The Verge

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta shut down 63,000 Instagram accounts based in Nigeria that it says were engaged in financial sextortion scams and connected to what Meta calls a loosely organized" group of cybercriminals known as the Yahoo Boys."Meta has been getting serious about cracking down on sextortion scams and educating users about how to avoid them. Earlier this year, Meta said it would automatically send suspected sextortion account messages to users' hidden requests folder. If users were already talking to a potential scam or sextortion account, it would display a safety notice prompting them to report threats to share private images. Meta said it would also make it so that potential sextortion accounts wouldn't be able to view the Message" button on... Continue reading...

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge The latest PlayStation beta lets you create personalized 3D audio profiles on your PS5 that could help you better sense the positions of characters and objects in a game world." If you're wearing headphones or earbuds with your PS5, you can perform sound tests to optimize the audio to best suit your needs.As shown in the video provided by Sony, the tests will ask you various questions, like where you hear a particular sound coming from and the angle you hear a sound moving in. Based on your answers, your PS5 will create an audio profile that will be saved to your account and ideally improve the simulated effect to help you track sounds around you in games.You can create an audio profile by going to the settings menu and selecting S... Continue reading...

In venture capital, you are what you fund. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Two of Silicon Valley's famous venture capitalists make the case for backing Trump: that their ability to make money is the only value that matters. Continue reading...

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Twitch has introduced new policy and moderation updates that aim to help curb sexual harassment. The streaming platform announced in a blog post that it has made its sexual harassment policy easier to understand" by more clearly outlining prohibited conduct. Twitch's moderation tools will now also allow streamers to more easily filter out inappropriate chat messages.Twitch says the policy itself is largely unchanged," but now better defines what the Amazon-owned company considers sexual harassment - including non-physical behaviors of a sexual nature" that would make users feel degraded, uncomfortable, or generally unwelcome on the platform.We prohibit unwanted comments - including comments made using emojis/emotes - regarding... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge CrowdStrike has published a post incident review (PIR) of the buggy update it published that took down 8.5 million Windows machines last week. The detailed post blames a bug in test software for not properly validating the content update that was pushed out to millions of machines on Friday. CrowdStrike is promising to more thoroughly test its content updates, improve its error handling, and implement a staggered deployment to avoid a repeat of this disaster.CrowdStrike's Falcon software is used by businesses around the world to help manage against malware and security breaches on millions of Windows machines. On Friday, CrowdStrike issued a content configuration update for its software that was supposed to gather telemetry on possible... Continue reading...

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Apple continues to work on a foldable iPhone, which could arrive as early as 2026, according to a report from The Information. The phone is rumored to fold horizontally, like the clamshell-style Samsung Galaxy Z Flip.In February, The Information reported that Apple was in the early stages of developing two folding iPhone prototypes. But now, it seems Apple may have settled on a design, as The Information says the device has an internal nickname, V68, indicating the idea has moved beyond the conceptual stage" and is now "in development with suppliers." Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Apple's folding iPhone could look similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5. Apple is reportedly still working to flatten... Continue reading...

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge There's a new name in charge of Netflix's ongoing gaming efforts. As Variety reports, the streamer has hired Alain Tascan as the new president of its gaming division, after he previously served as executive VP of game development at Fortnite maker Epic Games. The news comes as the game division's former boss, Mike Verdu, moved into a different role at Netflix focused on a new team on the cutting edge of game innovation."In his previous role at Epic, which he held since 2018, Tascan was in charge of the company's first-party output, which included not only Fortnite and its various modes like Lego Fortnite but also other live-service games like Rocket League and Fall Guys. In a statement, Tascan explained that he took the role at the... Continue reading...

Image: Arrowhead Studios The team at Arrowhead Game Studios is working on the biggest Helldivers 2 update yet. On August 6th, the Escalation of Freedom update will offer players new game modes, enemies, mission objectives, and a much more punishing difficulty. In the announcement trailer, chief creative officer Johan Pilestedt and design director Niklas Malmborg went over the details, sharing that they're planning on bringing back an old enemy from the original Helldivers to terrorize freedom lovers across the galaxy.

