The Verge

Image: Microsoft Microsoft is starting to test its new Xbox Game Pass Standard tier with Xbox Insiders today. The new Game Pass Standard subscription includes the usual Game Pass library for Xbox but with online console multiplayer, too. Crucially, it doesn't include immediate access to day-one game releases, though.During the test period, Xbox Insiders will be able to access Xbox Game Pass Standard for just $1. Any renewals during the preview period will also be $1 per month," says Megan Spurr, senior community lead for Xbox Game Pass. Once this Standard tier launches fully, it will be priced at $14.99 per month. Image: Microsoft The new Game Pass lineup. Microsoft is also providing some clarity on when day-one games and... Continue reading...

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images Iran is behind attempts to hack into Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns and has already succeeded in compromising Donald Trump's campaign, intelligence officials said in a statement issued Monday.The joint statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) says:

The Echo Hub is a smart home controller that's simple to use and set up and is currently $35 off at multiple retailers. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge If you're looking for a simple and intuitive smart home controller even the most tech-averse family members or roommates can use, Amazon's Echo Hub is an excellent solution. And right now, it's down to an all-time low price of $144.99 ($35 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo.The Echo Hub lets you control a wide range of smart home devices like smart lights, security devices, thermostats, and more by simply tapping its eight-inch touchscreen. It's also mountable, so you can hang it up in the kitchen or some other place for the whole household to access. Naturally, as an Amazon gadget, the Echo Hub integrates best with Alexa, making it a particularly great buy if your smart home runs on a bunch of Alexa-enabled devices. However, the... Continue reading...

Mecha Break lets you ask for advice from in-game characters. | Screenshot: YouTube Nvidia ACE, the company's AI-powered system for giving voices and conversation skills to in-game characters, is set to debut in Mecha Break, a new multiplayer mech battle game coming to PC, Xbox X / S, and PlayStation 5 in 2025.In Mecha Break, players can choose from a variety of mechs across categories like assault, melee, and sniper for online matches where they'll fight both on the ground and in the air. It looks similar to something like the Armored Core series, just without a single-player mode.Nvidia writes that players will be able to interact via natural language with game characters" and that the characters can see" and identify you or objects around you through your webcam, using GPT-4o. It'll also use a combination of... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images The Olympics weren't just good for streaming - they boosted traditional TV viewership, too. Even though the Games in Paris accounted for just three days of Nielsen's July 2024 report, they led to a 2.3 percent boost in overall TV viewing compared to June and a 3.5 percent increase compared to the same time last year.During the month, broadcast TV captured 20.3 percent of all viewership, marking a slight increase from last month. It also accounted for more than 22 percent of TV viewing when the Olympics kicked off in the last week of July. As pointed out by The Hollywood Reporter, it's rare to see an increase in traditional TV viewership in July, as it's typically one of the slowest months for broadcast and cable TV. I... Continue reading...

The HyperX QuadCast 2 S features 100 RGB lights that can be controlled through its Ngenuity software. | Image: HyperX HyperX announced new versions of its QuadCast USB gaming microphones today. The QuadCast 2 and QuadCast 2 S now include a streamlined multifunction control dial and welcome upgrades to their recording quality.The original versions of the HyperX QuadCast mics delivered a lot of functionality at a sub-$200 price point, including multiple pickup patterns and programmable LED lighting. But recording quality maxed out at 16-bit/48kHz. The new QuadCast 2 boosts recording quality up to 24-bit/96 kHz, while the QuadCast 2 S goes even higher, maxing out at 32-bit/192kHz.The new versions are still priced under $200, although each has received a price bump. The QuadCast 2 is now $149.99 instead of $139.99, while the QuadCast 2 S is $199.99, up... Continue reading...

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Having your Windows PC start up is something that's normally taken for granted - until it pauses mid-boot. You may be faced with a serious problem that needs some serious troubleshooting.Here are some key steps for dealing with problems that may come up when you're booting a Windows PC. With loads of possible hardware and software combinations out there, it's hard to be definitive about what might have gone wrong or how to fix it, but this should at least get you pointed in the right direction.A reminder: sometimes you're going to need to replace or reformat your main Windows drive when this happens, and that's why it's essential that you always have all your files and folders safely backed up.One more note: if you've got an... Continue reading...

The Energy Observer, a boat powered by hydrogen and other renewable energy sources, sailing in the Gulf of Thailand in 2022. | Photo by Pitcha Dangprasith / AFP via Getty Images Mining trucks, cement mixers, and terminal tractors all seem like the perfect use of hydrogen fuel cells. But they run into the same challenges around price and fueling. Continue reading...

