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by Jacob Kastrenakes on (#6S9SR)
Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images President-elect Donald Trump said on Sunday that intends to name Brendan Carr as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Carr, a commissioner at the FCC since 2017, has made a name for himself by threatening to use the commission's powers to regulate speech online and over the airwaves.Carr authored Project 2025's section on the FCC, using it to propose restrictions on social media platforms meant to bolster conservative speech. He proposed limiting the legal shield that gives websites wide latitude to host and moderate user-generated content. He also suggested putting regulations on tech companies that would limit their ability to block and prioritize that content as they choose.In the lead up to the election, Carr... Continue reading...
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The Verge
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
| Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
| Updated | 2025-09-19 01:03 |
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by Wes Davis on (#6S9RN)
I haven't been able to find mine for years. | Image: Apple The Apple Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter may have bitten the dust, as it's sold out at Apple's online store in the US and much of the world, MacRumors reports. The accessory is reportedly still available from Apple in some countries, including France, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.If it's truly gone, then this feels like the end of an era. Apple introduced the Lightning headphone adapter in 2016 alongside the iPhone 7, when it first courageously ditched the headphone jack. The company even included it with new iPhones for a couple of generations before it stopped doing that for 2018's iPhone XS, leaving customers to buy one themselves, pick up Lightning EarPods, or get on the AirPods train (which many of us had started... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6S9QB)
Image: The Verge An Ohio man named Larry Dean Harmon will serve three years in prison and forfeit more than $400 million worth of cryptocurrency and other assets, the Department of Justice announced on Friday. Harmon was indicted in 2020 on money laundering conspiracy charges related to Helix, a darkweb cryptocurrency mixer" service he ran.Also known as crypto tumbling," services like Helix are designed to hide cryptocurrency transactions - often for illegal drugs - and the identity of people involved. From 2014 to 2017, Harmon processed more than 350,000 Bitcoin (about $311 million USD at the time) in such transactions, according to the DOJ's announcement.Harmon, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in August 2021, will be on... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6S9JN)
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Elon Musk's X may have tweaked its algorithm to boost his account, along with those of other conservative-leaning users, starting around the time he announced his support of Donald Trump's presidential campaign. That's according to a new study published by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), which found that Musk's posts in particular were suddenly much more popular.The study's authors - QUT associate professor in digital media Timothy Graham and Monash University communications and media studies professor Mark Andrejevic - first looked at Musk's engagement before and after his July endorsement of Trump. They report that starting around July 13th, Musks' posts received 138 percent more views and 238 percent more retweets than... Continue reading...
by David Pierce on (#6S9H5)
Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge Ge Wang doesn't use computers to make music the way most people use computers make music. He uses computers to make... computer music. Wang works at Stanford, as an associate professor in the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. He also conducts the school's famed Laptop Orchestra, was a co-founder of the music app maker Smule, and created a programming language called Chuck that turns code into sound. He understands how computers, music, and humans interact more deeply than most. He also has some ideas about where it's all headed.On this episode of The Vergecast, the third and last in our mini-series about the future of music, we chat with Wang about what's next for computer music. He tells us about teaching his... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Webster on (#6S9FX)
Image: Square Enix We're in a pretty good moment for sprawling, complex role-playing games. New releases like Metaphor: ReFantazio and Dragon Age Absolution, along with older titles like Elden Ring (including this year's expansion), Cyberpunk 2077, and Baldur's Gate 3 have sucked millions of people into their expansive worlds. They can be all-consuming experiences, offering players all kinds of freedom to explore their worlds and characters. But honestly? Sometimes I don't want to fuss with conversation wheels or make difficult, narrative-altering choices. I just want to go on a big adventure and slowly turn into an overpowered hero fighting monsters - and that's where the excellent new remake of Dragon Quest 3 comes in.The game originally came out way... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6S96P)
