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The Verge There are more digital subscriptions around than ever, and among them, you may well have a music streaming service (or two or three). What with free" trials and trying to find a service you really like, it's easy to suddenly realize you're oversubscribed. Luckily, canceling a music subscription - or switching to a free tier - isn't too difficult. And remember that you can always sign up again. It doesn't have to be goodbye forever.Here's how it's done on the four best-known platforms. The options will be similar on other services.Spotify Spotify has a variety of plans for individuals, families, and even two people. Spotify has a free tier with ads, without downloads, and with limits on playlists, while the... Continue reading...

Valve says each unit has received over 100 tests and meets the same performance standards as new Steam Decks. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The Steam Deck LCD might be inferior to the newer OLED model, but it's still a great handheld gaming PC, and you can now get a certified refurbished LCD model (with a one-year warranty) direct from Valve for a better price than ever before.The refurbished Steam Deck now starts at $279 for the base model with 64GB of eMMC storage, $70 less than Valve currently charges for it brand-new. If you need more storage, the 256GB NVMe model and the 512GB model with antiglare screen are both on sale, too, for $319 and $359, respectively. That's an $80 savings for the 256GB model and a $90 savings for the 512GB model.The Steam Deck OLED, meanwhile, still starts at $549 for 512GB. That's nearly twice the price of the 64GB LCD refurb.Value says... Continue reading...

Kia's lineup of electric vehicles are growing. | Image: Kia The Kia EV2, the automaker's small, affordable electric crossover, has been spotted on the street in camouflage. It's the first time the model has been seen in the wild, although the EV2 is not currently confirmed for the US.The timing of the sighting is particularly significant given recent news that Tesla may have canned its plans for a $25,000 mass-market Model 2" vehicle. Elon Musk reportedly mothballed the affordable EV in favor of going all in on the company's plans for a fully autonomous robotaxi.No official price has been set for the Kia EV2, but Electrek says it could be 20 million won, or about $15,000. Other reports have it under $30,000 - which would be considerably more affordable than the current average retail price... Continue reading...

Image: Target Target is scaling back the presence of physical media in its stores. A spokesperson for Target tells IGN that the company is transitioning the limited assortment of DVDs" it sells in stores to its website.Moving forward, we'll offer select DVDs in stores when they are newly released or during key times throughout the year when they are more popular, like for gift giving during the holidays," Target says. That will make Target's physical DVD section even smaller and only available during specific times. You'll still be able to buy thousands" of DVDs on Target's website, but I have to wonder how broad its selection will be.Reports about Target backing away from DVDs first emerged on Wednesday, when the X account @PhysicalMedia posted... Continue reading...

Image: Supergiant Games Imagine the most perfect barbecue - a prolific spread of smoked meats, all the right sides, every pie, type of cookie or cake, and even your grandmother's famous dinner rolls. But there's a catch: most of the food is kept behind glass to be unlocked at a later date, and you are starving. That's what it's like playing the Hades 2 technical test.Spoilers for the Hades 2 technical test.Hades 2, like its predecessor, is a roguelike. You play as Melinoe, the long-lost daughter of Hades and sister of Zagreus, the first game's protagonist. Unlike her brother, Melinoe isn't trying to break out of hell. Instead, she's trying to break into it as Chronos, Titan of Time, has taken over, kidnapping Melinoe's mother, brother, and father. Reaching... Continue reading...

Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge Apple could soon let developers in the European Union use its tap-to-pay technology. A report from Reuters reveals that EU regulators could sign off on Apple's proposal to open the payment system next month, putting a two-year-long legal battle to rest.In 2022, the European Commission accused Apple of abusing its dominant position in markets for mobile wallets." It claimed Apple prevented third-party payment apps from using the iPhone's NFC (near-field communication) hardware to the benefit of its own solution," Apple Pay.The European Commission announced earlier this year that Apple committed to allowing third-party payment providers to freely use the iPhone's NFC capabilities. Apple's proposal would also give developers access to... Continue reading...

Google's latest streaming dongle offers a cheap way to add smart features and apps to any TV. | Image: Google Almost any TV you can buy these days supports streaming in some form or fashion, but what if you don't like its user interface or it doesn't have all of the apps you need? That's where a streaming device like the Chromecast with Google TV (HD) comes in. We usually recommend jumping for the 4K version if you have the budget for it, but the HD model is only $19.99 ($10 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store. It's a great opportunity to see whether a Chromecast is a better fit for you than Amazon or Roku's offerings or to access your favorite streaming apps on a secondary TV in your home.Like its pricier sibling, the Google TV platform it uses offers recommendations across a variety of streaming services and provides an array of... Continue reading...