The gray model may lack some of the Game Boy's vintage vibes like the other colors on offer, but the design homages are there once you look close. Between the Analogue Pocket and the proliferation of game emulators on Apple's App Store, retro gaming is more than chic in 2024. So, it's not terribly surprising that boutique keyboard maker Angry Miao is getting in on some of that sweet nostalgia with its latest mechanical board, the Game Boy-inspired AM RGB 65.But the real surprise is that what at first blush looks like a near-$600 parts bin rehash of an existing board is actually Angry Miao's best mech to date. There's a lot of Cyberboard DNA here, but oh so much better. The RGB 65 is a 65 percent layout keyboard, but its large dot matrix LED forehead means it takes up almost as much space as most 75 percent keyboards. It looks a whole lot like a shrunken-down... Continue reading...

Image: Cadillac Cadillac has a new convertible concept EV that's longer than some SUVs, has giant pillar-to-pillar infotainment screens, and can keep you cool for the summer with a refrigerator in the back seat.It's called the Sollei, and it's a new electric vehicle concept that looks like a convertible version of Cadillac's bespoke Celestiq" - the automaker's answer to exclusive luxury vehicles like the Rolls-Royce. The new vehicle converts the $340,000 full-size electric sedan into a manilla cream" coupe that tries to evoke the sun with ray patterns emanating from the center of every seat and from the wooden panels on the back of them.The Sollei was shown off at the Cadillac House at Vanderbilt in Warren, Michigan - the same place high-rolling... Continue reading...

Image: Amazon Amazon's Prime Video is fixing one of the most frustrating things about its interface. Its redesigned UI comes with a new tab dedicated to all the content included with your Prime Video subscription - no paid movies or series mixed in.You'll find the new Prime" tab in the main navigation bar that's now situated at the top of the screen, rather than on the left side. Alongside options for movies, TV shows, sports, and live TV, there are tabs dedicated to other services you're subscribed to, such as Max, Crunchyroll, and Paramount Plus. If you don't have any services linked to Prime, you'll see a subscriptions" tab with other services you can sign up for. GIF: Amazon The redesign, which has started to roll out now,... Continue reading...

The Roomba Combo 10 Max is the company's first robot vacuum with a charging dock that can wash the bot's mop as well as empty its bin and refill its mopping tank. | Imge: iRobot The Roomba Combo 10 Max is a new robot vacuum and mop from iRobot that can wash its mop, empty its bin, and refill its mopping tank - meaning less manual labor on your part. The company's new flagship robot vacuum will also be its first to support the smart home standard Matter. The vacuum is available for preorder starting today at irobot.com for $1,399.99, and in the UK for 1,499 and Europe for 1,499. Shipping starts in August, when it will also come to other retailers.Building on the Roomba Combo j9 Plus' retractable mopping system that picks itself up when it vacuums carpet, the Roomba Combo 10 Max robot and Auto Wash Dock is the company's first robot vac with a fully multifunction charging dock. In addition to emptying the... Continue reading...

Apparently AI-generated artwork that was first used to promote California Forever's city. | Image: California Forever California Forever tech billionaire-backed plan to build a new city 60 miles away from San Francisco is on hold for at least two years, pending an environmental impact study, reports The New York Times.Last year, the Times reported that a group of Silicon Valley investors (including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Andreessen Horowitz investors Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and Emerson Collective founder Laurene Powell Jobs) had secretly bought up hundreds of millions of dollars worth of farmland in Solano County to build their own city.With former Goldman Sachs trader named Jan Sramek spearheading the project, it filed for permission to develop the land only months after its plans became known. A... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz was called to testify before the House Homeland Security Committee over the major outage affecting Windows PCs spurred by a faulty update that brought flights, hospital procedures, and broadcasters to a halt on Friday, The Washington Post reported.Recognizing that Americans will undoubtedly feel the lasting, real-world consequences of this incident, they deserve to know in detail how this incident happened and the mitigation steps CrowdStrike is taking," Homeland Security Chair Mark Green (R-TN) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee Chair Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) wrote in a letter later shared with The Verge. They asked that CrowdStrike schedule a hearing with the subcommittee by end... Continue reading...