Netflix had a very big night. | Photo: Al Bello / Getty Images for Netflix Netflix peaked at 65 million concurrent streams" during the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul last night, according to Most Valuable Promotions, the promoter for the fight. Those streams went out to 60 million households globally, the group said in a press release shared with The Verge via email. That's more than twice the traffic Netflix could see for its Christmas Day NFL stream this year, if everyone who watched last year streamed it.The crush of people trying to watch Tyson vs. Paul seemed to be more than Netflix's servers could easily handle, as the social web was awash with complaints about the quality of the stream, which many found to be muddy, or plagued with buffering and dropped connections. Downdetector recorded... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6S96Q)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images Complaints about unwanted telemarketing calls have dropped for the third straight year, the Federal Trade Commission announced yesterday. Reports of such calls have fallen by over 50 percent versus 2021, according to the FTC - a decline that could be thanks in no small part to stepped-up government efforts to fight irritating telemarketing and phone scams.There were about 33,000 fewer unwanted call complaints during the 2024 fiscal year versus the year prior, writes the FTC. The drop affected all sorts of unwanted calls, although the agency writes that reports about debt reduction calls had jumped more than 85 percent from last year."FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Sam Levine said that while illegal calls are still a... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6S93Z)
The Freo X Ultra packs a lot of features for the price, including the ability to automatically remop your floors when necessary. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Hosting Thanksgiving dinner is fun and all, but the amount of cleaning you have to do afterward can be exhausting. The Narwal Freo X Ultra robot vacuum / mop hybrid can help speed things up, though, and it's currently down to an all-time low of $849.99 (about $690 off) at Best Buy and Amazon (when you apply the on-page coupon).The Narwal Freo X Ultra is one of our favorite robot vacuums for mopping. It features a commendable 8,200Pa of suction power and a host of welcome features, including a set of spinning triangular mops that allow it to clean hard surfaces exceptionally well. It can adjust the amount of pressure applied by its mop based on floor type, too, and can even make its own cleaning decisions," one of which will prompt it... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6S92M)
Concept art for Half-Life 2: Episode 3, from the Half-Life 2 20th Anniversary Documentary. | Screenshot: YouTube Unsurprisingly, yesterday's big Half-Life release wasn't the sequel to Half-Life 2 or even the third Half-Life 2: Episode entry, but a 20th-anniversary update to Valve's legendary 2004 game. And given what studio co-founder Gabe Newell has to say on the subject in a 2-hour documentary that the company released in tandem with the update, it seems less likely than ever that we'll be seeing either follow-up anytime soon.Newell explains what he calls his personal failure" near the end of the video (at this timestamp):
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by Wes Davis on (#6S90F)
Photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images for Netflix Netflix's livestream of the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing match was a mess. I'm not talking about the bout itself - although people had their qualms with that, too - it's the livestream, which people across the internet complained was plagued by buffering, unstable, and unwatchable muddiness. That doesn't bode well for Netflix's live sports ambitions, especially its upcoming Christmas Day NFL games.I had the same experience, having tuned in a few minutes before Paul showed up in the back of a lowrider truck. For the vast majority of the 8-round match, I had to lean heavily on my brain's ability to construct a cohesive picture from very little information to have an idea of what was going on. The X post below was very much what the... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6S90G)
Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge So, you've finally decided to give Bluesky a shot. The social network has come a long way since the early bare-bones days of invite-only signups and recently grew past the 15 million user mark. Along the way, it's gathered a lot of familiar posting platform features, like direct messages, pinned posts, and the ability to post videos up to 60 seconds in length.But there's a lot more to it than that, and I'm not only talking about lore. (Yes, Bluesky has lore, and that's probably the most classic Twitter thing about it.) It's also got a number of features and settings you won't find on X or Threads, like the ability to choose your own algorithm or moderation tools. These serve not just as a fast lane to getting the platform to feel... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6S8YZ)
Image: Playstack / Color Gray Games The Case of the Golden Idol was a rewarding series of point-and-click murder mysteries that became one of my favorite games of 2022. And while I felt there was more story to explore about the titular golden idol, I wasn't sure if a potential sequel could live up to its clever puzzles and fascinating, slowly unfolding story. Turns out, I had nothing to fear: The Rise of the Golden Idol, the newly launched sequel, easily surpasses the original by improving on just about everything.At its core, Rise is a very similar game to Case. The new game takes place in the 1970s, around 200 years after the events of the original, and each of Rise's cases drops you into a specific moment in time, typically during or shortly after a murder. You're... Continue reading...
