The Verge

Image: Microsoft Microsoft is planning to allow Windows 11 users to customize the Copilot key that has started shipping on new laptops and keyboards. The Copilot key is configured as default to launch Microsoft's Copilot app on Windows 11, but the company is now testing the ability to use it to launch other apps instead.A new beta build of Windows 11 includes the customization changes, available for testers today. You can choose to have the Copilot key launch an app that is MSIX packaged and signed, thus indicating the app meets security and privacy requirements to keep customers safe," explains the Windows Insider team in a blog post. The key will continue to launch Copilot on devices that have the Copilot app installed until a customer selects a... Continue reading...

Sadly, Theory 1 isn't going into production. | Image: Lotus Lotus revealed its new Theory 1 electric sports car, a concept that the automaker says embodies the future of intelligent performance vehicles."It's a visual aid for Lotus' new Digital, Natural, and Analogue (DNA - get it?) design principles on which it plans to base its performance vehicles for the modern era.Theory 1 features Lotus' new Lotuswear" interior that promises an immersive and personalized driving experience. It adapts physically to the driver and passengers, making seats more comfortable and communicating with lights and haptic feedback that can tell you when to make a turn, for example.The interior materials are lightweight robotic textiles built by MotorSkins that use inflatable pods in the seating and steering... Continue reading...

Illustration: Cath Virginia / The Verge A security researcher revealed a catastrophic" vulnerability in the Arc browser that would have allowed attackers to insert arbitrary code into other users' browser sessions with little more than an easily findable user ID. The vulnerability was patched on August 26th and disclosed today in a blog post by security researcher xyz3va, as well as a statement from The Browser Company. The company says that its logs indicate no users were affected by the flaw.The exploit, CVE-2024-45489, relied on a misconfiguration in The Browser Company's implementation of Firebase, a database-as-a-backend service," for storage of user info, including Arc Boosts, a feature that lets users customize the appearance of websites they visit.In its... Continue reading...

A worker demonstrates how lithium is recovered from brine at a Standard Lithium facility in El Dorado, Arkansas, US, on Thursday, July 20, 2023. | Photo: Getty Images The US Department of Energy announced today plans to dole out more than $3 billion to over two dozen battery projects across 14 states. The money will go toward processing critical minerals, building batteries and their components, and recycling batteries. It's part of the Biden administration's push for more domestic manufacturing to support its climate goals.Batteries are an increasingly hot commodity needed for electric vehicles and to store renewable energy from solar and wind projects. New battery facilities are cropping up all over the US thanks in part to federal support in the form of grants, loans, and tax incentives.New battery facilities are cropping up all over the USThe funding comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure... Continue reading...

Image: Square Enix On Friday morning, Sony released a system update for the PlayStation 5 that may help with graphical bugs and crashes reported by Final Fantasy XVI players after the last PS5 firmware update.Sony says today's update (version 24.06-10.01.00) simply improves system software performance and stability" and doesn't mention any specific fixes for the game. But a post shared on the official Final Fantasy XVI X account earlier today says it's been released in response to the crashes and graphical bugs" reported by players.

These can be all yours. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge We've got a new pair of our favorite noise-canceling headphones, and we're giving them away to celebrate the recent relaunch - err, refresh? - of our weekly deals newsletter. All you have to do is sign up for the new and improved Verge Deals, which continues to serve as a free weekly summary of some of the best tech deals on the web.The headphones we're gifting are none other than the Sony WH-1000XM5 (a $399.99 value), which feature excellent active noise cancellation, a comfy fit for lengthy listening sessions, and detailed, balanced sound. Unsurprisingly, they have been a mainstay of our holiday gift guides since they launched in the middle of 2022, and they remain one of our top picks when it comes to noise-canceling headphones to... Continue reading...

There's three motors inside this one. | Image: Rivian Rivian is now shipping its electric trucks and SUVs with a tri-motor configuration, adding an extra power boost over the dual-motor version. The new 850 horsepower powertrain uses Rivian's new in-house Enduro motors, with one in the front axle and two in the rear axle.The new tri-motor setup underpins Rivian's newly redesigned Gen 2 models, which launched earlier this year in just a dual-motor configuration.As reported by Inside EVs, these 2025 Rivian models are the first from the company to get a tri-motor setup, as the previous generation only came in dual and quad-motor setups. Rivian will start shipping its Gen 2 quad-motor version early next year. Image: Rivian Rivian's R1T lineup right now. ... Continue reading...

