealed as part of a presentation about Wordle at Figma’s Config conference on Wednesday. He also showed a slide that spelled out the name in big yellow letters./news/xbox-is-skipping-the-e3-2023-show-floor.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/xbox-is-skipping-the-e3-2023-show-floor.htmlXbox is the latest big gaming brand to officially say that it won’t be on the E3 show floor, confirming the decision to IGN on Friday. Just this week, Microsoft announced the June 11th date for its annual Xbox showcase and a dedicated Starfield show, but we still didn’t know if Xbox would actually be on the floor of this year’s in-person E3 convention. “We can’t wait to host our Xbox Games Showcase on June 11th and will share more details later,” an Xbox spokesperson said in a statement to IGN./news/xiaomi-announces-the-mi-vr-its-second-low-cost-virtual-reality-headset.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/xiaomi-announces-the-mi-vr-its-second-low-cost-virtual-reality-headset.htmlLost in all of the hype surrounding the reveal of the stunningly beautiful Mi Mix, Xiaomi also took the wraps off its newest virtual reality headset, the Mi VR. The new headset, which is designed to work with the latest generation of Xiaomi smartphones including the Mi 5 and Mi Note 2, will only cost you $29, keeping with Xiaomi's goal of offering solid hardware at lower prices. The new Mi VR looks far better than Xiaomi's first VR attempt at building a virtual reality headset, the Mi VR Play — and very similar to the Playstation VR./news/xiaomi-s-new-logo-is-almost-unrecognizable.htmlTue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/xiaomi-s-new-logo-is-almost-unrecognizable.htmlNo one in the world does corporate pomposity quite like tech firms, and Chinese mobile giant Xiaomi is no exception. The company announced its new foldable Mi Mix Fold today, but it also revealed a new logo, spending more than 20 minutes describing the process in which it turned its old square design into... a squircle. (Halfway between a square and a circle.) Xiaomi says the new logo has a new “internal spirit,” too/news/how-the-director-of-jurassic-world-jumped-from-sundance-to-spielberg.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-the-director-of-jurassic-world-jumped-from-sundance-to-spielberg.htmlDirector Colin Trevorrow is admiring a bank of monitors on a soundstage at Universal Studios, as they play back footage of jungle foliage he shot last year in Hawaii. “All this stuff is from our real control room,” he says. The console is there to provide a pretty backdrop for the flood of video interviews he’ll be doing to promote his upcoming film Jurassic World, but right now he seems more excited about the memories it’s conjuring up./news/i-rescued-a-kitten-drove-a-train-and-flew-a-mech-at-japan-s-first-vr-arcade.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/i-rescued-a-kitten-drove-a-train-and-flew-a-mech-at-japan-s-first-vr-arcade.htmlIf you think it's hard to set up an HTC Vive in your American-sized home, spare a thought for the people that live in regular Tokyo apartments. Japan does seem to be interested in VR, but it's perhaps the reality of those living spaces combined with the ongoing viability of arcades that has inspired Bandai Namco — Namco being the company behind arcade smashes like Pac-Man, Tekken, and Ridge Racer — to open a dedicated space in Tokyo with its own unique Vive-powered experiences./news/game-of-thrones-mmo-to-be-shown-at-gdc-2012.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/game-of-thrones-mmo-to-be-shown-at-gdc-2012.htmlThese days you can't have a successful fantasy brand without a tie-in video game, and Game of Thrones is the latest to get in on the action. Bigpoint has announced the first details of its MMO based on the TV show — and it does appear to be based on the TV show in particular, with little mention made of George R.R. Martin's original A Song Of Ice and Fire novels./news/a-bigger-better-switch-screen-is-exactly-what-i-wanted.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-bigger-better-switch-screen-is-exactly-what-i-wanted.htmlAt least in many of the corners of the internet I’ve been reading all day, the response to the OLED Nintendo Switch has not been all that positive. It’s no surprise, really — credible reporting had suggested a more powerful model with 4K output, but the final product features the same internals as the current Switch. If you prefer to play Nintendo games on your TV, the new version’s bigger OLED screen isn’t going to do anything for you./news/a-real-time-simulation-of-the-titanic-sinking-is-slow-beautiful-and-unsettling.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-real-time-simulation-of-the-titanic-sinking-is-slow-beautiful-and-unsettling.htmlIs a video game recreation of the sinking of the Titanic — which killed more than 1,500 passengers and crew a little over 100 years ago — educational or tasteless? The questions through the two and a half hours of footage (above) from Titanic: Honor and Glory, a "fully interactive recreation of the most famous ship in history." After the 1997 film Titanic surged interest in the tragedy, dozens if not hundreds of entrepreneurs tried to capitalize./news/adobe-overhauls-frame-io-with-creative-new-project-management-tools.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/adobe-overhauls-frame-io-with-creative-new-project-management-tools.htmlAdobe has introduced the latest version of Frame.io, overhauling the cloud-based media collaboration service with oodles of new workflow and tagging capabilities that make it easier for creatives to manage their entire projects on the platform. Initially launching in beta, Frame.io V4 starts rolling out to Free and Pro customers today on web, iPhone, and iPad, with a launch for Team and Enterprise users expected “later this year.” The easiest way to explain the update is that Frame./news/adobe-releases-arm-beta-version-of-photoshop-for-windows-and-macos.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/adobe-releases-arm-beta-version-of-photoshop-for-windows-and-macos.htmlAdobe is releasing Arm versions of Photoshop for Windows and macOS today. The beta releases will allow owners of a Surface Pro X or Apple’s new M1-powered MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini to run Photoshop natively on their devices. Currently, Photoshop runs emulated on Windows on ARM, or through Apple’s Rosetta translation on macOS. Native versions of Photoshop for both Windows and macOS should greatly improve performance, just in time for Apple to release its first Arm-powered Macs./news/ai-security-camera-maker-lighthouse-is-shutting-down.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ai-security-camera-maker-lighthouse-is-shutting-down.htmlLighthouse, the maker of a security camera with some sophisticated artificial intelligence capabilities, is closing its doors, citing a lack of commercial success for its first product. Lighthouse’s first product was unveiled back in May 2017, and it began selling in February of this year for $299. The camera could perform facial recognition and, over time, learn the faces of familiar people in your home to help you tailor alert settings and better understand when you needed to actually pay attention to the video feed./news/alienware-s-500hz-desktop-gaming-monitor-is-the-actual-world-first.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/alienware-s-500hz-desktop-gaming-monitor-is-the-actual-world-first.htmlIf you’re having a strong sense of déjà vu, you’re not alone — last January, I brought you word of the first prototype 500Hz gaming monitor, and Asus announced what should have been the first actual 500Hz gaming monitor nearly seven months ago. But today, I’m here to tell you about the Alienware AW2524H, which will be the actual first 500Hz gaming monitor you can actually buy. See, we hadn’t heard a word about the Asus monitor between its original announcement and this very morning — when Nvidia namedropped a “ASUS ROG Swift Pro PG248QP 540Hz 24” 1080p G-SYNC display with Reflex./news/amazon-adds-a-new-free-section-to-fire-tv-main-menu.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-adds-a-new-free-section-to-fire-tv-main-menu.htmlFinding TV shows and movies that you can stream on Amazon’s Fire TV devices for free without any subscriptions is about to get much simpler. The company is adding a new “free” tab to the main Fire TV navigation bar. In this section, you’ll be able to browse content that can be viewed at no charge — aside from dealing with ads — from apps like Pluto TV, Tubi, Crackle, IMDb TV, the CW, and Amazon’s News app./news/amazon-owned-mgm-lost-the-movie-rights-to-tomb-raider.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-owned-mgm-lost-the-movie-rights-to-tomb-raider.htmlTomb Raider’s movie rights are up for grabs. According to a report from TheWrap, the Amazon-owned MGM waited too long to create a sequel to its 2018 Tomb Raider film, freeing up the rights for the next Hollywood studio that wants to take a stab at creating an adaption of the long-running video game franchise. Several studios are currently engaged in a bidding war to snap up the Tomb Raider rights, TheWrap reports./news/amazon-s-ai-shopping-assistant-rolls-out-to-all-users-in-the-us.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-s-ai-shopping-assistant-rolls-out-to-all-users-in-the-us.htmlAmazon’s AI shopping assistant, Rufus, is rolling out to all users in the US on Amazon’s mobile app. You can pull up the shopping assistant by tapping the orange and blue icon in the right corner of the app’s navigation bar, where Rufus can answer questions, draw comparisons between items, and give you updates on your order. Amazon first introduced Rufus in February but only made it available to a small group of users./news/amd-s-rdna-2-quietly-arrives-in-budget-laptops.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amd-s-rdna-2-quietly-arrives-in-budget-laptops.htmlBack in September, AMD launched some of the first mobile chips from its upcoming Ryzen 7000 line, the budget-oriented “Mendocino” series. At launch, they were described as tailored to “the everyday laptop,” combining last-gen Zen 2 CPU cores with high-end RDNA 2 graphics. That RDNA 2, generally seen powering much more expensive machines as well as the PS5 and Xbox Series X / S consoles, could become widely available at a budget price point was an exciting prospect./news/an-uphill-battle-for-tech-regulation-after-scotus-s-netchoice-ruling.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/an-uphill-battle-for-tech-regulation-after-scotus-s-netchoice-ruling.htmlLast week’s Supreme Court decision in the NetChoice cases was overshadowed by a ruling on presidential immunity in Trump v. US that came down only minutes later. But whether or not America even noticed NetChoice happen, the decision is poised to affect a host of tech legislation still brewing on Capitol Hill and in state legislatures, as well as lawsuits that are percolating through the system. This includes the pending First Amendment challenge to the TikTok “ban” bill, as well as a First Amendment case about a Texas age verification law that the Supreme Court took up only a day after its NetChoice decision./news/android-s-new-sound-notifications-can-let-you-know-when-your-dog-is-barking.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/android-s-new-sound-notifications-can-let-you-know-when-your-dog-is-barking.htmlAndroid phones can now notify you when they detect certain sounds, which could notify people who are deaf or hard of hearing about important sounds nearby. If you turn on the feature, called Sound Notifications, you can have your Android phone inform you about some sounds via a push notification, a flash from your camera light, or by making your phone vibrate. Other devices support Sound Notifications as well, including Wear OS devices, which can send Sound Notifications via text notifications with vibrations./news/anonymous-chat-service-omegle-shuts-down-after-child-safety-lawsuit.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/anonymous-chat-service-omegle-shuts-down-after-child-safety-lawsuit.htmlOmegle, a popular video chat service that randomly connects users with strangers, has shut down after 14 years amid misuse of the platform and increased scrutiny by online safety regulators. In a lengthy statement announcing the closure, website founder Leif K Brooks said that operating Omegle is “no longer sustainable, financially nor psychologically,” and that fighting to prevent it from being misused is “simply too much.” While the website remains live to host Brook’s statement, its anonymous video chat function is no longer accessible./news/ape-escape-the-verge.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ape-escape-the-verge.htmlApe escape. The new trailer for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has what all good action movies need: an overhead shot of people being hunted in tall grass. (See Prey, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and X-Files: Fight the Future for more on this subject.) The latest Apes hits theaters on May 10th. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfaXxye5FtaGpvaWeDcK3PnmSeq5OWvaY%3D/news/app-based-banking-service-simple-is-shutting-down.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/app-based-banking-service-simple-is-shutting-down.htmlOnline-only bank Simple is shutting down, its parent company announced in an email to customers Thursday. BBVA USA, which acquired Simple in 2014 for $117 million, said it would be transitioning Simple customers to BBVA accounts but did not provide details about when the change would occur. BBVA USA was acquired by Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank in November. In the email to users, which many shared with The Verge, BBVA said the decision to close Simple was a strategic one and said customers did not need to take any immediate action./news/apple-just-kicked-fortnite-off-the-app-store.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-just-kicked-fortnite-off-the-app-store.htmlApple has removed Epic Games’ battle royale game Fortnite from the App Store after the developer on Thursday implemented its own in-app payment system that bypassed Apple’s standard 30 percent fee. The decision marks a significant escalation in the feud between Epic and one of the world’s most dominant mobile software marketplaces. It also comes at an especially fraught time for Apple as the iPhone maker navigates antitrust concerns over its operation of the App Store and the rules it imposes on certain developers./news/apple-kills-epic-s-ios-game-store-plans-over-app-store-criticism.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-kills-epic-s-ios-game-store-plans-over-app-store-criticism.htmlEpic’s plans to release its own third-party app store on iOS in the EU could be in trouble after Apple terminated the developer account it planned to use. In a blog post published today, the company shared a letter sent by Apple’s lawyers, which called Epic “verifiably untrustworthy” and said Apple does not believe that Epic will comply with its contractual commitments under its developer agreement. “Please be advised that Apple has, effective immediately, terminated the Developer Program membership of Epic Games Sweden AB,” the letter — which is dated March 2nd — states./news/apple-pay-is-convenient-it-also-enables-me-to-spend-more-money.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-pay-is-convenient-it-also-enables-me-to-spend-more-money.htmlA few days ago, I misplaced my wallet. I remember having it on Sunday, the night of my friend’s birthday dinner, because I was the one to put my card down. Maybe I had it on Monday. I didn’t spend any money then aside from a Lyft ride home, which famously doesn’t require you to swipe a card, so there’s no way to know for sure. And even when I did spend money — a case of La Croix at the bodega, an iced latte as a reward for going to the laundromat — my wallet never factored into the equation./news/apple-s-iphone-batterygate-settlement-payments-should-start-going-out-soon.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-iphone-batterygate-settlement-payments-should-start-going-out-soon.htmlThis clears the way for millions in payments to be distributed to affected owners of covered iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus, or first-generation iPhone SE devices. According to the terms of the settlement, Apple would have to pay a minimum of $310 million and up to $500 million, depending on how many people filed claims. The bad news is that if you owned one of the affected phones and are just now hearing about this, the deadline to submit a claim passed in October 2020./news/apple-s-iphone-lineup-is-selling-well-but-the-mac-is-in-a-serious-rough-patch.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-iphone-lineup-is-selling-well-but-the-mac-is-in-a-serious-rough-patch.htmlApple reported a record September earnings quarter on Thursday, with iPhone revenue up year over year — even with just a week or so of iPhone 15 sales factored into the numbers. But all of the company’s other hardware divisions were down, and as CNBC noted, overall sales were down for the fourth consecutive quarter. The company brought in $89.5 billion in revenue overall for the quarter. CEO Tim Cook told CNBC that the iPhone 15 lineup is showing stronger early momentum than the 14 series./news/aqara-s-new-camera-e1-costs-60-and-works-with-apple-homekit.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/aqara-s-new-camera-e1-costs-60-and-works-with-apple-homekit.htmlAqara’s latest smart home security camera, the Camera E1, is the company’s least expensive camera that still packs high-end features. First shown at the IFA 2023 tech conference, the $60 indoor camera is now available to buy in the US and Europe. It has impressive specs for its price point: 2K video, a wide-angle lens, a 360-degree pan and tilt view, local storage, and on-device processing of smart alerts. The camera also continues Aqara’s commitment to Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video (HKSV), making it one of the cheapest options to work with Apple’s end-to-end encrypted video storage service./news/bayonetta-3-review-a-sexy-stylish-sequel-that-can-t-nail-the-finale.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bayonetta-3-review-a-sexy-stylish-sequel-that-can-t-nail-the-finale.htmlI like to think I’m a generous reviewer. If I enjoyed 75 percent of a game, I can forgive the other, crappier, 25 percent. I can’t do that with Bayonetta 3. The game was a thoroughly enjoyable, worthy successor for its first three quarters, only to faceplant so hard in the final fourth that I’m ready to write off the entire game’s existence — a game I had been waiting for with bated breath for years./news/beeple-sold-an-nft-for-69-million.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/beeple-sold-an-nft-for-69-million.htmlUntil October, the most Mike Winkelmann — the digital artist known as Beeple — had ever sold a print for was $100. Today, an NFT of his work sold for $69 million at Christie’s. The sale positions him “among the top three most valuable living artists,” according to the auction house. The record-smashing NFT sale comes after months of increasingly valuable auctions. In October, Winkelmann sold his first series of NFTs, with a pair going for $66,666./news/black-friday-nintendo-switch-lite-deal-get-a-25-gamestop-or-amazon-gift-card-when-you-buy-one.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/black-friday-nintendo-switch-lite-deal-get-a-25-gamestop-or-amazon-gift-card-when-you-buy-one.htmlUpdated 4:43PM ET November 30th: Amazon is offering a $25 gift card when you buy a Switch Lite, so we’ve added a link in. Nintendo’s Switch Lite likely won’t be dropping in price any time soon, so the best deals we have to work with in the meantime are the rare promos, much like Amazon and GameStop’s Black Friday sale happening right now. Until Sunday night, on the eve of Cyber Monday, GameStop will include a $25 gift card with the $199./news/blackberry-key2-review-a-keyboard-with-a-phone.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/blackberry-key2-review-a-keyboard-with-a-phone.htmlThe BlackBerry Key2 is a phone designed for business people. A phone with a hardware keyboard is basically unimaginable in 2018, but for BlackBerry, it’s the whole reason to exist. BlackBerry is betting once again that its trademark keyboard will be the thing that keeps its dwindling core of dedicated users from choosing an iPhone, Galaxy, or some other Android device. The nostalgia of previous BlackBerry phones lingers with the Key2: it doesn’t use the fastest processor, have the best camera, or a notch./news/carnegie-mellon-team-wins-ai-security-battle-royale.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/carnegie-mellon-team-wins-ai-security-battle-royale.htmlLast night, DARPA’s long-planned Cyber Grand Challenge came to a dramatic finish in a 10-hour battle royale at Defcon, pitting seven automated security systems against each other to see which could find, exploit, and patch software vulnerabilities most effectively. The CMU-based ForAllSecure team emerged as the winner, finishing the 95-round contest with a clear lead after pulling ahead in round 10. True to predictions, keeping the systems running proved to be one of the most significant challenges, and even ForAllSecure’s winning Mayhem system scored zero in a number of later rounds due to system failure./news/ces-2022-organizers-insist-in-person-events-will-go-on-even-as-more-exhibitors-pull-back.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ces-2022-organizers-insist-in-person-events-will-go-on-even-as-more-exhibitors-pull-back.htmlThe pace of companies announcing they will forego the in-person parts of CES 2022 has only increased in the last 24 hours, with major companies like Intel and Google announcing their decisions on Thursday afternoon. Despite a growing list of cancellations that includes exhibitors, advertisers, and most tech media organizations we can name (including The Verge), the Consumer Technology Association that puts on the event says it will push forward with in-person events./news/chamberlain-discontinues-its-home-bridge-hub-that-connected-myq-garage-door-openers-to-homekit.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/chamberlain-discontinues-its-home-bridge-hub-that-connected-myq-garage-door-openers-to-homekit.htmlThe myQ Home Bridge Hub, which extended that control to the Apple Home app, has been out of stock on Chamberlain’s website for a few weeks, and the company confirmed to The Verge that it’s been discontinued. “As our products continue to evolve, we have decided to discontinue production of our myQ Home Bridge Hubs,” George Rassas, group product manager at Chamberlain Group, said in an email. He also confirmed that existing Home Bridge Hubs will continue to work “for the foreseeable future./news/converse-put-a-wah-pedal-in-a-pair-of-chuck-taylors.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/converse-put-a-wah-pedal-in-a-pair-of-chuck-taylors.htmlThree years ago, the design agency Critical Mass created a prototype of a high-top Converse Chuck Taylor with a built-in wah pedal called the . Now, in partnership with CuteCircuit, Converse has brought the shoe to life, and giving a pair to legendary guitarist J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. among others to use on stage. The All Wah works like a traditional wah pedal does, and can be connected to an amp and guitar using the dual plugs on the side of the shoes./news/cowboy-3-electric-bike-review-better-safe-than-sporty.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/cowboy-3-electric-bike-review-better-safe-than-sporty.htmlCowboy has returned with its third-generation e-bike. It’s still the best-looking pedal-assisted electric bike with a removable battery that I’ve ever seen having carried forward the same physical design as the original Cowboy. While the Cowboy 2 from last year was sporty, the Cowboy 3 is mature, focusing on safety rather than fun. The Cowboy 3 is fitted with a variety of safety features including automatic crash detection, a slower top speed, and new puncture-resistant tires of Cowboy design./news/cruz-blendercap-review-smoothies-and-shakes-on-the-go.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/cruz-blendercap-review-smoothies-and-shakes-on-the-go.htmlWhen two former Apple engineers pitched me a portable, battery-operated blender for my existing bottles — one that now counts Apple design legend Jony Ive himself as an outspoken investor — I saw it as a curiosity. Who’s going to spend $129 and lug around 1.5 pounds of batteries for a weakly blended smoothie? But I got one thing wrong about the Cruz BlenderCap: the smoothies aren’t weak at all. There are many other reasons why it’s a niche product, but delicious drinks aren’t one./news/disney-delays-a-pantheon-of-marvel-star-wars-and-avatar-movies.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/disney-delays-a-pantheon-of-marvel-star-wars-and-avatar-movies.htmlLet’s start with Marvel. In the “near” term, Captain America: Brave New World moves from May 3rd, 2024, to July 26th, 2024, and Thunderbolts has been delayed from that July slot to December 20th, 2024. (Last month, reports claimed that Thunderbolts was delaying filming due to the writers strike.) Blade has been pushed from September 6th, 2024, to February 14th, 2025, and Fantastic Four is moving from that February date to May 2nd, 2025./news/disney-espn-and-others-dropped-from-dish-and-sling-tv-due-to-contract-dispute.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/disney-espn-and-others-dropped-from-dish-and-sling-tv-due-to-contract-dispute.htmlDish and its Sling TV streaming service lost Disney’s package of channels after the companies couldn’t come to a contract agreement (via Deadline). In an announcement on its site, Dish says the Disney Channel, ESPN, FX, Freeform, National Geographic, and some local ABC networks are no longer available on its services after its contract expired early this morning. Dish blames the dispute on Disney, claiming the company demanded a $1 billion fee increase and “walked away from the negotiation table./news/dominic-toretto-s-1970-dodge-charger-from-the-fast-and-furious-is-now-a-lego-kit.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/dominic-toretto-s-1970-dodge-charger-from-the-fast-and-furious-is-now-a-lego-kit.htmlDominic Toretto’s 1970 Dodge Charger is one of the most iconic cars in the Fast and Furious franchise, and soon, it’ll be available as a Lego set. The model is a part of Lego’s Technic line, which means that it won’t just look cool; it will also include some moving parts. The car comes decked out with a replica V8 engine and a bottle of NOS (nitrous oxide) in the back — which is important if your goal is to try to race a model train to really set up the mood of the first film./news/ea-reportedly-cancels-new-titanfall-single-player-game.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ea-reportedly-cancels-new-titanfall-single-player-game.htmlEA has canceled an unannounced single-player game set in the same universe as Titanfall and Apex Legends, according to Bloomberg. The news comes on the heels of EA’s most recent earnings report on Tuesday, where it announced that it would be shutting down Apex Legends Mobile, halting development on a planned Battlefield mobile game, and delaying the release of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor by six weeks. Apex Legends, a battle royale live service shooter from Respawn Entertainment that was born out of a plan to make a new Titanfall, has become one of EA’s marquee titles./news/ea-reverses-decision-will-launch-the-sims-4-wedding-pack-in-russia.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ea-reverses-decision-will-launch-the-sims-4-wedding-pack-in-russia.htmlLast week, we shared the below update about our upcoming game pack “My Wedding Stories.” At the time, we believed that our team could not freely share the storytelling of same-sex couple Cam and Dom in Russia and decided the best way to uphold our commitment to sharing their story was to not release this pack there. Since then, we’ve been listening to the outpouring of feelings from our community including both support for our decision and concern for their fellow community members./news/ebay-will-pay-3-million-over-bizarre-cyberstalking-campaign.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ebay-will-pay-3-million-over-bizarre-cyberstalking-campaign.htmleBay has agreed to pay $3 million in connection with a 2019 harassment campaign directed at a Massachusetts couple that had been critical of the e-commerce site. The US Department of Justice announced the maximum criminal penalty on Thursday and said the company committed six felony offenses. Specifically, the DOJ charged eBay with two counts of stalking through interstate travel, two counts of stalking through electronic communications services, one count of witness tampering, and one count of obstruction of justice./news/elden-ring-speedruns-are-now-less-than-10-minutes-long.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/elden-ring-speedruns-are-now-less-than-10-minutes-long.htmlThe latest Elden Ring speedrun world record is less than 10 minutes now. It involves a metronome, absolutely no fighting, and, in the final seconds of the run, a player torn apart by one of the game’s final bosses. It is deeply silly, and I love it. Distortion2, a popular Soulsborne speedrunner, has claimed the world record in Elden Ring’s any% unrestricted category with a time of 8 minutes and 56 seconds./news/elemental-s-co-writers-wanted-it-to-be-open-honest-and-not-another-zootopia.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/elemental-s-co-writers-wanted-it-to-be-open-honest-and-not-another-zootopia.htmlAs straightforward as the metaphors in Pixar’s Elemental seem at a glance, the more you think about the movie’s city full of anthropomorphized classical elements, the more questions come to mind about what the film’s creators were trying to say beyond “love conquers all, even creatively imagined racism.” Elemental repeatedly returns to that heartening concept as it tells the tale of how Ember, a headstrong woman made of fire, and Wade, a waterlogged city employee, fall head over heels for one another./news/even-the-raspberry-pi-is-getting-in-on-ai.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/even-the-raspberry-pi-is-getting-in-on-ai.htmlAs the AI craze continues, even the microcomputer company Raspberry Pi plans to sell an AI chip. It’s integrated with Raspberry Pi’s camera software and can run AI-based applications like chatbots natively on the tiny computer.  Raspberry Pi partnered with chipmaker Hailo for its AI Kit, which is an add-on for its Raspberry Pi 5 microcomputer that will run Hailo’s Hailo-8L M.2 accelerator. The kits will be available “soon from the worldwide network of Raspberry Pi-approved resellers” for $70./news/facebook-is-making-its-navigation-bar-a-little-more-personal.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/facebook-is-making-its-navigation-bar-a-little-more-personal.htmlFacebook is redesigning the navigation on its mobile app to prioritize the services you use most frequently. The navigation bar, which spans the bottom of the screen on the iOS app and the top on Android, previously showed every user in the same country the same five icons. For example, in the US, it was the News Feed, notifications, menu, Watch, and Marketplace. According to CNET, with this update, everyone will still see the News Feed, notification, and menu icons, but the other slots will be replaced with icons for what you use the most, like links to your profile, friend requests, or groups./news/facebook-rolls-out-super-lightweight-app-for-people-on-slow-mobile-networks.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/facebook-rolls-out-super-lightweight-app-for-people-on-slow-mobile-networks.htmlEarlier his year, Facebook piloted a new, stripped-down version of its mobile app aimed directly at developing markets. Called Facebook Lite, the app would allow people using phones that don't have high-end specs and large batteries to connect to their network of friends. Today, Facebook Lite is getting an official rollout, landing first in Asia and later in parts of Africa, Latin America, and Europe. The Facebook Lite app runs on Android, and is pared down to give people the absolute basics./news/facebook-s-free-basics-violates-net-neutrality-and-isn-t-even-that-good-says-report.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/facebook-s-free-basics-violates-net-neutrality-and-isn-t-even-that-good-says-report.htmlA report released today by activist group Global Voices found that not only does Facebook’s Free Basics violate net neutrality principles, it’s not even very helpful to those who use it. Free Basics, an app that provides free access to specific services in parts of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, was already banned in India last year for violating net neutrality rules. Upon opening the app, users have to get by with a Bing search engine, a Johnson & Johnson-sponsored baby advice app, and a number of other sponsored apps./news/fcc-votes-to-restore-net-neutrality.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fcc-votes-to-restore-net-neutrality.htmlNet neutrality is the idea that internet service providers (ISPs) should not be able to discriminate against different kinds of content by blocking or throttling connection speeds or offering paid prioritization for different internet traffic. The FCC has sought to accomplish this by reclassifying ISPs as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act, giving the agency more regulatory authority over them. Democratic FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in remarks ahead of the vote that internet access went from a “nice to have, to need to have./news/fda-clears-natural-cycles-birth-control-to-use-a-smart-ring-for-temperature-measurements.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fda-clears-natural-cycles-birth-control-to-use-a-smart-ring-for-temperature-measurements.htmlDigital birth control Natural Cycles can now use temperature data from devices like the Oura smart ring to make predictions on when someone could become pregnant. The company said today it got clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to give users the option of taking their temperature through a device with a temperature sensor, rather than taking it manually with a thermometer. The sign-off makes Natural Cycles the “world’s first wearable birth control,” the company said in a statement./news/fedex-is-launching-a-new-e-commerce-platform-as-it-competes-with-amazon.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fedex-is-launching-a-new-e-commerce-platform-as-it-competes-with-amazon.htmlFedEx announced today that it will launch a new “data-driven commerce platform” this fall called fdx that it says will give online merchants “end-to-end e-commerce solutions.” The company’s new platform is aimed at helping businesses manage their supply chain, sell to customers, and manage deliveries. The company wrote in its announcement that fdx will combine existing FedEx commerce tools, like access to members of ShopRunner, an e-commerce marketplace FedEx acquired in 2020, with features debuting in the fall like the ability to create a “custom post-purchase experience” so brands can give customers more accurate shipment information or use insight from FedEx’s shipment network data for order management./news/final-fantasy-vii-rebirth-comes-out-in-february.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/final-fantasy-vii-rebirth-comes-out-in-february.htmlFinal Fantasy VII Rebirth has a new trailer and a February release date. To close out a rather tame State of Play, Sony knew it had to bring out the big guns. So it did... with the Sister Ray. Junon’s big-ass gun was only one of the many new glimpses of the open world we got with FFVII Rebirth’s new trailer. We also got a first look at Cosmo Canyon and Gold Saucer, and Cait Sith finally makes his appearance./news/fitbit-charge-5-review-touchscreen-fatigue.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fitbit-charge-5-review-touchscreen-fatigue.htmlFitbit’s newest fitness tracker, the Charge 5, might be the biggest change to the Charge line yet. It has a color screen, the first for a Charge, and you can opt to keep the screen on all the time. It has a new rounded design that’s thinner than the Charge 4. New sensors measure how your body responds to stress. But all that change also comes at a higher $179.95 price, a $30 increase from the Charge 4./news/florida-s-desantis-signs-social-media-law-requiring-age-verification.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/florida-s-desantis-signs-social-media-law-requiring-age-verification.htmlFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) just signed into law HB 3, a bill that will give parents of teens under 16 more control over their kids’ access to social media and require age verification for many websites. The bill requires social media platforms to prevent kids under 14 from creating accounts, and delete existing ones. It also requires parent or guardian consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to create or maintain social media accounts and mandates that platforms delete social media accounts and personal information for this age group at the teen’s or parent’s request./news/food-delivery-app-caviar-spotlights-women-owned-restaurants.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/food-delivery-app-caviar-spotlights-women-owned-restaurants.htmlFood delivery apps help you get pizza and salads without having to talk to restaurants at all. You might go for days without even needing to think about who’s making your food. But meal delivery startup Caviar wants to highlight where your dollars have actually been going when you order all those pizzas and salads. It’s created a permanent, eye-catching section at the top of its app dedicated to businesses owned by or powered by women./news/for-the-next-three-hours-you-can-get-a-galaxy-watch-4-for-just-129.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/for-the-next-three-hours-you-can-get-a-galaxy-watch-4-for-just-129.htmlWhile this model, unfortunately, lacks the physical rotating bezel, the Watch 4 still sports a touch interface that’s snappy and responsive, in addition to expanded third-party app support and an extensive suite of health tracking features. The Watch 4 is a solid choice for just about any Android user that’s looking for a capable smartwatch, but it’s worth noting that the Galaxy Watch 4 plays best with the Samsung ecosystem. Read our review./news/fortnite-arrives-on-amazon-luna-today.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fortnite-arrives-on-amazon-luna-today.htmlFortnite, one of the world’s most popular games, has also become a de facto test of the public’s interest in streaming games like they stream YouTube or Netflix. It’s been completely free to stream from Nvidia’s GeForce Now or Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming to almost any device you own, no download and no paid subscription required. Today, Amazon Luna is joining them. “Fortnite has been the most requested game from Luna customers in the U./news/freezing-sochi-how-russia-turned-a-subtropical-beach-into-a-winter-olympics-wonderland.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/freezing-sochi-how-russia-turned-a-subtropical-beach-into-a-winter-olympics-wonderland.htmlThe Olympic Village in Sochi, Russia, on the shores of the Black Sea. ( Wikipedia) Sochi is not the most obvious place to host the Winter Olympics. The Russian resort, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, is humid and subtropical. Temperatures average out at about 52 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter, and 75 degrees in the summer. Palm trees line the streets, and it's the only part of Russia warm enough to grow tea leaves./news/from-chatgpt-to-gemini-how-ai-is-rewriting-the-internet-page-4.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/from-chatgpt-to-gemini-how-ai-is-rewriting-the-internet-page-4.htmlShutterstock made AI-training deals with everyone, apparently. The stock image company has had deals to let OpenAI, Meta, Google, and Amazon train on its images, Reuters wrote yesterday while reporting that Apple got in on the action. Each of the deals reportedly initially ranged from $25 million to $50 million, but Shutterstock’s CEO, Jarrod Yahes, told the outlet most companies expanded them later. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtqb2lgaX94e8KhmK2an6nAbq%2FHmqugqKRiu6bDjJugp59dnLyws8ueZJuZopl6pLvNr5yrq5GptrC6wKVkmqFflr%2BktMivnKxnZA%3D%3D/news/fry-s-electronics-is-shutting-its-doors-for-good.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fry-s-electronics-is-shutting-its-doors-for-good.htmlFry’s Electronics, one of the last big brick-and-mortar electronics store chains in the United States — and a Silicon Valley institution in particular — is permanently closing nationwide, the company has officially confirmed Wednesday, following Tuesday evening reports from SF Bay Area broadcaster KRON4, as well as Bill Reynolds and Matthew Keys. "After nearly 36 years in business as the one-stop-shop and online resource for high-tech professionals across nine states and 31 stores, Fry’s Electronics, Inc./news/future-perfect-meet-the-man-who-wants-to-be-president-and-then-live-forever.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/future-perfect-meet-the-man-who-wants-to-be-president-and-then-live-forever.htmlImagine our world characterized not by scarcity, but by abundance. In a future, not too far from now, hunger, disease, war, poverty, aging, and death itself will be things of a barbaric human past. Environmental degradation will be solved, and climate change will be nothing to worry about. Work too will become a thing of the past, as intelligent machines allow us to indulge our dreams and live with absolute, unbounded freedom./news/gamergate-scandal-convinced-4chan-founder-moot-to-leave-the-site.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gamergate-scandal-convinced-4chan-founder-moot-to-leave-the-site.htmlIn an interview, Poole says that when both Gamergate and a separate controversy surrounding a number of nude celebrity photos came to life on 4chan last September, it was "probably the most stressful month of my life." As he explains, "Week after week after week after week, there's this new controversy ... I kept getting drawn back in." "Week after week after week after week, there's this new controversy." Poole decided to ban Gamergate from the site, which is known to host all matter of extremely questionable content — especially on its infamous /b/ message board./news/games-forum-neogaf-in-chaos-after-owner-accused-of-sexual-misconduct.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/games-forum-neogaf-in-chaos-after-owner-accused-of-sexual-misconduct.htmlInfluential games forum NeoGAF is in disarray after a woman accused owner Tyler Malka of sexual misconduct in 2015. In a Facebook post that’s preserved here, the woman — identified by Kotaku as a film director who has worked with Malka — said that he followed her naked into a shower against her wishes while the two were in New Orleans on a road trip. While she initially didn’t name Malka, she followed up with a comment reading “Google Evilore,” which is his NeoGAF handle./news/gas-discounts-and-international-data-here-s-what-t-mobile-s-adding-to-your-plan.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gas-discounts-and-international-data-here-s-what-t-mobile-s-adding-to-your-plan.htmlT-Mobile is announcing some updated benefits it offers to customers who subscribe to its wireless plans, which it calls “Coverage Beyond.” Perhaps the most timely is a 25 cent per gallon discount on gas at Shell stations, which it’s offering via its T-Mobile Tuesday program. The company is also bringing upgrades to the international and in-flight data benefits for customers. For the gas discount, T-Mobile’s fine print says it’s good for “up to 20 gallons,” which is the same limit the company put on its fuel rewards for Shell in the past (though those only knocked 10 or 15 cents off per gallon)./news/gizmodo-s-staff-isn-t-happy-about-g-o-media-s-ai-generated-content.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gizmodo-s-staff-isn-t-happy-about-g-o-media-s-ai-generated-content.htmlG/O Media, who owns popular tech site Gizmodo along with a slew of other outlets, began publishing AI-generated articles last week, despite strong objections from many of the members of its staff, according to The Washington Post. The articles are all credited to various bots — Gizmodo Bot, for example — with no other indication that the article was created using an AI chatbot. Unsurprisingly, the stories needed a lot of work./news/gmail-adds-a-blue-verified-checkmark-for-businesses.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gmail-adds-a-blue-verified-checkmark-for-businesses.htmlGmail will start displaying a familiar-looking blue checkmark next to a sender’s name to verify their identity. In a blog post, Google says the feature is supposed to help users figure out whether the email they’ve received is from a legitimate source or a scammer. Image: Google As shown in the image provided by Google, hovering over the checkmark says that “the sender of this email has verified” that they own the domain and profile image that they’re using to send the email./news/good-deal-bioshock-infinite-pc-download-for-27-99.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/good-deal-bioshock-infinite-pc-download-for-27-99.htmlIf last month's Amazon sale didn't drive down the price for Bioshock Infinite low enough, Gamefly's PC deal might convince you to download one of this year's best games. Gamefly is offering the first-person shooter for $34.99/£16.99 as part of summer PC sale, but you can save an additional 20 percent and bring the cost down to $27.99/£13.59 by using the code GFDJUN20 in the US or GFDJUN20UK in the UK./news/google-chrome-will-soon-let-you-install-any-webpage-as-a-desktop-web-app.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-chrome-will-soon-let-you-install-any-webpage-as-a-desktop-web-app.htmlGoogle Chrome will soon let you install any webpage as a desktop web app. A Chrome Canary update spotted by X user Leopeva64 (via Android Police) introduces a new “install page as app” button in the settings menu for all the websites you visit. You can try out the feature before it’s rolled out by downloading Canary and enabling these flags: • chrome://flags/#web-app-universal-install • chrome://flags/#shortcuts-not-apps ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfaHx4e5FtZ3JraGiBcLPOqJ6lnV2YtbO7zJ5ksKGcoXq0u86nZKWdpGLGsMGMoqWsrJGhuW6tzbJksJ2Spa6osYyaqmaZXZmytLfTqKdmr5WXeqK8zw%3D%3D/news/google-is-reportedly-working-on-an-ai-assistant-for-pixels-called-pixie.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-is-reportedly-working-on-an-ai-assistant-for-pixels-called-pixie.htmlGoogle is reportedly working on an AI assistant for Pixels, called “Pixie.” The Pixel-exclusive AI assistant will use the information on a user’s phone, such as data from Maps and Gmail, to become a more “personalized” version of Google Assistant, according to a report from The Information. The feature could reportedly launch with the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro next year. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2tfZn9wfZNoaW1oYGaBdX6OoKaon5yaeqq%2FjKucqaeiqbKluNhmrqiqm567qHnOp2Sapl2Wtm6t0qygrKyRo8Fuss6rZKmhqJq5tHnCmqOlnZRivarEyJ4%3D/news/google-kills-off-app-that-let-you-find-loved-ones-location-during-an-emergency.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-kills-off-app-that-let-you-find-loved-ones-location-during-an-emergency.htmlGoogle will discontinue its emergency location sharing app Trusted Contacts in December, and has already yanked it from the Google Play Store. Instead, it’s directing existing users to try similar but less helpful features in Google Maps. That’s a shame, because while Trusted Contacts could let you find a family member even if they don’t respond (say, if they are unconscious or in danger), Google Maps requires them to proactively broadcast their location to you./news/google-will-offer-free-local-broadcasts-of-monday-s-solar-eclipse.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-will-offer-free-local-broadcasts-of-monday-s-solar-eclipse.htmlGoogle will offer free local broadcasts of Monday’s solar eclipse. The list, published by 9to5Google and others, is mostly NBC affiliate stations. Many of the stations are located in the eclipse’s path of totality, but folks in places like the Bay Area, Chicago, Los Angeles, and south Florida will be able to watch on Google TV, too. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfaXx4e5FtaGtrZGh%2BcLPOqJ6lnV2stq24jKidn52iYrOzscRmo6ibkaF6o77OmpucmaOpwG67xWakqKaUlsa0edKoo5qqXZqwrbXPrJw%3D/news/google-will-only-train-on-your-google-docs-if-it-finds-them-online.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-will-only-train-on-your-google-docs-if-it-finds-them-online.htmlGoogle will only train on your Google Docs if it finds them online. Business Insider’s Katie Notopoulos wondered if Google trains its AI models on Google Docs we share with “anyone with a link.” Google, which added AI features to workspaces last year, says it only trains on “publicly available” Google Docs. But the company says that even documents that are accessible to “anyone with a link” remain private unless that link is posted online where Google’s webcrawler can find it./news/google-s-getting-rid-of-its-standalone-driving-mode-dashboard.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-s-getting-rid-of-its-standalone-driving-mode-dashboard.htmlThe standalone version of Driving Mode isn’t to be confused with the Driving Mode feature built into Google Maps, which automatically boots up once you start navigation. As Esper’s Mishaal Rahman points out, Google added Assistant Driving Mode to Maps before it even released the standalone Driving Mode. The only difference between the two is that you can access the standalone version by saying a voice command like “Hey Google, launch Driving Mode,” or by tapping the Driving Mode shortcut on your phone’s home screen./news/google-s-top-lawyer-allegedly-had-affairs-with-multiple-employees.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-s-top-lawyer-allegedly-had-affairs-with-multiple-employees.htmlGoogle’s chief legal officer David Drummond had an affair with former Google lawyer Jennifer Blakely that resulted in a baby born in 2007, Blakely writes in a post on Medium. The relationship violated Google’s policies which ban relationships between managers and their subordinates. After that, Blakely says Drummond abandoned the relationship, put her through a legal wringer for child support, and engaged in treatment that Blakely describes as “nothing short of abuse./news/gotta-go-fast-all-the-awesome-stuff-at-agdq-2024.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gotta-go-fast-all-the-awesome-stuff-at-agdq-2024.htmlIt’s dangerous to go alone, take this. In my short tour of all the technology that keeps GDQ running, I asked what piece of equipment director of technology Jason “Wyrm” Deng would grab first in case the building caught on fire. Meet “The Wing.” It’s a 48-channel digital mixer responsible for ensuring all the runners, commentators, game audio, and hosts come in crystal clear and it’s the GDQ tech team’s most expensive piece of equipment./news/halo-star-pablo-schreiber-is-excited-for-a-darker-season-2.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/halo-star-pablo-schreiber-is-excited-for-a-darker-season-2.htmlFrom the first trailer alone, I could tell Halo season 2 would go in a different direction than the first. Where season 1 was bogged down in strange storytelling choices that didn’t leave much room for its characters — namely, the Spartans — to do what they do best — namely, kick Covenant ass — season 2 feels more in line with what a Halo show should be about. According to Pablo Schreiber, the difference mostly comes down to tone./news/hands-on-with-sony-s-dualsense-edge-the-200-ps5-gamepad.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hands-on-with-sony-s-dualsense-edge-the-200-ps5-gamepad.htmlHow do you build a better controller than the best gamepad that’s come along in years? Sony’s strategy with the DualSense Edge — arriving January 26th for $199.99 — was familiarity. Instead of changing how buttons feel or where they’re located, Sony’s designers took an entirely additive approach, making a highly configurable version of its original PS5 controller that does more while feeling practically identical. The Edge is the same size, the same shape, and has the same buttons and joysticks as far as my fingers can tell./news/how-a-windows-shake-up-could-position-microsoft-to-capitalize-on-ai-pcs.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-a-windows-shake-up-could-position-microsoft-to-capitalize-on-ai-pcs.htmlAfter Windows and Surface chief Panos Panay departed Microsoft last year, the software giant quickly split his two divisions into two different teams. It was a move designed to push Windows engineers to focus on more web and AI features under Mikhail Parakhin, who was previously responsible for Bing and ads. It didn’t work out. Six months after that shake-up, Windows and Surface are back together under a new leader, following frustrations from the very top of Microsoft./news/how-the-eu-s-dma-is-changing-big-tech-all-of-the-news-and-updates-page-2.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-the-eu-s-dma-is-changing-big-tech-all-of-the-news-and-updates-page-2.htmlThis third-party iOS app store will be available in Europe this week. German IT service provider Mobivention will launch its corporate-focused Mobivention App Marketplace on March 7th, the same date that the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) comes into force. Alternatives to Apple’s iOS App Store have also been announced by Epic and MacPaw, though it seems Mobivention will beat both to market. The company says its App Marketplace is focused on enterprise app distribution, and provides:/news/how-to-build-a-custom-pc-for-gaming-editing-or-coding.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-build-a-custom-pc-for-gaming-editing-or-coding.htmlEditor’s note: An earlier version of this article included a video guide detailing similar steps on how to build a PC. Unfortunately, that video included a number of errors in the build process, and as a result we have removed it from this article. We have also updated this article to improve the order of the steps in the process. Building your own Windows desktop has many advantages over buying one pre-built./news/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-pixel-s-now-playing-feature.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-pixel-s-now-playing-feature.htmlThe other day, I was watching the documentary The Beatles: Get Back, which flashes on the screen the names of the songs being played and happened to miss the identification of a song I didn’t recognize. “What was that?” I asked my partner. He didn’t know either. But my Pixel 6 didn’t miss it. Looking down at my lock screen, it said “Dig a Pony The Beatles,” courtesy of Android’s Now Playing feature./news/how-to-sell-vr-to-the-masses-according-to-sony.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-sell-vr-to-the-masses-according-to-sony.htmlAs recently as last year, you could position virtual reality headsets sort of like runway fashion designs: as abstractly stylish and futuristic things that the vast majority of people will never have to even consider purchasing, and could therefore admire from afar. In 2016, that’s changed. VR might not be mainstream, but companies are starting to pitch it that way. Take, for example, Sony’s PlayStation VR, coming out on Thursday. In honor of the release, Sony has published a three-part, 8-minute instructional video series for installing and using PSVR./news/how-to-set-up-profiles-in-safari-on-macos-sonoma.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-set-up-profiles-in-safari-on-macos-sonoma.htmlWith macOS Sonoma, Apple’s Safari browser is catching up with Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and other competitors by introducing profiles: separate spaces that you can set up in the app to better organize your browsing. Each profile has its own browsing history, cookies, website data, extensions, Tab Groups, bookmarks, and favorites. The idea is that you can have one profile for your job and another for personal use, for example, or different profiles for different projects you’re involved in at work./news/how-to-watch-the-third-republican-debate.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-watch-the-third-republican-debate.htmlThe third Republican debate ahead of the 2024 presidential election is set to take place tonight in Miami, Florida. The field has narrowed down to five candidates who will likely spar on issues like the Israel-Hamas war, especially as Congress prepares a new funding package for Israel. Front-runner Donald Trump is, yet again, not among them. If you’re interested in tuning in, here’s what you need to know. The third GOP debate takes place on Wednesday, November 8th, at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT and is expected to last two hours./news/how-two-bit-circus-is-turning-its-21st-century-carnival-into-one-giant-game.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-two-bit-circus-is-turning-its-21st-century-carnival-into-one-giant-game.htmlThrow out the term “amusement park,” and it conjures up visions of roller coasters and rides and costumed characters in massive, franchise-themed lands. But inside a warehouse in the downtown arts district of Los Angeles, a company called Two Bit Circus is building its own idiosyncratic riff on the idea, focused on the power of games. Aside from a sign and some carnival-style light bulbs, the exterior of the self-styled “micro-amusement park” doesn’t seem all that remarkable./news/i-got-my-iphone-s-battery-replaced-and-i-m-angry-apple-didn-t-tell-me-to-sooner.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/i-got-my-iphone-s-battery-replaced-and-i-m-angry-apple-didn-t-tell-me-to-sooner.htmlTwo weeks ago, I went to an Apple Store and had a new battery put in my iPhone 6S. The very next day, I realized how unusable my old battery had been making my phone. The repair restored functionality that had been seeping away so slowly I hadn’t really registered the loss. Apps now load when I tap them, not when they feel like it. The keyboard doesn’t freeze when I try to reply to emails in Outlook./news/i-played-battlefield-on-razer-s-three-screen-laptop.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/i-played-battlefield-on-razer-s-three-screen-laptop.htmlThe Razer Project Valerie prototype is a laptop with not one, not two, but three 17-inch displays. It can run Battlefield 1 at 12K resolution with perfectly smooth frame rates. There’s no price or release date, as this is far from becoming a real product, but if Razer finds enough demand from users, the company promises to build this crazy concoction for real. I played on it, so let me tell you what that’s like./news/imgur-is-banning-porn-and-purging-old-anonymous-uploads.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/imgur-is-banning-porn-and-purging-old-anonymous-uploads.htmlPopular image hosting platform Imgur is done with hosting pornography. In a blog post published this week, the company says it has a new terms of service coming into effect on May 15th and that, as a result, it’ll be removing “nudity, pornography, & sexually explicit content” from its platform as well as “old, unused, and inactive content that is not tied to a user account.” “You will need to download/save any images that you wish to save if they no longer adhere to these Terms,” Imgur wrote in its blog post./news/indiev-reveals-electric-car-with-a-built-in-gaming-pc-but-not-much-else.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/indiev-reveals-electric-car-with-a-built-in-gaming-pc-but-not-much-else.htmlThere’s a new electric vehicle startup breaking cover in California, making bold claims and teasing pie-in-the-sky ideas while remaining guarded about its founder and origin story. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a story that’s been playing out on repeat the last half-decade. This time, it’s a company called IndiEV, which emerged from stealth mode Thursday with a small prototype electric car called the Indi One that it says will start at just $45,000 — a car it boldly says will launch at the end of 2022./news/ios-11-has-a-cop-button-to-temporarily-disable-touch-id.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ios-11-has-a-cop-button-to-temporarily-disable-touch-id.htmlApple is adding an easy way to quickly disable Touch ID in iOS 11. A new setting, designed to automate emergency services calls, lets iPhone users tap the power button quickly five times to call 911. This doesn’t automatically dial the emergency services by default, but it brings up the option to and also temporarily disables Touch ID until you enter a passcode. Twitter users discovered the new option in the iOS 11 public beta, and The Verge has verified it works as intended./news/is-that-a-birthday-greeting-or-are-you-just-trying-to-sell-me-something.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/is-that-a-birthday-greeting-or-are-you-just-trying-to-sell-me-something.htmlAutomated birthday emails are a constant of modern life, right up there with death, taxes, and computer updates with poor timing. Once a year, my inbox fills to the brim with reminders of just how many companies I’ve entrusted with my birthdate. But not this year. No, this year was going to be different. This year I went on a relentless unsubscribing kick, just ruthlessly clicking the unsubscribe button whenever something from a corporate mailing list came into my inbox./news/it-s-ridiculously-easy-for-teens-to-buy-e-cigs-online.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/it-s-ridiculously-easy-for-teens-to-buy-e-cigs-online.htmlBuying electronic cigarettes online is exceedingly easy for teenagers, according toa study conducted in North Carolina. Despite the state's e-cigarette age-verification law, more than 90 percent of vendors failed to verify the ages of teenagers who bought e-cigarettes online. This is the first study to look into US minors' ability to buy e-cigs online, the researchers note — and it's not looking good. Teens placed and received 75 out of the 98 orders/news/kinect-aids-in-improving-mobility-and-rehabilitating-stroke-patients.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/kinect-aids-in-improving-mobility-and-rehabilitating-stroke-patients.htmlKinect's finding its way into more and more areas of research as a comparatively cheap way to create 3D images. The camera's particularly gaining ground amongst health practitioners, and now we've heard of Kinect being used for gait analysis and rehab. The uses in gait analysis — the study of how people walk — are being developed separately by both Missouri University and by students from Oak Ridge High School, Tennessee./news/light-no-fire-is-the-next-ambitious-game-from-the-studio-behind-no-man-s-sky.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/light-no-fire-is-the-next-ambitious-game-from-the-studio-behind-no-man-s-sky.htmlA decade ago, at the Spike Video Game Awards, Hello Games made a splash by announcing the wildly ambitious sci-fi exploration game No Man’s Sky. This evening, at the 2023 edition of The Game Awards, the studio did it again, revealing Light No Fire. This time, instead of offering a massive universe of different planets to explore, the game is focused on a single, incredibly detailed world. According to Hello’s Sean Murray, the game has been in development for the last five years by a small team./news/listen-to-janelle-mon%C3%A1e-s-new-protest-song-hell-you-talmbout.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/listen-to-janelle-mon%C3%A1e-s-new-protest-song-hell-you-talmbout.htmlJanelle Monáe just shared a new song, "Hell You Talmbout," via her label imprint Wondaland Records. The track is both a protest song and a tribute; a call to arms and a forceful reminder of the tragic, tangible consequences of police brutality. The song, not to be confused with Chance the Rapper's "Fuck You Tahm Bout," features the complete Wondaland Records lineup — Monáe, Jidenna, Roman GianArthur, Deep Cotton, St. Beauty, and George 2./news/logitech-officially-discontinues-its-harmony-remotes.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/logitech-officially-discontinues-its-harmony-remotes.htmlLogitech said Friday it is discontinuing its line of Harmony universal remotes, ending years of speculation that the devices were on their way out. Models that are currently in stock at retailers will be available while supplies last, and the company says it will continue to provide support and service for the Harmony remote “as long as customers are using it.” “While Harmony remotes are and continue to be available through various retailers, moving forward Logitech will no longer manufacture Harmony remotes,” according to ablog post on Logitech’s support page./news/loki-season-2-review-a-sharper-edge-and-new-perspectives.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/loki-season-2-review-a-sharper-edge-and-new-perspectives.htmlThe retrofuturistic swankiness and timey-wimey whimsy of Loki’s first season brought a delightful new energy to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe that made it seem like the franchise could still be quite intriguing without many of the original Avengers. By blowing the MCU’s Sacred Timeline wide open, Loki helped usher Marvel into a new era of promising narrative risk-taking. But the show’s season 1 finale also left it in the tricky position of being both an in-progress Thor spinoff series doing its own distinct thing and a staging ground for the next big crossover event Marvel wants fans obsessing over for the indefinite future./news/macbook-air-2018-hands-on-with-apple-s-new-ultra-thin-laptop.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/macbook-air-2018-hands-on-with-apple-s-new-ultra-thin-laptop.htmlApple has finally unveiled a long-awaited revamp of the MacBook Air, replacing the influential but outdated laptop with a new model that adds a high-resolution Retina display, USB-C, and Touch ID. The laptop strongly resembles the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro that was released two years ago, but the design has been tweaked with a subtle taper to make it a bit smaller and to more closely resemble the iconic Air. The laptop was unveiled onstage at the Howard Gilman Opera House in Brooklyn, and Apple brought us out into a demo area to check out the new machines./news/mario-kart-vr-is-real-here-s-your-first-look.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/mario-kart-vr-is-real-here-s-your-first-look.htmlThere’s an official version of Mario Kart in virtual reality, but it’s only heading to a Tokyo arcade for now. Mario Kart Arcade GP VR is a newly announced entry in the Namco-developed series of Mario Kart arcade games. As the name may suggest, the new title makes the jump to VR, allowing players to race and throw shells at each other in virtual reality. Mario Kart Arcade GP VR will run off an HTC Vive headset, with players controlling the action in Mario Kart-styled arcade chairs with built-in steering wheels for driving and motion controller wrist bands to allow you to actually throw items at your opponents./news/max-streaming-platform-is-fixing-its-disrespectful-creator-credits.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/max-streaming-platform-is-fixing-its-disrespectful-creator-credits.htmlWarner Bros. Discovery has started fixing the controversial “creator” credits section on its recently relaunched Max streaming platform over a month following the company apologizing for snubbing the talent behind films and TV shows. According to Deadline, the entertainment giant began revising the credit sections across its various platforms earlier this week — which currently lump together writers, directors, producers, and more as nondescript “creators.” “This is a credits violation for starters,” Meredith Stiehm, president of Writers Guild of America West, said last month./news/max-will-stream-over-1-000-movies-and-tv-episodes-in-4k-at-launch.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/max-will-stream-over-1-000-movies-and-tv-episodes-in-4k-at-launch.htmlWhen Max goes live on May 23rd, the new Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service will offer substantially more 4K entertainment than HBO Max ever did. The company issued a press release on Monday with new details on what subscribers on the $19.99 / month “Ultimate” plan can expect. Max will offer “8 times more films and episodes of 4K UHD content than HBO Max, including popular programming such as Game of Thrones, The Last of Us, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Dark Knight trilogy, the Matrix films and more,” the company announced./news/meet-orin-snyder-the-deadliest-trial-lawyer-in-tech.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/meet-orin-snyder-the-deadliest-trial-lawyer-in-tech.html"So now you said 'likely' told. Do you recall just using those words?" Snyder, 50, has won big cases for Cablevision, Warner Bros. Music Group, and Capital One Financial Corp. He's become a favorite in the entertainment industry and represents such marquee clients as Bob Dylan, Jerry Seinfeld, and The Rolling Stones. He told The Hollywood Reporter in 2011 that celebrities favor "a warrior who thinks outside the box." Snyder, who works for mega law firm Gibson Dunn, has also proven himself in the tech sector./news/mercedes-benz-ceo-ola-k%C3%A4llenius-on-not-using-apple-s-next-gen-carplay.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/mercedes-benz-ceo-ola-k%C3%A4llenius-on-not-using-apple-s-next-gen-carplay.htmlToday, I’m talking with Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius. Ola was last on the show in 2022, and he promised me he’d come back when Mercedes was ready to launch an EV version of the G-Wagen — the company’s legendary off-road vehicle. And it’s here — the G580 with EQ technology is official, and it will start at over $150,000. Ola and I talked all about it, what it means for Mercedes’ overall electrification efforts, and whether the EQ branding is long for this world./news/meta-is-putting-its-european-ai-assistant-launch-on-hold.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/meta-is-putting-its-european-ai-assistant-launch-on-hold.htmlMeta is putting plans for its AI assistant on hold in Europe after receiving objections from Ireland’s privacy regulator, the company announced on Friday.  In a blog post, Meta said the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) asked the company to delay training its large language models on content that had been publicly posted to Facebook and Instagram profiles. Meta said it is “disappointed” by the request, “particularly since we incorporated regulatory feedback and the European [Data Protection Authorities] have been informed since March./news/meta-just-showed-off-threads-fediverse-integration-for-the-very-first-time.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/meta-just-showed-off-threads-fediverse-integration-for-the-very-first-time.htmlThreads is coming to the fediverse — and we just got our first official look at how that might work from Meta itself. During the FediForum conference on Tuesday, Meta’s Peter Cottle showed off a brief demo of how users will eventually be able to connect their accounts and posts to the fediverse. The integration will let users share their posts across different platforms through Threads, letting them reach multiple audiences at once./news/metropcs-adds-70-a-month-pricing-tier-for-unlimited-lte-data-caps-60-plan-at-5gb.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/metropcs-adds-70-a-month-pricing-tier-for-unlimited-lte-data-caps-60-plan-at-5gb.htmlMetroPCS LTE data plans just got a little less confusing, but users may not be happy with the changes. The company is adding a new tier to its plans, raising the rate for unlimited LTE data (along with unlimited voice, SMS, Rhapsody music, and Video On Demand) to $70 a month. The extant $60 plan will now offer 5GB a month, slowing users' speeds when they exceed that amount. "Customers will remain on the 4G LTE network but receive a reduced speed similar to what they might experience on MetroPCS' 3G networks,"/news/microsoft-abandons-plans-to-take-on-netflix-with-original-xbox-tv-shows.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-abandons-plans-to-take-on-netflix-with-original-xbox-tv-shows.htmlI hope you have had a chance to read today’s mails from Satya. I wanted to take a moment to share a few thoughts on what this means for our team and some of the changes we are making as a result. In last week’s mail outlining some of the steps towards creating the culture and organization to bring our ambitions to life, Satya called out the strategic importance of Xbox as a strong consumer brand, a creative center for gaming and a leader in bold innovation./news/microsoft-says-apple-s-new-app-store-rules-are-a-step-in-the-wrong-direction.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-says-apple-s-new-app-store-rules-are-a-step-in-the-wrong-direction.htmlApple’s new plan to comply with the European Union’s tech regulations has already drawn criticism from Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney and Spotify. Now Microsoft is weighing in with its own concerns, calling the App Store changes in the EU “a step in the wrong direction.” Apple has proposed a new Core Technology Fee for apps that want to operate on third-party app stores in the EU. It will require developers using third-party app stores to pay €0./news/microsoft-s-adaptive-controller-was-a-success-for-the-modding-community.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-s-adaptive-controller-was-a-success-for-the-modding-community.htmlFor Ben Heck, it started as a kindness. He was an engineer who made cool things and a veteran reached out to see if he could make him an Xbox controller that would let him play video games with one hand. Twenty years later, he’s still making controllers for people with limb differences. But he’s not the only one. In the two decades since Heck started modding Xbox controllers for accessibility purposes, a community of controller modders have sprung up./news/microsoft-s-pro-intellimouse-returns-as-a-modern-gaming-mouse.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-s-pro-intellimouse-returns-as-a-modern-gaming-mouse.htmlMicrosoft brought the classic IntelliMouse Explorer back in 2017, and now it’s going a step further today with a new Pro IntelliMouse edition. It has the same design as the classic IntelliMouse that became a status symbol, but it’s now geared towards gaming. Microsoft has upgraded the tracking sensor over the 2017 model, improved key actuation, and added a textured finish alongside a braided cable. This should all mean that the buttons feel more responsive when you’re playing games with this Pro IntelliMouse, and Microsoft is even letting PC gamers customize the color of the taillight to match their keyboard or other accessories./news/mindhunter-is-netflix-s-most-binge-worthy-show-yet.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/mindhunter-is-netflix-s-most-binge-worthy-show-yet.htmlI watched the Netflix series Mindhunter over the course of one week, and I think I could’ve watched it in a single sitting if I had no other obligations or basic needs to fulfill. The compelling 10-episode series unfolds like a movie, rather than a collection of distinct episodes, making each episode’s end credits feel like a brief glitch rather than a suggestion to stop watching and save it for next time./news/mustang-mach-e-review-ford-s-big-bet-is-about-to-pay-off.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/mustang-mach-e-review-ford-s-big-bet-is-about-to-pay-off.htmlTo make an all-electric Mustang is to dabble in blasphemy — doubly so if you also make it an SUV. Mustangs are known for their roaring engines, not for converting DC power to AC power. And they sure as hell aren’t the kind of car you throw your family in for a trip to the zoo.  But that’s what Ford has done with the Mustang Mach-E. It’s taken an idea that’s unfathomable to many — tinkering with What A Mustang Is — and has made it the centerpiece of an $11 billion push to make electric vehicles go mainstream./news/my-favorite-smart-oven-is-toast.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/my-favorite-smart-oven-is-toast.htmlMy favorite smart oven is toast. The Spoon reports that the excellent but expensive June Oven may finally be finished. While owner Weber hasn’t made an official announcement, apparently a representative at CES said there are “no plans for a new model.” You’ve not been able to buy a new June Oven for a year now (although you can still buy accessories). But if you did spend $600 to $1,500 on what is still the best smart oven I’ve tested, the good news is Weber said it’ll still get software updates./news/netflix-is-testing-a-button-for-skipping-the-opening-credits.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-is-testing-a-button-for-skipping-the-opening-credits.htmlNetflix is testing a button that lets you skip the opening credits on some television shows, the company said. This week some Twitter users spotted a “skip intro” button that appears when you hover over the title sequence for shows including Netflix originals House of Cards and Iron Fist, and Mad Men and The Office (third-party shows). The button works both with shows that begin with the title sequence and those that include one after a cold open./news/netflix-s-ads-plan-is-getting-1080p-and-the-ability-to-watch-two-streams-at-once.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-s-ads-plan-is-getting-1080p-and-the-ability-to-watch-two-streams-at-once.htmlNetflix is making its $6.99 per month ad-supported plan a much better value. The company is upping the video quality from 720p to 1080p and will let subscribers watch two streams at once, Netflix said in its Q1 2023 letter to investors. Subscribers in Canada and Spain will get the improved features starting today and be available in all 12 of the markets where the company offers its ads plan sometime this month./news/netflix-s-avatar-the-last-airbender-has-been-renewed-for-more-seasons.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-s-avatar-the-last-airbender-has-been-renewed-for-more-seasons.htmlNetflix announced today that it has greenlit Albert Kim’s take on Avatar: The Last Airbender for another two seasons that will “bring The Legend of Aang to its proper conclusion.”  Netflix also shared a new teaser image suggesting that, like the animated series, the live-action show’s second and third seasons will focus on Team Avatar’s adventures in the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, respectively. There’s no word yet on when production on the new seasons will begin or when we might expect to see them on Netflix./news/nintendo-releasing-pearl-pink-3ds-to-the-us-on-february-10th.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nintendo-releasing-pearl-pink-3ds-to-the-us-on-february-10th.htmlNintendo's tradition of releasing as many variations on its portable consoles as possible is alive and well — the Nintendo 3DS will officially be available in pink for US customers on February 10th, at the standard $169.99 price point. You may remember that a pink 3DS was previously available as part of a special holiday bundle, but now the device will be available without the included Nintendogs + Cats pack-in. While losing out on the free game might be a bummer for some, that bundle has long been sold out (and now sells for exorbitant prices on Amazon), so a more affordable option is certainly welcome./news/not-even-notepad-is-safe-from-microsoft-s-big-ai-push-in-windows.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/not-even-notepad-is-safe-from-microsoft-s-big-ai-push-in-windows.htmlMicrosoft said 2024 was going to be “the year of the AI PC,” and it looks like that’s ringing true already. Microsoft appears to be readying a new generative AI feature for its Notepad application that’s built into Windows. While the software giant hasn’t officially announced it, eagle-eyed Windows watchers have discovered code in Microsoft’s latest test builds of Windows 11 that indicate a new “Cowriter” feature could be on the way soon./news/on-caracal-disclosure-are-starting-to-leave-dance-music-behind.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/on-caracal-disclosure-are-starting-to-leave-dance-music-behind.htmlGuy and Howard Lawrence — the brothers who make up ascendant duo Disclosure — are a little like the Joffrey and Tommen Baratheon of dance music. For those of you who aren’t Game of Thrones fans, this means they’re young, British, and can’t help but look a little smug. (I’m not casting any aspersions on their parentage or their inclination toward pure evil.) The key detail is that, like those fictional Baratheons, the boys of Disclosure sit on a throne many people would have you believe they don’t deserve./news/palmer-luckey-returns-to-public-life-sporting-a-new-goatee.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/palmer-luckey-returns-to-public-life-sporting-a-new-goatee.htmlIt’s been an odd half-year or so for Oculus founder Palmer Luckey. After admitting last September that he’d funded a pro-Donald Trump group dedicated to “shitposting in real life,” he became something of a liability for Oculus’ parent company Facebook. He apologized for “negatively impacting the perception of Oculus,” dropped out of the public eye, and eventually parted ways with the social network this March. (A recent report found he also donated $100,000 to President Trump’s inaugural celebrations./news/pandora-launches-pandora-plus-an-improved-version-of-its-5-subscription-service.