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by Elizabeth Lopatto on (#6S8P3)
In which various government bodies fight over permissionless" assets | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The US Securities and Exchange Commission wants to unilaterally wrest regulatory authority away from the States" when it comes to crypto, according to a lawsuit from 18 states. These states want to halt the SEC's enforcement actions, so they can manage crypto regulation instead. Also named as a plaintiff on the suit is the DeFi Education Fund, a special interest lobbyist.Controversial SEC chair Gary Gensler is named in the suit, along with other SEC commissioners. Gensler's treatment of crypto during his time as chair has made him a punching bag for the industry - and for Republicans such as president-elect Donald Trump.There has been an ongoing turf war over crypto regulation. Until this point, the two major contenders were the... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6S8P4)
Illustration: The Verge WhatsApp dropped the most I can't believe this wasn't already there" feature this week: message drafts. Now, WhatsApp lets you know if you have unsent messages typed up in chats so you know to get back to them later.To let you know about a draft, messages you've started writing will show a green and bold Draft" word followed by what you've typed up. That way, you can ponder about finishing it when you open the app and not accidentally ignore your friends (though you still purposefully could, I guess.)Drafts also end up at the top of the chats list, so you don't have to scroll to search for lost ones. The feature is now available in the app worldwide, Engadget reports.WhatsApp announced in July that it had hit 100 million monthly... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6S8MN)
Image: Valve Half-Life 2 is getting a major update in celebration of the classic title's 20th anniversary. In addition to Steam Workshop support directly within the game, Valve has fixed bugs and restored some content, added new graphics settings, updated gamepad controls, and a whole lot more. You'll also be able to get the game for free on Steam through November 18th at 1PM ET. After that, it will cost $9.99.Valve is also now including the Episode One and Episode Two expansions with the base game. They'll be accessible from the Half-Life 2 menu, and Valve says that you will automatically advance to the next expansion after completing each one." You'll also be able to access the Steam Workshop within the Extras menu, which means you'll no longer... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6S8MP)
Image: ESPN ESPN is testing an AI-generated avatar with the Saturday college football show SEC Nation. Dubbed FACTS, it's going to be ...promoting education and fun around sports analytics" with information drawn from ESPN Analytics, which includes data like the Football Power Index (FPI), player and team statistics, and game schedules. We haven't seen the avatar in action, but it sounds like a bot-ified version of stats encyclopedia Howie Schwab, who was ESPN's first statistician and eventually the star of a mid-2000s game show, Stump the Schwab.ESPN has already brought generative AI to its website with AI-written game recaps. FACTS is still in development, and there's no word on when it could make its first appearance on the network.FACTS... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6S8MQ)
Illustration: The Verge Google Workspace is rolling out a Gemini-powered AI image generator directly in Google Docs that lets you quickly whip up visuals for your writeups. Essentially, it's a clip art maker that follows in the footsteps of Microsoft's AI-generated art feature in its Office products.Google's image generator in Docs is available to paid Workspace accounts that include the Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, Education Premium, or Google One AI Premium add-ons.Those with the new feature can find it under Insert > Image > Help me create an image, which results in a Create an image" sidebar where you can type in a description of what you'd like to make. It also provides a drop-down to select an art style with options such as Photography" or... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6S8J5)
Disney Though the remainder of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur's final season is set to hit the Disney Channel and Disney Plus some time next year, the studio is reportedly keeping one episode from airing because of its focus on a transgender character.Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur has often touched on ideas about race, class, and issues like gentrification as it followed the adventures of genius 13-year-old Lunella Lafatette (Diamond White) and her pet dinosaur, Devil (Fred Tatasciore). But according to now-deleted social media posts from animators who worked on The Gatekeeper" - an episode about Lunella and other members of her school's volleyball team being terrorized by a transphobic adult - Disney has chosen to keep the episode from... Continue reading...
by Umar Shakir on (#6S8FF)
Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge The new M4 MacBook Pros that launched last month have an unadvertised change with new quantum dot displays, according to display industry analyst Ross Young and reported by 9to5Mac.Young posted on X that Apple is adopting quantum dot displays for the first time and that it's using a version of the film that is free of cadmium, which is toxic to humans. In the past, Apple went with the KSF solution due to better efficiency and lack of cadmium (Cd)," writes Ross. TV manufacturers have been using a version of quantum dot displays with no cadmium traces for years.The operator of the display motion blur testing website Blur Busters, which features flying UFO animations to help nitpick at display tech, also noted the M4 display's... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6S8FG)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Social network Bluesky, in a post on Friday, says that it has no intention" of taking user content to train generative AI tools. It made the statement the same day X's new terms of service that spell out how it can analyze user text and other information to train its generative AI tools go into effect.A number of artists and creators have made their home on Bluesky, and we hear their concerns with other platforms training on their data," Bluesky says in a post. We do not use any of your content to train generative AI, and have no intention of doing so."