Anker is recalling three additional power banks, citing a manufacturing defect in their lithium-ion batteries. | Image: Anker Anker has issued a recall notice for its Anker 334 MagGo Battery (PowerCore 10K, model number A1642), Anker Power Bank (model number A1647), and Anker MagGo Power Bank (model number A1652). The company says a manufacturing defect can cause the power banks' lithium-ion batteries to overheat and potentially cause a fire risk.It's the same issue that triggered a recall in June for another Anker power bank. The company says only a small number of batteries were affected by the defect but that it's recalling all of the portable chargers out of an abundance of caution." Image: Anker The recalled power banks can be identified by looking for their name, model, and serial numbers on the back or bottom of each device. T... Continue reading...

Image: Maira Erlich / Bloomberg via Getty Images For more than two weeks, Brazilians have been without access to X. Brazil's Supreme Court blocked the platform after Elon Musk failed to comply with court rulings. As X evades the ban and Musk's companies work slowly toward a resolution, the real concern for many isn't just the absence of social media. It's Musk's power play over the government as he backs Brazil's far right.X was banned on August 30th after months of back-and-forth between Musk and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The conflict began in April when Musk publicized government requests for information and then removed all restrictions imposed on X profiles by Brazilian court orders. Moraes responded by including Musk in an investigation over organized political... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Hey, folks! Every week for the past four years, the team behind Verge Deals has combed the web, looking for the best deals and discounts on the tech we love most at The Verge. We pride ourselves in having tried and tested every product we recommend - well, almost every product - and we continue to share those deals with our readers via our daily deal coverage and Verge Deals newsletter. That being said, everyone could use a little change every now and again.No, Verge Deals is not going away - quite the contrary, actually. We've given our newsletter a fresh coat of virtual paint to reflect our new(ish) colors and design language, and we plan to continue to deliver a fresh batch of deals to your inbox every Friday afternoon. This time,... Continue reading...

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge The iPhone 16 is great. But it's great in pretty much exactly the ways you'd expect it to be great - gone, it seems, are the days of big new ideas about these slabs of glass we all use all day. And that's basically okay! But it does make you wonder: could you just train an AI to tell you everything you need to know about the new iPhone?On this episode of The Vergecast, we find out. Joanna Stern, a columnist at The Wall Street Journal and a forever friend of The Verge, comes on the show to tell us about her adventures building the Joannabot, an AI chatbot that knows a lot about iPhones and basically nothing about anything else. We ask Joannabot some questions; we take some of your questions and present them to the Joannabot (and a few to... Continue reading...

Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images Microsoft just signed a deal to revive the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. If approved by regulators, the software maker would have exclusive rights to 100 percent of the output for its AI data center needs.Constellation, the owner of the Three Mile Island plant, announced a power purchase agreement with Microsoft earlier today, which should see the site coming back online in 2028, assuming regulators approve it.The reactor that Microsoft plans to source its energy from was retired in 2019 for economic reasons and is located next to a unit that was shut down in 1979 after the worst US nuclear accident in history. The plant that Constellation plans to reopen can generate 837 megawatts of energy, enough to power more... Continue reading...

Everyone's iPhone camera might look a little different with the new Photographic Styles. | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge When I walked into the building that houses the Steve Jobs Theater for the iPhone 16 launch last week, the first person I saw taking a photo of the room wasn't using an iPhone; they were using a compact digital camera.I'm not talking about a fancy Ricoh GR III. I'm talking a PowerShot, Cybershot, or a Coolpix - something with 6 megapixels and a CCD sensor that makes anything above ISO 1600 look like confetti. These cameras are in style right now with a certain subset of photographers, tired of phone photos looking overprocessed," running straight in the other direction to the hard contrast and blown highlights of those early digital sensors. What's old is new again, and artificially bright shadows are out.Apple's reaction to the... Continue reading...