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pandora-launches-pandora-plus-an-improved-version-of-its-5-subscription-service.htmlAs expected, Pandora has launched Pandora Plus, a rebranded and improved version of its $5-a-month Pandora One offering. It also has enhanced its free, ad-supported service, which the majority of its users take advantage of. The release of the updated services marks the beginning of a new era for Pandora, as the company will end 2016 with three tiers of service and an on-demand service to compete against Spotify and Apple Music./news/pikachu-is-talking-now-and-it-s-very-upsetting.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pikachu-is-talking-now-and-it-s-very-upsetting.htmlSince the very first North American screenings of Pokémon: I Choose You!, the latest visual romp in the Pokémon universe, viewers and critics have shared their mutual horror over one specific moment. Pikachu speaks. Not in its usual cute, “pika pika” sort of way, but in a quavering, squeaky human voice. In the scene, an injured Ash asks Pikachu why it won’t return to its pokéball. Cue surreal blur effect, which I can only interpret as Ash having some sort of head trauma./news/podcast-app-overcast-is-getting-a-big-design-overhaul.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/podcast-app-overcast-is-getting-a-big-design-overhaul.htmlOvercast, a popular podcast player for Apple devices, is getting an update that brings a major design overhaul to its main screen, as well as a new theming system that lets you pick the colors used throughout the app. For Overcast users like me, the update is a fresh coat of paint to a well-made app, and power users will likely find plenty of new tweaks and settings they can use to make the app work even better for their use case./news/politics-the-verge.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/politics-the-verge.htmlDonald Trump rushed offstage after gunshots at a Pennsylvania rally. While Trump was speaking onstage at an event, gunshots were heard, and Trump ducked to the ground before being eventually taken offstage by Secret Service agents. According to The Associated Press, “A local prosecutor says the suspected gunman and at least one attendee are dead,” and in a post on Truth Social, Trump said, “I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear./news/portal-and-bridge-building-are-a-surprisingly-great-match.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/portal-and-bridge-building-are-a-surprisingly-great-match.htmlLast week, the next game in the acclaimed Portal series was announced — but it wasn’t exactly what fans were expecting. Instead of a third entry in the acclaimed first-person puzzle series, it was… a Portal-themed bridge building game. It sounds weird, but it also works, as it turns out that the confounding physics of Portal and the more serious strategy of the Bridge Constructor series are a great match. If you haven’t played before, the Bridge Constructor series is pretty self-explanatory./news/pre-orders-for-samsung-s-gear-vr-for-galaxy-s6-start-tomorrow.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pre-orders-for-samsung-s-gear-vr-for-galaxy-s6-start-tomorrow.htmlThe next generation of Samsung's virtual reality headset — the Gear VR Innovator Edition for the Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge — is almost available. Today Samsung announced the device will be available for pre-order from Best Buy starting tomorrow. On May 8th, you'll be able to buy it online from Best Buy or directly from Samsung, or in Best Buy stores on May 15th. The device, designed with Oculus, is a noticeable step up from the last version of the Samsung headset./news/primal-review-genndy-tartakovsky-s-dino-epic-makes-compassion-a-survival-tool.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/primal-review-genndy-tartakovsky-s-dino-epic-makes-compassion-a-survival-tool.htmlfIn “Spear and Fang,” the first episode of the new animated Adult Swim show Primal, the caveman Spear (Aaron LaPlante) sees his mate and young children devoured by a pack of horned dinosaurs. Later in the episode, he winds up fighting that same pack alongside a Tyrannosaurus dubbed Fang, and he befriends her two young children. It’s a sweet redemptive moment, suggesting that Spear might be able to regain something of what he’s lost./news/pro-tools-proficiency-may-be-keeping-us-from-diversifying-audio.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pro-tools-proficiency-may-be-keeping-us-from-diversifying-audio.htmlIt’s been nearly eight years since Radiotopia executive producer Julie Shapiro noticed that 70 percent of the most popular podcasts were hosted by men. It’s been six years since journalist and audio editor Charley Locke argued that podcasting’s biggest problem isn’t discovery but diversity. And it’s approaching three years since podcast producer Phoebe Wang’s infamous Third Coast call out of audio companies’ lack of diversity, which led, in part, to the POC in Audio directory./news/psvr-2-review-love-on-a-leash.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/psvr-2-review-love-on-a-leash.htmlSony’s first virtual reality headset, the 2016 PlayStation VR, wasn’t exactly state-of-the-art. Engineers had to retrofit the PlayStation 4 with a converter box to send its graphics to a 1080p smartphone panel, topped with magnifying lenses, to create a fragile illusion of VR. Most games expected you to sit down with a traditional gamepad. If you wanted to reach out and touch, you had to shell out extra for a pair of last-gen PlayStation Move wands — ones that were already six years old when the headset first came out and barely did the job./news/razer-s-new-app-will-put-chroma-rgb-throughout-your-home.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/razer-s-new-app-will-put-chroma-rgb-throughout-your-home.htmlMost of Razer’s products live in the entertainment center, or near the PC, but it wants to expand its reach to every corner of your home — or at least, everywhere you use smart lights. At CES 2022, the company announced that it intends to launch a Razer Smart Home app for mobile, which it says is a “simple, yet powerful tool that puts complete, unified control into the user’s hands./news/red-dead-redemption-2-officially-announced-for-next-year.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/red-dead-redemption-2-officially-announced-for-next-year.htmlAfter some light teasers earlier this week, Rockstar Games has officially announced Red Dead Redemption 2, a followup to the 2010 Western-themed game Red Dead Redemption. According to an image on Twitter, the game will be released in the fall of 2017, and a trailer is coming on Thursday, October 20th at 11AM ET. There’s also a website, although it doesn’t provide much more detail. People have been speculating about a sequel or prequel to Red Dead Redemption — which itself followed the 2004 game Red Dead Revolver — for some time./news/reddit-is-ready-for-its-tiny-live-streaming-service-to-get-bigger.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/reddit-is-ready-for-its-tiny-live-streaming-service-to-get-bigger.htmlIf you’ve scrolled through Reddit’s app recently, you might have spotted a live stream of someone playing music, making art, or just talking to the camera. Those broadcasts come from Reddit’s own live-streaming service, the Reddit Public Access Network (RPAN), which just celebrated its first anniversary last week. And as the service enters year two, Reddit is teasing an expansion to more subreddits at some point in the future. The best word I can use to describe RPAN streams is wholesome./news/robinhood-s-ipo-roadshow-answered-questions-i-wasn-t-asking.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/robinhood-s-ipo-roadshow-answered-questions-i-wasn-t-asking.html“What’s your favorite planet?” is a real question that Robinhood execs really picked to answer during the Q&A section of its retail investor roadshow. “Definitely Pluto,” says long-haired CEO Vlad Tenev. He is having a good time. He goes on to explain that there will be a great view of Venus tonight after sunset. The first meme IPO Many of the questions the management picked have been lackluster; asked if Robinhood will add a customer support line, Tenev cheerily explains there already is one./news/samsung-finally-agrees-to-pay-apple-548-million-with-a-few-caveats.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-finally-agrees-to-pay-apple-548-million-with-a-few-caveats.htmlAlmost five years after Apple originally sued Samsung for infringing smartphone patents, it seems like the South Korean manufacturer is ready to pay up. In a joint court statement from both companies, Samsung has confirmed that it will pay Apple $548 million before December 14th if it receives an invoice from the iPhone-maker before the weekend. After years of lawsuits and appeals, collecting more than half a billion dollars is a significant win for Apple./news/samsung-galaxy-a13-5g-review-an-affordable-5g-phone-on-at-t.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-galaxy-a13-5g-review-an-affordable-5g-phone-on-at-t.htmlThe Galaxy A13 5G doesn’t offer much in the way of surprises, good or bad. For $249, it’s a reliable device with good performance, healthy battery life, and a decent camera. None of this comes as a surprise because Samsung makes a lot of these kinds of phones, and it’s something the company is very good at. The phone launched in the US as an AT&T exclusive; now, you can buy it unlocked or through T-Mobile, too./news/samsung-galaxy-note-10-1-review-2014-edition.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-galaxy-note-10-1-review-2014-edition.htmlS Pen S Pen and paper Almost every other device shed native stylus support years ago, leaving Samsung alone to evolve the relationship between tablet and stylus. Its Wacom-powered S Pen is far and away the best stylus experience on a tablet, with this year’s Note 10.1 a gentle refinement of last year’s efforts. I hadn’t seriously used a stylus since giving up my Palm Treo for an iPhone 3GS (and that brief stint with my iPad), but I quickly found myself pulling out the S Pen as soon as I sat down with the Note./news/samsung-has-a-new-smartthings-hub-and-router-with-plume-s-mesh-wi-fi-tech.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-has-a-new-smartthings-hub-and-router-with-plume-s-mesh-wi-fi-tech.htmlSamsung is overhauling its SmartThings product line today, with two key new offerings: a brand new hub, which can now wirelessly connect to your router, and a new Wi-Fi router that includes mesh networking tech from Plume. The router is the bigger deal. It’s a dual-band model that’s sold in a three-pack and, like other mesh routers, is meant to have units placed all around your home to deliver better Wi-Fi coverage./news/samsung-odyssey-ark-review-curved-and-cursed.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-odyssey-ark-review-curved-and-cursed.htmlThe Samsung Odyssey Ark is enormous. Using this 55-inch curved gaming monitor feels like being in VR, and turning it vertically is like looking up at a wave that’s about to topple me over. I have to take a few steps to the side just to be able to see who’s sitting across from me. Its presence is magnetic. People stop to ask about it. Usually, they also ask to stand in front of its enveloping curve — all before asking my name./news/samsung-s-new-phones-replace-google-ai-with-baidu-in-china.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-new-phones-replace-google-ai-with-baidu-in-china.htmlThe list of AI translation, summarization, and text formatting features on the Chinese version of the Galaxy S24 will be familiar to anyone who kept up with its US-based launch. There’s also real-time call translation like we saw earlier this month, and the phones are even getting a version of Google’s Circle to Search feature. “Now featuring Ernie’s understanding and generation capabilities” “Now featuring Ernie’s understanding and generation capabilities, the upgraded Samsung Note Assistant can translate content and also summarize lengthy content into clear, intelligently organized formats at the click of a button,” Samsung Electronics China and Baidu said in a statement published by CNBC./news/samsung-s-new-ploy-to-get-kids-off-iphones-is-a-mrbeast-sponsorship.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-new-ploy-to-get-kids-off-iphones-is-a-mrbeast-sponsorship.htmlSamsung writes in its announcement that this will showcase “what’s possible with a Galaxy smartphone for aspiring and professional creators.” The company’s phones get some screen time in the video. There’s a quick mid-video ad read for the Galaxy Z Flip 5 with a nod to the S23 Ultra while MrBeast drives a prototype $2 million hydrogen car that has no seatbelts. There are glimpses of the S23 Ultra mounted inside cars throughout the rest of the video and a couple of links in the description, including one to a behind-the-scenes video uploaded by Samsung./news/samsung-s-new-z-fold-and-z-flip-and-its-very-apple-y-new-watch-and-buds.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-new-z-fold-and-z-flip-and-its-very-apple-y-new-watch-and-buds.htmlAs the rest of the tech industry seems to mostly shift to overproduced infomercials for their product launches, Samsung is holding fast to its love for giant live events in huge arenas. This year, at Unpacked in Paris, the company announced a whole lineup of new gadgets. The new Fold and Flip look nice but also a bit uninspired; the Watch Ultra and Buds 3 look almost too familiar; and the Galaxy Ring might be the beginning of something really cool./news/scientists-reanimate-dead-spiders-as-robot-gripping-claws.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/scientists-reanimate-dead-spiders-as-robot-gripping-claws.htmlWhy bother to design your own robots when you can just reuse what nature created? This was the thought process behind a research project from engineers at Rice University who successfully transformed dead spiders into robotic gripping claws. The scientists have dubbed their new area of research “necrobotics” and say it could create cheap, effective, and biodegradable alternatives to current robotic systems. So why spiders? Well, while humans move their limbs using pairs of antagonistic muscles, like biceps and triceps, spiders’ legs contain only a single flexor muscle that draws the leg inward./news/several-of-fitbit-s-community-features-will-be-removed-on-march-27th.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/several-of-fitbit-s-community-features-will-be-removed-on-march-27th.htmlFitbit users: better one-up your friends in challenges while you still can. Starting March 27th, Fitbit will remove all adventures, challenges, and open groups from its app. It’s a striking move. Before 2019’s Google acquisition (and closure in 2021), Fitbit frequently touted its community and social features as a major strength. Its challenges — competitions between Fitbit users — have been part of Fitbit’s platform for over 10 years and copied by nearly every other smartwatch and fitness-tracking platform./news/signal-is-starting-to-phase-out-sms-support-from-its-android-app.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/signal-is-starting-to-phase-out-sms-support-from-its-android-app.htmlSignal is beginning to phase out support for sending and receiving standard text messages from its Android app after years of supporting the ability to have them alongside your Signal messages, which are end-to-end encrypted and sent using data. The company says that if you have its app set as your default SMS and MMS client, you’ll have to pick a new app to handle those duties. According to a Wednesday blog post, users will have “several months to transition away from SMS in Signal” and to migrate their messages to a new app./news/silicon-valley-bank-went-broke-but-not-because-it-was-woke.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/silicon-valley-bank-went-broke-but-not-because-it-was-woke.htmlThe culture war has come for the banks, and friends, it is stupid.  There are a wide variety of proposed explanations for the fall of Silicon Valley Bank. For instance, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page has suggested SVB’s board “may have been distracted by diversity demands” as I guess it had too many women, too many Black people (one), too many queer people (again, one), and too many veterans (?/news/snapchat-video-for-android-exits-beta-now-available-in-play-store.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/snapchat-video-for-android-exits-beta-now-available-in-play-store.htmlSnapchat has moved its Android app video capture and sharing feature out of beta and into full release in the Google Play Store. The video feature is available as an update for the regular Snapchat app, which works for Android versions 2.2 and up. The move comes after Snapchat first started letting some Android users test out the ability to send self-destructing timed videos last week, but almost three months after the same feature came to the iOS app./news/someone-please-fix-the-fcc-ffs.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/someone-please-fix-the-fcc-ffs.htmlSince President Joe Biden took office, the Senate has held four confirmation hearings for two separate nominees to break the ongoing deadlock at the Federal Communications Commission. The latest one was yesterday — and it might get the FCC closer to a full staff, but it’s a sad landmark to celebrate. The Senate Commerce Committee held a confirmation hearing for several positions on Thursday, including Biden’s latest pick for FCC commissioner, Anna Gomez./news/something-odd-is-happening-when-you-try-and-search-twitter-for-threads-links.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/something-odd-is-happening-when-you-try-and-search-twitter-for-threads-links.htmlTwitter users trying to find links to Meta’s microblogging rival Threads are finding that the Elon Musk-owned social media network appears to be limiting results. That’s despite Twitter currently being filled with links to Threads content, which you’d expect to be able to find via search. We spotted the behavior via a Threads post from Andy Baio, but the behavior is also being widely reported by Twitter users. The issue was first noticed when using the “url:” search operator, which is normally used to search for links to a specific URL./news/sonic-s-live-action-design-upset-the-entire-internet-so-the-studio-is-changing-it.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sonic-s-live-action-design-upset-the-entire-internet-so-the-studio-is-changing-it.htmlDirector Jeff Fowler tweeted today about the backlash, assuring distressed fans everywhere that the criticism was heard loud and clear. Fowler confirmed that changes were coming to the design of Sonic’s character. “You aren’t happy with the design & you want changes,” Fowler tweeted. “It’s going to happen. Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the BEST he can be.” Since the trailer reveal, numerous fan edits have made the rounds on Twitter, Tumblr, and Reddit, with the drawings honing in on various horrifying aspects of Sonic’s newfound body./news/sonos-roam-review-portable-potential.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sonos-roam-review-portable-potential.htmlThe Sonos Roam is the most focused, calculated product from Sonos yet. It’s a small $169 speaker that’s meant to compete with portable Bluetooth speakers that people so often carry everywhere without a second thought. But it’s also designed to slot into Sonos’ multiroom audio platform and showcase the versatility that comes with it. In fact, excluding the co-branded speakers that Sonos makes with Ikea, the Roam is now the cheapest way into the company’s ecosystem./news/starlink-hikes-prices-for-monthly-service-and-starter-kit-even-if-you-put-down-a-deposit.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/starlink-hikes-prices-for-monthly-service-and-starter-kit-even-if-you-put-down-a-deposit.htmlSpaceX’s internet-from-space program Starlink is increasing prices for both the purchase of Starlink kits and for the monthly service, according to a new email sent out to customers this afternoon reviewed by The Verge. The company says the “sole purpose of these adjustments is to keep pace with rising inflation.” Originally, opting into Starlink required a $499 upfront purchase of a starter kit with all the necessary supplies, including a user terminal, or antenna, for connecting with SpaceX’s satellites./news/steve-jobs-raggedy-old-sandals-just-sold-for-200-000-at-an-auction.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/steve-jobs-raggedy-old-sandals-just-sold-for-200-000-at-an-auction.htmlOne (lucky?) bidder just paid $218,750 to get their hands on a pair of raggedy old sandals worn by Steve Jobs (via CNN). Oh, and the 360-degree non-fungible token (NFT) that goes with it. The sandals, a pair of Birkenstock Arizonas, were apparently worn by Jobs back in the 1970s and ’80s when he first started Apple. They were recovered from the trash (as you might’ve guessed) by Jobs’ estate manager, Mark Sheff, and then put up for sale at Julien’s Auctions on Friday./news/target-deal-days-sale-best-anti-prime-day-tech-deals.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/target-deal-days-sale-best-anti-prime-day-tech-deals.htmlNot an Amazon Prime member or a fan of Amazon in general? Fret not because plenty of retailers are offering competing Prime Day sales this week, including Target. Even better: you don’t need to buy any sort of membership in order to participate. Starting today, July 11th, and running until July 13th, Target is hosting its “Target Deal Days” event, offering discounts on Apple products, headphones, and all sorts of tech./news/tech-giants-are-getting-creative-to-manage-the-covid-19-crisis.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tech-giants-are-getting-creative-to-manage-the-covid-19-crisis.htmlA good thing to do during the global outbreak of a deadly virus is to test people who think they may have it. Beyond providing important information to people affected by the disease, large-scale testing allows authorities to map the spread of the disease and respond accordingly. Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong all worked rapidly after the initial COVID-19 outbreak to identify carriers of the disease, and the work contributed to a successful containment strategy./news/the-650-000-rolls-royce-phantom-limelight-is-designed-for-famous-people.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-650-000-rolls-royce-phantom-limelight-is-designed-for-famous-people.htmlThe Rolls-Royce Phantom is already one of the most exclusive cars in the world; the 110-year-old marque makes no secret of the fact that its clients may have their cars customized any way they choose, so long as it's technically feasible and legal. But if you're both rich and famous, that's another level of exclusivity altogether. The Phantom Limelight Collection — a run of 25 specially-fitted Phantoms — was "conceived for that select group of people who spend their lives in the public eye and on the world stage,"/news/the-blackberry-trailer-shows-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-keyboard-phone.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-blackberry-trailer-shows-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-keyboard-phone.htmlThis one’s for the BBMers and email enthusiasts — BlackBerry, an upcoming movie about the eponymous phone, has gotten a trailer. It stars Jay Baruchel (possibly best known for his role as Hiccup in the How To Train Your Dragon series), Glenn Howerton (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), and Matt Johnson, who’s also directing the project. It looks like the movie will cover how the keyboard phone became the de facto business communicator and how it ended up losing to the smartphone./news/the-bose-quietcomfort-ultra-earbuds-are-on-sale-for-an-all-time-low-of-239.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-bose-quietcomfort-ultra-earbuds-are-on-sale-for-an-all-time-low-of-239.htmlThere are many wireless earbuds to choose from these days, but the best ones for those prioritizing noise cancellation are on sale for less than ever before. Right now, you can get the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds at Amazon in black for just $239 ($60 off), an all-time low. If you prefer a brighter shade, Amazon, Best Buy, and Target are selling the white and blue models starting at $249 — just $10 more./news/the-chevy-equinox-ev-will-get-319-miles-of-range-and-start-at-around-35-000.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-chevy-equinox-ev-will-get-319-miles-of-range-and-start-at-around-35-000.htmlGeneral Motors released final pricing and range details about the upcoming Chevy Equinox EV, which will be available for ordering later this year. For years, the automaker has been positioning the Equinox as its great equalizer, affordably priced and with enough range to be everyone’s first EV. And now we have the numbers to see whether those promises hold true. The single-motor, front-wheel drive 1LT model of the Equinox EV, which will be the first one available to customers, will start at $34,995 and get an EPA-estimated range of 319 miles./news/the-creator-of-katamari-damacy-is-making-a-game-with-google-s-project-tango.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-creator-of-katamari-damacy-is-making-a-game-with-google-s-project-tango.htmlThe 2004 game Katamari Damacy is an often beautiful, childlike oddity with a still-devoted following. Today, Katamari creator Keita Takahashi, along with other members of game studio Funomena, announced a new project that will likely pique the interest of those fans: Woorld, an experimental, augmented reality game powered by Google's Project Tango. "By peeking through the window of a supported handheld device, you can explore, discover, and create using digital objects and creatures that you place in physical space,"/news/the-eta-aquarid-meteor-shower-is-at-its-peak-here-s-how-to-see-it.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-eta-aquarid-meteor-shower-is-at-its-peak-here-s-how-to-see-it.htmlIf you’ve got clear skies and want an excuse to get away from town, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower is roughly at its peak and should be going strong tonight. Made up of remnants of Halley’s Comet that the Earth passes through, this annual shower is active from April 15th to May 27th and can show up at a rate of about 10–30 meteors per hour, according to the American Meteor Society./news/the-first-trailer-for-mrs-davis-has-a-nun-and-cowboy-fighting-ai.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-first-trailer-for-mrs-davis-has-a-nun-and-cowboy-fighting-ai.htmlArtificial intelligence is one of those transformative technologies that we’ll reflect on in a decade or two with wonder. We’ll ask questions like how did we go without AIs that could automatically translate other languages from videos we fed them or quickly render art or churn out emails we didn’t especially want to write ourselves? But as AI enables us to do more faster, it is likely also going to be a terrific tool for churning out misinformation and killing jobs./news/the-internet-archive-put-your-favorite-lcd-handheld-games-online.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-internet-archive-put-your-favorite-lcd-handheld-games-online.htmlThe Internet Archive has launched a Handheld History Collection filled with about 60 emulated versions of retro handheld games to take you back to the long car rides of your childhood. Archived games include Tiger Electronics’ Mortal Kombat, Bandai’s Burger Time, and Parker Brothers’ mini tabletop version of Q*bert, all of which can be played directly from your browser. MAME developers have classified over 200 games as “handheld,” so if you don’t see your favorite game on the list, be patient because more games will be added soon./news/the-moto-tag-is-an-airtag-for-android.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-moto-tag-is-an-airtag-for-android.htmlMotorola’s tracking tag is officially here, and if you’ve wanted an AirTag for your Android phone, this new Moto Tag might be it. This item tracker costs $29 and works with Google’s newly upgraded Find My Device network to help you locate a lost item. In addition to Bluetooth, it also offers ultra wideband, which means that if your phone is equipped with a UWB chip — like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra — you can track down the tag’s precise location./news/the-new-apple-tv-4k-has-a-remote-with-usb-c-and-a-lower-starting-price.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-new-apple-tv-4k-has-a-remote-with-usb-c-and-a-lower-starting-price.htmlDeveloped by Apple, Amazon, Google, and Samsung (and others), Matter is an open-sourced, IP-based connectivity software layer for smart home devices. It works over Wi-Fi, ethernet, and the low-power mesh networking protocol Thread and currently supports over 20 device types. These include lighting, plugs and switches, thermostats, locks, security and environment sensors, refrigerators, dishwashers, smoke alarms, air quality monitors, and more. A smart home gadget with the Matter logo can be set up and used with any Matter-compatible ecosystem via a Matter controller and controlled by them simultaneously, a feature called multi-admin./news/the-nexus-4-google-s-flagship-phone-lands-november-13th-for-299.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-nexus-4-google-s-flagship-phone-lands-november-13th-for-299.htmlGoogle has officially announced the Nexus 4, the latest phone in its Nexus line of flagship Android devices. Built by LG, the phone features a 4.7-inch 1280 x 768 IPS display, a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor — which Google claims is the fastest on the market — an 8 megapixel camera and a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, and up to 16GB of storage. Oh, and the back is made of glass — etched, layered glass that sparkles with a strange, almost holographic depth./news/the-nikon-z5-is-an-entry-level-full-frame-mirrorless-camera-for-1-399.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-nikon-z5-is-an-entry-level-full-frame-mirrorless-camera-for-1-399.htmlLast year Nikon released its first full-frame mirrorless cameras, the Z7 and Z6, and now the range is expanding to a lower price with the announcement of the Z5. Unlike the Z50, which used the same Z mount but had a smaller APS-C sensor, the Z5 uses a 24-megapixel full-frame sensor. You lose a few features compared to the Z6, but the Z5 still looks like a capable camera. There’s no status screen, there’s more plastic used in the build, and the sensor isn’t backside-illuminated; it’s also not ideal for 4K video due to a 1./news/the-playstation-5-is-back-at-best-buy-for-store-pickup-orders-update-sold-out.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-playstation-5-is-back-at-best-buy-for-store-pickup-orders-update-sold-out.htmlUpdate April 21st, 1:20PM ET: Best Buy’s site has sold out of PS5 consoles for now. If you’re still in the market for a PlayStation 5, Best Buy just opened up another restock of the disc-based PS5 for $499.99. This restock is live now and is available to everyone, not just TotalTech subscribers, and is still likely to sell out extremely fast. As always, to better your chances at grabbing one of these consoles, make sure to log into your Best Buy account in another browser tab while you wait in line, and make sure all your personal info, including billing and shipping addresses, are up to date./news/the-pro-act-would-reshape-the-tech-industry-will-it-get-the-chance.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-pro-act-would-reshape-the-tech-industry-will-it-get-the-chance.htmlThe Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) is holding a hearing this week to contest the results of the Amazon union election. Organizers say the retail giant interrogated employees, spread anti-union propaganda, and held captive audience meetings. These tactics might seem dirty, but most aren’t explicitly illegal. “According to the letter of the law, workers have the right to organize, but it doesn’t pan out that way in practice,” says Kelly Russo, an organizer with the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 2./news/the-story-behind-the-first-photoshop-image.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-story-behind-the-first-photoshop-image.htmlWhen John Knoll took a photo of his topless girlfriend on a secluded beach in 1987, he didn't expect the picture to be pored over and manipulated by thousands of people. But John's brother Thomas was working on the software that became Photoshop, and "Jennifer in Paradise," as the picture came to be known, was the perfect candidate for the program's first color test image. As The Guardian explains in its consideration of the photo's importance, John and Thomas often used the picture of Jennifer — once John's girlfriend, now wife — to perform demonstrations of their software./news/the-way-we-text-says-a-lot-about-our-personality.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-way-we-text-says-a-lot-about-our-personality.htmlI’ll admit it: I often tweet in all lowercase because I want to seem chill and nonchalant. I know this is dumb. I know it. But I can’t resist. I’m a relaxed person! This week, Vox’s Kaitlyn Tiffany and I ask why we type the way we do. Are we really that cool? First, I chat with my friend Laura who also types in all lowercase all the time. She’s truly dedicated to the effort./news/the-wired-nest-doorbell-is-google-s-latest-video-doorbell.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-wired-nest-doorbell-is-google-s-latest-video-doorbell.htmlGoogle has finally released its long-awaited successor to the Nest Hello video doorbell. The new Nest Doorbell (wired, 2nd gen), which was first teased last year, costs $179.99 and is available now at retailers such as Amazon and at the Google Store. A wired version of Google’s Nest Doorbell (battery), the new Nest Doorbell is meant for homes with existing doorbell wires. A wired doorbell doesn’t need to be recharged frequently, although if the power goes out, it won’t record video, unlike its battery-powered counterpart./news/this-app-doesn-t-just-do-your-homework-for-you-it-shows-you-how.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-app-doesn-t-just-do-your-homework-for-you-it-shows-you-how.htmlA little confession from me. I was homeschooled (that's not the confession part), and in 8th grade my algebra textbook had the answers to half the problems in the back. And when I was stumped, I would cheat. Of course, cheating at math is a terrible way to learn, because the whole point isn't to know the answer to 2x + 2 = 7x - 5, it's to understand the methodology that can solve any like problem./news/this-philips-door-lock-turns-your-palm-into-a-key.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-philips-door-lock-turns-your-palm-into-a-key.htmlPhilips created a new smart lock that doesn’t require a key or a code — all you need is your hand. The company showed off its new $359.99 Wi-Fi Palm Recognition Smart Deadbolt during CES 2024, which comes with a built-in palm scanner that unlocks your door when it detects your unique palm print. Philips says its lock can register up to 50 palm vein patterns and identify hands belonging to people of all ages — even if they’re dirty./news/tokyo-thrift-the-rez-trance-vibrator-is-gaming-s-most-intense-peripheral.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tokyo-thrift-the-rez-trance-vibrator-is-gaming-s-most-intense-peripheral.htmlIf you read our coverage of Tokyo Game Show earlier this month, you'll know that Rez is my favorite game of all time, and that the new version for PlayStation VR is its most spectacular iteration yet. Rez Infinite is the rare example of a pre-existing game that feels like it was designed for virtual reality, despite first coming out fifteen years ago. But fifteen years ago, designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi was no less concerned with how to amplify the Rez experience, even on modest hardware like the PlayStation 2./news/tom-clancy-s-ghost-recon-wildlands-is-silly-multiplayer-fun.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tom-clancy-s-ghost-recon-wildlands-is-silly-multiplayer-fun.htmlI know people are hyped for a subscription-based future of video games. But if it’s anything like a streaming service, the actual experience of having a big library is scrolling around your options and going, Hmm, I sort of remember hearing about this thing five years ago. And because the stakes are low, you try it, and more often than not, you realize why you never bothered paying to see Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in theaters./news/tumblr-users-are-turning-to-this-app-to-resist-the-urge-to-self-harm.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tumblr-users-are-turning-to-this-app-to-resist-the-urge-to-self-harm.htmlTumblr user icantaffordadiary has been going through a difficult time. The Oregon-based teenager has a history of depression, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts spanning back to their elementary school days. “I’m going through a particularly rough patch right now, and I’ve been self-harming again,” the Tumblr user tells The Verge via DM. But they’ve found comfort in an unusual place: an app called Calm Harm that aims to help users work through their urges./news/twitch-changes-course-will-now-require-masks-at-twitchcon.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/twitch-changes-course-will-now-require-masks-at-twitchcon.html“We’ve been listening to all of your feedback and know that many of you–especially those who are immunocompromised and the people who support them–want stricter health measures in place to help you feel safe attending TwitchCon San Diego in person,” reads the beginning of a major update to the company’s blog post announcing that tickets were on sale. To attend TwitchCon, attendees 5 years and older now need to wear a snug mask that completely covers the nose and mouth and need to either present proof of at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine or a record of a negative COVID-19 test no more than 72 hours before the event, according to TwitchCon’s updated health measures FAQ./news/twitter-is-now-listed-as-x-in-the-ios-app-store.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/twitter-is-now-listed-as-x-in-the-ios-app-store.htmlTwitter, which is rebranding as X, is now listed as X in the iOS App Store, suggesting the app got special treatment from Apple to allow a single-character name. The renaming was briefly hindered by a rule forbidding single-character app names within the App Store — the actual app name on iPhones and iPads already showed up as X. The exception could be a sign Apple wants to keep the hatchet buried with X owner Elon Musk./news/ubisoft-to-shut-down-multiplayer-for-older-games-including-assassin-s-creed-brotherhood.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ubisoft-to-shut-down-multiplayer-for-older-games-including-assassin-s-creed-brotherhood.htmlAssassin’s Creed Brotherhood, the first game in the Assassin’s Creed franchise to feature multiplayer, will see its online services shut down on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in September, its publisher Ubisoft has announced. It’s part of a collection of over a dozen games that will see their online elements discontinued that month, which means players won’t be able to play their multiplayer components, access their online features, link Ubisoft accounts in-game, or install and access downloadable content./news/urbanista-turns-its-solar-powered-smarts-to-a-bluetooth-speaker.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/urbanista-turns-its-solar-powered-smarts-to-a-bluetooth-speaker.htmlUrbanista’s latest Bluetooth speaker, the Malibu, is equipped with solar cells that the company claims could extend its battery life indefinitely. Like Urbanista’s previous solar-powered audio gear — the Los Angeles over-ear headphones and the Phoenix earbuds — the Malibu uses Exeger’s Powerfoyle solar cell technology to keep topped up with power, drawing extra charge from both indoor and outdoor light. It’s set to cost $149 (£149 / €169) when it goes on sale in late September./news/valve-says-it-would-love-to-continue-pushing-forward-on-new-half-life-games.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/valve-says-it-would-love-to-continue-pushing-forward-on-new-half-life-games.htmlToday, Valve finally unveiled Half-Life: Alyx, its first full-fledged VR game and, more importantly, the developer’s long-awaited return to the Half-Life series. The game will be out in March 2020, and it marks the first new Half-Life title since Episode 2 in 2007. And according to Valve, we might not have to wait another decade to see the series continue — but that depends on the success of Alyx. “We’ve had to explore new ways to tell stories with these characters and this world./news/vine-app-will-be-rebranded-vine-camera-when-service-shuts-down.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/vine-app-will-be-rebranded-vine-camera-when-service-shuts-down.htmlThe file of Vines that you download from vine.co will include an index.html file that contains your Vine captions, along with the number of likes, comments and revines. If you download your Vines from the app, you will receive only your video files saved to your camera roll with no captions or additional information.  ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtnam5fZn9wfZVoaGxxaGyFdXyOr6CnnV2Yrq6x0ZpkmqigYr%2BmrtGapZ1lopq7ornEZpuemaSderO1zw%3D%3D/news/vizio-s-profit-on-ads-subscriptions-and-data-is-double-the-money-it-makes-selling-tvs.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/vizio-s-profit-on-ads-subscriptions-and-data-is-double-the-money-it-makes-selling-tvs.htmlIt’s been less than a year since Vizio became a publicly traded company, and one consequence of that is we know more about its business than ever before. The TV maker released its latest earnings report on Tuesday and revealed that over the last three months, its Platform Plus segment that includes advertising and viewer data had a gross profit of $57.3 million. That’s more than twice the amount of profit it made selling devices like TVs, which was $25./news/volkswagen-says-it-s-putting-chatgpt-in-its-cars-for-enriching-conversations.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/volkswagen-says-it-s-putting-chatgpt-in-its-cars-for-enriching-conversations.htmlVolkswagen is jumping on the generative AI bandwagon by announcing plans to install OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its vehicles starting in the second quarter of 2024. The chatbot will be available across VW’s lineup, including in Tiguan, Passat, and Golf as well as the automaker’s ID family of electric vehicles. The feature will come to Europe first and is being considered for customers in the US, though plans have yet to be finalized./news/watch-the-blade-runner-anime-from-cowboy-bebop-director-shinichiro-watanabe.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/watch-the-blade-runner-anime-from-cowboy-bebop-director-shinichiro-watanabe.htmlCowboy Bebop director Shinichiro Watanabe has a new project out today: an anime prequel to the upcoming movie Blade Runner 2049. The 15-minute short, Blade Runner Black Out 2022, can be watched in its entirety on Crunchyroll. Black Out 2022 is the third of three prequel shorts that connect the original film with its upcoming sequel. It takes place three years after the original movie, when replicants are blamed for an electricity failure that throws cities into chaos./news/watching-silicon-valley-bank-melt-down-from-the-front-row-with-brex-ceo-henrique-dubugras.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/watching-silicon-valley-bank-melt-down-from-the-front-row-with-brex-ceo-henrique-dubugras.htmlBrex CEO Henrique Dubugras found himself playing an important role during the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. Brex is what you might call a neobank — not a traditional bank but, rather, a financial services provider that helps companies manage how they spend money, corporate cards, travel expenses, and the rest. In the middle of the SVB collapse, Brex was more than just a spending management company. It was also a safe place to park money./news/what-new-york-city-looked-like-stifled-in-wildfire-smoke.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/what-new-york-city-looked-like-stifled-in-wildfire-smoke.htmlNew York was eerily orange on Wednesday as smoke shrouded the city. The haze drifted in from wildfires raging in Quebec, some 500 miles away, wreaking havoc on air quality across the Northeast US. The smoke was so thick, New York City briefly ranked as the most polluted city in the world. The Environmental Protection Agency issued its highest warning for pollution, a “Code Maroon” for hazardous air quality. The pollution was record-shattering on Wednesday, with an air quality index score of 392 around 4PM ET for fine particles beating a record of 174 set a day earlier (according to the EPA’s records, which started in 1999, The New York Times reports)./news/what-s-in-the-cube-peter-molyneux-reveals-the-end-of-curiosity-makes-winner-a-digital-god.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/what-s-in-the-cube-peter-molyneux-reveals-the-end-of-curiosity-makes-winner-a-digital-god.html"After 25 billion cubelets have been destroyed, over 150 days... we have reached the end," Peter Molyneux says in a video that was first revealed to the winner of his experimental game, Curiosity. "How can anything be worth all that effort?" Curiosity - what's inside the cube, a game about a secret inside a gigantic digital cube, has come to an end — and the secret is how the developer's next game, Godus, will operate./news/when-wiretaps-won-t-do-the-cia-s-black-bag-squads-get-data-the-old-fashioned-way.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/when-wiretaps-won-t-do-the-cia-s-black-bag-squads-get-data-the-old-fashioned-way.htmlThere's been lots of talk about electronic surveillance and government-sponsored hacking lately, but Foreign Policy takes a fascinating look at how the Central Intelligence Agency's digital "black bag" squads get access the old fashioned way — by breaking into peoples' houses. Carried out "at a tempo not seen since the height of the Cold War" Authorized by the CIA's Office of Technical Collection, the so-called "off-net operations" or "black bag jobs"/news/withings-body-smart-review-a-flawed-but-thoughtful-approach-to-weight.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/withings-body-smart-review-a-flawed-but-thoughtful-approach-to-weight.htmlI never thought the $99.95 Withings Body Smart would become the most contentious device in my home. In retrospect, perhaps I should have. Everybody in my life has an opinion about this scale and whether it even belongs in my bathroom. The irony is, most days, it doesn’t tell me how much I weigh. That’s by design. What drew me to the Body Smart is its Eyes-Closed Mode, which hides any number or graph from your sight./news/xbox-s-new-fable-game-is-coming-in-2025.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/xbox-s-new-fable-game-is-coming-in-2025.htmlMicrosoft is officially putting a release window on Fable, which is now set to arrive at some point in 2025. After an initial trailer at last year’s Xbox summer showcase, today, we got to see some early gameplay. The new footage was mostly focused on the characters and story of the fantasy game. Fable will be centered on a hero named Humphry, who “will be forced out of retirement when a mysterious figure from his past threatens Albion’s very existence./news/yik-yak-asks-users-to-create-user-names-in-a-step-away-from-anonymity.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/yik-yak-asks-users-to-create-user-names-in-a-step-away-from-anonymity.htmlYik Yak, the anonymous social network popular on college campuses, is asking users to create user names. Starting today, users will be asked to create "handles" that they can optionally attach to their posts. The handles, which do not have to include users' real names, will be turned on by default for every post. The move could help strengthen Yik Yak communities by making their best contributors more visible and trusted./news/your-smartphone-can-help-you-spy-around-corners-from-afar.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/your-smartphone-can-help-you-spy-around-corners-from-afar.htmlSeeing what’s happening on the other side of a corner isn’t as impossible as it sounds. Scientists have been working on the problem for years, using lasers to bounce light off unseen objects and detect what’s going beyond their line of sight. Now, researchers from MIT’s CSAIL have gone one step further: they’re using footage from an ordinary smartphone to “see” around corners by spotting subtle changes in light and shadow./news/youtubers-are-sick-of-comment-spam-so-youtube-is-testing-a-stricter-moderation-system.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/youtubers-are-sick-of-comment-spam-so-youtube-is-testing-a-stricter-moderation-system.htmlMany big YouTube creators have expressed frustration with an increase in comment spam on their channels in recent weeks, including Linus Tech Tips, Jacksepticeye, and MKBHD. The problem has been particularly acute for these high-profile creators, who often see more malicious commenters impersonate them in an attempt to scam their viewers. “YouTube has a problem. Spam,” Linus Sebastian said to start a February 1st video on his Linus Tech Tips channel./news/zen-gardening-game-viridi-is-now-available-on-ios-and-android.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/zen-gardening-game-viridi-is-now-available-on-ios-and-android.htmlDo you like tending succulents? Are you a fan of earthenware pots with geometric designs? Have you ever wanted to sing to a snail? If you answered "god yes please" to all three of these questions, then I have just the thing for you: Viridi, a zen gardening game that came out on desktop last year and launches today on iOS and Android. Viridi combines botany with the gameplay mechanics of a very chill Tamogotchi./news/how-the-minds-behind-metroid-prime-and-mega-man-joined-forces-to-make-recore.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-the-minds-behind-metroid-prime-and-mega-man-joined-forces-to-make-recore.htmlIn 2002 a little-known developer called Retro Studios from Austin released Metroid Prime on the Nintendo Gamecube. Built in collaboration with Nintendo, the game transformed the seminal sci-fi series from a 2D side-scrolling experience into a vast, three-dimensional world. Before it launched many fans were skeptical of the idea, worrying that the beloved series would be turned into just another first-person shooter. Yet despite the drastic shift in perspective, Prime retained virtually all of the hallmarks that made Metroid so iconic, from the moody music to the unsettling sense of isolation./news/bitch-i-m-madonna-is-the-latest-tone-deaf-music-video-out-of-the-tidal-exclusive-vault.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bitch-i-m-madonna-is-the-latest-tone-deaf-music-video-out-of-the-tidal-exclusive-vault.htmlThere are a lot of reasons to be nauseated by the video for "Bitch I'm Madonna" — she dresses a bunch of six year-old girls up in "Like a Virgin" costumes, there is a bathtub girl fight involving pasties, Madonna uses a broom at one point because, lol, cleaning your own home — but perhaps the biggest reason is the people who are in it. "Bitch, I'm Madonna" is rife with guest appearances from musicians who have recently been behaving with questionable artistic integrity./news/kayla-and-two-other-uk-lulzsec-hackers-plead-guilty-to-attacks-on-sony-the-cia-and-more.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/kayla-and-two-other-uk-lulzsec-hackers-plead-guilty-to-attacks-on-sony-the-cia-and-more.htmlThree members of hacking group LulzSec have pleaded guilty to a series of hacks or DDoS attacks in 2011, including prominent hacker "Kayla." LulzSec, loosely affiliated with the Anonymous banner, was eviscerated last year after member Hector Xavier Monsegur was revealed to be working undercover with the FBI. Since then, several members have submitted pleas in both the US and UK. Now, The Guardian reports that three British hackers have admitted to attacking multiple websites and are now awaiting sentence in mid-May./news/super-smash-bros-is-coming-to-wii-u-on-november-21st.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/super-smash-bros-is-coming-to-wii-u-on-november-21st.htmlNow that Super Smash Bros. is on the 3DS, Nintendo has finally announced the release date for the console version: the fighter will be launching on the Wii U on November 21st. Nintendo had previously been cagey with the Wii U launch date, saying only that it would be coming sometime during the holiday season. The Wii U game will be largely the same as the 3DS version that launched last week (Nintendo says the game has already sold 2./news/11-photos-of-nyc-s-naked-trump-statue.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/11-photos-of-nyc-s-naked-trump-statue.htmlFive identical statues of a nude Donald Trump have appeared overnight on street corners in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Seattle, and New York City. So, The Verge ran down to Union Square in NYC to see as much of fake nude Trump as our eyes could possibly tolerate (photos below!). The Washington Post reports that the anarchist collective INDECLINE is responsible for the statues, and are calling this project "/news/13-sentinels-aegis-rim-review-like-binge-watching-an-ambitious-sci-fi-drama.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/13-sentinels-aegis-rim-review-like-binge-watching-an-ambitious-sci-fi-drama.html13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim has all of the necessary elements for the most confusing science fiction story imaginable. There’s time travel, lost memories, prophetic dreams, android doppelgängers, and a cast of more than a dozen characters each with their own perspective on events that span hundreds of years. It took me around 10 hours before I even had a slight grip on what was happening in its century-spanning mech vs. kaiju story./news/a-fight-over-youtube-creator-tim-pool-s-news-site-involved-a-cat-hostage.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-fight-over-youtube-creator-tim-pool-s-news-site-involved-a-cat-hostage.htmlYouTube drama remains some of the most interesting drama, and a new report from The Daily Beast on infighting at political YouTube creator Tim Pool’s news company — and the fate of a cat named Betsy — is no exception. The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer sets the scene with Pool’s background as a former Vice reporter who went independent as an alt-right-adjacent YouTube creator. But the meat of the report is the fight over Subverse, a news media site with a YouTube channel (renamed SCNR for a hilarious reason you should read the report to learn) for which Pool and his former business partner, Emily Molli, raised over $1 million to start./news/a-space-oddity-the-verge.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-space-oddity-the-verge.htmlA space oddity. The first teaser for Netflix’s Spaceman — a dramatic sci-fi film from director Johan Renck, starring Adam Sandler — didn’t give a lot away. But the latest trailer gives a much stronger feel for the movie, including a first glimpse at Paul Dano’s little alien character, described as “a mysterious creature from the beginning of time.” It looks intriguing to say the least — and starts streaming on March 1st./news/a-valorant-esports-team-has-disbanded-despite-winning-crucial-tournament.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-valorant-esports-team-has-disbanded-despite-winning-crucial-tournament.htmlEarlier this week, Riot crowned its 2023 Valorant champions, Evil Geniuses, who took the title with a 3–1 win over Paper Rex. But what should have been a triumphant moment for Riot esports quickly soured after the news that The Guard, one of the teams that won the right to compete in Valorant’s international tournaments, would not be participating in 2024 — all because of what seems to be an administrative error./news/activision-blizzard-lays-off-esports-staff-as-it-faces-potential-dramatic-changes-for-the-overwatch.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/activision-blizzard-lays-off-esports-staff-as-it-faces-potential-dramatic-changes-for-the-overwatch.htmlAmid the final days of the Activision Blizzard / Microsoft deal, Activision Blizzard is laying off workers in its esports department while also preparing for potentially huge changes coming to the Overwatch League. Early today, Blizzard released its second quarter earnings report, within which lies the potential fate of the Overwatch League. From the report: During the second quarter, we amended certain terms of our collaborative arrangements with team entities participating in the Overwatch League./news/adata-s-xpg-nia-mixes-the-steam-deck-with-hardware-mods.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/adata-s-xpg-nia-mixes-the-steam-deck-with-hardware-mods.htmlAdata has become the latest company to join the hype surrounding PC gaming handhelds — but the XPG Nia prototype it revealed during Computex 2024 is completely different from what we’ve seen so far. The handheld is the first to come with LPCAMM2 memory, making it far easier to swap out and upgrade RAM. As reported by Liliputing, you’ll be able to access the device’s storage beneath the kickstand on the back of the device./news/ai-design-apps-made-my-new-apartment-look-odd.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ai-design-apps-made-my-new-apartment-look-odd.htmlWhen I moved to a new studio apartment last year, it was my chance to live out my DIY YouTube girly dreams and design it to my heart’s content. But it turned out to be harder than I thought. Since I couldn’t afford an actual designer, I decided to try out some of the generative AI-powered design apps I’d seen floating around the internet. AI-based design tools began cropping up about the time ChatGPT burst onto the scene./news/all-i-want-for-christmas-is-this-twerking-alexa-enabled-bear.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/all-i-want-for-christmas-is-this-twerking-alexa-enabled-bear.htmlThe company behind the Alexa-enabled Big Mouth Billy Bass has created the most Spencer’s Gift-y item of them all: an Alexa-enabled twerking bear that dances to music and lip-syncs responses. It comes in three variations — Twerking Bear, Twerking Bear (seasonal), and Santa — all of which sell for $40. It’s a small price to pay for an animated plush that cheerfully lip-syncs responses to your questions, in addition to handling timers, alarms, reminders, and notifications./news/amazon-ending-cloud-cam-service-december-2nd.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-ending-cloud-cam-service-december-2nd.htmlAmazon is ending support for its Cloud Cam security camera and offering owners a free Blink Mini to replace it. MacRumors noted the change late last week, and The Verge obtained a copy of an email sent to customers announcing the change. Cloud Cam owners will be able to use their cameras and download video until December 2nd of this year, after which all recordings will be deleted and the hardware will no longer function./news/amazon-launches-amazon-pharmacy-for-prescription-medicine-delivery.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-launches-amazon-pharmacy-for-prescription-medicine-delivery.htmlAmazon is making its biggest push into the healthcare industry yet with the launch today of Amazon Pharmacy: a new service offering home delivery for prescription medication. Customers can sign up to the new store by creating a ”secure pharmacy profile,” with the option of adding information about their health insurance, any outstanding medical issues like allergies, and any regular prescriptions. The store will offer a range of “generic and brand-name drugs,” reports CNBC, including “commonly prescribed drugs like insulin, triamcinolone steroid creams, metformin for controlling blood sugar, and sumatriptan for migraines./news/amazon-prime-tests-a-9-99-per-month-unlimited-grocery-delivery-subscription.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-prime-tests-a-9-99-per-month-unlimited-grocery-delivery-subscription.htmlAmazon has announced it’s testing a subscription model for unlimited grocery delivery for Prime members. For an additional monthly charge of $9.99, Prime members in three cities can get unlimited delivery on Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods orders over $35. Those who opt-in will also receive unlimited 30-minute pick-up on orders of any size.  It’s the latest in a series of changes that Amazon has made to a division that competes with the likes of Walmart, Postmates, Instacart, and the major grocery chains themselves./news/amazon-smart-air-quality-monitor-review-small-and-inexpensive-but-not-very-smart.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-smart-air-quality-monitor-review-small-and-inexpensive-but-not-very-smart.htmlAmazon’s $69.99 Smart Air Quality Monitor is the company’s first foray into the increasingly popular category of indoor air quality monitors (IAQs). And, based on my experience with the product, it’s a bandwagon-jumping move. While relatively inexpensive and helpful thanks to voice control, the Smart Monitor doesn’t add anything particularly innovative or useful to the concept of a consumer air quality monitor. An indoor air quality monitor purports to tell you all about nasties you can’t see floating around in your home (theEPA says indoor air may be two to five times more polluted than outdoor air)./news/amazon-s-new-alexa-enabled-dash-wand-is-basically-free-for-prime-subscribers.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-s-new-alexa-enabled-dash-wand-is-basically-free-for-prime-subscribers.htmlAmazon has released the Dash Wand, a new Alexa-enabled device that can help you scan grocery barcodes, convert measurements, and order household essentials from Amazon just by using your voice. The Wi-Fi-enabled Dash Wand is magnetic, so you can stick it on your fridge, and also offers some of the features of its bigger Echo sibling, allowing you to find recipes and restaurants without using your hands. At a few inches long, and made out of white and black plastic, the Dash Wand looks like a refreshed version of the company’s original Dash devices./news/amd-teases-rdna3-and-reveals-price-and-release-date-for-ryzen-7000-cpus.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amd-teases-rdna3-and-reveals-price-and-release-date-for-ryzen-7000-cpus.htmlAMD revealed price, performance, some release dates, and more about the upcoming RDNA 3 graphics cards and Ryzen 7000 series processors during its “together we advance_PCs” livestream on Monday. Four CPUs using the new Zen 4 desktop processing architecture (codenamed “Raphael”) will launch on September 27th, 2022. The flagship Ryzen 9 7950X chip will cost $699 at launch and features 16 cores, 32 threads, and a boost clock of up to 5./news/apex-legends-escape-takes-the-battle-royale-shooter-on-vacation-at-the-perfect-time.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apex-legends-escape-takes-the-battle-royale-shooter-on-vacation-at-the-perfect-time.htmlIn the years since Respawn and EA launched Apex Legends, the shooter has carved out its place among a crowded field of contenders. Other games have tried to enter the market and failed to make much impact alongside the other battle royale titans like Call of Duty: Warzone, PUBG, and Fortnite. Still, despite a healthy player base and competitive scene, a new update, dubbed Escape, arrives following one of the roughest seasons since the debut, and it might be exactly what the game needs./news/apple-is-shutting-down-apple-pay-later-just-months-after-launch.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-is-shutting-down-apple-pay-later-just-months-after-launch.htmlStarting later this year, users across the globe will be able to access installment loans offered through credit and debit cards, as well as lenders, when checking out with Apple Pay. With the introduction of this new global installment loan offering, we will no longer offer Apple Pay Later in the U.S. Our focus continues to be on providing our users with access to easy, secure and private payment options with Apple Pay, and this solution will enable us to bring flexible payments to more users, in more places across the globe, in collaboration with Apple Pay enabled banks and lenders./news/apple-keynote-all-of-the-news-from-the-iphone-8-event.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-keynote-all-of-the-news-from-the-iphone-8-event.htmlIt’s September, and that means that there are some new iPhones in town. Specifically, there were three new phones announced today at Apple’s fall event: the high-end iPhone X, which was the star of the show with a new bezel-less design, OLED screen, and 3D face-scanning tech. There’s also the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, the Apple Watch Series 3 (i.e., the Apple Watch Series 2 with LTE), and the Apple TV 4K (a, um, Apple TV with 4K)./news/apple-macbook-air-with-m1-review-new-chip-no-problem.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-macbook-air-with-m1-review-new-chip-no-problem.htmlThe new MacBook Air with Apple’s M1 chip is a triumph. In a week of testing, I have pushed this computer and its new Apple-made processor to its limits and found that those limits exceeded my expectations on nearly every level.  I’ve also used it in the way a MacBook Air is really meant to be used: as an everyday computer for workaday tasks. When doing so, I clocked eight and sometimes 10 hours of continuous use on battery./news/apple-watch-series-6-review-minute-improvements.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-watch-series-6-review-minute-improvements.htmlWeirdly, the fact that the Apple Watch Series 6 is the very best smartwatch by a huge margin feels anticlimactic. That’s probably because the same was true of the Series 5, the Series 4, and even the Series 3. At this point, the company would have to massively screw something up with the Apple Watch for it to be knocked out of the lead spot. Apple didn’t screw anything up. But that’s not the same thing as significantly moving forward, either./news/apple-watch-series-7-review-time-and-time-again.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-watch-series-7-review-time-and-time-again.htmlThe most important questions to ask about the new Apple Watch Series 7 aren’t about the Apple Watch Series 7, they’re about the Apple Watch you may already have.  That’s a gentle way of saying that if there’s nothing wrong with your current watch, there’s nothing in the Series 7 that should compel you to upgrade. If you’ve been waiting for some key feature before buying your first Apple Watch, I don’t know that it’s here, either./news/apple-will-repair-2018-macbook-airs-with-faulty-logic-board-for-free.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-will-repair-2018-macbook-airs-with-faulty-logic-board-for-free.htmlA “very small number” of Apple’s 2018 MacBook Air computers suffer from an issue with their logic boards, and the company will replace the components for free, according to documents seen by 9to5Mac. The site reveals that certain 13-inch Retina screen 2018 MacBook Air models have an issue with their logic boards. The documentation reportedly only says that the issue relates to power, and 9to5Mac found that some users have complained about their devices not turning on./news/apple-s-i-m-a-mac-guy-returns-to-promote-windows-on-arm-pcs.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-i-m-a-mac-guy-returns-to-promote-windows-on-arm-pcs.htmlApple’s former “I’m a Mac” actor Justin Long defected to Intel a few years ago, and now he’s looking to switch to a Qualcomm-powered Windows PC. During Qualcomm’s Computex 2024 keynote today, Long appeared in a brief 30-second skit where he was bombarded by macOS notifications and nag screens causing him to start searching for a Snapdragon-powered PC instead. Justin Long used to star in Apple’s “Get a Mac” TV commercials nearly 20 years ago./news/apple-s-schoolwork-app-lets-teachers-dole-out-digital-assignments-to-students.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-schoolwork-app-lets-teachers-dole-out-digital-assignments-to-students.htmlApple is making a big push into education, and part of that is through apps. At its event today, the company announced a tool called Schoolwork, which will allow teachers to assign digital handouts to students — Apple compared it to writing an email: teachers will be able to write notes, send PDFs, and include links to the web. And since this is all on an iPad, they’ll even be able to assign students activities that live inside of other apps./news/arc-max-is-the-popular-browser-s-new-suite-of-ai-tools.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/arc-max-is-the-popular-browser-s-new-suite-of-ai-tools.htmlAt some point, if you’re a company doing pretty much anything in the year 2023, you have to have an AI strategy. It’s just business. You can make a ChatGPT plug-in. You can do a sidebar. You can bet your entire trillion-dollar company on AI being the future of how everyone does everything. But you have to do something, you know? These are just the times we live in. The last one of these was crypto and the blockchain a couple of years ago, and Josh Miller, the CEO of The Browser Company, which makes the popular new Arc browser, says he’s very glad he missed that particular boat./news/bang-olufsen-made-a-set-of-neckbuds-you-d-actually-want-to-wear.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bang-olufsen-made-a-set-of-neckbuds-you-d-actually-want-to-wear.htmlBang & Olufsen's first ever pair of wireless earphones — dubbed Beoplay H5 — look like they could be a winner. They're simple and well-designed, with no plastic collar that sits on your shoulders: just a single braided cable with a built-in remote, playback, and volume control. They're splash and dust resistant, and there are 50 mAh batteries inside each earpiece which combine to offer five hours of continuous playback./news/beats-fit-pro-review-sporty-airpod-pros-with-better-sound.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/beats-fit-pro-review-sporty-airpod-pros-with-better-sound.htmlBeats has been busy. After releasing the Studio Buds earlier this year, today the Apple-owned brand is back with the more premium Beats Fit Pro wireless earbuds. It’s unusual to see two completely new products from Beats in a single year, but perhaps the company is trying to make a point that it’s not idly sitting by and playing second fiddle to Apple’s AirPods and AirPods Pro. If anything, the $200 Fit Pros demonstrate that Beats has found its focus./news/blackberry-kills-ryan-seacrest-s-iphone-keyboard.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/blackberry-kills-ryan-seacrest-s-iphone-keyboard.htmlBlackBerry and Typo Keyboard, a company that makes a case for the iPhone that adds a hardware keyboard, have settled their long-running dispute over IP infringement, with the result being that Typo essentially can't make keyboards for smartphones anymore. The Typo Keyboard, which originally debuted in January 2014 and was backed with an investment by none other than Ryan Seacrest, attempted to provide a BlackBerry-style hardware keyboard for iPhone users, with less than stellar results./news/blaseball-is-over-says-the-game-band.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/blaseball-is-over-says-the-game-band.htmlBorn during covid, Blaseball was a bizarre text-only fantasy baseball simulator that imagined, essentially, baseball as played in a world of otherworldly horrors. I regret that I never got to play Blaseball, and now it looks like I won’t get to because developer The Game Band is shutting it down. The company is laying off its Blaseball development team and will provide them with severance pay, healthcare extensions, and a dedicated staff member for job search help./news/braven-six-series-of-bluetooth-speakers-can-daisy-chain-charge-your-usb-devices.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/braven-six-series-of-bluetooth-speakers-can-daisy-chain-charge-your-usb-devices.htmlThe speaker company formerly known as Spar is back with a new name and trio of updated battery-powered Bluetooth speakers as followup the Zephyr series launched in 2011. Now operating under the name Braven, the Utah-based company just announced the Braven Six series of 3-watt stereo speakers touting passive subwoofers, battery life between 14 and 20 hours, an ability to charge USB devices like phones and audio players, a full-duplex microphone for making Bluetooth speakerphone calls, 3./news/capybaras-are-cute-even-though-they-eat-their-own-poop.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/capybaras-are-cute-even-though-they-eat-their-own-poop.htmlThe capybara is basically a giant guinea pig that can grow to up to 140 pounds on a diet of grass — and its own poop. These social, almost cow-like creatures are native to South America, where they spend their lives moving back and forth between grasslands and water. Capybara voyeur Elizabeth Congdon, a scientist at Bethune-Cookman University, tells The Verge why capybaras are fascinating to study in the wild — and why we shouldn't get one as a pet./news/casio-announces-iphone-compatible-bluetooth-smart-watches.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/casio-announces-iphone-compatible-bluetooth-smart-watches.htmlBack in June when we reviewed Casio’s Japan-only G-Shock Bluetooth GB–6900 watch it was only compatible with a handful of Japanese Android phones, preventing it from ever having a chance in the overseas market. Now, Casio is announcing two new Bluetooth G-Shocks, the GB–6900AA (above) and GB-5600AA (below), that work with the iPhone 4S; bringing its smart watch functionality to Apple’s platform for the first time. Just like the original GB–6900, the new watches sync with your phone over Bluetooth 4./news/chatgpt-users-report-42-a-month-pricing-for-pro-access-but-no-official-announcement-yet.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/chatgpt-users-report-42-a-month-pricing-for-pro-access-but-no-official-announcement-yet.htmlEarlier this month, OpenAI said it was exploring ways to monetize its AI chatbot ChatGPT, giving users the opportunity to sign up for early access to “ChatGPT Professional.” Now, some users say they’ve been granted access to a pro tier which costs $42 a month. OpenAI hasn’t confirmed this is an official test or made any announcements. We’ve contacted the company for more info, but in the meantime remember that features and pricing could change before ChatGPT Professional launches for real./news/cocaine-bear-review-it-s-fun-but-it-doesn-t-know-when-to-stop.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/cocaine-bear-review-it-s-fun-but-it-doesn-t-know-when-to-stop.htmlOn some level, you do have to hand it to movies like Cocaine Bear, Universal’s new black comedy from director Elizabeth Banks about a coked-up bruin gallivanting through the woods, mauling unsuspecting humans, and doing lines off its victims’ dismembered limbs. Simply by spelling out and then relentlessly over-delivering on its ridiculous premise for an hour and a half, Cocaine Bear immediately sets itself apart (in a good way) from many of the more comedic “cerebral” horrors and thrillers the film draws inspiration from./news/control-is-a-time-bending-new-game-from-the-developers-of-quantum-break.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/control-is-a-time-bending-new-game-from-the-developers-of-quantum-break.htmlRemedy Entertainment showed up at Sony’s E3 press conference with a surprise: a new third-person action-adventure game called Control, which seemed to feature the sort of slow-motion, time-bending gameplay from the studio’s last (Xbox One exclusive) game, Quantum Break. According to the trailer description, players will take the role of Jesse Faden, who becomes the new director of the “Bureau of Control,” which fights against supernatural enemies, including the ominous sounding “Hiss./news/discord-is-nuking-nintendo-switch-emulator-devs-and-their-entire-servers.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/discord-is-nuking-nintendo-switch-emulator-devs-and-their-entire-servers.htmlDiscord has shut down the Discord servers for the Nintendo Switch emulators Suyu and Sudachi and has completely disabled their lead developers’ accounts — and the company isn’t answering our questions about why it went that far. Both Suyu and Sudachi began as forks of Yuzu, the emulator that Nintendo sued out of existence on March 4th. “Discord responds to and complies with all legal and valid Digital Millennium Copyright Act requests./news/dune-part-two-review-an-epic-examination-of-the-books-subversive-ideas.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/dune-part-two-review-an-epic-examination-of-the-books-subversive-ideas.htmlThe ending of Denis Villeneuve’s first Dune film made it possible to read this telling of Frank Herbert’s opus as a grim but optimistically opened narrative about a young man embracing destiny to become a liberator. The film framed Paul Atreides’ wisdom as his most invaluable tool, and it presented his moral clarity as a sign of his walking a righteous path. As in the book, you were meant to see Paul as a complicated but sympathetic figure at the beginning of his Shakespearean hero’s journey./news/ee-prices-first-lte-phones-and-tariffs-in-the-uk.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ee-prices-first-lte-phones-and-tariffs-in-the-uk.htmlEE has finally revealed tariff and handset pricing information for its LTE network, due to officially launch in the UK on October 30th. Those hoping for unlimited data will be disappointed, with the company instead opting for different data allowances depending on the monthly cost of your contract. All the tariffs come with unlimited calls and texts on a standard 24 month contract, with the following pricing options available: Anyone looking for more data will either have to purchase additional add-ons when running low, or move up to the £60 business tariff which features 16GB of data./news/elon-musk-has-fully-bought-into-the-great-replacement.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/elon-musk-has-fully-bought-into-the-great-replacement.htmlFor months, Elon Musk has been dropping decidedly unsubtle hints that he believes in the great replacement, a conspiracy theory that liberal elites are “importing” immigrants into the United States, Europe, and Australia to wage political and biological warfare against white people. In a contentious interview that aired last week with Don Lemon, Musk said he doesn’t “subscribe to that” before detailing what he does believe — which is effectively still great replacement theory./news/elon-musk-s-tweets-take-center-stage-in-opening-day-of-his-securities-fraud-trial.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/elon-musk-s-tweets-take-center-stage-in-opening-day-of-his-securities-fraud-trial.htmlElon Musk tweets, and “regular people” watch their fortunes evaporate. That was the argument put before a jury by lawyers representing a class of Tesla investors in opening arguments in Musk’s securities fraud trial, which kicked off today in a courtroom in San Francisco. The plaintiffs are arguing that Musk’s 2018 tweets about taking Tesla private, in which he said he had “funding secured,” led them to lose millions of dollars./news/exclusive-ceo-dara-khosrowshahi-on-uber-s-new-app.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/exclusive-ceo-dara-khosrowshahi-on-uber-s-new-app.htmlUber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is about to cross a busy street in lower Manhattan, but he stops short. “Is there jaywalking allowed, or is this—” Jaywalking is practically encouraged in New York City, I say.  “All right, there we go,” he says, stepping gingerly into the street. “I used to live here, so if I don’t jaywalk, I feel weird.” Once, a CEO of Uber wouldn’t think twice before skirting the law; he’d just do it, consequences be damned./news/experience-beatlemania-this-weekend-with-yesterday-and-yellow-submarine.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/experience-beatlemania-this-weekend-with-yesterday-and-yellow-submarine.htmlThere are so many streaming options available these days, and so many conflicting recommendations, that it’s hard to see through all the crap you could be watching. Each Friday, The Verge’s Cut the Crap column simplifies the choice by sorting through the overwhelming multitude of movies and TV shows on subscription services and recommending a single perfect thing to watch this weekend. What to watch Yellow Submarine, a 1968 animated feature in which cartoon versions of The Beatles help the kindly citizens of Pepperland resist the authoritarian, fun-hating Blue Meanies./news/explore-a-timeline-of-jazz-with-blue-note-records-free-spotify-app.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/explore-a-timeline-of-jazz-with-blue-note-records-free-spotify-app.htmlBlue Note Records has released a Spotify app earlier this week that lets fans explore the rich history and culture of Jazz music with a sliding, interactive timeline or through its vintage-themed filtering menu. Other features like Blue Break Beats allows listeners to trace the samples used in recent music back to their original songs, like Ludacris' samples of Bobbi Humphrey's My Little Girl in his song Hard Times. While the app is far from a complete history of Jazz, Blue Note Records is offering new fans and long-time enthusiasts an engaging way to browse its catalog and learn a little something in the process./news/facebook-says-it-s-refocusing-company-on-serving-young-adults.