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by Ash Parrish on (#6S8FH)
Image: The Verge US Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) has sent a letter to Valve CEO Gabe Newell asking if the company intends to take measures to curtail extremist content on Steam. The letter references a report by the Anti-Defamation League that identified a large number of user accounts and user-created groups that glorified antisemitic, Nazi, white supremacist, gender- and sexuality-based hate, and other extremist ideologies" on the PC gaming platform.The letter features a high-level view of the kind of hateful content the ADL found on Steam. That includes 40,000 groups with names that included hateful words, with the most prominent being 1488,' shekel,' and white power'." Warner's letter highlights how the apparent preponderance of hateful content... Continue reading...
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by Allison Johnson on (#6S8C5)
This could be so much better. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge We could argue all day about the merits of iOS versus Android, but there's one thing the Android ecosystem offers that you definitely won't find from Apple right now: a decent midrange phone.By decent," I mean something I can enthusiastically recommend. Not Eh, if it's literally your only option, then it's fine," which is how I've caveated my recommendations of the iPhone SE over the past couple of years. Remember the SE? Apple released the first version in 2016, putting a then-current A9 chip into an older body design for $399 compared to $649 for the iPhone 6S. I still have mine, and it rules.Two generations later, and the SE is still Apple's most affordable iPhone, now starting at $429. For that price, you get a well-built phone... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6S8C6)
Casio's smart ring is a tiny digital watch. | Image: Casio Not to be outdone by its longtime rival, Casio has announced its own digital ring watch that brings more functionality than Timex's wearable that debuted last month. Created to help commemorate the 50th anniversary of Casio getting into the digital watch business, the CRW-001-1JR will be available in Japan starting in December for 19,800, or around $128.Although the tiny watch's case is just shy of being an inch in size, Casio has managed to squeeze in a retro six-segment LCD screen that can display hours, minutes, and seconds. The ring also includes three functional buttons that can control additional features like displaying the date or the time in a different time zone, and a stopwatch. Image: Casio Casio's new... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6S8C7)
Image: Cruise GM's Cruise will pay a criminal fine of $500,000 to resolve a federal investigation and accept a deferred prosecution agreement after the company admitted to falsifying a report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation" of a crash where one of its driverless vehicles struck and dragged a pedestrian in 2023.NHTSA had already fined Cruise $1.5 million in September for submitting incomplete reports that failed to disclose that the robotaxi dragged the pedestrian 20 feet after they were hit by another vehicle and knocked into its path. The dragging wasn't in a verbal summary Cruise employees gave to NHTSA the next day, video of the accident shown to... Continue reading...
by Mia Sato on (#6S8C8)
Image: Nick Barclay / The Verge Facebook is making views" its primary metric to measure the performance of content, bringing it in line with Instagram metrics.Views will be measured not just on video content but also on photos, text posts, and more. When Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced the switch to views this summer, he said that having one consistent metric across the platform would make it easier for creators to understand how their content was performing. For reels, a view is how many times the video was played. For everything else, a view is how many times a piece of content shows up on a user's screen, and if the same user looks at it multiple times, each instance counts as a view.Meta has also added a view count to posts on Threads, saying it's an... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6S8C9)
Image: The Verge Threads is testing a way to create custom feeds for certain profiles or topics, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Friday. The upcoming feature should make it easier to keep tabs on different interests, such as your favorite sports team or even technology-related news.It sounds similar to the custom feeds feature Bluesky rolled out last year - but Threads' version seems a lot simpler. To create a custom feed, just search and tap into a topic. From there, select the three-dot icon beside the search term and choose create new feed." GIF: Meta You can create feeds that track soccer or men's fashion. You can also add profiles to your custom feed by selecting the three-dot icon above someone's profile photo and... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6S8CA)
Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Elon Musk has updated his fraud, breach of contract, and racketeering lawsuit against OpenAI to make antitrust claims against Microsoft, accusing the two companies of attempting to monopolize the generative AI market." The amended complaint filed on Thursday names Microsoft as a new defendant, as well as LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Microsoft VP Dee Templeton, a former OpenAI board member.Microsoft has invested $14 billion in OpenAI since 2019 and holds exclusive rights to commercially license the AI startup's technology and a 49 percent stake in its for-profit subsidiary. Musk's lawyers say that former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman engaged in rampant self-dealing" to create a de facto merger" between the two companies to promote... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6S89A)
Photo: David Pierce / The Verge The Rabbit R1 can now use AI to redesign the device's entire interface based on a prompt. Some examples shared by Rabbit CEO Jesse Lyu show a Legend of Zelda-inspired interface, another made in the style of Windows XP, and one using a dark green scanline background."Though this seems like a fun way to customize the R1, Rabbit says responses on the AI-generated interfaces are slower than the default UI on R1 and can take over 30 seconds to appear." It suggests disabling this feature if you want the fastest responses possible.