In 2004, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced plans for a hydrogen highway." It called for a new kind of fuel station, built to support a new kind of electric vehicle. Cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells could help clean up the air and free the US from foreign oil - and California could lead the way.That's not what happened. Twenty years later, the American auto industry is shifting overwhelmingly to electric vehicles... but they run on batteries, not hydrogen. The hydrogen highway is littered with shortages, high prices, and faulty equipment. Thousands of drivers across the state are left wondering whether they bet on the wrong future.We wanted to find out what happened to California's hydrogen dream.So, we hit the... Continue reading...

Image: Nvidia Nvidia is bringing its full set of G-Sync features to monitors that won't need a proprietary G-Sync module. Nvidia is partnering with MediaTek to integrate all of its current and future G-Sync features into MediaTek scalers, eliminating the need for a dedicated G-Sync module.We are working with MediaTek to bring G-Sync to their market leading monitor scalers," says Nvidia. We will bring all the G-Sync technologies, including our most recent - Pulsar - to many more gamers and we'll continue to create more G-Sync technologies with the MediaTek scaler solutions." Image: Nvidia Your next G-Sync monitor won't need a dedicated module. G-Sync originally required a dedicated module in 2013 to allow it to... Continue reading...

Photo by Sascha Thelen/picture alliance via Getty Images Geoff Keighley's big Opening Night Live (ONL) show for Gamescom is back for another year. and we're set to see some new looks at many upcoming games and hopefully a few surprises.The X account for The Game Awards - another big showcase hosted by Keighley - has already shared that we can expect to see Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Monster Hunter Wilds, Marvel Rivals, Dune: Awakening, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Civilization VII. Keighley has used his own X account to tease that games like Squid Game: Unleashed, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, and Little Nightmares III will be at the show. Keighley also shared a mysterious post from Hideo Kojima about Death Stranding 2, so maybe we'll see that game, too.How and when to watch... Continue reading...

Image: Valve Valve is banning Counter-Strike 2 players from using keyboard features to automate perfect counter-strafes. Razer was the first keyboard maker to add a Simultaneous Opposing Cardinal Directions (SOCD) feature to its range of Huntsman V3 Pro keyboards last month, followed shortly by Wooting. Using Snap Tap as Razer calls it or Wooting's Snappy Tappy will now get you kicked from Counter-Strike 2 games.Recently, some hardware features have blurred the line between manual input and automation, so we've decided to draw a clear line on what is or isn't acceptable in Counter-Strike," says Valve. We are no longer going to allow automation (via scripting or hardware) that circumvent these core skills and, moving forward, (and... Continue reading...

Image: Disney Though Disney Plus' The Acolyte series introduced some very compelling new characters and lore to the Star Wars canon, its story about the dark side of the Force won't be continuing with a second season.Though its season one finale seemed to be setting up the series for more episodes, Deadline reports that Disney has canceled The Acolyte. Things were rocky from the start for the show as Star Wars fans displeased with its cast and premise took to review-bombing it in droves, but Disney's cancellation decision was reportedly driven by The Acolyte's less-than-desirable viewership numbers.The news comes just a little over a year after Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC that reigning in spending on big budget Marvel and Star Wars projects could... Continue reading...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge National Public Data (NPD) confirmed last week that it suffered a security breach dating back to December last year. An alleged stolen NPD database containing 2.9 billion lines of data, including Social Security numbers, was advertised on the dark web in April by a hacker group known as USDoD for $3.5 million, and the stolen data has since been posted publicly in various locations.Now, Krebs On Security reports a roughly identical website to NPD called recordscheck.net was found to be hosting an archive containing site logins as well as source code for some of the site's tools in plaintext. That would've been enough information to access the same consumer records as NPD. The now-removed file contained email data belonging to NPD founder... Continue reading...

Starting on August 21st, 2024, new Anova customers will have to pay a yearly or monthly fee to use the companion app. | Image: Anova Starting on August 21st, 2024, Anova will be introducing a subscription fee for new users of its sous vide cookers who want to take advantage of additional features available through its mobile companion app, including controlling the appliance remotely.Similar to the Snoo, a smart bassinet that recently locked previously free features behind a monthly subscription, Anova's fees - $1.99 per month or $9.99 per year - will only apply to new users who create an account in the app starting on August 21st.As explained in a blog post shared on the company's website last week, existing users and those who purchase an Anova cooker before August 21st can still use all of the app's features for free, but everyone will be required to create an... Continue reading...