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/facebook-says-it-s-refocusing-company-on-serving-young-adults.html“So much of our services have gotten dialed to be the best for the most people who use them, rather than specifically for young adults,” Zuckerberg said. TikTok is “one of the most effective competitors we’ve ever faced” He suggested the change will be more than just lip service. Facebook usage among older users will grow slower than it otherwise would have because of the changes, Zuckerberg said. Even with those tradeoffs, he said, “I think it’s the right approach./news/falkland-islands-wolf-the-islands-only-native-land-mammal-likely-walked-across-an-ice-bridge.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/falkland-islands-wolf-the-islands-only-native-land-mammal-likely-walked-across-an-ice-bridge.htmlThe origin of the Falkland Islands wolf has been a mystery for centuries. Now extinct, the wolf is the only known land-based mammal native to the Islands, and scientists since Darwin have puzzled over when it became isolated from similar species and how it made its way across the water. Now, a study published in Nature Communications has shed more light on the puzzle, suggesting that the wolf crossed from what is now Argentina when a narrow strait between them froze over./news/fcc-docs-show-pixel-9-phones-with-built-in-thread-radios.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fcc-docs-show-pixel-9-phones-with-built-in-thread-radios.htmlFCC docs show Pixel 9 phones with built-in Thread radios. That’s according to 9to5Google. As it happens, Android 15 may support directly controlling smart home devices with your phone via Thread, a key component of the Matter smart home protocol. Pixel 9 phones wouldn’t be alone — Apple put Thread radios in the iPhone 15 Pro phones, too. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfbHxyf45ra2pxZ22EeXvFnJpmnJ%2BYwG6%2Fx6iuZqiZrbKteZhmp6GnnprAbsPIrZ9mmqWeubV5yKdkraCimq6ledGam6Know%3D%3D/news/fitness-the-verge.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fitness-the-verge.htmlGarmin adds YouTube Music to the mix. You do need a Music Premium account, but you can download playlists for offline playback. We love to see Garmin add to the ConnectIQ store, which... let’s face it, doesn’t have the largest selection as far as third-party smartwatch app stores go. Previously, you could choose between Spotify, Amazon Music, and Deezer. (But I’ve yet to meet anyone who used the latter two with the Garmin./news/fortnite-now-has-a-bandcamp-radio-station.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fortnite-now-has-a-bandcamp-radio-station.htmlHere’s a full rundown of the artists and tracks landing on the Island: The Beths: “The Great No One”Sunny indie rock from New Zealand, full of jangly guitars and rich harmonies. Starflyer 59: “New Guitar”Infectious noise pop from a long-running California band with ’90s alternative rock roots. Gladie: “Nothing”This rising Philadelphia group pairs catchy pop-punk hooks with raw, relatable lyrics. Pow Wow!: “Don’t Stop to Look”Combining disco, rock, and soul, these New Yorkers’ sound was built for the dancefloor./news/fortnite-og-will-end-with-a-big-bang.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fortnite-og-will-end-with-a-big-bang.htmlFortnite is currently saturated in nostalgia, thanks to the backwards-looking Fortnite OG. But that’s about to change very soon: the battle royale’s next major live event promises “a new beginning” for the game. There aren’t many other details, but the event is called The Big Bang, and it kicks off on December 2nd at 2PM ET; as with past events, developer Epic recommends players show up at least 30 minutes early so they don’t miss out./news/fortnite-s-black-hole-event-broke-twitch-and-twitter-viewing-records.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fortnite-s-black-hole-event-broke-twitch-and-twitter-viewing-records.htmlEpic Games tells The Verge that the black hole event, officially called “The End,” amassed record-breaking viewership on Twitter and Twitch. It also clocked in as one of the most viewed YouTube gaming events ever, although far from the biggest live event on that platform. (Live Coachella performances from Beyonce and other more mainstream events handily have it beat.) On Twitch, more than 1.7 million people were viewing either the official Fortnite stream or streams from popular creators./news/fujifilm-x-t30-review-a-little-wonder-of-a-camera.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fujifilm-x-t30-review-a-little-wonder-of-a-camera.htmlFor Fujifilm, shrinking the phenomenal X-T3 down into a smaller package was always going to be a winning proposition. For several years running, the company has followed up on its flagship X-series mirrorless camera with a more portable (and more affordable) option that still offers many of the best features and capabilities of the flagship. This step-down series is actually Fujifilm’s most popular camera line; the X-T20, introduced in 2017, became the company’s best-selling camera ever./news/garmin-venu-sq-2-review-an-excellent-fitbit-alternative.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/garmin-venu-sq-2-review-an-excellent-fitbit-alternative.htmlWhen I think of a Garmin, I usually picture a behemoth of a watch worn by a sweaty marathoner — and I see plenty of both at my run club every week. What I don’t think of is lifestyle smartwatches, even though I know Garmin makes several. (Many of which I’ve reviewed!) It just wasn’t a category that played to the company’s strengths. Or at least that’s what I used to think./news/get-diablo-iv-beta-early-access-when-you-buy-a-kfc-double-down.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/get-diablo-iv-beta-early-access-when-you-buy-a-kfc-double-down.htmlWith Diablo IV right around the corner, Blizzard is teaming up with KFC to give players an early crack at the beta... for the small price of all your daily allowance of sodium. From now until March 18th, you can purchase the KFC Double Down — the chicken sandwich that eschews common sense, good taste, and health considerations by swapping out bread for two pieces of fried chicken — and receive early access to the open beta./news/gmail-can-check-if-your-email-adress-has-been-posted-to-the-dark-web.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gmail-can-check-if-your-email-adress-has-been-posted-to-the-dark-web.htmlA new security feature coming to Google accounts could inform you if your email address has been published on the dark web. At Google I/O today, the search giant announced plans to roll out a handful of new security features designed to better protect those using Google products and services, including spam protections for Google Drive and improved search history deletion in Maps. The company is expanding its “dark web report” feature to all Gmail accounts in the US over the coming weeks, which scans to check if your Gmail address is appearing on the dark web and advises on steps that users can take to bolster their online security./news/go-read-this-report-on-an-ai-shopping-app-that-was-actually-just-using-humans.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/go-read-this-report-on-an-ai-shopping-app-that-was-actually-just-using-humans.htmlOne consequence of the pandemic-fueled shopping boom is that venture capitalists —facing fierce competition for deals and paranoid about missing the next Stripe — began practically hurling money at startups that promised to make e-commerce smoother, even ones with questionable business models or technology. Today, amid slowing e-commerce sales and macroeconomic challenges, many startups face a reckoning.  “Across the startup landscape, there is a realization that a lot of companies had a great story, but their reality” wasn’t, said Keval Desai, an investor at InterWest Partners who previously backed e-commerce firms such as The RealReal./news/go-read-this-story-about-why-jony-ive-quit-apple.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/go-read-this-story-about-why-jony-ive-quit-apple.htmlWhen Apple announced the Apple Watch in 2014, it did so at De Anza in Cupertino, a few miles down the road from its then-headquarters on Infinite Loop. It’s sort of a sacred site for Apple, the place Steve Jobs debuted both the original Macintosh in 1984 and the iMac in 1998. And on the 30th anniversary of the Macintosh, for the first potentially game-changing product since the death of Steve Jobs, Apple — and Jony Ive, Apple’s chief designer and Jobs’ longtime collaborator — wanted to pull out all the stops./news/google-flights-price-guarantee-could-pay-you-back-if-your-tickets-get-cheaper.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-flights-price-guarantee-could-pay-you-back-if-your-tickets-get-cheaper.htmlGoogle is testing out a price guarantee program for Google Flights that will pay you money if the price of a flight goes down after you booked it through the service. The feature is currently available as a “pilot program” in the US (get it?) for specific flights, according to a Monday blog post, but it could be a compelling reason to use Google’s tool the next time you’re searching for a flight./news/google-messages-might-let-you-edit-texts-after-they-re-sent.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-messages-might-let-you-edit-texts-after-they-re-sent.htmlGoogle could be developing a new feature for its Messages app that would let you edit a message after having sent it, according to code spotted by TheSpAndroid. References to the feature first appeared in a beta version of the app on November 19th, and there are four flags that appear to reference it, though attempting to enable them reportedly doesn’t do anything. The evidence of the in-development feature has cropped up as support for editing messages is becoming increasingly common in other messaging apps./news/google-photos-new-ai-tools-for-pixel-8-raise-messy-questions.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-photos-new-ai-tools-for-pixel-8-raise-messy-questions.htmlIn its eight years of existence, Google Photos has shifted its official mission just once: from “home for all your photos and videos” to “home for all your memories,” says Google Photos VP Shimrit Ben-Yair. That tagline switch starts to make a lot more sense when you look at the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro. Inside the new phones, Google Photos will see some of its biggest changes to date, all designed to refine your memories./news/google-promised-a-better-search-experience-now-it-s-telling-us-to-put-glue-on-our-pizza.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-promised-a-better-search-experience-now-it-s-telling-us-to-put-glue-on-our-pizza.htmlImagine this: you’ve carved out an evening to unwind and decide to make a homemade pizza. You assemble your pie, throw it in the oven, and are excited to start eating. But once you get ready to take a bite of your oily creation, you run into a problem — the cheese falls right off. Frustrated, you turn to Google for a solution. “Add some glue,” Google answers. “Mix about 1/8 cup of Elmer’s glue in with the sauce./news/google-search-now-displays-360-degree-views-of-sneakers-when-shopping.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-search-now-displays-360-degree-views-of-sneakers-when-shopping.htmlIt’s now possible to use Google search for more than just Taylor Swift ticket queries: starting today in the US, the search engine will use augmented reality to help you find the perfect pair of shoes from the comfort of your home. The search giant is also making its AR beauty feature more inclusive and easier to use. As what appears to be a part of the reinvention of Google’s search engine, Google now displays 360-degree 3D views of sneakers after first introducing the feature during September’s Search On event./news/google-video-reveals-android-11-will-likely-launch-on-september-8th.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-video-reveals-android-11-will-likely-launch-on-september-8th.htmlAt around the 18-minute mark, you can see “checklist for September 8th Android 11 launch” right at the top of the slide, and Google’s Michele Turner says “We’re launching everywhere on September 8th” when talking about the new Android 11 power menu that offers easier access to smart home controls and toggles. Last month, Google released the first public beta of Android 11 and said the official launch will happen later in the third quarter./news/google-s-duet-ai-now-available-in-docs-gmail-and-other-workspace-apps.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-s-duet-ai-now-available-in-docs-gmail-and-other-workspace-apps.htmlGoogle announced today that it is rolling out its Duet AI assistant across all of its Workspace apps, including Gmail, Drive, Slides, Docs, and more. The Duet tech has been in testing for a while, the company said, with more than a million people already kicking the tires on Google’s virtual assistant. Now, it’s coming to anyone paying for Google’s Workspace apps. Google announced Duet AI at its I/O developer conference earlier this year, pitching the collection of features as a helpful collaborator in all your Google apps./news/google-s-gemini-ai-now-has-a-new-app-and-works-across-google-products.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-s-gemini-ai-now-has-a-new-app-and-works-across-google-products.htmlGoogle is famous for having a million similar products with confusingly different names and seemingly nothing in common. (Can I interest you in a messaging app?) But when it comes to its AI work, going forward there is only one name that matters: Gemini. The company announced on Thursday that it is renaming its Bard chatbot to Gemini, releasing a dedicated Gemini app for Android, and even folding all its Duet AI features in Google Workspace into the Gemini brand./news/hackers-are-holding-a-california-hospital-s-network-hostage-for-3-6-million.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hackers-are-holding-a-california-hospital-s-network-hostage-for-3-6-million.htmlThe computers at a Los Angeles hospital have been down for more than a week after ransomware ended up on its internal network. Patients at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center have been transferred to other hospitals because of the outage, and connected medical devices and portals are offline, as well. The attackers have reportedly asked for more than $3.6 million to decrypt the system and the hospital’s files, CSO reports. Staff are now having to turn to fax machines and landline telephones to get work done, and medical records are being kept on paper./news/here-are-destiny-2-s-biggest-changes-to-weapons-subclasses-and-combat.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/here-are-destiny-2-s-biggest-changes-to-weapons-subclasses-and-combat.htmlWhen Bungie revealed the first gameplay trailer for Destiny 2 on Thursday, fans made a lot of noise about the new superpowers available and the CGI trailers setting up the new “Red War Campaign” story mode. There was even a comically loud cheering section when Bungie execs announced that, at long last, players wouldn’t be kicked to the game’s waiting zone every time they wanted to do a new activity. But a lot of the nuts-and-bolts changes to Destiny 2 went unmentioned onstage./news/here-s-why-the-pixel-3-and-3-xl-are-google-s-most-expensive-phones-ever.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/here-s-why-the-pixel-3-and-3-xl-are-google-s-most-expensive-phones-ever.htmlWith a price of $799, Google’s Pixel 3 is $150 more expensive than the Pixel 2 was at launch. The 3 XL, at $899, is $50 pricier than last year’s bigger model. These aren’t the most expensive smartphones out there — Apple and Samsung go way higher — but it’s a price bump that many people are disappointed by, particularly when some Android phone makers like OnePlus are offering several pieces of the Pixel 3’s core hardware in products that cost significantly less./news/home-assistant-how-to-start-a-smart-home.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/home-assistant-how-to-start-a-smart-home.htmlThere is a certain flavor of tech nerd that needs direct, unadulterated access to whatever they are working with. Most of these people are Linux users, can own several Raspberry Pis, can’t stand it when something comes in between them and their hardware, and will take whatever complex path they need to interface directly with it. I am one of these people, and I am only getting worse over time, which is why I have converted my smart home to Home Assistant, the home automation solution for true freaks./news/how-an-indonesian-onomatopoeia-became-a-dance-music-sample-and-a-meme.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-an-indonesian-onomatopoeia-became-a-dance-music-sample-and-a-meme.htmlOm Telolet Om. That three-word phrase is currently sprinkled across the Twitter mentions and Instagram comments of celebrities around the word. But what does it mean? As Billboard points out, Om Telolet Om doesn’t quite mean anything. It’s a noise. The onomatopoeia was created by kids in Indonesia. “Telolet” is meant to represent the sound city buses make when they honk: it’s a complex, carnival-like beep. And “Om” is an Indonesian word that loosely translates to “sir./news/how-big-companies-kill-ideas-and-how-to-fight-back-with-tony-fadell.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-big-companies-kill-ideas-and-how-to-fight-back-with-tony-fadell.htmlTony Fadell was instrumental in the development of the iPod and iPhone at Apple and then co-founded Nest Labs, which kicked off the consumer smart home market with its smart thermostat in 2011. Tony sold Nest to Google for $3.2 billion in 2014 and eventually left Google. He now runs an investment firm called Future Shape.  Tony’s written a new book called Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making, which, I’ll be honest, is total bait for Decoder./news/how-i-hacked-my-brain-with-adderall-a-cautionary-tale.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-i-hacked-my-brain-with-adderall-a-cautionary-tale.htmlEvolution is a nice, big idea. It connotes the glacial pace of an unmeditated act unfolding upon species, concepts, and ecosystems. It certainly doesn’t usually get branded as a feeling. But a couple months ago I felt this thing. Maybe a little like what a mommy feels when her fetus kicks the wall crossed with how the baby feels when it gets its pre-K diploma, and the best word I can come up with for it is evolution./news/how-to-be-human-i-cheated-on-my-girlfriend-is-it-possible-to-win-her-back.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-be-human-i-cheated-on-my-girlfriend-is-it-possible-to-win-her-back.htmlLeah Reich was one of the first internet advice columnists. Her column "Ask Leah" ran on IGN, where she gave advice to gamers for two and a half years. During the day, Leah is Slack’s user researcher, but her views here do not represent her employer. You can write to her at askleah@theverge.com and read more How to be Human here. Dear Leah, I wish to start by saying I have NEVER reached out for guidance via a column, but for progress we must try new things./news/how-to-master-super-mario-run-13-quick-and-easy-tips.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-master-super-mario-run-13-quick-and-easy-tips.htmlSuper Mario Run, Nintendo’s first true smartphone game, arrives today on iOS. It’s a little different than your typical Mario fanfare, which typically send the mustachioed plumber out on a grand adventure. Instead, the game has three modes — which you can test out for free — for players to sink their time into. The game does include in-game purchases with coin currency and a one-time fee of $9.99 to unlock its full features, and it will require an active internet connection to play./news/how-to-print-a-paper-copy-or-a-pdf-from-an-iphone-or-ipad.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-print-a-paper-copy-or-a-pdf-from-an-iphone-or-ipad.htmlPrinting is all but dead in this all-digital world, but there are still some things you can’t easily digitize: shipping labels, flyers for a bulletin board, printing out an email for your boss, and sticking prank memes in your colleagues’ cubicles. And in this era of doing almost everything on your phone, it’s good to have the option to print from it instead of needing to jump onto a computer./news/how-to-watch-amd-s-advancing-ai-pcs-keynote.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-watch-amd-s-advancing-ai-pcs-keynote.htmlHow to watch AMD’s ‘Advancing AI PCs’ keynote. AMD is returning to CES 2024 this year to talk about AI PCs. Rumors suggest there could be some new Ryzen mobile chips, potentially a new AM4 processor, and even a new Radeon RX 7600 XT GPU. AMD’s event kicks off at 8AM PT / 10AM ET / 3PM GMT today, and you can watch the whole thing below. Stay tuned to The Verge for all the latest news from AMD./news/hyundai-s-prophecy-concept-looks-like-the-baby-of-a-porsche-and-a-model-3.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hyundai-s-prophecy-concept-looks-like-the-baby-of-a-porsche-and-a-model-3.htmlHyundai has unveiled a new electric concept car called the Prophecy that, frankly, looks like a Porsche 911 and a Model 3 were smashed together and cloaked in obsidian. The new concept was revealed as part of the now-canceled 2020 Geneva Motor Show, and Hyundai is really only showing off its design chops with it. There are no specs assigned to the Prophecy or claims of a production date. It’s simply a design object meant to give people an idea of what Hyundai sees as one possible future for its electric vehicles./news/instagram-is-working-to-expand-hdr-photo-support-to-more-devices.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/instagram-is-working-to-expand-hdr-photo-support-to-more-devices.htmlInstagram is working to expand HDR photo support to more devices. Samsung announced yesterday that its new Galaxy S24 would become the first device to be able to post and view photos in HDR on Instagram. But this feature may be arriving on more devices soon, according to Meta spokesperson Cullen Heaney: Samsung is the first manufacturer we’ve worked with to make this feature available, meaning SG24 users are the first to be able to post and view HDR photos in Feed./news/intel-announces-5-5ghz-capable-12th-gen-cpu.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/intel-announces-5-5ghz-capable-12th-gen-cpu.htmlAfter teasing the news earlier this week, Intel has officially announced a new 12th-gen desktop CPU that’s capable of boosting to 5.5GHz on a single core out of the box. The news came during Intel’s CES 2022 presentation, when it said the KS-series desktop processor would be shipping later this quarter, but there was no mention of pricing. The full name of the chip is the Core i9-12900KS, and Tom’s Hardware notes the “S’’ suffix suggests it’ll be a limited edition./news/iphone-15-leaks-and-rumors-everything-we-re-expecting-from-apple-s-2023-flagship.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/iphone-15-leaks-and-rumors-everything-we-re-expecting-from-apple-s-2023-flagship.htmlNo gold — but maybe gray. 9to5Mac reports that the iPhone 15 Pro won’t come in a gold option. Instead, the publication says you can expect space black, silver, a new gray that “embraces the natural color of titanium,” and a dark blue. There apparently won’t be a red. — Update August 24th, 6:07PM ET: 9to5Mac posted images of what appears to be the new “Titan Gray” color for the iPhone 15 Pro./news/justice-department-has-charged-a-latvian-woman-it-says-helped-develop-trickbot-malware.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/justice-department-has-charged-a-latvian-woman-it-says-helped-develop-trickbot-malware.htmlThe US Department of Justice has charged a Latvian woman for her role in allegedly developing the Trickbot malware, which was responsible for infecting millions of computers, targeting schools, hospitals, public utilities, and governments, the agency said in a news release. The DOJ alleges that Alla Witte was part of a criminal organization known as the Trickbot Group that operated in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Suriname. She allegedly helped develop the malware which was used to enable ransomware demands and payments./news/keychron-s-latest-keyboard-is-a-more-compact-way-to-get-your-numpad-fix.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/keychron-s-latest-keyboard-is-a-more-compact-way-to-get-your-numpad-fix.htmlKeychron’s latest wired mechanical keyboard is the Q5. It uses a similar construction to the excellent Q1 and Q2 keyboards that have proceeded it, but with a larger layout that includes a numpad. It’s not a traditional full-size keyboard, but the idea with its 1800 layout (aka a 96-percent layout) is that it offers almost all of the keys a user might need while still being relatively compact.  “There’s currently no stock full-metal custom 1800 layout mechanical keyboard on the market,” said Keychron COO Paul Tan./news/latest-itunes-update-includes-safeguards-against-music-deletion.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/latest-itunes-update-includes-safeguards-against-music-deletion.htmlApple's much-criticized iTunes app came under fire again last week, after musician James Pinkstone claimed the software deleted 122GB of his own music. While Apple sent two engineers to Pinkstone to try and diagnose the problem, the company has also released an iTunes update that includes "additional safeguards" against music deletion. It's not clear exactly what those safeguards are, but TechCrunch claims iTunes version 12.4 includes them. Apple acknowledged the music deletion issues last week, claiming the company had only seen the issue in an "/news/lenovo-is-now-licensing-sony-s-patents-for-its-playstation-vr-copycat-headset.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lenovo-is-now-licensing-sony-s-patents-for-its-playstation-vr-copycat-headset.htmlSony has officially licensed its PlayStation VR headset design to Lenovo, which is currently selling a headset that looks a whole lot like the PlayStation VR. The two-year patent licensing agreement, which was announced today, lets Lenovo use Sony’s design for its Mirage Solo headset. The exact terms of the agreement have not been revealed. Lenovo vice president Yao Li says the two companies are now “[working] together to greatly enhance the design sophistication and appeal of the rapidly expanding VR field,” since “the preeminence of the PSVR design is obvious./news/lg-made-a-battery-powered-tv-that-you-can-wheel-around-on-a-stand.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lg-made-a-battery-powered-tv-that-you-can-wheel-around-on-a-stand.htmlCES 2022 is only a few short weeks away, and you can bet we’ll see a ton of news surrounding the latest, flashiest TVs with OLED, Mini LED, MicroLED, and more. But before we get there, LG is making an early announcement to put a spotlight on two unconventional TVs that are coming next year in addition to whatever the company has in store for CES. To me, the standout is the LG StanbyME, a 27-inch TV that can operate wirelessly on battery power and be wheeled around on its height-adjustable stand./news/lincoln-s-new-electric-concept-car-uses-lo-fi-beats-and-fragrances-to-elevate-your-state-of.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lincoln-s-new-electric-concept-car-uses-lo-fi-beats-and-fragrances-to-elevate-your-state-of.htmlCoastal Morning uses gentle, oceanic sounds, a fragrance of sea mist and the soft, warm glow of the sun with dynamic lighting throughout to replicate a stroll on the beach at sunrise. Mindful Vitality is meant to reenergize the senses, with invigorating, upbeat audio, dynamic abstract artwork, soft, glowing lighting and a flowery fragrance throughout. Evening Chill mirrors dusk using a calming night soundtrack coordinated with night sky video and an evergreen fragrance./news/logitech-mx-anywhere-3-review-the-best-gets-smaller.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/logitech-mx-anywhere-3-review-the-best-gets-smaller.htmlLogitech’s MX Anywhere 3 is the recently released successor to the MX Anywhere 2S from 2017, and the little brother to the MX Master 3, one of the best mice around. It’s smaller, designed for travel, and serves as a nearly perfect compact mouse for anyone looking to be a little more productive, whether at home or on the go.  Logitech’s $99 MX Master 3 is most famous for its fantastic scroll wheel, which the company redesigned last year with a new electromagnetic scrolling system./news/marvel-snap-s-bundle-pricing-is-out-of-control.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/marvel-snap-s-bundle-pricing-is-out-of-control.htmlMarvel Snap’s first patch of 2023 is here. And while it comes with an interesting set of buffs and long-asked-for nerfs, it also brings a new bundle in the shop that’s finally causing me to give my favorite mobile game ever a bit of side-eye. As mobile games go, Marvel Snap’s been really good about its monetization scheme. You spend $10 a month if you want that season’s new card / premium battle pass filled with premium prizes, which feels fairly standard./news/meta-ordered-to-sell-giphy-by-uk-regulator.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/meta-ordered-to-sell-giphy-by-uk-regulator.htmlThe UK’s competition regulator has officially ruled that Facebook parent company Meta’s acquisition of Giphy should be unwound, a year and a half after the social media giant first said it was acquiring the popular GIF-making and sharing website. In a press release, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that it had come to the decision after its investigation found an acquisition could harm competition between social media platforms, and that its concerns “can only be addressed by Facebook selling Giphy in its entirety to an approved buyer./news/michelle-obama-jay-z-others-suffer-identity-breach-fbi-and-secret-service-to-investigate.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/michelle-obama-jay-z-others-suffer-identity-breach-fbi-and-secret-service-to-investigate.htmlThe FBI and Secret Service are investigating "exposed.su," a mysterious website that popped up earlier this week, containing financial information and other personal data of a list of notable individuals, including First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, FBI director Robert Mueller, pop star Beyonce Knowles, rapper Jay-Z, actor Ashton Kutcher and others, according to The Associated Press. At least some of the information listed on the website was reported to be authentic, but the site, which operated under an old Soviet Union top-level domain, has since been taken offline./news/microsoft-reportedly-working-on-its-own-ai-chips-that-may-rival-nvidia-s.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-reportedly-working-on-its-own-ai-chips-that-may-rival-nvidia-s.htmlMicrosoft is reportedly working on its own AI chips that can be used to train large language models and avoid a costly reliance on Nvidia. The Information reports that Microsoft has been developing the chips in secret since 2019, and some Microsoft and OpenAI employees already have access to them to test how well they perform for the latest large language models like GPT-4. Nvidia is the key supplier of AI server chips right now, with companies racing to buy up these chips and estimates suggesting OpenAI will need more than 30,000 of Nvidia’s A100 GPUs for the commercialization of ChatGPT./news/microsoft-surface-laptop-studio-2-and-laptop-go-3-how-to-preorder.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-surface-laptop-studio-2-and-laptop-go-3-how-to-preorder.htmlAlthough the forthcoming laptops look similar in design to their predecessors, the new Surface devices arrive with upgraded processors, better battery life, and other minor spec bumps. We’ve yet to fully test either laptop, but if you want to preorder them ahead of their official release, you can already do so via various retailers. Here’s what you should know. The new Surface Laptop Studio 2 looks similar to the prior model, with the same kind of 14./news/microsoft-surface-laptop-studio-hands-on-one-weird-powerful-computer.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-surface-laptop-studio-hands-on-one-weird-powerful-computer.htmlAlongside the new Surface Pro 8, Microsoft is introducing an all-new computer: the Surface Laptop Studio. It’s the successor to the Surface Book 3, but instead of featuring a detachable screen, it has one that flips into tablet mode. Where other 2-in-1s usually just go for a 360-degree hinge that flips the screen to the back, Microsoft’s system has it settling in on top of the keyboard. The Laptop Studio starts at $1,599./news/microsoft-to-force-xbox-consoles-into-energy-saver-mode-as-it-rolls-out-smarter-option.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-to-force-xbox-consoles-into-energy-saver-mode-as-it-rolls-out-smarter-option.htmlMicrosoft is planning to switch Xbox Series X and S owners over to an energy-saving power mode in a bid for sustainability and cost savings. The Shutdown (energy saving) power option was made default on Xbox consoles shipped since last March, but millions of Xbox One and Xbox Series X / S consoles still use the more convenient Sleep (Instant On) option. Microsoft is now planning to issue a one-time update that will switch Xbox Series X / S consoles over to Shutdown (energy saving), with the option to switch back to Sleep (Instant On)./news/minting-cash-how-square-designed-a-product-with-no-design-at-all.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/minting-cash-how-square-designed-a-product-with-no-design-at-all.htmlRobert Andersen was feeling flustered. Square founder Jack Dorsey had asked him to design a product that was so simple, it wouldn’t even have an interface. "Square Cash" would let people send money over email. Andersen had previously designed email receipts for Square’s array of business products, but had never designed a product built on email and email alone. Dorsey took a look at Andersen’s initial designs and asked for a do-over./news/mossberg-what-s-up-with-firefox-the-browser-that-time-forgot.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/mossberg-what-s-up-with-firefox-the-browser-that-time-forgot.htmlUntil about five years ago, techies and others who wanted a speedier, extensible, more privacy-oriented web browser on their desktops often immediately downloaded Mozilla's Firefox to use instead of Internet Explorer on Windows or Safari on the Mac. But those days seem long ago. Firefox is hardly discussed today, and its usage has cratered from a high of over 30 percent of the desktop browser market in 2010 to about 12 percent today, according to Mozilla, citing stats from NetMarketShare./news/name-this-samsung-rectangle-the-verge.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/name-this-samsung-rectangle-the-verge.htmlSamsung makes a ton of products, everything from televisions, to refrigerators, to washing machines. But it's best at making rectangles, and it seems to release a new rectangle every week. If you're not paying close attention, all of those rectangles start to blend together, making it awfully hard to tell today's Samsung rectangle from the rectangle it released last week or six months ago. Do you think you're a Samsung rectangle expert?/news/netflix-cancels-the-live-part-of-its-love-is-blind-live-reunion-special.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-cancels-the-live-part-of-its-love-is-blind-live-reunion-special.htmlNetflix ran into significant issues with its second-ever live event on Sunday evening. Love Is Blind: The Live Reunion failed to start streaming at its planned 8PM showtime, leading to major consternation from the show’s fans across social media. Netflix acknowledged the problem on Twitter soon after and promised to kick off the presentation within 15 minutes. That didn’t happen, either. More than an hour later, subscribers were still encountering error screens when trying to watch the event./news/netflix-is-testing-a-pop-out-picture-in-picture-mode-for-desktop.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-is-testing-a-pop-out-picture-in-picture-mode-for-desktop.htmlWhat’s better than watching Netflix? Watching Netflix while also doing productive things at the same time. Fortunately, Netflix may finally be making that a reality, with Engadget reporting that the streaming site is testing a new pop-out player that will allow you to stream videos in a picture-in-picture mode on your computer. To activate the pop-up player, you simply click the button on the bottom toolbar while watching a Netflix show or movie, at which point the floating player will appear, hovering at the front of all the content on your screen./news/netflix-s-the-witcher-will-end-with-season-5.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-s-the-witcher-will-end-with-season-5.html/ We’re still waiting for our first look at Liam Hemsworth as Geralt, though. By Andrew Webster, an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories. Apr 18, 2024, 4:21 PM UTC Share this storyIf you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfaXxyhI5ra2prZGWCeHvNnqufpJmterW0xGauoqyTnbKzedKemKynnmKCbrHNnQ%3D%3D/news/newegg-cyber-monday-deals-2018-pc-components-tvs-smart-home-products.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/newegg-cyber-monday-deals-2018-pc-components-tvs-smart-home-products.htmlNewegg’s Cyber Monday ad is out, and it has a pretty robust selection of deals on TVs like LG’s OLED, smart home products including the Nest Thermostat and Indoor Camera, and PC gaming components like motherboards, GPUs, and Intel i7 processors. Most of these deals are set to expire once Cyber Monday runs its course later tonight, so now is the best chance to save on the tech you’ve been waiting to find at a solid discount./news/ninja-is-getting-a-fortnite-skin.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ninja-is-getting-a-fortnite-skin.htmlFortnite is adding a Ninja skin to the game that’ll be available starting tomorrow, January 16th. Tyler “Ninja” Blevins announced the availability on a stream this morning, shouting in excitement. “It happened. It’s official, we finally got a Ninja skin. In the game. In Fortnite. We did it,” he said. The skin “looks just like me,” Blevins shouted while showing off the character in the game. It has spiked blue hair, a blue jacket with a hood, and black pants./news/nvidia-announces-next-gen-rtx-4090-and-rtx-4080-gpus.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nvidia-announces-next-gen-rtx-4090-and-rtx-4080-gpus.htmlNvidia is officially announcing its RTX 40-series GPUs today. After months of rumors and some recent teasing from Nvidia, the RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 are now both official. The RTX 4090 arrives on October 12th priced at $1,599, with the RTX 4080 priced starting at $899 and available in November. Both are powered by Nvidia’s next-gen Ada Lovelace architecture. The RTX 4090 is the top-end card for the Ada Lovelace generation./news/nvidia-offices-raided-by-french-competition-authority.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nvidia-offices-raided-by-french-competition-authority.htmlNvidia’s France offices were raided by the country’s competition authority this week, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. While the French agency doesn’t mention Nvidia by name, it confirms it carried out a raid over concerns about anti-competitive practices in the graphics cards industry. Sources tell the WSJ that French authorities specifically targeted Nvidia, which has seen demand for its chips skyrocket in recent months. Several companies, including Microsoft and OpenAI, have purchased thousands of the company’s high-end AI chips to power large language models./news/oneplus-5-review-the-me-too-phone.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/oneplus-5-review-the-me-too-phone.htmlIn its four years of existence, OnePlus has fashioned itself as the flagship phone killer jumping out of the midrange bushes. Every OnePlus device to date has been defined by premium specs at bargain prices, but that changes with today’s OnePlus 5. Starting at $479 with 64GB of storage, this new flagship can no longer be mistaken for a super-specced midrange handset. And even though it doesn’t cost quite as much as a mainstream mainstay like the Galaxy S8, that’s exactly the sort of phone it will be compared against./news/overwatch-2-s-new-hero-lifeweaver-puts-down-roots-in-season-4.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/overwatch-2-s-new-hero-lifeweaver-puts-down-roots-in-season-4.htmlOverwatch 2 has been releasing new heroes at a pretty good clip, and with the pending arrival of season 4 comes the latest hero: Lifeweaver. Lifeweaver’s addition to the game had been teased by the Overwatch developers in the last few weeks, with them calling the new hero “cute,” leading some in the Overwatch community to speculate that we’d be getting another animal-based hero like the much-desired “jetpack cat.” But thanks to an unfortunate leak and the slow drip of information ahead of his official launch, we now know the developers should have used “sexy” instead of “cute” because Lifeweaver is a stone-cold fox./news/panasonic-made-a-farting-cat-robot.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/panasonic-made-a-farting-cat-robot.htmlI am so tired, and there are so many things happening. Days like today have become the norm over this last, lost year; there is a tragedy happening every second of every day, and if you’re lucky enough to be outside of the blast radius you’re only able to perceive what’s happening through a screen. Just last night, Texas Senator Ted Cruz decided to take a family trip to Cancún as large swaths of his state are without power or potable drinking water in the midst of a historic deep freeze./news/passengers-on-us-bound-flights-have-to-go-through-even-more-security.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/passengers-on-us-bound-flights-have-to-go-through-even-more-security.htmlNew security measures for all US-bound flights begin today, following the US Department of Homeland Security’s “first round” of enhanced electronics screenings back in July. According to CNBC, these new measures include passenger questioning and searching carry-on bags. The new rules affect all 2,100 flights that come to the US daily, including US carriers. There seems to be some confusion as airlines around the world gave various statements to CNBC about what the measures would entail and how they would be rolling out./news/peloton-row-review-the-price-isn-t-right.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/peloton-row-review-the-price-isn-t-right.htmlAny other year, the Peloton Row would’ve made a splash. The long-awaited rower was the “worst-kept secret” in connected fitness, and its launch heralds Peloton’s expansion into a whole new category. But this is a year where Peloton laid off thousands of employees, shuttered its domestic manufacturing, and watched its stock price spiral down the drain. Peloton would have you believe that the Row revolutionizes rowing. But while testing the Row, which costs $3,195, I couldn’t help but wonder how it fits into Peloton’s future./news/pete-davidson-won-t-actually-be-going-to-space-on-the-next-blue-origin-flight.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pete-davidson-won-t-actually-be-going-to-space-on-the-next-blue-origin-flight.htmlSaturday Night Live star Pete Davidson is no longer scheduled to fly on Blue Origin’s space flight later this month, the space tourism venture has announced. No reason was given for Davidson’s departure, only that the date of the launch has shifted from its original March 23rd date. “Blue Origin’s 20th flight of New Shepard has shifted to Tuesday, March 29. Pete Davidson is no longer able to join the NS-20 crew on this mission,” Blue Origin spokesperson Sara Blask said in a statement./news/pewdiepie-pledges-50-000-to-the-anti-defamation-league-spurring-bizarre-conspiracy-theories.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pewdiepie-pledges-50-000-to-the-anti-defamation-league-spurring-bizarre-conspiracy-theories.htmlFelix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg announced in a video on Tuesday that he would be donating $50,000 to the Anti-Defamation League in an attempt to make amends and “move on” after a shooter in Christchurch, New Zealand, said “Subscribe to PewDiePie” before carrying out his attack last spring. “Making a donation to the ADL doesn’t make sense to everyone, especially since they’ve outright spoken against me,” Kjellberg said in a statement posted to Twitter./news/plans-show-tallest-residential-building-on-earth-coming-to-manhattan.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/plans-show-tallest-residential-building-on-earth-coming-to-manhattan.htmlOne World Trade Center is just settling into New York's skyline, but a number of competing supertall structures — including the tallest residential building in the world — will soon pop up in midtown. One of those skyscrapers, Nordstrom Tower, will top out at 1,775 feet (541m), according to plans leaked to New York development blog YIMBY. That's just one foot shorter than One World Trade, if you count the spire./news/postmates-says-it-will-start-non-contact-meal-deliveries-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/postmates-says-it-will-start-non-contact-meal-deliveries-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.htmlFood delivery platform Postmates is starting what the company is calling a “non-contact delivery” initiative designed to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus when its contract workers are delivering ordered meals and other goods. The move was spotted by Recode’s Rani Molla and The Verge has confirmed it is in effect starting today. Postmates users who now open the app should see a notice about the non-contact deliveries, which then prompts users to input a drop-off option like “leave at the door./news/proton-s-password-manager-now-lets-you-securely-share-logins.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/proton-s-password-manager-now-lets-you-securely-share-logins.htmlProton’s password manager, Proton Pass, is rolling out a new feature that lets you share sign-ins using end-to-end encryption (E2EE). Instead of sharing a password over Gmail or a text, Proton will now let you safely give friends, family members, or co-workers access to things like streaming services, bank accounts, work logins, and more. Proton launched Proton Pass earlier this year, allowing customers to store a vault of usernames, passwords, notes, bank cards, and email aliases using E2EE, which keeps sensitive information away from third parties, including Proton itself./news/razer-hydra-motion-controller-hands-on-video.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/razer-hydra-motion-controller-hands-on-video.htmlAt CES this year I got to look on with longing while a Sixense rep demonstrated the Razer Hydra motion control stick for me on a copy of Portal 2. Now, a mere six months later, I can say I've lived the dream. In all honesty, game controllers with 1:1 motion tracking aren't in short supply these days, but Razer Hydra has a couple of perks. Let's explore them after the break, along with a quick video of our time with the thing./news/razer-s-opus-x-headphones-noise-cancellation-and-low-latency-for-cheap.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/razer-s-opus-x-headphones-noise-cancellation-and-low-latency-for-cheap.htmlRazer announced the Opus X, a new set of over-ear wireless headphones that offer active noise cancellation for just $100. Based on the small amount of differences and seemingly no major compromises compared to the pricier Opus headphones it launched last year, these could be a solid option if you have a little less money to spend on wireless headphones. It’s available to purchase now on Razer’s site. Overall, the design appears to be similar to the Opus./news/rivian-delays-first-electric-pickup-deliveries-to-september.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/rivian-delays-first-electric-pickup-deliveries-to-september.htmlRivian has delayed the first deliveries of its long-awaited electric pickup truck again, this time until September. Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe broke the news to buyers in an email sent Friday morning. The Amazon and Ford-backed EV startup originally planned to start delivering its electric pickup, the R1T, and its SUV, the R1S, in 2020. But it scuttled those plans at the beginning of the pandemic and said at the time that it would start deliveries in 2021 instead./news/roblox-s-ceo-weighs-in-on-kids-safety-regulation-being-proposed-in-dc.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/roblox-s-ceo-weighs-in-on-kids-safety-regulation-being-proposed-in-dc.htmlRoblox’s CEO weighs in on kids safety regulation being proposed in DC. For this week’s Command Line, I spoke with David Baszucki ahead of his big trip to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers about the growing calls for more laws protecting the safety of minors on the internet. Here’s what he had to say about the premiere federal bill being proposed right now, The Kids Online Safety Act: “This would be one where, from afar, there are a few elements of this bill that maybe make sense./news/roku-turns-to-layoffs-again-and-removes-streaming-content-to-cut-costs.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/roku-turns-to-layoffs-again-and-removes-streaming-content-to-cut-costs.htmlRoku will be laying off 10 percent of its employees — more than 300 people — in its third round of workforce cuts in under a year. As reported by Variety, Roku revealed the move in an 8-K SEC filing early on Wednesday and says it made the decision in an effort to reduce operating expenses. “The company determined to implement additional measures to continue to bring down its year-over-year operating expense growth rate,” the filing reads./news/samsung-announces-galaxy-s21-fe-a-pared-down-flagship-for-699.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-announces-galaxy-s21-fe-a-pared-down-flagship-for-699.htmlAfter a year of will-they-or-won’t-they speculation, Samsung has, at last, announced the Galaxy S21 FE. Like the 2020 Galaxy S20 FE (the FE stands for Fan Edition), this device features most of the flagship-level specs of the Galaxy S21, including a Snapdragon 888 chipset and 120Hz display, at a lower price: $699 for the 128GB base model. With the S21’s nearly midrange price tag and a compelling upper-midrange option in the Galaxy A52 5G, it’s yet another addition to an already crowded spot in Samsung’s lineup./news/samsung-confirms-july-26th-galaxy-unpacked.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-confirms-july-26th-galaxy-unpacked.htmlThe flip-style foldable in Samsung’s promotional image looks right in line with the rumors and leaks we’ve seen thus far with a lower-profile hinge. It certainly looks like a phone that will close flat. Unfortunately, this profile view doesn’t give us a glimpse of the cover screen, which is expected to be much larger than the teeny tiny screen on the Z Flip 4 — literally big, if true. For the first time, Samsung is going into its foldable-focused summer Unpacked feeling a little heat from the competition./news/samsung-optical-smart-hub-review.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-optical-smart-hub-review.htmlOnce it’s set up, you’ll need an Android or iOS device, or a Samsung TV to make real use of the Smart Hub’s streaming features. There’s a Hub app in the various app stores, which is what you’ll need to use to access the drive. There are upsides and downsides here: the connection is quick and simple thanks to the dedicated app, but the app itself is kind of clunky and crash-prone./news/samsung-series-7-gamer-review.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-series-7-gamer-review.htmlSamsung’s Series 7 lineup is targeted at folks who want a little more oomph in their laptops, offering larger screens, gaming-ready GPUs, and potent processors. It’s time to meet the family’s portly fun-loving uncle, the Series 7 Gamer. It’s Samsung’s very first gaming laptop, and takes things in the Series 7 lineup to their logical conclusion: there’s the 17.3-inch display, a quad-core Ivy Bridge processor, 16GB of RAM, and a Nvidia GeForce GTX 675M GPU packed into its husky 9./news/samsung-s-colossal-1-000-inch-microled-display-has-improved-colors-and-a-thinner-design.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-colossal-1-000-inch-microled-display-has-improved-colors-and-a-thinner-design.htmlSamsung is releasing a new version of The Wall, its massive modular MicroLED display. Measuring in at over 1,000 inches in size, the new “IWA Series” display is aimed at businesses and commercial applications rather than homes, and Samsung’s promotional images showcase it being used as a huge display in a retail environment. The display is available in “select markets” from today, but Samsung’s press release doesn’t publicly list a price./news/savages-music-video-melts-rock-into-ambient-noise-by-recording-it-again-and-again.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/savages-music-video-melts-rock-into-ambient-noise-by-recording-it-again-and-again.htmlSavages' songs are usually dark, biting, post-punk jams, but their latest music video destroys almost all of that. The band has taken one of its tracks, "I Am Here," and warped it into an unrecognizable shrill of sounds by re-recording it from an existing recording, and then repeating that process nine more times over. The result sounds like an electronic symphony of crying cicadas that groans and lurches as the song moves on./news/say-farewell-to-the-bmw-i3-the-kooky-electric-hatchback-that-couldn-t-quite-make-it.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/say-farewell-to-the-bmw-i3-the-kooky-electric-hatchback-that-couldn-t-quite-make-it.htmlBMW will stop selling the i3 electric hatchback in the US starting next month. It’s the latest pint-sized vehicle to fall victim to American car buyers’ insatiable appetite for huge, towering, climate-killing trucks and SUVs. First released in 2013, the i3 was BMW’s first real electric vehicle. Always intended to be more of a city car than anything intended for long trips, the i3 maxed out at 80 miles of range from a 22kWh battery, with a modest 170 horsepower./news/seagate-s-2tb-xbox-storage-expansion-card-gets-its-best-discount-yet.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/seagate-s-2tb-xbox-storage-expansion-card-gets-its-best-discount-yet.htmlIf your main gaming platform is the Xbox Series X or S and you have a particularly deep library, bring it in for a hug. The markups on its proprietary storage cards are exorbitant, but regular discounts are starting to make them a little more affordable. For example, Seagate’s 2TB Storage Expansion Card is on sale for $226.76 (down from $359.99) at Amazon, which beats the all-time low by three whole dollars. The expansion cards are officially licensed by Microsoft and support Xbox’s speedy NVME-based Velocity Architecture to enable quicker data streaming and features like Quick Resume./news/seven-years-later-we-re-still-asking-the-wrong-questions-about-the-ipad.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/seven-years-later-we-re-still-asking-the-wrong-questions-about-the-ipad.htmlWhen Apple’s iPad was first announced seven years ago today, some people wondered whether it would work as a giant phone. It’s hard to imagine now, given that talking on the phone is a dying art form. But this morning I was reminded (thanks, Facebook) of a photo someone took of me on January 27th, 2010 using a large piece of cardboard as a proxy for the real iPad; it was pressed up to the side of my face like I was making a phone call with it./news/shame-on-uber-hundreds-of-drivers-demand-more-pay-at-nyc-protest.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/shame-on-uber-hundreds-of-drivers-demand-more-pay-at-nyc-protest.htmlDrivers wielding megaphones stood atop giant piles of dirty snow in Queens this morning, railing against Uber's recent decision to cut fares by 15 percent. "Shame on Uber," chanted hundreds of New York City-based drivers, in between the airing of grievances. As the crowd occasionally got too close, Uber's private security guards would emerge to shoo protesters away — only to be met with a chorus of boos. They all want to get paid./news/silent-hill-ascension-premieres-on-halloween.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/silent-hill-ascension-premieres-on-halloween.htmlSilent Hill: Ascension, the interactive streaming series set in the universe of the classic horror games, will have its “world premiere” on October 31st at 9PM ET, says Jacob Navok, the game’s executive producer and CEO of developer Genvid. If you want to take part you’ll be able to participate through Ascension’s iOS and Android apps, or by visiting Ascension.com.  “I use the phrase ‘world premiere’ intentionally because Silent Hill: Ascension is not a game,” Navok explains./news/skydio-announces-1-099-skydio-2-plus-but-free-keyframe-update-might-be-the-bigger-news.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/skydio-announces-1-099-skydio-2-plus-but-free-keyframe-update-might-be-the-bigger-news.htmlSkydio, the US company building self-flying, obstacle-dodging drones that a three-year-old can pilot without fear, is making two announcements today during CES 2022. One of them is an expensive fix for the Skydio 2’s single biggest shortcoming — the other, a totally free update that adds one of the most exciting features yet: Skydio KeyFrame. First, the Skydio 2 Plus. At $1,099 and up, the new drone promises the kind of long-range, robust connection that the original Skydio 2 was missing, thanks to a new high-power 5GHz Wi-Fi radio and a pair of pop-up antennas./news/snapchat-knows-when-you-were-born-if-you-used-it-to-check-your-horoscope.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/snapchat-knows-when-you-were-born-if-you-used-it-to-check-your-horoscope.htmlYou can view your “Astrological Birthday” in the settings section of Snapchat, and if you weren’t aware you had already given the app all of that information, it would be a fairly alarming discovery. Checking baby photos will not reveal that the Snapchat Hot Dog has been with you since birth, however. Snapchat tells The Verge that its Astrological Profile feature is the cause: The birth date and time information shown above was actually inputted by the users themselves in order to obtain more specific information, stemming from our latest astrological profiles feature./news/snowden-review-oliver-stone-s-whistleblower-movie-plays-it-safe.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/snowden-review-oliver-stone-s-whistleblower-movie-plays-it-safe.htmlAs a filmmaker, Oliver Stone arguably built his career on the idea of questioning the establishment. Whether critiquing the way we looked at the Vietnam War (Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July), the Reaganomic excesses of the ‘80s (Wall Street), or even conventional cinematic norms (the jarring, music-video inspired Natural Born Killers), Stone has always tried to push the envelope — and if that resulted in some people thinking he sounded like a crackpot conspiracy theorist (hi, JFK), then so much the better./news/some-genius-built-a-life-size-replica-of-an-at-st-from-star-wars.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/some-genius-built-a-life-size-replica-of-an-at-st-from-star-wars.htmlA short time ago, on a wind-swept plain not that far away, there sat a thing of beauty: a life-size replica of the All Terrain Scout Transport from Return of the Jedi. Made of timber, plastic, and bits of scrap metal, the scout walker stands at a little over 27 feet tall, seats two, and appears to have a functional chin-mounted laser cannon. And by "functional," I mean it moves up and down and makes "/news/some-hbo-shows-could-be-heading-to-netflix-soon.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/some-hbo-shows-could-be-heading-to-netflix-soon.htmlAfter more than a year of brutal cancellations and layoffs at HBO, it looks like Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s devotion to quick revenue is as strong as ever. Warner Bros. Discovery may be licensing HBO Original Series to Netflix, Deadline reported yesterday. Deadline’s sources claim it’s a financial move HBO’s old guard disagreed with but that it’s necessary to shore up the bottom line. They also say it’s possible the deal may not see the light of day./news/sonos-says-its-controversial-app-redesign-took-courage.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sonos-says-its-controversial-app-redesign-took-courage.htmlRedesigning the Sonos app is an ambitious undertaking that represents just how seriously we are committed to invention and re-invention. It takes courage to rebuild a brand’s core product from the ground up, and to do so knowing it may require taking a few steps back to ultimately leap into the future. The app’s revitalization not only aims to address what customers have been asking us for in the short-term, but is also critical for supporting the exciting innovations to come from Sonos in the years ahead./news/sonos-speakers-and-soundbars-are-up-to-25-percent-off-ahead-of-black-friday.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sonos-speakers-and-soundbars-are-up-to-25-percent-off-ahead-of-black-friday.htmlFirst up, right now you can buy the Sonos Era 100 smart speaker for $199 ($50 off) at Best Buy and directly from Sonos. Released earlier this year, the new Sonos smart speaker replaces the older Sonos One. Compared to the One, the Sonos Era 100 delivers better sound thanks to new capabilities like stereo playback and improved bass response. Along with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the Era 100 also now supports line-in playback via an optional 3./news/sony-announces-wh-1000xm5-headphones-with-new-design-and-even-better-noise-cancellation.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-announces-wh-1000xm5-headphones-with-new-design-and-even-better-noise-cancellation.htmlIt doesn’t come as a surprise after recent leaks, but today, Sony announced its latest flagship noise-canceling headphones, the WH-1000XM5. They cost $399.99, an increase from the prior 1000XM4s, and will go on sale May 20th. Sony says it has cranked up its already-fantastic noise cancellation to new highs by adding a second processor to the new headphones. The improvements are most noticeable in “mid- to high-frequency noise,” according to the company’s press release./news/sony-s-small-but-mighty-xb100-speaker-is-cheerful-and-very-cheap.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-s-small-but-mighty-xb100-speaker-is-cheerful-and-very-cheap.htmlEven the smallest of Bluetooth speakers can prove to be a big value. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been testing Sony’s $59.99 XB100, which is the most portable option in the company’s lineup. It’s small enough to fit in a car cup holder. It’s shorter than a soda can and lightweight to the point that it’ll barely add any noticeable heft to your backpack or tote bag. And despite that tiny footprint, the XB100 manages to produce crisp sound that’s rich in bass — exactly where you’d expect it might struggle./news/spotify-pulls-audiobook-purchases-from-ios-app-after-apple-blocks-updates.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/spotify-pulls-audiobook-purchases-from-ios-app-after-apple-blocks-updates.htmlAn update for Spotify’s iOS app released Thursday had a big change for its audiobooks vertical — and not for the better. The app no longer indicates how you can buy any of the audiobooks in its store, posing a major roadblock for its new business. Now when you go to make a purchase, the app displays a mostly empty screen saying, “Want to listen? You can’t buy audiobooks in the app./news/super-mario-rpg-is-getting-a-remake-for-nintendo-switch.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/super-mario-rpg-is-getting-a-remake-for-nintendo-switch.htmlNintendo is remaking one of the most beloved RPGs of all time: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. The new version of the game for Nintendo Switch, titled only Super Mario RPG, was revealed during the June Nintendo Direct presentation on Wednesday. Super Mario RPG looks like a faithful reimagining of the original, though with a modern art style. I saw a bunch of iconic characters and moments from the Super NES classic: Mallow and Geno are back, for example, as are baddies like Birdo and Booster (!/news/tesla-is-losing-its-master-of-coin.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tesla-is-losing-its-master-of-coin.htmlZachary Kirkhorn is stepping down as chief financial officer and “Master of Coin” at Tesla, he announced today on LinkedIn. Kirkhorn, who has served for 13 years at Tesla, four of which as CFO, will be replaced by chief accounting officer Vaibhav Taneja. “Being a part of this company is a special experience and I’m extremely proud of the work we’ve done together since I joined over 13 years ago,” Kirkhorn said./news/tesla-s-300-wireless-charger-uses-coils-from-a-company-called-freepower.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tesla-s-300-wireless-charger-uses-coils-from-a-company-called-freepower.htmlTesla has opened preorders for a wireless charging mat that can accommodate up to three devices placed however you want, and that comes in a form factor “inspired by the angular design and metallic styling of Cybertruck.” The gadget is called the Wireless Charging Platform, and it costs $300. For that hefty price you get the mat, a removable magnetic stand that lets you prop the pad up at an angle or lay it flat, and some tech that we once called “the most promising AirPower alternative./news/testing-the-ctrl-labs-wristband-that-lets-you-control-computers-with-your-mind.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/testing-the-ctrl-labs-wristband-that-lets-you-control-computers-with-your-mind.htmlThomas Reardon, the CEO and co-founder of neuroscience startup CTRL-Labs, does not want to hear about brain implants. “There’s nothing you can do with a chip in your brain that we can’t do better,” Reardon tells me during a visit to CTRL-Labs’ cramped Manhattan office. Between us on a conference table, there’s a device that could make keyboards, mice, and touchscreens nearly obsolete — or at least, that’s what CTRL-Labs is claiming./news/the-20-best-tv-shows-of-2017.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-20-best-tv-shows-of-2017.htmlPicking the best television shows of any given year used to be relatively easy, back when the major networks and a few powerful cable channels dominated the cultural conversation. These days, though, making any list of must-see TV is a downright Sisyphean. It’s impossible to keep up with everything worthy of consideration in television, so best-of lists inevitably become idiosyncratic, determined in large part by whatever limited pool of series a critic regularly watches./news/the-analogue-pocket-now-comes-in-a-rainbow-of-classic-game-boy-colors.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-analogue-pocket-now-comes-in-a-rainbow-of-classic-game-boy-colors.htmlAnalogue seems obsessed with recreating the Game Boy family as faithfully as possible. For its latest endeavor, it’s bringing the classic colorways of the Game Boy Advance and Pocket to the Analogue Pocket. These Classic Limited Edition Pockets have, according to the press release, been “carefully color-matched” to resemble the colors of the Game Boys of old, offering blue, green, indigo, spice orange, pink, red, silver, and yellow. Just take a look at this./news/the-best-sleep-trackers-and-sleep-tech-for-2024.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-best-sleep-trackers-and-sleep-tech-for-2024.htmlSleep tech runs the gamut from trackers and apps to expensive smart beds, but it doesn’t all address the same issues. Are you trying to see how your sleep impacts your athletic performance? Hoping to mask the sound of a snoring partner? I’ve tested all sorts of sleep tech and can point you toward the right gadget for your sleep goal. One question to ask yourself is how well a device fits your lifestyle./news/the-case-for-cases-why-it-doesn-t-matter-what-your-phone-looks-like.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-case-for-cases-why-it-doesn-t-matter-what-your-phone-looks-like.htmlPhones are more beautiful than ever. Close your eyes and pick one: the sleek, rounded, comfortable iPhone 6; the stark, metallic Galaxy Note 4; the rugged, cohesive Xperia Z3; the curved, customizable Moto X. Walk into a carrier store or browse Amazon and you'll see nothing but remarkable feats of industrial design and engineering. That moment, in the store, will be the last time your phone's design matters. Because you, like the overwhelming majority of smartphone buyers in 2014, are going to take your phone out of its box and put it directly into a case, where it will remain for the duration of your two-year contract./news/the-chernobyl-podcast-is-a-compelling-behind-the-scenes-look-at-the-hbo-series.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-chernobyl-podcast-is-a-compelling-behind-the-scenes-look-at-the-hbo-series.htmlIn May, HBO scored an unexpected hit with Chernobyl, a five-part miniseries about how the world’s worst nuclear disaster unfolded. Like any dramatization of a real-world incident, it takes some liberties to make the story fit into television’s dramatic structure. That’s where the show’s companion podcast comes in: it features Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me’s Peter Sagal as he interviews series creator Craig Mazin about the production of the show, why they had to make some changes, and what really happened in the real disaster./news/the-delight-is-in-the-details-of-drop-s-new-dcx-keycaps.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-delight-is-in-the-details-of-drop-s-new-dcx-keycaps.htmlEarlier this year, keyboard specialist Drop announced its new lineup of DCX keycaps. But rather than focusing on making flashy, colorful designs like most aftermarket keycaps, the first three sets to use the new DCX profile are relatively understated, with simple black-and-white designs or a small selection of primary colors.  That’s because the focus here is on getting the tiniest details right in the hopes that Drop’s sets might be able to compete directly with GMK’s — a German manufacturer commonly seen as the producer of some of the best-quality keycaps around./news/the-first-five-nights-at-freddy-s-film-teaser-looks-frightening.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-first-five-nights-at-freddy-s-film-teaser-looks-frightening.htmlBased on the teaser, it seems like this film has a similar premise as the first game, where you’re on security duty for a Chuck E. Cheese-like restaurant called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza that houses scary-looking animatronic animals. Spoiler, those animals are alive, and it seems like the characters in the movie are going to have to find various ways to escape their clutches. I’ll fess up: I’ve never actually played a Five Nights At Freddy’s game./news/the-flaming-lips-now-i-understand-featuring-apple-s-siri-on-vocals.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-flaming-lips-now-i-understand-featuring-apple-s-siri-on-vocals.htmlWayne Coyne and his group The Flaming Lips this weekend are previewing a "sound construction" piece that features not only Erykah Badu and "Biz Markie backwards" (we're struggling to hear it, too) but also Apple's own Siri personal assistant, found most days on an iPhone 4S helping people hide bodies. The loose narrative begins with Siri not understanding the moon, the stars, and the sun... but with the power of Erykah Badu's singing, and her pointing out stars and sun, Siri learns to understand./news/the-internet-archive-just-put-565-palm-pilot-apps-in-your-web-browser.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-internet-archive-just-put-565-palm-pilot-apps-in-your-web-browser.htmlYes, I am playing Dope Wars on a Palm Pilot inside my iPhone. It’s thanks to The Internet Archive, which is once again launching a giant collection of software you can instantly play on any web browser, up to and including your touchscreen-equipped phone. There are currently 565 classic Palm apps in all, including games, widgets, and even free trials from both the greyscale and color eras. Reach out and touch a 1996 pocket computer with your 2022 pocket computer/news/the-mac-pro-is-now-apple-s-last-machine-with-an-intel-chip.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-mac-pro-is-now-apple-s-last-machine-with-an-intel-chip.htmlIn the process of updating its Mac Mini lineup, Apple has discontinued the last remaining Intel-based Mac Mini computers. Its online store now lists three main variants of the miniature desktop computer powered by M2 and M2 Pro chips, with no sign of the Intel Core i5-powered model that was listed on the site as of earlier this week. Discontinuing this old Intel-powered Mac Mini means that Apple has just one computer left to transition to its own Arm-based Apple silicon chips: the Mac Pro./news/the-meta-quest-3-lets-you-play-with-virtual-legos-in-your-real-living-room.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-meta-quest-3-lets-you-play-with-virtual-legos-in-your-real-living-room.htmlNot a new one, and not a build-anything-you-want Lego metaverse like the one Epic might be building — instead, it’s an existing game called Lego Bricktales that’s already available on practically every other platform including your phone, console, PC, and the Nintendo Switch. Artist’s interpretation of Lego Bricktales for Meta Quest But that may not be a bad thing, because Lego Bricktales has some pretty decent reviews — Eurogamer called the simple puzzle adventure game “the most Lego-like experience in video games since the fully sandbox Lego Worlds” even while pining for a bit more creativity and some easier mechanics./news/the-most-controversial-video-game-of-1992-is-coming-to-ps4-and-xbox-one.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-most-controversial-video-game-of-1992-is-coming-to-ps4-and-xbox-one.htmlLike the full-motion video game genre, Night Trap has been largely forgotten in the 25 years following its release. Yet this year, we saw the release of Late Shift, an entirely new full-motion video game. Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that Night Trap is ready to make its comeback. The controversial horror game that debuted on the Sega CD will be available on PS4 and Xbox One this spring. Night Trap looks like a cheap slasher film, and its plays like one, too, with minimal input from the player shaping how the story progresses./news/the-myth-of-pinch-to-zoom-how-a-confused-media-gave-apple-something-it-doesn-t-own.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-myth-of-pinch-to-zoom-how-a-confused-media-gave-apple-something-it-doesn-t-own.htmlIn 2007, Steve Jobs stood on stage, listing the benefits of Apple's then-new iPhone touchscreen. "You can do multi-finger gestures on it," he said, moving his hands back and forth in the now-familiar pinch-to-zoom motion. Then he paused, and his expression changed. "And boy, have we patented it." The crowd laughed and began applauding as the word "Patented!" appeared on the screen behind him. You can draw a straight line from that classic Jobs moment to last week, when a jury decisively agreed with Apple that Samsung had copied the iPhone too closely./news/the-verge-review-of-animals-the-domestic-cat.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-verge-review-of-animals-the-domestic-cat.html"Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out." -cats Seriously: as obligate carnivores, cats must eat meat — like all other obligate carnivores (a fellowship that includes mink, dolphins, and sea lions), they've lost their ability to make certain amino acids. They must kill to survive. This probably explains why, as any cat owner can attest, one of their moods is best described as kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out./news/the-walking-dead-redemption-club-season-7-episode-2-the-well.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-walking-dead-redemption-club-season-7-episode-2-the-well.htmlLast week our ongoing series The Walking Dead Quitter’s Club came to an end, with the show’s season premiere going so far that club co-founder Bryan Bishop swore off the series entirely. Starting this week, Nick Statt tries to bring him back. Dear Bryan, I have to admit, last week was pretty brutal. The season seven premiere of The Walking Dead was the show’s chance to redeem itself and make up for pulling an unnecessary and manipulative cliffhanger finale more than six months ago./news/the-week-in-verge-video-november-4th-2013.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-week-in-verge-video-november-4th-2013.htmlIt's going to be a big week in Verge Video: there are brand new episodes of Small Empires and Detours, and we've got your week of podcasts locked up with The Verge Mobile Show and The Vergecast. Plus you can expect your usual dose of reviews and features. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtnamtfZn5wgI5uZ29sZWeFcMDHnmSwnZWgeqq6jK%2Bcq5%2BVYsOqsMSoZKenppq6o7HRZmutoF1nfXJ%2F/news/the-xiaomi-14-and-14-pro-come-with-snapdragon-8-gen-3-chips-and-hyperos.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-xiaomi-14-and-14-pro-come-with-snapdragon-8-gen-3-chips-and-hyperos.htmlQualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is just a couple of days of old, and per usual, Xiaomi has already announced new flagship phones that put it to use. The Xiaomi 14 and 14 Pro will be exclusive to China before a likely global (minus the US) launch, but for now, the AI-heavy feature set and a new Android skin called HyperOS give us a pretty good idea of what’s to come in 2024./news/there-s-no-perfect-minimalist-phone-yet.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/there-s-no-perfect-minimalist-phone-yet.htmlI have no love for my phone. And yet, it’s the first thing I reach for in the morning and often the last thing I look at before going to sleep. I reach for it obsessively, reflexively, often for no reason at all. Sometimes I’ll look away from Twitter on my laptop so I can look at Twitter on my phone. Simply put, our phones do too much. The services they give us easy access to — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter — leave us distracted, overwhelmed, and maybe even depressed./news/these-are-supposedly-the-hottest-lip-proportions-if-you-trust-internet-opinions.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/these-are-supposedly-the-hottest-lip-proportions-if-you-trust-internet-opinions.htmlIf you’ve ever wanted to get plastic surgery based on the opinion of people from the internet, a new study is here to help. The study, published this week in the journal JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, supposedly reveals the most attractive lip dimensions (for white women) so that plastic surgeons can achieve “optimal aesthetic outcomes.” Now, it’s true that people focus on lip shape a lot — as The Weeknd reminds us, hot girls have “lips like Angelina./news/third-party-browsers-report-record-iphone-users.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/third-party-browsers-report-record-iphone-users.htmlThird-party browsers report record iPhone users. Aloha Browser says EU users jumped 250 percent in March after the Digital Markets Act forced Apple to display a new default browser choice screen. It joins Brave, Firefox, Vivaldi, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, and Opera in reporting user spikes, according to Reuters. Nevertheless, the EU is investigating Apple’s implementation over complaints that it’s too complicated. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfaXxyfI5ra2pqZmV%2BeXvToaCrnF2lrrPA2GaZq6enqLKzv4yaqZ5lopq9sL7TZqmem5%2BnsW61z6Gmp51dqsCis8Q%3D/news/this-is-the-leeco-lesee-pro-self-driving-electric-car.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-is-the-leeco-lesee-pro-self-driving-electric-car.htmlDuring the presentation, LeEco Chairman Jia Yueting and the company's other executives said they weren't ready to unveil the car's cost, production schedule, or other pertinent details. All they would say was that the LeSEE Pro was "more intelligent and more connected" than the original LeSee concept car first unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show last April. The car's steering wheel can retract into the dashboard when in autonomous mode, giving the driver more room to kick back and consume all of LeEco's streaming entertainment content./news/this-phone-case-is-a-drone.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-phone-case-is-a-drone.htmlAEE Aviation Technology's Selfly is a phone case that turns into a drone. Your first question is probably “does it fly with the phone in the case?” The answer is no. Which is undoubtedly for the best, since I don't think it would do a very good job of protecting your phone when its battery runs out after four minutes. Even though it is a case. Anyway, by no means is this a practical product, but it is a great example of how drone technology — 1080p video cameras and all — is trickling down to entirely unrelated, inexpensive gadgets./news/ticketmaster-s-taylor-swift-ticketing-fiasco-might-have-just-led-to-a-lawsuit-from-the-doj.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ticketmaster-s-taylor-swift-ticketing-fiasco-might-have-just-led-to-a-lawsuit-from-the-doj.htmlThe Department of Justice is preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The lawsuit could reportedly come as early as next month and will target the company’s alleged monopoly in the live ticketing industry. “Ticketmaster has more competition today than it has ever had, and the deal terms with venues show it has nothing close to monopoly power,” a Ticketmaster spokesperson told the Journal./news/toyota-s-new-electric-suv-has-a-solar-roof-and-a-steering-yoke-like-tesla.