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6S89B)
Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Some of us freshly anointed moms and dads pooled together our top tech picks that make early days with baby just a touch easier (or more fun and nerdy). Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6S89C)
Amazon's latest Fire TV Stick 4K Max is a snappy streaming stick with impressive Alexa integration. | Image: Amazon If you missed out on Amazon's fall Prime Day event, the retailer's early Black Friday sale is offering everybody another chance to score steep discounts on Amazon devices. One of the best deals currently available is on the latest Fire TV Stick 4K Max, which has dropped to an all-time low of $32.99 ($25 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target.Amazon's latest streaming device is nearly identical to the last-gen model - which was once one of our top recommendations - only it features a number of iterative upgrades, including Wi-Fi 6E support and twice the storage (16GB). It can also display widgets and artwork when idle, much like recent TV offers from Hisense and TCL, and you can use it to create your own backgrounds using voice prompts... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6S89D)
Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge Bluesky hit 15 million users this week. And then 16 million. The vibes on Bluesky are immaculate, and it seems to have a real and renewed chance to be the place that replaces Twitter for a lot of people. But then there's Threads, which grew by approximately one Bluesky just this month. There's also Mastodon, which is still hanging around, and of course there's X. There are more options than ever, and it's more confusing than ever.On this episode of The Vergecast, we try and make sense of all this change. Will all this new growth and momentum help Bluesky grow not just as an app but as a decentralized protocol? Is it a real threat to ActivityPub and the notion of the fediverse? Do we know yet what kind of social network wants to be? And... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6S89E)
Image: HBO HBO's new Dune prequel series sharpens the Bene Gesserit's history into pointed drama that calls for some patience. Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6S870)
Nick Barclay / The Verge The hacker behind one of the biggest-ever cryptocurrency heists will serve five years in prison for conspiring with his wife to launder billions in stolen Bitcoin. Ilya Dutch" Lichtenstein was sentenced in Washington federal court Thursday after he admitted to hacking the Bitfinex crypto exchange in 2016 and stealing almost 120,000 Bitcoin tokens.Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan were arrested in 2022, and in August last year both pled guilty to conspiring to commit money laundering. The stolen cryptocurrency, worth around $71 million at the time of the theft, had soared in value to approximately $4.5 billion by the time Lichtenstein and Morgan were arrested. Valued at today's prices, the stolen funds would be worth an even more... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6S871)
Illustration: The Verge Google has placed some new limitations on a Google Photos feature that allows users to automatically share images and videos in their library with a partner. The update to Partner Sharing now means that users can only share photos or videos that were taken using their device's default camera app, meaning partners are unable to see screenshots or images shared on services like WhatsApp.Some Reddit users who utilize Partner Sharing initially reported the issue as a bug, but several comments made by a presumed Google employee say the change was intentionally made to better align with most users' expectations." This is backed up by an updated Partner Sharing help article that says photos from other apps on Android aren't shared with your... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6S7X1)
Image: Tesla Robin Zeng, the founder of the world's largest EV battery company, says Tesla CEO Elon Musk's big bet on 4680 cylindrical cell technology is going to fail and never be successful." Zeng, the chairman of China's Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), tells Reuters that when Musk visited China in April, We had a very big debate, and I showed him. He was silent. He doesn't know how to make a battery."Tesla's tabless" 4680 cells, which are used in some of its cars, including the Cybertruck, are supposed to have five times" more energy capacity, and the company announced in September it had produced 100 million of them. A recent report by The Information said Musk had given the team working on the batteries an end of the year deadline... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6S7VD)
Image: NASA NASA is teaming up with Microsoft to create an AI chatbot designed to make it easier to access and understand scientific data about the Earth. The tool, called Earth Copilot, will be able to answer questions about our planet by condensing NASA's wide swath of geospatial information into easy-to-digest responses.To create the tool, NASA is integrating AI into its data repository, allowing Earth Copilot to refer to this information when answering questions, such as What was the impact of Hurricane Ian in Sanibel Island?" or How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect air quality in the US?"NASA aims to democratize" access to scientific data with the launch of Earth Copilot, as obtaining and understanding the information within NASA's... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6S7SE)
