The Verge

The Roborock Q5 Max Plus can't mop, but it's great for dry spills on carpets and hard flooring. | Image: Roborock While you can pay close to $1,000 or more for a fancier robot vacuum with bells and whistles like mopping and AI object avoidance, sometimes, all you may need is a solid roamer with powerful suction. That's exactly what the Roborock Q5 Max Plus is, and the all-time low price of $279.99 ($170 off) at Amazon and Roborock right now appropriately reflects that.The Roborock Q5 Max Plus is quite similar to the Q5 Pro, which we typically recommend if you need something that's great for vacuuming pet hair. That's largely thanks to its dual rubber roller brushes, which can really dig into the carpet with greater friction to loosen up those hairs and other stubborn debris.It also has the same adjustable 5,500Pa suction power and a 770ml dustbin that empties itself into a roomy 2.5-liter bin at the charging dock. That means you could go several weeks before manually emptying the dock. However, unlike the Q5 Pro, it doesn't come with detachable mopping pads.Like the Q5 Pro, the Q5 Max Plus uses Lidar navigation with multi-level 3D room mapping and keep-out zones, and it runs for up to four hours before it needs to return to the dock. You can manage and control all of this with the companion app, too, or control it with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Apple Siri voice commands.

Image: The Verge, Nintendo Nintendo has finally revealed the Switch 2 - but it didn't reveal everything. Even still, the new console looks pretty much like a bigger, more refined Switch. Sure, that's the straightforward and expected move from Nintendo. But it's also exactly what I've been waiting for.The first Switch was a revelation. When it launched, I marveled over being able to play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on my TV and then take the console out of the dock and play in handheld mode curled up on the couch. Nintendo absolutely nailed the execution of combining its console and portable expertise into one great device, and ever since, the Switch has been a constant companion at home and while traveling.I would have been disappointed if Nintendo messed with what worked for the Switch with the Switch 2. I'm glad it has a bigger screen, one that appears to be even larger than the seven-inch display on the OLED Switch. I'm guessing the taller Joy-Cons will be easier to hold, which could be a massive improvement for my hands, and attaching them from the side looks like it could be easier than sliding them up and down. The second USB-C port on the top will be a very welcome addition for easier... Read the full story at The Verge.

Photo by Lokman Vural Elibol / Anadolu via Getty Images Now that New York City has finally flipped the switch on congestion pricing, the big question is: Will it work? And if so, how well?To find out, all eyes turned to an unassuming new web tool called the Congestion Pricing Tracker. The brainchild of two college-age brothers, the tracker uses real-time traffic data from Google Maps to calculate traffic times for chosen routes and days. The data is presented as a line graph of traffic times before and after congestion pricing went into effect on January 5th. Compare one line to the other to see whether traffic times have increased or decreased.Unsurprisingly, depending on the route and time of day, the new tolling scheme seems to be working - perhaps even better than expected. Since January 5th, most drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours will pay $9 - or $2.25 for late nights and weekends. And that fee appears to be doing what it set out to do, which is to change the behavior of the people behind the wheel and funnel millions of dollars into needed transit improvements. That was what initially drew brothers Benjamin and Joshua Moshes to the project. Benjamin, a senior studying math and... Read the full story at The Verge.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Tech companies and their leadership are schmoozing Donald Trump ahead of the imminent administration switchup. Read the full story at The Verge.

The Comfy JT-200T calculator's solar panel is located on its top edge where you won't see it. | Image: Casio Japan Calculator aesthetics are apparently very important to some people, so Casio Japan has announced a new Comfy JT-200T solar-powered model that relocates its solar cell to the top edge keeping it out of sight while you're crunching numbers.The calculator is also available in five muted colors to better match your desk decor: off white, dark gray, grayish pink, grayish green, and grayish blue. It will be released on January 30th, 2025 in Japan for 3,850, or around $25. Image: Casio Japan The calculator is available in off white, dark gray, grayish pink, grayish green, and grayish blue color options. There's no indication the new position of the solar panel will affect its exposure to indoor lighting and power generation capabilities, but it is slightly angled upwards and a bit larger than the solar panels on Casio's other design-focused models.The company says the new model will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the very first calculator Casio released in 1965. However, the Comfy JT-200T has more in common with the company's first personal calculator, as it uses the same key font as the Casio Mini released in 1972.The calculator's case is made from a mix of recycled plastic and mica which helps hide scratches, there's a spring-loaded stand on the back that will elevate it about eight degrees, and it features a 12-digit segmented LCD display. Its number-crunching capabilities are basic, but it does include dedicated tax buttons potentially making it appealing to accountants not entirely devoted to spreadsheets. Image: Casio Japan Other models in Casio's design-focused line of calculators feature a small solar panel located just above their displays.

Image: The Verge, Nintendo The arrival of the Nintendo Switch 2 heralds some much-needed improvements over its predecessor, especially its Joy-Con controllers. Here's a quick breakdown of what the announcement trailer showed us about the Switch 2's Joy-Cons.Before the official reveal of the console, there were rumors alluding to how the new Joy-Cons would work and their internal mechanisms. The most significant rumor was that they were held to the console via magnets, and in the reveal video, that appears to be the case. The video features the Joy-Con seemingly snapping to a cover as though attracted by a magnetic force. Gif: Nintendo The new Joy-Cons snap to everything as though powered by magnets. The video shows that the Joy-Cons have a protrusion that fits into an oval depression in the main body of the console, plugging into ports (with that iconic Nintendo Switch snap" sound) instead of sliding down rails. There's also a button at the top of each controller that is ostensibly how the Joy-Cons detach from the main console, but the reveal video didn't show that in action. According to some of the Switch 2 rumors reported on by The Verge, pressing that button actuates a pin that will push the Joy-Cons away from the console, and in the video, you can see on the inside track of each controller a small circle at the top that looks like it pushes out. Gif: Nintendo You can see a tiny protrusion at the top of the Joy-Con that is likely what detaches the controller from the console. The Joy-Cons, like the Switch 2 itself, are larger. In the version of the console shown in the announcement video, they're black with accents in the traditional red and blue colors from the original Switch. Other elements from the previous Joy-Cons are still there, like the indicator lights and the SL / SP buttons that are visible when the Joy-Cons are being used individually. The left Joy-Con still has its square screenshot button and the right one has the home button, but directly below that is a new button whose function is still unconfirmed.The biggest problem plaguing the original Switch Joy-Cons was a condition known as Joy-Con drift. Users reported that their analog sticks would display movement without input from the player, kind of like a cursor moving on a computer screen without moving the mouse. Nintendo didn't share any information about the internal mechanisms powering the Joy-Cons, so we don't know how susceptible they will be to this problem.We'll know more about the Joy-Cons, along with the console and its upcoming library of games, when Nintendo holds its Switch 2 Direct on April 2nd.