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/toyota-s-new-electric-suv-has-a-solar-roof-and-a-steering-yoke-like-tesla.htmlToyota released new details about its upcoming electric compact SUV, the BZ4X, which includes an optional solar roof and a steering yoke similar to the one featured in the latest version of the Tesla Model S. The steering yoke, which Toyota describes as having a “wing-shape,” employs a steer-by-wire system, where there is no mechanical connection between the steering wheel and tires. The yoke only needs to turn up to 150 degrees from side to side and the driver doesn’t ever need to remove their hands./news/travis-kalanick-reportedly-selling-a-third-of-his-shares-in-uber-for-1-4-billion.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/travis-kalanick-reportedly-selling-a-third-of-his-shares-in-uber-for-1-4-billion.htmlEx-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who once boasted about never selling a share of the company he helped found, is divesting himself of a big chunk of Uber stock, according to Bloomberg and Reuters. A week after Softbank acquired one-fifth of Uber, Kalanick is selling around 29 percent of his shares to the Japanese tech giant and its partners who have agreed to buy equity in the company. an actual billionaire for the first time/news/turns-out-juicero-s-ludicrous-wi-fi-juicer-is-even-more-unnecessary-than-it-sounds.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/turns-out-juicero-s-ludicrous-wi-fi-juicer-is-even-more-unnecessary-than-it-sounds.htmlJuicero’s Wi-Fi connected home juicer was always a shining beacon of Silicon Valley’s most indulgent tendencies. But it turns out the juicer is even more ridiculous than we first thought: it isn’t even necessary to make juice. Bloomberg discovered that the packs of fruit and vegetables that Juicero is designed to squeeze don’t actually require the juicer to squeeze them — they can be pressed entirely by hand. Surprise! A proprietary juicer is a bad investment/news/twitter-removes-tweets-by-brazil-venezuela-presidents-for-violating-covid-19-content-rules.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/twitter-removes-tweets-by-brazil-venezuela-presidents-for-violating-covid-19-content-rules.htmlTwitter has made good — so far — on its pledge to crack down on tweets that contain false or misleading information about COVID-19 cures. The platform has deleted tweets by the presidents of Brazil and Venezuela and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for violating its ban on novel coronavirus-related content that “goes directly against guidance from authoritative sources of global and local public health information.” “We’re focused on protecting the public conversation and helping people find authoritative sources of information on Twitter./news/twitter-s-new-tool-lets-you-change-how-advertisers-target-you-here-s-how-to-use-it.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/twitter-s-new-tool-lets-you-change-how-advertisers-target-you-here-s-how-to-use-it.htmlTwitter unveiled a new set of privacy and data controls today that allow users to see and control how advertisers target them on the platform. The company explains in a blog post that it’s expanding individual access “to give you the most transparent access to your Twitter information to date, including demographic and interest data, and advertisers that have included you in their tailored audiences on Twitter. Each category of data will be clearly marked, and you will be able to view or modify this data directly./news/uber-will-begin-tracking-your-location-while-running-in-the-background.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/uber-will-begin-tracking-your-location-while-running-in-the-background.htmlAn upcoming update to Uber's privacy policy will ask riders for permission to track their location while running in the background, a move the company says will enable it to "get people on their way more quickly." The changes, which go into effect July 15th, also ask you to share your contacts with Uber — a move that will let the company send "special offers" to your friends and family, Uber said in a blog post./news/usb-4-docks-arrive-with-enough-bandwidth-for-two-4k-120hz-displays.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/usb-4-docks-arrive-with-enough-bandwidth-for-two-4k-120hz-displays.htmlPlugable’s latest USB 4 dock doesn’t require compromises when using external monitors with your laptop. The USB4 Dual Monitor Docking Station (model number UD-4VPD) contains not one but two HDMI 2.1 ports, allowing compatible laptops to be connected to dual 4K displays running at a refresh rate of 120Hz. Plugable’s press release notes that the UD-4VPD will be available starting today from Amazon for $199.95. I say “compatible laptops’’ because, in order to get the most out of the UD-4VPD, you’ll need a USB 4 or Thunderbolt 4 port that offers the 40Gbps worth of bandwidth needed by the dock./news/verizon-at-t-and-t-mobile-customers-roaming-internationally-can-t-connect.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/verizon-at-t-and-t-mobile-customers-roaming-internationally-can-t-connect.htmlOver the last day or so, customers of the big three US mobile carriers — Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile — who are using data roaming internationally have complained about an inability to connect and make calls. Complaints about connection problems have spread across social media for hours, with little response from the carriers. According to T-Mobile vp of corporate communications Tara Darrow, “...we’re one of several providers impacted by a third-party vendor’s issue that is intermittently affecting some international roaming service./news/vrr-monitors-are-becoming-ubiquitous-now-vesa-s-certification-wants-to-make-them-good.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/vrr-monitors-are-becoming-ubiquitous-now-vesa-s-certification-wants-to-make-them-good.htmlVESA, the computer display organization behind standards like the DisplayPort interface, has a new certification program that’s designed to help customers find better variable refresh rate monitors. Unlike its previous HDR certification program, which measured things like peak brightness, the new Adaptive-Sync Display Compliance Test Specification (or Adaptive-Sync Display CTS) is designed specifically for variable refresh rate displays, looking out for glitches like flicker and dropped frames. Variable refresh rate (VRR) is a technology that allows a display to synchronize its refresh rate to the output of whatever device is plugged into it, reducing the appearance of visual artifacts, screen tearing, and frame pacing issues./news/walter-hamada-is-joining-paramount-pictures-following-his-warner-bros-discovery-exit.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/walter-hamada-is-joining-paramount-pictures-following-his-warner-bros-discovery-exit.htmlParamount Pictures announced today that it’s entered an exclusive multiyear deal with Hamada that will see him heading up all of its horror genre films for both theatrical and streaming releases. In a public statement about the deal, Paramount Pictures president and CEO Brian Robbins called Hamada “the ideal partner and visionary” to take point on the company’s horror-focused endeavors. He also pointed to the success of director Parker Finn’s Smile, which was released theatrically after originally being meant for Paramount Plus, as an example of the kind of opportunities Paramount sees in pursuing the horror genre with Hamada guiding the studio’s efforts./news/warner-bros-will-release-all-of-its-new-2021-movies-simultaneously-on-hbo-max.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/warner-bros-will-release-all-of-its-new-2021-movies-simultaneously-on-hbo-max.htmlWarnerMedia is pushing even more aggressively into streaming by releasing every single one of its movies in 2021 simultaneously on HBO Max. There are some limitations to the new business model. The movies will only stream on HBO Max for one month before leaving the platform for a period of time. They will also play in theaters simultaneously, keeping the relationship with movie theater distributors like AMC and Regal. The plan is to run this experiment for one year./news/warner-music-adopts-soundcloud-s-user-centric-revenue-model.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/warner-music-adopts-soundcloud-s-user-centric-revenue-model.htmlWarner Music Group has cut a licensing deal with SoundCloud to adopt the streamer’s Fan-Powered Royalties system, which allocates royalties based on individual user listening and is thought to be more artist-friendly. WMG is the first major label to adopt the system, and its embrace of the model could signal a larger shift for the industry. SoundCloud made waves last year when it introduced the new payout model in which money paid by subscribers is allocated to artists they actually listen to./news/was-blade-runner-2049-worth-the-35-year-wait.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/was-blade-runner-2049-worth-the-35-year-wait.htmlThis past weekend, Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 arrived in theaters. It is, in many ways, the most improbable of sequels, following a cult sci-fi film 35 years after the original flamed out at the box office. Yet the movie has been universally praised as a creative success, racking up some of the most impressive reviews of the year. It’s an ambitious, visually decadent film, and one that’s captivating despite a nearly three-hour run time./news/watch-live-nasa-s-first-flight-on-mars.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/watch-live-nasa-s-first-flight-on-mars.htmlNASA’s Ingenuity helicopter is slated to attempt the first-ever powered flight on another world at 3:30AM ET on Monday. The twin-blade rotorcraft will try to ascend 10 feet above ground and hover in place for 30 seconds while cameras on NASA’s Perseverance rover record the historic attempt from a distance. The four-pound Ingenuity copter landed on Mars February 18th attached to the underbelly of Perseverance, NASA’s latest Mars rover whose main mission is to search for signs of ancient Martian life./news/watch-the-vfx-reel-for-denis-villeneuve-s-blade-runner-2049.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/watch-the-vfx-reel-for-denis-villeneuve-s-blade-runner-2049.htmlMontreal-based Rodeo FX recently released a visual effects reel that highlighted its work on the film. Some of the film’s big, environmental shots were completely digital, but there’s other instances of where the production enhanced used practical locations with some CGI. The studio is a familiar collaborator with Villeneuve: it worked on his Incendies, Enemy, and Arrival, and has also worked on projects such as HBO’s Game of Thrones, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, It, and many others./news/wecrashed-is-the-podcast-to-tv-show-pipeline-s-weirdest-one-yet.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/wecrashed-is-the-podcast-to-tv-show-pipeline-s-weirdest-one-yet.htmlIf it wasn’t already abundantly apparent from Hulu’s The Dropout and Showtime’s Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, Apple TV Plus’ WeCrashed is an unsubtle reminder of Hollywood’s current obsession with turning relatively recent news cycles focused on disgraced tech founders into glitzy prestige dramas. WeCrashed has enough in common with its peers that you can easily recognize a nascent formula the industry seems to be latching onto with these adaptations./news/wework-files-for-bankruptcy-the-verge.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/wework-files-for-bankruptcy-the-verge.htmlCo-working office space provider WeWork has filed for bankruptcy covering its locations in the US and Canada, and in a filing, it said it had liabilities of between $10 and $50 billion. It’s the latest turn for a company that went from being valued at $47 billion in January 2019 to unsuccessfully attempting an IPO later that year. That paperwork revealed, all in one place, the following things: that Neumann was renting his own buildings to The We Company, that Neumann had secured loans from The We Company, and that to change its name to The We Company from WeWork, the company paid for naming rights from… Adam Neumann./news/wgn-america-and-tribune-s-local-channels-back-on-directv-after-drawn-out-public-spat.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/wgn-america-and-tribune-s-local-channels-back-on-directv-after-drawn-out-public-spat.htmlDirecTV subscribers will be happy to know that successful negotiations have brought all of Tribune's programming, including WGN America and 23 local stations, back on the air. DirecTV's previous contract with Tribune expired March 31st, resulting in a nearly week-long blackout of Tribune's channels, and leaving five million users in 19 citites without access to their local TV stations until Wednesday evening. Details of the new five-year deal are under wraps, but the conversation leading up to it sure hasn't been, with the two companies sounding off at one another through press releases all week./news/whatsapp-on-the-web-gets-a-built-in-sticker-maker.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/whatsapp-on-the-web-gets-a-built-in-sticker-maker.htmlWhatsApp’s web version has been updated with a built-in custom Sticker Maker, which lets you turn ordinary images from your computer into stickers that can be sent via the messaging service. To access it, click the paperclip (attachments) icon, select Sticker, and then pick an image to upload. As well as WhatsApp’s web version, the feature is also coming to its Desktop apps in the next week. Once uploaded, images can be edited to turn them into the perfect sticker./news/windows-8-and-windows-phone-8-will-support-the-unity-game-engine.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/windows-8-and-windows-phone-8-will-support-the-unity-game-engine.htmlWindows Phone 7 never really got off the ground as a gaming platform, but its successor got an early boost today in the shape of Unity support. According to Edge, Unity Technologies CEO David Helgason announced that his company's widely-used game creation tool will be coming to both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. Helgason previously said that Unity didn't support Windows Phone 7 due to its "relatively closed" nature, but expressed hope that Windows 8 would prove easier to work with./news/withings-activit%C3%A9-review-a-slightly-smarter-watch.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/withings-activit%C3%A9-review-a-slightly-smarter-watch.htmlOn the Activité’s round face, which comes in either black or white, are two dials. The first does that ticking thing a watch does and tells the time (but not the date, which I wish it did). It’s beautifully simple, 12 silver dashes around the side, a Withings logo under the 12 and the words "Swiss Made" surrounding the 6. (Did you forget it was Swiss Made? How dare you!) Down in the bottom right, there’s another dial./news/wordle-snags-a-place-inside-of-the-new-york-times-crossword-app.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/wordle-snags-a-place-inside-of-the-new-york-times-crossword-app.htmlThe word-guessing game became an immediate phenomenon after it was released in October 2021. The Times then acquired Wordle from its creator Josh Wardle in January. That decision was not without complaints, as users began speculating that the game had become harder and some of their streaks were ruined. Despite complaints after its acquisition, The Times said that the game allowed The Times to see a jump in new subscribers at its earnings meeting in May and now says that as of July, about 10 percent of “active” players have played more than 145 games of Wordle./news/youtube-is-also-forcing-the-popular-rythm-discord-music-bot-offline.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/youtube-is-also-forcing-the-popular-rythm-discord-music-bot-offline.htmlJust weeks after forcing the Groovy Discord music bot offline, Google-owned YouTube is now turning its attention to Rythm, the most popular music bot on Discord. The search giant has sent a cease and desist to the owners of Rythm, a bot that lets Discord users play music from YouTube videos and has more than 560 million users. Google wants the Rythm bot closed down within seven days, and the service is complying by shutting down its bot on September 15th./news/youtube-music-now-lets-you-make-your-own-playlist-art-with-ai.htmlSun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/youtube-music-now-lets-you-make-your-own-playlist-art-with-ai.htmlYouTube Music is finally letting you change the cover art of your playlists. While you still won’t get to upload your own image, you can now make a custom image using generative AI. As shown in the below GIF, you can create AI-generated art by tapping the pen icon in the bottom right corner of your playlist’s cover art. You can then select the category that you want your image to fall into, like animals, food and drink, colors, nature, or travel./news/inbox-is-a-total-reinvention-of-email-from-google.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/inbox-is-a-total-reinvention-of-email-from-google.htmlThe new Gmail app from the Gmail team isn't technically just an email app, at least if you ask them. It's called "Inbox," and it's being released as an invite-only system that works on the Chrome browser, Android phones, and iPhones. It feels completely native and fast on all of those systems. But it's a native and fast app that does something 10 degrees away from what you'd expect an email app to do./news/why-grooveshark-failed.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/why-grooveshark-failed.htmlHaving come of age in the dot-com era, Greenberg was invested in the myth of the dorm-room billionaire. In the late '90s, audacious entrepreneurs had built billion-dollar businesses in direct violation of copyright law, and they had flourished. One should move quickly, drop out of college, break the rules. Greenberg did all three, building a digital music platform that was years ahead of its time. Called Grooveshark, it helped sparked the music streaming revolution, and for a brief time in the late 2000s, it looked poised to eclipse iTunes, BitTorrent, and maybe even Spotify as the platform of the future./news/failed-indiegogo-film-project-was-a-troll-all-along.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/failed-indiegogo-film-project-was-a-troll-all-along.htmlTwo years ago, FND Films, a Chicago-based comedy group, raised $77,900 on Indiegogo to produce a feature-length film, It’s All Good. It was the company's second time around on the crowdfunding service, after a successful $11,000 campaign to create the 40-minute short film, Punching. No real information was given about the movie, other than it being "an action-comedy starring Aaron Fronk, Vinny DeGaetano and Cooper Johnson that blends absurd humor with an intricate plot./news/tron-designer-creates-a-real-world-superbike.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tron-designer-creates-a-real-world-superbike.htmlLotus has a new superbike called the C-01. Designed by Daniel Simon, whose work you'll know from Tron: Legacy, Oblivion, and Captain America, the bike balances the Lotus form of old with a decidedly modern finish. Although Simon is better known for his concept work, and the C-01 certainly looks like a designer's wild fantasy, the bike will actually go on sale: the British company plans to produce 100 in partnership with German manufacturer Kodewa./news/a-bundle-including-disney-plus-espn-plus-and-ad-free-hulu-is-now-available.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-bundle-including-disney-plus-espn-plus-and-ad-free-hulu-is-now-available.htmlDisney’s latest bundle combining Disney Plus, ad-free Hulu, and ESPN Plus for $18.99 per month is now available. This package was first announced in December 2020, and it actually first started rolling out for new subscribers to Hulu. The news today is that the sign-up page is accessible to more people looking to subscribe. The cheaper bundle that includes Hulu with ads sprinkled in is still available for $12.99 per month./news/a-closer-look-at-apple-s-vision-pro-keyboard-and-other-controls.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-closer-look-at-apple-s-vision-pro-keyboard-and-other-controls.htmlAn Apple developer session has offered an in-depth look at the many ways users will (eventually) control its new Vision Pro headset, including a virtual keyboard that you’ll be able to type on in mid-air. It comes to us thanks to the “Design for spatial input” session, in which two members of Apple’s design team walk prospective developers through best practices for designing apps for the new platform. Apple seems keen for users to mainly interact with the headset by simply looking at UI elements and making small hand gestures with their arms relaxed on their lap./news/a-new-matrix-resurrections-trailer-is-all-about-change.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-new-matrix-resurrections-trailer-is-all-about-change.htmlLet’s get something out of the way: this is The Verge, and if there is any movie we are going to cover the shit out of, it’s The Matrix Resurrections — even if its new trailer is long on melting / morphing faces and short on clues about the plot. The latest trailer, titled “Déjà Vu,” opens with a voiceover from Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) with a line from the first movie, when she explains that “déjà vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix./news/a24-inks-multiyear-deal-for-theatrical-releases-with-warner-bros-discovery.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a24-inks-multiyear-deal-for-theatrical-releases-with-warner-bros-discovery.htmlIndie powerhouse A24 has a new home for its theatrical releases — both new and old. The production company has inked a multiyear exclusive deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to bring its entire slate of new releases to HBO, Max, and Cinemax after they leave theaters. On top of that, the two companies extended a licensing deal for its films that are already on HBO and Max — and will grow to include over 100 films in total, including The Whale, Uncut Gems, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and others./news/acer-teams-up-with-porsche-design-for-the-luxury-acer-book-rs-laptop.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/acer-teams-up-with-porsche-design-for-the-luxury-acer-book-rs-laptop.htmlAcer is teaming up with Porsche Design on a new high-end “luxury” laptop, the Porsche Design Acer Book RS, which looks to combine Porsche Design’s product designs with Acer’s laptop know-how. The partnership here is an important one, given that the last Porsche Design-branded laptop, the Porsche Design Book One (which the design studio developed on its own), had some key flaws caused by prioritizing style over functionality. The Porsche Design Acer Book RS./news/acid-test-lsd-used-as-drug-therapy-for-the-first-time-in-40-years.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/acid-test-lsd-used-as-drug-therapy-for-the-first-time-in-40-years.htmlSwiss scientists broke a four-decade-long informal ban on LSD research yesterday when they announced the results of a study in which cancer patients received the drug to curb their anxiety about death. The study, which was published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, looked at the safety and efficacy of LSD when used in combination with talk therapy. The researchers used the semisynthetic psychedelic drug to facilitate discussions about the cancer patients' fears of dying./news/after-a-decade-of-resisting-i-finally-bought-a-kindle.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/after-a-decade-of-resisting-i-finally-bought-a-kindle.htmlAmazon launched the Kindle just after I graduated college in 2007, a device which Walt Mossberg called a milestone for the company. I remember seeing the first devices pop up at the time, but it wasn’t something I was interested in since I was firmly wedded to the paper book. A decade after Amazon debuted its revolutionary device, I finally broke down during last year’s Prime Day sale and purchased a refurbished Kindle Paperwhite./news/ai-at-work-the-verge.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ai-at-work-the-verge.htmlAI, once an ambiguous science fiction trope, has become an ambiguous business buzzword, as every technology product races to implement what Silicon Valley thinks is the greatest innovation since the internet. But lost in the conversation are stories about the people building it and using it. If large language models and automated systems will, indeed, upend labor and capital, what does it actually look like in practice? In this package, we’ll explore the ways AI functions today: how people are using it, where it fails and where it succeeds, and what it actually means when we say “artificial intelligence./news/amazon-will-no-longer-support-the-echo-look-encourages-owners-to-recycle-theirs.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-will-no-longer-support-the-echo-look-encourages-owners-to-recycle-theirs.htmlAmazon is discontinuing its Echo Look camera, a standalone device that gave owners fashion advice using artificial intelligence and machine learning. The Look’s companion app and the device itself will stop functioning on July 24th. Between now and July 24th, 2021, Look users can back up their images and videos by making a free Amazon Photos account. (People with existing Photos accounts will have their media backed up automatically.) Anyone who wants to delete all their existing photos and videos will have to do so before the July 2020 deadline; otherwise, they’ll have to call Amazon’s customer service to have them deleted./news/amazon-will-stop-testing-most-employees-for-weed.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-will-stop-testing-most-employees-for-weed.htmlAmazon is relaxing its policy around employees using weed, according to a new blog post, and will no longer enforce marijuana drug tests for any employee who isn’t also regulated by the Department of Transportation, like a delivery driver. In the past, Amazon used positive tests as a reason to disqualify applicants during the hiring process. Dave Clark, Amazon’s CEO of worldwide consumer, announced the change as part of the company’s goal to be “Earth’s Best Employer,” a strategy that so far has been characterized by new programs like WorkingWell that seem to view employees as things that need to be maintained and trained, rather than people who should be treated fairly./news/amd-says-its-ps5-and-xbox-series-x-chips-zen-3-cpus-and-rdna-2-gpus-will-ship-on-time.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amd-says-its-ps5-and-xbox-series-x-chips-zen-3-cpus-and-rdna-2-gpus-will-ship-on-time.htmlAMD CEO Lisa Su shared during the company’s second-quarter earnings call that its many anticipated product launches are still on schedule to release in 2020. This includes its 7nm processors based on Zen 3 architecture, and its RDNA 2 (or “Big Navi”) graphics cards. Su also shared that AMD began initial production and shipment of next-gen console chips, including for the PS5 and the Xbox Series X. Both consoles are set for release this holiday./news/an-important-update-on-this-picture-of-seth-rogen.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/an-important-update-on-this-picture-of-seth-rogen.htmlEvery day since May, a Twitter account called @SamePhotoOfSeth has tweeted the same thing: It’s a still of Seth Rogen inhabiting the "Kim Kardashian" character in a parody video of Kanye West’s "Bound 2" music video. Here’s the original music video that inspired Seth Rogen to take off his shirt and pretend to be a pretty lady while hanging out with his good friend James Franco: Here’s an upload of the parody which has 9 million views on YouTube but has the audio track muted because despite the fact that Kim, Kanye, Seth, and James only want to bring joy and happiness to the world, Google and the music labels have decided that we don’t deserve nice things:/news/an-interview-with-alleged-kickasstorrents-founder-in-his-jail-cell-in-poland.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/an-interview-with-alleged-kickasstorrents-founder-in-his-jail-cell-in-poland.htmlIn July 2016, Artem Vaulin left Ukraine for a vacation to Iceland with his family, but he never made it to his destination. During a layover in Poland, Vaulin — the 31-year-old accused by the United States of operating KickassTorrents (KAT), the web's most popular place to illegally obtain movies, songs, and video games — was arrested by authorities.   Until last week, Vaulin had been held at Warsaw-Bialoleka Investigative Detention Center with little contact to the outside world while the Polish government evaluated a US extradition request./news/an-introduction-to-parag-agrawal-twitter-s-new-ceo.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/an-introduction-to-parag-agrawal-twitter-s-new-ceo.htmlTwitter has a new CEO: Parag Agrawal, who’ll be taking over for Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, the longest-serving chief executive in the company’s 15-plus-year history.  Agrawal isn’t the most well-known of names either inside or outside of Twitter. He’s been with the company for over a decade, though, working his way up from an engineer to become its top executive (and a close friend of Dorsey’s). Agrawal first started at Twitter back in October 2011 with a focus on ad products, and he became the first recipient of the company’s “Distinguished Engineer” title./news/apple-has-added-thread-to-the-iphone-15-pro-and-iphone-pro-max.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-has-added-thread-to-the-iphone-15-pro-and-iphone-pro-max.htmlDeveloped by Apple, Amazon, Google, and Samsung (and others), Matter is an open-sourced, IP-based connectivity software layer for smart home devices. It works over Wi-Fi, ethernet, and the low-power mesh networking protocol Thread and currently supports over 20 device types. These include lighting, plugs and switches, thermostats, locks, security and environment sensors, refrigerators, dishwashers, smoke alarms, air quality monitors, and more. A smart home gadget with the Matter logo can be set up and used with any Matter-compatible ecosystem via a Matter controller and controlled by them simultaneously, a feature called multi-admin./news/apple-opens-app-store-to-game-streaming-services.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-opens-app-store-to-game-streaming-services.htmlIn 2020, Apple appeared to have carved out a space for these cloud gaming services in the App Store. But that turned out not to be the case, as all games available through each service had to be submitted and reviewed as a standalone app. So the shift to allow one app with a large catalog of games marks a major change. As part of today’s announcement, Apple said that “each experience made available in an app on the App Store will be required to adhere to all App Store Review Guidelines and its host app will need to maintain an age rating of the highest age-rated content included in the app./news/apple-s-reality-pro-vr-headset-could-have-next-gen-hand-and-eye-tracking-control.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-reality-pro-vr-headset-could-have-next-gen-hand-and-eye-tracking-control.htmlApple’s long-rumored VR / AR headset could be packed with ambitious technologies, including advanced hand tracking, the ability to see your Mac’s display, and even recreating digital versions of users in one-on-one FaceTime conversations, according to an extensive new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Much of the advanced technologies will be enabled by “several” external cameras that can track your hands as well as “sensors within the gadget’s housing” that can be used to read your eyes, Gurman reports./news/astronomers-uncover-new-information-about-makemake-a-dwarf-planet-with-no-atmosphere.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/astronomers-uncover-new-information-about-makemake-a-dwarf-planet-with-no-atmosphere.htmlWith the help of seven telescopes in South America, scientists have uncovered new information about Makemake, one of the five dwarf planets in our solar system. According to a new study published in Nature, astronomers were able to calculate the dwarf's shape, density, and its atmospheric conditions after it passed in front of a distant star — an event otherwise known as a stellar occultation. BBC News reports that, until now, Makemake had yet to undergo extensive observation./news/at-t-wireless-ceo-on-fake-5g-complaints-that-makes-me-smile.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/at-t-wireless-ceo-on-fake-5g-complaints-that-makes-me-smile.htmlThe leader of AT&T’s wireless division indicated that the carrier won’t back down from its misleading 5G advertising, saying he’s happy to be causing consternation for his competitors. “If I now occupy beachfront real estate in our competitors’ heads, that makes me smile,” AT&T Communications CEO John Donovan said during an appearance on stage at CES today. Donovan was responding to criticism from Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint over AT&T’s decision to update some of its phones to display an icon that reads “5G E” instead of “LTE” when connected to faster pockets of its 4G LTE network./news/avatar-the-way-of-water-review-a-gorgeous-rehash-of-the-first-movie.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/avatar-the-way-of-water-review-a-gorgeous-rehash-of-the-first-movie.htmlJames Cameron’s first Avatar was a phenomenon that fundamentally altered the landscape of the entertainment industry with its record-breaking box office success and briefly convinced a generation of theatergoers that 3D movies were great, actually. The original Avatar’s story was little more than a white savior narrative cosplaying as a sci-fi epic. But the movie’s breathtaking visuals and astonishing level of rich detail made the prospect of returning to the alien world of Pandora for multiple sequels an interesting — if a bit dubious — one./news/ayn-odin-review-a-nintendo-switch-with-android.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ayn-odin-review-a-nintendo-switch-with-android.htmlThere have been several attempts to create Android-based game consoles, but none have really gone to plan. The Ouya, for example, was a high-profile Kickstarter success and a disastrous commercial flop. Nvidia’s streaming-focused Shield, meanwhile, evolved into a great streaming box but didn’t do much to make Android a better gaming platform. It turns out Google’s OS isn’t a panacea for building your own ecosystem. Recently, though, the open nature of Android and the accessibility of manufacturing have let countless smaller Chinese companies produce their own spin on the idea./news/bee-and-puppycat-lazy-in-space-review-like-a-warm-hug-from-a-long-lost-friend.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bee-and-puppycat-lazy-in-space-review-like-a-warm-hug-from-a-long-lost-friend.htmlThe wait for the second season of Natasha Allegri’s Bee and PuppyCat has been an awfully long one, marked by delays, leaks, and uncertainty about when — not to mention where — the series might eventually end up. Netflix’s new Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space might throw longtime fans of the original show for a bit of a loop at first. Once it works through the curious bit of narrative deja vu that shapes its first few episodes, though, Lazy in Space manages to become what every long-awaited follow-up to a beloved series wants to be: phenomenal and moving in its own right./news/belkin-s-latest-chargers-look-tailor-made-for-the-iphone-x.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/belkin-s-latest-chargers-look-tailor-made-for-the-iphone-x.htmlBelkin is taking the wraps off its 2018 slate of products, and between the fast-charging USB-C chargers and no less than four different wireless charging pads, it feels like the company’s new gear is tailor-made for Apple’s newest phones. Now that Apple has finally embraced things like wireless and fast charging in the iPhone X and iPhone 8, we’re starting to see a whole new wave of accessories that support those features./news/bezos-amazon-from-bookstore-to-backbone-of-the-internet.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bezos-amazon-from-bookstore-to-backbone-of-the-internet.htmlJeff Bezos’ departure from the day-to-day responsibilities of running Amazon will be the first time the founder hasn’t driven the company as CEO in 26 years. Bezos built Amazon up from a small online bookstore to the massive conglomerate with dealings in cloud computing, groceries, physical retail, personal electronics, TV and film production, video games, and more that the company is today. To get a sense of how much Amazon owes to Bezos, here’s a look back at Bezos’ history with the company, and an idea of the scope of what he’ll be leaving behind:/news/biden-administration-proposes-new-heat-protections-for-workers.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/biden-administration-proposes-new-heat-protections-for-workers.htmlThe Biden administration says it will propose new rules today to protect workers from the deadliest weather-related risk Americans face: extreme heat. The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is expected to post its new heat protections on the federal register today, Biden administration officials said on a press call yesterday. The rules are supposed to prevent heat-related illnesses and deaths on the job. Heat already kills far more people in the US than hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, or any other weather-related disaster./news/bill-paxton-given-gps-tribute-by-storm-chasers-after-twister-star-dies-at-61.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bill-paxton-given-gps-tribute-by-storm-chasers-after-twister-star-dies-at-61.htmlActor Bill Paxton has been memorialized by storm chasers in Oklahoma after the Twister star died at the age of 61. More than 200 people used GPS coordinates to spell out "BP" over Wakita, Oklahoma — the town where much of the tornado-centric movie was shot — in honor of the actor, who died after complications from surgery. Some storm chasers manually registered their GPS coordinates on the map, but others actually drove out to the location, in the middle of the United States' "/news/binance-founder-s-sentencing-hearing-the-verge.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/binance-founder-s-sentencing-hearing-the-verge.html“Everything I see about your history and characteristics are of a mitigating nature and a positive nature,” says Judge Richard Jones. The court recognizes that he came voluntarily to the US, has not previously broken laws, and that he took “extraordinary steps and significant steps” in cooperation with law enforcement. But the nature of the events was “aggravating.” ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfaXx0fI5ra2psZG19eHvBoqWappOaeqe71KebnqqjYsCmutOepZyhnpx6qbHAq6Cnn12htrexwaWmoA%3D%3D/news/black-adam-review-warner-bros-most-brutal-superhero-letdown-yet.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/black-adam-review-warner-bros-most-brutal-superhero-letdown-yet.htmlBlack Adam, Warner Bros.’ latest superhero movie based on DC’s comic books, has been in the works ever since the studio first came around on the genuinely inspired idea of casting Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a terrifying Superman analogue best known for beefing with children. In Black Adam, you can plainly see how much hope and faith Warner Bros. has placed in the idea that a darker, more brutal antiheroic figure might be just what its beleaguered cinematic universe of cape films needs to pull itself out of what seems like a death spiral./news/bose-just-overhauled-its-entire-lineup-of-headphones-and-earbuds.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bose-just-overhauled-its-entire-lineup-of-headphones-and-earbuds.htmlBose is introducing not one, not two, but three new products today. It’s an ambitious move from a company that’s traditionally been very calculated, and it points to a nimbler future for Bose that could see new devices brought to market at a faster clip. Today’s announcements include the $429 QuietComfort Ultra Headphones that I showed you last month alongside the $299 QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds and $349 QuietComfort Headphones. Each of them replaces a model in Bose’s current hardware portfolio./news/bose-wave-music-iii-and-wave-radio-iii-come-with-digital-radio-for-international-listeners.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bose-wave-music-iii-and-wave-radio-iii-come-with-digital-radio-for-international-listeners.htmlBose just launched the Wave Radio III and Wave Music III today — the Music is almost identical to the radio but adds a CD player. The big change here over their predecessors is the addition of an integrated digital radio tuner that can receive DAB, DAB+, and T-DMB signals, which removes the need for the £150 (around $240) Acoustic Wave DAB module. If you're upgrading from an earlier Wave system all of your other accessories are compatible, and an FM radio is still on board./news/broadway-s-k-pop-musical-showed-how-hard-it-is-to-create-internet-fame.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/broadway-s-k-pop-musical-showed-how-hard-it-is-to-create-internet-fame.htmlF8 (pronounced like “fate”) is an eight-member, all-male K-pop band signed to RBY Entertainment. A look at their official Instagram page shows the group performing in concerts, posing for shoots, and smiling on rooftops in eclectic but color-coordinated outfits. The group advertises an upcoming show and profusely thanks its fans, which it refers to as “F8 Nation.” It looks very much like the Instagram page of many other K-pop groups that a scrolling fan might stumble across./news/bungie-prepares-to-monitor-and-ban-xim-users-cheating-in-destiny-2.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bungie-prepares-to-monitor-and-ban-xim-users-cheating-in-destiny-2.htmlBungie is the latest online game developer to announce it’ll start monitoring, warning, and even banning Destiny 2 players who use controller-spoofing XIM hardware or similar to cheat. The company told The Verge in February that it was investigating ways to combat cheaters, and now its policy is drawing a clear line on what won’t be allowed. The move comes as other big online games, from Call of Duty to Overwatch, are also adopting methods to try to detect the hardware and either mess with or outright ban players using them./news/bushwick-review-the-debate-over-punching-nazis-takes-on-extra-weight-in-this-timely-american-apocal.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bushwick-review-the-debate-over-punching-nazis-takes-on-extra-weight-in-this-timely-american-apocal.htmlWelcome to Cheat Sheet, our brief breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special-event releases. An earlier version of this review originally in January 2017, in conjunction with the Sundance Film Festival. It is being republished to coincide with the film’s theatrical rollout. Bushwick opens on a scene that’s supposed to convey millennial Brooklynite normalcy: a college student and her boyfriend get off the L train, bantering about introducing him to her family, and complaining about the subway./news/carla-speed-mcneil-on-the-pursuit-of-building-a-better-world.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/carla-speed-mcneil-on-the-pursuit-of-building-a-better-world.htmlIn Carla Speed McNeil’s story for Better Worlds, “Move the World,” a woman named Margery pulls a lever and jumps to new worlds, each one different from the last. It’s an interesting and literal take on the theme of Better Worlds as she hunts to find a place that will please everyone. McNeil is best known for her work as a cartoonist and comics writer, penning the long-running series Finder, which began as a webcomic and is now published by Dark Horse Comics./news/cities-are-sinking-and-it-s-making-them-more-vulnerable-to-climate-change.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/cities-are-sinking-and-it-s-making-them-more-vulnerable-to-climate-change.htmlAmerica’s coastal cities are sinking, putting more people at risk for flooding than urban planners might have expected with sea level rise alone. The gradual sinking of land, also known as land subsidence, could cause flooding to reach far more communities than previously anticipated, according to new research published today in the journal Nature. The study looked at 32 major cities along the US shoreline, and forecasted future flooding with climate change./news/cmra-camera-band-turns-your-apple-watch-into-a-first-gen-galaxy-gear.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/cmra-camera-band-turns-your-apple-watch-into-a-first-gen-galaxy-gear.htmlRemember the original Galaxy Gear? Hard not to — gadgets don’t get much gadgetier and clunkier than Samsung’s first big attempt to figure out why folk might want computers on their wrist. One of its key features was the camera embedded in the watch strap, letting you quickly snap photos without the need to get your phone out, and now a company is aiming to bring similar functionality to the Apple Watch./news/darpa-s-avatar-project-will-put-7-million-into-robot-surrogates.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/darpa-s-avatar-project-will-put-7-million-into-robot-surrogates.htmlThe US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, may have the keenest sense of irony we've ever seen. The 2013 proposed budget includes $7 million to fund the so-called "Avatar" project, which would "develop interfaces and algorithms to enable a soldier to effectively partner with a semi-autonomous bi-pedal machine and allow it to act as the soldier’s surrogate." The robot could then act in place of the soldier to clear rooms or recover combat casualties using advanced telepresence mechanisms./news/deepmind-s-go-playing-ai-doesn-t-need-human-help-to-beat-us-anymore.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/deepmind-s-go-playing-ai-doesn-t-need-human-help-to-beat-us-anymore.htmlGoogle’s AI subsidiary DeepMind has unveiled the latest version of its Go-playing software, AlphaGo Zero. The new program is a significantly better player than the version that beat the game’s world champion earlier this year, but, more importantly, it’s also entirely self-taught. DeepMind says this means the company is one step closer to creating general purpose algorithms that can intelligently tackle some of the hardest problems in science, from designing new drugs to more accurately modeling the effects of climate change./news/dell-g5-15-se-2020-review-the-best-gaming-laptop-under-1-000.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/dell-g5-15-se-2020-review-the-best-gaming-laptop-under-1-000.htmlDell’s G5 15 SE is focused. It’s not the best-looking gaming laptop or the fastest out there, but starting at $879.99, its AMD Ryzen processor and RX 5600M graphics chip make for a great tag team. Along with other speedy components like fast RAM, an NVMe SSD, and a 144Hz refresh rate display, this Dell gaming laptop undercuts and outruns the competition in its price range.  The G5 doesn’t have phenomenal battery stamina like other AMD-powered laptops we’ve recently reviewed, but it’s a great midrange desktop replacement that can play most modern games at their highest graphical settings without a fuss./news/doj-s-jonathan-kanter-says-he-s-witnessing-an-unprecedented-swell-of-support-for-us-antitrust.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/doj-s-jonathan-kanter-says-he-s-witnessing-an-unprecedented-swell-of-support-for-us-antitrust.htmlToday, I’m talking with Jonathan Kanter, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice. Alongside FTC Chair Lina Khan, Kanter is one of the most prominent figures in the big shift happening in competition and antitrust in the United States. This is a fun episode: we taped this conversation live onstage at the Digital Content Next conference in Charleston, South Carolina a few days ago, so you’ll hear the audience, which was a group of fancy media company executives./news/dream-scenario-s-new-trailer-turns-nicolas-cage-into-a-new-viral-star.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/dream-scenario-s-new-trailer-turns-nicolas-cage-into-a-new-viral-star.htmlFor many people, the concept of achieving viral fame has become the definition of success worth aspiring to — if not for simple popularity, then for the brand deals and endorsements that can come along with it. But in the first trailer for A24’s mind-bending new comedy Dream Scenario from writer / director Kristoffer Borgli, becoming a worldwide phenomenon overnight is just the beginning of one man’s descent into madness. Dream Scenario tells the strange tale of evolutionary biologist Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage), an ordinary man whose quiet life of teaching apathetic college students about the behaviors of ants and other animals is upended one day when he starts inexplicably appearing in people’s dreams./news/drone-complaints-in-the-uk-have-tripled-over-the-past-year.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/drone-complaints-in-the-uk-have-tripled-over-the-past-year.htmlAs consumer drones become increasingly settled in the mainstream, it seems inevitable that they’d also annoy more and more people. In the UK, the number of reports to the police concerning drone activity increased threefold between 2015 and 2016, and twelvefold compared to 2014. According to data obtained by the Press Association through freedom of information requests, complaints about drones ranged from allegations of neighbors using the craft to peep over fences to burglars conducting reconnaissance on houses./news/everybody-hates-gm-s-decision-to-kill-apple-carplay-and-android-auto-for-its-evs.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/everybody-hates-gm-s-decision-to-kill-apple-carplay-and-android-auto-for-its-evs.htmlIn 2011, amid one of the Cadillac brand’s many reboots, General Motors introduced the Cadillac User Experience (CUE) to its then-latest generation of luxury sedans and SUVs. CUE was a touchscreen infotainment suite, smartphone integration system, and a capacitive touch panel on the dashboard that used haptic feedback in place of physical buttons.  It was an utter disaster. Reviewers at the time, as well as owners, panned CUE’s unresponsiveness, bizarre menu layouts and lag./news/fbi-s-searches-of-american-data-under-fisa-section-702-drop-50-percent.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fbi-s-searches-of-american-data-under-fisa-section-702-drop-50-percent.htmlThe FBI cut its warrantless searches of American data in half in 2023, according to a government report released on Tuesday. According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s annual transparency report, the FBI conducted 57,094 searches of “US person” data under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act last year — a 52 percent decrease from 2022. In a press briefing, a senior FBI official said that the drop was due to reforms the agency implemented in 2021 and 2022, The Record reports./news/first-designed-for-xbox-projector-arrives-in-the-us-next-month-for-1-600.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/first-designed-for-xbox-projector-arrives-in-the-us-next-month-for-1-600.htmlAlthough it’s the first projector with the badge, Microsoft’s “Designed for Xbox” program is a pre-existing initiative that’s seen it work with other manufacturers to make sure their accessories are compatible with its consoles. According to Microsoft, the program already covers “more than 15 categories” like headsets, gamepads, and racing wheels, as well as a series of displays from 2021. To be clear, you can plug your Xbox into just about any projector and expect it to work./news/five-new-things-you-can-do-with-google-earth.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/five-new-things-you-can-do-with-google-earth.htmlEarlier this week, Google unveiled a new version of Google Earth, an app that was considered amazing when it launched in 2001 but hadn’t really evolved in the same way that Google’s other technologies have. Now, thanks to this latest update, Google Earth is replete with 3D imagery, curated video content, and other features that will either make you want to book a trip to some far-flung part of the world or just appreciate the Earth right from your own latitude and longitude coordinates./news/forensic-accountant-ned-barnes-is-here-to-help-make-epic-s-point-stick.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/forensic-accountant-ned-barnes-is-here-to-help-make-epic-s-point-stick.htmlForensic accountant Ned Barnes is here to help make Epic’s point stick. Everything I just told you about Google Play’s P&Ls was pretty opaque in the courtroom — but Epic’s first expert witness of the day is here to argue they clearly show Google knows full well that Google Play is a profit center. Ned Barnes is a CPA with Berkeley Research Center, and he says that the costs of Google Play were already accounted for in Google’s various internal financial statements./news/fortnite-surpasses-pubg-in-monthly-revenue-with-126-million-in-february-sales.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fortnite-surpasses-pubg-in-monthly-revenue-with-126-million-in-february-sales.htmlEpic Games’ Fortnite is making boatloads of money on in-app purchases, taking in $126 million in the month of February and surpassing the monthly revenue pull of competitor Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds for the first time, according to game analytics firm Superdata Research. The news should come as no surprise to those who’ve been following the meteoric trajectory of Fortnite and its popular battle royale-style game mode, which puts up to 100 players against one another on a deserted island in a last-person-standing contest./news/fossil-sport-smartwatch-review-new-watch-same-old-tricks.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fossil-sport-smartwatch-review-new-watch-same-old-tricks.htmlFor the past few years, Google’s Wear OS smartwatch platform has been best described as in a rut. While Apple has been making impressive strides with the Apple Watch and even Samsung has turned its Gear lineup into competent smartwatches, Wear OS has languished with slow software updates and next to zero hardware advancements. Google addressed this somewhat with the most recent update to Wear OS that brought some interface improvements./news/galaxy-watch-4-review-welcome-to-samsung-s-garden.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/galaxy-watch-4-review-welcome-to-samsung-s-garden.htmlThe Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic are the first watches in a very long time to be built on a platform that could provide Android users a credible smartwatch. I’ve been testing both for a week and they’re the best smartwatches I’ve ever used with a Samsung phone. Although these watches are running Google’s new Wear OS 3 instead of Samsung Tizen OS, they are Samsung watches./news/gambling-streams-are-part-of-the-contract-for-kick-s-newest-streamer.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gambling-streams-are-part-of-the-contract-for-kick-s-newest-streamer.htmlNick “Nickmercs” Kolcheff recently inked a reported eight-figure deal with Twitch rival Kick. In a recent livestream, the Faze Clan co-owner and popular Call of Duty streamer said that, as part of his new deal, he will be running gambling streams. “The first question I’ve been seeing is like, ‘Nick, are you gonna do gambling streams?’” he said during his first Kick stream. “We’re gonna do some gambling for sure. It’s part of the contract./news/game-builder-garage-new-nintendo-switch-game-is-aimed-at-budding-designers.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/game-builder-garage-new-nintendo-switch-game-is-aimed-at-budding-designers.htmlNintendo’s next game for the Switch is one you build yourself. Today the company revealed Game Builder Garage, a new software title that’s designed to teach beginners the basics of programming and game design. It utilizes visual programming, has pre-built lessons and games, and will be launching on the Switch next month. Game Builder Garage appears to build off of some of the ideas featured in past Nintendo projects, like the DIY series of Labo experiences and Super Mario Maker./news/gary-vee-on-his-roles-as-ceo-mad-men-ad-exec-and-nft-impresario.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gary-vee-on-his-roles-as-ceo-mad-men-ad-exec-and-nft-impresario.htmlIf you’ve spent more than two minutes somewhere on social media, you have come across Gary Vaynerchuk.  And for years, I have wondered, is this just a character? Or is there a real Gary Vaynerchuk somewhere behind “GaryVee,” the social media entrepreneur and internet brand? Vaynerchuk got his start working at his family’s liquor store, which he turned into an online wine shop. That’s where he started in social media, hosting a long-running YouTube show called “Wine Library TV./news/gm-s-big-bet-on-driverless-cars-turns-sour.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gm-s-big-bet-on-driverless-cars-turns-sour.htmlTwo years ago, General Motors presented a vision for the future that involved “zero crashes, zero traffic, and zero emissions.” Today, that future seems further away than ever. The automaker’s driverless car subsidiary, Cruise, announced last night the resignation of Kyle Vogt as CEO. The decision came over a month after an incident in which a hit-and-run victim became pinned under a Cruise vehicle and then was dragged 20 feet to the side of the road./news/google-pixel-8a-leak-reveals-seven-years-of-security-updates.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-pixel-8a-leak-reveals-seven-years-of-security-updates.htmlWe’ve already seen a bunch of images revealing what Google’s Pixel 8A might look like, but now, leaked marketing materials shared by Android Headlines give us an even better picture of what we can expect. The promotional images suggest that the budget-friendly Pixel 8A will come with seven years of security updates. But the materials don’t indicate whether the phone will come with seven years of Android OS upgrades, something its flagship Pixel 8 and 8 Pro have./news/google-play-books-adds-a-nighttime-reading-mode-that-s-easier-on-your-eyes.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-play-books-adds-a-nighttime-reading-mode-that-s-easier-on-your-eyes.htmlGoogle is following Amazon's lead with a new mode for its ebooks app that makes reading at night more pleasant and comfortable for your eyes. Similar to the updated Kindle tablet software we saw last week, Google Play Books does this by gradually filtering the amount of blue light displayed by the app depending on how late it is. Your book's pages are instead displayed in a warm amber color. Google calls this new feature Night Light./news/google-reader-redesign-gets-critiqued-by-former-reader-product-manager.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-reader-redesign-gets-critiqued-by-former-reader-product-manager.htmlOn first glance — and maybe second and third — Google appears to have just smashed the Gmail and Docs visual aesthetic together with the recent Google Reader redesign, so it's no surprise that it hasn't gotten the most welcome response. Ex-Reader Product Manager Brian Shih dives into the flawed visual and functional redesign decisions on his personal blog, noting Reader was built to shine at just one thing: consuming information, quickly. Google+, on the other hand, is built around social, and the resulting mix shows little regard for the underlying services./news/google-rebuilds-sheets-with-offline-mode-and-better-performance.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-rebuilds-sheets-with-offline-mode-and-better-performance.htmlAlongside adding in offline mode, Google says that the new Sheets has been rebuilt from the ground up to make it much faster. It removes size and complexity limits on columns, cells, and formulas, and it tries to make using those formulas a bit easier by displaying examples of them as you begin to enter one. The new version of Sheets won't be replacing the old one immediately, but Google says that anyone who wants to try it will be able to just by turning it on in the site's settings menu./news/google-will-finally-put-keep-reminders-in-tasks-where-they-always-belonged.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-will-finally-put-keep-reminders-in-tasks-where-they-always-belonged.htmlThe reminders you’ve jotted down in Google Keep will soon show up in Tasks. Google says the long-requested integration is coming over the next year, allowing you to see, edit, and complete your Keep reminders across Tasks, Calendar, and Assistant. The change will make Tasks the central hub for all to-dos and reminders, hopefully making them far easier to manage. It’s something my colleague David Pierce suggested when talking about Google’s upgraded Keep app last year, saying, “Now, Google, make Keep reminders show up in Tasks./news/google-will-let-you-create-personalized-ai-chatbots.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-will-let-you-create-personalized-ai-chatbots.htmlGoogle is adding a bunch of new features to its Gemini AI, and one of the most powerful is a personalization option called “Gems” that allows users to create custom versions of the Gemini assistant with varying personalities. Gems lets you create iterations of chatbots that can help you with certain tasks and retain specific characteristics, kind of like making your own bot in Character.AI, the service that lets you talk to virtualized versions of popular characters and celebrities or even a fake psychiatrist./news/google-will-now-generate-disclosures-for-political-ads-that-use-ai.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-will-now-generate-disclosures-for-political-ads-that-use-ai.htmlGoogle is making it easier for advertisers to disclose whether political ads contain AI-generated content. In an update spotted by Search Engine Land, Google says it will automatically generate disclosures whenever advertisers label election ads as containing “synthetic or digitally altered content.” Last year, Google started requiring political advertisers to insert their own “clear and conspicuous” disclosures on ads containing AI content. But now, Google is simplifying the process, as it will automatically include an in-ad disclosure whenever advertisers select an “altered or synthetic content” checkbox in their campaign settings./news/google-s-latest-multiplayer-doodle-lets-you-play-a-round-of-p%C3%A9tanque-with-your-friends.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-s-latest-multiplayer-doodle-lets-you-play-a-round-of-p%C3%A9tanque-with-your-friends.htmlGoogle has a delightful new multiplayer Doodle that lets you play a game of pétanque online. If you haven’t heard of pétanque — I hadn’t before writing this article — it’s a game that’s kind of like bocce ball. The goal of pétanque is to throw your ball (the boule) as close as you can to a little ball (the cochonnet) on the playing field in front of you. On your computer, you’ll “throw” the ball by clicking on the boule and dragging back with your mouse to slingshot it forward; on a phone, you’ll toss the boule with your thumb (kind of like throwing a Poké Ball in Pokémon Go)./news/gopro-announces-hero-10-black-with-5-3k60-and-smartphone-like-features.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gopro-announces-hero-10-black-with-5-3k60-and-smartphone-like-features.htmlGoPro has announced the next version of its action camera, which has a new processor that lets the camera shoot in higher frame rates (for that cool slow-motion footage), have better stabilization, and automatically upload videos to the cloud while charging. The new processor also works to make using the GoPro Hero 10 Black a faster, more responsive experience. In a lot of cases, the Hero 10 can shoot at double the frame rate of the Hero 9: it can now shoot at 5./news/how-anjali-sud-reinvented-vimeo.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-anjali-sud-reinvented-vimeo.htmlToday on Decoder I’m talking to Anjali Sud, the CEO of Vimeo. Now, you probably think of Vimeo as a smaller competitor to YouTube — the company’s been around for 16 years, and that’s what it was for most of that time. But when Anjali took over as CEO, she stopped all that to reinvent Vimeo as a software company that serves video creators. And that market is booming: at the end of 2020, Vimeo had over 1./news/how-do-astronauts-exercise-in-space.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-do-astronauts-exercise-in-space.htmlThe environment of the International Space Station isn’t exactly hospitable to the human body. Thanks to microgravity, astronauts experience a variety of health and physical changes while living in space — some of which they can counteract through daily exercise and other activities. But the space environment also exposes astronauts to other elements that cannot necessarily be mitigated. Our bodies aren’t built for space; they’re built for a planet a lot like our own./news/how-to-turn-on-facebook-protect.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-turn-on-facebook-protect.htmlLast weekend, I was scrolling through my email, listening to the rain and wondering whether I was feeling too lazy to vacuum the rug, when I came across one with the subject line “Turn on Facebook Protect.” “Your account requires advanced security from Facebook Protect,” it said and proceeded to tell me that if I didn’t enable Facebook Protect by a certain date, I would be locked out of my account until I enabled it./news/how-to-uninstall-apps-from-a-chromebook.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-uninstall-apps-from-a-chromebook.htmlSometimes you download an Android app to your Chromebook and learn that it simply doesn’t work. Other times your storage is full and you need to clear it up. Or maybe one of your favorite apps just got a PWA equivalent and you want that Android version out of your life. Regardless of the situation, deleting apps from a Chromebook is an essential skill for any ChromeOS user. And it’s easy./news/humane-lays-off-4-percent-of-employees-before-releasing-its-ai-pin.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/humane-lays-off-4-percent-of-employees-before-releasing-its-ai-pin.htmlHumane laid off 4 percent of employees this week in a move that was described as a cost cutting measure to those who were impacted, according to sources familiar with the matter. Employees were recently told by leadership that budgets would be lowered this year, said one of the people, who requested anonymity to speak without the company’s permission. The cuts, which numbered 10 people, come ahead of the five-year-old startup shipping its first device: a $699, screenless, AI-powered pin that is pitched as a smartphone replacement./news/idos-2-emulator-gets-app-store-takedown-notice.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/idos-2-emulator-gets-app-store-takedown-notice.htmlUpon re-evaluation, we found that your app is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines. Specifically, we found your app is in violation of the following: Guideline 2.5.2 — Performance — Software Requirements During review, your app installed or launched executable code, which is not permitted on the App Store. Specifically, your app executes iDOS package and image files and allows iTunes File Sharing and Files support for importing games./news/if-and-is-why-can-t-the-be-%D1%9B.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/if-and-is-why-can-t-the-be-%D1%9B.htmlFamous Australian restauranteur Paul Mathis has invented a new symbol that he hopes will replace the word "the" in everyday communications. Written much like the cyrillic letter "Ћ" and pronounced "th," it's a typographic ligature of an uppercase T and a lowercase h. "The word 'and' is only the fifth-most used word in English," Mathis tells The Age, 'and it has its own symbol – the ampersand... isn't it time we accorded the same respect to 'the'?/news/in-less-than-a-year-the-1-000-phone-has-become-entirely-normal.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/in-less-than-a-year-the-1-000-phone-has-become-entirely-normal.htmlWhen you’re paying close attention to the maelstrom of tech industry activity, the pace of change can seem logical, methodical, occasionally even a little slow. But look away for even the briefest period of time, and you’ll be shocked by how quickly and radically things have changed when you check back in. The $1,000 price threshold for smartphones is a good example. Three or four years ago, anyone proposing a four-figure price for a phone would have been laughed out of their boardroom meeting./news/instagram-flooded-threads-with-celebrities-and-brands-at-launch.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/instagram-flooded-threads-with-celebrities-and-brands-at-launch.htmlIf you created an account when Instagram’s Threads app launched last night, one of the first things you might’ve noticed was the sheer number of celebrities, brands, and influencers populating your feed. From Gordon Ramsay to Michael Strahan and Jennifer Lopez, Meta pre-filled its new Twitter competitor with a boatload of well-known users to make the app feel less empty at launch. While Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri got spots on the app ahead of time, so did big names such as Mark Cuban, Shakira, and Seth Curry./news/instagram-on-desktop-is-better-than-mobile-change-my-mind.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/instagram-on-desktop-is-better-than-mobile-change-my-mind.htmlInstagram launched in 2010 as a photo-sharing app designed to capture picturesque moments of our otherwise mundane lives. Since then, it’s evolved into a full social network, a messaging tool, and an ad platform, which exists in both mobile and desktop spaces. Follow @verge on Instagram Follow for original photography, videos, stop-motion, and Instagram Stories from The Verge’s staff. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Now, most Instagram users opt for the mobile experience, replete with its familiar motions — scroll, double tap to like, scroll, scroll./news/instagram-s-archive-feature-is-now-available-for-everyone-to-hide-embarrassing-old-photos.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/instagram-s-archive-feature-is-now-available-for-everyone-to-hide-embarrassing-old-photos.htmlInstagram is releasing its Archive feature to all users today, after testing it with a smaller group of people last month. The feature lets anyone on Instagram hide their old posts without deleting them. If you go into the “...” menu on a photo, where you’d normally see options like edit and delete, there’ll now be an option to archive the image placed right on top. Hitting that button will send the photo to a private gallery — your archive — where only you can see it./news/is-it-down-right-now-is-down-right-now.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/is-it-down-right-now-is-down-right-now.htmlIs It Down Right Now, a website that tells you when websites are down, is down right now. With Is It Down Right Now down, you will be unable to learn what other websites are down — at least until it’s back up. At this time it’s not clear when Is It Down Right Now will be back up. Like many websites, Is It Down Right Now has been affected by the partial failure of Amazon’s S3 hosting platform, which is down right now./news/kazuhisa-hashimoto-creator-of-the-konami-code-has-died.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/kazuhisa-hashimoto-creator-of-the-konami-code-has-died.htmlKazuhisa Hashimoto, the programmer of the famous Konami Code, died this week at the age of 61. His code, ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B, A, Start, has lived on for over three decades and continues to be a comical Easter egg in many games today.  Hashimoto’s former employer, Konami, released a statement today confirming his death and sending condolences to Hashimoto’s family: “We are saddened to hear about the passing of Kazuhisa Hashimoto,” Konami said, calling him a “deeply talented producer./news/lamborghini-s-first-plug-in-hypercar-is-the-aventador-replacing-revuelto.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lamborghini-s-first-plug-in-hypercar-is-the-aventador-replacing-revuelto.htmlThe first thing you need to know about the 2024 Lamborghini Revuelto is that it’s the storied Italian automaker’s first plug-in hybrid supercar. The second thing you need to know is that “revuelto” is the Spanish matador word for “unruly” but also can refer to a dish of creamy scrambled eggs. I’m sure the idea of replacing the beloved Aventador with a car that plugs into an electrical outlet is going to scramble a lot of people’s brains./news/lightsaber-dueling-recognized-as-official-sport-in-france.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lightsaber-dueling-recognized-as-official-sport-in-france.htmlThe French Fencing Federation has recognized lightsaber dueling as an official sport, reports the Associated Press. The federation has made the move in an attempt to make the sport more appealing to a younger generation, and it has designed its rules to make sporting matches every bit as visually appealing as their big-screen counterparts. Obviously, that means participants are required to use an illuminated weapon, although they’ll have to settle for a “blade” made of polycarbonate rather than the magnetically-contained plasma of the films./news/logan-paul-vs-ksi-exposed-an-ugliness-that-s-older-than-youtube.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/logan-paul-vs-ksi-exposed-an-ugliness-that-s-older-than-youtube.htmlLike thousands of others, this weekend I traveled to Manchester in England to watch the (sort of) boxing match between two notorious YouTubers: American reprobate Logan Paul and British self-promoter KSI. A conflict between villains, it was the culmination of an embarrassing series of badly acted trash talk videos and diss tracks. I was entirely ready for this to be a shambolic failure; instead, I got a flawlessly executed circus of bullshit./news/magic-mushrooms-might-help-depression-by-resetting-the-brain.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/magic-mushrooms-might-help-depression-by-resetting-the-brain.htmlMagic mushrooms might help depressed patients by helping them “reset” their brains, according to a new study that uses brain scans to look at the lasting effects of psychedelics. Scientists at Imperial College London gave psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, to 20 patients who had depression that hadn’t been helped by other treatments. Patients first took a 10mg dose of psilocybin, then a 25mg dose the week after. All the patients said they still felt better a week after treatment, and about half of them felt better five weeks later, too./news/mastermind-of-comcast-scam-that-lowered-customer-bills-by-2-4-million-pleads-guilty.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/mastermind-of-comcast-scam-that-lowered-customer-bills-by-2-4-million-pleads-guilty.htmlTwo men in Pennsylvania helped thousands of Comcast customers lower their monthly bill through an illegal scheme, and now they're going to jail because of it. For more than a year, Alston Buchanan and Richard Spraggins discreetly took payments between $75 and $150 from 5,790 local Comcast subscribers. In exchange, they shaved down the monthly fees that each customer owed, ultimately robbing the cable and internet provider of $2.4 million. Buchanan and Spraggins allegedly paid off a Comcast employee to obtain login credentials that gave them direct access to the company's billing system./news/match-group-will-pay-tinder-s-co-founders-441-million-over-valuation-lawsuit.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/match-group-will-pay-tinder-s-co-founders-441-million-over-valuation-lawsuit.htmlMatch Group will pay Tinder’s co-founders and original team $441 million to settle a years-long lawsuit over allegations that Match Group purposely undervalued the startup in an effort to avoid paying out billions of dollars in equity. The settlement comes a few weeks after the trial began in the New York Supreme Court, which has included testimony from the plaintiffs, including Tinder co-founder and former CEO Sean Rad, and the defense, including IAC chairman and founder Barry Diller./news/meta-s-business-is-booming-and-so-is-threads.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/meta-s-business-is-booming-and-so-is-threads.htmlMeta’s business is booming, and so is Threads. The company’s stock price is way up after reporting monster Q4 earnings results of over $40 billion in revenue and $14 billion in profit. You can read all the numbers at the link below. Some other news CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared on the earnings call this afternoon: Threads is also booming. It has 130 million monthly active users and “more active people using it today than during its initial launch peak./news/michigan-computer-science-faculty-calls-for-jason-mars-to-take-a-leave-of-absence-following-verge-in.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/michigan-computer-science-faculty-calls-for-jason-mars-to-take-a-leave-of-absence-following-verge-in.htmlThe faculty of the Computer Science and Engineering division is shocked and outraged by the alleged behavior of our colleague Jason Mars in his role as CEO of Clinc, which was reported yesterday by The Verge. On behalf of the entire CSE community, we vehemently condemn the alleged conduct, which violates not only the high standards to which we hold ourselves at Michigan but basic tenets of human decency. The Computer Science and Engineering faculty calls on Professor Mars to immediately take a leave of absence, until a full account of his behavior can be known./news/microsoft-announces-surface-pro-7-with-long-awaited-usb-c-port.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-announces-surface-pro-7-with-long-awaited-usb-c-port.htmlMicrosoft has just announced the new Surface Pro 7, and with it comes a long-awaited move to USB-C for the company’s 2-in-1 PC. Otherwise, it retains the same familiar design as before. The internals have been upgraded with Intel’s latest-generation processors, but the Surface Pro still has a 12.3-inch display — and the Surface Type Keyboard and Surface Pen continue to be essential accessories. The Surface Pro 7 will launch on October 22nd starting at $749./news/microsoft-extends-xbox-elite-2-controller-warranty-after-hardware-issues-emerge.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-extends-xbox-elite-2-controller-warranty-after-hardware-issues-emerge.htmlMicrosoft is extending the warranty on its Xbox Elite 2 controller following complaints over hardware issues. “We’ve received claims that a small percentage of our customers are experiencing mechanical issues when using their Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2,” explains a Microsoft support article. “To ensure your satisfaction, we’re extending the warranty coverage period on Elite Series 2 controllers from 90 days to 1 year from the date of purchase.”/news/microsoft-reportedly-killing-off-desktop-gadget-support-in-windows-8.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-reportedly-killing-off-desktop-gadget-support-in-windows-8.htmlWindows desktop gadgets, originally introduced in Windows Vista, will reportedly be removed from the final version of Windows 8. That's the word from Win8china, a site that has obtained one of the latest internal builds of Windows 8. Despite being supported in Windows 8 Consumer and Release Preview editions, build 844x of Windows 8, which is not available publicly, contains no references to desktop gadgets in the control panel or desktop mode./news/microsoft-says-xbox-game-pass-is-profitable-as-it-sees-subscription-growth-slow.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-says-xbox-game-pass-is-profitable-as-it-sees-subscription-growth-slow.htmlMicrosoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has revealed that the company’s Xbox Game Pass subscription service is already profitable. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live conference, Spencer also revealed that Xbox Game Pass is around 15 percent of Microsoft’s overall Xbox content and services revenue. Spencer says he now expects Xbox Game Pass to stay at around 10–15 percent of Microsoft’s Xbox content and services revenue and that “it’s profitable for us./news/microsoft-wins-ftc-fight-to-buy-activision-blizzard.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-wins-ftc-fight-to-buy-activision-blizzard.htmlA California judge is allowing Microsoft to close its acquisition of Activision Blizzard after five days of grueling testimony. Microsoft still faces an ongoing antitrust case by the Federal Trade Commission, but Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley has listened to arguments from both the FTC and Microsoft and decided to deny the regulator’s request for a preliminary injunction. In a ruling submitted today, Judge Corley said the following: Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has been described as the largest in tech history./news/microsoft-s-new-outlook-security-changes-impact-third-party-apps-and-gmail-integration.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-s-new-outlook-security-changes-impact-third-party-apps-and-gmail-integration.htmlMicrosoft is announcing some changes to Outlook for consumers that will further safeguard accounts. The software maker plans to end support for Basic Authentication for Outlook personal accounts starting on September 16th, it’s removing the light version of the Outlook web application on August 19th, and it will no longer support Gmail accounts in Outlook.com on June 30th. All of these changes are part of Microsoft’s Secure Future Initiative overhaul of its security practices./news/microsoft-s-small-math-ai-model-does-math-better-than-the-big-boys.