Image: Post News Post News, a Twitter alternative that emerged in the wake of Elon Musk's takeover, is shutting down. Noam Bardin, the platform's founder and former CEO of Waze, writes that Post News is not growing fast enough to become a real business or a significant platform."The Andreessen Horowitz-backed platform launched in a closed beta in November 2022, but now it's set to shutter within the next few weeks." It serves as a social platform that also offers users ad-free access to paywalled content from publishers such as Fortune, Business Insider, Wired, The Boston Globe, and others. All users have to do is pay a few cents" per article instead of signing up for a subscription to each publication. Screenshot by Emma Roth / The... Continue reading...

Friend or foe? The Jetsons' Rosey the Robot has long been an inspiration for developing home robots. But should it be? | Image: Warner Bros. Television, Hanna-Barbera As a child of the 1980s, my perception of the smart home has been dominated by the idea that one day, we will all have Rosey the Robot-style robots roaming our homes - dusting the mantelpiece, preparing dinner, and unloading the dishwasher. (That last one is a must; we were smart enough to come up with a robot to wash our dishes; can't we please come up with one that can also unload them?)However, after seeing Boston Dynamics' latest droid, Atlas, unveiled this week, my childhood dreams are fast turning into a smart home nightmare. While The Jetsons' robot housekeeper had a steely charm, accentuated by its frilly apron, the closer we come to having humanoid robots in our home, the more terrifying it appears they will be. Not so much... Continue reading...

Image: Riley Testut The launch of the Delta emulator on iPhones is a big deal in a lot of ways. But for users, it's also just really cool. Here's an excellent piece of software that can emulate the NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy, GBA, and Nintendo DS so that you can play classic games on a device that's always in your pocket. Even better: even though there's no Delta app for the Apple TV (yet), it's still really easy to use it to play games on your television.This is because Delta supports AirPlay so that you can stream video and sound from your phone to another Apple device, like an Apple TV or computer. For Delta, this means that the game itself plays on the bigger screen while your phone becomes a touchscreen controller. Or, if you connect a Bluetooth... Continue reading...

Photo by Ashok Kumar / TAS24 / Getty Images for TAS Rights Management TikTok has launched a new hub to promote Taylor Swift's new album where you can earn in-app rewards for completing certain tasks, like following Swift's account on the platform. The update comes just days after Swift's music returned to TikTok as the app continues to feud with the singer's record label, Universal Music Group (UMG). Image: TikTok You can access the hub by searching for The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) and then clicking on the banner that appears at the top of the results. There, TikTok displays a list of challenges" to complete, which will let you unlock a TTPD profile frame, among other rewards. TikTok will also give users the chance to show up in its fan spotlight" on the hub by posting a... Continue reading...

A recovery vehicle drives past burned structures and cars two months after a devastating wildfire on October 9th, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. | Photo by Mario Tama / Getty Images New details surfaced this week about cascading failures that led to wildfires ripping through Maui last August. While investigations confirming the cause of the blaze are ongoing, officials are recognizing how unprepared agencies were for the inferno.The wildfires killed at least 101 people and scorched some 2,200 structures - most of them residential. Downed power lines, blocked evacuation routes, and poor communications all added to extreme conditions that allowed blazes to grow into a monstrous conflagration.Questions linger about the adequacy of warning systems, evacuation planning, and the preparedness of communities for such extreme events"In the aftermath of this catastrophe, questions linger about the adequacy of warning... Continue reading...

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge Delta, an app for emulating and playing retro games on your iPhone, has been at the top of the App Store rankings for days. Apple spent years keeping apps like this off its platforms before reversing course earlier this month in the face of European regulation and the threat of a whole bunch of new third-party app stores.Obviously, there was huge pent-up demand for Delta. But is this a singular phenomenon or the start of a new more open future for the iPhone? What else might Apple allow in the App Store if it means keeping you in the App Store?On this episode of The Vergecast, we discuss how Delta got into the App Store and what it might mean for the future of the iPhone. We don't really talk about all the thorny legal issues around... Continue reading...

Tesla isn't aware of any collisions, injuries, or fatalities attributed to the defective pedals. | Image: Parker Ortolani / The Verge Tesla has issued a recall for effectively every Cybertruck it's delivered to customers due to a fault that's causing the vehicle's accelerator pedal to get stuck.According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Wednesday, the defect can result in the pedal pad dislodging and becoming trapped in the vehicle's interior trim when high force is applied."The fault was caused by an unapproved change" that introduced lubricant (soap)" during the assembly of the accelerator pedals, which reduced the retention of the pad, the recall notice states. The truck's brakes will still function if the accelerator pedal becomes trapped, though this obviously isn't an ideal workaround.The recall impacts all Model Year... Continue reading...