Image: Nintendo Nintendo shared the first details about the Nintendo Switch 2 in a video published Thursday. Nintendo doesn't give a specific release date for the console besides 2025."The console looks a lot like the original, but it's bigger. In the video, the Joy-Con controllers are black with colored accents, and they attach to the side of the console instead of sliding on and off. The Joy-Cons appear to snap on quite easily - leaks have suggested they could be attached via magnets.There's a new button under the home button on the right Joy-Con, which had shown up in leaks. The video also appears to show the Joy-Cons being used similarly to a mouse. And the SL and SR buttons on the Joy-Cons are bigger than they are on the original Switch's Joy-Cons.On top of the Switch 2, there's a new USB-C port next to the 3.5mm headphone jack. The kickstand has a new design - it's shaped more like a U. The dock for the Switch 2 has a more rounded design. And, like with the original Switch, there will also be a separate controller grip that you can snap the Joy-Cons into.The only game shown is what appears to be a new Mario Kart title. But the console will be backward-compatible with both physical and digital Nintendo Switch games - though the video cautions that certain Nintendo Switch games may not be supported on or fully compatible with Nintendo Switch 2."Nintendo is promising to share more details in a Nintendo Switch 2-focused Direct on April 2nd, 2025. The specific time will be shared at a later date."Your first chance to try it could come at a series of events in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas that are scheduled over several days later in April - ticket registration will be available here on Nintendo's website starting January 17th at 3PM ET. Image: Nintendo The Nintendo Switch 2 console. The Nintendo Switch will be a tough act to follow. The device was a clever hybrid of a home console and a handheld, and the formula resulted in one of the bestselling consoles of all time. A huge part of the console's success was that it was home to some of Nintendo's best-ever games, including hits like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Super Mario Odyssey, Metroid Prime Remastered, and the very popular Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Fortunately, you'll be able to play all of those games on the new console - Nintendo said in November that the Switch's successor will be compatible with Switch games and will have Nintendo Switch Online.The first Switch was also a massive sales hit. The company says that, so far, it's sold 146.04 million units, making the console its second-highest-selling video game system behind the original Nintendo DS, which sold 154.02 million units. The Switch's sales figures also mean that it has surpassed the Nintendo Wii (101.63 million units), the Game Boy (118.69 million units), and the Nintendo 3DS (75.94 million units).While we've been waiting years for a true Switch successor, the console had mid-cycle hardware refreshes along the way. The Nintendo Switch Lite was a great way to play Switch games on a smaller device, and the Nintendo Switch OLED added a beautiful display and a handful of other nice upgrades.Starting in December, supposed information about Nintendo's next console began to trickle out from accessory manufacturers. Dbrand, for example, gave us what it believed to be actual dimensions of the hardware and said that its understanding" was that the Joy-Con controllers would be magnetically attached. And at CES 2025, Genki showed off a 3D-printed mockup of what it believed the Switch's successor would look like.

Image: Nintendo We don't know when the Nintendo Switch 2 will launch (aside from later this year), but we do know when you can get your hands on the hardware - at least briefly. Nintendo is taking the Switch 2 on tour with a series of events it's called the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience." Players around the globe will be able to check out the new console for themselves and presumably play brand-new games, like the just-teased next entry in the Mario Kart series.The events will span North America, Asia, Oceania, and Europe and kick off in April - which is also when Nintendo will be hosting a Direct event to share more details on its new console. Here's the full schedule, and you can keep an eye out for tickets right here. Nintendo says the tickets will be made available through a free-to-enter, randomly selected drawing."

Image: Nintendo Nintendo is finally making a new Mario Kart. While the official announcement of the Switch 2 didn't feature much in the way of game announcements, the company did tease the next entry in the Mario Kart series. We don't know anything about it really, though. There's currently no title or details about the game. That should change later this year, as Nintendo is planning a Switch 2 Direct event for April.It's been a long time coming. Mario Kart 8 originally launched in 2014 for the Wii U, before an upgraded edition hit the Switch three years later, where it became the platform's bestselling title, moving more than 64 million copies. Of course, it's not like fans have been without new content; the Switch version of Mario Kart 8 got a huge number of DLC add-ons, which doubled the number of available tracks. Nintendo also released a mobile spinoff called Mario Kart Tour in 2019, though it stopped receiving updates as of 2023.

Image: The Verge Now that Nintendo's reveal of the Switch 2 has put to rest years of anticipation and rumormongering, it's time to hear more information about the console and, importantly, all the games. The company has announced it will hold a Switch 2 Direct scheduled for April 2nd.The Switch 2 reveal trailer showed footage that looks to be a new Mario Kart game, which is a good indication it'll be a launch title. There's speculation that the forthcoming Metroid Prime 4 might straddle both consoles the way Breath of the Wild launched on both the Wii U and the Switch back in 2017. The Switch 2 Direct might also reveal the follow-up to Super Mario Odyssey. Who knows?But we do know that it is a truth universally acknowledged that a person in possession of a Switch 2 must be in want of games to play on it, and we'll get a good idea of what those games will be in early April.

Some big concerns for Biden to raise in his final days in office. | Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images, Nathan Howard President Biden used his final public address from the Oval Office to warn the nation about the dangers presented by the spread of misinformation and power-hungry tech leaders.Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead."In his farewell message on Wednesday, Biden called back to warnings that President Dwight Eisenhower gave about the military-industrial complex causing a disastrous rise of misplaced power."Six decades later, I'm equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech industrial complex that could pose real dangers for our country as well," Biden said. Despite praising US technology leadership for its innovation and ability to transform lives, Biden said he was concerned about a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people," warning that there could be alarming consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked."While he didn't specify names, Biden's oligarch remark likely refers to Elon Musk, who has landed himself a leadership role in a not-really-government-department of the incoming administration after spending an estimated $250 million of his own money to help get Donald Trump elected.Alongside Musk, Mark Zuckerberg also appears to be a specific target of Biden's concerns regarding the rise in misinformation and conspiracy theories across social media platforms. Last week, Zuckerberg announced that Meta would scrap its third-party fact-checking program for Facebook, Instagram, and Threads in the US and remove several restrictions around heated topics.Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power," Biden warned. The free press is crumbling. Editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact-checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit."On Monday, tech CEOs including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, and Mark Zuckerberg are expected to attend Trump's inauguration, seated in a position of honor on the dais alongside former presidents and family members. These same CEOs - either through their companies or via personal contributions - have reportedly donated $1 million apiece to Trump's inauguration fund.

New Glenn launching from Cape Canaveralthis morning. | Image: Blue Origin The billionaire space race entered a new phase today when Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin successfully launched its 320-foot-tall New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida.At 2:03AM ET this morning, New Glenn's seven reusable BE-4 engines ignited to propel the NG-1 rocket into space, with the second stage and payload reaching orbit to achieve Blue Origin's primary mission goal. It also successfully activated its Blue Ring Pathfinder payload vehicle which is receiving data and performing well."