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-s-small-math-ai-model-does-math-better-than-the-big-boys.htmlMicrosoft’s small math AI model does math better than the big boys. Microsoft found that small language models can exceed the performance of much larger ones when trained to specialize in a single area. Researchers fine-tuned the Mistral 7B model to create Orca-Math, an SLM that solved grade school math problems better, at 86.8 percent, than models like Llama 2, GPT-3.5, and Gemini Pro — even though it ingests significantly less data./news/motorola-s-2024-razr-phones-are-ready-to-make-a-splash.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/motorola-s-2024-razr-phones-are-ready-to-make-a-splash.htmlFoldable season is back, and Motorola is leading the way with refreshed versions of its Razr Plus and Razr flip phones. They’re arriving next month in some poolside-worthy colors, with upgraded screens — a big upgrade in the case of the 2024 Razr — and IPX8 ratings for full resistance against water immersion. And you know what else is pretty hot? The prices haven’t gone up. The Motorola Razr Plus 2024 still starts at $999 and comes with a Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 chipset and 12GB of RAM./news/netflix-is-rebooting-magic-school-bus-as-a-computer-animated-show.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-is-rebooting-magic-school-bus-as-a-computer-animated-show.htmlNetflix has resurrected popular '90s children's series The Magic School Bus for its latest push into original kids programming. The streaming service will release 26 episodes of the reimagined show, now called The Magic School Bus 360, beginning in 2016. Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, told The New York Times that the original series ranks as one of the most popular educational programs in his company's catalog — despite the fact that new episodes were last produced in 1997./news/netflix-picks-up-warrior-another-orphaned-show.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-picks-up-warrior-another-orphaned-show.htmlNetflix picks up ‘Warrior,’ another orphaned show. The bad news is, according to Deadline, Max has canceled Warrior, leaving the show with three seasons. The good news is that Netflix made a deal to stream those seasons in Max’s markets. The other bad news is it may not get a fourth season, since, the article notes, the actors are no longer under contract, and the show’s lead, Andrew Koji, is already otherwise obligated./news/netflix-raises-prices-on-all-plans-in-us.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-raises-prices-on-all-plans-in-us.htmlNetflix is raising prices across all of its plans in the US today. The company’s standard plan will rise to $15.50 per month from $14, while the 4K plan will rise to $20 per month from $18. The basic plan, which doesn’t include HD, is also rising to $10 per month from $9. Prices are rising in Canada as well. The price hikes go into effect immediately for new subscribers. For existing subscribers, the changes will be rolled out “gradually,” with Netflix promising to email members 30 days before the price hike goes into effect./news/netflix-s-app-won-t-work-on-the-vision-pro.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-s-app-won-t-work-on-the-vision-pro.htmlApple’s Vision Pro headset won’t have a dedicated Netflix app at launch, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The streaming giant reportedly doesn’t plan to launch an app specifically for Apple’s headset, nor does it want to make its iPad app compatible with the platform. The move means users won’t be able to watch Netflix in a dedicated app — like the other streaming services that have announced support for the headset, including Disney Plus, Max, Amazon Prime Video, and Paramount Plus./news/netflix-s-live-action-avatar-is-nailing-it-on-the-casting-front.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-s-live-action-avatar-is-nailing-it-on-the-casting-front.htmlOn the side of the Fire Nation, we have Arden Cho (Partner Track) playing the bounty hunter June, Momona Tamada (Secret Headquarters) as the whimsical Ty Lee, and Thalia Tran (Raya and the Last Dragon) as the “unflappable” Mai. We’ll also see Utkarsh Ambudkar (Ghosts) as the Earth Kingdom’s ruler Bumi, Amber Midthunder (Prey) as the Northern Water Tribe’s Princess Yue, and Danny Pudi (Mythic Quest) as the Mechanist. Even Star Trek’s George Takei gets a role in the show as the unsettling spirit, Koh./news/new-chrome-mobile-shortcuts-let-you-call-a-restaurant-from-your-address-bar.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/new-chrome-mobile-shortcuts-let-you-call-a-restaurant-from-your-address-bar.htmlGoogle has added new Chrome Actions to mobile that will let you call, read reviews for, or get directions to a restaurant or other business — all right from the address bar. The company announced the new feature in a blog on Wednesday. Android users will see this new feature right away, but iOS users will have to wait until the fall. A screenshot of the new Chrome Action shortcuts. Image: Google/news/new-tile-sticker-is-designed-to-track-everything-from-tv-remotes-to-bicycles.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/new-tile-sticker-is-designed-to-track-everything-from-tv-remotes-to-bicycles.htmlTile, the company best known for its lineup of key- and bag-tracking Bluetooth fobs, has ambitions to track more of your belongings. The company’s new credit card-sized Tile Slim is designed to track your wallet, while the small, puck-shaped Tile Sticker is meant to be stuck onto laptops, TV remotes, skateboards, and bicycles. Tile is also updating its Mate and Pro key trackers with new models which offer improved range./news/newsletter-faq-the-verge.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/newsletter-faq-the-verge.htmlI’m not based in the US. Can I still subscribe? That’s fine. Our newsletters live on the internet, and we are able to take payments from anywhere in the world. Individuals can save over 15 percent by subscribing to an annual plan. A discounted bundle with both Command Line and Notepad is also available for over 25 percent off. Corporate subscription plans are also available at a discounted rate for groups of 10 or more./news/nintendo-s-new-zelda-amiibo-explains-breath-of-the-wild-s-mysterious-fierce-deity-armor.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nintendo-s-new-zelda-amiibo-explains-breath-of-the-wild-s-mysterious-fierce-deity-armor.htmlDuring one of its Direct live streams this evening, Nintendo revealed three new Zelda amiibo alongside an avalanche of release dates for new Switch games. These amiibo include Link toys specific to N64 classic Majora’s Mask and the Wii entries in the franchise, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. In doing so, Nintendo brought to a close one of the more enduring mysteries surrounding The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and how a certain armor set seemed to exist in the game’s code, discoverable only through questionable means./news/not-even-nyt-bestsellers-are-safe-from-ai-cover-art.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/not-even-nyt-bestsellers-are-safe-from-ai-cover-art.htmlA prominent fantasy novel features a cover apparently generated with artificial intelligence, sparking complaints from artists and book enthusiasts. Earlier this month, readers noted that the back of the UK edition of Sarah J. Maas’ House of Earth and Blood credits Adobe Stock for the illustration of a wolf on its cover. The illustration matches an image created by user Aperture Vintage and marked as AI-generated on Adobe’s site. The move has led to criticism of both Maas and Bloomsbury Publishing, one of the world’s leading independent publishing houses./news/now-you-can-slide-into-strava-dms.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/now-you-can-slide-into-strava-dms.htmlStarting today, Strava users will be able to privately message other users within the app. At first, you’ll be able to send both direct messages, as well as group messages. The feature is intended to be used as a way to motivate your friends on the platform or coordinate group activities. I was able to get a sneak peek at the feature ahead of time, and it’s similar to how DMs work on any other social media, which makes sense because Strava is both an exercise recording app and fitness social media platform./news/nvidia-s-ai-chatbot-now-supports-google-s-gemma-model-voice-queries-and-more.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nvidia-s-ai-chatbot-now-supports-google-s-gemma-model-voice-queries-and-more.htmlNvidia is updating its experimental ChatRTX chatbot with more AI models for RTX GPU owners. The chatbot, which runs locally on a Windows PC, can already use Mistral or Llama 2 to query personal documents that you feed into it, but now the list of supported AI models is growing to include Google’s Gemma, ChatGLM3, and even OpenAI’s CLIP model to make it easier to search your photos. Nvidia first introduced ChatRTX as “Chat with RTX” in February as a demo app, and you’ll need an RTX 30- or 40-series GPU with 8GB of VRAM or more to be able to run it./news/nvidia-s-geforce-now-just-got-its-first-battle-net-games-from-blizzard.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nvidia-s-geforce-now-just-got-its-first-battle-net-games-from-blizzard.htmlNvidia’s GeForce Now just got its first Battle.net games from Blizzard. You can now stream Call of Duty HQ, Overwatch 2, Diablo IV and Hearthstone using your Battle.net account. Hearthstone’s brand new to GFN, period — the others already worked with a Steam login because Blizzard’s playing nice with Steam. The GeForce Now app doesn’t yet support linking your entire Battle.net library, though, like it does with Steam, Epic, Xbox, and Ubisoft./news/of-course-tim-cook-had-made-on-ipad-nike-kicks.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/of-course-tim-cook-had-made-on-ipad-nike-kicks.htmlOf course Tim Cook had ‘Made on iPad’ Nike kicks. For one, he’s a board member at Nike. But according to Hypebeast, Cook had one-of-a-kind pair of Nike Air Max 1 ‘86s. On the tongue, there’s a lil handwritten “made on iPad” and the iconic swoosh features a rainbow stitching that looks like it was drawn with an Apple Pencil Pro. The sneaks are real cute, but unfortunately, you can’t buy ‘em./news/overwatch-and-the-new-wave-of-friendly-online-shooters.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/overwatch-and-the-new-wave-of-friendly-online-shooters.htmlThere’s a new multiplayer-only shooter out, and I’m really having a lot of fun with it. Just a few years ago that’s not something you would have heard me say. The genre has historically not been very welcoming to newcomers; the result of entrenched players who are simply way better than you are, and often toxic communities that aren’t very pleasant to be around. No one enjoys repeatedly dying while someone laughs at you the whole time, slowly building up enough experience for a half-decent scope or zoom option./news/people-are-putting-their-routers-in-jail-to-protect-themselves-from-harmless-wi-fi.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/people-are-putting-their-routers-in-jail-to-protect-themselves-from-harmless-wi-fi.htmlPlease do not put your internet router in a Faraday cage. Please do not put your internet router in a Faraday cage. If you’re reading this, as someone who uses the internet, this may seem obvious. A Faraday cage, after all, blocks electromagnetic radiation and signals from escaping. Putting one around your router would, by very similar physics, prevent those same radio waves that carry your internet from reaching your devices./news/pepe-the-frog-is-officially-dead.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pepe-the-frog-is-officially-dead.htmlPepe the Frog’s battles are finally over. Cartoonist Matt Furie has officially killed off his most famous creation, which rose from internet meme to white supremacist mascot during the 2016 US election. As reported by Comic Book Resources, Furie published a one-page installment of his “Boy’s Club” series (where Pepe was first introduced in 2005) in celebration of Free Comic Book Day. The strip shows Pepe laid to rest in an open casket while his friends gather round to mourn./news/phase-one-s-latest-camera-drags-150-megapixels-out-of-the-studio-and-into-the-field.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/phase-one-s-latest-camera-drags-150-megapixels-out-of-the-studio-and-into-the-field.htmlPhase One is expanding its range of medium format cameras with the new XT body that’s designed to be used out in the field. The new body pairs with Phase One’s existing medium format backs that provide either 100 or 150 megapixels of resolution, and it utilizes a new range of lenses with an electronically controlled electromagnetic shutter system. The XT system is available starting today and is priced at $56,990, including the 150-megapixel back and a lens./news/podcasts-are-in-the-middle-of-a-numbers-and-people-crisis.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/podcasts-are-in-the-middle-of-a-numbers-and-people-crisis.htmlIn the podcasting world, the year 2019 may seem like it happened in a parallel universe. Vulture’s Nicholas Quah deemed it the beginning of the “big podcasting era,” pointing to the millions of dollars that Spotify invested in building out its podcast operation — and the expected domino effect as other companies follow suit. “There was podcasting before 2019, and there will be podcasting after 2019. What podcasting will look like in 2024 remains very much up for grabs,” wrote Quah./news/pornhub-is-the-latest-platform-to-ban-ai-generated-deepfakes-porn.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pornhub-is-the-latest-platform-to-ban-ai-generated-deepfakes-porn.htmlPornhub will be deleting “deepfakes” — AI-generated videos that realistically edit new faces onto pornographic actors — under its rules against nonconsensual porn, following in the footsteps of platforms like Discord and Gfycat. “We do not tolerate any nonconsensual content on the site and we remove all said content as soon as we are made aware of it,” the company told Motherboard, whichfirst reported on the deepfakes porn phenomenon last year./news/pqi-air-card-lets-you-wirelessly-access-your-camera-s-photos-hands-on.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pqi-air-card-lets-you-wirelessly-access-your-camera-s-photos-hands-on.htmlWireless SD card manufacturer Eye-Fi has more competition inbound: not only will it have to deal with Toshiba's FlashAir and the SD Card Association's new iSDIO standard, but memory vendor PQI had a tiny Wi-Fi SD card of its own at Computex 2012. Like the FlashAir, PQI's new Air Card creates a dedicated 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi hotspot when you plug it into your camera and press the power button, which you can connect to your tablet, phone or PC, after which point the photos and videos automatically appear in a corresponding app or web interface./news/psa-google-meet-to-limit-meetings-to-60-minutes-on-free-plans-september-30th.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/psa-google-meet-to-limit-meetings-to-60-minutes-on-free-plans-september-30th.htmlGoogle said in April it would allow unlimited-length meetings in its Google Meet video chat platform for all users until September 30th, and it looks like the company is sticking with that timeline. After September 30th, free versions of Meet will be limited to meetings no longer than 60 minutes. “We don’t have anything to communicate regarding changes to the promo and advanced features expiring,” a Google spokesperson told The Verge in an email Friday./news/q-link-wireless-made-private-customer-information-accessible-with-just-a-phone-number.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/q-link-wireless-made-private-customer-information-accessible-with-just-a-phone-number.htmlArs Technica noted a Reddit post saying that the app used by the carrier and its subsidiary Hello Mobile never asked for a password or any identifying information when the user was logging on with a phone number. Looking through the reviews, there are references to the poor security practices (to put it mildly) going back to December of 2020. While it’s unclear when the credential-less login system appeared, there is an update note from two years ago that mentions an “updated login process./news/qualcomm-s-qcc5100-chipset-gives-wireless-earbuds-longer-battery-life.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/qualcomm-s-qcc5100-chipset-gives-wireless-earbuds-longer-battery-life.htmlQualcomm’s QCC5100 is a tiny little system on a chip that you’ll probably never see, but it could make your life a little better. The chip is designed for true wireless headphones and what Qualcomm calls “hearables” — headphones with wearable-style smart features. The best comparison to the new chip is Qualcomm’s CSR8675, which powers Google’s Pixel Buds. The QCC5100 offers more processing power for smart features and sensor support, while also saving 65 percent in terms of power consumption./news/quick-fixes-how-to-fix-if-magsafe-isn-t-charging-your-phone.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/quick-fixes-how-to-fix-if-magsafe-isn-t-charging-your-phone.htmlYour MagSafe charger suddenly isn’t, well, charging. Wireless charging is great, but it quickly becomes a confusing mess if you plop down your phone for some juice and notice nothing happens after a few minutes. If your iPhone 12, 13, or 14 is suddenly not charging with a proper Apple MagSafe charger or compatible third-party charger but still charges fine with a wired Lightning connection, it’s possible there’s something going on in the MagSafe software handshake within iOS./news/rad-power-bikes-links-up-with-redwood-materials-for-e-bike-battery-recycling.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/rad-power-bikes-links-up-with-redwood-materials-for-e-bike-battery-recycling.htmlRad Power Bikes is partnering with Redwood Materials, a battery company founded by a former Tesla executive, to recycle e-bike batteries when they reach the end of their lifespan. Customers will be able to bring in their depleted batteries to Rad Power Bikes’ retail locations, after which the company will send them to Redwood Materials for processing and recycling. (Rad currently operates 10 retail and service locations in North America.) Select Rad stores in California and Washington will also serve as drop-off locations for old smartphones, laptops, and tablets, for Redwood’s growing consumer e-waste collection program./news/ray-kurzweil-s-journey-towards-the-end-of-dying.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ray-kurzweil-s-journey-towards-the-end-of-dying.htmlCan humans live forever? Ray Kurzweil, noted author, futurist, and Google's director of engineering, sees immortality as a series of bridges, each leg working to expand life a little longer. In an interview with Maclean's, Kurzweil described taking 150 supplements per day, which he credits for younger results on biological aging tests. But supplements are only the first bridge; the second, he says, will be tiny nanobots that help fight diseases by augmenting the immune system./news/razer-blade-pro-17-review-big-bold-and-powerful.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/razer-blade-pro-17-review-big-bold-and-powerful.htmlThe Razer Blade Pro 17 is far from an Ultrabook. It’s just over six pounds and boasts a 17-inch screen, an H-series processor, and a top-end RTX GPU.  But it’s got an Ultrabook-y vibe to it. Like its smaller counterparts in the Blade line, the Pro 17 is chic and professional, lacking the bells and whistles you might expect to see on a large gaming laptop. The chassis is all black and all aluminum, with Razer’s logo adding a sleek splash of green to the lid./news/reddit-is-going-to-let-you-turn-gold-into-money.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/reddit-is-going-to-let-you-turn-gold-into-money.htmlReddit is going to let users spin Reddit gold into real money as part of its new “Contributor Program,” the company announced on Monday. It also shared details on the replacement for its old Reddit Gold system that let users show extra appreciation for posts or posts that they liked. Let’s start with the Reddit Gold update since it’s a critical part of that Contributor Program. Under the new gold system, you can long-press an upvote button on mobile or hover over it on desktop to be able to buy gold./news/redesigning-star-trek-the-original-series-brought-to-life-in-80-pulp-posters.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/redesigning-star-trek-the-original-series-brought-to-life-in-80-pulp-posters.htmlFor 30 days in 2011, Juan Ortiz gave himself a task: create a new poster every day, each one illustrating a single episode of the original Star Trek series. "I had little sleep during that time," he says. When he was finished, some friends convinced him to reach out to CBS directly. The posters were a hit, and with CBS' blessing, Ortiz ultimately managed to make one for each of the original series' 80 episodes./news/redfall-gets-a-may-2nd-release-date-and-more-gameplay-footage.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/redfall-gets-a-may-2nd-release-date-and-more-gameplay-footage.htmlBethesda’s upcoming vampire shooter Redfall is now releasing on May 2nd. Redfall was originally delayed last year, alongside Starfield, to the first half of 2023. Microsoft and Bethesda are now committing to a May 2nd release date, and it will be available exclusively on Xbox Series S and X and PC. We got to see a good amount of gameplay footage for Redfall, from the team behind Dishonored, during the Xbox and Bethesda showcase last year, and today’s Developer Direct stream has offered up even more./news/samsung-galaxy-tab-s9-tab-s9-plus-tab-s9-ultra-review-easier-choices.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-galaxy-tab-s9-tab-s9-plus-tab-s9-ultra-review-easier-choices.htmlIf you’re interested in buying a high-end Android tablet this year, Samsung is making your decision easier than ever. This year’s Galaxy Tab S9 tablets, which include the 11-inch Tab S9, the 12.4-inch Tab S9 Plus, and the massive 14.6-inch Tab S9 Ultra, are remarkably similar — you can base your entire decision on how much money you want to spend and what size screen you want. They’ve got the same screen technology, same processors, same color options, same designs, same accessory options, and largely all the same features across the board./news/samsung-s-new-galaxy-s22-color-is-so-purple-it-named-it-twice.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-new-galaxy-s22-color-is-so-purple-it-named-it-twice.htmlSamsung’s Galaxy S22 is launching in a new purple color today, which is officially called “Bora Purple.” As the company’s press release helpfully points out, “Bora” is the Korean word for “purple,” meaning that the new color is effectively called “purple purple.” It goes on sale on August 10th for $799.99, the same price as the original Galaxy S22. Since launch, the base model of Samsung’s latest flagship series has been available in a very similar color the company calls “violet./news/scuf-s-instinct-has-more-pop-but-fewer-features-than-the-xbox-elite-series-2.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/scuf-s-instinct-has-more-pop-but-fewer-features-than-the-xbox-elite-series-2.htmlScuf has introduced two pricey controllers, the $170 Instinct and the $200 Instinct Pro. They’re made for Xbox, and to that end, they feel like Microsoft’s official controller in fit and finish. I mean that quite literally because they have the same dimensions as the newer Xbox wireless controller that ships with the Series X and S consoles. The similarities go all the way down to the main board, which Scuf told The Verge is, in fact, the same as Microsoft’s./news/skullcandy-s-new-true-wireless-earbuds-have-built-in-tile-tracking.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/skullcandy-s-new-true-wireless-earbuds-have-built-in-tile-tracking.htmlMany true wireless earbuds now let you “find” them by either playing a sound (if they’re powered on, out of their case, and nearby) or pulling up the location where they were last paired to your phone. But what if you could track your earbuds even when they’re powered down? That’s the appeal that has led an increasing number of brands to build Tile’s tracking technology into their devices — including laptops, suitcases, and headphones from Bose and Sennheiser — and now Skullycandy is joining in./news/snapchat-for-web-is-now-available-to-everyone.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/snapchat-for-web-is-now-available-to-everyone.htmlSnapchat announced a new web app in July, marking the first time the platform was offered beyond mobile. Now, Snapchat says the web version — which was previously only available to paid subscribers — is open to all users. The expanded availability was announced today in a round-up of new features for fall. On Snapchat for web, users can chat and video call with friends, with conversations syncing between devices. In an interview with The Verge in July, Snap’s head of messaging product, Nathan Boyd, said a web version of Snapchat was an “unmet opportunity” for the company./news/snapseed-for-android-available-now-ios-version-drops-from-4-99-to-free.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/snapseed-for-android-available-now-ios-version-drops-from-4-99-to-free.htmlBack in September, The Verge was the first to report that Google had acquired Nik Software, the German startup behind Snapseed, a photo editing app that won Apple's App of the Year in 2011. Today we're seeing the first benefits of this takeover with Google announing that it is releasing Snapseed for Android and cutting the price of the iOS version from $4.99 to free. The Android version has significant integration with Google+, allowing users to tag other Google+ members and share to Circles and Communities, Google+'s new groups product./news/sonos-launches-microphone-free-arc-sl-soundbar-exclusively-at-costco.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sonos-launches-microphone-free-arc-sl-soundbar-exclusively-at-costco.htmlSonos is releasing a microphone-free version of its premium Dolby Atmos soundbar, the Sonos Arc. It shares the same “SL” branding as the no-mic Sonos One speakers, but unlike those, this version of the Arc — $50 cheaper than the regular model — is available exclusively at Costco in the US and Canada beginning today. As noted by Android Central, it had already been spotted on Costco shelves and posted to the Sonos subreddit before the company confirmed its existence./news/sony-tablet-p-review-the-verge.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-tablet-p-review-the-verge.htmlDual-screen apps Sony also redesigned nearly every core app on the Tablet P, but the logic behind that makes a lot more sense. Most Android tablet apps weren't exactly developed with two displays in mind, so the responsibility for making the device work fell to Sony. Where the company could tweak things, it did a decent job: a number of parts of the operating system are cleverly optimized for the two screen layout./news/sony-s-new-slim-playstation-5-is-already-on-sale-with-marvel-s-spider-man-2.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-s-new-slim-playstation-5-is-already-on-sale-with-marvel-s-spider-man-2.htmlPlayStation 5 sales have already surpassed 50 million units — a solid figure for a console that has rarely received a substantial price drop since it arrived on the scene more than three years ago. If you have yet to pick up Sony’s latest console, however, Best Buy is now offering the new PS5 “slim” with a digital copy of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for $449.99 ($50 off), which marks the first discount we’ve seen on the bundle./news/sony-s-next-batch-of-free-ps4-and-ps5-games-is-now-available.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-s-next-batch-of-free-ps4-and-ps5-games-is-now-available.htmlSony’s “Play at Home” initiative continues with a huge stack of excellent games, including Astro Bot Rescue Mission and Subnautica, that are free to own for a limited time. No PlayStation Plus membership is required, meaning you can keep these games forever. From now through April 22nd at 11:59PM PT, the following titles will be free to claim for PS4 and PS5 users: ABZÛ, Enter the Gungeon, Rez Infinite, Subnautica, Astro Bot Rescue Mission, Moss, Thumper, and Paper Beast./news/sony-s-post-match-accolades-ps5-compliment-system-is-going-away.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-s-post-match-accolades-ps5-compliment-system-is-going-away.htmlSony’s getting rid of Accolades, a PlayStation 5 feature present since the system launched, because apparently, no one uses it (via Eurogamer). In case you haven’t heard of it (which wouldn’t be all that surprising), Accolades is a way to anonymously reward other players online for being a “good sport,” “helpful,” or “welcoming,” which then appear on players’ profiles. On a PlayStation support page, Sony says Accolades will disappear this fall, and its message is actually kind of sad./news/south-korea-planning-to-block-pornography-and-swear-words-on-teenagers-smartphones.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/south-korea-planning-to-block-pornography-and-swear-words-on-teenagers-smartphones.htmlThe South Korean government has laid out plans to install software on teenagers’ smartphones that will block "'illegal [and] harmful information." The Ministry Of Gender Equality And Family believes that installing the software will block swear words and slang — as well as prevent cyber-bullying — on social and messaging networks such as KaKao Talk, Facebook, and Twitter. The governmental body will also require a compulsory filtering service for mobile carriers that will block "/news/spacex-s-crew-dragon-mission-is-the-final-test-for-nasa-s-big-commercial-bet.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/spacex-s-crew-dragon-mission-is-the-final-test-for-nasa-s-big-commercial-bet.htmlOn the afternoon of May 27th, two veteran NASA astronauts will make history when they strap themselves into a newly developed spacecraft on the east coast of Florida and blast off to the International Space Station. They will be the first people to launch on a truly private spacecraft — the Crew Dragon, built and operated by SpaceX. It’s a launch that could mark the beginning of a new era of spaceflight in the United States./news/spain-orders-public-places-set-air-conditioning-no-lower-than-27-degrees-celsius.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/spain-orders-public-places-set-air-conditioning-no-lower-than-27-degrees-celsius.htmlAs Europe grapples with a scorching summer and skyrocketing energy prices, Spain has become the latest government to tell its citizens to turn down the AC.  A decree published on Tuesday morning in the official state gazette and scheduled to go into effect next week mandates that air conditioning in public places be set at or above 27 degrees Celsius (about 80 degrees Fahrenheit) and that doors of those buildings remain closed to save energy./news/starbucks-japan-is-selling-pens-with-built-in-nfc-wallets.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/starbucks-japan-is-selling-pens-with-built-in-nfc-wallets.htmlStarbucks is releasing a new hardware product in Japan this month, and it’s a pen. Not a stylus or anything — an actual pen, with “coffee brown” gel ink, a drip coffee machine-inspired design, and the built-in ability to pay for things at Starbucks. “Starbucks Touch: The Pen,” for that is its name, contains an NFC reader that’s linked to a digital wallet. It works with FeliCa technology, which is ubiquitous in Japan and powers Starbucks’ popular domestic card system./news/steve-wozniak-is-in-cadillac-s-oscars-commercial-for-some-reason.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/steve-wozniak-is-in-cadillac-s-oscars-commercial-for-some-reason.htmlYou might have missed this, but Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was a part of the Oscars madness tonight. During Cadillac's commercial during the broadcast, the Woz himself can be seen lounging in his study, listening to music that, for one reason or another, is making the room go out of focus. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtnam1fZ3xzf45xZ3FxYGeEcK3Cmpuepalirrit0Z2qZmpgZoJuv9OerZ5lp6THr7XApGScmZSeua2twmaaqKWdmr%2BktcCl/news/target-confirms-it-s-all-but-completely-ditching-dvds-in-physical-stores.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/target-confirms-it-s-all-but-completely-ditching-dvds-in-physical-stores.htmlTarget is scaling back the presence of physical media in its stores. A spokesperson for Target tells IGN that the company is “transitioning the limited assortment of DVDs” it sells in stores to its website. “Moving forward, we’ll offer select DVDs in stores when they are newly released or during key times throughout the year when they are more popular, like for gift giving during the holidays,” Target says. That will make Target’s physical DVD section even smaller and only available during specific times./news/taylor-swift-s-bad-blood-video-stars-lena-dunham-and-jessica-alba-as-sci-fi-assassins.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/taylor-swift-s-bad-blood-video-stars-lena-dunham-and-jessica-alba-as-sci-fi-assassins.htmlAfter a week of teasers, hints, and custom emoji, Taylor Swift has finally shown off the video for her latest single, "Bad Blood" at the Billboard Music Awards. The result — a blue-and-chrome colored sci-fi extravaganza featuring supermodels, huge explosions, Oscar-nominated actresses, Tarantino influences, and Kendrick Lamar — was probably worth the wait. Swift appears as "Catastrophe" — part of a collective of female assassins, each with their own hip nickname and Sin City-style poster./news/tens-of-thousands-of-verkada-cameras-were-easily-accessible-to-employees-as-well-as-hackers.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tens-of-thousands-of-verkada-cameras-were-easily-accessible-to-employees-as-well-as-hackers.htmlEmployees of cloud-based surveillance firm Verkada had widespread access to feeds from customers’ cameras, according to new reports from Bloomberg and The Washington Post. Verkada’s systems were recently breached by a “hacktivist” collective which gained access to more than 150,000 of the company’s cameras in locations ranging from Tesla factories, to police stations, gyms, schools, jails, and hospitals. The group, who call themselves Advanced Persistent Threat 69420, stumbled across log-in credentials for Verkada’s “Super Admin” accounts online./news/tesla-releases-revised-model-s-range-stats-up-to-350-miles-at-55-mph.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tesla-releases-revised-model-s-range-stats-up-to-350-miles-at-55-mph.htmlWhen Tesla officially announced the Model S electric sedan last year, it noted that there would be two high-end models with a 85kWh battery, each capable of a maximum range of 300 miles per change. The company has now completed its final optimizations on the vehicle, and it's been able to boost that to up to 350 miles when driving on the freeway, with a theoretical maximum range of more than 400 miles./news/tesla-vehicles-have-serious-quality-issues-part-7-294-656.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tesla-vehicles-have-serious-quality-issues-part-7-294-656.htmlTesla vehicles have serious quality issues, part 7,294,656. Tesla vehicles don’t have the best record for quality. The brakes will sometime slam without warning. The range is often inflated. Autopilot is a mess. And now, according to Reuters, the suspension and steering columns on “tens of thousands” of Tesla vehicles are experiencing premature failure — sometimes after just a couple hundred miles of ownership. Tesla’s response? Blaming the customers. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2tfZn9wfo9oaW1oYG5%2FdH6OrZyspJFiw6a0yJyjnqtdna63sYysnKuhn6rAbr3UmqOirKlitrS%2F1J6qZqiRp8Fug5Fya29tZg%3D%3D/news/the-autoworker-strike-is-nearly-over-as-gm-makes-tentative-deal-with-uaw.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-autoworker-strike-is-nearly-over-as-gm-makes-tentative-deal-with-uaw.htmlGeneral Motors became the last car company to agree to a tentative deal with the United Auto Workers, ending the nearly seven-week-long strike, Reuters reported. The news came one day after the UAW said it had reached a deal with Stellantis, parent company of Chrysler and Jeep, and several days after Ford. The strike has roiled the auto industry, costing each of the Big Three automakers hundreds of millions of dollars each week in lost production and throwing cold water on the industry’s shift to electric vehicles./news/the-average-tiktok-user-is-over-30-years-old.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-average-tiktok-user-is-over-30-years-old.htmlThe average TikTok user is over 30 years old. What started as a kid’s dancing app has changed significantly in recent years. At a Senate hearing on child safety happening now, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the average user on the platform is well into adulthood. Chew is among the group of tech executives testifying today. Read his full opening statement below. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfZnx0fY5ra2ltZm5%2FdnvToZxmmaaav6KzxGaroqOkpLhuwdKeqWaho2K8t7HRZmppZamarrO%2FjKijnQ%3D%3D/news/the-best-youtube-apps-extensions-and-tweaks-you-should-get.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-best-youtube-apps-extensions-and-tweaks-you-should-get.htmlHi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 16, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome to our delightful corner of the internet, sorry about all the productivity apps, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)  Hope you all had a great holiday, or at least a great week with one fewer email in your inbox. This week, I’ve been testing Supernotes as a daily diary app, reading about what it takes to make an iPhone in India and whatever “gamified theater” is, unsubscribing to every brand that sent me a “Happy Holidays!/news/the-first-two-metal-gear-solid-games-are-back-on-pc-but-they-are-not-looking-their-best.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-first-two-metal-gear-solid-games-are-back-on-pc-but-they-are-not-looking-their-best.htmlAfter being MIA for nearly two decades on PC, Windows gamers will have the chance to experience the first two Metal Gear Solid games on their rigs. The two classics from Hideo Kojima’s critically acclaimed series are coming to GOG.com today.  Of course, this isn’t the first time each game has been released on PC; both would see a release on Windows PCs around two years after each initially launched on their respective consoles./news/the-future-of-diy-abortions-is-the-internet-not-a-back-alley-doctor.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-future-of-diy-abortions-is-the-internet-not-a-back-alley-doctor.htmlFor many people, the phrase “illegal abortion” calls to mind images of back alley clinics, medical providers with questionable credentials, and, of course, the dreaded coat hanger — an object so evocative it’s often been used as a protest symbol. But those images are outdated, belonging to a pre-Roe era. These days, the real action in abortion is now online, as a group of reproductive rights activists use the internet to spread the word about how to use abortion pills./news/the-horror-and-allure-of-the-diagonal-monitor.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-horror-and-allure-of-the-diagonal-monitor.htmlOn Windows and Mac, you can rotate your monitor 90 degrees, or even 180 degrees if you’re a vampire, but that’s it. Well, macOS lets you pick 270 degrees, too, but that’s just 90 degrees in the other direction, so don’t get too excited. Linux, on the other hand, has no problem with chaos, so you can rotate your display to any degree you’d like. Tom’s Hardware published a story about this in late December, pointing to a blog from a developer called xssfox, who said there was one perfect monitor rotation for developers, and it’s not the regular landscape view, nor is it portrait, AKA 90-degree rotation./news/the-logitech-craft-keyboard-s-giant-button-is-a-tactile-dream.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-logitech-craft-keyboard-s-giant-button-is-a-tactile-dream.htmlThe Logitech Craft keyboard has many buttons — it’s a keyboard, so, duh — but what makes it special is the giant, oversized dial in the top left-hand corner. Logitech calls it the “creative input dial,” and it is intended to help us rethink how we interact with our computers. There are actually three ways to interact with the dial: there’s the somewhat obvious ability to turn it, but you can also click it like an actual button or lightly tap the touch-sensitive top./news/the-meta-quest-2-s-passthrough-button-melts-away-just-like-reality.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-meta-quest-2-s-passthrough-button-melts-away-just-like-reality.htmlVirtual reality is for checking out. The wider the field of vision and the less light peeking in, the better. But as VR becomes more mainstream, there needs to be a way to quickly check back in with reality. A safe word, so to speak, to pull you out of VR, whether you’re feeling overwhelmed by a game or if you want to feel more present. That’s exactly what the passthrough button offers on Meta’s Quest and Quest 2./news/the-nba-is-adding-a-zoomed-in-view-for-smartphones-to-all-league-pass-streams.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-nba-is-adding-a-zoomed-in-view-for-smartphones-to-all-league-pass-streams.htmlThe NBA doesn't think it makes sense to give fans streaming games on a smartphone the exact same vantage point as people watching at home on a large TV screen. So for every game of the upcoming season, it's offering a new option for NBA League Pass customers: Mobile View, a zoomed-in video feed that provides a tighter perspective of whatever's happening on the court. Beginning tomorrow, Mobile View will appear as a third option alongside the typical home and away feeds when in League Pass./news/the-ncase-m1-a-crowdfunded-marvel-of-a-pc-case-has-been-discontinued.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-ncase-m1-a-crowdfunded-marvel-of-a-pc-case-has-been-discontinued.htmlVideo cards, especially, have on average grown significantly larger over the past couple of years - a fact that has hurt the M1’s compatibility, which had previously been very good for its size. The M1 was already highly space-optimized, so accommodating such larger cards was not possible within the current design footprint. Hence the need for a more thorough redesign from the ground up, which also allows us the opportunity to explore alternate manufacturing methods, updates to the visual design, and additional features./news/the-new-hot-gadget-is-the-kindle.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-new-hot-gadget-is-the-kindle.htmlThe new hot gadget is... the Kindle? E-book borrowing is the new hot trend, and to use their local libraries, people are buying Kindles. Though paper books are still more popular than digital ones, “Kindle sales have grown in double-digit percentages for each of the past two years and are on track for similar gains this year.” ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfbHxye5FtaHJoY2qFcMDHnmSnnaditbDAjKCYnZ%2BVqXqqv4ytn55lm567pbjE/news/the-new-ue-epicboom-is-a-beefy-350-bluetooth-speaker.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-new-ue-epicboom-is-a-beefy-350-bluetooth-speaker.htmlWhere do you go next after branding your speakers with names like the Boom, Megaboom, Hyperboom, and Wonderboom? Well, apparently the natural progression has led Ultimate Ears to none other than “Epicboom.” That’s the new speaker that the company just announced today. It’s a chunky device that gives off more of a Sonos Move aura as opposed to UE’s signature cylindrical Bluetooth speakers. Priced at $349.99, the 4.36-pound Epicboom promises 360-degree audio output from its 4./news/the-next-jurassic-world-is-coming-in-2018.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-next-jurassic-world-is-coming-in-2018.htmlWhat happens when a movie becomes the biggest summer blockbuster of the year? It gets a sequel, of course.Variety is reporting that Universal is moving forward with a sequel to Jurassic World, with the movie currently slated for release on June 22nd, 2018. Stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are reportedly set to return, as well. What happens when you write the biggest summer blockbuster of the year? You come back for that sequel./news/the-oculus-quest-and-oculus-rift-s-launch-on-may-21st-and-preorders-open-today.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-oculus-quest-and-oculus-rift-s-launch-on-may-21st-and-preorders-open-today.htmlFacebook and Oculus have finally revealed a release date for their Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S headsets: May 21st. Both headsets will ship in 22 countries next month, they’ll cost $399, and you can preorder them today. The Oculus Quest is a much-anticipated standalone VR headset that Oculus announced last year. It works without external tracking cameras or a separate computer, using a Snapdragon mobile chipset. The Oculus Rift S is a refresh of the 2016 Oculus Rift; it’s not a “Rift 2,” but an upgrade that replaces the old Rift’s tracking cameras with more convenient inside-out tracking./news/the-reddit-detectives-are-hard-at-work-decoding-black-mirror-bandersnatch.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-reddit-detectives-are-hard-at-work-decoding-black-mirror-bandersnatch.htmlEarly in the morning on Friday, December 28th, Netflix slipped its viewers a late Christmas present: a new episode of Charlie Brooker’s technological-dystopia anthology series Black Mirror, in the form of an interactive movie called Bandersnatch. Its arrival didn’t entirely come as a secret — as far back as October, there were rumors it was on the way — but Netflix has been secretive about the storyline and the scope of the project./news/the-remastered-tomb-raider-trilogy-destroyed-my-nostalgia-goggles.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-remastered-tomb-raider-trilogy-destroyed-my-nostalgia-goggles.htmlI have been waiting for Tomb Raider I-III Remastered for 21 years. That’s when I first played the second entry in the series, it having been a “gift” from my mother’s boyfriend who gave me both his PlayStation and a handful of games — sans jewel cases — for no other reason than wanting to free up some space in his closet. I played it ceaselessly, enamored with the game’s action and puzzles and the fact it was the first game I ever owned that starred a woman./news/the-rig-800-is-still-an-incredibly-comfortable-wireless-gaming-headset.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-rig-800-is-still-an-incredibly-comfortable-wireless-gaming-headset.htmlIn 2018, in a bout of curiosity, I decided to review every single wireless gaming headset on the market: 32 pairs to be exact. None of them were anywhere near as comfortable as the Plantronics Rig 800. “The only one so lightweight, so comfortable, I sometimes forgot I was wearing it,” I wrote for CNET. Four years later, I’m happy to say that feeling hasn’t changed. Plantronics no longer exists, after merging with Polycom to become “Poly” and then selling itself to HP./news/the-sex-toy-banned-from-ces-last-year-is-unlike-any-we-ve-ever-seen.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-sex-toy-banned-from-ces-last-year-is-unlike-any-we-ve-ever-seen.htmlLora DiCarlo likely didn’t intend to change CES forever, but the sexual wellness company and its personal massager accomplished just that last year. After having an award revoked and being banned from the show, Lora DiCarlo successfully lobbied for sexual health devices to be allowed this year (and had its award reinstated in the process). Now, we’re finally getting a first look at its Osé personal massager. It’s genuinely shocking — I’ve never seen a device like it, so I can see why it won an innovation award./news/the-slim-ps5-is-still-huge.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-slim-ps5-is-still-huge.htmlSony just announced a redesigned PS5 that’s smaller, lighter, slimmer, and available with a detachable disc drive. The original PS5 is a beast — the biggest game console in modern history — so I was curious just how much smaller the new model might be compared to the old one. I won’t leave you in suspense. I dropped the measurements of the new and old PS5s into CompareSizes.com, and here’s how they compare:/news/the-verge-book-club-podcast-the-big-sleep-by-raymond-chandler.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-verge-book-club-podcast-the-big-sleep-by-raymond-chandler.htmlThe Verge Book Club took a tour on the noir side in December, by reading one of the all-time classics in the genre: Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep. The novel, which introduces readers to detective Philip Marlowe, a character Chandler revisits in future tomes, sparked immediate Book Club debate over a range of topics. Among them? Whether Chandler depicts women as furniture or wild animals, what illness (if any) afflicted the insufferable Carmen Sternwood, and whether The Big Sleep's enduring legacy and influence is deserved or not./news/the-xbox-app-on-windows-is-getting-even-more-handheld-friendly.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-xbox-app-on-windows-is-getting-even-more-handheld-friendly.htmlMicrosoft introduced a compact mode for its Xbox app on Windows last year, which is designed to improve the handheld experience. While compact mode initially focused on UI improvements for small screens, Microsoft is moving on to tackling some of the challenges of navigating around the Xbox app with a D-pad and sticks. In a new update for Xbox Insiders today, Microsoft is adding a new “Jump back in” feature that lets you quickly launch games you’ve recently played on a Windows handheld./news/these-amd-chromebook-processors-promise-big-battery-life.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/these-amd-chromebook-processors-promise-big-battery-life.htmlAMD has announced four new (well, kind of) processors marketed for Chromebooks: the Ryzen and Athlon 7020C series. The release includes two Ryzen processors (a Ryzen 5 7520C and a Ryzen 3 7320C) with four cores, eight threads, and 15W TDP, with AMD Radeon 610M graphics. The Ryzen 3 has a 2.4 GHz base with up to 4.1 GHz boost frequency, while the Ryzen 5 has a slightly higher 2.8GHz and 4./news/these-cats-are-why-lg-s-g5-friends-modules-are-doomed.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/these-cats-are-why-lg-s-g5-friends-modules-are-doomed.htmlLG has announced that it's releasing the hardware and software development kits for creating modules and software for its G5 Android smartphone. That's essential for the chances of creating an ecosystem of hardware "Friends" around the phone — as it will allow third party developers to create and (presumably) sell their own gadgets. While that's all well and good, the ecosystem of modules won't be as free and open as the Android ecosystem./news/ticketmaster-can-now-show-you-the-view-from-your-seat-before-you-purchase-a-ticket.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ticketmaster-can-now-show-you-the-view-from-your-seat-before-you-purchase-a-ticket.htmlTicketmaster has added a new feature to its website and mobile apps, offering users a preview of the exact view from their seats. The sneak peek was made possible through a partnership with IOMedia and its 3D Virtual Venue technology. Users can get a sense of how they’ll see the game at over 110 venues across North America and Australia, including Madison Square Garden, AT&T Stadium, and the LA Coliseum./news/tiktok-starts-rolling-out-on-android-tv.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tiktok-starts-rolling-out-on-android-tv.htmlTikTok has come to Google’s Android TV platform, marking the short video app’s latest expansion to big screens, according to 9to5Google. The app is currently on the Google Play Store, but right now it only works on devices from specific manufacturers and in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. TikTok didn’t say when the app would be available more broadly. The Android TV take on TikTok looks remarkably similar to the TikTok app that arrived on Samsung TVs in the United Kingdom./news/tituss-burgess-love-of-peeno-noir-has-inspired-a-real-life-pinot-noir.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tituss-burgess-love-of-peeno-noir-has-inspired-a-real-life-pinot-noir.html"I'm making a music video. 'Peeno Noir: An Ode to Black Penis.'" So begins one of the most purely joyful viral music hits of last year, a song written for Tituss Burgess' character on Tina Fey's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. At first glance, an ode to male anatomy might not seem like everybody's thing, but actually it was. It was everybody's thing. The success of this song is the logical result of the rise of Weird Twitter and drunk binge-watching, the internet's band of red wine devotees, presided over by Ms./news/toyota-overcomes-its-ev-skepticism-to-announce-a-three-row-electric-suv-for-the-us.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/toyota-overcomes-its-ev-skepticism-to-announce-a-three-row-electric-suv-for-the-us.htmlToyota is pumping $1.3 billion into its factory in Kentucky for “future electrification efforts,” including the production of a currently unnamed three-row electric SUV for the US market. The news comes as a bit of a surprise, as the largest automaker in the world is also one of the most hostile toward the industry-wide shift to EVs. Toyota says the money will fund an EV assembly line at its Kentucky plant, as well as battery pack assembly with EV batteries supplied by its facility in North Carolina./news/uber-spin-and-lime-scooters-are-now-legal-in-san-francisco-but-skip-is-out.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/uber-spin-and-lime-scooters-are-now-legal-in-san-francisco-but-skip-is-out.htmlSan Francisco announced recently that it was expanding its permit program to include Uber’s Jump, Ford’s Spin, and Lime — companies that were previously barred from operating scooters in the city. But the expansion of the city’s scooter operators isn’t all good news: Skip, one of the companies that was part of San Francisco’s original pilot program, wasn’t granted a permit and just sent a message to customers saying that it would cease service./news/united-airlines-new-basic-economy-fares-ban-carry-on-baggage.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/united-airlines-new-basic-economy-fares-ban-carry-on-baggage.htmlUnited is introducing basic economy, a cheaper — and worse — fare class below economy. First spotted by The Points Guy, the new offering gets rid of seat assignments and elite-qualifying miles, forbids paid upgrades and flight changes, and bans overhead carry-on bags. But it’s cheaper! So there’s that. With the carry-on baggage ban you can only bring one personal item onboard like a purse, laptop bag, etc., and United has somehow managed to make its basic economy offering worse than Delta’s which still allows you to carry on luggage./news/valve-reveals-the-most-played-steam-deck-games.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/valve-reveals-the-most-played-steam-deck-games.htmlToday, Valve released a new Steam Charts page highlighting the top played games on the Steam Deck. The list will be updated on a daily basis, revealing what titles are most popular on the handheld. The list functions as a new discovery method for people to know what to play on their Valve handheld. As the company has pointed out, a Steam game that runs great on a desktop PC might not offer the same experience on the Steam Deck./news/watch-ok-go-s-trippy-new-music-video-for-the-writing-s-on-the-wall.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/watch-ok-go-s-trippy-new-music-video-for-the-writing-s-on-the-wall.htmlOK Go has a niche. Like their music or don't (spoiler: I don't), you can't deny the incredible ingenuity of the band's music videos. It's been committed to the form for years, churning out YouTube hit after YouTube hit on the back of bizarre, complicated, difficult videos. There was the treadmill video. And the Rube Goldberg machine. And the one with all the dogs. And now, for the band's new song, "/news/watch-the-millennium-falcon-take-off-from-the-runway-at-miniatur-wunderland.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/watch-the-millennium-falcon-take-off-from-the-runway-at-miniatur-wunderland.htmlOne of the most amazing sections of Miniatur Wunderland — a massive model railway installation in Hamburg, Germany that is Guinness-certified as the largest in the world — is the Knuffigen Airport. It's a huge model airport with dozens of planes and associated airport vehicles, all of which can move around on their own. The highlight is the runway, where planes can "take off" and fly to faraway destinations, before returning (via a complex series of behind-the-scenes machinations) again./news/what-about-other-chinese-owned-apps.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/what-about-other-chinese-owned-apps.htmlWhat about other Chinese-owned apps? It’s not just TikTok — other apps like Shein, Temu, and WeChat are popular in the US, too. The TikTok ban focuses on ByteDance-owned subsidiaries including CapCut and Lemon8, but includes a carve out for popular shopping apps, The Washington Post reports. On the other hand, “everything app” WeChat could be in a gray area. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfaHxzg45ra2ppY2qEdnvWoZitZZGXvLbAjKiroZ2iYrCptc2eqp5ln6y7prCMmqepqw%3D%3D/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-x-men-before-you-watch-fx-s-legion.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-x-men-before-you-watch-fx-s-legion.htmlMarvel Studios and Warner Bros. are currently the Big Two producers of superhero television. If you’re watching network television, you’ll likely come across DC Comics series like Supergirl and the new Powerless. If you prefer to stream everything you watch, you’ve almost certainly seen Marvel series like Daredevil and Luke Cage. These are good and sometimes great efforts, and more series are already on the way in their respective camps. However, something has been missing: the X-Men./news/what-s-attending-a-formula-1-race-like.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/what-s-attending-a-formula-1-race-like.htmlWhat’s attending a Formula 1 race like? This is a spectacular read even if you don’t care about car racing. Think “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved,” but with cars and much, much more money: If a tornado came through and wiped the whole thing out, the stock market would plummet and the net worth of a country the size of Slovenia would vanish from the ledgers in a day./news/whatsapp-adds-four-new-text-formatting-options-to-make-messaging-easier.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/whatsapp-adds-four-new-text-formatting-options-to-make-messaging-easier.htmlFour new text formatting options have been added to WhatsApp to help users communicate more effectively. Available starting today, WhatsApp users can now use bulleted and numbered lists, block quotes, and inline code to highlight and organize their messages, making it easier to break down large sections of text into something easier to read. These new formatting options have been in development for a while, but now they’re available on WhatsApp for Android, iOS, Web, and Mac, alongside support for Channels./news/why-it-makes-sense-for-amazon-to-buy-twitch.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/why-it-makes-sense-for-amazon-to-buy-twitch.htmlToday came the surprising news that Amazon will acquire Twitch, a startup best known for live streaming video games.The company has since confirmed the news, and a press release states Amazon will pay $970 million in cash. At first glance this marriage doesn't make a lot of sense. Amazon isn't well known as a gaming service and its video offerings are principally from film and television studios, not user-generated content. But when you look at where these two companies are trying to go, not where they currently sit, the combination of Amazon and Twitch could be genius./news/why-nordic-noir-like-deadwind-is-taking-over-streaming-services.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/why-nordic-noir-like-deadwind-is-taking-over-streaming-services.htmlThere are so many streaming options available these days, and so many conflicting recommendations, that it’s hard to see through all the crap you could be watching. Each Friday, The Verge’s Cut the Crap column simplifies the choice by sorting through the overwhelming multitude of movies and TV shows on subscription services and recommending a single perfect thing to watch this weekend. What to watch The first episode of Deadwind (aka Karppi), a Finnish detective series that debuted earlier this year and did so well in its homeland that it’s already been renewed for a second season./news/why-the-google-pixel-tablet-may-kill-the-smart-display.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/why-the-google-pixel-tablet-may-kill-the-smart-display.htmlWith the arrival of the Pixel Tablet with a charging speaker dock at Google I/O this week, Google did what it does best: killed a product. Only this time, it didn’t just kill its product; it foreshadowed the death of the entire smart display category. Ah well. They had a good run, but folks, it’s the end of the line. The precise time of death was when Google exec Rose Yao described the new Pixel Tablet on its dock like this: “It feels like a smart display, but it has one huge advantage … Android apps./news/woody-harrelson-s-one-take-live-movie-has-an-impressive-premise-but-a-dull-plot.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/woody-harrelson-s-one-take-live-movie-has-an-impressive-premise-but-a-dull-plot.htmlWoody Harrelson, ever the sidekick, is the hero in his newest movie. Not only because the film, Lost in London, is about a loser (Harrelson) and how he finds redemption, but because he was the director and mastermind behind its impressive premise: one shot, one take, 120 minutes, live-streamed directly into theaters. Last night, Lost in London was beamed into more than 500 theaters in the US and UK, as Harrelson and a cast of 30 acted it out in real time./news/your-ears-are-cockroach-heaven-and-that-s-why-they-keep-crawling-in-there.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/your-ears-are-cockroach-heaven-and-that-s-why-they-keep-crawling-in-there.htmlThe news seems to arrive every few months, sticking in your head like a nightmare that left you drenched in sweat: yet another person found a cockroach in their ear. It happened to a Florida woman just last month: a cockroach crawled inside her ear while she was sleeping, and she lived with the bug lodged there for nine days before it was removed. Then last week, another Florida resident went through the same ordeal./news/yumi-the-robot-makes-debut-as-orchestra-conductor-in-italy.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/yumi-the-robot-makes-debut-as-orchestra-conductor-in-italy.htmlRobots can do a lot: they can chant at funerals, swim, guide you through airports, and even dance their way to a Guinness World Record. Now, a robot called YuMi has made its conducting debut in Italy, leading an orchestra and renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli in three pieces of music including “La Donna è Mobile,” from Verdi’s opera Rigoletto. YuMi (as in “you and me”) was created by technology company ABB, which claims the robot is the world’s “first collaborative dual-arm robot./news/zach-morris-kitt-and-punky-brewster-to-star-in-grody-80s-comics.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/zach-morris-kitt-and-punky-brewster-to-star-in-grody-80s-comics.html’80s and ’90s nostalgia knows no bounds. Because of that inexorable fact, a company is creating new digital comic spinoffs of five classic NBC shows: Saved by the Bell, Punky Brewster, Airwolf, Knight Rider, and Miami Vice. Lion Forge Comics plans to release the books in Q3 and Q4 of this year, announcing its acquisition of the rights today through a licensing deal with NBCUniversal. The books are going to be available on Kindle, iBooks, Nook, and Kobo./news/zelda-breath-of-the-wild-s-sequel-heads-to-the-skies-in-e3-trailer.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/zelda-breath-of-the-wild-s-sequel-heads-to-the-skies-in-e3-trailer.htmlAfter years of anticipation, Nintendo has revealed a new trailer for the still-untitled upcoming sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at E3 2021, along with a 2022 release date. That’s a long way of saying that there’s a lot riding on the sequel, which Nintendo announced over two years ago at E3 2019 with a surprise teaser trailer. It featured the return of Link and Zelda from Breath of the Wild, along with what appeared to be longtime series villain Ganondorf./news/zynga-ceo-responds-to-copycat-accusations-from-nimblebit-and-others.htmlSat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/zynga-ceo-responds-to-copycat-accusations-from-nimblebit-and-others.htmlZynga CEO Mark Pincus has addressed the issue of copying within the games industry, seemingly prompted by Nimblebit's "Dear Zynga" infographic from last week. In an interview with VentureBeat, Pincus repeatedly says that those accusing his company of stealing ideas should "pull the lens back" and notice the similarities between their games and some of Zynga's other products. These comments were targeted particularly at Buffalo Studios, whose game Bingo Blitz he says bears "/news/the-hateful-eight-is-a-play-and-a-miserable-one-at-that.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-hateful-eight-is-a-play-and-a-miserable-one-at-that.htmlMajor plot spoilers ahead. Unless you live near the rarest of things — a well-funded theater — you may not be familiar with the name Martin McDonagh. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the playwright was the Quentin Tarantino of Broadway, penning a series of award-winning plays containing that familiar mix of pop culture, racy language, methodical tempo, and violence. Specifically, gore. Specifically, climactic scenes in which actors' heads, under the extreme pressure of a close range firearm, detonate into pulpy red goo./news/monsters-university-review-pixar-makes-prequels-look-easy.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/monsters-university-review-pixar-makes-prequels-look-easy.htmlThe film industry is obsessed with prequels, but there's one tiny problem: they rarely work. We know the eventual fate of the characters, so there are no stakes. We want to know more about iconic heroes, but seeing their backstory kills gravitas and mystery. From Star Wars to Prometheus, the landscape is littered with films set in familiar worlds that never come together — and often harm the originals they’re working from./news/a-bleak-looking-sea-ice-graph-has-twitter-in-a-frenzy.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-bleak-looking-sea-ice-graph-has-twitter-in-a-frenzy.htmlClimate scientists and science reporters are buzzing about a new graph showing data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, which gives a unexpectedly bleak portrait of current sea ice area at the poles. The conversation around the graph has been heated at times, and gives those with a casual interest in science a window into how controversial data gets analyzed and presented. While the science you learned in school might seem mostly fixed, the science of today is still a nerdy battleground./news/a-set-of-hyundai-wheels-is-the-best-thing-i-saw-at-ces.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-set-of-hyundai-wheels-is-the-best-thing-i-saw-at-ces.htmlA set of Hyundai wheels is the best thing I saw at CES. Wheels that turn sideways to crab-walk into a parking spot. 360-degree spins so I don’t have to back up as often. Diagonal driving. I want this Ioniq 5 so bad. The chief engineer tells us they haven’t tested the tech beyond 50MPH yet — but it should hit highway speeds by 2026, could make it into EVs by 2028, and he claims it shouldn’t cost much more than a car without./news/a-tetris-pro-helped-me-survive-tetris-99-s-first-big-tournament.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-tetris-pro-helped-me-survive-tetris-99-s-first-big-tournament.htmlOver the weekend, Nintendo held its first competitive tournament for the surprise battle royale hit Tetris 99. The Tetris 99 Maximus Cup ran from March 8th until March 10th, and participants were tasked with playing — and winning — as many games as possible over that short span. Points were awarded only for first-place wins, but there’s no singular winner for the event. Instead, 999 winners will each get 999 My Nintendo Gold Points, which is equivalent to $10./news/a-turtle-specific-herpes-outbreak-in-the-great-barrier-reef-might-be-linked-to-pollution.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-turtle-specific-herpes-outbreak-in-the-great-barrier-reef-might-be-linked-to-pollution.htmlA growing number of sea turtles in Australia's Great Barrier Reef have been infected with a specific strain of herpes virus, and pollution might be the cause, New Scientist reports. Researchers at James Cook University in Australia have found the outbreak is most common in a small part of Cockle Bay known for being a tourist destination. As New Scientist points out, around half the turtles in this area have been infected, compared to less than 10 percent of the bay's overall turtle population./news/acer-c720-chromebook-review-the-verge.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/acer-c720-chromebook-review-the-verge.htmlHardwareThe C720 is strikingly mundane, pedestrian, and downright boring compared to the fun coloring and slick design of the HP Chromebook 11. It’s dark-gray-matte plastic everywhere, save for matte-black plastic on the bottom. It comes in gray, and only gray. The only bit of gloss is found in the bezel surrounding the 11.6-inch display, and sure enough, it’s a fingerprint magnet. But the lid of the C720 doesn’t show any fingerprints, which is in stark contrast to the fingerprint-magnet Chromebook 11./news/across-the-spider-verse-hits-netflix-this-month.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/across-the-spider-verse-hits-netflix-this-month.htmlWith the SAG-AFTRA still striking for a new labor contract, there’s no telling when production on Beyond the Spider-Verse might be able to begin again, but in the meantime, it’s about to get much easier to see and appreciate its predecessor whenever the mood strikes you. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtqcmpgboR2e8Ccqairo2LBqbGMrKeinJWnerex0aycZqaVqbOttddmppysn5eys3nRnqOemaOaeqWt054%3D/news/adam-savage-on-his-live-science-show-cosplay-and-promoting-the-joy-in-making-things.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/adam-savage-on-his-live-science-show-cosplay-and-promoting-the-joy-in-making-things.html“You guys have to check this out,” MythBusters veteran Adam Savage says to a small group of assembled crew members for his traveling show, Brain Candy Live! Along with Michael Stevens (host of the YouTube channel Vsauce), Savage has been touring the country with a show that is part hands-on science lesson, part TED Talk, and part Blue Man Group-style performance. I’ve followed him onto the stage before a performance, and he’s just pulled a large leaf blower out of a box./news/ai-met-gala-pictures-apparently-fooled-katy-perry-s-mom.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ai-met-gala-pictures-apparently-fooled-katy-perry-s-mom.htmlAI Met Gala pictures apparently fooled Katy Perry’s mom. The singer reshared fake AI images of herself at the Met Gala — an event she didn’t attend — along with a text showing her own mom fell for the synthetic image that was circulating. The official Instagram account commented, “a TRUE goddess.” Unclear if the person running it realized it was AI. Watch out for the AI Met Gala disinformation!/news/alexa-will-soon-lose-a-popular-shopping-list-feature.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/alexa-will-soon-lose-a-popular-shopping-list-feature.htmlStarting in July, you won’t be able to add items to lists on third-party apps like Todoist and AnyList with Alexa voice control through their existing Skills. A post on Amazon’s developer site says it's shutting down access to Alexa Shopping and To-Do lists on July 1st. List Skills and Alexa Shopping and To-Do Lists Starting July 1, 2024, you will no longer be able to use List skills or the List Management REST API to access Alexa lists, i./news/alienware-is-resurrecting-its-egpu-with-concept-polaris.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/alienware-is-resurrecting-its-egpu-with-concept-polaris.htmlWe eulogized the end of Alienware’s graphics amplifier in mid-2021 when Dell discontinued it, but the company is returning to the space with Concept Polaris. It’s a concept for a liquid-cooled external graphics card enclosure with an estimated launch window of early 2022. Alienware doesn’t yet have a price, though its specs and design might make paying a premium worth it for some people. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of an eGPU, it’ll help you boost the graphical power of your laptop, provided it has the right ports and assuming you can actually get your hands on a powerful desktop GPU to put in a separate enclosure./news/all-the-ai-disinformation-from-the-2024-elections.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/all-the-ai-disinformation-from-the-2024-elections.htmlElection officials are freaking out about AI. First there was the Joe Biden robocall, where a deepfake of the president’s voice told New Hampshire voters to stay home during the primary. Now election officials worry they, too, will be impersonated during this election cycle. “It has the potential to do a lot of damage,” Arizona’s secretary of state, who tested out a deepfake of himself last year, told Politico. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jqmmpaGTrnxzgI9yb3BxaGR%2FcX6TZpylnZOptrC6jJqgZp%2BVo7KzrdOem2acmai2r7LOq6SarJmkuw%3D%3D/news/all-the-news-on-google-s-pixel-8-8-pro-and-8a.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/all-the-news-on-google-s-pixel-8-8-pro-and-8a.htmlIt’s hard to think of a more self-explanatory feature than Circle to Search: it does exactly what it sounds like it does. You circle something on your phone screen, tap a button, and voila! A page full of Google search results telling you about the thing you circled. Easy, right? The new feature is launching on five phones to start — the three members of Samsung’s brand-new Galaxy S24 series, as well as Google’s Pixel 8 and 8 Pro — before it comes to other “select, premium” Android phones./news/amazon-is-ending-support-for-the-dash-wand-barcode-scanner.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-is-ending-support-for-the-dash-wand-barcode-scanner.htmlAmazon is ending support for its Dash Wand, an Alexa-enabled device that let shoppers scan grocery barcodes and order household essentials from their homes. In an email to users, the company said the devices will no longer be supported as of July 21st. Shoppers can still use other Alexa-enabled devices to add items to a shopping list, the company noted. To dispose of a Dash Wand, check out Amazon’s recycling program./news/amazon-s-fall-2023-product-launch-event-news-announcements-and-more.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-s-fall-2023-product-launch-event-news-announcements-and-more.htmlAmazon was keeping close guard over its new Echo Hub smart controller in the demo room at today’s big hardware event. But I managed to get a few seconds of hands-on with a working tabletop unit before it was whisked away. I also put it through its paces on the wall-mounted version, and while it responded to touches promptly in some cases, it’s no iPad — or even Fire tablet. Maybe it’s asking too much to have a powerful tablet that controls your whole smart home, mounted on your wall, for under $180./news/amazon-s-pilot-for-oasis-raises-more-questions-than-it-answers.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-s-pilot-for-oasis-raises-more-questions-than-it-answers.htmlAmazon’s 2017 pilot season is upon us, and the site has released the pilot for a television show called Oasis, featuring Game of Thrones star Richard Madden. Oasis, based on Michel Faber’s 2014 novel The Book of Strange New Things, follows a priest named Peter Leigh. Humanity has established a colonial world on the edge of the galaxy, which Peter and his ailing wife protested. But one of the colony’s founders, David Morgan, specifically asks for him to visit the world as a missionary./news/amc-plus-is-getting-an-ad-supported-subscription-tier.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amc-plus-is-getting-an-ad-supported-subscription-tier.htmlAMC Networks says it’s introducing an ad-supported version of its AMC Plus streaming service. The plan will cost $4.99 per month and provide users access to the same content library as the $8.99 ad-free version. According to the press release, the service’s “light” ad load will be limited to “less than five minutes per hour.” Series and films included on AMC Plus include The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Dark Winds, and Interview with a Vampire, as well as classics like Mad Men./news/amd-is-investigating-claims-of-stolen-company-data.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amd-is-investigating-claims-of-stolen-company-data.htmlAMD is looking into a potential cyberattack. A threat actor that goes by the alias “IntelBroker” is selling data that it claims was obtained from an AMD.com breach this month, BleepingComputer reports, and the company confirmed in a statement that it’s looking into the purported theft. IntelBroker claims that the data for sale includes future products, employee databases, and customer databases. “We are aware of a cybercriminal organization claiming to be in possession of stolen AMD data,” AMD said in the statement given to BleepingComputer, PCMag, and Bloomberg./news/an-automated-litter-box-but-make-it-mid-century-modern.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/an-automated-litter-box-but-make-it-mid-century-modern.htmlAn automated litter box, but make it mid-century modern. All cat owners know: litter boxes be stinky and ugly. That’s why I did a double take tonight when I saw Pawbby at CES. This looks like a litter box straight out of Mad Men. It’s got a deodorizing cartridge in the litter drawer, and you only have to empty it once every two weeks for a single cat. (It supports up to four cats./news/apple-and-google-are-changing-how-you-listen-to-podcasts.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-and-google-are-changing-how-you-listen-to-podcasts.htmlThis is Hot Pod, The Verge’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more. Hello Hot Podders, Amrita and Ariel here! Today we’re bringing you a co-bylined issue of the newsletter, mostly out of necessity. We’ve got a whole mess of news to dive into: Apple takes a big(ish) step toward integrating its audio apps, Google Podcasts is defeated by YouTube Music, and Spotify launches a new AI tool for podcasters./news/apple-disables-group-facetime-following-major-security-flaw.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-disables-group-facetime-following-major-security-flaw.htmlApple has temporarily disabled its Group FaceTime feature in iOS and macOS to fix a major security flaw. A bug in Apple’s FaceTime video calling feature has allowed anyone to call a phone or Mac and listen in before the other person picks up. The flaw works by adding yourself to a FaceTime call before the recipient picks up, tricking FaceTime into thinking it’s an active call and forcing the person you’re actually calling to start transmitting audio./news/apple-is-donating-product-red-proceeds-to-covid-19-response-efforts.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-is-donating-product-red-proceeds-to-covid-19-response-efforts.htmlApple will donate a portion of sales from Product Red products to a COVID-19 relief fund, the company announced today. Product Red donations normally go toward fighting HIV/AIDS, but the organization has started directing money toward COVID-19 responses in light of the pandemic. Now through September 30th, the tech giant will distribute some of the proceeds from the sale of Product Red gadgets and accessories to the Global Fund’s COVID-19 Response./news/apple-renews-monarch-for-season-2-and-has-plans-for-more-godzilla-spinoffs.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-renews-monarch-for-season-2-and-has-plans-for-more-godzilla-spinoffs.htmlApple announced some Godzilla-sized updates for its streaming service. First up, the spinoff series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, which premiered on Apple TV Plus last year, has been renewed for a second season. There aren’t any details on what the new season will entail or when it’ll start streaming, but showrunners and co-creators Chris Black and Matt Fraction will be returning. On top of that, Apple says that it has signed a deal with Legendary for even more projects based in its “monsterverse,” which will include “multiple spinoff series./news/apple-s-ipad-air-2-shows-that-tablet-photography-is-here-to-stay.