The Pokemon Company Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket has been a big hit since its worldwide launch last month, and the team behind it has shared a brief roadmap of a couple updates to come - including the ability to trade cards with other people.We are aiming to add a feature that allows certain cards to be traded starting in January, 2025," according to an update from the team on the official Pokemon forums. We are planning to gradually expand the selection of cards that are able to be traded." It's unclear what cards will initially be available to trade, and hopefully the expansion of the list doesn't take too long.The game will also get new booster packs by the end of this year. And there are other new features in the works in addition to trading,... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6S7SF)
The Teenage Engineering OP-XY feels like an upgraded version of the company's six-year-old OP-Z. | Image: Teenage Engineering Teenage Engineering's new OP-XY is a portable synthesizer and sequencer that looks similar to the company's OP-1 Field. But functionally it's instead a more capable upgrade to the company's six-year-old OP-Z, with a stronger focus on layering sounds with various effects and a steeper $2,299 price tag.With an anodized, all-black finish," the OP-XY is yet another delightful example of Teenage Engineering's design chops. Its black and white motif accented with a grayscale gradient running across its 16 sequencer inputs is the antithesis of the bright yellow Playdate handheld that Teenage Engineering helped Panic design. Unlike the $429 OP-Z that relied on a mobile device like a smartphone for its screen, the OP-XY now has a black and... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6S7SG)
Image: The Verge TikTok will let advertisers pull in content from Getty Images when using the platform's AI ad creation tool. With the integration, advertisers can use Getty's licensed images and videos to make ads containing AI-generated content, including AI avatars that look like real people.The integration will be available through TikTok's Symphony Creative Studio - an AI-powered video generation tool that rolled out today for all advertisers. This tool can generate a video based on a product description, add an AI avatar to speak" about it, and even incorporate AI-powered dubbing in different languages. Advertisers can also use the tool to generate multiple versions of an ad, as well as remix" an existing one. GIF: TikTok T... Continue reading...
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by Quentyn Kennemer on (#6S7SH)
It's hard to find a fitness watch that tracks as many workouts and metrics as the Fenix 7 Pro series. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Garmin makes some of the best traditional multisport fitness watches, and one of its top models still commands a spot on our list of the best fitness trackers: the Garmin Fenix 7S Pro. Now through Cyber Monday, you can get that watch for just $529.99 ($270 off) at Wellbots when using the Verge-exclusive code VERGEBF270. That code will also work on the base Fenix 7 Pro ($529.99 after the discount), the Fenix 7X Pro (down to $629.99), and the Garmin Tactix 7 ($829.99). These are some of the lowest prices recorded yet.Wellbots is also offering all-time low prices on other Garmin wearables and devices as part of its early Black Friday promotion. You can save $120 on the Garmin Forerunner 265 (now just $329.99) and Forerunner 965 ($479.99)... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6S7PR)
Twinkly's colorful string lights are more than half off at Amazon. Believe it or not, but it's almost time to put up the holiday lights. If you're looking for string lights that'll really make your house stand out this year, Twinkly's Strings deliver some of the most dazzling effects available. They typically run $199.99, but right now, you can buy the 105-foot string with 400 LED lights at Amazon for a new low of $79 thanks to an on-page coupon.Each of Twinkly's LED lights can display more than 16 million colors and are individually addressable, allowing them to produce a festive twinkly" effect. You can also choose from dozens of universal effects, along with some more advanced animations that are unique to Twinkly's platform. You can, for instance, create your own effects, and Twinkly will even... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6S7PS)
Image: Epic Games Fortnite's next big partnership with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is here. Epic Games already lets players dress up as the Turtles, and now, creators can publish experiences built with TMNT assets and the Unreal Editor for Fortnite.As a demonstration of what's possible, Paramount teamed up with Spiral House (which has made other Fortnite experiences), to make a TMNT-themed beat-em-up / roguelike, TMNT Dimensions [Rougelike], that you can play inside Fortnite right now. (You can find it by searching for code 8651-4809-2485.) A lot of user-made Fortnite experiences look somewhat amateur, but this seems like a game you might actually want to play outside of Fortnite, especially if you're already a fan of TMNT's other arcade-y brawlers.E... Continue reading...