Cath Virginia / The Verge In Supreme Court oral arguments over a potentially seismic change to the internet, the most memorable question came from Justice Samuel Alito. One of the parties here is the owner of Pornhub, right?" Alito asked Derek Shaffer, lawyer for the adult industry group Free Speech Coalition. Is it like the old Playboy magazine? You have essays there by the modern-day equivalent of Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley, Jr.?"The massive adult web portal Pornhub, in case you're wondering, does not publish essays by distinguished intellectuals. (Shaffer notes that it does host sexual wellness videos.) The question inspired a slew of commentary on social media, alongside a few quips directed at Justice Clarence Thomas, who declared during oral argument that Playboy was about squiggly lines on cable TV." But as funny as the quotes were, what the justices were getting at was hardly a joke: how much protection does sexual content and other legal speech deserve, if hosted online?FSC v. Paxton concerns Texas' HB 1181, which requires sites with a large proportion of sexually explicit content to verify users' ages and post scientifically unproven health warnings about how porn is proven to harm... Read the full story at The Verge.

Photo by DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) is suing Southwest Airlines for illegally operating multiple chronically delayed flights and disrupting passengers' travel," according to a press release.The USDOT's investigation found that Southwest operated two chronically delayed flights - one between Chicago Midway International Airport and Oakland, Calif, and another between Baltimore, Md. and Cleveland, Ohio - that resulted in 180 flight disruptions for passengers between April and August 2022," per the release. Each flight was chronically delayed for five straight months."A flight is considered chronically delayed if it is flown at least 10 times a month and arrives more than 30 minutes late more than 50 percent of the time," the USDOT says.Southwest is disappointed that DOT chose to file a lawsuit over two flights that occurred more than two years ago," Southwest spokesperson Laura Swift says in a statement to The Verge. Since DOT issued its Chronically Delayed Flight (CDF) policy in 2009, Southwest has operated more than 20 million flights with no other CDF violations. Any claim that these two flights represent an unrealistic schedule is simply not credible when compared with our performance over the past 15 years. In 2024, Southwest led the industry by completing more than 99% of its flights without cancellation."In addition, the USDOT is taking enforcement action" against Frontier Airlines for operating chronically delayed flights. USDOT has fined Frontier $650,000 in civil penalties; the US Treasury will be paid $325,000, while the other $325,000 will be suspended if Frontier does not operate any chronically delayed flights in the next three years," the USDOT says.Frontier Airlines spokesperson Jennifer F. de la Cruz declined to comment.Earlier this month, USDOT announced a $2 million penalty against JetBlue for operating chronically delayed flights. The USDOT also fined Southwest Airlines in 2023 over a holiday meltdown that stranded millions in 2022.

The Tiny SE includes an integrated stand allowing it to sit atop a laptop's screen or a monitor. | Image: Obsbot Obsbot has announced a $99 webcam with a two-axis motorized mount that's capable of tracking and dynamically reframing subjects. The Tiny SE is available now for $99, making it one of the cheapest ways to add a tracking camera to your streaming setup.To hit that price tag for a two-axis gimbal-mounted webcam with tracking capabilities, the Tiny SE comes with one notable limitation: it tops out at 1080p. For comparison, the $199 Insta360 Link 2 can do 4K at up to 30fps, while Obsbot still offers its 4K-capable Tiny 2 Lite for $179.Image quality will be lower than more expensive options, but the Tiny SE should still outperform the webcams built into many laptops. It can stream at 1080p at up to 100fps (or up to 120fps with the resolution dropped to 720p) and supports staggered HDR recording at up to 60fps. Image: Obsbot The Tiny SE's tracking can be limited to certain parts of the body like a person's hands or their upper or lower torso. The webcam can reframe and tighten up a shot so it better focuses on a person and what they're interacting with, and it can be limited to track specific body parts like the lower body or the hand, or to keep their face hidden. But with no optical zoom capabilities - only 4x digital zoom - image quality will be further reduced. Using the Obsbot Center app, available for Windows and macOS, you can even adjust the composition of a shot, so tracked targets don't always appear in the middle of the frame.Other features include the ability to use hand gestures to manually adjust the framing of a shot while on camera, a built-in microphone with three noise reduction levels, background blur for increased privacy, and a standard tripod mount on the bottom for more flexibility on where it can be used.

Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images Fox announced on Wednesday that Super Bowl LIX will stream live on Tubi, its free, ad-supported streaming service, when it kicks off on February 9th, 2025. You'll be able to stream the game in 4K for free from the service's app on your phone or smart TV, but you'll need an account to watch.This is the first time the Super Bowl will be available on Tubi. It's also its biggest live sporting event yet. The free streaming platform, which Fox acquired in 2020, reported reaching 97 million monthly active users earlier this month.Though Fox had the broadcast rights to the Super Bowl LVII in 2023, it only aired the game on its linear TV channel, website, and app, while giving cord-cutters the option to access the game on pricey live TV streaming services like Fubo and Sling TV. Perhaps the Tubi interface interruption" commercial shown during Super Bowl LVII was a hint of what's to come.Tubi's Super Bowl coverage will begin at 3:30PM ET on February 9th with a red-carpet event hosted by Olivia Culpo. Along with Tubi, Super Bowl LIX will air across Fox, Fox Deportes, Telemundo, Fox's website, and the NFL Plus app.Correction, January 15th: A previous version of the article stated that you will not need an account to stream Super Bowl LIX on Tubi. You do not need an account to watch Tubi, but Tubi spokesperson Seana Sullivan told The Verge after publication that an account will be required to stream the Super Bowl. This article also previously implied that Super Bowl LVII was only available to stream on paid streaming services; Fox also made it available for free on the Fox Sports app.

Image: OnLeaks and Smartprix Samsung, like Apple, is rumored to be working on a super-thin smartphone, and on Wednesday, OnLeaks and Smartprix published renders of a phone they call the Galaxy S25 Slim.The renders show a phone with a flat front, flat back, flat sides, and three cameras on the back - it seems to resemble last year's Galaxy S24 and the Galaxy S25 renders that leaked last week. However, it will apparently have a depth of 6.4mm, making it 1.2mm thinner than the Galaxy S24. OnLeaks and Smartprix also claim that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will have a depth of 8.2mm, meaning the S25 Slim could be nearly 2mm thinner than that flagship. Image: OnLeaks and Smartprix OnLeaks and Smartprix say that the S25 Slim's camera system will include a 200MP main camera, a 50MP ultrawide camera, and a 50MP telephoto lens with 3.5X optical zoom. The telephoto lens will apparently have a special design:

The DJI Mini 2, an older DJI drone. | Photo by Ryan Loughlin DJI will no longer stop drones from flying over airports, wildfires, and the White House, passing the buck to US law enforcement to prevent some of the worst forms of drone misuse. Some are suggesting the curious timing of that decision is political, coming just days before President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, weeks after the New Jersey drone hysteria, and days after a plane fighting the LA wildfires got taken down by a DJI drone. Some even suggest this is China firing back at the United States for orchestrating the TikTok ban, which feels like a stretch to me.Either way, DJI is now reacting to the whole vibe with an official blog post that claims the timing is coincidental.We had planned to roll this update in the US months ago but delayed the implementation to ensure the update would work properly," the company's unsigned blog post reads.It also claims, in bold letters, that Politics does not drive safety decisions at DJI."To suggest that this update is linked to the current political environment in the US is not only false but also dangerous," DJI's unnamed author writes.While the post does contain a variety of additional details about what is and isn't happening to the company's geofencing system, it does not dispute that DJI has eliminated the feature that prevents the vast majority of US drone pilots, by default, from flying over airports, power plants, active wildfires, military bases, and government buildings like the White House, apparently without exception.If politics didn't drive that decision, what did? The blog post doesn't quite say. While it promises to offer the true reasons behind this update," it continues to generically suggest that DJI has aligned itself with aviation regulators around the principle of operator responsibility" and, on a lesser note, points out that its No Fly Zones created missed opportunities, delayed operations, or unnecessary waiting times" for pilots.This was especially challenging for commercial operators, drone businesses - and most critically - public safety agencies performing lifesaving work, where delays are simply unacceptable," DJI writes.It's true that DJI's geofencing system was created voluntarily by DJI and isn't mandated by US regulators. The FAA does not require geofencing from drone manufacturers," FAA spokesperson Ian Gregor told The Verge.But does removing hard geofencing make us safer, and did it cost DJI anything to keep it in place? We've asked DJI the following questions:

Image: Umar Shakir / The Verge Google is set to launch its Android Automotive app conversion program this February that helps developers convert their Android apps to in-vehicle screens.As reported by Android Authority, the Car ready mobile apps program" guides Android developers to make slight changes to apps so they can be available in vehicles with Google Play Store in the dash.To start, Google is specifically looking for streaming entertainment, gaming, and browser apps, and they need compatibility with x86 processors since many cars aren't using Arm chips.However, a compatibility mode option can also get many apps working in Android Automotive even without following all the guidelines. Google had said it would create an easier path for in-car app approval last May during its I/O 2024 developer conference.There's already a growing number of Google Play Store apps in some Android Automotive vehicles such as the Lincoln Nautilus that we reviewed in September. It has games such as Angry Birds, streaming apps like Max and Crunchy Roll, and meeting apps like WebEx that ran similarly to their Android tablet version counterparts.However, the selection is still slim overall, with primarily car-relevant apps like Waze and A Better Route Planner making the list. Come February, expect a lot more apps to trickle into the dash.

Image: Blue Origin Following a scrubbed launch attempt and weather-related delays, Blue Origin will once again try to send its New Glenn rocket into space for the first time. During the attempt, the Jeff Bezos-owned space company aims to reach orbit, helping to further its goals of shuttling Project Kuiper satellites, equipment, and eventually humans into space.Here's what you need to know about when and how to watch New Glenn's long-awaited inaugural launch.What is New Glenn?New Glenn is the 320-foot-tall rocket that Blue Origin initially announced in 2016. Though Blue Origin planned to launch New Glenn by 2020, the project was beset by delays due to issues with engine development and other technical setbacks.The rocket has a reusable first stage powered by the company's BE-4 engines, which run on liquified natural gas and liquid oxygen. Shortly after launch, the first stage is supposed to detach and autonomously land upright on a sea-based platform, where Blue Origin can then retrieve it and reuse it for future missions.Following separation, New Glenn's upper stage should fire up its BE-3U engines - a less powerful engine that uses liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen - as it attempts to propel itself into space with its payload. The upper stage is capable of delivering 45 metric tons of cargo into low Earth orbit.For this uncrewed launch, New Glenn will house the Blue Ring Pathfinder, a payload consisting of a communications array, a power system, and a flight computer. This will let Blue Origin test its Blue Ring spacecraft, which will eventually support missions with refueling, hosting, data relay, and cloud computing capabilities. Image: Blue Origin New Glenn's first stage uses BE-4 engines, while its upper stage has less powerful BE-3U engines. Earlier this week, Blue Origin scrubbed New Glenn's launch due to a vehicle subsystem issue." A successful first launch could make Blue Origin a serious rival to Elon Musk's SpaceX. Along with competing for government contracts, both commercial space companies are also working to build out internet satellite constellations, with SpaceX regularly sending Starlink satellites into space and Blue Origin on tap to support Amazon's Project Kuiper initiative.When will Blue Origin launch New Glenn?Blue Origin's next launch attempt will take place at Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Thursday, January 16th. The three-hour launch window opens at 1AM ET (10PM PT).How to watch New Glenn's launchYou can watch a livestream of New Glenn's launch from Blue Origin's website, its X account, and its YouTube channel. We'll embed a livestream here when it becomes available.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge This week is quickly becoming a sea change moment for Sonos as the company looks to undo the damage done to its reputation since last May. It all began on Monday with the departure of CEO Patrick Spence, who was replaced by board member Tom Conrad. Then came news that chief product officer Maxime Bouvat-Merlin would also be leaving the company - another indication that Sonos is serious about correcting course and taking accountability for its new app woes.In a third shakeup within the company's leadership ranks, I can report that chief commercial officer Deirdre Findlay also plans to leave Sonos in the coming weeks. The company's corporate governance page says Findlay oversees all marketing, revenue, and customer experience organizations at Sonos. She is responsible for integrated brand strategy, geographic expansion strategies, and all go to market execution."By now, there's no arguing that Sonos' go-to-market strategy for its rebuilt mobile app was deeply flawed and rushed. Before he lost his job, Spence eventually conceded that the company should've taken a far more cautious approach and offered the new software as a beta release while keeping the previous, more stable... Read the full story at The Verge.

Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images Sean Duffy, Donald Trump's pick to lead the Department of Transportation, said he would allow safety investigations into Tesla's advanced driving technology to proceed, possibly setting himself up for a clash with a top supporter of the president-elect.Duffy, a former Republican congressman, lobbyist, and Fox News personality, made the comments during his confirmation hearing Wednesday in front of the Senate Commerce Committee. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) asked whether he could maintain objectivity in investigating Tesla, which is headed by Trump donor and supporter Elon Musk.Yes, I commit to this committee and to you that I will let NHTSA do their investigation," he said. I think I also mentioned to you that a lot of the players in these spaces, I haven't met any of them."Yes, I commit to this committee and to you that I will let NHTSA do their investigation"Duffy's comments follow months of reporting about Musk's unprecedented influence over Trump's transition, in which the Tesla CEO has sat in on meetings with potential nominees, vetted new hires, and volunteered to co-lead a committee to oversee massive spending cuts. Trump is also reportedly weighing policy decisions that would favor Musk's business, such as eliminating a crash reporting rule for partial and fully autonomous vehicles.During the Biden administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched several investigations into the safety of Tesla's automated driving technology. One the largest probes resulted in a December 2023 recall of more than 2 million Tesla vehicles to install better safeguards for the company's Autopilot driver assist feature. NHTSA launched another investigation into the adequacy of the recall.Duffy didn't say anything more about stepping into a role that could put him at odds with Musk. But he did comment on the needs for national legislation to better regulate the safe rollout of autonomous vehicles. He said:

Image: Tom Warren / The Verge Microsoft will soon let you get in-person repairs for Xbox Series X / S consoles at uBreakiFix stores, the company announced today.Microsoft already offers in-person Xbox repairs at Microsoft retail stores, but uBreakiFix will be the the first Xbox Authorized Service Provider," according to the announcement. You'll be able to get Xbox repairs at uBreakiFix's nearly 700 participating store locations across the US" starting January 20th, Microsoft says. (The company notes that you should check with your local uBreakiFix store to make sure they are participating in the Xbox repairability program.)In the announcement, Microsoft says that it's expanding its repairability program for the white Xbox Series S, the white Xbox Series X digital edition, and special edition Xbox Series X Galaxy Black" model. We've asked Microsoft if the black Xbox Series X with a disc drive and the black Xbox Series S qualify for uBreakiFix repairs as well.If you're looking to repair your Xbox yourself, sourcing parts for that recently got a bit easier after iFixit started offering genuine Xbox parts and step-by-step repair guides in December. iFixit offers parts and guides for repairing Surface devices, too.In its announcement today, Microsoft also says that packaging for the white Xbox Series S, the white Xbox Series X digital edition, and Xbox Series X Galaxy Black" model are now fully paper and fiber-based, eliminating all single-use plastics."

Image: The Verge Will the last device leaving the Nest app please turn out the lights? The day finally arrived; Google has announced it's transitioning the Nest Protect smoke and CO alarm to the Google Home app. This means you'll be able to get alerts and notifications for your alarm directly through Google Home, as well as hush alarms, according to a blog post from Google. This means you no longer need the Nest app for any device, but you can still use it - for now, at least.The Nest Protect was the last device that could only be accessed and controlled from the Nest app, following Google's efforts over the last couple of years to fully port its Nest cameras and other devices to the Home app. With this move, Google will finally be able to sunset the Nest app, although the company has said it will keep it in maintenance mode indefinitely. Image: Google Home Screenshots of the Nest Protect in the Google Home app showing safety checkups, the status of all your Protects, and a view of the heads-up notification page. The new function for the Nest Protect is coming to Google Home users in Public Preview on Android this week and to iOS soon." According to Google, it will enable the following features:

Image: Apple Much of Severance - the sci-fi workplace thriller on Apple TV Plus - takes place in a brightly lit office, with characters huddled over strange computers where they do work they're told is both mysterious and important. In the show, that work looks a bit like an alternate reality take on Minesweeper, except the characters are attempting to find numbers that feel scary," even though they don't know what that really means - and the cast is largely going through the same experience.The computers on the show are functional, so when Mark and Helly are moving pixelated numbers around on a screen, that's something the performers are doing on set. When you see us, we really are refining numbers," Adam Scott, who plays Mark and serves as a producer on the show, tells The Verge. There is actually a way to do it."The computers are the brainchild of prop master Cath Miller and production designer Jeremy Hindle. The office-dwelling characters in Severance have undergone a procedure that separates their work selves from their life outside, effectively creating two people, one of whom exists only within the basement offices of Lumon Industries. As Hindle told me back in 2022, this allowed the team to design the computers with playfulness in mind. We kept thinking, If you're experimenting with these people, what would you put in front of them?'" Hindle told me. Imagine how fun it would be to sit at this thing, as opposed to if I put a laptop in front of them. It's like a child's device." Image: Apple A lonely Lumon computer on the severed floor. Image: Marion Curtis / StarPix for Apple TV Plus Zach Cherry and Britt Lower using a Lumon computer at an installation at Grand Central Station in New York. For Scott, using the devices - which pair a vintage-yet-touchscreen monitor with a keyboard that has a built-in trackball - was a nostalgic experience. They remind me of the old Apple IIe [computers] I grew up using that my brother and my dad had," he explains. But even though the terminals look familiar, they're just different enough to make them feel almost surreal - a perfect fit for Severance. They also have their own interface, and their own keyboard and trackball, but the buttons are in an odd place ergonomically," Scott adds. So it's tricky to use. But I feel like me and [costars Zach Cherry, Britt Lower, and John Turturro] have all figured out how to use it."These people have no idea what they're doing."Scott says that the functionality of the computers is a big help for his performance, noting that, often, when actors interact with a gadget, there's nothing really there onscreen. But on Severance, each actor is able to actually refine these numbers and come up with your own strategies and apply your own meaning to it."That meaning is important because, well, nobody knows what's really going down in Lumon's basement. They sit there clicking around a computer without understanding the importance of their work (at this point in the story, viewers don't know the importance, either). So for the actors, actually using the computers and being just as clueless as their characters helps them better inhabit the role.These people have no idea what they're doing," says Scott. They just know that they need to refine numbers by feeling sort of when they get scary. Getting to actually do that when we're on camera is really important and really helps a lot."Severance season 2 hits Apple TV Plus on January 17th.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Streaming TV services keep getting more expensive, and those subscription costs will only continue to rise in 2025 and beyond. Amid all these price hikes, the best we can hope for is that the companies behind them will continue to add new features to ease the sting of paying more. Sling TV is trying to do just that with its cloud DVR, which has removed its previous recording limits and is now unlimited."Unlimited DVR (previously called DVR Plus) will allow customers to record as much content as they want, with recordings saved for up to nine months," the company wrote in a press release today. That endless recording freedom still requires an extra $5 each month, however; YouTube TV includes an unlimited cloud DVR in its base subscription - but that subscription costs quite a bit more. Either way, unlimited is certainly better than the 200-hour limit that Sling's Premium DVR had before.Here's what the newly enhanced DVR gets you:

Photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage Drake's ongoing legal battle with his label, Universal Music Group, has escalated. The artist filed a lawsuit in federal court today, accusing UMG of harming his reputation and endangering him for profit. The suit stems from the diss track Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar, another UMG artist. Drake's legal complaint also again accuses UMG of using bots on Spotify and other streaming platforms, and payola to make the song more popular.On May 4, 2024, UMG approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track that falsely accuses Drake of being a pedophile and calls for violent retribution against him," the complaint reads. Even though UMG enriched itself and its shareholders by exploiting Drake's music for years, and knew that the salacious allegations against Drake were false, UMG chose corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists." Image: Aubrey Drake Graham vs. UMG Recordings Drake accuses UMG of using bots to drive up listens and views, and paying for promotion on social media. The lawsuit details a shooting at Drake's (real name: Aubrey Graham) home just a few days after the song was released, during which a security guard was injured. Multiple break-ins occurred in the following days, which the lawsuit says were caused by UMG's actions.Why would UMG pit two of its own artists against each other? Drake's team has a theory:

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Like the wildfire conditions in Los Angeles County, my For You page on TikTok turned overnight.I woke up last week to a phone screen filled with ravenous flames and video after video of razed homes, businesses, and other structures. Influencers broke from their regular cadence of content to film themselves packing up a suitcase for evacuation; nameless accounts shared footage from streets I didn't recognize, showcasing the devastation; freshly created profiles asked for help locating their lost pets. Scrolling on TikTok feels like trying to keep track of 1,000 live feeds at once, each urgent and horrifying in its own way.What all of this amounts to is a different question entirely. Even as there's no escaping disaster content, the clips, comments, check-ins, and footage are not actually very helpful. Our feeds are awash with both too much and not enough information. Though it's not yet clear how these fires started, scientists say that climate change will only continue to exacerbate wildfires going forward. Current weather conditions - including a severe lack of rainfall this year in Los Angeles - have created a tinderbox in the region.Questions like Where are the shelters?" Should I evacuate?" and Where can I get a mask and other supplies?" are left unanswered in favor of frightening first-person reports. And who can blame Los Angeles-area residents? That's what you're supposed to do on TikTok. What they can't do is share a link to mutual aid resources or to a news story about vital, up-to-date evacuation information. They can scroll endlessly on the algorithmic For You page, but they can't sort content to display the most recent updates first. TikTok is simply not built to disseminate potentially lifesaving breaking news alerts. Instead, it's filled with endless clips of news crews interviewing people who have lost everything.The wildfire content machine echoes a similar phenomenon from just a few months ago, when October's Hurricane Milton tore through Florida, killing dozens and causing billions of dollars in damages. Some of the most visible and viral content from the storm came from influencers and other content creators who stayed behind to vlog their way through the event, racking millions of views. So far, there's not the same risk-taking-for-viral-content dynamic at play with the fires in Southern California, but the overall experience is not that different: a random infotainment feed where a video of a person losing nearly every earthly possession is followed directly by someone testing a new makeup product. Media critic Matt Pearce put it best: TikTok was largely indifferent to whether I live or die."Instagram seemed slightly more useful, but only, I suspect, if you follow people who post relevant content. In times of crisis - during the Black Lives Matter uprisings of 2020 or the ongoing bombardment of Gaza - Instagram Stories has become something of a bulletin board for resharing infographics and resources. Linking to relevant announcements and news stories is really only possible through Stories, but at least you can. Instagram search, on the other hand, is a chaotic mixture of user-generated infographics, grainy pictures of the fires that have been screenshotted and reuploaded multiple times, and distasteful selfies from bodybuilders wishing LA well.It should go without saying that depraved conspiracy theories once again spread on X, including from billionaire owner Elon Musk and other right-wing influencers who falsely claimed DEI initiatives were responsible for the fires. Twitter, once functioning like a breaking news feed, is now overrun with crypto spam and Nazi sympathizers. Meanwhile, smaller, more specialized apps like Watch Duty, a nonprofit wildfire monitoring platform, have filled gaps. On Bluesky, an X competitor, users have the option to pin feeds based on trending topics, creating a custom landing page for LA fire content.We are in for more, not fewer, extreme weather events like storms and heatwaves, and it's worth asking ourselves whether we are prepared to do this all over again. Platform decay is all the more apparent in times of emergency, when users are forced to wade through astronomical amounts of garbage: video content that scares but doesn't help us, news websites with so many pop-up ads it feels illegal, or ramblings from tech elites who are looking for someone to blame rather than a way to help. By my estimations, our feeds will return to regularly scheduled programming in five or so business days, and the devastation from these fires will get lost in a sea of comedy skits and PR unboxings. Until, of course, the next one.

Four John Deere combines harvest wheat in tandem near the farm shop and maintenance yard near Pullman, Palouse Region, Washington, USA. | Photo: Getty Images John Deere's unfair" practices raised repair costs for farmers and kept them from being able to make repairs on tractors and other equipment they own, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleges in a new lawsuit.The FTC and attorneys general for Illinois and Minnesota filed suit today in a long-running fight for the right to repair - a battle that's become more heated as Deere increasingly incorporated software into farm equipment. The complaint accuses John Deere of decades" of unlawful practices that forced farmers to turn to the company's own network of authorized dealers for repairs.Illegal repair restrictions can be devastating for farmers, who rely on affordable and timely repairs to harvest their crops and earn their income," FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a press release today. The FTC's action today seeks to ensure that farmers across America are free to repair their own equipment or use repair shops of their choice-lowering costs, preventing ruinous delays, and promoting fair competition for independent repair shops."Deere produced the only fully functional software repair tool capable of performing all repairs" on its equipment, according to the FTC. It says the tool was only made available to the company's dealers, which charged higher prices than independent shops. That unlawfully gave Deere monopoly power" for certain repair services, the FTC alleges.Deere says it supports customers' right to repair equipment. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) in January 2023 that was supposed to make its software, tools, and documentation available so that farmers and independent shops can make their own repairs.We have and remain committed to enabling customers to repair the products that they buy," John Deere CTO Jahmy Hindman said in a 2021 Decoder interview.Developing...

Disney Plus / Marvel Though Daredevil: Born Again hit a few production snags that delayed its Disney Plus debut, Marvel has finally released the series' first trailer ahead of its premiere in March.When last we saw Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), he was getting into squabbles out in Oklahoma, but Daredevil: Born Again's new trailer sends him back to New York City where Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) just so happens to be running for mayor. Fisk seems to be running a strong campaign that has many people convinced he has a plan to make the city a safer place. But Murdock doesn't need his super senses to sniff out that there's something rotten at the core of Fisk's political ambitions.Along with brief shots of Murdock's buds Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), and Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal), the trailer also spotlights the MCU's new takes on Hector Ayala / White Tiger (Kamar de los Reyes) and Muse (Muse's actor has yet to be officially revealed), a supervillain first introduced in Charles Soule's 2016 Daredevil comics run. The sheer amount of bone crunching and blood oozing in the trailer makes it seem like Marvel is, at least aesthetically, trying to go for some of the grittiness that made Netflix's Daredevil series feel so distinct from the rest of the MCU. We'll find out for sure when it premieres on March 4th.

An animated version of Novak Djokovic. | Image: Australian Open The Australian Open might look a little different this year if you're livestreaming it on YouTube. That's because the tournament has put an animated overlay on some of its matches to avoid broadcast licensing conflicts, making players look an awful lot like Wii Sports characters, as reported earlier by The Guardian.The animated players follow all the same movements as their real-life counterparts as they travel across a cartoon-ish court, while the whap" of the ball, chatter from the crowd, and commentary all remain authentic. But the animations aren't perfect, as the players' sneakers seem to clip into the court at some points, while Naomi Osaka's animated tank top looked like it was ripped during her match against Caroline Garcia. Screenshot: The Verge Naomi Osaka's tank top didn't look quite right. With the animated livestreams, the Australian Open can air its games on YouTube without conflicting with the broadcasting agreements it sold to networks and streaming services around the world, according to The Guardian.The technology, which the Australian Open first introduced last year, uses 12 cameras to process the silhouette of the human in real time, and stitch that together across 29 points in the skeleton," Machar Reid, the director of innovation at Tennis Australia, the organization behind the tournament, told The Guardian. It's not as seamless as it could be - we don't have fingers - but in time you can begin to imagine a world where that comes."Based on the information from the sensors, the Australian Open's systems can then create an animated version of the live events with a two-minute delay.We've seen other broadcasters and sports leagues experiment with creating alternate telecasts of games as well. During the Super Bowl LVIII, CBS Sports partnered with Nickelodeon to add Spongebob Squarepants and slime animations to the big game, while the NFL aired an animated football game featuring The Simpsons last year.