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-ipad-air-2-shows-that-tablet-photography-is-here-to-stay.htmlNot long after the original iPad debuted, I was home for the holidays and saw a husband take a picture of his wife at a bar with a BlackBerry PlayBook. Being from a small town that always seems a bit behind the times, it surprised me that he had the new PlayBook in the first place, let alone that it was his camera of choice. It was an easy sight to laugh at then, and it’s remained an easy target — just look at how a large swath of Twitter reacted when, at today’s Apple event, Phil Schiller said that the iPad Air 2 is "/news/apple-s-ai-leaders-talk-siri-apple-intelligence-and-more.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-ai-leaders-talk-siri-apple-intelligence-and-more.htmlThe WWDC keynote may be over, but we still have lots of questions about the state and future of Apple Intelligence. And in a somewhat unusual move, Apple is here to answer some of them: Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea, two of the executives in charge of all of Apple’s AI efforts, are taking the stage in the Steve Jobs Theater to talk about everything Apple announced on Monday. Federighi, of course, is Apple’s software chief, overseeing nearly all the platforms and features we saw at WWDC./news/apple-s-new-60-siri-remote-can-be-used-with-older-apple-tvs.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-new-60-siri-remote-can-be-used-with-older-apple-tvs.htmlApple has finally excised its much-maligned Apple TV remote with a new iteration that ditches the confusing touchpad for some good old-fashioned buttons. But you won’t need to shell out for Apple’s updated Apple TV 4K to get one. Apple is selling the new remote separately for $59, and customers will be able to use it with any tvOS-based Apple TV. That means even if you own the first-generation Apple TV 4K or the original fourth-generation Apple TV from 2015 that debuted the Siri remote, you’ll be able to upgrade to the new and improved clicker./news/april-fools-day-2024-the-best-and-cringiest-pranks.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/april-fools-day-2024-the-best-and-cringiest-pranks.htmlApril Fools’ 2024: Bluesky Shorts. Unlike every other app and service chasing the bouncing ball of vertical video (off the top of my head, we have YouTube, Instagram, NBA, Amazon, Reddit, Twitch, Netflix, Spotify... you get the picture), Bluesky’s April Fools’ contribution is... actual shorts. At least, assuming they get enough orders on Custom Ink to put the shipment through, but I’m not sure why Bluesky CEO Jay Graber didn’t mention this when she was on Decoder?/news/arenanet-firings-cast-a-chilling-shadow-across-the-game-industry.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/arenanet-firings-cast-a-chilling-shadow-across-the-game-industry.htmlOn July 5th, Guild Wars developer ArenaNet fired two employees, Jessica Price and Peter Fries, for their interactions on Twitter with a streamer. The firings were announced in a forum post by ArenaNet president Mike O’Brien, where he characterized their interactions with the streamer as “attacks on the community” and, later, an act of “hostility.” The aftermath of ArenaNet’s actions has rippled across the gaming industry, both at the company and within the development community at large./news/asus-rog-zephyrus-m16-review-hot-specs-and-hot-air.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/asus-rog-zephyrus-m16-review-hot-specs-and-hot-air.htmlThe Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 from last year was a sharp laptop that stumbled a bit in terms of performance thanks largely to its Intel CPU. While the lightweight form factor was a plus, we were ultimately disappointed with the overall performance offered by this laptop, especially given its high price point.   Asus clearly isn’t attempting to reinvent the wheel this year, offering another Intel-based laptop that retains much of what worked with its predecessor while smoothing out some of the rough edges./news/at-t-will-challenge-gogo-with-its-own-in-flight-internet-service-in-2015.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/at-t-will-challenge-gogo-with-its-own-in-flight-internet-service-in-2015.htmlWhen it comes to in-flight Wi-Fi, Gogo currently rules the skies. But next year the company will finally face off against a new and powerful competitor: AT&T. AT&T has announced that it plans to launch its own in-flight internet service that's based on the carrier's 4G LTE network. It's still early, but the company hopes to have things up and running for airlines and passengers by "late 2015." AT&T says its in-flight solution will be made available across commercial, business, and general aviation./news/beats-headphones-will-get-the-same-ios-13-1-audio-sharing-feature-as-airpods.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/beats-headphones-will-get-the-same-ios-13-1-audio-sharing-feature-as-airpods.htmlApple isn’t reserving the convenient new audio sharing feature in iOS 13 just for its own AirPods; the company is also extending it to Beats products. Audio Sharing allows two sets of earbuds or headphones to be connected to a single iPhone, letting people listen to the same music or watch video content together from one device. The following Beats products will support Audio Sharing: They all have either Apple’s W1 or H1 chip inside, which is what enables the feature./news/best-tech-deals-the-verge.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/best-tech-deals-the-verge.htmlThere’s a wall mount for the Dyson Airwrap, and having previously purchased one I can confirm that it isn’t half bad! Is the metal sort of cheap and the adhesive backing pitiful? Yes. But it also includes screws to mount it directly into the wall, and having all my Airwrap accessories on the wall makes me feel fancy. At $32.45, it’s 19 percent cheaper than when I bought it. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jqCmqJxdmbKiuNI%3D/news/bethesda-will-follow-up-fallout-4-s-real-life-pip-boy-with-this-starfield-smartwatch.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bethesda-will-follow-up-fallout-4-s-real-life-pip-boy-with-this-starfield-smartwatch.htmlStarfield, Bethesda’s upcoming space-themed game, may feature an in-game smartwatch that you’ll be able to get and wear in real life, based on an early copy of a manual found by Reddit user SquiddyVonn. The manual details the real-life watch’s functions, which include showing the weather and step tracking, and it even includes pictures that give us a good look at the interface. It also shows us that the watch is being made by a well-known replica company that’s worked with Bethesda in the past./news/bill-hader-and-ben-schwartz-are-the-voices-behind-bb-8.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bill-hader-and-ben-schwartz-are-the-voices-behind-bb-8.htmlMost of the actors involved with Star Wars: The Force Awakens have gotten their moment in the sun. Hell, we even know that Simon Pegg was on set as an alien. But who voices BB-8? It turns out that it wasn't some computer on Jakku. After this week's premiere, the credits revealed that none other than Stefon and Jean-Ralphio are the voices behind the rolling droid. Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz are both listed as "/news/blue-origin-just-launched-and-landed-its-reusable-rocket-for-the-third-time.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/blue-origin-just-launched-and-landed-its-reusable-rocket-for-the-third-time.htmlPrivate spaceflight company Blue Origin has successfully launched and landed its New Shepard rocket for the third time. On Saturday morning, CEO Jeff Bezos tweeted out that the rocket had a clean launch at 11:18AM ET and a "perfect booster landing." The vehicle tested today is the same one that successfully launched and landed once in November and then again in January. This is the second time this New Shepard has been "/news/bluesky-temporarily-halts-sign-ups-because-so-many-people-are-joining-from-twitter.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bluesky-temporarily-halts-sign-ups-because-so-many-people-are-joining-from-twitter.htmlBluesky, a decentralized Twitter-like social network, is pausing new signups “temporarily” to try and resolve performance issues it’s been experiencing after Twitter introduced limits on the amount of tweets you can see in a day. Even though you still need an invite code to be able to join Bluesky, it seems that the influx of new users has been a problem. “We will temporarily be pausing Bluesky sign-ups while our team continues to resolve the existing performance issues,” Bluesky wrote in a post./news/bmw-s-ces-fever-dream-a-beautiful-i8-spyder-with-ridiculous-technology.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/bmw-s-ces-fever-dream-a-beautiful-i8-spyder-with-ridiculous-technology.htmlAt CES today, I watched a man wave an empty car into an open parking spot. But that's old hat, really. Self-parking cars have been around for a while, and I even served as a hapless passenger in a self-parking BMW i3 last year. Science fiction brushes up with the auto industry so regularly these days — not just in concept form, but in production — that eliciting a genuine jaw-drop is nearly impossible./news/breaking-down-apple-s-three-new-iphone-12-camera-systems.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/breaking-down-apple-s-three-new-iphone-12-camera-systems.htmlApple has just announced its iPhone 12 lineup, and as part of today’s announcements, the company introduced a dizzying amount of camera tech scattered amongst the new iPhones. If you’re coming from an iPhone that currently has a single camera, or even a pair, you may find some serious upgrades here. But first, let’s establish the baseline. The iPhone SE’s camera. One camera: iPhone SE (2020) and iPhone XR The iPhone SE turned heads earlier this year at a $399 price, and the iPhone XR is now $499./news/buzzfeed-news-is-being-shut-down.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/buzzfeed-news-is-being-shut-down.htmlHi all,  I am writing to announce some difficult news. We are reducing our workforce by approximately 15% today across our Business, Content, Tech and Admin teams, and beginning the process of closing BuzzFeed News. Additionally, we are proposing headcount reductions in some international markets. Impacted employees (other than those in BuzzFeed News) will receive an email from HR shortly. If you are receiving this note from me, you are not impacted by today’s changes./news/california-s-power-grid-is-struggling-to-cope-with-extreme-heat.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/california-s-power-grid-is-struggling-to-cope-with-extreme-heat.htmlA long, brutal heatwave is expected to grip California at least through the holiday weekend, stressing the power grid. Officials are begging residents to conserve electricity in an effort to prevent outages. The state is now in its second day of a “Flex Alert” issued by the state’s power grid operator, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). Under the Flex Alert, Californians are urged to voluntarily curb their electricity use between 4PM and 9PM./news/chip-race-microsoft-meta-google-and-nvidia-battle-it-out-for-ai-chip-supremacy-page-2.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/chip-race-microsoft-meta-google-and-nvidia-battle-it-out-for-ai-chip-supremacy-page-2.htmlThe GDDR7 graphics memory standard is here. JEDEC Solid State Technology Association has released details about its new standard, which it says is better positioned to handle the demands of gaming, networking, and AI. JESD239 GDDR7 is the first JEDEC standard DRAM to use the Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM) interface for high frequency operations. Its PAM3 interface improves the signal to noise ratio (SNR) for high frequency operation while enhancing energy efficiency./news/chuchel-review-a-whimsical-game-that-s-guaranteed-to-make-you-smile.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/chuchel-review-a-whimsical-game-that-s-guaranteed-to-make-you-smile.htmlThe first thing you do in Chuchel, a new comedic adventure game, is feed a green blob in a top hat some water. Give it enough, and it will spew out liquid like a faucet, right into the mouth of a strange fuzzy orange ball. The ball, in turn, will get so rotund that it will roll directly onto the game’s lead character, who has been idly dozing in a cardboard box the whole time but finally awakens./news/cookie-monster-s-apple-ad-outtakes-are-pure-joy.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/cookie-monster-s-apple-ad-outtakes-are-pure-joy.htmlLast month, Apple debuted a reasonably cuteiPhone 6S commercial starring Sesame Street's Cookie Monster. Today they have done something much less reasonable. They have published some "bloopers" from the original commercial, and they are so cute that I almost fell out of my chair. I don't know which part I squealed at more: Cookie Monster saying "me no have watch" (sick burn on the Apple Watch, Cookie Monster!) or Cookie Monster saying "/news/craigslist-finally-forced-to-innovate-as-competition-edges-in.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/craigslist-finally-forced-to-innovate-as-competition-edges-in.htmlIn June, 27-year-old programmer Eric DeMenthon received a letter concerning PadMapper, a popular site that aggregates rental listings from Craigslist and other sources and displays them on a map. Suddenly, Craigslist had decided to crack down on the one-man operation after passively sanctioning it for more than three years, declaring that PadMapper could either stop using its data or face legal action. Two months later, Craigslist and PadMapper are entangled in litigation — and an explanation for the odd timing has surfaced: Craigslist is rolling out its own version of PadMapper’s service, called Map View./news/darpa-s-squad-x-project-pairs-marines-and-robots-to-eliminate-the-fog-of-war.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/darpa-s-squad-x-project-pairs-marines-and-robots-to-eliminate-the-fog-of-war.htmlThe Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), has been working on a project that partners dismounted soldiers with autonomous robots and drones called Squad X. It’s designed to provide soldiers in the field with more information about their surroundings. Historically, one of the most persistent issues on the battlefield is something known as the “fog of war” — a catch-all phrase that describes the uncertainty of one’s surroundings. Technology has done wonders to help eliminate this: scouts on horseback, balloonists, airplanes, and satellites have been able to deliver more and more information to commanders, allowing them to respond to their enemies and surroundings more effectively./news/directv-will-let-you-cut-out-local-channels-to-save-money.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/directv-will-let-you-cut-out-local-channels-to-save-money.htmlDirecTV will let you cut out local channels to save money. The satellite company announced today that subscribers choosing its new “No Locals” package will save $12 a month. The company helpfully suggests viewers drop local channels in the summer months to try it out and add them back in the fall. As Variety notes, that just so happens to be when the NFL, which is increasingly streaming in more places, picks up again./news/disney-is-putting-a-disney-plus-exec-in-charge-of-hulu.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/disney-is-putting-a-disney-plus-exec-in-charge-of-hulu.htmlDisney has named Joe Earley, a former EVP of its tentpole streaming service Disney Plus, to the position of president of Hulu.  Earley previously served as EVP marketing and operations at Disney Plus and is headed to its sister service after joining the company in January of 2019. In the new role at Hulu, Earley will be tasked with building on the service’s brand and will liaise with its various content studios./news/ecobee-s-smart-thermostat-premium-is-nearly-matching-its-all-time-low.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ecobee-s-smart-thermostat-premium-is-nearly-matching-its-all-time-low.htmlThe temperatures are about to soar now that summer is almost upon us — and so are our cooling bills. If you want to keep comfy while saving money on your energy bills, it’s worth investing in Ecobee’s Smart Thermostat Premium now that it’s down to its best price of the year. Normally $249.99, right now you can buy it at Amazon, Best Buy, and directly from Ecobee for $219.99, which is $10 shy of its all-time low./news/epic-won-t-say-why-it-just-purged-unreal-tournament-3-x-from-steam.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/epic-won-t-say-why-it-just-purged-unreal-tournament-3-x-from-steam.html“Hope you’ve been keeping well, but we still don’t have any new information to share here,” Epic Games technology comms manager Brian Sharon tells The Verge. This was always a highly weird situation because Epic’s listing for the ad-free, DLC-free, cross-platform Unreal Tournament 3 X was never added to Steam as its own distinct game. Instead, Epic seemingly overhauled its listing for the original Unreal Tournament 3 (from 2007!) to reflect the new game’s features instead./news/everyone-s-out-for-themselves-in-leave-the-world-behind-s-new-trailer.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/everyone-s-out-for-themselves-in-leave-the-world-behind-s-new-trailer.htmlBased on Rumaan Alam’s 2020 novel by the same name, Leave the World Behind tells the story of two families who unexpectedly find their fates intertwined just as a massive blackout shuts down most of the Eastern Seaboard’s power grid. When Amanda (Julia Roberts) and her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) rent a house in Long Island, they assume they’ll be able to get out of the city for a much-needed quiet weekend vacation with their teenage son Archie (Charlie Evans ) and daughter Rose (Farrah Mackenzie)./news/facebook-gives-up-on-automatically-posting-everything-you-do-online.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/facebook-gives-up-on-automatically-posting-everything-you-do-online.htmlLast week, Facebook made a small but very important change to Instagram. When I like a photo in the updated Instagram app, "Ellis liked a photo on Instagram" will no longer be automatically shared back to Facebook. The same goes for photos posted to Instagram, which won't be automatically shared on Facebook unless you deliberately tap the Facebook button in the app's sharing screen. The update effectively removesInstagram's ability to automatically share anything back to Facebook, and today, Facebook is announcing its plans to take the idea much further./news/fasting-every-other-day-isn-t-as-good-of-a-weight-loss-method-as-you-think.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/fasting-every-other-day-isn-t-as-good-of-a-weight-loss-method-as-you-think.htmlLosing weight is hard when it seems like you’ll spend every day of the rest of your life deprived, poking at oatmeal and steamed broccoli. So, in the past few years, fasting diets have become popular. You eat very little one day, sure, but the next day you can eat all the burritos and burgers you desire. Then, not only do you lose weight more quickly, it makes it psychologically easy to hold on in the long run./news/first-impressions-of-the-new-15-inch-macbook-pro.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/first-impressions-of-the-new-15-inch-macbook-pro.htmlThe new MacBook Pro keyboards are quieter. We’ve had a top-of-the-line 15-inch MacBook Pro review unit in hand for an hour or two, and in that time, that’s the main thing I can tell you. I’ll give you a few more impressions, of course, but “pro” machines require quite a bit of testing to judge, and we intend to take our time with it. Is it fast? Of course it’s fast: it has a six-core Intel i9 processor, 32GB of RAM, and 4TB of storage./news/former-activision-ceo-bobby-kotick-is-apparently-eyeing-tiktok.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/former-activision-ceo-bobby-kotick-is-apparently-eyeing-tiktok.htmlFormer Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is apparently eyeing TikTok. The former executive expressed interest in buying the app to the founder of TikTok’s parent company, according to The Wall Street Journal. China-based ByteDance could be forced to sell TikTok or else lose access to the US market should Congress pass a new bipartisan bill. Kotick is looking for allies, tossing out the idea to a group including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, per the Journal./news/french-official-threatens-to-sue-social-media-users-who-share-burkini-photos.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/french-official-threatens-to-sue-social-media-users-who-share-burkini-photos.htmlA French politician has threatened to file a lawsuit against anyone who shares photos or videos of police enforcing a ban on the burkini — the full-body bathing suit, designed for Muslim women, that has suddenly become a symbol of religious and social tensions in France. The statement comes after the widespread circulation of photos showing a Muslim woman removing her clothes in front of four male police officers on a beach in Nice./news/github-s-ai-powered-copilot-will-help-you-write-code-for-10-a-month.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/github-s-ai-powered-copilot-will-help-you-write-code-for-10-a-month.htmlMicrosoft-owned GitHub is launching its Copilot AI tool today, which helps suggest lines of code to developers inside their code editor. GitHub originally teamed up with OpenAI last year to launch a preview of Copilot, and it’s generally available to all developers today. Priced at $10 per month or $100 a year, GitHub Copilot is capable of suggesting the next line of code as developers type in an integrated development environment (IDE) like Visual Studio Code, Neovim, and JetBrains IDEs./news/google-apologizes-for-missing-the-mark-after-gemini-generated-racially-diverse-nazis.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-apologizes-for-missing-the-mark-after-gemini-generated-racially-diverse-nazis.htmlGoogle has apologized for what it describes as “inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions” with its Gemini AI tool, saying its attempts at creating a “wide range” of results missed the mark. The statement follows criticism that it depicted specific white figures (like the US Founding Fathers) or groups like Nazi-era German soldiers as people of color, possibly as an overcorrection to long-standing racial bias problems in AI. “We’re aware that Gemini is offering inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions,” says the Google statement, posted this afternoon on X./news/google-chat-update-puts-a-navigation-bar-on-top-of-a-navigation-bar.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-chat-update-puts-a-navigation-bar-on-top-of-a-navigation-bar.htmlGoogle Chat update puts a navigation bar on top of a navigation bar. Instead of having just a single navigation bar at the bottom of your screen, Google Chat has decided to add another navigation menu on top of that with options to access the home screen, direct messages, spaces, and mentions. I don’t have it on my mobile app yet, but it looks a little chaotic. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2tfZn5wfphoaWxxaGZ%2FeoSOoKaon5yaeqS0wK1krqiUlsGmec%2Buq6xlkWK7osLIoJitoZ%2BjeqOt0Wamp2WkpL1uu8VmmGamkau2qK3ToqanZZKWvw%3D%3D/news/google-engineer-indicted-over-allegedly-stealing-ai-trade-secrets-for-china.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-engineer-indicted-over-allegedly-stealing-ai-trade-secrets-for-china.htmlA federal grand jury has indicted a Google engineer, Linwei Ding, aka Leon Ding, for allegedly stealing trade secrets around Google’s AI chip software and hardware on March 5th, before he was arrested Wednesday morning in Newark, California. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement that Ding “stole from Google over 500 confidential files containing AI trade secrets while covertly working for China-based companies seeking an edge in the AI technology race./news/google-is-paying-small-news-outlets-to-use-an-ai-article-writing-tool.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-is-paying-small-news-outlets-to-use-an-ai-article-writing-tool.htmlGoogle is paying small news outlets to use an AI article writing tool. Under the agreement, publishers produce three articles a day, one newsletter a week and one marketing campaign a month using AI. In exchange, outlets get “a five-figure sum” over the course of 12 months. First off, that figure seems like a steal for Google. And the service relies on articles from other publishers — who reportedly haven’t consented to their work being used:/news/google-is-tightening-up-chrome-extensions-so-you-can-t-install-them-from-websites.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-is-tightening-up-chrome-extensions-so-you-can-t-install-them-from-websites.htmlGoogle is announcing some changes to the way it handles extensions in its Chrome browser. Starting today, newly published extensions will only be available in the Chrome Web Store. For years, web developers have been able to trigger installations of Chrome extensions from their own websites, or inline installation as Google calls it, but Google is phasing this method out. “We continue to receive large volumes of complaints from users about unwanted extensions causing their Chrome experience to change unexpectedly,” explains ​James Wagner, Google’s extensions platform product manager./news/google-launches-new-anti-ddos-service-called-project-shield.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-launches-new-anti-ddos-service-called-project-shield.htmlGoogle has announced a new suite of tools for activists and non-profits at their Ideas conference in New York today, including tools for evading web censorship and oppressive regimes. The biggest focus has been on DDoS attacks, a kind of brute-force action that can easily take down a small site without leaving any clues as to the culprits. DDoS has been a persistent problem for small-scale activists on the web, but Google's new Project Shield would aim to fix that, offering free DDoS mitigation services to sites serving "/news/google-offers-free-repairs-to-pixel-owners-affected-by-hurricane-harvey.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-offers-free-repairs-to-pixel-owners-affected-by-hurricane-harvey.htmlHurricane Harvey has been called an “unprecedented” storm, and in its wake companies have been stepping up to offer relief in a myriad of ways. Now, Google and phone repair company uBreakiFix have joined up to help as well. The companies are offering free repairs on all Pixels at seven Houston area uBreakiFix locations until September 30th. uBreakiFix’s blog post doesn’t specify if water damage is covered, but that’s likely a given./news/google-pixel-6a-pixel-watch-buds-pro-how-to-preorder.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-pixel-6a-pixel-watch-buds-pro-how-to-preorder.htmlGoogle just announced a batch of new Pixel products at its I/O 2022 keynote. Among them is a new midrange Pixel phone, the Pixel 6A; some new premium wireless earbuds, the Pixel Buds Pro; and Google’s first wearable, the Pixel Watch. This is a healthy amount of new tech to come out of the online developer conference, in addition to what’s coming soon for Android 13 and other Google services, but let’s not start camping out in lines at the Google Store and various Best Buy locations just yet./news/google-says-a-fix-is-coming-for-update-that-erased-major-pixel-6-feature.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-says-a-fix-is-coming-for-update-that-erased-major-pixel-6-feature.htmlAccording to reports from some users, an update to Google Photos removed one of the Pixel 6’s big features: the Magic Eraser tool that lets you remove unwanted objects or people from your photos. If your Pixel downloaded the affected version (5.67, according to Android Central), fear not: Google says it’s working on a fix. While the version of Photos with the Magic Eraser erased doesn’t appear to be available in the Play Store anymore, its presence on APK Mirror confirms that it was at one point (though we wouldn’t recommend downloading it)./news/google-used-ai-to-sort-millions-of-historical-life-photos-you-can-explore-online.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-used-ai-to-sort-millions-of-historical-life-photos-you-can-explore-online.htmlPhotographers for the now-defunct Life magazine produced some of the most iconic images of the 20th century and left behind an archive of around 6.5 million photos. It’s an important historical artifact, but it represents a big challenge for any human who wants to catalog and explore it. That’s why Google has stepped up to the plate and announced today that it’s used its AI skills to create Life Tags — a new, searchable archive of Life photographs./news/google-s-help-me-write-tool-can-now-finish-your-sentences-in-chrome.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-s-help-me-write-tool-can-now-finish-your-sentences-in-chrome.htmlGoogle has started rolling out “Help me write” — an experimental Gemini-powered generative AI feature for its Chrome browser that aims to help users write or refine text based on webpage content. Following the stable release of Chrome M122 on Tuesday, the new writing assistant is now available to try out on Mac and Windows PCs for English-speaking Chrome users in the US. “Help me write” focuses on providing writing suggestions for shortform content, such as filling in digital surveys and reviews, enquiring about product information, or drafting descriptions for items being sold online./news/govee-s-inexpensive-tv-backlight-goes-big.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/govee-s-inexpensive-tv-backlight-goes-big.htmlSmart lighting upstart Govee has added Light Bars to its newest Immersion TV LED Kit (model H605B) to harmoniously extend the backlight to the left and right of 55- to 65-inch TVs. The additions nearly double the illuminated area — and the price. The jump from $79.99 to $149.99 makes the new Immersion Kit a more considered purchase. But if you liked the older Immersion TV LED kit (model H6199) as much as I did, then you’re going to love the upgrade./news/hasbro-lines-up-michael-chabon-and-brian-k-vaughan-for-its-expanded-movie-universe.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hasbro-lines-up-michael-chabon-and-brian-k-vaughan-for-its-expanded-movie-universe.htmlSure, the idea of a Marvel-style cinematic universe based on a company's various toy products may sound like one of the worst ideas since nipples on a Batsuit, but that's not stopping Hasbro and Paramount from lining up some serious talent to put their plans into place. According to the The Hollywood Reporter, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay) is a member of the writing team that has been assembled, as is comics writer Brian K./news/here-s-what-mark-zuckerberg-thinks-about-apple-s-vision-pro.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/here-s-what-mark-zuckerberg-thinks-about-apple-s-vision-pro.htmlApple finally announced their headset, so I want to talk about that for a second. I was really curious to see what they were gonna ship. And obviously I haven’t seen it yet, so I’ll learn more as we get to play with it and see what happens and how people use it. From what I’ve seen initially, I’d say the good news is that there’s no kind of magical solutions that they have to any of the constraints on laws of physics that our teams haven’t already explored and thought of./news/honda-is-the-latest-automaker-to-bring-hands-free-highway-driving-tech-to-the-us.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/honda-is-the-latest-automaker-to-bring-hands-free-highway-driving-tech-to-the-us.htmlHonda will bring its hands-free highway driver-assist technology to the US by the end of the decade, making it the latest automaker to offer partially automated driving tech to customers. Honda Sensing, the company’s Level 2 advanced driver-assist system (ADAS), is already available to car owners who have opted to add the feature to their vehicles. Two upgraded systems, Honda Sensing 360 and Honda Sensing Elite, will add new features thanks to more capable sensors and advanced AI software developed by the automaker./news/honda-recalls-608-000-vehicles-for-faulty-software.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/honda-recalls-608-000-vehicles-for-faulty-software.htmlHonda is recalling 608,000 vans and SUVs because of faulty software that can, among other things, cause the backup camera to fail and the driver display to malfunction or reboot. The recalls will begin on September 23rd. Certain 2018-2020 Odysseys, 2019-2020 Passports, and 2019-2021 Pilots were outfitted with “[i]ncorrect instrument panel control module software” that can cause the display to not show critical information like speed, engine oil pressure, and gear selector position until the car is turned off and on again./news/hoverboards-are-over-we-have-e-skates-now.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hoverboards-are-over-we-have-e-skates-now.htmlIt’s summer in New York, and I’m starting to see people rolling around on hoverboards once again. But the self-balancing gadgets aren’t anywhere near as everywhere as they were a year or two ago. They’re getting boring, and maybe it’s time for something new: something like self-balancing roller skates. Segway announced today that it’s working on a pair of “e-skates” called the Drift W1. They look like something out of The Jetsons with their black-and-white, angular design, and as Engadget points out, they also look a little hazardous./news/how-i-would-have-improved-comic-con-s-rave-of-thrones-party.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-i-would-have-improved-comic-con-s-rave-of-thrones-party.htmlWhen you’re invited to see Hodor DJ a set at the single biggest nerd convention in the country, you don’t think twice. You put on your finest raiment, say a prayer to the Old Gods and the New, and prepare for a night to remember. That’s what I expected from Rave of Thrones — Kristian Nairn's, of Game of Thrones fame, two-year party tour. Promotions promise the deepest house music the Seven Kingdoms have ever heard./news/how-many-people-watched-severance-apple-won-t-even-tell-ben-stiller.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-many-people-watched-severance-apple-won-t-even-tell-ben-stiller.htmlThere’s no doubt that Severance is a hit — the show’s first season made our best entertainment of 2022 list even as it “paints the darkest possible portrait of how megacorporations think about and treat their employees.” For a real-life example of that treatment, all you have to ask is what happens when the people who make Severance ask Apple how big of a hit it really is. “They don’t tell you the numbers./news/how-one-volunteer-stopped-a-backdoor-from-exposing-linux-systems-worldwide.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-one-volunteer-stopped-a-backdoor-from-exposing-linux-systems-worldwide.htmlLinux, the most widely used open source operating system in the world, narrowly escaped a massive cyber attack over Easter weekend, all thanks to one volunteer. The backdoor had been inserted into a recent release of a Linux compression format called XZ Utils, a tool that is little-known outside the Linux world but is used in nearly every Linux distribution to compresses large files, making them easier to transfer. If it had spread more widely, an untold number of systems could have been left compromised for years./news/how-to-change-your-iphone-s-text-size-for-a-specific-app.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-change-your-iphone-s-text-size-for-a-specific-app.htmlSometimes you want the text in your app to be smaller, so you can fit more content on a single screen. Sometimes you want it to be bigger, especially if you’ve been putting off buying those reading glasses. But until recently, if you had an iPhone, you had to pick a single text size as a standard for all your apps. Not anymore. In iOS 15, you can adjust the text size separately for each of your apps./news/how-to-install-the-ios-15-4-public-beta.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-install-the-ios-15-4-public-beta.htmlThere have been some exciting features announced for the next version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 15.4, including the ability to use Face ID with a mask and to access some snazzy new emoji. If you can’t wait, you can test them in the first available public beta right now — assuming you’re willing to risk encountering possible bugs. Here, we walk you through the steps for installing the software./news/how-to-make-the-most-of-the-mac-s-accessibility-features.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-make-the-most-of-the-mac-s-accessibility-features.htmlYou may not know it, or you may not need them, but your Mac comes with a bevy of accessibility features that help make your computer more accessible if you have disabilities. Apple is well-known for building best-in-class assistive technologies into all of their platforms — and the Mac, almost four decades old, is no exception. In fact, Apple has a knowledge base article all about the accessibility features of macOS./news/how-to-re-program-the-bixby-button-on-a-samsung-galaxy-s8-s9-s10-note-8-or-note-9.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-re-program-the-bixby-button-on-a-samsung-galaxy-s8-s9-s10-note-8-or-note-9.htmlEarlier this week, Samsung released an update to the Bixby app for its Galaxy S8, S9, S10, Note 8, and Note 9 smartphones that finally addresses something we’ve been asking for since Bixby’s debut: the ability to natively reprogram the hardware button on the side of a Samsung phone to do something other than just launch Bixby. That’s right, you can now use the Bixby button to launch any number of apps, such as the camera, Twitter, Gmail, Google Maps, or whatever you want./news/how-to-shoot-great-video-with-your-smartphone.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-shoot-great-video-with-your-smartphone.htmlWe all shoot video with our smartphones, but most of us aren’t trying to make the next great Oscar-winning film. We’re just trying to capture moments that are important to us, or footage that we think will resonate with others. There are a lot of little things you can do to make sure the video you shoot with your smartphone is something worth watching — whether those moments are funny, touching, stupid, or downright shocking./news/how-to-tame-notifications-on-ios.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-tame-notifications-on-ios.htmlI don’t think I’m alone when I say that notifications are a nuisance. There are simply too many of them, and the helpful ones are often drowned out by the spam. Whether promotional notifications should be allowed at all on our phones is an open question (I have my own feelings on that!). In the meantime, it is possible to coexist peacefully with your phone — it just takes a little work./news/how-to-use-focus-modes-in-ios-16.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-use-focus-modes-in-ios-16.htmlApple added Focus modes last year in iOS 15 to help you stay on task. The idea was to keep you “in the moment” by filtering out apps or notifications that you don’t want popping up during specific times. In iOS 16, Apple has also added some new options to streamline the process. That includes the ability to silence notifications from specific apps or people, as well as link Focus modes with lock screens and watchfaces./news/htc-s-desire-eye-wants-to-be-the-king-of-selfies.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/htc-s-desire-eye-wants-to-be-the-king-of-selfies.htmlThe thing about the Desire Eye is that it's just not that mid-range of a smartphone. It has a 5.2-inch, 1080p display that looks great and has wide viewing angles. It has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor paired with 2GB of RAM as HTC's flagship One M8. Its soft-touch plastic finish isn't as premium as the all-metal chassis' of the M8 or iPhone 6, but it still feels great and is actually easier to hold on to than the more slippery metal phones./news/hugh-laurie-and-stephen-fry-reunite-in-littlebigplanet-3-voice-cast.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hugh-laurie-and-stephen-fry-reunite-in-littlebigplanet-3-voice-cast.htmlHugh Laurie, best known to American audiences as the surly Dr. House MD, will reprise his comedic partnership with old pal Stephen Fry in the upcoming LittleBigPlanet 3 game for the PS3 and PS4. Starring as the villainous Newton, Laurie will be "the dastardly counterpart" to Fry's warm and friendly Narrator. The duo are famous for their long-running collaboration on the sketch show A Bit of Fry and Laurie, which ran during the 1980s and 90s, as well as their appearances together in the acclaimed Blackadder comedy series./news/hyundai-n-s-rolling-labs-imagine-performance-evs-that-aren-t-so-boring.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hyundai-n-s-rolling-labs-imagine-performance-evs-that-aren-t-so-boring.htmlHyundai’s attempting to keep car culture alive with its two performance-focused electric vehicle (EV) concepts it calls “rolling labs.” The RN22e features a modified Ioniq 6 body, and the N Vision 74 is modeled after the never-released 1974 Pony Coupe concept — but both feature a refreshing sporty design that doesn’t look like some sort of futuristic pod (or, well... this thing). The two concepts come from Hyundai’s “N” sub-brand, which focuses on high-performance vehicles./news/ifixit-s-new-retina-macbook-pro-repair-kit-lets-you-change-your-old-battery.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ifixit-s-new-retina-macbook-pro-repair-kit-lets-you-change-your-old-battery.htmlIf you own one of Apple’s Retina MacBook Pros (from 2012–2015, which is the model before the newest, Touch Bar-equipped iteration), then you know that they’re not exactly meant to be taken apart once you’ve bought one. Most parts are attached directly to the logic board, and the battery is particularly hostile to user replacement. The entire unit is physically glued in place with some industrial adhesive. Still, the good folks over at iFixit believe that everyone should be able to repair, replace, and upgrade the gadgets that they own, and they’ve spent some serious time and effort coming up with a way to allow Retina MacBook Pro users to replace their batteries, allowing them to dramatically extend the usable lifespan of their laptops./news/ifttt-can-now-automate-actions-based-on-your-iphone-s-location.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ifttt-can-now-automate-actions-based-on-your-iphone-s-location.htmlThe clever automation service IFTTT is getting a lot more powerful today with the addition of location features. In an update to IFTTT's iPhone app that's rolling out now, the service will be able to begin watching your location, allowing it to automatically trigger tasks based on where you are. When you're nearing home, you could have IFTTT automatically turn on your connected light bulbs, send an SMS to your roommate that you're on the way, or send out a tweet that you're back, among dozens of other possibilities./news/ikea-launches-its-first-smart-led-strip-at-the-right-price.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ikea-launches-its-first-smart-led-strip-at-the-right-price.htmlDeveloped by Apple, Amazon, Google, and Samsung (and others), Matter is an open-sourced, IP-based connectivity software layer for smart home devices. It works over Wi-Fi, ethernet, and the low-power mesh networking protocol Thread and currently supports over 20 device types. These include lighting, plugs and switches, thermostats, locks, security and environment sensors, refrigerators, dishwashers, smoke alarms, air quality monitors, and more. A smart home gadget with the Matter logo can be set up and used with any Matter-compatible ecosystem via a Matter controller and controlled by them simultaneously, a feature called multi-admin./news/inside-an-ai-powered-seo-heist.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/inside-an-ai-powered-seo-heist.htmlInside an AI-powered “SEO heist.” Business Insider dives into an AI-powered “SEO heist”: a shady SEO dude downloaded a competitors’ sitemap, fed it into an LLM, and generated a complete knockoff site that instantly stole traffic away to the tune of 600,000 impressions a month. It’s SEO on steroids, and Jake Ward is has been more audacious than most industry players in taking advantage of this. The Exceljet heist is his AI-powered handiwork./news/instacart-is-testing-personalized-ads-in-its-smart-shopping-carts.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/instacart-is-testing-personalized-ads-in-its-smart-shopping-carts.htmlInstacart is testing personalized ads in its smart shopping carts. The company’s Caper Carts, which automatically detect and tally up the products you put in them, will soon put product recommendations on its built-in display. Instacart says the ads will change based on the aisle you’re in, the items you’ve already added to the cart, and your past purchases. Instacart is only piloting the ads at Bristol Farms stores in Southern California for now, with more supported stores “rolling out in the months ahead./news/ipad-pro-10-5-review-overkill.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ipad-pro-10-5-review-overkill.htmlA little more than a year after Apple released the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, it’s replacing it with a new model, the iPad Pro 10.5. In that year, guess how many companies came within a million miles of matching the speed, power, convenience, and app selection of the old iPad Pro. Can you guess? The answer is zero. And yet, despite the fact that the meaningful tablet market has dwindled down to some Windows 10 devices and the iPad – and despite the fact that the iPad itself has seen slowing sales – the company’s engineers are still moving full speed ahead and putting the most advanced technical hardware features it can come up with into this device./news/iphone-7-review.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/iphone-7-review.htmlThe iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are deeply unusual devices. They are full of aggressive breaks from convention while wrapped in cases that look almost exactly like their two direct predecessors. Even that continuity of design is a break from convention; after almost a decade of Apple’s steady two-year iPhone update pattern, merely retaining the same design for a third straight year plays against expectations. Inside that case, everything else about the iPhone 7 is a decisive statement about the future./news/it-s-past-time-for-the-apple-watch-to-add-qi-wireless-charging.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/it-s-past-time-for-the-apple-watch-to-add-qi-wireless-charging.htmlThe Apple Watch Series 6 is officially out, with the latest entry to Apple’s smartwatch lineup adding new features like a blood oxygen sensor and a brighter display. But the company has once again punted on a long-overdue addition to the Apple Watch: support for the universal Qi wireless charging standard. It’s an incredibly frustrating limitation to the product, one that ensures that you can only use Apple’s chargers to recharge the device./news/jetpack-joyride-2-is-worth-an-apple-arcade-subscription-on-its-own.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/jetpack-joyride-2-is-worth-an-apple-arcade-subscription-on-its-own.htmlJetpack Joyride 2 is the first mobile game I’ve loved in a very long time. I was obsessed with staying on top of the best iOS games in the early days of the iPhone — titles like the original Angry Birds, Hook Champ, and Ridiculous Fishing — but as the vast majority of mobile games have shifted to a time- and money-gobbling free-to-play model, I’ve largely stopped playing them. I have enough entertainment to juggle already; managing yet another free-to-play game just isn’t appealing./news/jurassic-world-alive-looks-like-pok%C3%A9mon-go-but-with-giant-dinosaurs.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/jurassic-world-alive-looks-like-pok%C3%A9mon-go-but-with-giant-dinosaurs.htmlWell over a year after Pokémon Go became a phenomenon, we’re finally starting to see other major properties jump on the augmented reality train. There are AR games based on The Walking Dead, Harry Potter, and Ghostbusters in the works, and now there’s one that stars something a little bigger. Later this spring, we will see the debut of Jurassic World Alive, which will let players interact with and collect dinosaurs hanging around in the world around them, much like Pokémon Go./news/keychron-q1-pro-review-they-actually-pulled-it-off.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/keychron-q1-pro-review-they-actually-pulled-it-off.htmlUntil recently, Keychron was best known for its line of (relatively) affordable wireless mechanical keyboards with nice quality-of-life features like Mac compatibility. Then, in 2021, came the Keychron Q1, the first of over a dozen Q-series keyboards with a weighty aluminum construction, a customizable layout and switches, and great typing feel. They’re among the best off-the-shelf keyboards you can get for the money. This year’s Keychron Q1 Pro feels like a marriage of these two lines./news/kid-cop-returns-again-and-again.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/kid-cop-returns-again-and-again.htmlWhen Vincent Richardson was 14 years old, he wore a police uniform into Chicago’s Third District Grand Crossing police station and reported for duty. It was January 24th, 2009, and he told officers he’d been assigned by another district to work a shift there. An intake officer issued Vincent a police radio and ticket book; then, the officer assigned Vincent a partner and a police cruiser.  Over the next five hours, they drove around the South Side of Chicago monitoring hot spots and responding to calls from dispatch./news/kyle-maclachlan-will-return-as-agent-dale-cooper-in-twin-peaks-next-year.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/kyle-maclachlan-will-return-as-agent-dale-cooper-in-twin-peaks-next-year.htmlHe's back, Diane! While his involvement has been hinted at for months, Deadline confirms that Kyle MacLachlan has closed a deal with Showtime to star in the upcoming Twin Peaks update due out next year. The news that Twin Peaks would come back to television hit late last year, with creators David Lynch and Mark Frost confirming that they'd both be involved in each of the miniseries' nine episodes. The new series will be set in the present day, and it promises to close some of the show's many loose ends and answer it's spectacularly far-out questions./news/lenovo-legion-5-pro-review-great-price-great-performance.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lenovo-legion-5-pro-review-great-price-great-performance.htmlThe Lenovo Legion 5 Pro makes a lot of things seem easy. At its core, it’s a gaming laptop that plays games very well. But it also has a wonderfully expansive 16-inch QHD (technically WQXGA, since it’s 2560 x 1600) resolution display that’s great for gaming and other use cases. Notably, this is a 16:10 aspect ratio screen, and my eyeballs appreciate the luxury of having more stuff to look at without needing to scroll or resize windows to fit within view./news/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-carbon-review-doing-it-right.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-carbon-review-doing-it-right.htmlHow long have I longed for a ThinkPad? Every time in my life that I’ve considered buying a laptop, the latest ThinkPad models have inevitably figured high on my list of desired computers. They once bore the IBM logo, now Lenovo, but they’ve always been that paradigm of no-nonsense work machine that you know you can rely on. Sturdy, hardy, and covered in deep matte black, ThinkPads are iconic. But the reason I haven’t owned a series of ThinkPads over the past two decades is twofold: one part is that Apple’s MacBooks have been superior in battery life and user experience, while the other is that the proper ThinkPads have generally been out of reach financially./news/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-fold-review-a-folding-screen-filled-with-potential.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-fold-review-a-folding-screen-filled-with-potential.htmlThe Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold is awesome… as a concept.  Come on, it’s a display that folds in half. You can carry it around like a tablet. You can prop it up and use it like a Surface Pro. You can fold it halfway and use it like a clamshell laptop. You can fold it slightly and hold it like a hardcover book. And everyone who sees you whip it out of your briefcase will ask “Wow, what’s that?/news/lenovo-yoga-book-review-the-unbearable-lightness-of-computing.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lenovo-yoga-book-review-the-unbearable-lightness-of-computing.htmlThe "Halo" keyboard might just wow you enough, at least temporarily, to forget about that. Once you put the Yoga Book into normal laptop mode, the matte black lower panel turns into a glowing touchpad keyboard. It also vibrates when you tap on it. This gives a sense of haptic feedback, though it feels like the whole panel itself is moving, not the isolated keys you’re tapping at. the halo keyboard really takes getting used to/news/lenovo-s-project-chronos-lets-you-beam-yourself-into-virtual-worlds.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lenovo-s-project-chronos-lets-you-beam-yourself-into-virtual-worlds.htmlLenovo usually shows up to CES with a bunch of laptops and monitors, but this year, it’s bringing along something quite a bit different: Project Chronos, a device that lets you beam an avatar of yourself into virtual worlds. The device, a medium-size gray box powered by a 13th Gen Intel core processor, uses an RGB depth camera to capture your movements. In a demo, Lenovo showed the camera being used to create virtual versions of users in real time./news/life-after-twitter-stocktwits-builds-out-its-own-ecosystem.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/life-after-twitter-stocktwits-builds-out-its-own-ecosystem.htmlAs Twitter transforms from an open web platform to a more traditional media company, startups that built on top of it are leaving in search of new ways to grow their business. StockTwits founder Howard Lindzon doesn't mince words. "We've moved off the platform and so will everyone else. If we hadn't done that, we would be dead in the water." StockTwits is a real-time micro blogging service, but one devoted to discussion of finance, markets, and the economy./news/like-get-out-netflix-s-horror-series-chambers-explores-the-terror-of-white-people.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/like-get-out-netflix-s-horror-series-chambers-explores-the-terror-of-white-people.htmlAs the recent documentary Horror Noire lays out, most early American horror films featuring black characters play very different for black audiences than for white ones. Traditionally, in American horror stories, people of color have been associated with a monstrous, vengeful, often magical Other that threatens white purity. As POC creators have entered the horror field to add new perspectives, though, innovative new narratives have flipped those tropes. In more recent stories, affluent white people are the sinister nightmare power that seeks to possess, corrupt, and control everyone else by stealing their bodies and maybe their souls./news/lofi-beats-to-battle-royale-to.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lofi-beats-to-battle-royale-to.htmlLofi beats to battle royale to. The iconic Lofi Girl is now in Fortnite — or, at least, her room is. A new Fortnite map lets you run around the bedroom as if you were in Honey I Shrunk the Kids, collecting music notes and sneaking a look at what’s under the bed. It’s unsurprisingly pretty chill, except for some of the platforming sequences. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfanxyf45ra2ptZW2BcXvLqJ2iZZKarrW%2FjK2mZpqRqcGtsYyrprKZnJp6tbs%3D/news/logan-paul-s-fight-with-ksi-is-now-available-for-free-on-youtube.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/logan-paul-s-fight-with-ksi-is-now-available-for-free-on-youtube.htmlThe pair has already teased a rematch fight that will likely take place in the US. The first event reportedly drew in millions of dollars, both filling the Manchester Arena and scooping up over 800,000 views from users who paid $10 to watch the fight online. Younger siblings Deji and Jake Paul also squared off in the ring; you can watch their bout for free online now as well. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtnanBfbXx0fY5qbnFoZWeBc3vLqJ6apl2lrra4jKSqomWWnrSpwIyypq6spZeybq3VmqClmZKhsm6y0Z6c/news/madden-20-is-adding-a-nike-cleat-that-makes-players-better.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/madden-20-is-adding-a-nike-cleat-that-makes-players-better.htmlJust in time for the Super Bowl, Madden 20 will be getting a new shoe. More specifically, the Nike Vapor Edge Cleat. Among the players getting this special footwear: Christian McCaffrey, Odell Beckham Jr., Kyler Murray, Ezekiel Elliott, and Dalvin Cook (congrats, Dieter). Most notably, it will be the first time an aesthetic update will actually affect players’ abilities in-game, increasing their speed and acceleration. EA says the virtual shoes are available in-game now./news/mapstd-adds-tower-defense-to-google-maps.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/mapstd-adds-tower-defense-to-google-maps.htmlRemember the 8-bit version of Maps that Google "announced" for the NES this weekend? April Fools' Day is over, but Duncan Barclay's MapsTD has put it to use by adding a simple tower defense mechanism that can be played anywhere on (or even outside) Earth. After you enter a location, MapsTD will spawn a path to defend and give you £200 to spend on towers with simple range, speed, and damage attributes./news/meta-is-opening-its-first-retail-store-next-month.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/meta-is-opening-its-first-retail-store-next-month.htmlMeta is launching its first hardware retail store on its campus in Burlingame, California. The store, which opens May 9th, will let visitors try out and buy Meta’s Portal videophones and Quest virtual reality headsets. They’ll also be able to demo the Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses that debuted last year and get help ordering them online. Meta’s store will include a demo area for Portal where users can test its video calling features with a store employee./news/meta-quest-pro-review-get-me-out-of-here.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/meta-quest-pro-review-get-me-out-of-here.htmlMark Zuckerberg is betting the entire future of his company on the metaverse. He renamed Facebook to Meta last year, and so far this year, he’s spent $10 billion on Reality Labs, Meta’s AR and VR development group. Reality Labs was not cut particularly hard in Meta’s huge layoffs this week, even in the face of pressure to reduce the investment and focus on the core advertising business. So the Quest Pro, Meta’s new virtual reality headset, is facing a lot of pressure./news/meta-quest-users-can-now-track-their-heart-rate-in-vr-workouts.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/meta-quest-users-can-now-track-their-heart-rate-in-vr-workouts.htmlMeta is adding two new fitness-related features to the Meta Quest. The first is Health Connect integration, meaning Android users can finally sync their Quest workout data automatically. Perhaps more exciting for VR fitness buffs: you’ll now be able to pair Bluetooth heart rate monitors and view your stats in real time. Health Connect is Google’s health API, which allows Android users to share health and fitness data between multiple apps and consolidate that information in one place./news/microsoft-announces-surface-pro-8-with-bigger-13-inch-120hz-display-and-thunderbolt.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-announces-surface-pro-8-with-bigger-13-inch-120hz-display-and-thunderbolt.htmlMicrosoft is announcing the Surface Pro 8 today, the biggest upgrade to its Intel-powered Surface Pro lineup since the Surface Pro 3 in 2014. While we’ve seen tweaks to the design of the Surface Pro for seven years, the Surface Pro 8 jumps to a 120Hz display with thinner bezels, Thunderbolt 4 support, and a new keyboard that neatly houses an upgraded Surface Slim Pen 2. The Surface Pro 8 has a larger 13-inch display./news/microsoft-details-its-steam-deck-support-for-xbox-game-studios-titles.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-details-its-steam-deck-support-for-xbox-game-studios-titles.htmlMicrosoft is providing an update on its support for Valve’s Steam Deck today. Most Xbox Game Studios titles will run on the Steam Deck, but Microsoft says Gears 5, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Halo Infinite, and Microsoft Flight Simulator X are unsupported. These titles don’t work on the Steam Deck due to anti-cheat systems, and it’s not clear if they’ll ever be supported in the future. Microsoft has marked eight games as “Verified,” and six more as “Playable./news/microsoft-edge-now-has-coupon-and-promo-codes-built-in-for-online-shopping.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-edge-now-has-coupon-and-promo-codes-built-in-for-online-shopping.htmlMicrosoft is adding a new coupons feature to its Edge browser today. Coupons and promo codes will appear inside Edge as an alert when you’re shopping online, and they can be automatically applied to a basket when you’re ready to check out. The coupons feature also includes price comparisons, so if you’re shopping online, Edge can surface different retailers that might offer items at lower prices. Microsoft introduced price comparisons in Edge just weeks ago as part of its Collections feature, but this new coupon experience goes even further./news/microsoft-surface-pro-4-announced-with-new-surface-pen-starts-at-899.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-surface-pro-4-announced-with-new-surface-pen-starts-at-899.htmlPanos Panay introduced the Surface Pro 4 by reminding us how transformative this line of devices has already been: "This challenge of the tablet and the laptop... which do you buy? Remember that problem? It's gone." There's a fingerprint sensor on the keyboard and Cortana integration inside the new tablet, which fits a 12.3-inch display in the same physical footprint as the older 12-inch device. The Surface Pro 4 is therefore compatible with existing keyboard accessories, though Microsoft has done a ton to upgrade its keyboard covers this year./news/microsoft-to-stop-selling-windows-10-downloads-on-january-31st.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-to-stop-selling-windows-10-downloads-on-january-31st.htmlMicrosoft is removing Windows 10 Home and Pro downloads from sale later this month. The downloads include license keys for Windows 10 (necessary to activate and use the download), and are being removed more than two years before Microsoft stops officially supporting Windows 10 on October 14th, 2025. Microsoft updated its Windows 10 product pages recently to note the January 31st cutoff date for sales, but it’s not clear how the company will treat similar downloads and license keys available from retailers like Amazon./news/moviepass-moviecrash-review-a-damning-account-of-corporate-greed.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/moviepass-moviecrash-review-a-damning-account-of-corporate-greed.htmlTo many, MoviePass was an overnight sensation whose too good to be true monthly cost was a sign of its potential to revolutionize the theater industry. The promise of being able to see as many newly released movies as you wanted for less than the price of a single normal ticket was intoxicating enough to convince much of the public that MoviePass had a game plan in place.  But there were a handful of people within the company who had long been sounding alarms about its unsustainable growth./news/mta-s-redesigned-subway-app-is-now-available-and-it-looks-great.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/mta-s-redesigned-subway-app-is-now-available-and-it-looks-great.htmlMTA’s redesigned subway app is now available, and it looks great. Some big changes include the addition of real-time ETA, live train and bus tracking, service alerts, and multi-modal trip planning. If you already have the MTA app, it will automatically update. If not, it’s available for Android or iOS. I’m no New Yorker, but this looks way better than the app we have for Los Angeles public transit. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfaHxzgo5ra2ppYmp%2FdHvMrZisZaKasaa%2FyKClnpxdqMKjw8CyZJqooGK2tHnNqK5mmaaWtq2twaWcZpmemXqqwIylpqijo2K0s7HArQ%3D%3D/news/nbc-s-peacock-launch-date-and-price-tiers-for-the-streaming-service.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nbc-s-peacock-launch-date-and-price-tiers-for-the-streaming-service.htmlNBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, will cost subscribers anywhere from absolutely nothing to $10 a month, but Comcast is hoping a mix of exclusives and bonus content will convince people to pay. Comcast and NBCUniversal announced today that Peacock will be available in three tiers: a free option (Peacock Free) that comes with limited programming; an ad-supported complete version that is free to existing Comcast customers and $5-a-month for everyone else; and a $10-a-month ad-free subscription option that is open to anyone./news/neural-net-generated-memes-are-one-of-the-best-uses-of-ai-on-the-internet.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/neural-net-generated-memes-are-one-of-the-best-uses-of-ai-on-the-internet.htmlI’ve spent a good chunk of my workday so far creating memes thanks to this amazing website from Imgflip that automatically generates captions for memes using a neural network. I’m addicted because the site A) takes the pressure off trying to be clever by auto-filling the captions; B) actually, somehow, regularly generates clever captions; and C) sometimes creates captions that make no sense, which are hilarious anyway. You can pick from 48 classic meme templates, including distracted boyfriend, Drake in “Hotline Bling,” mocking Spongebob, surprised Pikachu, and Oprah giving things away./news/new-galaxy-z-flip-6-and-galaxy-ring-details-have-leaked-courtesy-of-the-fcc.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/new-galaxy-z-flip-6-and-galaxy-ring-details-have-leaked-courtesy-of-the-fcc.htmlIt looks like the not-yet-announced Galaxy Z Flip 6 is getting a tiny boost in battery capacity compared to the Z Flip 5, according to FCC testing records spotted by MySmartPrice. The Galaxy Ring’s size ranges and battery ratings showed up, too, revealing good news for the small-of-finger, as it’s been tested as low as size 5. The Z Flip 6’s battery is rated at 3,790mAh, based on screenshots shared by the outlet./news/ninja-gaiden-3-razor-s-edge-will-be-a-wii-u-launch-title.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ninja-gaiden-3-razor-s-edge-will-be-a-wii-u-launch-title.htmlThe Wii has unsuccessfully battled a reputation as a console of sunshine and lolipops, but the Wii U might change that with Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge bringing some impressive violence to the console's launch, according to a Tecmo Koei earnings presentation. Nintendo's Wii successor is unlikely to launch before the final version appears at E3 in June next year, a few months after the February release of Ninja Gaiden 3 on PS3 and Xbox 360, but it's good to see a major title (with ninjas) will be available from the start./news/no-xbox-no-problem-the-verge.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/no-xbox-no-problem-the-verge.htmlMicrosoft has quietly been saying you don’t need an Xbox console for years with its day-one releases of Xbox games on PC, but this time, it said the quiet part out loud. In a commercial stylized around the ’90s movie Scream, the message is that “you don’t need an Xbox to play Xbox” and “no console required.” The changes come as Microsoft starts to rethink how it can boost Xbox Game Pass subscription numbers and look further beyond the console./news/nokia-at-mwc-2012-the-verge.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nokia-at-mwc-2012-the-verge.htmlMicrosoft is releasing a beta version of Skype for Windows Phone today, with a full release due in April. Skype for Windows Phone beta allows users to make audio and video calls to Skype contacts over 3G, 4G, and WiFi. Skype users can also make calls to landlines and mobiles with the application. Microsoft has certified a number of devices for Skype Windows Phone, including the Nokia Lumia 710, Lumia 800, HTC TITAN, HTC Radar , Samsung Focus S, and Samsung Focus Flash, providing the "/news/nvidia-has-created-powerful-star-wars-graphics-cards.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nvidia-has-created-powerful-star-wars-graphics-cards.htmlNvidia is creating special versions of its powerful Titan Xp graphics card for fans of the Jedi Order or Galactic Empire. The two collector’s edition Star Wars GPUs have been designed to fit into the Star Wars universe, with hints of a lightsaber or light panels that look like the Death Star. There are bright green LEDs for the light side or a moody red version for the dark side, and both have subtle design differences for Star Wars fans./news/paul-mccartney-dreamed-up-a-robot-and-made-a-music-video-about-him.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/paul-mccartney-dreamed-up-a-robot-and-made-a-music-video-about-him.html"I woke up one morning with an image in my head of me standing with a large robot." That's Paul McCartney describing Newman, the robot he recently dreamed up and immediately yearned to make real. Long before this inspiring vision, McCartney managed to craft some of the most iconic and flawless compositions in music history. Newman will be joining McCartney on the Japanese leg of his current stadium tour. This music video for "/news/peek-inside-the-apollo-11-command-module-with-this-new-3d-scan.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/peek-inside-the-apollo-11-command-module-with-this-new-3d-scan.htmlToday marks the the 47th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, and you can celebrate by taking a virtual tour inside the NASA spacecraft that carried the first astronauts to the Moon. The Smithsonian Museum and Autodesk have created a 3D scan of the inside of the Columbia spacecraft — the command module that Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins rode all the way to lunar orbit. The scan, which is available at 3d./news/play-this-brick-bricksmash-smash-the-world-s-most-meta-breakout-clone.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/play-this-brick-bricksmash-smash-the-world-s-most-meta-breakout-clone.htmlThere are perhaps as many Breakout-style games as there are grains of sand on a beach, but what if every brick in the game was itself another tiny version of Breakout? Designer Alan Hazelden's BRICK[bricksmash]SMASH starts with a ball, a paddle, and 16 colored blocks. Inside each block is another paddle and 10 tiny bricks. And every time you hit a block, you start a new game inside it. Stick with it for more than a few minutes, and you'll be keeping track of a dozen balls in varying sizes and colors, trying to get those elusive remaining bricks./news/please-do-not-start-calling-my-home-state-wisconn-valley.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/please-do-not-start-calling-my-home-state-wisconn-valley.htmlIf you’re Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, you start calling your state “Wisconn Valley.” Walker and Foxconn CEO Terry Gou coined the name together, according to what the governor said at the White House last week while celebrating the plant’s announcement. The audience clapped when they heard Wisconn Valley. Then Walker repeated the name several more times. This probably supposed to be a muddled phonetic approximation of “Silicon Valley,” but it’s pretty hard to read it as anything other than a weak portmanteau of “Wisconsin” and “Foxconn./news/porsche-mission-e-announced-an-electric-sports-sedan-that-charges-faster-than-a-tesla.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/porsche-mission-e-announced-an-electric-sports-sedan-that-charges-faster-than-a-tesla.htmlDon't call it a 911: Porsche spent much of its presentation at this evening's Volkswagen Group press conference talking about the new 911, yes, but the real news is the Mission E — an all-electric four-seater with a design that's well beyond anything Porsche's ever made. The company is focusing on "long-distance driving" with this concept, but that's not to say it won't be exciting to drive: Porsche is promising 600 horsepower, a 0-62mph time "/news/qualcomm-s-snapdragon-x75-modem-is-headed-for-flagship-phones-in-2023.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/qualcomm-s-snapdragon-x75-modem-is-headed-for-flagship-phones-in-2023.htmlQualcomm is warming up for Mobile World Congress by announcing its newest modem: the Snapdragon X75. It updates last year’s X70, which is in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered phones just hitting the market like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and OnePlus 11 5G. This time around, Qualcomm is getting its modem-RF chip ready for the next wave of 5G advances in addition to enabling more powerful uplink and downlink connections and using AI to help your phone stay better connected in tricky spots./news/ramattra-will-be-easier-to-earn-in-the-overwatch-2-battle-pass.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ramattra-will-be-easier-to-earn-in-the-overwatch-2-battle-pass.htmlRamattra, the sleek and terrifying new tank coming with Overwatch 2’s second season, will be much easier to earn than the previous hero Kiriko. Aaron Keller, Overwatch 2’s game designer, stated in a brief message on Twitter that developer Blizzard is lowering the level at which Ramattra unlocks from 55 to 45. In the past, new Overwatch heroes would be added free of charge. With the move from premium to a free-to-play model, heroes are now earned either via paying for the premium battle pass at $10 / season or by unlocking the hero via progression on the free battle pass./news/raspberry-pi-s-new-camera-board-has-an-8-megapixel-sensor-from-2014.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/raspberry-pi-s-new-camera-board-has-an-8-megapixel-sensor-from-2014.htmlRaspberry Pi's endearingly horrible 5 megapixel camera board accessory launched in 2013, was discontinued in 2014, and still haunts DIY projects to this day. Finally the Pi people are putting it out of its misery by offering a replacement: an 8 megapixel camera board, for the same $25 price. The new board is based on a Sony IMX219 sensor, which is still a potato, just a less egregious one. Sony has an info page about the sensor from 2014, which includes videos of the camera shooting video at 180 frames per second, and doing a bit of HDR./news/razer-hammerhead-usb-c-anc-review-easy-isolation.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/razer-hammerhead-usb-c-anc-review-easy-isolation.htmlIf you haven’t purchased wireless headphones, then you’re most likely afflicted by the removal of the headphone jack in most new flagship tech products. As my colleague Vlad pointed out, the situation is slowly changing for the better: manufacturers are finally addressing needs they’re responsible for creating. But now with the question whether or not you can find decent, affordable USB-C earbuds answered, it’s time to see what happens once the price (and quality, presumably) goes up./news/razer-s-project-hazel-is-a-n95-respirator-that-can-project-your-voice.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/razer-s-project-hazel-is-a-n95-respirator-that-can-project-your-voice.htmlRazer claims to have made the world’s smartest mask: its new reusable N95 respirator called Project Hazel. It’s a concept design with a glossy outside shell made of waterproof and scratch-resistant recycled plastic, which is transparent to allow for lip-reading and seeing facial cues when you chat with people. Currently, there isn’t a price or release date attached. Razer refers to Project Hazel as a surgical N95, but it hasn’t yet earned any of the necessary approvals and certifications from the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or Occupational Safety and Health Administration./news/report-apple-podcasts-gives-top-billing-to-shows-that-participate-in-paid-subscription-program.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/report-apple-podcasts-gives-top-billing-to-shows-that-participate-in-paid-subscription-program.htmlReport: Apple Podcasts gives top billing to shows that participate in paid subscription program. According to Semafor, Apple is telling podcast publishers that a way to get featured in its browse page carousel is to offer paid subscriptions. The report found that five of the first seven podcasts in that prime spot are part of Apple Podcasts Subscriptions. When podcasts offer subscriptions through Apple Podcasts, Apple takes up to 30 percent of the revenue./news/robinhood-crypto-trading-crashed-during-a-dogecoin-spike.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/robinhood-crypto-trading-crashed-during-a-dogecoin-spike.htmlRobinhood ran into issues processing cryptocurrency trades this morning, during a spike in the price of Dogecoin that sent users flocking to the app. The website DownDetector shows the outage starting around 9:30AM ET and reducing in severity about an hour later. Robinhood confirmed that it experienced a “partial outage” in crypto trading and said the issues had been resolved as of 11:15AM ET. The outage was particularly noticeable since it came during a spike (and subsequent dip) in Dogecoin prices./news/roomba-s-newest-robot-vacuums-are-up-to-400-off-for-cyber-monday.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/roomba-s-newest-robot-vacuums-are-up-to-400-off-for-cyber-monday.htmlWith a new owner looming, iRobot is already getting into the Amazon discounting game by dropping the prices on its brand-new vacuums this Cyber Monday. On Friday, it started with its new budget and midrange lines, the Roomba Combo i5 Plus and Combo j5 Plus, and on Sunday, iRobot slashed $400 off its new top-of-the-line models, the j9 Plus and Combo j9 Plus. The Roomba j9 Plus is the company’s new flagship robot vacuum and is on sale for $599, down from $899 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Wellbots./news/russian-propaganda-campaign-reportedly-helped-spread-fake-us-election-news.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/russian-propaganda-campaign-reportedly-helped-spread-fake-us-election-news.htmlA Russian propaganda apparatus was successful in spreading fake or false news stories during the recent US election, Washington Post reports. The findings come from a new, unpublished report provided to the Post that found more than 200 websites responsible for publishing Russian propaganda during the election cycle. These sites had a combined readership of 15 million Americans. (Update: The New Yorker observes that there are significant reasons to doubt the conclusions of “PropOrNot,” which led to the original report on an alleged Russian propaganda effort by The Washington Post./news/r%C3%B6yksopp-s-new-video-features-a-breakup-that-s-literally-the-end-of-the-world.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/r%C3%B6yksopp-s-new-video-features-a-breakup-that-s-literally-the-end-of-the-world.htmlNorwegian duo Röyksopp's video for the song "I Had This Thing" asks a tough question, namely, do you want to be alone when the world ends? And the answer is no. Heck no. Do whatever it takes, make bad decisions, get back together with people you hate, if only you don't have to be alone. The video, directed by Robert Schober, tells the story of a modern-day tragi-romance. At first it seems realistic: a happy couple's relationship suddenly turns sour, they break-up, and then spend a lot of time anxiously texting back and forth while screaming into pillows./news/samsung-galaxy-s10-event-all-of-the-biggest-announcements-from-unpacked.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-galaxy-s10-event-all-of-the-biggest-announcements-from-unpacked.htmlSamsung announces a new Galaxy S phone in the first half of every year, so while it’s no surprise that we would get an official look at the new S10 and S10 Plus devices today, the company also unveiled the Galaxy Fold, its first foldable smartphone. This was a product Samsung had teased since last fall and worked on for years, with its first prototype dating back to 2012. Alongside the smartphones, Samsung also confirmed all of the new wearable devices it let loose earlier this month on its own app./news/samsung-galaxy-s6-review-the-verge.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-galaxy-s6-review-the-verge.htmlAfter a few first-day lags and error messages (which may have been cleared up by a software update), I never ran into any notable slowdowns. In fact, this is probably the fastest Android phone I’ve ever used. It should be, with a 64-bit Octa-core processor and 3GB of RAM. Like it did with the screen, I think Samsung solved any slowdowns you might experience in Android with brute force. So much so that I often found that both versions of the S6 get warm, especially when using processor- or graphics-intensive apps./news/samsung-introduces-modular-camera-accessories-for-the-galaxy-s23-series.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-introduces-modular-camera-accessories-for-the-galaxy-s23-series.htmlSamsung has introduced a pair of camera accessories designed to work with the Galaxy S23 series’ modular Gadget Case. Spotted by WinFuture’s Roland Quandt, the two phone mounts — the Slim Tripod stand and the Camera Grip stand listed on a number of Samsung’s online stores — provide flexible options for photography, video calling, and positioning the phone hands-free. Both accessories connect to the S23 Series Gadget Case, replacing its default PopSocket-like kickstand grip attachment./news/samsung-s-new-galaxy-s10-lite-and-note-10-lite-phones-are-deeply-confusing.