Image: Turtle Beach Turtle Beach's redesigned Stealth 700 Gen 3 wireless gaming headset is redefining #donglelife by including two USB transmitters, allowing it to quick-switch across consoles and PC / Steam Deck at the push of a button once it launches on September 22nd - with preorders available now for $199.99.This isn't the first headset to try the one-button switching thing, but the new Stealth 700 goes a very different route than Logitech's pricier Astro A50 X, which routed all audio and video through its charging dock's HDMI passthrough. The Stealth 700 sounds a little more rudimentary than that (though also much less finicky), but its specs are pretty robust with 60mm drivers that are 10mm larger than the last-gen model, simultaneous Bluetooth 5.2... Continue reading...

President Joe Biden gives a speech at the Intel Ocotillo Campus on March 20th, 2024 in Chandler, Arizona. | Photo by Rebecca Noble / Getty Images The Biden administration needs to conduct more thorough environmental reviews, advocates contend. Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple has launched a web app for its Podcasts app, and you can access it right now at podcasts.apple.com. The app works on Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari, MacRumors reports.If you've used the Podcasts app for Mac or iOS, the web app should feel pretty familiar: there are sections like a Browse tab where you can see featured podcasts, a Home tab where you can check out episodes from the shows you follow or that Apple thinks you might be interested in, a Top Charts tab, and more.When I first visited the site, I signed in to my Apple account, and all of the shows I follow on the Podcasts app on my iPhone were there. I can't seem to find a way to speed up playback on the web app, which is a shame for 2x sickos like me, but I appreciate... Continue reading...

Waymo's sixth-gen robotaxi is already being tested on public roads. | Image: Waymo Waymo published a blog post today previewing its new sixth-generation robotaxi, which is an electric minivan manufactured by the Chinese automaker Zeekr.In the post, Waymo VP of engineering Satish Jeyachandran touts the new robotaxi as more high tech than past iterations, while also featuring fewer sensors to help reduce costs for the Alphabet-owned company. And within its high-powered computer, it contains all the learnings of the previous five generations of Waymo's autonomous vehicles, meaning it won't have to do as much real-world testing as past models before it can be rolled out to the public.But looming over Waymo's assertion that its new robotaxi will be cheaper to produce is the possibility that it could also be subject to... Continue reading...

Google's Pixel 9 is poised to usher in a whole new era of weird vacation photos. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge I had no problem taking out the vaping couple on a beach towel. They're in the background of one of my vacation photos, and they're really mucking up the vibe. The Google Pixel's Magic Editor feature takes them right out with a few taps, and you know what? I felt fine about that. It's drawing the line that I'm having a hard time with.My taken-on-an-iPhone, edited-on-the-Pixel-8-Pro vacation photos are just the kind of thing Google's generative AI editing features are designed for. We went to a beach on Lake Michigan for sunset, and I had an adorable photo of my child sitting on my husband's shoulders. It's the kind of moment you want to crystallize and keep in a jar for the whole rest of your life.Except for the couple of dinguses in... Continue reading...

Unitree's G1 humanoid robot can fold down for storage and transport but weighs as much as a small child. | Image: Unitree Robotics Robots capable of performing human-like tasks have so far been relegated to laboratories, factories, and captivating YouTube demos. But Unitree is readying its G1 humanoid robot for mass production with a $16,000 price tag that somehow feels both expensive and reasonable for a robot that looks this capable, as spotted by New Atlas.The Unitree G1 is an upgraded and production-ready version of the H1 humanoid bot the Chinese company debuted only a year ago. Powered by an unnamed 8-core high-performance CPU," the G1 features 23 degrees of freedom through powered joints on its arms, legs, and torso. The robot can jump, walk at a top speed of over 4.4mph, and even climb stairs littered with construction debris. How well it can handle stairs... Continue reading...

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge GM is laying off 1,000 salaried employees in its global workforce on Monday, CNBC reported today. The cuts will affect the automaker's software and services division, including about 600 employees working at GM's tech campus near Detroit.In an email to The Verge, GM spokesperson Kevin Kelly said that as the company builds its future, it needs to simplify for speed and excellence, make bold choices, and prioritize the investments that will have the greatest impact," which includes laying off certain teams" in the software and services organization.The division is led by GM executives Baris Cetinok and Dave Richardson, who replaced executive VP of software and former Apple executive Mike Abbott. Abbott joined GM in May 2023 but left... Continue reading...