DJI's Power 1000 (left) and Power 500 (right) ready to be worshipped. | Image: DJI DJI just launched its first power stations that feature a new proprietary SDC - aka Smart DC - port that can fast charge (some) DJI drone batteries and supports lots of input and output accessories. The $699 Power 1000 and smaller $379 Power 500 both offer a bevy of AC and DC ports with more available if you're willing to fully commit to living DJI's SDC dongle life.The Power 500 has one SDC Lite port, while the larger Power 1000 has both regular SDC and SDC Lite. Both power stations are fitted with batteries that use LFP chemistry, which is safer and lasts longer (80 percent capacity after 3000 cycles) than traditional NMC, and both offer a 0.02-second cutover making them suitable for use as a UPS on unstable grids. They arrive... Continue reading...

The Meta Quest 2 and its bundled controllers. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Meta Quest 2 has been on sale for nearly a month, and today, Meta's making that price permanent - $199 is the new sticker price for the virtual reality headset, the company announced today. That's half what it originally cost in 2020, and Meta is permanently cutting the price of Quest 2 accessories like the Elite Strap with Battery (which I highly recommend) in half as well.The Quest 2 is currently being supplanted by the $500 Quest 3, of course, but it's still an incredible entry point to VR, one that plays every Quest game except for a single Quest 3-exclusive title announced last month. It doesn't have color passthrough vision or good mixed reality gaming, and I definitely prefer the Quest 3 for comfort and immersion, but I... Continue reading...

Ursa is a new keycap profile for Topre keyboards. I want it. | Render: FKCaps Listen, I don't want to be the guy who always posts about weird keyboard stuff. I have other interests. But I need to tell the dozens of Verge readers with Topre keyboards about these keycaps. Ursa is a new spherical doubleshot keycap profile for Topre that is available for group buy until May 15th.Reactions to the previous sentence will likely fall into three camps:

Anker is amongst the first accessory makers to rerelease MagSafe-compatible accessories that now support the Qi2 standard. | Image: Nathan Edwards / The Verge Qi2 brings MagSafe-like fast magnetic wireless charging for any device. Continue reading...

When was the last time your friends made you a playlist? | Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images Writing about the decline of Pitchfork made me sad about the music industry - and also about the state of music discovery. Besides the fact that TikTok doesn't prioritize music as anything other than background noise, it means that artists have to win the viral lottery in order to make a hit. And that's entirely out of their control.But about two weeks ago, a friend of mine introduced me to Music League, a game where everyone in the league submits a song to a playlist, and a group of us started playing. About a day after the first one formed, I made two more: one for another friend group and one for family.Music League makes music social in a way that social media algorithms, ironically, do notI've enjoyed hearing new songs. The... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Meta is rolling out real-time AI image generation in beta for WhatsApp users in the US. As soon as you start typing a text-to-image prompt in a chat with Meta AI, you'll see how the image changes as you add more detail about what you want to create.In the example shared by Meta, a user types in the prompt, Imagine a soccer game on mars." The generated image quickly changes from a typical soccer player to showing an entire soccer field on a Martian landscape. If you have access to the beta, you can try out the feature for yourself by opening a chat with Meta AI and then start a prompt with the word Imagine." GIF: Meta Additionally, Meta says its Meta Llama 3 model can now produce sharper and higher quality" images... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge When I reviewed the Xbox Series X nearly four years ago, I called the console a next-gen PC." Not only did the Xbox look like a PC with its boxy, rectangular, tower-like case but it also felt like one thanks to hardware upgrades that allowed it to run games with a variety of PC-like graphical modes. Now, as we approach the next generation of Xbox, it looks like Microsoft is about to close the gap between Xbox and PC even further.Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has teased some potentially massive Xbox platform changes in recent weeks. At the same time, leaked internal memos have revealed an increased focus inside Microsoft on Xbox game preservation and forward compatibility. When you put all the breadcrumbs together, it feels like... Continue reading...

Henry Cavill as Geralt. | Image: Netflix We still don't know what Liam Hemsworth will look (or sound) like when he takes up the role of Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher. But we do know how long he'll be wearing the white wig: Netflix has confirmed that the show's fifth season will be its last.The news comes as Netflix has confirmed that it has started production on season 4 of The Witcher - the first that won't feature Henry Cavill in the lead role - and that it and season 5 will be filmed back to back. The two upcoming seasons will complete the adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski's books," according to Netflix. That means they will cover a trio of Witcher books: Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow, and Lady of the Lake.Netflix first announced that Hemsworth would be taking... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Disney has big decisions to make about streaming, sports, Marvel, and more. Continue reading...

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Brendan Hoffman, Getty Images A bill that could oust TikTok from the US looked like it could linger for months in the Senate, even after the House overwhelmingly voted to approve it. But a move by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) could change that.An updated version of the bill, which would enforce a ban of TikTok unless it divests from its China-based parent company, ByteDance, appears in a bill about sanctions on Russia and Iran. A separate bill that would prohibit data brokers from transferring US users' information to foreign adversaries is also included. It's part of a package on foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Gaza. By combining the legislation, it could make the TikTok bill harder for the Senate to ignore.The foreign aid bill still needs to be approved... Continue reading...