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-new-galaxy-s10-lite-and-note-10-lite-phones-are-deeply-confusing.htmlEarlier this week, Samsung announced two new Galaxy phones: the S10 Lite and the Note 10 Lite. “S” and “Note,” in Samsung parlance, usually mean “really high-end.” These two phones are not that. After spending a half-hour poking around at both of them, I am able to understand why Samsung made them. But I am still deeply confused about some of the decisions Samsung made here. The questions I still have include: Why do both phones have a completely different set of cameras./news/senators-want-youtube-investigated-over-showing-targeted-ads-to-kids-again.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/senators-want-youtube-investigated-over-showing-targeted-ads-to-kids-again.htmlA report from ad quality transparency platform Adalytics suggests that YouTube served adult-focused ads on almost 100 videos considered “made for kids.” Some of these ads reportedly involved content inappropriate for children, such as car wrecks, medical injuries, and clips from TV-MA shows. Adalytics found that the websites linked in the ads transmitted cookies to their devices that could serve targeted ads to kids, too. As pointed out by Adalytics, Google’s own policies say ads on content made for kids must not use third-party trackers or collect personal information without getting permission from a parent./news/siriusxm-has-a-new-app-a-new-logo-and-new-audience-to-conquer.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/siriusxm-has-a-new-app-a-new-logo-and-new-audience-to-conquer.htmlSiriusXM debuted a revamped version of its app on Wednesday, designed to integrate the company’s three business: its flagship satellite service SiriusXM, the music streamer Pandora, and its growing network of podcasts. The app will launch on mobile on December 14th, then start coming to cars next year. As younger audiences have moved away from traditional and satellite radio, SiriusXM has worked to build up its offerings beyond its flagship service./news/sony-announces-1-799-a7c-compact-full-frame-mirrorless-camera.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-announces-1-799-a7c-compact-full-frame-mirrorless-camera.htmlSony has announced the A7C, a new camera that is by far the smallest model yet in its Alpha range of full-frame mirrorless cameras. The A7C looks more like one of Sony’s APS-C models like the A6400 than an A7, adopting a more compact body with the electronic viewfinder on the top left corner of the camera’s back panel, rangefinder-style. The A7C measures 124.0mm x 71.1mm x 59.7mm and weighs 509g./news/sony-pulls-interview-with-neil-druckmann-citing-significant-errors-and-inaccuracies.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-pulls-interview-with-neil-druckmann-citing-significant-errors-and-inaccuracies.htmlLast week, Sony published a (now archived) Q&A with the Last of Us creator about the “Evolution of Storytelling.” In the interview, Druckmann spoke about the role of AI in game development, the impact of new technologies on storytelling, advice for new creators, and his hopes for a dream project. “Moreover, AI is really going to revolutionize how content is being created, although it does bring up some ethical issues we need to address./news/sony-wf-1000xm4-review-a-sonic-triumph.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-wf-1000xm4-review-a-sonic-triumph.htmlSony first released its WF-1000XM3 earbuds nearly two years ago, and though they offered some of the best noise cancellation and sound quality you could find at that time, a lot has changed since. Facing newer competitors like Apple’s AirPods Pro and Bose’s QuietComfort Earbuds at the high end, and countless plenty-good alternatives below, Sony has returned with the new $278 WF-1000XM4 earbuds.  They provide even more powerful noise canceling; so good that it now approaches over-ear headphones./news/spacex-s-boat-for-catching-rocket-parts-is-now-sporting-a-much-bigger-net.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/spacex-s-boat-for-catching-rocket-parts-is-now-sporting-a-much-bigger-net.htmlSpaceX’s specialized boat aimed at catching falling rocket parts just got a sizable upgrade. The vessel, called Mr. Steven, now boasts an even more massive net, one that’s four times the size of the one it had before. That larger surface area should help increase the chances of Mr. Steven actually making a catch, which it hasn’t been able to do. Mr. Steven is specifically focused on catching the nose cone of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket following a launch./news/steven-yeun-on-burning-the-walking-dead-and-changing-roles-for-asian-americans.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/steven-yeun-on-burning-the-walking-dead-and-changing-roles-for-asian-americans.htmlFor fans of The Walking Dead, Steven Yeun is a familiar face — he played fan-favorite character Glenn Rhee over the course of six years and seven seasons of the show, in the process earning a fandom and rapidly kickstarting a widely varying acting career. Asian-American actors often struggle to find roles that don’t fall into simple, predictable stereotypes, but Yeun has kept things complicated, playing a conflicted animal-rights activist in Bong Joon-ho’s Netflix weird fable Okja, a confident union agitator in Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You, and lone-wolf pilot Keith in the animated series Voltron: Legendary Defender./news/stranger-things-4-just-became-the-second-netflix-show-to-hit-1-billion-hours-viewed.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/stranger-things-4-just-became-the-second-netflix-show-to-hit-1-billion-hours-viewed.htmlStranger Things 4, the most recent season of the hit show, just became the second Netflix show ever to surpass a billion hours viewed. Since the first installment of the season dropped on May 27th, viewers have spent a cumulative 1.15 billion hours watching the season’s nine episodes, including 301 million hours just this past weekend. That makes Stranger Things 4 the second most-watched Netflix season ever, after Squid Game in 2021./news/super-smash-bros-ultimate-adds-min-min-from-arms.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/super-smash-bros-ultimate-adds-min-min-from-arms.htmlTwo of Nintendo’s fighting game series are crossing over. Today, the company announced the latest fighter to join the gigantic cast of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the Switch: Min Min from Arms. She’s a character best known for having stretchy noodles instead of arms, and will be available as DLC starting on June 29th. Director Masahiro Sakurai made the announcement in a video filmed in his home, as the entirety of the Smash team is currently working remotely./news/sweet-tooth-review-netflix-s-new-show-is-a-warmer-take-on-the-end-of-the-world.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sweet-tooth-review-netflix-s-new-show-is-a-warmer-take-on-the-end-of-the-world.htmlGus may have antlers like a deer, but he’s a puppy dog at heart. The main character of Netflix’s new series Sweet Tooth, based on the comic by Jeff Lemire, is a young boy struggling to survive in a world ravaged by a pandemic. But while the world around him descends into chaos, Gus, played by Christian Convery, never loses his sense of wide-eyed optimism. His ears perk up — literally — if he hears about chocolate or candy apples, and he has an almost naive belief in people who shouldn’t always be trusted./news/taylor-swift-s-music-is-back-on-tiktok.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/taylor-swift-s-music-is-back-on-tiktok.htmlIn January, UMG and TikTok’s licensing deal expired, and the companies took turns blaming each other for why fans would no longer be able to use UMG artists’ music on the app. UMG argued that TikTok wasn’t willing to pay what it wanted and that allowing AI-generated content on the app was “sponsoring artist replacement” by the technology. Meanwhile, TikTok said UMG was being greedy and that it was able to come to agreements with every other label and publisher./news/tcl-10-pro-review-premium-looks-budget-performance.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tcl-10-pro-review-premium-looks-budget-performance.htmlYou’ve probably already heard of TCL thanks to their surprisingly good Roku-powered TVs, but you’re much less likely to think of them as a phone manufacturer. That’s because while TCL has certainly made its fair share of phones over the years, it’s tended to put other brands’ names on them, like the BlackBerry Key2. That makes the $449 TCL 10 Pro a little bit special because this is a big attempt from the company to make a name for itself in the world of smartphones./news/the-best-universal-remote-you-can-buy.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-best-universal-remote-you-can-buy.htmlA good universal remote can completely change your living room experience. Instead of juggling a bunch of different remotes for your TV, cable box, game console, streaming box, or whatever else, a good universal remote can clean up your end table and let you go from watching nothing to watching something with a single press of a button. A good remote controls anything you might have today and anything you might buy in the future./news/the-classics-john-carpenter-s-apocalypse-trilogy.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-classics-john-carpenter-s-apocalypse-trilogy.htmlThe Classics are must-see, must-read, must-play works revered by The Verge staff. They offer glimpses of the future, glimpses of humanity, and a glimpse of our very souls. You should check them out. John Carpenter has made a lot of important films, at least if you're a cult or horror movie fan. Halloween, Escape From New York, Christine, and Big Trouble In Little China are just a few of his more popular works./news/the-enlightening-documentary-horror-noire-explores-black-horror-films.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-enlightening-documentary-horror-noire-explores-black-horror-films.html“Black history is black horror,” novelist and scholar Tananarive Due says toward the beginning of Xavier Burgin’s new documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. In line with Due’s insight, the film isn’t just about black horror films, it’s about the way the horror genre reflects and connects with African-American history. The result is a thoughtful, exhilarating watch, which finds hope in even the bloodiest maw. The documentary starts at the beginning of the 20th century, with a discussion of D./news/the-first-of-vampire-survivors-story-mode-adventures-will-be-available-on-december-6th.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-first-of-vampire-survivors-story-mode-adventures-will-be-available-on-december-6th.htmlThe first of Vampire Survivors’ story mode “Adventures” will be available on December 6th. Adventures, which remix some of the game’s content, will launch first on PC and Xbox and “later” on Nintendo Switch and mobile, according to Poncle’s trailer for the update. The developer is teasing that one of the Adventures will feature Poe, a garlic-wielding old man. I thought I had shaken my obsession with this game, but the Adventures might pull me back in./news/the-first-robot-vacuum-to-promise-matter-support-arrives.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-first-robot-vacuum-to-promise-matter-support-arrives.htmlThe first robot vacuum to promise Matter support arrives. SwitchBot’s K10 Plus is one of the smallest robot vacuums you can buy and the first to come with the promise of support for Matter. The company says it will be compatible with the new standard by the end of January through the SwitchBot Hub 2. Launching today, the K10 Plus costs $499.99 with a special launch price of $399.99. It can also mop, has 2500Pa of suction, and comes with a teeny, tiny auto-empty/charging station./news/the-large-hadron-collider-is-officially-doing-science-again.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-large-hadron-collider-is-officially-doing-science-again.htmlRound two of Humanity vs. Particle Physics has finally kicked off, with scientists at CERN announcing this morning that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is once again delivering data for the first time in 27 months. The world's largest particle accelerator started running again last month after nearly two years of maintenance work, but at 10:40AM local time today, operators declared they had produced the "stable beams" necessary for experiments. Thanks to various upgrades, collisions can now be carried out at energy levels of up to 13 trillion electron volts (TeV) — almost double the 8 TeV achieved during its initial run from 2010 to 2013./news/the-library-of-congress-will-no-longer-archive-every-tweet.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-library-of-congress-will-no-longer-archive-every-tweet.htmlThe Library of Congress just announced some changes to its long-running plan to archive all of Twitter. On December 31st, 2017, it will stop archiving all tweets and instead choose certain tweets to archive on a “very selective basis,” Gizmodo reports. The decision was announced in a recently published white paper that reads “the tweets collected and archived will be thematic and event-based, including events such as elections, or themes of ongoing national interest, e./news/the-n64-controller-was-a-weird-but-essential-introduction-to-joysticks.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-n64-controller-was-a-weird-but-essential-introduction-to-joysticks.htmlIn the annals of gaming history, there’s no controller better known than the three-pronged piece of plastic that shipped with the Nintendo 64. That’s likely for a few reasons. There’s the unique design, which renders it instantly and unmistakably recognizable as the N64’s gamepad. There’s the popularity of the console, which helped cement Nintendo as one of the definitive names in gaming. But the most important part of the N64 controller isn’t the design or the box it attached to: it was the joystick, which introduced millions to a new way of controlling games and paved the way for modern 3D gaming that’s virtually standard today./news/the-new-nokia-3310-is-now-available-to-buy.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-new-nokia-3310-is-now-available-to-buy.htmlNokia’s modern 3310 was one of the surprising stars of Mobile World Congress earlier this year, thanks to a heavy dose of nostalgia. Nokia sold 126 million 3310 devices back when the phone was first introduced in September 2000. It’s an iconic gadget, and now the updated modern version is launching in the UK today. Priced at £49.99 ($65), the new 3310 is slightly smaller, and ever so slightly more modern./news/the-no-man-s-sky-outlaws-update-delivers-improved-combat-and-more.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-no-man-s-sky-outlaws-update-delivers-improved-combat-and-more.htmlHello Games has released yet another large free update to No Man’s Sky. This one’s called Outlaws, and it delivers a set of missions where the player can acquire black market tech and other essential goods from other ships in a less-than-savory manner — and then smuggle it for a profit. There are also bounty missions and planetary raids. There will be high-conflict zones in areas where outlaws have captured space stations where you’ll have plenty of chances to engage in dogfights./news/the-npc-meme-went-viral-when-the-media-gave-it-oxygen.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-npc-meme-went-viral-when-the-media-gave-it-oxygen.htmlLast week, The New York Times published a piece about an insular 4chan meme that had started to bleed over into political Twitter. At the time, NPC — an acronym for the gaming term “non-playable character” — had been weaponized by trolls in an attempt to “own the libs” by calling them automatons, but it was still a relatively niche meme very few outlets had touched. Along with a couple of stories before it, the Times’ article kicked off a domino effect: its publication prompted popular members of the alt-right — including Paul Joseph Watson and Infowars — to amplify the meme to their audiences through YouTube videos, articles, and tweets./news/the-ps5-now-has-a-youtube-tv-app.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-ps5-now-has-a-youtube-tv-app.htmlAdmittedly, the Venn diagram of “PS5 owners who subscribe to YouTube TV and also own a Roku device that didn’t already have the YouTube TV app” is certainly vanishing small. But in a world where corporate disputes can mean losing access to the services you pay for on the devices you already own at the drop of a hat, having more streaming options is never a bad thing. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2lfanx3e5Fra2tqaGZ%2FcLzSbmSyp6WpwqOxjK2tZqqfoMJuv86nsGaonJbGtMDAraCopl1qeqK8z2aqraqVlrqqusY%3D/news/the-super-blue-blood-moon-is-coming-but-there-won-t-be-blood-and-it-won-t-be-blue.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-super-blue-blood-moon-is-coming-but-there-won-t-be-blood-and-it-won-t-be-blue.htmlOn Wednesday morning, a very wordy lunar event will take over the night sky: the “Super Blue Blood Moon.” Yes, really. So what do all those adjectives mean exactly? The short explanation is that this is an eclipse of the full Moon that happens to have really good timing. For a longer explanation, we’ll need to analyze each word. Let’s start with the end and work our way backward: Moon/news/the-twitch-streamers-who-spend-years-broadcasting-to-no-one.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-twitch-streamers-who-spend-years-broadcasting-to-no-one.htmlWhen John Hopstad first descended into the virtual world of Dark Souls in 2013, his mission was to save a decaying world. Famed for its brutal and exacting gameplay, Dark Souls is a popular game to live stream: if you’re going to die hundreds of times, you might as well perish with some digital company to lighten the mood. What Hopstad didn’t know then was that this would be the start of an even more difficult journey to make connections with other people./news/the-ultimate-vr-headset-buyer-s-guide.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-ultimate-vr-headset-buyer-s-guide.htmlDesign High End The absolute best-quality VR experiences can’t be powered by a mobile phone. The Oculus Rift, Valve and HTC’s Vive, and Sony PlayStation VR — the three high-end headsets we’re currently waiting for — all run off external computers or game consoles. This means that they can offer sophisticated features like motion tracking, high-resolution screens, and the best graphics possible. They’re also generally more comfortable, better at blocking outside light, and less prone to inducing motion sickness./news/the-women-who-sell-nudes-on-patreon.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-women-who-sell-nudes-on-patreon.htmlFor $5 a month, Stephanie Michelle will let you follow her private Snapchat account. She promises you’ll see her hanging out with friends in Los Angeles, making goofy faces at the camera, or just loafing around watching anime. And if she’s at home: “I'm usually just wearing either underwear or some tight little tank top or nothing at all.” This is the first reward tier for Michelle’s Patreon account, where she’s “creating naughty cosplay content./news/there-s-no-app-for-that.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/there-s-no-app-for-that.htmlThere’s no app for that. A smartphone without apps — that’s the idea behind a device Brain.ai and Deutsche Telekom plan to announce at Mobile World Congress. Brain.ai is the startup behind an iOS app called Natural that uses AI to create a central interface for various shopping, travel, and food delivery apps. This latest concept seems similar, except it’s a whole phone. Ambitious! We’ll look out for it at MWC./news/this-bizarre-chair-boggles-the-brain.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-bizarre-chair-boggles-the-brain.htmlIt started with a tweet from Roadshow editor-in-chief Tim Stevens. A picture of a chair that seemed to effortlessly skim the line between office chair, La-Z-Boy recliner, and Victorian throne. An utter affront to design, taste, and style. The tweet first crossed my timeline yesterday, and my mind has been consumed for the past 24 hours by the very existence of this chair. Why does it exist? Has anyone actually bought one?/news/this-game-boy-looking-phone-stand-is-why-magsafe-is-good.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-game-boy-looking-phone-stand-is-why-magsafe-is-good.htmlMagSafe isn’t a particularly controversial standard, but I’ve heard people grumble about it. They get upset because it doesn’t charge quite as efficiently as an old-fashioned cable and they get annoyed that any phone case needs to be MagSafe-compatible. But could charging by cable provide you with something as stupidly fun as this new phone stand from Elago? The Elago MagSafe MS W5 Charging Stand is a mouthful of a name for what’s just a Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP shaped MagSafe stand./news/this-is-how-the-surprise-pop-star-of-the-summer-was-created.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-is-how-the-surprise-pop-star-of-the-summer-was-created.htmlRyn Weaver's "OctaHate" has quickly grown into the surprise pop hit of the summer, racking up well over 600,000 listens on SoundCloud in just the week since it was released. It's a surprise because, despite just how radio-ready her song his, you've probably never heard of Weaver. She's published a few tracks on SoundCloud before this, but by and large she's gone unnoticed. Charli XCX and Passion Pit's frontman help build a star/news/three-things-that-will-never-be-the-same-after-the-iphone-x.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/three-things-that-will-never-be-the-same-after-the-iphone-x.htmlIf you listen to Apple’s inflationary marketing spiel, every time the company launches a new iPhone, it “changes everything.” The prosaic truth, however, is that most iPhone releases aren’t all that revolutionary. Apple, like everyone else, sometimes takes multiple iterations to complete its most ambitious goals. But as we face up to the culmination of another year of hyped-up iPhone speculation, I do see three particular ways in which the new iPhone X flagship will indeed be the harbinger of massive and irrevocable change./news/two-year-phone-contracts-are-now-dead-at-all-major-us-carriers.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/two-year-phone-contracts-are-now-dead-at-all-major-us-carriers.htmlThe two-year phone contract is dead. Sprint confirmed to The Verge this morning that it is no longer offering two-year contracts on phones, meaning that all four major US carriers — Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint — now only sell phones at full price and on installment plans. Though it means having one fewer option to buy a phone, the transition over to installment plans has been good news for those who want more flexibility and transparency in their phone service./news/usb-c-is-about-to-go-from-100w-to-240w-enough-to-power-beefier-laptops.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/usb-c-is-about-to-go-from-100w-to-240w-enough-to-power-beefier-laptops.htmlSoon, the majority of portable PCs won’t need to be equipped with an ugly barrel jack and a proprietary power brick to charge. The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) has just announced (via CNET) that it’s more than doubling the amount of power you can send over a USB-C cable to 240 watts, which means you’ll eventually be able to plug in the same kind of multipurpose USB-C cable you currently use on lightweight laptops, tablets, and phones to charge all but the beefiest gaming laptops./news/vampire-survivors-the-definitive-made-up-italian-american-backstory.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/vampire-survivors-the-definitive-made-up-italian-american-backstory.htmlI was floored as soon as I got to the main menu of Vampire Survivors. I knew this hot indie darling sounded up my alley when I heard it described as a reverse-bullet hell blended with a roguelike, but I was not prepared for it to hit so close to home. While the main menu looks low-rent and the Castlevania-inspired aesthetics seems at first like a poor imitation, what stopped me in my tracks was the starting character./news/verizon-4g-lte-is-down-nationwide-outage-confirmed-update.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/verizon-4g-lte-is-down-nationwide-outage-confirmed-update.htmlIs your Verizon LTE device not providing the landline-pacing broadband speeds you'd expect? That could be because the carrier's 4G network is experiencing a nationwide outage at the moment. Verizon confirms that there's an issue with the service, and says engineers are working on it as we speak, but says the problems are limited to the LTE network — calls, texts and 3G should be just fine for the time being./news/watch-nasa-s-360-degree-mars-landing-broadcast-from-the-best-seat-in-the-house.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/watch-nasa-s-360-degree-mars-landing-broadcast-from-the-best-seat-in-the-house.htmlNASA landed a rover on Mars today, and if you’re looking for a different perspective than the traditional live stream, the space agency also provided the scene from inside Mission Control — in an immersive 360 degrees. You can look around to watch people as they go about their work, but there are also big virtual screens displaying multiple other views, including NASA’s other live stream. It might be the best way to experience the landing because you’ll get it all simultaneously./news/what-s-that-weird-speck-in-my-eclipse-photo.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/what-s-that-weird-speck-in-my-eclipse-photo.htmlMaybe you didn’t plan ahead for the eclipse and found yourself in the same situation I did: unprepared. I expected to be traveling on Monday, so when I found myself under the clear Boston sky as the Moon began to move in front of the Sun, I had no eclipse glasses, no supplies to make a pinhole projector, and no decent camera. All I had was my iPhone SE in its grubby plastic case./news/why-beat-saber-is-my-game-of-the-year.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/why-beat-saber-is-my-game-of-the-year.html2018 has been a good year for video games. From blockbuster epics to smaller indie experiences to inventive takes on VR, the breadth and variety of games that came out over the last 12 months is astounding. To celebrate, Verge staff members are writing essays on their own personal favorite games, and what made them stand out above the crowd. I’m about to tell you about my favorite game of 2018, Beat Saber — even though I’m a little worried it will ruin my favorite part./news/will-the-xbox-series-s-hold-back-next-gen-gaming.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/will-the-xbox-series-s-hold-back-next-gen-gaming.htmlMicrosoft revealed its Xbox Series S console last week, aiming to offer more budget-friendly next-gen gaming for $299. The console is specifically targeted at 1440p resolution rather than 4K, leading to some lingering questions and confusion around just how well it will play next-gen games. There are concerns around the GPU performance, memory, and whether the Series S could hold back next-gen gaming. I got a chance to speak with Jason Ronald, Microsoft’s director of Xbox program management, to dig into what’s really going on with the Xbox Series S./news/windows-rt-8-1-preview-all-the-additions-you-d-expect-but-no-desktop-removal.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/windows-rt-8-1-preview-all-the-additions-you-d-expect-but-no-desktop-removal.htmlWindows RT was largely unmentioned during Microsoft's Build opening keynote on Wednesday, but the company is also releasing a preview version of Windows RT 8.1 this week. Designed to update ARM-based tablets to the same features that Windows 8.1 provides, there's little difference between the two. I got the chance to run Windows RT 8.1 on a Surface RT and see exactly what Microsoft has improved. First things first, the desktop mode remains./news/winrar-patches-19-year-old-security-bug-that-put-millions-at-risk.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/winrar-patches-19-year-old-security-bug-that-put-millions-at-risk.htmlWinRAR has patched a 19-year-old security vulnerability that allowed attackers to extract malicious software to anywhere on your hard drive. The vulnerability was discovered by researchers at Check Point Software Technologies, who realised that WinRAR’s support for the effectively defunct ACE archive format meant that it was still relying on an insecure and dated DLL file from 2006. The researchers have compiled a lengthy blog post explaining how they discovered the bug, but a short video tells you everything you need to know about how it works./news/wyze-s-50-outdoor-camera-has-up-to-six-months-of-battery-life.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/wyze-s-50-outdoor-camera-has-up-to-six-months-of-battery-life.htmlWyze’s first outdoor camera — the appropriately titled Wyze Cam Outdoor — is a battery-powered, water-resistant, Wi-Fi security camera designed to be used outside. It costs $49.99 for a starter bundle, including the camera and a base station, or $39.99 for each additional camera. There’s also an offline travel mode that allows the Cam Outdoor to monitor your hotel room, for example. The camera is available in what Wyze is calling “early access” starting today with deliveries expected in mid-July./news/you-can-watch-almost-all-of-moana-s-big-musical-numbers-on-youtube.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/you-can-watch-almost-all-of-moana-s-big-musical-numbers-on-youtube.htmlI have a confession to make: I haven’t seen Moana yet. According to my colleague Tasha Robinson, it’s really good, and what I’ve heard so far of the soundtrack sounds great, but I just haven’t had the spare time to get to a theater (okay, that’s also not entirely true, but it was super cold last weekend and I didn’t want to go outside). But fortunately for busy (read: lazy) people like me, Disney has seen fit to upload almost every single major musical number from Moana to YouTube./news/youtube-tv-is-testing-significant-picture-quality-improvements.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/youtube-tv-is-testing-significant-picture-quality-improvements.htmlConsidering how much it costs, YouTube TV is sometimes knocked by customers for offering only so-so picture quality. This can vary depending on your location or the specific feed that YouTube TV is serving you, but if you scan the YouTube TV subreddit, you’ll see picture quality as a common grievance. It wasn’t always this way. Now, the company is doing something about it — for certain content, at least. In a post to the aforementioned Reddit community yesterday, YouTube TV shared details on recent (and upcoming) enhancements to the app./news/youtube-will-ask-commenters-to-rethink-posting-if-their-message-seems-offensive.htmlFri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/youtube-will-ask-commenters-to-rethink-posting-if-their-message-seems-offensive.htmlYouTube is trying to combat offensive comments that appear under videos by following in the footsteps of other social media companies and asking people before they post something that may be offensive: “Is this something you really want to share?” The company is launching a new product feature that will warn people when they’re going to post a comment that it “may be offensive to others,” in order to give them “the option to reflect before posting,” according to a new blog post./news/first-click-don-t-fear-gmail-s-priority-inbox-it-could-change-your-life.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/first-click-don-t-fear-gmail-s-priority-inbox-it-could-change-your-life.htmlIt happened in stealth. Hell, it happened so slowly that it took me three years to notice. But Gmail’s Priority Inbox quietly changed my professional life for the better. Google announced Priority Inbox in beta way back in August of 2010. At the time, I was unwilling to relinquish so much control over something so vital to an “experimental” new email feature. I was an expert email user, after all, confident in my workflow and the robust set of filters I had defined./news/the-beautiful-art-behind-the-paris-of-assassin-s-creed-unity.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-beautiful-art-behind-the-paris-of-assassin-s-creed-unity.htmlWhatever you think of Assassin's Creed: Unity as a game, there's one undeniable fact: its rendition of French Revolution-era Paris is gorgeous. The team at Ubisoft Montreal built a city that feels both big and dense, filled with packed cobblestone streets and impressively detailed buildings. There's nothing quite like scaling a giant, gothic church and scanning the Parisian skyline from up high. Not every aspect is historically accurate, but the idea was to make Paris the way it appeared in your brain./news/the-sex-factor-is-a-porn-reality-show-straight-out-of-the-early-2000s.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-sex-factor-is-a-porn-reality-show-straight-out-of-the-early-2000s.htmlFor better or for worse, the show I was tapped for never came to fruition. But it's not a shock to see that, elsewhere in the world, another aspiring producer had a similar idea, one that — after years of development and delay — has resulted in The Sex Factor, an XHamster-backed web series where 16 would-be porn performers compete to prove their XXX prowess and potentially win $1 million./news/this-cuddly-japanese-robot-bear-could-be-the-future-of-elderly-care.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-cuddly-japanese-robot-bear-could-be-the-future-of-elderly-care.htmlDeep in the bowels of a secluded facility outside the central Japanese city of Nagoya, a team of dedicated researchers has been working on a monster. It’s a primal, animalistic robot that uses advanced technology to power its intelligent vision, flexible movement, and giant arms strong enough to lift a human right off the ground. It could have profound implications for the relationship between man and machine. But perhaps most importantly, it is very cute./news/1password-now-lets-you-manage-family-accounts-in-its-apps.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/1password-now-lets-you-manage-family-accounts-in-its-apps.htmlAfter years of having to manage 1Password user accounts on the web alone, the company is finally bringing family account management to the app itself. Beginning Tuesday, administrators (otherwise known as “Family Organizers”) can manage the user accounts connected to a 1Password Family membership from the company’s macOS, Windows, Linux, and Android apps instead of having to log in to the website, the company announced in a blog post. The new feature will be coming to the company’s iOS app “later this week./news/a-heartfelt-farewell-from-dieter-bohn.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/a-heartfelt-farewell-from-dieter-bohn.htmlTen years after we founded it, The Verge continues to be the best place to discover the import and impact of technology’s place in our culture — but after today, the team will be doing that without me. After 20 years in media, I’ve decided it’s time to do something new. If you’ve been a Vergecast listener, you know that disclosure is our brand, so here’s mine: I’m headed to Google to work on the Platforms & Ecosystems team./news/amazon-kindle-fire-hdx-review-8-9-inch.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-kindle-fire-hdx-review-8-9-inch.htmlSoftware and performanceAmazon's rainforest The HDX 8.9 runs Amazon’s new Fire OS 3.0, and it’s a noticeable improvement over Amazon’s earlier software attempts. But it still feels like it’s just a portal to Amazon’s content and retail stores, rather than a fully fledged mobile operating system. Fire OS 3.0 is based on Android 4.2, but you wouldn’t know it: Amazon’s signature carousel of recent apps, books, documents, games, videos, and whatever else takes the place of any home-screen widgets./news/amazon-says-it-mitigated-the-largest-ddos-attack-ever-recorded.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/amazon-says-it-mitigated-the-largest-ddos-attack-ever-recorded.htmlAmazon Web Services recently had to defend against a DDoS attack with a peak traffic volume of 2.3 Tbps, the largest ever recorded, ZDNet reports. Detailing the attack in its Q1 2020 threat report, Amazon said that the attack occurred back in February, and was mitigated by AWS Shield, a service designed to protect customers of Amazon’s on-demand cloud computing platform from DDoS attacks, as well as from bad bots and application vulnerabilities./news/android-101-how-to-organize-your-homescreen.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/android-101-how-to-organize-your-homescreen.htmlIf you’ve had an Android phone for any length of time, it’s easy to get used to living with, well, chaos. If you’re anything like me, you’re constantly adding new apps, deciding they’re okay but not great, adding another, and so on. Then, a few months later, as you’re scrolling through your app drawer, you’re surprised to see several apps that you forgot about and perhaps don’t even remember what they’re used for./news/another-company-has-stopped-working-on-smart-contact-lenses.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/another-company-has-stopped-working-on-smart-contact-lenses.htmlOne of the companies working on smart contact lenses is calling the project off. On Friday, Mojo Vision announced that it’s going to “pivot its business and focus its resources” on the MicroLED display tech it built during its work on the Mojo Lens (via Axios). Unfortunately, part of the pivot includes laying off around 75 percent of its workers as it restructures, according to a news post from the company’s CEO, Drew Perkins./news/apefest-nft-event-eye-and-skin-injuries-likely-caused-by-uv-lights.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apefest-nft-event-eye-and-skin-injuries-likely-caused-by-uv-lights.htmlApeFest NFT event eye and skin injuries likely caused by UV lights. The Bored Ape Yacht Club has concluded its investigation into what caused at least 15 convention attendees to suffer eye pain, vision problems, and sunburnt skin during ApeFest 2023, determining that UV-A emitting lights were likely behind the injuries. A similar situation was reported in 2017 after specialist lights used for disinfection were incorrectly installed during a Hypebeast event./news/apple-imac-review-mid-2011.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-imac-review-mid-2011.htmlHard to believe it's only been 10 months since the last iMac update, but Apple's venerable desktop needed a quick bump to stay current with Intel's Sandy Bridge processors and the Thunderbolt interconnect. So here we are, looking at the $1,999 27-inch 3.1GHz Core i5 iMac, which is the fastest stock configuration. (There's a 3.4GHz Core i7 available build-to-order, but we wanted what you could buy in a store today.) In addition to the new processor and Thunderbolt, Apple also bumped the graphics card to an ATI Radeon HD 6970M, which the company claims offers three times the performance of the outgoing model, added a 720p FaceTime HD webcam, and tucked an ambient light sensor into the case for automatic brightness adjustments./news/apple-tvs-with-tvos-17-will-get-native-vpn-support.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-tvs-with-tvos-17-will-get-native-vpn-support.htmlApple TVs will get native VPN app support in tvOS 17, according to an Apple press release (via 9to5Mac). It’s one of many features that didn’t make it into the keynote at WWDC 2023, but it could be a big deal for some folks. Assuming native VPN apps on Apple’s streaming box work as they do elsewhere, you might not have to wait to get home to catch up on streaming shows when traveling with an Apple TV 4K in tow./news/apple-watch-se-2022-review-a-gateway-smartwatch.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-watch-se-2022-review-a-gateway-smartwatch.htmlWhen I reviewed the original Apple Watch SE in 2020, I was certain it was the best option for most people. In fact, my SE review was titled, “Just get the Apple Watch SE.” Back then, the always-on display was relatively new, the bigger screen with thinner bezels hadn’t arrived yet, and advanced features like EKG and blood oxygen monitoring weren’t need-to-haves for most people. (They still aren’t.) But things have changed since then./news/apple-watch-series-8-vs-watch-ultra-vs-series-7-vs-se-comparison.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-watch-series-8-vs-watch-ultra-vs-series-7-vs-se-comparison.htmlStarting price$399$799$249$399ProcessorS8 with 64-bit dual-core processorS8 with 64-bit dual-core processorS8 with 64-bit dual-core processorS7 with 64-bit dual-core processorwatchOS versionwatchOS 9watchOS 9watchOS 9watchOS 8 (update to watchOS 9 on September 12th)Water resistanceWater resistant up to 50 metersWater resistant up to 100 metersWater resistant up to 50 metersWater resistant up to 50 metersDust resistanceIP6X-ratedIP6X-ratedNot ratedIP6X-ratedConnectivityWi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth 5.0Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth 5.3Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth 5.0Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth 5.0Case materialAluminum, stainless steelTitaniumAluminumAluminum, stainless steelWeight (grams)41mm: 32g (aluminum) 42./news/apple-will-bring-live-captions-to-the-iphone-ipad-and-mac-and-more-gesture-control-on-apple-watch.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-will-bring-live-captions-to-the-iphone-ipad-and-mac-and-more-gesture-control-on-apple-watch.htmlOn Tuesday morning, Apple announced a new wave of accessibility features for its various computing platforms, which are set to roll out later this year as software updates for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. Apple said it will beta test Live Captions that can transcribe any audio content — FaceTime calls, video conferencing apps (with auto attribution to identify the speaker), streaming video, or in-person conversations — in English across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac./news/apple-airfoil-speakers-touch-pulled-from-ios-app-store-for-using-non-public-apis-update.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-airfoil-speakers-touch-pulled-from-ios-app-store-for-using-non-public-apis-update.htmlThere seems to be something of a communications problem with Apple. They have been unable to tell us which specific API they believe we are misusing. As we've stated, we've implemented Airfoil Speakers Touch using only publicly-available API, and in full accordance with the developer agreement. When they spoke to us earlier this week, Apple used the same line they've now repeated to the press: "Apps that use non-public APIs will be rejected"/news/apple-s-airpods-max-have-dropped-below-400-for-the-first-time.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/apple-s-airpods-max-have-dropped-below-400-for-the-first-time.htmlThe high-end pricing on Apple’s first-gen products never ceases to amaze me — just look at the $3,500 Apple Vision Pro or its $5,000 display. The AirPods Max were also probably a bit more expensive than they should have been at their $549 launch price, but that’s relatively tame compared to the competition Apple is targeting with its luxe noise-canceling headphones. Thankfully, they’re now down to $398 ($151 off) in select colors at Amazon and Walmart, which is a record low./news/aquatic-asmr-the-verge.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/aquatic-asmr-the-verge.htmlAquatic ASMR. Nintendo revealed that a new Endless Ocean was in development earlier this year, and the latest trailer is the chillest thing I’ve seen in a long time. Just three minutes of soothing ocean views and soundscapes. The game itself is launching on the Switch on May 2nd. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfaXx2e5FtaGtpaGyEcK3QrpitoZNirrS50Q%3D%3D/news/at-t-and-sprint-announce-iphone-8-discounts-with-a-lot-of-strings-attached.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/at-t-and-sprint-announce-iphone-8-discounts-with-a-lot-of-strings-attached.htmlAT&T and Sprint are the first two carriers to announce discounts on the iPhone 8. They’re two pretty different deals, and they both have their perks and limitations. First up is AT&T, which has a buy one, get one offer on the 8 and 8 Plus. There are a couple catches here: the first, and biggest, is that you have to be a DirecTV or U-Verse customer to qualify. If you are (or you decide to sign up for TV service), then you’ll be able to get a second iPhone at no additional cost, but only so long as you buy the phones through AT&T’s leasing program and maintain service for both of them, essentially locking you in to the carrier for two years./news/at-t-tries-pushing-customers-to-new-wireless-plans-with-price-hikes-on-old-ones.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/at-t-tries-pushing-customers-to-new-wireless-plans-with-price-hikes-on-old-ones.htmlIn a bid to push people to its newer plans, AT&T is raising the price of some of its older Unlimited and Mobile Share plans. Single-line users will see up to a $6 a month increase, and people with family plans could have up to $12 a month added to their bills, according to Bloomberg. In a statement to The Verge, AT&T spokesperson Seth Bloom said, “we are encouraging our customers to explore our newer plans which offer many additional features, more flexibility for each line on their account and, in many cases, a lower monthly cost./news/beats-may-have-been-working-on-a-sonos-competitor-before-apple-killed-it.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/beats-may-have-been-working-on-a-sonos-competitor-before-apple-killed-it.htmlBeats wanted to fill your home with wireless speakers that hooked directly into its music streaming service, but the plan was either scrapped or put on an extended hiatus after Apple bought the company, according to Variety. Beats had reportedly planned on releasing an large wireless speaker for the living room late last year and then following that up with smaller speakers for the kitchen and bedroom. The plan would have put it in an expanding and valuable market, directly in competition with Sonos — which expects to do $1 billion in sales this year — as well as the many other companies eager to get in on it, including Samsung./news/best-buy-is-holding-midnight-openings-at-350-stores-for-the-playstation-vr.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/best-buy-is-holding-midnight-openings-at-350-stores-for-the-playstation-vr.htmlSony's PlayStation VR is going on sale October 13th, and for fans who need to start playing on launch day, Best Buy might be your best bet. Some 350 Best Buy stores will be holding a midnight launch on the 13th, opening their doors at 12:01AM ET. Thanks to the wonders of time zones, that means some customers will even be able to get the PlayStation VR on October 12th — starting at 9:01PM on the West Coast, 10:01PM Mountain time, and 11:01PM Central./news/build-an-rgb-gaming-pc-for-under-100.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/build-an-rgb-gaming-pc-for-under-100.htmlBuild an RGB gaming PC for under $100. I kinda love this not-Lego-brick model gaming rig, complete with build-it-yourself components including motherboard, RAM, “GeForce RTX” graphics card, power supply, and two SSDs. And RGB lighting, obviously. There’s also a 90’s beige box PC kit with a tiny brick floppy drive and CD-ROM drive, as well as a little keyboard and mouse. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfaHxyhI5ra2poZWd%2Bd3vBrqClnF2Wu26%2BxptkoJmdnruoec%2BcZJ%2BnomLCr7DEq2RqaGA%3D/news/burnout-paradise-was-ahead-of-its-time-and-the-new-remaster-feels-timeless.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/burnout-paradise-was-ahead-of-its-time-and-the-new-remaster-feels-timeless.htmlWhen Burnout Paradise first launched in 2008, the development team had an idea of the kind of audience it would attract. Previous entries in the series were focused on arcade-style challenges, where players would attempt to crash cars with pinpoint precision. But for Paradise, the team moved in a slightly different direction, spreading out a huge range of challenges across a vast, open world. They expected players would really dig into the hardcore racing aspects, battling against each other in online races and competing in the ranked progression system./news/cadillac-s-bespoke-celestiq-ev-will-cost-340-000.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/cadillac-s-bespoke-celestiq-ev-will-cost-340-000.htmlCadillac’s attempt to dethrone Rolls-Royce as the top dog in ultra-luxury vehicles now has its own price tag. The 2024 Cadillac Celestiq, the automaker’s bespoke, customizable, electric fastback sedan, will start — start! — at $340,000. And that’s before all the pricy options and add-ons that one may consider, meaning the Celestiq will very likely sell for beyond $400,000 in most cases. Hey, if you want to challenge Rolls-Royce, you best come with Rolls-Royce-level prices!/news/cartoon-network-is-working-on-an-app-with-15-second-shows.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/cartoon-network-is-working-on-an-app-with-15-second-shows.htmlSmartphones have fostered short attention spans for years, and now Cartoon Network plans to take advantage of that with a new app designed to deliver entertainment in extremely short bursts. Later this year, the company will release Cartoon Network Anything, an app with 15-second videos, games, and other tiny chunks of entertainment, reports The New York Times. The free app won't be tied to any cable service provider, says Cartoon Network Digital's vice president Chris Waldron, who added that the company views it as a proving ground for new content that might be deserving of a longer-form production./news/celebrate-five-years-of-persona-5-with-this-new-ep-release.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/celebrate-five-years-of-persona-5-with-this-new-ep-release.htmlIf there’s one thing fans of Atlus’ RPG series Persona always want, it’s more Persona. Thankfully for them, Arizona-based musician and video game music producer Sean Schafianski is today releasing a five-song EP of Persona 5 songs to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the game’s worldwide launch. The collection of songs from Shoji Meguro’s soundtrack is titled The Mementos Sessions: Music from Persona 5, and it features around 19 minutes of 1970s-inspired funk arrangements performed by a variety of session players and vocalists./news/christopher-moot-poole-on-gamergate-and-the-future-of-4chan.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/christopher-moot-poole-on-gamergate-and-the-future-of-4chan.htmlYesterday, 4chan founder Christopher "moot" Poole announced he was selling the infamous anonymous message board to Hiroyuki Nishimura, the man whose 2channel message board had inspired 4chan's creation. Over the past 12 years, 4chan has fostered many of the central groups and images of web culture, alongside damaging harassment campaigns and pockets of neo-Nazism. We talked with Poole about what he'll do after 4chan, and where the site will go without him./news/converse-s-upcoming-d-d-collection-rolls-with-retro-roleplayers.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/converse-s-upcoming-d-d-collection-rolls-with-retro-roleplayers.htmlDungeons & Dragons has a bunch of brand collaborations lined up to celebrate the game’s 50th anniversary, but its partnership with Converse is especially neat for old-school players. Converse is releasing a limited edition collection of D&D-themed shoes and apparel next month, most of which has been designed around elements from the earliest versions of the game. The collection includes several Chuck Taylor All Stars and Chuck 70 iterations that feature illustrations and other assets from D&D’s very first edition, back when it was just called Advanced Dungeons & Dragons./news/corsair-k70-pro-mini-wireless-review-a-compact-feature-rich-gaming-keyboard.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/corsair-k70-pro-mini-wireless-review-a-compact-feature-rich-gaming-keyboard.htmlOne of the core appeals of mechanical keyboards is their customizability. With the right keyboard, there’s an almost infinite amount of parts to upgrade, swap out, or customize to get a keyboard that precisely suits your needs. There’s obviously nothing wrong with using a keyboard exactly as it comes out of the box, but sometimes it’s just plain fun to tinker. Hot-swappable keyboard switches take this customizability a step further. Rather than having each key’s switch soldered to the board (meaning you have to whip out a soldering iron to change it), hot-swappable switches can be removed with a simple pulling tool./news/crunchyroll-is-about-to-get-a-little-more-expensive.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/crunchyroll-is-about-to-get-a-little-more-expensive.htmlWhile Crunchyroll’s monthly prices haven’t jumped in five years, Sony is getting ready to change that for subscribers in a handful of countries. Crunchyroll announced today that the prices for its Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan streaming subscription tiers are going up as a result of “the company’s investment in more anime, additional services like music and games, and additional subscriber benefits.” While the basic Crunchyroll Premium will continue to cost $7./news/death-stranding-2-s-new-trailer-is-delightfully-disturbing.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/death-stranding-2-s-new-trailer-is-delightfully-disturbing.htmlThe sequel to Death Stranding is shaping up to be just as strange as the original. At its State of Play showcase today, Sony showed off a new trailer for the game that... starts out with a particularly disturbing bit of surgery. The lengthy clip features a whole bunch of new locations outside of the US, as well as the return of a villain who has been given a Joker-esque makeover./news/dell-unveils-the-first-49-inch-ultra-wide-monitor-with-qhd-resolution.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/dell-unveils-the-first-49-inch-ultra-wide-monitor-with-qhd-resolution.htmlThe Dell UltraSharp U4919DW is the first QHD 49-inch ultra-wide monitor on the market, and it has me more excited about monitors than I’ve been in a while. Other ultra-wide displays with a 32:9 screen ratio only have a 1080p vertical resolution. The result is a wide, but short user interface. But in Dell’s case, the solution is more pixels and a better viewing angle. Here’s what is so different about the U4919DW compared to other 32:9 ultra-wide monitors: it’s a dual QHD monitor with a resolution of 5120 x 1440 pixels./news/dell-xps-13-2019-review-the-right-stuff-refined.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/dell-xps-13-2019-review-the-right-stuff-refined.htmlThe camera is in the right place on the new Dell XPS 13. That may seem like a small thing, but to people who have used this laptop in the past it’s the main thing. It’s the main thing because that seemingly minor complaint was the only real knock on an otherwise excellent laptop. Now that the webcam is above the screen instead of below it, I don’t have to talk about the XPS 13 as an “otherwise excellent” laptop./news/designers-spend-months-making-custom-keycaps-then-the-counterfeits-arrive.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/designers-spend-months-making-custom-keycaps-then-the-counterfeits-arrive.htmlOlivia Briggs was almost flattered the first time she saw her keycap designs imitated by another manufacturer.  “At first I was actually very excited,” Briggs tells me over a video call. “I had that ‘made it’ feeling. Like ‘wow, my thing is popular enough that other people want to produce it!’” It was a nice change from when the New York-based designer produced her first set of keycaps and feared that “no one” would be interested in them./news/devolver-digital-s-showcase-featured-just-four-games-but-they-look-like-good-ones.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/devolver-digital-s-showcase-featured-just-four-games-but-they-look-like-good-ones.htmlDevolver Digital shared details and trailers about some projects in development during its latest showcase on Thursday. However, much of the presentation revolved around a tongue-in-cheek mascot, “Volvy,” a fictionalized history of the mascot’s impact on gaming culture, and the “return” of the character as a robot (VOLV-E). It was weird, but that’s kind of Devolver’s thing for its presentations. You can watch the whole 22-minute show right here or catch up on the four featured games below (well, in addition to everything involving Volvy):/news/discord-shuts-down-more-neo-nazi-alt-right-servers.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/discord-shuts-down-more-neo-nazi-alt-right-servers.htmlDiscord has recently shut down several notable alt-right, white nationalist servers as it attempts to purge toxic content, as reported by Polygon. The affected servers include the neo-Nazi terrorist group Atomwaffen Division, Nordic Resistance Movement, Iron March, and European Domas. “Discord has a Terms of Service (ToS) and Community Guidelines that we ask all of our communities and users to adhere to,” a Discord representative told Polygon. “These specifically prohibit harassment, threatening messages, or calls to violence./news/dji-quietly-discontinues-its-drone-detecting-aeroscope-system.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/dji-quietly-discontinues-its-drone-detecting-aeroscope-system.htmlYou can close out of the notification and view the entirety of AeroScope’s product page, which still has an order form for DJI dealers at the bottom. The China-based DJI hasn’t formally announced the discontinuation of the product, and it’s still not clear whether existing AeroScope devices will lose functionality, or if the platform’s going away forever. According to UAV Hive, rumors indicate that DJI’s working on a second version of the receiver, however, DJI didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for more information./news/e-bikes-are-coming-back-to-san-francisco-after-lyft-resolves-issues-with-battery-fires.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/e-bikes-are-coming-back-to-san-francisco-after-lyft-resolves-issues-with-battery-fires.htmlLyft is bringing its rentable, pedal-assist electric bikes back to San Francisco five months after several battery fires forced the company to pull them from service. The e-bikes were only in service for two months when Lyft pulled a thousand of them from service to investigate a handful of reported battery fires. The bikes were also pulled from San Jose and Oakland. Lyft had previously been forced to ground its fleet of e-bikes in New York and Washington, DC after a braking malfunction injured several riders./news/ecobee-is-shutting-off-support-for-its-oldest-smart-thermostats.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ecobee-is-shutting-off-support-for-its-oldest-smart-thermostats.htmlEcobee is discontinuing support for the very first smart thermostat. As of July 31st, 2024, the Ecobee Smart Thermostat and the Ecobee Energy Management System (EMS) thermostats will no longer be able to be controlled remotely or use any smart integrations. Basically, anything that requires an internet connection will stop working. They will still continue to control your HVAC in the same way a non-smart device does — by you controlling it on the device./news/epic-is-changing-unreal-engine-s-pricing-for-non-game-developers.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/epic-is-changing-unreal-engine-s-pricing-for-non-game-developers.htmlFortnite developer Epic Games is changing the way it charges people who use its creation tool Unreal Engine sometime next year — but only for a subset of users, according to CEO Tim Sweeney (via Game From Scratch). Game developers using Unreal Engine won’t be affected and will continue to pay for a license based on a royalty model. However, users in industries like film or automotive will be moved to per-seat pricing, meaning they’ll be charged for the subscription the same way someone might pay for Photoshop./news/facebook-is-giving-up-on-brain-typing-as-an-ar-glasses-interface.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/facebook-is-giving-up-on-brain-typing-as-an-ar-glasses-interface.htmlA Facebook-backed initiative aiming to let people type by thinking has concluded with new findings published today. Project Steno was a multi-year collaboration between Facebook and the University of California San Francisco’s Chang Lab, aiming to create a system that translates brain activity into words. A new research paper, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, shows potential for implementing the technology for people with speech impairments. But alongside the research, Facebook made clear it is backing off the idea of a commercial head-mounted brain-reading device, and building out wrist-worn interfaces instead./news/facebook-twitter-and-google-must-remove-disinformation-beto-o-rourke-demands.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/facebook-twitter-and-google-must-remove-disinformation-beto-o-rourke-demands.htmlDemocratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke’s campaign is demanding that Facebook, Twitter, and Google more aggressively counter disinformation on their platforms. In letters addressed to the companies Friday, O’Rourke’s team outlines how they believe each of them could address the issue after his campaign was falsely linked to a suspected shooter on social media last weekend. That attack occurred in Odessa, Texas, killing seven people and leaving 25 injured. In the aftermath, bots worked to spread false information across social media with many claiming that the suspected shooter supported Beto O’Rourke./news/flexgate-might-be-apple-s-next-macbook-pro-problem.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/flexgate-might-be-apple-s-next-macbook-pro-problem.htmlApple might be in for another MacBook Pro hardware controversy. A report from iFixit highlights an issue with the laptop’s backlights failing, causing the lighting at the bottom of the screen to appear spotted and uneven. An enterprising user has already dubbed the problem “flexgate.” The issue seems to arise because of a cable that is used to connect the MacBook’s display to a control board in the base of the computer, iFixit explains./news/ford-refutes-report-that-it-will-announce-an-electric-car-with-200-mile-plus-range-this-year.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ford-refutes-report-that-it-will-announce-an-electric-car-with-200-mile-plus-range-this-year.htmlResponding to an Automobile Magazine report that Ford is prepping a mass-market electric car that will run over 200 miles between charges, Ford says they've got it all wrong: "We do not comment on speculation but can confirm these reports are not accurate," a spokesperson tells The Verge. By all appearances, the announcement — which would happen this year, Automobile had claimed — would go head-to-head with Chevy's Bolt and the upcoming Model 3 from Tesla, both of which are designed to hit the market well under $40,000./news/from-eliza-to-chatgpt-the-60-year-history-of-chatbots.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/from-eliza-to-chatgpt-the-60-year-history-of-chatbots.htmlPeople have been trying to talk to computers for almost as long as they’ve been building computers. For decades, many in tech have been convinced that this was the trick: if we could figure out a way to talk to our computers the way we talk to other people, and for computers to talk back the same way, it would make those computers easier to understand and operate, more accessible to everyone, and just more fun to use./news/ftc-v-microsoft-all-the-news-from-the-big-xbox-courtroom-battle.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ftc-v-microsoft-all-the-news-from-the-big-xbox-courtroom-battle.htmlMicrosoft responds to the FTC’s emergency motion. The FTC has filed an appeal over its loss of FTC v. Microsoft with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. It also wants an emergency injunction to temporarily block Microsoft from closing its Activision Blizzard deal until there’s a ruling on the appeal. Microsoft has now responded to the FTC’s motion, arguing that “the FTC’s claimed emergency is entirely of its own creation,” because the FTC didn’t seek an injunction through federal court until six weeks before the deal close./news/ftc-v-microsoft-all-the-news-from-the-big-xbox-courtroom-battle-page-3.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ftc-v-microsoft-all-the-news-from-the-big-xbox-courtroom-battle-page-3.htmlBethesda content first, better, or best on Xbox? We’re now hearing about a Jefferies investment meeting in November 2020 where Tim Stuart talks about not pulling Bethesda games. But the FTC reads out what he said: We want that content, in the long run, to be either first, or better, or best, and pick your differentiated experience on our platforms. We will want Bethesda content to show up the best on our platforms./news/gamemaker-ditches-subscription-model-for-indie-developers.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/gamemaker-ditches-subscription-model-for-indie-developers.htmlStarting today, GameMaker will be free to use for noncommercial, non-console projects, and the company is eliminating its indie / creator tier monthly subscription fee in favor of a one-time paid licensing fee of $99. Additionally, if you’re currently enrolled at the indie / creator tier and wish to pay the licensing fee, the subscription fees you’ve paid will be discounted from the price. Check out the FAQ page for details./news/giant-pandas-are-no-longer-endangered-but-still-vulnerable.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/giant-pandas-are-no-longer-endangered-but-still-vulnerable.htmlGiant pandas are no longer an endangered species; they’re now considered "vulnerable" to extinction. The new designation was announced over the weekend by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an environmental organization that keeps track of the conservation status of plants and animals, according to The New York Times. The status update is good news for the animals, but it doesn’t mean that pandas are safe. The IUCN says that in the next 80 years, climate change could destroy more than 35 percent of bamboo forests, where pandas live on a bamboo-only diet./news/given-what-happens-in-justice-league-what-was-the-point-of-superman-s-death.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/given-what-happens-in-justice-league-what-was-the-point-of-superman-s-death.html“Where is Superman?” “Where is Superman?” That question haunted Justice League’s marketing campaign, as millions of people (or possibly just me) obsessively wondered where the Man of Steel was in the film. Now that Justice League is here, we finally know the answer to that question, and it turns out that it’s simultaneously more and less interesting than we imagined. Spoilers for Game of Thrones season 5, Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Justice League follow./news/go-watch-this-stunning-fpv-drone-short-film-inside-a-bustling-bowling-alley.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/go-watch-this-stunning-fpv-drone-short-film-inside-a-bustling-bowling-alley.htmlIt’s been a while since most of us have been able to go to a bowling alley, but “Right Up Our Alley” is a new drone video that might just be the next best thing, thanks to an astonishing display of camera work and drone piloting skill, via Kottke. The video, from YouTuber jaybyrdfilms, doesn’t provide too many details, other than it was shot at Bryant Lake Bowl in Minneapolis, and it was filmed with an FPV drone./news/godzilla-x-kong-the-new-empire-review-almost-too-much-of-a-good-thing.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/godzilla-x-kong-the-new-empire-review-almost-too-much-of-a-good-thing.htmlBetween Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong, it felt like Legendary Pictures had worked out a solid plan to launch its interconnected Monsterverse of films into the stratosphere. By going big on spectacle and bringing so many of Toho’s classic kaiju together, the Monsterverse films captured the spirit of the Shōwa era. They stayed “true” to the franchise in a way that made them sit comfortably alongside Japanese films like Godzilla Minus One./news/google-co-founder-larry-page-is-secretly-building-flying-cars.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-co-founder-larry-page-is-secretly-building-flying-cars.htmlGoogle co-founder Larry Page has been personally funding a pair of startups devoted to creating flying cars, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. Page has reportedly funded one startup, named Zee.Aero, with more than $100 million since its creation in 2010, and putting money into another, named Kitty Hawk, since last year. His interest in the companies is a personal ambition, says Bloomberg, and he even retained an office at once of the company's headquarters, where he was referred to pseudonymously as GUS — the guy upstairs./news/google-hooked-14-robot-arms-together-so-they-can-help-each-other-learn.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-hooked-14-robot-arms-together-so-they-can-help-each-other-learn.htmlResearchers at Google are trying to help robots navigate the world as well as humans can, and that means a lot of practice. Research scientist Sergey Levine and his team took fourteen robotic arms, networked them together, and used convolutional neural networks to let these robots learn on their own how to pick up small objects like a cup, tape dispenser, and neon-green toy dolphin. Most one-year old babies can figure out how to grasp and pick up small objects, but the same task is incredibly difficult for machines to learn./news/google-is-bringing-its-own-vpn-to-desktops-and-phones-with-9-99-google-one-subscription.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-is-bringing-its-own-vpn-to-desktops-and-phones-with-9-99-google-one-subscription.htmlThere are any number of VPN services you can use to help protect your privacy and security with an encrypted internet connection, and now Google has its own. Well, technically, it already did, but only for Google Fi cellular subscribers on Android smartphones. Now, the company’s announcing it’ll throw in an Android-based VPN free of charge to any 2TB Google One cloud storage subscriber in the US — and will expand to iOS, Windows and Mac and other countries “in the coming months./news/google-maps-on-ios-gets-new-quick-access-menus-for-real-time-commuting-info.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-maps-on-ios-gets-new-quick-access-menus-for-real-time-commuting-info.htmlGoogle is updating Google Maps for iOS today with a new feature that adds a trio of “Explore,” “Driving,” and “Transit” menus to the bottom of the home screen in the app for quick access to local restaurants or commuting information. The feature was first launched on the Android version of the app a year ago, and the iOS update works much in the same way: the panes will display information on things like local ATMs, places to eat and drink, traffic times for commuting, and updated train or bus schedules for public transit./news/google-needs-to-give-the-pixel-8-more-os-upgrades.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-needs-to-give-the-pixel-8-more-os-upgrades.htmlIf this year’s I/O was any indication, we’re going to hear about AI a lot at next month’s Pixel 8 launch. AI for your videos, AI for your text to the babysitter, blah blah blah. Fine. But there’s something else I’m hoping to see in the next generation of Pixel phones, even if it’s not quite the attention-getting feature that AI is: four years of OS upgrades. Samsung does it. Xiaomi just announced it’s doing it./news/google-pixel-3-and-3-xl-announced-with-bigger-screens-and-best-cameras-yet.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-pixel-3-and-3-xl-announced-with-bigger-screens-and-best-cameras-yet.htmlGoogle just unveiled the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, its latest flagship Android smartphones. There was little left to “unveil” after months of leaked images and videos offered a comprehensive preview of both devices well ahead of the company’s press event today in New York. But after all that, today we’re finally getting the whole story on the new hardware and software features that are exclusive to the Pixel 3./news/google-pixel-8-launch-event-all-the-news-and-products.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-pixel-8-launch-event-all-the-news-and-products.htmlYou can now see Google’s entire official spec sheets for the new Pixels. Wi-Fi 7 is limited to the US, CA, UK, EU, and AU for now. For both phones, the “Beyond 24-hour battery life” claim is tested “across a mix of talk, data, standby, and use of other features. Average battery life during testing was approximately 31 hours.” Here’s Google’s spec comparison page, too. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2tfZn1wgI5ranFxZWuDcXvGqKagpJVivarExKVkcWWVq7KvwIynnLCrXae8trrDrqc%3D/news/google-will-shut-down-currents-the-work-focused-google-plus-replacement.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/google-will-shut-down-currents-the-work-focused-google-plus-replacement.htmlUpdate April 12th, 2023, 5PM ET: Google announced it will begin winding down Currents on July 5th, with data available for export until August 8th, 2023, when it will no longer be available. Google has announced that it’ll shut down Currents, which was introduced in 2019 as a replacement for Google Plus for G Suite. In a blog post, the company says it’s “planning to wind down” Currents, and that it’ll push the people who were using it to Spaces, which is sort of like Google Chat’s version of a Slack channel or Discord room./news/grubhub-now-lets-you-use-venmo-to-split-food-orders-inside-its-app.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/grubhub-now-lets-you-use-venmo-to-split-food-orders-inside-its-app.htmlGrubhub has come out with a Venmo integration, which it officially announced today. Now, you can use Venmo as a payment option inside Grubhub. The new integration also lets you split the bill for group food orders with Venmo. Users must have both Grubhub and Venmo installed for the feature to work. When users open Grubhub, they’ll be informed that they can now use Venmo inside the app. The new integration actually went live last week for some users, but it’s more broadly rolling out today./news/guillermo-del-toro-is-making-a-scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-movie.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/guillermo-del-toro-is-making-a-scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-movie.htmlGuillermo del Toro, the director of Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, and Crimson Peak, is developing a movie version of classic children's book trilogy Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Deadline reports that del Toro will produce the movie for CBS Films, based on the books written by Alvin Schwartz, and may potentially direct it too. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was first published in 1981, and famously illustrated its spooky tales with chilling images from artist Stephen Gammell, whose ethereal ink pictures impacted a generation and helped lead to the book becoming the most banned from placement by the American Library Association for being too terrifying./news/halloapp-is-a-private-ad-free-social-network-from-two-early-whatsapp-employees.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/halloapp-is-a-private-ad-free-social-network-from-two-early-whatsapp-employees.htmlTwo of the earliest employees behind WhatsApp have emerged with a new private social network called HalloApp. Starting Monday, anyone can download and sign up for HalloApp in Apple’s App Store and Google Play on Android devices. There are many parallels between HalloApp and WhatsApp: the app is designed for group or individual chats with close friends and family, the only way you can find people is by knowing their phone number, the messages are encrypted, and there are no ads./news/halo-infinite-s-creators-say-your-wildest-stunts-are-part-of-the-series-dna.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/halo-infinite-s-creators-say-your-wildest-stunts-are-part-of-the-series-dna.htmlOn Monday, a jaw-dropping Halo Infinite video kept showing up on my Twitter feed that looked like something out of a Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild speedrun. The video, from Australian YouTuber “Mint Blitz,” begins with Master Chief armed with a massive hammer behind a Warthog vehicle. In an impressive sequence taking place over a matter of seconds, Mint Blitz swings the hammer to send the Warthog flying while almost simultaneously using Master Chief’s new grappling hook on the vehicle to slingshot himself into the air like Spider-Man./news/here-s-that-2-2-million-bugatti-yacht-you-didn-t-know-you-needed.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/here-s-that-2-2-million-bugatti-yacht-you-didn-t-know-you-needed.htmlUltra-exotic car maker Bugatti doesn't currently have any cars in production, and it's months away from showing its next model — the Chiron — to the public. But that doesn't mean you can't buy Bugatti-branded stuff right now. Very expensive Bugatti-branded stuff, in fact. Meet the Niniette, a series of three luxe boats ranging from 42 to 88 feet in length made by yacht builder Palmer Johnson, which is licensing the Bugatti name./news/hidden-camera-in-a-bathroom-forces-plane-to-make-emergency-landing.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hidden-camera-in-a-bathroom-forces-plane-to-make-emergency-landing.htmlAn American Airlines flight between San Francisco and New York was forced to make an emergency landing in Kansas City on Sunday after a device was found "ominously taped" to a bathroom wall. The device was initially thought to be a flash drive, but after investigation, appears to be "a camera disguised as a flash drive." Update: Early reports suggested the device was a simple flash drive, rather than a camera disguised as a flash drive./news/high-on-life-review-a-hilarious-shooter-where-you-fire-bullets-and-jokes.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/high-on-life-review-a-hilarious-shooter-where-you-fire-bullets-and-jokes.htmlJustin Roiland’s comedy appears somewhat dividing: many absolutely love its absurdist, drawn-out weirdness, while others find it grating and annoying. It is most prominent in the popular Rick and Morty animated show Roiland created with Dan Harmon. If you are of the irritated camp, then High on Life, written by and starring Roiland, should be avoided like an alien plague. However, if you are fond of or can stand Roiland’s comedy, you will find a galactic first-person shooter that is as comfortable in its shooting mechanics as it is on delivering absurdist humor./news/honor-confirms-google-s-apps-will-return-to-its-phones-with-new-50-series.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/honor-confirms-google-s-apps-will-return-to-its-phones-with-new-50-series.htmlThe Honor 50 series will be able to ship with Google’s apps and services, Honor officially announced today as it launched the Honor 50 and Honor 50 Pro in China. In a statement, Honor says its phones will go through Google’s security review and that “Honor devices will therefore have the option to have Google Mobile Services (“GMS”) preinstalled on compatible devices, in accordance with Google’s licensing and governance models.”/news/how-an-insect-using-its-butt-to-flick-pee-droplets-could-keep-your-smartwatch-dry.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-an-insect-using-its-butt-to-flick-pee-droplets-could-keep-your-smartwatch-dry.htmlThe glassy-winged sharpshooter is an insect so impressive when it pees it could inspire more efficient designs for water-resistant devices. Saad Bhamla was in his vegetable garden in Atlanta, Georgia, when he first noticed the feat. The sharpshooter forms neat, round pee droplets that it flicks away with lightning speed. Bhamla, a Georgia Tech assistant professor of biomolecular engineering, whipped out his iPhone to take some slow-motion videos. “The more I zoomed in, the more I realized that it was doing something interesting,” Bhamla tells The Verge./news/how-nasa-is-updating-its-space-launch-system-hardware-ahead-of-the-artemis-2-mission.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-nasa-is-updating-its-space-launch-system-hardware-ahead-of-the-artemis-2-mission.htmlAfter several false starts, NASA finally launched its Artemis I mission in November last year. The big aim of the mission was to test out new hardware like the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft ahead of the crewed Artemis II mission.  Artemis II will be the first crewed launch using the new system and is currently scheduled for next year. This mission will see four astronauts travel into orbit around the Moon, making it the first crewed mission to travel out of low Earth orbit since 1972./news/how-nintendo-created-its-wild-new-cast-of-fighters-for-switch-game-arms.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-nintendo-created-its-wild-new-cast-of-fighters-for-switch-game-arms.htmlWhen the developers at Nintendo began concept work on Arms, a new fighting game coming to the Switch later this month, they weren’t sure what kinds of characters it should include. Early on, they toyed with the idea of featuring familiar Nintendo faces like Mario, Link, and even the Wii Fit trainer. But the key to Arms is right there in the title: it’s a game where characters possess extendable arms that they can use to hit faraway opponents./news/how-the-chive-built-an-empire-out-of-bro-bait.