Image: NASA Scientists from the Dutch Black Hole Consortium are on a mission to find novel black holes. But the task is a monumental one, as the light from the genesis of a black hole fades quickly, so they're asking ordinary folks to pore over pictures of possible candidates using an app called Black Hole Finder to help them decide where to train their telescopes.The images are collected by BlackGEM telescopes in Chile that, when a gravitational wave is detected, immediately start scanning the sky for quickly fading light from kilonovas - bright flashes that appear when two neutron stars merge to form a black hole. The light lasts for a week at most, according to the app, making it important to find the most likely candidates quickly. Some things... Continue reading...

Photo illustration by The Verge / Photo by GitHub Dohmke says navigating Microsoft-Open AI isn't as complicated as it seems, and open source is still king Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Zoom's webinar calls can now support up to 1 million simultaneous viewers, as fundraising groups continue to use the video conferencing platform to raise money for Vice President Kamala Harris' election campaign. Now, Zoom customers who want to hold large virtual events can accommodate anywhere from 10,000 to 1 million attendees.Over the past several weeks, several political groups have used Zoom to host massive fundraising events for Harris. In July, an organization called Win with Black Women held a Zoom call with more than 40,000 attendees, where they raised over $1.5 million for the Harris campaign in just three hours.Other groups, such as White Dudes for Harris and White Women for Harris, attracted more than 190,000 and 164,000... Continue reading...

The role comes with height and motion requirements that line up with expectations for Optimus. | Image: Tesla Tesla is employing people to help train its humanoid Optimus robot by wearing motion capture suits and mimicking actions that it will be expected to perform. The position, advertised as a Data Collection Operator" on Tesla's career site, pays up to $48 per hour and requires walking for over seven hours a day while carrying up to 30 pounds and wearing a VR headset for extended periods of time."Employees must also be between 5'7'' and 5'11'' tall - likely to be in a similar range to Optimus' projected 5'8'' height. The official Tesla Optimus X account has previously teased what the role entails, and Business Insider reports that Tesla has hired over 50 workers for the position over the past year.Motion capture is a common and typically... Continue reading...

Image: Raspberry Pi Foundation There's a new Raspberry Pi 5 in town: a 2GB variant that knocks the price of the microcomputer down to $50. The lower RAM doesn't necessarily mean it comes with fewer capabilities, just that it won't be up to some RAM-intensive tasks. Raspberry Pi Foundation CEO Eben Upton says the device is functionally identical to its predecessor."When the Raspberry Pi 5 was released last year, it only came in a 4GB variant for $60 and an 8GB version for $80, making them both $5 more expensive than the corresponding models of the Raspberry Pi 4. While the 2GB version might not be ideal for doing things like running AI applications or using it as a full-blown media center, Upton says many customers will likely find that it works perfectly well" for... Continue reading...

Image: Lamborghini The Italian automaker is not quite ready to release its first full EV. Thankfully, it has a ridiculous new hybrid to tide you over. Continue reading...

Procreate CEO James Cuda has made his distaste for generative AI known. | Image: Procreate Many Procreate users can breathe a sigh of relief now that the popular iPad illustration app has taken a definitive stance against generative AI. We're not going to be introducing any generative AI into our products," Procreate CEO James Cuda said in a video posted to X. I don't like what's happening to the industry, and I don't like what it's doing to artists."The creative community's ire toward generative AI is driven by two main concerns: that AI models have been trained on their content without consent or compensation, and that widespread adoption of the technology will greatly reduce employment opportunities. Those concerns have driven some digital illustrators to seek out alternative solutions to apps that integrate generative... Continue reading...

A Waymo car driving in San Francisco. | Photo: Smith Collection / Gado / Getty Images San Francisco neighbors who live in a building next to a Waymo parking lot are still being haunted by overnight honking. That's despite a fix from the ride hail company that seems to have fixed the original problem - the cars beeping their horns in the parking lot - but has also revealed that the issue is a little stickier than it may have first seemed.Waymo said last week that the honking was the result of a safety feature triggered when a Waymo car detects another reversing toward it. Sophia Tung, who runs a YouTube livestream of the lot, told The Verge in an email that the first night after Waymo's patch, several of the cars missed the parking lot and inexplicably entered a cul de sac next to her building. In a video we viewed, the... Continue reading...