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images Stability AI laid off 20 employees just a day after announcing the expansion of access to its new flagship model. This comes after weeks of upheaval that saw its founding CEO leave the company.CNBC reports that the layoffs at the UK-based AI company, which runs the Stable Diffusion text-to-image model, represent roughly 10 percent of its workforce. In a memo to staff, interim CEOs Shan Shan Wong and Christian LaForte say the decision to let go of employees is part of a strategic plan to reduce our cost-base, strengthen support with our investors and partners, and enable teams to continue developing and releasing innovative products."The company did not say which departments were affected by layoffs, according to reports.Stability... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge AI is taking over at Google, and the company is changing in big ways to try to make it happen even faster. Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced substantial internal reorganizations on Thursday, including the creation of a new team called Platforms and Devices" that will oversee all of Google's Pixel products, all of Android, Chrome, ChromeOS, Photos, and more. The team will be run by Rick Osterloh, who was previously the SVP of devices and services, overseeing all of Google's hardware efforts. Hiroshi Lockheimer, the longtime head of Android, Chrome, and ChromeOS, will be taking on other projects inside of Google and Alphabet.This is a huge change for Google, and it likely won't be the last one. There's only one reason for all of it,... Continue reading...

Photo by Christian Charisius / picture alliance via Getty Images Apple's latest sustainability report shows that its greenhouse gas emissions are falling as it pushes suppliers to clean up their operations.Dig into the data in the report, and you'll find that Apple's gross carbon dioxide emissions dropped from 20.6 million metric tons in 2022 to 16.1 million metric tons in 2023. That's a 22 percent reduction over the year.The progress is mostly thanks to its suppliers using cleaner sources of electricity, the company says in a press release today. Looking back further, Apple says it has reduced its gross emissions by more than 55 percent since 2015. If it keeps up, Apple could be well on its way toward meeting its commitment to slash emissions by 75 percent by 2030.A dirty supply chain is probably... Continue reading...

Image: IHG After some delay, Apple is finally bringing AirPlay to hotel room TVs - but you can only use it if you're staying in one of the more than" 60 IHG hotels it's available in starting today.Apple first announced the ability to use AirPlay in hotels with LG TVs during its Worldwide Developer Conference in 2023. The feature lets you stream shows, movies, and music from your phone to your hotel TV, as well as view photos or play games from a bigger screen.Although Apple previously said AirPlay in hotels would arrive by the end of 2023, it ended up pushing back its launch until this year. The feature finally popped up with the release of iOS 17.3 earlier this year.For now, AirPlay is currently only supported in select IHG hotels - such as... Continue reading...

Rashida Jones as Suzie. | Image: Apple Apple TV Plus has been killing it on the sci-fi front lately, but this summer, the streamer's taking another stab at the murder mystery genre with Sunny, a new A24-produced series from showrunner Katie Robbins, director Lucy Tcherniak, and executive producer Rashida Jones.Based on Colin O'Sullivan's novel The Dark Manual, Sunny revolves around Suzie Sakamoto (Jones), an American woman living in Kyoto whose life is thrown into turmoil following the disappearances of her roboticist husband Masa (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and their son in a catastrophic plane crash.Though all Suzie wants is her family back, what she receives (as a gift from the company Masa works for) is Sunny (Joanna Sotomura), an experimental robot designed to assist... Continue reading...

Image: DARPA The US Air Force is putting AI in the pilot's seat. In an update on Thursday, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) revealed that an AI-controlled jet successfully faced a human pilot during an in-air dogfight test carried out last year.DARPA began experimenting with AI applications in December 2022 as part of its Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program. It worked to develop an AI system capable of autonomously flying a fighter jet, while also adhering to the Air Force's safety protocols.After carrying out dogfighting simulations using the AI pilot, DARPA put its work to the test by installing the AI system inside its experimental X-62A aircraft. That allowed it to get the AI-controlled craft into the air at the Edwards... Continue reading...

A woman standing behind a man close enough to lean her head over his shouler as he stretches his arm outward. | Image: Netflix The idea of pretending to be a contract killer while working undercover for the police sounds stressful as hell, but the first trailer for Richard Linklater's Hit Man makes the gig seem like a fun way to work out those improv muscles.Loosely based on journalist Skip Hollandsworth's 2001 Texas Monthly article by the same name, Hit Man tells the tale of Gary Johnson (Glen Powell), an unassuming college professor who spends his free time pretending to be a mercenary to help police flush out folks who intend to put hits on people. Though Gary's disguises make him look like a cheesy character out of a film or show about shady criminals, that seems to be what convinces people that he's legit before the officers he works for (Retta, Sanjay... Continue reading...