Image: Honda Honda announced that its first original electric vehicle - that is, an EV built on its own platform and not one based on another automaker's tech, like the Honda Prologue - will be the Acura RSX, due out in 2026.The Acura RSX, shown above still in camouflage, is based on the Performance concept that was introduced last year. It will be the first EV to be built on Honda's new vehicle platform and will debut the proprietary, in-house-developed Asimo operating system that was announced during CES earlier this month.Honda's two battery-electric vehicles in the US, the Honda Prologue and the Acura ZDX, are both based on General Motors' Ultium vehicle platform. The Prologue, in particular, has been an early success for Honda, outselling its sister vehicles, the Chevy Blazer and Equinox EVs.But now Honda is ready to start working on its own tech. The RSX will also be the first EV to be built at Honda's new factory in Ohio, where production is expected to kick off in late 2025. The $4.4 billion plant is a joint venture between Honda and LG Chem, the Korean battery company.Honda is resurrecting the RSX badge that it first used in the early 2000s as its performance brand's version of the Honda Integra. This follows Honda's decision to also bring back the Prelude as a sporty, two-door hybrid.In RSX, we turn to an Acura nameplate that communicates fun to drive performance, a great name for a sporty SUV with a coupe silhouette for our first original Acura EV," said Lance Woelfer, VP of automobile sales at American Honda Motor Co.The RSX will also be the first vehicle from Honda to feature its in-house-developed Asimo OS. At CES, Honda said that Asimo would be the company's first effort at designing a software-defined vehicle, in which updatable software controls the vehicle's core functions. The OS was named after Honda's Asimo humanoid robot, which was retired in 2018. Asimo will also underpin the automaker's new Honda Zero vehicles, with the first being the Honda 0 SUV.So it works out that Acura is once again, sort of the tip of the spear for electrification and our digital future," said Jessica Fini, Honda's assistant VP for communications.

Image: The Verge If you wanted to use all of Google's AI features inside Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Meet, and the rest of the Workspace suite, you previously needed to pony up another $20 per user per month for the Gemini Business plan. As of Tuesday, it's free. Google is bringing all its AI features to its Workspace app at no extra cost as it continues to race Microsoft, OpenAI, and others to build the AI-powered office suite of the future.There is a catch, though: as it makes this change, Google is increasing the price of all Workspace plans. Jerry Dischler, Google's president of cloud applications, tells me companies will pay roughly $2 more per month per user for the AI-enabled Workspace than they were paying before. (The numbers aren't exact, because companies have complicated and varying contracts, but the base subscription price was $12 a month and now it will be $14.)Workspace AI includes things like email summaries in Gmail, generated designs for spreadsheets and videos, an automated note-taker for meetings, the powerful NotebookLM research assistant, and writing tools across apps. It also comes with access to the Gemini bot itself, which is maybe Google's single most powerful AI tool; the bot can do standard chatbot thing but can also help you find information, search across all your stuff, and more.Dischler points out that Google is the most vertically integrated AI product out there right now, but that only matters if people are using the whole system. Now, everyone can. Most of the time, when we talk to companies who are using AI, their big impediment is cost reasons," he says. That's why they go in so gingerly. Like, wow, this is a lot of money, and let's prove the value.' All right, now you get the AI. You have the value." He says the various app roadmaps are already changing, too, and that new features will begin to ship quickly.Google's not the only company walking back its AI up-charge: Microsoft announced in November that its own Copilot Pro AI features, which had also previously been a $20 monthly upgrade, would become part of the standard Microsoft 365 subscription. So far, that's only for the Personal and Family subscriptions, and only in a few places. But these companies all understand that this is their moment to teach people new ways to use their products and win new customers in the process. They're betting that the cost of rolling out all these AI features to everyone will be worth it in the long run.

The Honor Magic 7 Pro ships in blue, black, and a shadowy grey. | Image: Honor Honor's flagship Magic 7 Pro launches in the UK and Europe today, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite and protected by top-tier water-resistance. It also features a high resolution 200 megapixel telephoto camera.Arriving a week after the OnePlus 13 and a week before we expect to meet Samsung's Galaxy S25 phones, the Magic 7 Pro is among the first phones to release outside of China with Qualcomm's new chipset inside. That makes it one of the most powerful phones on the market, especially with 12GB of RAM. It also features a sizable 5,270mAh battery built around a silicon-carbon chemistry, allowing it to pack more energy into a smaller space that keeps the Magic 7 Pro's thickness below 9mm.Much like the new OnePlus phone - and, unexpectedly, Motorola's $299.99 Moto G Power, which launched in the US yesterday - the Magic 7 Pro is both IP68 and IP69-rated. That means that in addition to the usual protection from dust and submersion in water, it should survive exposure to steam and high-pressure water jets - ideal if you regularly use your phone in a jacuzzi, probably overkill for the rest of us. Image: Honor Yup, it's thin, Also unusual is the phone's 200 megapixel 3x periscopic camera. We've seen megapixel counts as high as this before, but mostly on main cameras, not zoom lenses - with the exception of Vivo's X100 Ultra and X200 Pro. It's bolstered by an AI Super Zoom feature that kicks in at 30x zoom for added clarity, with this and a few other camera AI modes using a combination of on-device and cloud-based large language models to fine-tune images.There's even more AI than that, since it ships with Android 15 and Google's Gemini AI app, which Honor has bolstered with its own AI-powered takes on translation and notes apps.The Magic 7 Pro launched in China last November, but this is its first appearance outside of the country. Honor is one of several Chinese smartphone manufacturers that saw growth in global market share in 2024, thanks in part to last year's flagship Magic 6 series and the Magic V3, still the thinnest foldable phone available. Image: Honor Honor Magic 7 Lite. For its European launch the Pro is joined by the Magic 7 Lite, a midrange handset that uses the comparatively sluggish Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chip and arrives still running Android 14. The selling point of that phone is its enormous 6,600mAh battery, which Honor claims will run for three days. There's no sign of the regular Magic 7, which launched alongside the Pro in China.The Magic 7 Pro is available to order now from honor.com starting at 1,099.99 / 1,299 (about $1,340), with major retailers and local carriers set to stock it too. The Magic 7 Lite is much cheaper at 399.99 / 369, and also available now.