Image: Ubisoft Ubisoft has published the PC requirements for Star Wars Outlaws, which is releasing later this month on August 30th, in a post that also points to a new gameplay trailer for the Grand Theft Auto-style space adventure.The trailer compares the game's looks when certain features, like DLSS, are turned on versus off. There may not be any major revelations in terms of story or gameplay here, but it could give you an idea of whether you want to upgrade anything for the game or not.On the hardware side, Outlaws seems fairly forgiving of PCs still using components like the GeForce GTX 1660 GPU or Intel Core i7-8700K CPU. Eurogamer notes that you'll need DLSS or FSR to run the game at minimum specs.From Ubisoft's page:

An F1 single-seater during the Formula 1 Live Barcelona Road Show on June 19th, 2024. | Photo: David Zorrakino / Europa Press via Getty Images Creators whose online identities center around Formula 1 racing have been changing their handles lately, and they seem to be reluctant to say why. But the reason may be because they're being asked to by F1 itself, who's rumored to have been sending cease and desist orders to certain creators with monetized accounts that use its branding.Among the abrupt branding changes was Paddock Project (formerly F1r the Girls), an F1 fan podcast. Paddock didn't mention receiving a cease and desist letter when announcing the change, instead writing that the new name reflects where we are and where we're headed."

Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge Laura Mae Martin is a big believer in the settings menu. As Google's executive productivity advisor, Martin spends much of her time working with other Googlers on improving their productivity and communication systems - and one of the things she often recommends is taking a few minutes to poke through the options. With your phone, with your email, your Slack, all these things, the features are there, but we don't take the time to dive into them," she says. She even thinks you should maybe have to look at settings before you can use the app. Like, you can't get into the app unless you spend 10 minutes figuring out what it can do."On this episode of The Vergecast, the first in our three-part miniseries about all things productivity... Continue reading...

The Venom F5 Revolution at Circuit of the Americas. | Image: Hennessey Special Vehicles Hennessey Special Vehicles crashed its Venom F5 - a $3 million hypercar - while driving nearly 250mph on the Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) runway at Kennedy Space Center in July. Newly reported details show the cost of the crash, which happened while the company was testing out new components of the car.The crash damaged the runway surface, according to crash-related documents acquired by ClickOrlando. The damage was apparently minimal, and repair, plus subsequent hazmat cleanup, cost $712.70, which was billed to Space Coast Testing, the company that manages runway rentals. Renting the LLF, which was once used as a landing strip for NASA's Space Shuttle and serves aerospace purposes like delivering the United Launch Alliance's... Continue reading...

Image: David Pierce / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 48, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, get ready for a lot of books this week, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)I'm back after a couple of weeks off - thanks to everyone who wished me a good vacation and sent over book recommendations! I wound up reading Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, She Rides Shotgun, and The Wager and highly recommend all three. Mostly, I spent two weeks chasing a toddler around various restaurants and playgrounds, and it was a good time, but I am oh so very glad to be back hanging with all of you. And it turns out I missed a lot of good stuff!This week, I've been reading about W... Continue reading...

Rimac, the company behind the absurdly quick Nevera EV, says it's now made it even faster with the Nevera R. This new version of Rimac's new electric supercar can apparently hit 60mph from a stop in just 1.74 seconds, or about a tenth of a second faster than the original.The EV apparently generates 2,107 horsepower, or about 200 more than its predecessor. On top of that, Rimac says the Nevera R has better aerodynamics, more downforce, and improved grip, and that it managed to knock 3.8 seconds off the Nevera's lap time on the Nardo Ring, a high-speed Italian track owned by Porsche.Like the regular Nevera, the new EV supercar requires manufacturer oversight" to unlock its top speed of 256mph. Without that, the car is limited to... Continue reading...

Image: Becca Farsace / The Verge Instagram is a popular place to show off your latest photos, but if you're a real photography enthusiast, it may not be enough. You may want a better-looking portfolio - not to mention feedback and suggestions from other photographers. One way to get that is to exhibit your work on a site specifically geared toward the visual arts.What follows are sites that offer amateur and / or professional photographers a space to showcase their images, solicit comments, have discussions, and possibly even sell some work. In other words, a community - one that offers critiques, support, and good conversation.Instagram Screenshot: Meta This may not be a typical Instagram feed, but it shows that you can search for and find... Continue reading...

The Wave 2 heat pump is very capable for its size, but EcoFlow's absurd marketing sets unrealistic expectations. Continue reading...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge National Public Data (NPD), a company that resells collected personal data for background checks, has confirmed that a data breach leaked names, Social Security numbers, physical addresses, and more. As reported by Bleeping Computer, dark web forum posters have advertised and shared supposedly stolen data from a breach of the company's systems for months without a statement or response from NPD.Finally, this week, it published a Security Incident page confirming a few details but leaving many other questions unanswered.