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by Lauren Feiner on (#6S7KZ)
Illustration by Hugo Herrera / The Verge The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is seeking to put Google under federal supervision, a move that could impose the same kinds of monitoring and inspections used on banks, The Washington Post reports.The CFPB's concerns are not totally clear and the order may still change, according to the Post, citing two unnamed sources. Both the agency and Google declined to comment on the report. But, plenty could change once President-elect Donald Trump reassumes office in January and puts forward his own pick to lead the agency.The CFPB was created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers from unfair practices by financial institutions. While it already inspects more traditional finance businesses like banks,... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6S7M0)
The 2020 Ford Explorer is one of the vehicles affected by the recall. | Image: Ford Ford has agreed to pay a fine that could go up to $165 million after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found the automaker took too long to recall vehicles with faulty rearview cameras and failed to provide accurate and complete recall information.". This penalty is the second largest, only behind the $200 million Takata was ordered to pay.Originally issued in 2020, the recall impacts more than 600,000 vehicles from 2019 onward, including the Ford F-150, Mustang, Escape, Ranger, and Expedition, along with the Lincoln Nautilus and Lincoln Corsair. Affected vehicles have a rearview camera that sometimes shows a blank or distorted image." Ford says no accidents or injuries were reported due to the defect.Under the... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6S7M1)
The fabric interior of Nike's Elite EasyOn backpack is printed with instructions on how to use and customize it. | Image: Nike Nike's new Elite EasyOn backpack was designed with innovative features making it accessible for as many athletes as possible, including those with low dexterity or motor skills. Originally developed for athletes competing in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, the backpack is now available to everyone through the company's online store for $150.The bag's most unique feature is a full clamshell opening that fully exposes its exterior. That eliminates the need to empty the backpack or dig through its contents to reach items at the bottom or those stashed in several of its internal pockets.But securing the large flap with a zipper would require a long continuous path that could challenge some Paralympic athletes. A comment we were... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6S7M2)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Bluesky is growing quickly in popularity, but if you're trying to use it today, the site might be acting up. As I was writing this article, my feeds and notifications were very slow to load on the web and mobile while logged in, and that has similarly been the case for a few of my Verge colleagues.Things seem to be working now, but Bluesky developers have already warned that things might not work as expected today. Earlier this morning, developer Samuel Newman shared that the site would be briefly going into read-only mode because something fell over." After the site recovered, another developer, Paul Frazee, posted that today will get interesting" and suggested that if the site goes down to maybe grab a soda, pet the kitty."When... Continue reading...
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by Quentyn Kennemer on (#6S7AA)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Once known only for its self-destructing pics, Snapchat has steadily evolved its location-oriented social media features. It's leaned further into that identity with real-time location sharing features in recent years, and now it's tweaking the experience to give parents new control and insight directly from the Family Center.Parents will soon see an option in the Family Center to request their teen's locations and vice versa. They'll also be able to more easily view who else their child is sharing their location with, just like they can for other privacy settings.The feature will roll out alongside other new location and privacy tools in the coming weeks, including the ability to set up automatic travel alerts that notify family... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6S7M3)
Illustration: The Verge Google has announced it will stop showing political ads to users in the European Union next year due to uncertainties around the bloc's new transparency regulations. In a new blog post, Google says the upcoming Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) rules that aim to prevent election interference and help voters make informed choices will introduce significant operational challenges and legal uncertainties."Google says the definition of political advertising in the TTPA, which is set to come into force in October 2025, is too broad and makes it difficult to reliably identify what content should be restricted across different EU regions at scale. The search giant is planning to stop serving political ads before the... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6S7G6)
Apple TV Plus Mythic Quest's upcoming fourth season finally has a release date, but Apple's future plans for the series aren't stopping there.Today, Apple announced that Mythic Quest will return on January 29th with a two-episode premiere picking up Ian Grimm (Rob McElhenney,) Poppy Li (Charlotte Nicdao,) David Brittlesbee (David Hornsby,) Brad Bakshi (Danny Pudi,) Rachel Ashly Burch, Dana Bryant (Imani Hakim,) Jo (Jessie Ennis) and Carol (Naomi Ekperigin) adjust to a new status quo. In the new season, the Mythic Quest team will find their attempts at maintaining healthier work / life balances disrupted by stars rising, egos clashing, and new relationships blooming.Though season 4 is set to conclude on March 26th, Mythic Quest's world will get a... Continue reading...
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