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-the-chive-built-an-empire-out-of-bro-bait.htmlBoobs are back. They probably never left. At The Chive, a website dedicated to “humor, hotness, and humanity,” they are everywhere: bouncing in slideshows on the company’s homepage, spilling out of models’ push-up bras. The Chive asks you to reconsider what you know about cultural progress. Here, racy photos are always empowering. Lewd comments are downright chivalrous. Chivers (men who read The Chive) are quick to emphasize that the website is about more than hot women./news/how-the-tentacles-of-jellyfish-galaxies-feed-supermassive-black-holes.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-the-tentacles-of-jellyfish-galaxies-feed-supermassive-black-holes.htmlSome galaxies wander the cosmos, tentacles extending like hungry jellyfish — and now scientists have found active supermassive black holes at the center of six of them. Those unbelievably huge black holes are gobbling up lots of gas, and what keeps them well fed is the same mechanism that forms the jellyfish galaxies in the first place, according to new research. The discovery is surprising because most supermassive black holes around the Universe are dormant, sleeping giants that don’t devour much gas./news/how-to-disable-chrome-s-new-targeted-ad-tracking.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-disable-chrome-s-new-targeted-ad-tracking.htmlThis summer, Google began rolling out its new Topics API, which “allows a browser to share information with third parties about a user’s interests while preserving privacy.” A part of Google’s new Privacy Sandbox, the API is supposed to replace the third-party cookies that have been following us around for many years now, reporting where we go and what we buy, among other info. The Topics API was included in July’s Chrome 115 release, and if you don’t have it yet, you will soon./news/how-to-turn-off-namedrop-in-ios-17.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-turn-off-namedrop-in-ios-17.htmliOS 17 offers a lot of interesting new features for your iPhone, one of which is called, appropriately, NameDrop. What NameDrop does is let you exchange contact information with another iPhone (and gives you a chance to use your snazzy new Contact Poster) by just holding the top of your phone near the top of someone else’s iPhone. You turn off NameDrop by using the AirDrop settings. Obviously, that’s not something that will often happen by accident, but if you still don’t like the idea of accidentally triggering NameDrop with somebody else — or if you tend to carry two phones in your bag and don’t want them to be trying to exchange contact info all afternoon — you can quickly and easily turn it off./news/how-to-watch-tesla-s-2024-annual-stockholder-meeting-livestream.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-watch-tesla-s-2024-annual-stockholder-meeting-livestream.htmlThe event is not just about Musk’s payday. Tesla’s board is portraying it as a pivotal moment in the company’s effort to secure Musk’s attention span, which is divided between X Corp., SpaceX, Neuralink, and his other companies. It also hinges on the question of whether Musk can steer Tesla back on track. Meanwhile, Musk is also facing a new lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and retaliation at SpaceX. And institutional investors have said they plan to vote against the pay package, calling it excessive./news/how-to-watch-youtube-on-a-peloton-bike-or-treadmill.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-watch-youtube-on-a-peloton-bike-or-treadmill.htmlThe Peloton bike and treadmill come with custom software that’s designed for you to stream live and on-demand classes, view your workout history, browse through the community to add friends, and, yes, even start a video chat with another user. But sometimes you want to bike or run without the motivational instructors screaming from the screen while still keeping yourself entertained for the duration. Peloton prohibits users from modifying the bike to download other apps like Hulu or Netflix./news/how-to-find-out-if-you-re-getting-the-third-stimulus-payment.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/how-to-find-out-if-you-re-getting-the-third-stimulus-payment.htmlIt’s always nice to anticipate an influx of cash, especially if things have been a bit tight lately. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which was signed into law on March 11th, 2021, includes Economic Impact Payments in the amount of $1,400 or less, depending on your reported income. In fact, as of Wednesday, March 17th, you may have already gotten yours; that was when the first payments began hitting bank accounts./news/hp-elite-dragonfly-max-review-pretty-fly-for-a-steep-buy.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hp-elite-dragonfly-max-review-pretty-fly-for-a-steep-buy.htmlHP’s Elite Dragonfly Max is the nicest business laptop I’ve ever used. That doesn’t mean it’s the best, all things considered — when it comes to performance, battery life, and features, the Dragonfly has fierce competition from the Latitudes and ThinkPads of the world. But there’s no business laptop out there that matches the elegance of a Dragonfly. It’s a sleek, light, and beautiful computer — and that beauty is a big part of its hefty, hefty price tag./news/hp-shows-its-first-laptop-sized-portable-monitor-27-inch-beats-powered-envy-livens-up-the-party.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/hp-shows-its-first-laptop-sized-portable-monitor-27-inch-beats-powered-envy-livens-up-the-party.htmlHP is announcing a pile of new monitors at CES, and two are bringing something new to the game. The U160 is the company’s first USB-powered display — a 15-inch 1366 x 768 monitor that weighs in at 3.4 pounds, measures a svelte 1.2 inches thick, and connects to your computer with a single cable. If you’re in the market for a portable second "flip and fold" display for your laptop, you’ll be able to pick this up later this month for $179 — roughly the same size as competing units like Toshiba’s 15./news/humane-officially-launches-the-ai-pin-its-openai-powered-wearable.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/humane-officially-launches-the-ai-pin-its-openai-powered-wearable.htmlOn Thursday, after months of demos and hints about what the AI-powered future of gadgets might look like, Humane finally took the wraps off of its first device: the AI Pin. The device, as we revealed yesterday, is a $699 wearable in two parts: a square device and a battery pack that magnetically attaches to your clothes or other surfaces. In addition to that price, there’s also the $24 monthly fee for a Humane subscription, which gets you a phone number and data coverage through T-Mobile’s network./news/i-printed-chocolate-on-a-3d-printer-and-ate-it.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/i-printed-chocolate-on-a-3d-printer-and-ate-it.htmlI hate to be the bearer of bad-for-the-waistline news, but yes — you can now buy a 3D printer that prints chocolate. The Cocoa Press has been in development for an entire decade. Now, it’s finally here, and I’m pretty sure it’s singlehandedly responsible for one of the pounds I put on over Christmas. At least it’s not cheap or easy enough to tempt most people yet. This holiday season, I took delivery of a $3,995 prebuilt printer — you can DIY it for $1,750 or less — and thirty sticks of perfect-fit chocolate with which to fulfill my delicious aims./news/i-smoked-a-smartphone-at-ces.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/i-smoked-a-smartphone-at-ces.htmlMy favorite piece of vaporware from 2015 has to be the Jupiter smokeable smartphone. I made fun of the device when it came out, while applauding the clever combination of two modern gadgets. This seemed like something absolutely no one needs but that most people would like to try out at least once. That is, if it really existed and wasn't just a viral marketing stunt. Luckily for me there was a Jupiter here at CES./news/ikea-releases-free-soffa-sans-font-made-of-couches.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ikea-releases-free-soffa-sans-font-made-of-couches.htmlIkea has released a free font called Soffa Sans, inspired by all the memes born from its online “Design your own sofa” planner. The tool allows for customers to design the layouts and configurations of Ikea’s couches, from the Vimle sectionals to the Vallentuna modular sofa series. Once it was discovered that the planner allowed for basically any configuration with no limit to the cost, it inspired some Sims-like creativity from users./news/in-good-omens-second-season-diversity-is-divine.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/in-good-omens-second-season-diversity-is-divine.htmlWarning: Spoilers ahead for season 2 of Amazon Prime’s Good Omens With the release of the second season of Good Omens on July 28th, writer Neil Gaiman has officially (and rather devastatingly) put any accusations of queerbaiting to bed. Leaving very little room for interpretation, Crowley and Aziraphale — the respectively demonic and angelic main characters of the Amazon fantasy-comedy series — engaged in some distressingly emotional snogging during the last moments of this season’s final episode, thereby ending over 30 years of speculation about the nature of their relationship./news/inside-the-bugatti-factory-an-exclusive-look-at-the-making-of-the-2-6-million-chiron.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/inside-the-bugatti-factory-an-exclusive-look-at-the-making-of-the-2-6-million-chiron.htmlThe Bugatti Chiron is not only very, very expensive, it is, without doubt, one of the fastest production supercars in the world. Bugatti has a long history in lustrous, elegant design, dating back to founder Ettore Bugatti, who designed racecars at the turn of the century. The $2.6 million supercar was first introduced at the Geneva Motor Show last year. It has entered into production and will soon be delivered to customers./news/insomniac-finally-responds-to-hack-that-leaked-wolverine-game-and-more.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/insomniac-finally-responds-to-hack-that-leaked-wolverine-game-and-more.html“We’re both saddened and angered about the recent criminal cyberattack on our studio and the emotional toll it’s taken on our team,” the statement posted on X read. “We have focused inwardly for several days to support each other.” The hack was perpetrated by the Rhysida hacker group, who ransomed the data for $2 million in Bitcoin. When the ransom was not paid, hackers disseminated the information that includes Insomniac internal business plans, budget information, in-development assets for the studio’s upcoming Wolverine game, and employee personal identifiable information./news/instagram-introduces-new-interactive-stickers-for-stories.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/instagram-introduces-new-interactive-stickers-for-stories.htmlInstagram announced a handful of new features to Stories, including new interactive ways to share music, photos, and videos. The most intriguing new feature is called Reveal and, when applied, blurs the contents of a story post. The only way viewers can see the post is by DMing the person who shared it. Instagram head Adam Mosseri has said that direct messages are an increasingly important part of the platform and that stories and DMs account for most of Instagram’s growth./news/intel-s-13th-gen-mobile-processors-include-the-first-24-core-laptop-cpu.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/intel-s-13th-gen-mobile-processors-include-the-first-24-core-laptop-cpu.htmlIntel’s 13th Gen desktop CPUs have already delivered impressive performance to beat their AMD counterparts, and now Intel is bringing Raptor Lake to its mobile processor lineup. The flagship Core i9-13980HX is built for upcoming gaming laptops, and there are also the regular H-, P-, and U-series chips for a variety of more mainstream laptops. Intel’s Core i9-13980HX is the star of the show with a 5.6GHz turbo frequency and 24 cores./news/ipad-pro-2021-review-m1-processor-mini-led-screen-and-more.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ipad-pro-2021-review-m1-processor-mini-led-screen-and-more.htmlHow much do you care about having a great screen? That, really, is the only question that matters with the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro. It has a new kind of display so good I think it is the best thing for watching movies that isn’t a high-end television. It starts at $1,099 for a 128GB version, but increased storage and accessories like a keyboard or the Apple Pencil can shoot the price up fairly quickly./news/iphone-x-confirmed-to-have-3gb-of-ram-and-2-716mah-battery.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/iphone-x-confirmed-to-have-3gb-of-ram-and-2-716mah-battery.htmlApple tends to be notoriously quiet about the internal specs of its phones, particularly when it comes to things like battery size or RAM. But Tenaa — China’s telecommunication authority, similar to the FCC in the US — has confirmed that the iPhone X will come with 3GB of RAM and a 2,716mAh battery, as reported by Steve Hemmerstoffer (also known as OnLeaks) on Twitter. The 3GB of RAM isn’t too notable — it’s the same as found in the iPhone 8 Plus and less than almost every other major Android flagship (which tend to start at 4GB of RAM or more)./news/it-s-dirty-and-disgusting-so-why-do-we-bite-our-nails.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/it-s-dirty-and-disgusting-so-why-do-we-bite-our-nails.htmlI’ve been biting my nails ever since I can remember. I do it automatically, without even realizing it: I’m focused on writing a story, and before I know it, my finger is in my mouth and I’m greedily chewing a nail or a cuticle. I hate that I bite my nails; it makes me feel ashamed, and I’ve tried quitting multiple times. So why do I keep doing it? The answer is more complicated than you’d think./news/kingdom-hearts-4-is-an-opportunity-to-win-back-lapsed-fans.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/kingdom-hearts-4-is-an-opportunity-to-win-back-lapsed-fans.htmlKingdom Hearts 4 needs to be a reset. There was a time when news of a new Kingdom Hearts entry would have sent me into paroxysms of joy. But the announcement that Kingdom Hearts 4 is in the works barely inspired a “huh, that’s neat.” I’ve been a faithful devotee of the Church of the Keyblade from the moment I heard Hikaru Utada’s “Simple and Clean.” Kingdom Hearts and KH2 were my games, one of the foundational texts at the core of my identity as a gamer./news/laurene-powell-jobs-tried-to-block-aaron-sorkin-s-steve-jobs-movie-wsj.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/laurene-powell-jobs-tried-to-block-aaron-sorkin-s-steve-jobs-movie-wsj.htmlThe divisive response to Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle's new movie Steve Jobs from people who knew the Apple co-founder continues; a report in The Wall Street Journal claims that Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve's widow, tried to block the biopic by lobbying Sony and eventual distributor Universal against its release. Steve Jobs, starring Michael Fassbender in the title role, uses material from Walter Isaacson's biography of Jobs and centers around three pivotal product launches in Apple's history./news/lego-is-taking-on-skylanders-with-its-own-version-of-toy-based-video-games.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lego-is-taking-on-skylanders-with-its-own-version-of-toy-based-video-games.htmlThe massive success of Skylanders has spawned a new genre of video games that interact with real world toys. Both Disney and Nintendo have built their own competitors, and now another big name is getting in on the action: Lego. Today, Warner Bros. Interactive announced Lego Dimensions. Just like its competitors, it will be a lighthearted action game where physical toys can interact with the virtual world: players will be able to use a portal to send Lego characters and objects into the game./news/lego-s-latest-mario-collaboration-is-a-big-question-mark-block.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lego-s-latest-mario-collaboration-is-a-big-question-mark-block.htmlLego’s latest Mario-themed set is a giant homage to Super Mario 64, a giant question mark block that unfolds to reveal four levels from the Nintendo 64 game: Peach’s Castle; Bob-omb Battlefield; Cool, Cool Mountain; and Lethal Lava Trouble. The “Lego Super Mario 64 ? Block set,” to use its official title, is made up of over two thousand pieces and will cost $169.99 when it goes on sale in Lego’s stores on October 1st./news/lenovo-s-thinkpad-13-lets-you-choose-between-windows-10-or-chrome-os.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lenovo-s-thinkpad-13-lets-you-choose-between-windows-10-or-chrome-os.htmlLenovo is using the same internals for both its Chrome OS and Windows models here, but the keyboard and ports vary significantly. That means you can’t pick just one model and run Chrome OS or Windows 10 on it, or even dual-boot both operating systems. That’s disappointing, but it’s largely because of the different policies both Microsoft and Google have on hardware for their software. Both models will ship with Intel’s latest Core i5 processors, up to 16GB of RAM (on Windows, 8GB for Chrome OS variant), and up to 512GB of storage (for the Windows version, 32GB for Chrome OS variant)./news/lg-s-v30-will-be-the-first-phone-with-an-f-1-6-lens.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lg-s-v30-will-be-the-first-phone-with-an-f-1-6-lens.htmlIn the game of smartphone hype, LG’s approach has been to concede defeat in trying to suppress leaks and just pre-announce everything. The company’s next premier handset, the LG V30, will be made official on August 31st at IFA in Berlin, but LG’s making sure we know its biggest selling point today: the camera. The V30 will be the first cameraphone with an f/1.6 lens aperture, which lets in 25 percent more light than the f/1./news/lutron-serena-smart-wood-blinds-review-the-price-of-convenience.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/lutron-serena-smart-wood-blinds-review-the-price-of-convenience.htmlWhen it comes to smart home gadgets, there are the simple, basic things that most people start with, such as smart light bulbs, smart outlets, or a smart lock. Any of those can be purchased for a relatively low price and installed in just a few minutes. Then there are the advanced smart home gadgets: things like smart sprinkler systems or extensive surveillance systems. Those are more expensive and more challenging to install./news/microsoft-outlook-s-mobile-app-just-added-sunrise-s-best-features.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-outlook-s-mobile-app-just-added-sunrise-s-best-features.htmlWhen it acquired calendar app Sunrise, Microsoft promised that its features would eventually come to Outlook. That moment arrives today with a big update to Outlook on Android and iOS that delivers several of Sunrise's best features to the Outlook calendar. That likely won't satisfy hardcore Sunrise users still upset the app is going away — and after a last-minute stay of execution on August 31st, Sunrise is finally dying today./news/microsoft-teams-chat-is-coming-to-outlook.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-teams-chat-is-coming-to-outlook.htmlMicrosoft is planning to add Teams chat integration into Outlook. The software giant has started testing this new feature recently, and Microsoft says it will be available for all users in March 2023. “This feature provides an easy Teams chat experience from Outlook in the context of a meeting for participants to send a quick message or review the chat,” reads an item on Microsoft’s roadmap for its productivity and cloud services./news/microsoft-s-new-249-surface-laptop-se-is-its-first-true-chromebook-competitor.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/microsoft-s-new-249-surface-laptop-se-is-its-first-true-chromebook-competitor.htmlMicrosoft is going head to head with Chromebooks with a new $249 Surface Laptop SE, its most affordable Surface yet. While the software giant has attempted to compete with the popularity of Chrome OS in US schools for years, the Surface Laptop SE is the company’s first true Chromebook competitor. Surface Laptop SE will be sold exclusively to schools and students, starting at $249. It’s part of a much broader effort with Windows 11 SE, a new student edition designed to compete with Chrome OS that will ship on a range of low-cost laptops in the coming months./news/motorola-announces-photon-q-for-sprint-lte-android-4-0-and-a-hardware-keyboard.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/motorola-announces-photon-q-for-sprint-lte-android-4-0-and-a-hardware-keyboard.htmlMotorola has officially announced the Photon Q smartphone that showed up in the FCC database earlier this month. The phone, which runs Android 4.0 on Sprint's newly-launched LTE network, bears relatively little resemblance to the Photon 4G it's succeeding. Instead, the Photon Q comes with a rare hardware keyboard, meaning it's almost certainly the QWERTY Sprint device shown here. Beyond that, the Q comes with a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, NFC, and a 4./news/motorola-atrix-hd-review-the-verge.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/motorola-atrix-hd-review-the-verge.htmlIf you found Verizon's Droid RAZR too angular, then AT&T's take on it with the Atrix HD could soothe your aesthetic sensibilities. It essentially looks like a slightly rounded version of the same — right on down to the Kevlar back, large battery hump at the top, and slightly over-sized bezel around the screen. To get down to details, it's a simple slab of a phone with power and volume buttons on the right; Micro USB, Micro HDMI, and headphone up top; a door on the lower-left for Micro SIM and microSD cards; and no physical or capacitive buttons at all on the front./news/movies-with-mikey-is-a-video-celebration-of-what-makes-movies-great.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/movies-with-mikey-is-a-video-celebration-of-what-makes-movies-great.htmlSaying that the internet can be a negative place sometimes is a bit of an understatement. And in that vein, if you look at the landscape of some of the biggest movie-related YouTube channels — Red Letter Media, Honest Trailers, Cinema Sins, How It Should Have Ended, Your Movie Sucks — a certain pattern begins to emerge. It seems that we, as an audience, seem to delight in a confirmation that the movies we watch are bad./news/my-emotions-are-reaching-their-limit-break.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/my-emotions-are-reaching-their-limit-break.htmlMy emotions are reaching their Limit Break. We’re exactly a month out from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which means fans only have one question on their minds: what is going to happen to Aerith? This quote from producer Yoshinori Kitase doesn’t clear things up much, but it does make me even more curious about how they’re approaching this iconic moment: Aerith’s fate is one of the most important themes in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s story./news/netflix-s-tomb-raider-anime-starts-streaming-in-october.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/netflix-s-tomb-raider-anime-starts-streaming-in-october.htmlFollowing the events of the Survivor series, Lara Croft has abandoned her friends to embark on increasingly more perilous solo adventures. But she must return home when a dangerous and powerful Chinese artifact is stolen from Croft Manor by a thief with an uncanny personal connection. Her daring pursuit will take her on an adventure around the world and to the depths of forgotten tombs, where she will be forced to confront her true self, and decide just what kind of hero she wants to become./news/next-iphone-will-have-bigger-screen-measuring-at-least-4-inches-reports-wsj.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/next-iphone-will-have-bigger-screen-measuring-at-least-4-inches-reports-wsj.htmlThe Wall Street Journal is this morning reporting word from Apple's suppliers that the iPhone maker has placed orders for new iPhone displays, which measure "at least 4 inches diagonally." Production is said to be commencing next month, with the WSJ identifying LG Display, Sharp, and Japan Display Inc. as the three major panel suppliers that Apple is contracting. A move up from the iPhone's persistent 3.5-inch form factor has started to feel overdue in the current climate of 4./news/nikon-announces-the-d3400-its-first-entry-level-dslr-with-always-on-bluetooth.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nikon-announces-the-d3400-its-first-entry-level-dslr-with-always-on-bluetooth.htmlNikon has officially announced the D3400, the company’s newest entry-level DSLR. It is (somewhat obviously) a successor to the D3300, and the D3200 that came before it. The new camera doesn’t boast many changes, but there is one big one: this will be the first entry-level DSLR with the company’s Snapbridge software, an always-on Bluetooth Low Energy connection that lets the camera automatically transfer images to a user's smartphone — no Wi-Fi required./news/nikon-z9-review-everything-and-more.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nikon-z9-review-everything-and-more.htmlAt nearly three pounds, or 1,340g, the $5,500 Nikon Z9 is a brick of a mirrorless camera with more buttons and features than I have been able to test in the nearly two months I have had with it. It has a new full-frame 45.7MP stacked CMOS sensor that, thanks to the new Expeed 7 image processor, can shoot RAW photos at 20fps for over 1,000 frames (assuming you are using a fast enough card)./news/nintendo-switch-racing-game-fast-rmx-is-a-great-riff-on-f-zero-and-wipeout.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/nintendo-switch-racing-game-fast-rmx-is-a-great-riff-on-f-zero-and-wipeout.htmlIf you purchased a Nintendo Switch this weekend, odds are you’ve begun charting a path through The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It’s beautiful. It’s thoughtful. It’s very, very long. Should you need a break from the bucolic, I recommend Fast RMX, a racing game that borrows shrewdly from Wipeout, F-Zero, and Hydro Thunder. As the comparison suggests, Fast RMX is familiar. Flashy hovercrafts zip through gravity-defying tracks constructed ever-so-precariously atop cities, in asteroid belts, and through what remains of nature in its chrome-plated future./news/oculus-engineer-arrested-for-allegedly-soliciting-underage-girl-in-sting-operation.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/oculus-engineer-arrested-for-allegedly-soliciting-underage-girl-in-sting-operation.htmlLongtime Oculus engineer Dov Katz was arrested last week after allegedly soliciting sex from a police officer he thought was a 15-year-old girl. Washington news outlet KING 5 reported on Friday that Katz responded to an online ad posted as part of a sting operation by an undercover detective, who claimed to be 15 years old. According to charging documents published by GeekWire, Katz and the officer agreed to meet at a hotel in Tukwila, Washington./news/onewheel-follows-up-its-massive-recall-with-a-new-3-200-board-for-pros.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/onewheel-follows-up-its-massive-recall-with-a-new-3-200-board-for-pros.htmlIt’s called the Onewheel GT S-Series, and the $3,200 board will already come with the new safety mechanism it told the government it’d add to several previous generations of Onewheel — called Haptic Buzz, it vibrates the board when it’s running out of battery, attempting to exert too much torque, or is erroring out. Speaking of torque, the S-Series adds more of it — the primary upgrade here is a new motor with 50 percent more voltage and 50 percent more torque./news/openai-transcribed-over-a-million-hours-of-youtube-videos-to-train-gpt-4.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/openai-transcribed-over-a-million-hours-of-youtube-videos-to-train-gpt-4.htmlEarlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that AI companies were running into a wall when it comes to gathering high-quality training data. Today, The New York Times detailed some of the ways companies have dealt with this. Unsurprisingly, it involves doing things that fall into the hazy gray area of AI copyright law. The story opens on OpenAI which, desperate for training data, reportedly developed its Whisper audio transcription model to get over the hump, transcribing over a million hours of YouTube videos to train GPT-4, its most advanced large language model./news/pandora-founder-tim-westergren-takes-over-as-ceo.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pandora-founder-tim-westergren-takes-over-as-ceo.htmlPandora's founder Tim Westergren is taking over the reins at the streaming service, the company announced today. Westergren replaces former CEO Brian McAndrews effective immediately, as the company installs a new management structure. Chief strategy officer Sara Clemens will take over as COO, and CFO Mike Herring has added president to his role at the company. "I am incredibly excited about the future of Pandora," Westergren said in a statement. "/news/parler-reportedly-refused-to-ban-trump-s-critics-as-part-of-discussions-to-bring-him-onboard.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/parler-reportedly-refused-to-ban-trump-s-critics-as-part-of-discussions-to-bring-him-onboard.htmlOne curious point of consideration for the [Trump] family [the morning of January 6th] — prescient of the events that would shortly unfold — was a follow-up to a discussion initiated some months before by aides and family. Trump representatives, working with Trump-family members, had approached Parler, the social network backed by Bob Mercer and his daughter Rebekah, far-right exponents and large Trump contributors. They had floated a proposition that Trump, after he left office, become an active member of Parler, moving much of his social-media activity there from Twitter./news/pok%C3%A9mon-concierge-review-a-beautiful-reminder-to-take-some-time-off.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/pok%C3%A9mon-concierge-review-a-beautiful-reminder-to-take-some-time-off.htmlMost TV shows set in the world of Pokémon focus on trainers and their magical pets ripping and running from one region to another in pursuit of becoming legendary battling teams. But fighting for glory is the last thing on anyone’s mind in Pokémon Concierge — Netflix’s new stop-motion animated series from Dwarf Animation Studio and director Ogawa Iku. Instead, Pokémon Concierge imagines a tropical paradise where humans and pokémon alike would want to get away to for some much-needed downtime, and the show does such a stellar job of bringing its dream island to life that it might leave you hankering for a vacation of your own./news/randy-travis-gets-his-voice-back-in-a-new-warner-ai-music-experiment.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/randy-travis-gets-his-voice-back-in-a-new-warner-ai-music-experiment.htmlFor the first time since a 2013 stroke left country singer Randy Travis unable to speak or sing properly, he has released a new song. He didn’t sing it, though; instead, the vocals were created with AI software and a surrogate singer. The song, called “Where That Came From,” is every bit the kind of folksy, sentimental tune I came to love as a kid when Travis was at the height of his fame./news/reliving-boyhood-how-richard-linklater-spent-12-years-shooting-one-movie.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/reliving-boyhood-how-richard-linklater-spent-12-years-shooting-one-movie.html“I don’t know what to say about the film, except 4,207 days ago we started shooting this film and we’re really happy to be here.” It was Sunday night, and director Richard Linklater was addressing a sold-out Sundance audience for the debut of his latest project, Boyhood. Festival audiences are used to seeing premieres of highly anticipated new films, but the energy in the Eccles Theatre was at a higher pitch than usual — and the director of Dazed and Confused and A Scanner Darkly was ready to unveil the most ambitious project he’d ever taken on./news/rode-audio-has-a-new-product-line-for-gamers-and-streamers.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/rode-audio-has-a-new-product-line-for-gamers-and-streamers.htmlRode has announced a new division dedicated to audio equipment designed to serve the needs of the gaming and streaming community. The Australian audio company has named this new sub-brand “Rode X,” and the lineup will launch with three products: two new microphones and a virtual mixing solution called Unify designed for streaming and gaming. The Unify software allows users to route and mix up to four USB microphones and up to six virtual audio sources (including game, chat, music, and browser applications) through a single interface./news/salvation-army-to-outfit-bell-ringers-with-square-readers.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/salvation-army-to-outfit-bell-ringers-with-square-readers.htmlWith Google Wallet still getting off the ground, mobile company Square has used its head start to drive over $1 million a day in transactions as of March. The Salvation Army is the latest organization to use the mobile Square credit card reader, and plans to use it at storefronts in several cities, including San Francisco and New York. While everyone's favorite holiday bell ringers have tried credit card terminals in the past with little success, the Salvation Army is hoping the tiny, portable card readers will make it easier for shoppers to quickly swipe and donate./news/samsung-display-s-latest-foldable-concept-can-both-slide-and-fold.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-display-s-latest-foldable-concept-can-both-slide-and-fold.htmlSamsung Display’s Flex Hybrid is a new prototype device with a display that’s both foldable and slidable. The left side of the concept “smart mobile device” can be unfolded to reveal the display, while the right side can then slide outwards for even more screen real-estate. It’s being shown off at CES 2023 alongside a new 17-inch slidable display, as well as automotive panels designed for self-driving cars. Although there’s no detail on specs like resolution or peak brightness, Samsung Display says the Flex Hybrid can expand from a 10./news/samsung-galaxy-s8-review-ahead-of-the-curve.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-galaxy-s8-review-ahead-of-the-curve.htmlPeople "aren’t excited by new phones anymore." That’s the first thing Samsung’s product manager said to me before introducing the company’s new flagship Galaxy S8 last month. He’s not wrong: the modern concept of the smartphone has been around for a decade now, and the differences between devices are exceedingly incremental. It doesn’t help that virtually every smartphone looks the same, too. So for the Galaxy S8, Samsung made an effort to do something different./news/samsung-s-mmwave-compatible-galaxy-s20-is-coming-to-verizon-on-june-4th.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/samsung-s-mmwave-compatible-galaxy-s20-is-coming-to-verizon-on-june-4th.htmlVerizon is releasing a new version of the 5G Galaxy S20 on June 4th, which supports its fast, Ultra Wideband millimeter-wave 5G network. The “Samsung Galaxy S20 UW” will be available for preorder on May 21st starting at $41.66 a month for 24 months or $999.99 full retail. In addition to offering support for Verizon’s current mmWave network, it will also support the carrier’s low-band 5G network when that launches later this year./news/sandisk-s-512gb-sd-card-is-the-biggest-in-the-world.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sandisk-s-512gb-sd-card-is-the-biggest-in-the-world.htmlLexar released the first 256GB SD card onto the market in 2012, but SanDisk has made an effort recently to give its products the most storage space, launching two biggest-in-class memory cards this year. In February, the company released the world's largest microSD card, with 128GB of storage in its tiny 15mm by 11mm body. As it launched its latest 512GB model, SanDisk touted the fact it had increased SD storage 1,000-fold in just over a decade./news/second-boston-marathon-bombing-suspect-captured-by-police.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/second-boston-marathon-bombing-suspect-captured-by-police.htmlAfter a massive manhunt that began on the night of the 18th, a second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings has reportedly been captured by police following a residential standoff in Watertown, Massachusetts, NBC News reports from the scene. The FBI has confirmed that 19-year-old bombing suspect Dzhokar Tsarnaev is in custody, and The Washington Post reports that Tsarnaev was wounded when captured. According to CBS News, a shootout was heard in Watertown shortly after Boston's lockdown was lifted, with a massive police response ensuing./news/signal-now-lets-you-change-your-number-without-wiping-out-your-conversation-threads.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/signal-now-lets-you-change-your-number-without-wiping-out-your-conversation-threads.htmlSignal is rolling out a new feature that allows users to switch phone numbers on their account without losing all their existing chats, groups, and messages within the secure messaging app. In order to add a new number, you’ll still need to be able to get Signal messages sent to your old number. Then, head over to the new “Change Phone Number” option under Signal’s account settings, where you’ll be asked to enter in both the old and new numbers./news/silk-road-closure-reportedly-cuts-off-supply-of-drug-for-assisted-suicides.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/silk-road-closure-reportedly-cuts-off-supply-of-drug-for-assisted-suicides.htmlThe ebook, a euthanasia how-to guide that has been banned in New Zealand and Australia, is available on Amazon. The drug, however, is harder to get. Dr. Nitschke told The Age that he knew of at least 20 people who used Silk Road to clandestinely purchase Nembutal, the brand name for the lethal injection drug pentobarbital that induces respiratory failure. Patients seeking Nembutal will now have to buy it from Chinese chemical makers or wait for the drug to pop up on one of the newer virtual black markets./news/sina-weibo-adds-english-language-option-for-its-user-interface.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sina-weibo-adds-english-language-option-for-its-user-interface.htmlChinese social network Sina Weibo has begun translating portions of its website to English. TechInAsia reports that the user interface hasn’t seen a complete translation, but the menus that give access to options such as private messages and mentions have gained an English option. Most notably, the Sina Weibo logo also changes to English when the new language is selected. The company says that English hasn’t been rolled out globally just yet, as it’s designed for users in Southeast Asia, but TechInAsia has had success selecting the option from within the United States./news/skylight-launches-the-cal-max-a-super-sized-smart-calendar-to-help-keep-your-family-organized.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/skylight-launches-the-cal-max-a-super-sized-smart-calendar-to-help-keep-your-family-organized.htmlSmart photo frame company Skylight is launching a new version of its Skylight Calendar, a smart family calendar. The Skylight Cal Max works identically to the current model but has a sleeker, updated design plus a whopping 27-inch screen. It’s available for preorder today starting at $599 and will ship in June, according to the company. The Cal Max almost doubles the size of the existing 15-inch Skylight Calendar, which is dedicated to showing multiple calendars in a familiar layout and syncing with online services to keep everything up to date./news/sony-s-confidential-playstation-secrets-just-spilled-because-of-a-sharpie.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/sony-s-confidential-playstation-secrets-just-spilled-because-of-a-sharpie.htmlSony highly confidential information about its PlayStation business has just been revealed by mistake. As part of the FTC v. Microsoft hearing, Sony supplied a document from PlayStation chief Jim Ryan that includes redacted details on the margins Sony shares with publishers, its Call of Duty revenues, and even the cost of developing some of its games. It looks like someone redacted the documents with a black Sharpie — but when you scan them in, it’s easy to see some of the redactions./news/spider-man-2-s-new-trailer-shows-off-symbiote-powers-and-miles-morales.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/spider-man-2-s-new-trailer-shows-off-symbiote-powers-and-miles-morales.htmlSony shared new details about Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 at its PlayStation Showcase on Wednesday. The game’s central villain will be Kraven the Hunter — this guy — and the lengthy new gameplay footage showed off Peter Parker utilizing new powers with a symbiote suit. Suffice to say, it seems much darker than the first game. We also got a look at Miles Morales, who will be playable in the new game./news/splatoon-s-stylish-world-was-inspired-by-skateboarding-and-hip-hop.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/splatoon-s-stylish-world-was-inspired-by-skateboarding-and-hip-hop.htmlSplatoon’s colorful inkling characters started out as bland, white boxes. During early prototypes of the game, these rectangular characters — which the development team at Nintendo started calling blocks of tofu — would shoot black-and-white paint at each other in a simple arena. Eventually, as the game started to evolve, so did the character design. At first, Nintendo toyed with the idea of using familiar faces like Yoshi or Mario, but the game was so different from the company’s previous work the team realized they needed completely new characters./news/stability-ai-releases-stablestudio-in-latest-push-for-open-source-ai.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/stability-ai-releases-stablestudio-in-latest-push-for-open-source-ai.htmlStability AI is releasing an open-source version of DreamStudio, a commercial interface for the company’s AI image generator model, Stable Diffusion. In a press statement on Wednesday, Stability AI said the new release — dubbed StableStudio — “marks a fresh chapter” for the platform and will serve as a showcase for the company’s “dedication to advancing open-source development.” Making an open-source version of DreamStudio carries benefits for Stability AI. It allows community developers to improve and experiment with the interface, with the company potentially reaping the rewards conferred by these improvements./news/star-wars-jedi-survivor-is-coming-to-ps4-and-xbox-one.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/star-wars-jedi-survivor-is-coming-to-ps4-and-xbox-one.htmlStar Wars Jedi: Survivor will be released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, EA CEO Andrew Wilson announced during the company’s Q1 earnings call on Tuesday. The game launched in April on PS5, Xbox Series X / S, and PC but skipped Sony and Microsoft’s older hardware, so with this new release, people who haven’t upgraded to the newer consoles will eventually be able to check out the game. However, we don’t know exactly when Jedi: Survivor will be coming to older consoles./news/star-wars-the-bad-batch-and-mighty-ducks-get-disney-plus-release-dates.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/star-wars-the-bad-batch-and-mighty-ducks-get-disney-plus-release-dates.htmlDisney Plus is getting a ton of new shows in the next few months, with Disney releasing the schedule of premiere dates for new original shows for March through July. Along with shows like The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, which has already been announced for March 19th, the new list also gives concrete release dates for notable series including The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers on March 26th; Star Wars: The Bad Batch on May 4th (also known as “Star Wars Day”); High School Musical: The Musical: The Series season 2 on May 14th; Loki (which had been originally slated for May) on June 11th; and the Monster’s Inc./news/starfield-is-finally-getting-a-60fps-mode-on-xbox.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/starfield-is-finally-getting-a-60fps-mode-on-xbox.htmlStarfield players on Xbox will no longer have to deal with the game’s 30-frames-per-second (fps) cap. As part of an update arriving on May 15th, Bethesda will let Xbox Series X players run the game at 60fps. The 60fps option comes as part of several new display customization settings. The game will let you choose to prioritize visuals to “[keep] the highest resolution while maintaining full detail for special effects, lighting, and crowds” or choose to prioritize frame rate performance, which will “[lower] internal resolution and detail for special effects, lighting, and crowds./news/stephen-king-s-the-mist-tv-adaptation-replaces-monsters-with-insects-and-religious-fanatics.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/stephen-king-s-the-mist-tv-adaptation-replaces-monsters-with-insects-and-religious-fanatics.htmlBack in 2007, Stephen King’s 1980 novella The Mist was adapted as a film starring Thomas Jane and a lot of gigantic spiders, plus all sorts of creepy-crawly giant creatures seizing humans and biting their heads off. Ten years later, The Mist has become a Spike TV series. The adaptation is still about group-think, and it’s still a horror show. But that’s about all that’s remained the same. Spoilers for The Mist and Moby Dick ahead./news/steve-ballmer-s-13-years-as-microsoft-ceo-leaves-a-mixed-legacy-with-little-vision.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/steve-ballmer-s-13-years-as-microsoft-ceo-leaves-a-mixed-legacy-with-little-vision.htmlCES 2010 could have been the defining moment of Steve Ballmer's tenure as Microsoft's CEO. The company had been secretly developing a forward-looking tablet called the Courier. Instead of presenting a prototype, though, Ballmer showed off the forgettableHP Slate running Windows. On stage, Ballmer chose to highlight its PC partners, noting they were doing "some great work with slate PCs." The Slate flopped when it finally debuted 10 months later. In many ways, it could have been Ballmer's opportunity to shine, because it was Bill Gates — not Ballmer — who made the final call to kill the Courier behind the scenes./news/super-pumped-is-getting-a-second-season-about-facebook.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/super-pumped-is-getting-a-second-season-about-facebook.htmlShowtime’s anthology series Super Pumped is getting a second season, and this one will be about Facebook with a focus on founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s relationship with COO Sheryl Sandberg, according to The Hollywood Reporter. There are some big names in the cast of the first and forthcoming Uber-focused season — Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Uber founder Travis Kalanick, Kyle Chandler plays venture capitalist Bill Gurley, and Uma Thurman plays Arianna Huffington — so we have to wonder who will be tapped to play Zuckerberg and Sandberg season two./news/target-is-shutting-down-its-flop-of-a-video-service.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/target-is-shutting-down-its-flop-of-a-video-service.htmlTarget Ticket is dead. Well, it's about to be. The video-on-demand service from one of America's leading retailers is shutting down after less than two years and a dismal response from consumers. Ticket offered both rentals and purchases of UltraViolet-compatible movies and TV shows, but never managed to gain any real momentum in an already-competitive market that includes iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, and Walmart's Vudu. The service will be turned off for good on March 7th./news/teenage-engineering-s-latest-audio-device-invites-you-to-turn-its-knobs.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/teenage-engineering-s-latest-audio-device-invites-you-to-turn-its-knobs.htmlTeenage Engineering, the company behind ultra-stylish synthesizers, speakers, and PC cases, has released a new audio gadget: it’s called the TX-6, and it’s a tiny (in size, not price) field mixer absolutely festooned with knobs. In addition to letting you mix together sound from six stereo inputs and output them to a computer, speaker, or both, in true Teenage Engineering fashion, the TX-6 can also act as a basic synthesizer, drum sequencer, and USB-C audio interface./news/tesla-officially-opens-texas-gigafactory.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tesla-officially-opens-texas-gigafactory.htmlTesla opened its Austin, Texas-based Gigafactory on Thursday, a crucial step in the company’s delayed plans to begin production of its electric Cybertruck. To celebrate the opening, Tesla held an event, billed as a “Cyber Rodeo,” to which it invited 15,000 people to listen to live music, eat food, and pay homage to Elon Musk and his company. “We are really entering a new phase of Tesla’s future,” Musk told the audience./news/tesla-pauses-full-self-driving-rollout-amid-recall.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tesla-pauses-full-self-driving-rollout-amid-recall.htmlTraveling or turning through certain intersections during a stale yellow traffic light The perceived duration of the vehicle’s static position at certain intersections with a stop sign, particularly when the intersection is clear of any other road users Adjusting vehicle speed while traveling through certain variable speed zones, based on detected speed limit signage and/or the vehicle’s speed offset setting that is adjusted by the driver Negotiating a lane change out of certain turn-only lanes to continue traveling straight/news/the-best-robot-vacuum-for-me-is-the-one-i-hacked.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-best-robot-vacuum-for-me-is-the-one-i-hacked.htmlConceptually, I love robot vacuums. A little friend who cleans up my floor? Fantastic. Into it. The issue is, unfortunately, I don’t trust them. They constantly report back to the external servers, and they can be a huge security liability. I don’t want that. Someone has to have hacked these things, I reasoned. A quick search revealed I was correct. This is how I came across Valetudo, a project that aims to liberate robot vacuums from the cloud./news/the-company-that-dashed-our-sapphire-covered-iphone-dreams-is-being-charged-with-fraud.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-company-that-dashed-our-sapphire-covered-iphone-dreams-is-being-charged-with-fraud.htmlIn 2014, it looked like Apple was poised to do for sapphire what it had done for aluminum — turn an exceptionally useful but difficult-to-machine raw material into a selling point for its flagship consumer gadgets. Apple announced a new factory in Arizona where its supplier, GT Advanced Technologies, would be loaned $578 million to produce huge synthetic sapphire crystals — known as boules — to be chopped up into incredibly scratch-resistant covers for the screens of the iPhone 6./news/the-fujifilm-x70-is-a-smaller-wider-and-cheaper-x100.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-fujifilm-x70-is-a-smaller-wider-and-cheaper-x100.htmlThe defining feature of the X70, though, is its lens, since it's a non-removable prime without any zoom function. Fujifilm has gone for an 18.5mm f/2.8 here, which is a little slower and wider than the 23mm f/2 found on all the X100 cameras — you lose a stop of light and the field of view widens to 28mm equivalence from 35mm. If you want to go even wider, there'll be an optional 14mm adapter that'll bring you to 21mm equivalence; the optical viewfinder add-on has frame lines for both focal lengths./news/the-game-awards-2019-all-the-announcements-and-trailers.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-game-awards-2019-all-the-announcements-and-trailers.htmlIt’s that time of year again: The Game Awards, gaming’s most flashy awards celebration, which also doubles as an E3-style keynote packed with announcements. The 2019 edition was no exception. This year saw a massive revealed of the next Xbox — the Xbox Series X — along with the very first PlayStation 5 title. On top of that, we had news and trailers for big games like Final Fantasy VII Remake, Cyberpunk 2077, League of Legends, and more./news/the-google-pixel-6-and-pixel-6-pro-won-t-come-with-wall-chargers.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-google-pixel-6-and-pixel-6-pro-won-t-come-with-wall-chargers.htmlGoogle is the latest manufacturer to bid farewell to the in-box charging brick, saying it expects the Pixel 5A will be the last phone to include one. That means the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro won’t include one when they arrive this fall. The company says that most people already have a USB-C charging brick, so there’s no longer a need to include one with its phones. Apple and Samsung made similar arguments when they announced they would no longer be offering an in-box charger./news/the-iphone-s-new-game-mode-makes-it-faster-and-more-responsive.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-iphone-s-new-game-mode-makes-it-faster-and-more-responsive.htmlWhen Game Mode is on, your device will minimize background activity to maximize frame rates and will have improved responsiveness with AirPods and game controllers, according to Apple software chief Craig Federighi. Apple added a similar Game Mode to macOS last year as part of macOS Sonoma, though it requires that you have a Mac with Apple Silicon. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfa3xyfI5ra2pvZWmDd3vIqZ%2BoppVitKK5xGakqJyVYr2mvsWoqaaZnpiybrLRmqSeZaKWwaZ5zqmroqWZr661tc6nZLCvlJh6c3yRbQ%3D%3D/news/the-latest-mini-console-is-this-adorable-atari-400.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-latest-mini-console-is-this-adorable-atari-400.htmlThe mini-console trend that started with the tiny NES Classic has largely slowed down, but there are still some cute game-filled gadgets coming. Case in point: the 400 Mini from Plaion and Retro Games Ltd. It’s exactly what it sounds like — a shrunken-down version of the Atari 400 — and like its contemporaries, it comes with a bunch of games preinstalled. The device itself is about half the size of the 1979 original, and it comes bundled with an updated version of the CX40 Atari joystick, which supports USB so that you can use it with other devices./news/the-logitech-g900-is-my-favorite-mouse-even-though-i-lost-the-wireless-adapter.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-logitech-g900-is-my-favorite-mouse-even-though-i-lost-the-wireless-adapter.htmlI love the convenience and gestures my laptop touchpad provides, but when I'm really doing work I prefer an external mouse and an external keyboard. Logitech's G900 is a mouse. It's a really expensive mouse ($149 list price), with more features than anyone was really asking for, and I was convinced it was overkill before I realized I hate using anything else. What is it? G900 specs $149 (list)Wireless (dongle included)1ms wired or wireless response time200 - 12,000 DPI optical sensor107g body weight32-hour rechargeable batteryRGB lightingThe G900 has the requisite left and right click, two extra buttons on each side, a scroll wheel, and a pair of buttons behind the wheel to switch sensitivity on the fly./news/the-price-of-dyson-s-air-purifying-headphones-is-as-absurd-as-its-design.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-price-of-dyson-s-air-purifying-headphones-is-as-absurd-as-its-design.htmlDyson has released additional details for its Dyson Zone air-purifying headphones, the company’s first audio product we got to test earlier this year. On a new webpage dedicated to the unreleased headphones, Dyson has officially provided the full specifications, alongside a March release date for the US market and an eye-watering price of $949. So, what are you getting for your money? The Dyson Zone supports Bluetooth 5.0 and features a 3./news/the-samsung-galaxy-ring-might-come-with-a-subscription.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-samsung-galaxy-ring-might-come-with-a-subscription.htmlThe Samsung Galaxy Ring might end up costing around $300 to $350. As far as smart rings go, that’s par for the course. It might also come with a monthly subscription of $10 or less. That, unfortunately, is also increasingly common for wearable tech. None of this is official yet. The rumored prices were posted by leaker Yogesh Brar on X and have been making the rounds in the hours since./news/the-steam-deck-wasn-t-born-ready-but-it-s-ready-now.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-steam-deck-wasn-t-born-ready-but-it-s-ready-now.htmlThe Steam Deck is my favorite gadget of 2022. I have no hesitation in recommending it anymore. The kind of person who would buy one should buy one. My only question: are you that kind of person? In February of last year, I truthfully wrote that the Steam Deck wasn’t ready, and I stand by every word of that review. But it’s ready now. And while it’s still not finished, and may never be finished, Valve has spent nearly a year and over 100 updates showing that an early access game console can actually be worth money./news/the-top-free-iphone-game-in-2023-is-monopoly-go.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-top-free-iphone-game-in-2023-is-monopoly-go.htmlThe top free iPhone game in 2023 is... Monopoly Go. Yes, really, according to Apple’s list of the top apps and games in 2023 (in the US). I shouldn’t be surprised; Monopoly Go came out in April but has already earned more than $1 billion in revenue. It even got more downloads than Roblox, which took second place! You can see Apple’s full list on its website. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2tfZn9wfZFoaWxxaW2BdoCOrZ%2BeZaSkvW6y0Z6cZqGgnbyvsYygmKadXZ67bn6Pa2pmoaNiurC6zqmmpbFdnLw%3D/news/the-wifi-porter-nfc-puck-connects-you-to-wi-fi-without-a-password.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-wifi-porter-nfc-puck-connects-you-to-wi-fi-without-a-password.htmlTen One Design, an Apple accessory specialist, has just announced the WiFi Porter, a small wooden NFC tag that lets your guests connect their phones to your Wi-Fi network without needing its SSID or password. Both iPhone and Android phones are supported, but iPhones released before 2018 won’t be able to use the NFC functionality and will have to scan a QR code on the underside of the Porter to connect./news/the-apple-watch-ultra-always-uses-its-own-gps-instead-of-your-iphone.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/the-apple-watch-ultra-always-uses-its-own-gps-instead-of-your-iphone.htmlIf you’re thinking of buying a new Apple Watch, there’s something you should know about the GPS tracking. Apple has confirmed that the Apple Watch Series 8, second-gen SE, and Ultra won’t piggyback off your iPhone’s GPS signal if your phone is nearby. Instead, all three will rely on their built-in GPS sensors. Older models, however, will still use your iPhone’s GPS when possible. While this change wasn’t a secret, it flew under the radar because of flashier updates like Crash Detection, temperature sensors, and, well, the Ultra’s entire existence./news/this-company-is-using-ai-and-robots-to-sort-and-scan-paper.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-company-is-using-ai-and-robots-to-sort-and-scan-paper.htmlIf you’ve ever stayed up late watching cable TV, you’ve probably seen an ad for desktop scanners that promise to organize your clutter and help you cut down on paper. I’ve seen them so many times I assumed that, even if they didn’t work that well, bigger and better versions must be out there being used by companies, banks, hospitals, and basically anyone with lots and lots of paper.  Apparently I was wrong./news/this-diy-airpods-max-mod-means-you-can-stop-waiting-for-a-usb-c-upgrade.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-diy-airpods-max-mod-means-you-can-stop-waiting-for-a-usb-c-upgrade.htmlFor AirPod Max owners, engineer Ken Pillonel has beaten Apple to the punch by swapping the four-year-old headphones from a Lightning port to USB-C. In a new video posted to YouTube, Pillonel shows how to install his custom printed circuit board (PCB) with USB-C support without drilling any new holes, as well as how he designed it to fit comfortably inside the headset. He’s made the board available for purchase on his website for around $45, along with detailed installation instructions — if you feel brave enough to mod the $549 headset, of course./news/this-graphene-battery-pack-charges-incredibly-fast.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-graphene-battery-pack-charges-incredibly-fast.htmlUpdate November 24th, 09:30AM ET: The original Indiegogo campaign was terminated (with all contributions refunded) and reinstated here. The issue, according to Elecjet, resulted from a recent change in the legal designation of the company from LLC to Corporation that unexpectedly changed its Tax ID and the campaign’s ability to process payments. Unfortunately, the delay incurred by the relaunch means that Elecjet can no longer guarantee shipment by Christmas. Elecjet’s new Apollo Ultra battery pack uses graphene to dramatically speed up charging./news/this-is-the-starship-enterprise-of-sea-exploration.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-is-the-starship-enterprise-of-sea-exploration.htmlFrench architect and oceanographer Jacques Rougerie has spent more than 30 years researching underwater habitats, and even launched his own design firm for that purpose. His pet project, though, is considerably more ambitious. Drawing inspiration from Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Rougerie's SeaOrbiter is a 190-foot tall floating laboratory — complete with space simulator and submersible garage. The SeaOrbiter has been in development for the better part of a decade./news/this-spectacular-home-is-at-peace-with-the-california-desert.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/this-spectacular-home-is-at-peace-with-the-california-desert.html"I didn't want to hire someone and look over their shoulder."The site alone doesn't explain the fantastic results, however. It turns out the owners gave Kellogg the freedom to run wild with the property. "If you like their work, you let them do it," explains Bev. "I didn't want to hire someone and look over their shoulder." That freedom is readily visible in the final product, which — despite its wild form — achieves harmony with both itself and its surroundings./news/threads-is-getting-some-useful-new-features.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/threads-is-getting-some-useful-new-features.htmlThreads, Meta’s Twitter competitor, is getting some new features “this week,” according to a post from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The new features include the ability to share a Threads post to your Instagram DMs, a way to add custom alt text to photos and videos that you include in posts, and a new “mention button” that lets you “easily mention someone’s account in your Thread,” Zuckerberg says. (For some reason, this link only works for me on mobile./news/tim-howard-named-secretary-of-defense-in-the-best-wikipedia-troll-ever.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tim-howard-named-secretary-of-defense-in-the-best-wikipedia-troll-ever.htmlOn Tuesday, there was a silver lining to the US men's soccer team losing to Belgium: Tim Howard, the American goalkeeper, had one of the most spectacular evenings you'll ever see. He had 16 saves, more in a World Cup game than anyone in 50 years, and single-handedly kept the US alive for a thrilling conclusion in extra time. He was named player of the game, and congratulated by players on both teams./news/tivo-is-launching-apps-for-apple-tv-fire-tv-and-roku.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/tivo-is-launching-apps-for-apple-tv-fire-tv-and-roku.htmlTiVo is launching apps for the Roku, Fire TV, and Apple TV streaming devices later this year, letting people watch live or recorded video on multiple TVs without investing in a separate separate TiVo Mini box. Zatz Not Funny spotted the apps at CES and reported that they’re launching in the second and third quarters of 2019 — with the Fire TV coming first, Roku second, and Apple TV last. TiVo previously launched a beta app for Fire TV, but it was retired in 2017./news/trailers-of-the-week-captain-america-f1-and-gladiator-ii.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/trailers-of-the-week-captain-america-f1-and-gladiator-ii.htmlThere’s a bit of a theme of payoff in this week’s trailers. Anthony Mackie finally takes the lead on the big screen after 10 years in the MCU; Ridley Scott’s two-decade-plus plan for a Gladiator sequel is coming to fruition; and we finally get to find out what happens next to the macrodata refinement team in Severance. There’s a lot to go through this week, from big-budget tentpole movies to whimsical TV, so let’s get down to it, starting, naturally, with the MCU./news/twitch-adds-stories-to-its-mobile-app.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/twitch-adds-stories-to-its-mobile-app.htmlTwitchCon Las Vegas is set to begin later this week. In advance of the festivities, Twitch has announced that it’s rolling out a new stories feature to the Twitch mobile app. “By building stories into the Twitch experience, we’ve made it easier for you to reach your community directly on Twitch,” wrote senior product manager Eduardo Fenili on Twitch’s blog. “Access to eligible streamers will roll out gradually by the end of the week and on an ongoing basis as streamers meet the minimum eligibility requirements./news/twitter-now-has-premier-league-emoji.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/twitter-now-has-premier-league-emoji.htmlTwitter has added its own Premier League emoji, meaning you can use richer tweets than ever to express your sincere belief that Southampton will surprise everyone by dominating the new season. As with the World Cup team emoji from last summer, you make each crest show up by entering a hashtag — most importantly #saintsfc, of course, but other, lesser teams like #MUFC and #CFC are also supported in the name of inclusivity./news/two-gamestop-documentaries-miss-the-forest-for-the-memes.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/two-gamestop-documentaries-miss-the-forest-for-the-memes.htmlI was somewhat surprised that both Netflix and MSNBC chose to make documentaries about Wall Street Bets, GameStop, and retail traders. The majority of the action takes place online, after all. So what is the visual here? Watching someone type text into a box? As a result, MSNBC’s feature, Diamond Hands: The Legend of WallStreetBets, and Netflix’s series, Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga, rely heavily on stock footage. In the case of Diamond Hands, this has a ’90s MTV type of vibe; in the case of Eat the Rich, it seems like editors just slapped together whatever was handy and cheap./news/two-texas-companies-were-behind-the-ai-joe-biden-robocalls.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/two-texas-companies-were-behind-the-ai-joe-biden-robocalls.htmlLingo Telecom and Life Corporation are linked to a robocall campaign that used an AI voice clone of President Joe Biden to persuade New Hampshire voters not to vote, said New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella during a press conference on Tuesday. Authorities have issued cease-and-desist orders as well as subpoenas to both companies. The two companies are both based in Texas and have been accused of illegal robocall investigations in the past, the FCC noted in the document./news/uber-is-giving-some-la-users-luxury-rides-with-a-tablet-of-amazon-shows.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/uber-is-giving-some-la-users-luxury-rides-with-a-tablet-of-amazon-shows.htmlUber's latest promotional stunt will give passengers the chance to watch Amazon Originals programming like Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle, Bosch, and more. Starting now and running through May 14th, riders in Los Angeles — nowhere else, sadly — can open the Uber app and might just see an option for "Amazon." If you're selected, your ride will be upgraded to an UberLUX (which would normally cost a lot to begin with) and you'll be handed a Kindle Fire HD tablet loaded up with the company's best shows./news/ubereats-now-has-a-restaurant-and-food-rating-system.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/ubereats-now-has-a-restaurant-and-food-rating-system.htmlUberEats updated its app today to include restaurant reviews. Users can rate the restaurant on a five-star scale. Specific dishes can be rated, too, but only with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Users can also now "favorite" a restaurant so it appears at the top of the restaurant feed, and the app will suggest dishes based off the user’s taste and prior orders. The ratings system will display information from the past 90 days and will break down how many users gave it each star rating./news/united-nations-warns-2050-net-zero-climate-goals-are-already-outdated.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/united-nations-warns-2050-net-zero-climate-goals-are-already-outdated.htmlWhen it comes to tackling climate change, achieving “net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050” has become a ubiquitous rallying cry. It’s in goals set by cities, states, and the Biden administration. It’s a hallmark of companies’ sustainability pledges, from Big Tech to Big Oil. It’s not enough. The world’s leading climate experts called for more swift action on climate change in a major report released today by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)./news/us-sues-adobe-for-deceiving-subscriptions-that-are-too-hard-to-cancel.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/us-sues-adobe-for-deceiving-subscriptions-that-are-too-hard-to-cancel.htmlThe US government is suing Adobe for allegedly hiding expensive fees and making it difficult to cancel a subscription. In the complaint filed on Monday, the Department of Justice claims Adobe “has harmed consumers by enrolling them in its default, most lucrative subscription plan without clearly disclosing important plan terms.” The lawsuit alleges Adobe “hides” the terms of its annual, paid monthly plan in the “fine print and behind optional textboxes and hyperlinks./news/watch-a-new-clip-from-black-mirror-white-christmas-before-it-airs-tonight-in-the-uk.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/watch-a-new-clip-from-black-mirror-white-christmas-before-it-airs-tonight-in-the-uk.htmlFor those of you lucky enough to be spending the holidays in Greenwich Mean Time, Christmas comes early tonight with the premiere of Black Mirror: White Christmas on Channel 4. The special holiday installment of Charlie Brooker's "information age Twilight Zone" marks the end of a nearly two-year hiatus since the last episode, "The Waldo Moment." (It will air on December 25th on DirecTV here in the States.) Here's a sneak peek of Jon Hamm, looking very Season 4 Don Draper, explaining to Rafe Spall how his wife "/news/welcome-to-colon-magic-capital-of-the-world.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/welcome-to-colon-magic-capital-of-the-world.htmlOn a high school auditorium stage in front of a packed house on the evening of August 6th, a goth magician named Dan Sperry dressed in ripped black jeans and platform boots swallowed a few razor blades, then pulled them from his mouth daisy-chained on a string. He picked up a grotesque baby doll, made it pee on his face, then spat the pee back on the baby before throwing it away./news/western-digital-officially-closes-sandisk-acquisition.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/western-digital-officially-closes-sandisk-acquisition.htmlWestern Digital has now officially purchased flash memory manufacturer SanDisk after regulator approval was passed earlier this week. The agreement between the two storage companies was originally announced last October in a deal worth nearly $19 billion. However, Chinese company Unisplendour, which was planning to buy a 15 percent stake in Western Digital as part of the merger, backed out in February this year, lowering the value of the deal to around $16 billion./news/what-if-being-lonely-is-what-makes-people-vulnerable-to-scams.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/what-if-being-lonely-is-what-makes-people-vulnerable-to-scams.htmlWhat if being lonely is what makes people vulnerable to scams? While old-school scams usually target retirees, the people getting catfished are young. So maybe one way to keep your friends from being vulnerable to bad actors is just to give them a call? ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfbHx0e5FtaHJpZ2aFcMPHmqtmoZZir6a1zaBkpaeemrm6ecisZLCgkal6rq3KnqpmqJWkva2xjK%2BspaaVp66juMRmq6hlo5iurr8%3D/news/where-have-all-the-spy-gadgets-gone.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/where-have-all-the-spy-gadgets-gone.htmlOne of my clearest memories as a kid is that moment in Thunderball when James Bond steps outside, slips on a real, working jetpack, and flies away. He looks stupid doing it because, apart from the Mandalorians and the Rocketeer, everyone looks stupid flying around in a jetpack. But the jetpack was a real prototype, the ease with which he put it on and slowly hovered away was real, and my love affair with Bond movies was suddenly real, too./news/who-wins-when-telehealth-companies-push-weight-loss-drugs.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/who-wins-when-telehealth-companies-push-weight-loss-drugs.htmlThe ads in the New York subway system drew my attention, as I suppose they were meant to do — they were unmissable both online and when I was in the city earlier this summer. I saw a woman injecting herself alongside a panel promising “a weekly shot to lose weight.” This particular ad didn’t feature the names of the popular weight loss injections Ozempic, Wegovy, or Mounjaro. It didn’t warn about side effects, either./news/wholesome-direct-2024-the-cutest-games.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/wholesome-direct-2024-the-cutest-games.htmlDespite its cozy appearance, Wholesome Direct 2024 is actually shaping up to be the most packed event of Summer Game Fest. The hour-long presentation featured more than 70 different games. Some were brand-new announcements, some were previously known games that got a fresh trailer or release date, and a handful of titles even launched during the event. Now, 70 is a large number, so to help, I’ve curated the games that stood out to me the most./news/would-you-like-to-play-a-game.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/would-you-like-to-play-a-game.htmlWould you like to play a game? Screenshots posted by App researcher Nima Owji show that LinkedIn is testing games, with companies ranked on how well their employees do. TechCrunch published some official screenshots supplied by LinkedIn, which confirmed the games. Pour one out for the first team that gets berated by their boss over their company’s Crossclimb score. ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEr5yrn5VjsLC5jmtna2xfaHxygo5ra2poY2eCdnvWqKylnF2uvLZ5y6KinmWkpHqxuMCyZJpll5a6pg%3D%3D/news/xbox-live-experienced-issues-for-the-third-time-in-a-month.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/xbox-live-experienced-issues-for-the-third-time-in-a-month.htmlMicrosoft’s Xbox Live service experienced issues affecting online multiplayer earlier today. “We’re aware that some users may have trouble joining parties or playing online multiplayer & our teams are investigating,” Microsoft said in a 2:38PM ET tweet about the issues. Down Detector indicated a spike in user-reported problems shortly before 2PM ET. Microsoft said the issues should be resolved in a 4:53PM ET tweet. It was the third time in less than a month that Xbox Live experienced notable problems./news/xbox-live-video-partners-listed-in-full-youtube-and-fios-tv-coming-later-in-december.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/xbox-live-video-partners-listed-in-full-youtube-and-fios-tv-coming-later-in-december.htmlThough Microsoft has been forthright with the Xbox Live dashboard update (due out this week) and its content partners, it has so far remained largely silent on when those service providers would be joining up. The company tonight released a schedule / roadmap that extends through early 2012. Of the over forty partners listed, less than one-fourth are making the launch this week — many of those already out and receiving visual refreshes, like a particularly nice one we saw from Netflix that has more in-video features and a cool new aesthetic./news/yakuza-kiwami-is-a-great-chance-to-see-where-the-series-started.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/yakuza-kiwami-is-a-great-chance-to-see-where-the-series-started.htmlWhen the Yakuza series made its Western debut, it did so with a big marketing splash. The gritty crime epic featured a celebrity-filled voice cast — including the ingenious casting of Mark Hamill as the wild yakuza Majima — and a deluge of print and TV ads. It didn’t really work, though. Despite eventually turning into a franchise with multiple sequels, the Yakuza games largely remained a niche outside of Japan. Hamill never reprised his role — later games all featured Japanese dialogue with English subtitles./news/you-can-t-make-fun-of-gogo-s-airline-internet-anymore-because-it-changed-the-name.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/you-can-t-make-fun-of-gogo-s-airline-internet-anymore-because-it-changed-the-name.htmlThe Gogo brand will likely still live on for “business aviation,” however, as Gogo Business Aviation, LLC is now a separate company with its “Gogo Biz” offering. If you’ve had a crappy consumer Gogo experience, it may have been due to airlines not keeping the service up and running — I certainly remember a few flights where they never turned it on as planned — but it may have also been the limitations of Gogo’s aging technology./news/you-should-play-this-weird-iphone-game-about-love-and-electricity.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/you-should-play-this-weird-iphone-game-about-love-and-electricity.htmlIn 2012, Michael Frei made a short black-and-white film about strange people who had electrical plugs instead of heads. It was a trippy six-minute-long animated experience that was hard to categorize — and now it's a video game, too. Plug & Play the game, which is available now on iOS and coming soon to Android, follows the same basic premise as the animated film. (You can watch the whole thing above./news/your-amazon-alexa-ifttt-automations-are-about-to-stop-working.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/your-amazon-alexa-ifttt-automations-are-about-to-stop-working.htmlThe team behind IFTTT (short for “if this, then that”) wrote in a blog post that Amazon is cutting the service off from Alexa beginning October 31st. Once the integration is severed, users won’t be able to ask Alexa to trigger IFTTT applets. Certain automations will stick around in the IFTTT app, but some will be archived on November 1st unless you take action. If your IFTTT applets use a specific phrase or question as the trigger (“Alexa, trigger./news/youtube-blocks-russian-news-channels-rt-and-sputnik-in-europe.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/youtube-blocks-russian-news-channels-rt-and-sputnik-in-europe.htmlYouTube has blocked Russian news channels RT and Sputnik across Europe in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Alphabet-owned company confirmed the news on Twitter, saying it would “take time for our systems to fully ramp up” and that it would continue to “monitor the situation around the clock to take swift action.” It’s the latest example of internet platforms blocking Russian media outlets in response to the war. Yesterday, Meta blocked RT and Sputnik on both Instagram and Facebook after receiving requests to do so from a number of governments in the EU./news/youtube-is-cracking-down-on-videos-describing-eating-disorders.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/youtube-is-cracking-down-on-videos-describing-eating-disorders.htmlYouTube will remove additional videos related to eating disorders, including content that shows or discusses “imitable behavior,” the company announced today. Videos promoting or glorifying eating disorders are already banned on YouTube, but this policy update expands the rules to include content that shows or describes eating disorder behaviors that audiences could imitate. Videos that show or describe “weight-based bullying in the context of eating disorders” will also be banned under the new policy./news/youtube-kids-new-monetization-policy-could-defund-consumeristic-videos.htmlThu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000/news/youtube-kids-new-monetization-policy-could-defund-consumeristic-videos.htmlYouTube is making it harder for kids’ videos that it deems “low quality” to qualify for monetization (via Engadget). The platform outlined its updated policies in a post on the YouTube Blog, noting that channels with “made for kids” content will need to abide by a stricter set of guidelines if they want to stay in the YouTube Partnership Program (YPP). Its policies are meant to discourage kids’ content creators from pushing out videos that it describes as “heavily commercial or promotional” or if it encourages “negative behavior or attitudes./news/lg-gram-style-review-a-beautiful-mess.htmlMon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000/news/lg-gram-style-review-a-beautiful-mess.htmlAt this point, I feel like people who want to buy an LG Gram know exactly what they’re getting. Grams are made to travel. They’re unbelievably light (they used to weigh a kilogram, or about 2.2 pounds, hence the moniker) and they have great battery life — and that’s most of what they are. The LG Gram Style adds a new factor to that equation, and it’s right there in the name.