Image: Microsoft Microsoft is overhauling the illustrations it uses throughout its products and services to make them less flat and more playful and interesting. The previous iteration of illustrations was heavily vector-based, with a flat illustration style that can be found throughout apps like Microsoft Teams, Skype, Office, and even parts of Windows. Now, Microsoft is shifting toward 3D designs that bring back skeuomorphism, together with more colorful and playful designs.Our studies showed that while our illustrations could be described as colorful, inclusive, and genial on a surface level, they were received within consumer culture as uninteresting and emotionless," explains the Microsoft Design team in a blog post outlining the new... Continue reading...

The two new proceedings are meant to assist Apple in complying with its interoperability," according to the EU. | Cath Virginia / The Verge The European Commission has opened new proceedings under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that will see the bloc instruct Apple on how it can comply with its interoperability obligations. The two specification proceedings" focused on iOS and iPadOS will conclude within six months.Under DMA, Apple is required to provide third parties free and effective interoperability" with hardware and software features controlled by iOS and iPadOS. Now the EU is going to help Apple understand what that specifically means.Today is the first time we use specification proceedings under the DMA to guide Apple towards effective compliance with its interoperability obligations through constructive dialogue," said outgoing EU competition chief Margrethe... Continue reading...

Image: Firaxis / 2K Games Netflix's newest games are actually a bit old. During its Geeked Week 2024 presentation, the streaming service revealed it's adding Civilization VI and Street Fighter IV: Champion Edition as well as a host of other titles to its ever-increasing and legitimately impressive gaming lineup.For Civ 6, players will have access to all the game's expansion packs that were a part of the Platinum Edition version of the game. Meanwhile, Netflix will host the Champion Edition of Street Fighter IV featuring all 32 fighters released over the game's lifetime. Also, iOS and Android users will be able to compete against each other online exclusively via Netflix. Neither game has a launch date just yet, with Netflix saying both are coming soon.Street... Continue reading...

Netflix The second and final season of Netflix's Arcane finally has a concrete release date, but it looks like the episodes won't all be dropping at once.This evening, during the final night of this year's Geeked Week showcase, Netflix and Riot announced that Arcane's final season will be a three-part event. Act One is set to premiere on November 9th, Act Two debuts on November 16th, and Act Three drops on November 23rd. Along with the the new dates, Netflix also released yet another teaser trailer showcasing how sisters Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) and Jinx (Ella Purnell) will be drawn back into battle with one another as the war for control of Piltover reaches its climax.The team behind Arcane still has plans for more animated projects set in the... Continue reading...

Image: Netflix It's not clear how much of Avatar: The Last Airbender's story Netflix will fit into the next season of its live-action adaptation, but we now know who will be portraying the series' take on Toph.During Netflix's ongoing Geeked Week event, the streamer announced that Miya Cech (Beef, American Girl: Corinne Tan) has been cast as Toph Beifong, the blind earthbending prodigy whose unique skills end up making her a formidable part of Team Avatar.Previously, executive producer Jabbar Raisani teased that, much like in the animated show, Toph's arrival will add new complications to Team Avatar's group dynamics as they continue on their quest to defeat the Fire Nation. Given that Netflix's Avatar is set to end with its third season, Toph... Continue reading...

The Verge's Sean Hollister picking up his new passport at the post office. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge If you read my colleague Sean Hollister's positive experience renewing his US passport online through a beta website from the State Department - without needing to ship his old passport - I have good news for you: that experience is now available for everyone. You can access it right here.Instead of printing a paper application and mailing it with a check, Americans can now renew their passports through a secure process that will save time and effort," Secretary of State Antony Blinken writes in an announcement about the program.Right now, the renewal website is showing a six- to eight-week estimate for processing times, and the State Department notes that mailing times aren't included in that estimate. That all means you may not get... Continue reading...