Image: Microsoft Microsoft says it will no longer support Office apps, known as Microsoft 365 apps, on Windows 10 later this year. The support cutoff coincides with Windows 10's end of support on October 14th, and will mean businesses and consumers that rely on Microsoft 365 apps will need to upgrade to Windows 11.Microsoft 365 Apps will no longer be supported after October 14, 2025, on Windows 10 devices," says Microsoft in a blog post. To use Microsoft 365 Applications on your device, you will need to upgrade to Windows 11."While support will end for Office apps on Windows 10 in October, it doesn't mean the apps will suddenly stop working. Microsoft notes in a support document that was updated in December that the applications will continue to function as before" after Windows 10 support ends, but that there could be performance and reliability issues over time."Microsoft really wants people to stop using Windows 10 this year, and is calling 2025 the year of the Windows 11 PC refresh." The software maker declared at CES last week that refreshing an old Windows 10 PC will be more important than buying a new TV or phone this year.We believe that one of the most important pieces of technology people will look to refresh in 2025 isn't the refrigerator, the television or their mobile phone. It will be their Windows 10 PC, and they will move forward with Windows 11," said Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer at Microsoft.Windows 11 adoption is still lagging behind Windows 10, and millions of machines simply can't upgrade to the latest OS due to Microsoft's strict hardware requirements. Microsoft recently closed the door on Windows 11 supporting older hardware, noting that its Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 requirement for Windows 11 is non-negotiable." Microsoft is now trying to convince Windows 10 users to buy a new PC with full-screen prompts.While support for Windows 10 ends later this year, Microsoft is also offering Extended Security Updates to consumers for the first time ever. Consumers will be able to pay $30 for an extra year of updates, while businesses will be able to purchase up to three years of extended updates.

Photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage Drake has withdrawn the petition he raised accusing Spotify and Universal Music Group (UMG) of illegally boosting Kendrick Lamars diss track Not Like Us." According to documents filed with the New York Supreme Court on Tuesday, the pre-action case is being discontinued with no financial cost to any of the parties involved.The petition, or pre-action case," isn't a full lawsuit - it refers to a stage of litigation that seeks information from each party and allows time for issues to be resolved before disputes are escalated to court.The legal petition filed by Drake (real name: Aubrey Graham) in November alleged that Spotify and UMG - the parent label that represents both him and Lamar - used bots," discounted licensing rates, and pay-to-play agreements to artificially inflate the streaming numbers for Lamar's song. The diss track, aimed at Drake, became a viral hit following a feud between the two artists last year that attracted significant attention.A second legal petition was also filed by Drake in November that accused UMG of funneling payments to iHeartRadio to promote Lamar's diss track. Drake's lawyers said that the song, which describes Drake as a certified pedophile," a predator," and someone who should be registered and placed on neighborhood watch," was defamatory, claiming that the damage to Drake's reputation should have prevented UMG from releasing it.While the initial pre-action case against Spotify and UMG is now resolved, the second petition against UMG and iHeartRadio is still active. Spotify had previously filed an opposition against the first petition and hasn't objected to Drake withdrawing the pre-action case. UMG - which hadn't filed an opposition - has reserved its position."

Illustration: The Verge Microsoft has quietly killed off its spoofed Google UI that it was using to trick Bing users into thinking they were using Google. Earlier this month you could search for Google" on Bing and get a page that looked a lot like Google, complete with a special search bar, an image resembling a Google Doodle, and even some small text under the search bar just like Google search.The misleading UI no longer appears on the Google search result of Bing this week, just days after it was originally discovered by posters on Reddit. Microsoft's spoofed Google UI even automatically scrolled down the page slightly to mask its own Bing search bar that appear at the top of search results, in a blatant attempt to trick Bing users into thinking they were on Google. Image: Tom Warren / The Verge The fake Google UI on Bing that has now been removed. Microsoft refused to comment on its fake Google UI, but Google was more than happy to offer up its opinion. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but Microsoft spoofing the Google homepage is another tactic in its long history of tricks to confuse users & limit choice," said Google Chrome boss Parisa Tabriz in a post on X last week. New year; new low Microsoft."Microsoft has a habit of using a variety of tricks to convince people to keep using the defaults of Bing and Microsoft Edge in Windows, including modifying Chrome download sites and using malware-like popups to get people to ditch Google. Microsoft has even previously had to reverse pop-up ads inside Google Chrome to address unintended behavior."

Xiaomi was the fastest growing of the major manufacturers last year. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Worldwide smartphone sales grew in 2024 following two consecutive years of decline according to reports from Counterpoint, Canalys, and IDC. The bulk of the growth came from Chinese manufacturers including Xiaomi and Vivo, though Apple and Samsung are still holding strong as the undisputed market leaders.Counterpoint reports a 4 percent growth in phone sales across 2024, with IDC and Canalys each reporting 6-7 percent increases in global shipments, though that's relative to a 2023 that saw the lowest sales figures for a decade. That growth is predicted to continue through 2025.2024 was a year of recovery and normalization after a difficult 2023," says Counterpoint research director Tarun Pathak. The market started showing signs of recovery from Q4 2023 and has now grown for five consecutive quarters."There's a little disagreement about who sits on top, with Counterpoint reporting that Samsung led by market share for the year, while IDC and Canalys each claim that Apple took the crown. All three agree that Xiaomi is sitting solid in third though, with a 12 percent increase in unit sales according to Counterpoint, making it the fastest growing of the major players. Counterpoint pegs Xiaomi at 14 percent market share for the year, catching up to Apple's 18 percent. Image: Counterpoint Counterpoint puts Samsung as the leader for 2024, despite slightly reduced market share. Oppo (including OnePlus), Vivo, and the Transsion group - which includes brands Tecno and Infinix - take up the next few spots, helped by strong sales in Asia and growth across Europe, Africa, and Latin America.Both Counterpoint and IDC attribute some of 2024's relatively bullish performance to the introduction of phones positioned as AI devices, with AI replacing foldable screens as the hot new thing.We have seen a decreased demand for foldables in the market, despite intensified promotions and marketing," says IDC research director Anthony Scarsella. Manufacturers are now prioritizing new AI advancements at the expense of foldables," with Counterpoint predicting that by 2028 nine out of ten smartphones above $250 will include generative AI.

Ralf Groene inside Microsoft's Surface hardware labs. | Image: Getty Microsoft's former head of design for Windows and devices has started a new role at Amazon this week. Ralf Groene was responsible for the design of Microsoft's Surface tablet, and worked closely with former Windows and Surface chief Panos Panay on a line of Surface devices over the past decade. The pair are now reunited at Amazon, working on devices again.Groene - who left Microsoft in April 2024, less than a year after Panay departed for Amazon - will lead design for Amazon's devices and services business. Groene left Microsoft shortly after the company named Pavan Davuluri as its new Windows and Surface chief.Groene, alongside Panay, was instrumental in the creation of the Surface line of products. The original Surface tablet started off life in Groene's sketchbook, with a set of doodles about kickstands that formed the basis of months of 3D-printed prototypes that were held together with string. Microsoft went on to launch the Surface RT tablet in 2012, and the Surface Pro has had a lasting effect on hybrid laptop designs over the past 10 years.Amazon's hiring of Groene comes just months after Xbox cofounder J Allard joined Panay's devices and services team to work on new ideas." Allard departed Microsoft in 2010, following his work on the company's canceled Courier tablet.Groene and Allard aren't the only notable recent former Microsoft hires for Amazon, though. Former Windows Cloud executive Aidan Marcuss also joined Amazon this week, leading the Fire TV, ads, and AppStore teams.