Californians can now add their driver's licenses or state IDs to their Apple Wallets. | Image: Apple Apple announced that starting today, California residents can add their driver's licenses and state IDs to Apple Wallet on their iPhones and Apple Watches as part of the state's mobile driver's license (mDL) pilot program.As announced last month, up to 1.5 million pilot participants can add the documents to Apple Wallet by scanning their driver's license or state ID card using their iPhone and then providing a scan of their face using a series of facial and head movements" as an added security measure. The scans will need to be verified by the state before the documents are made available in Wallet.However, as it's still only authorized for limited usage, the state DMV advises users to continue carrying their physical IDs, too.S... Continue reading...

The Hipstamatic Party! Disposable Camera app saves event organizers from having to chase down guests to get their photos. | Screenshot: Apple App Store Hipstamatic's new Party! Disposable Camera app is designed to digitally replicate the experience of guests snapping candid photos at a wedding or other event using a disposable film camera. There are no film development fees afterward, but it's only free if your guest list is no larger than five people.At its core, the app is yet another attempt to streamline the process of collecting all the smartphone photos that guests take during a special event. Using a custom QR code generated by a host, guests are directed to download the Party! Disposable Camera app and join the specific event. All the photos taken through the app will be collected into a single private gallery the host and guests can view and comment on.There are similar... Continue reading...

Photo: Getty Images Almost a year since the horrifying crash in which one of its driverless vehicles ran over and dragged a woman 20 feet, Cruise is planning its return to the Bay Area. The company said in a post on X that it is deploying several" manually driven mapping vehicles in Sunnyvale and Mountain View, with the goal of progressing to supervised testing" with five autonomous vehicles later this fall.Resuming testing in the Bay Area is an important step forward as we continue to work closely with California regulators and local stakeholders," the post reads. This will allow our local employees to engage directly with our product as they refine and improve our tech through R&D."

Image: Microsoft Microsoft is launching a Windows app today for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, web browsers, Android devices, and even Windows PCs. The Windows app is essentially a hub for streaming a copy of Windows from a variety of sources, including Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, Remote Desktop, and more.This new unified app has been in testing for nearly a year and includes a customizable homescreen, multi-monitor support, and USB redirection so you can use local devices like webcams, storage devices, and printers as if they were plugged directly in to a cloud PC. Image: Microsoft The Windows app interface. This Windows app is limited to Microsoft work and school accounts, as it's primarily designed for existing users of Remote... Continue reading...

Amazon is using generative AI to create tailored product recommendations based on user's shopping history. | Image: Amazon Amazon has introduced a batch of new generative AI tools that aim to improve the retail experience for both customers and sellers on the platform. One of the more notable features announced at the Amazon Accelerate event on Thursday will use customers' preferences, search, browsing, and purchase history to create personalized product recommendations on Amazon's homepage.Instead of the more like this" feature that suggests similar, specific items, the new recommendations will be offered as larger categories based on a customer's shopping habits - such as those catering to holiday events or sporting activities. The company says it's leveraging a large language model to recommend products with specific features, but it's not clear how... Continue reading...

The United States Environmental Protection Agency building is seen on August 21st in Washington, DC. | Photo by Tierney L. Cross / Getty Images Implementing Project 2025, the conservative manifesto written by ex-Trump officials, could have serious repercussions on public health, former Environmental Protection Agency employees warn.Air quality protections issued over the past four years are supposed to cut down pollution and associated health risks, preventing premature deaths and hospital visits for years to come. A group called the Environmental Protection Network (EPN), created by hundreds of former EPA employees during an exodus of scientists from the agency under the Trump administration, counted up the benefits in a recent report.But that outcome isn't guaranteed. Many of the policies recently enacted under the Biden administration could be in jeopardy if Donald Trump... Continue reading...

Chrome users will need to either unlock their Android screen or use the Password Manager PINfeature to use passkeys on new devices. | Illustration: The Verge Google is improving passkey support in Chrome by making it easier to use the passwordless sign-in credentials across different devices. The search giant is introducing a Google Password Manager PIN that allows users to securely save and synchronize passkeys for use across Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android devices. These updates are available in beta on ChromeOS as well, with iOS support coming soon."Passkeys needed to be saved to Google Password Manager on Android prior to this update and required users to scan a QR code on their Android device to access them on other platforms. The new PIN replaces the need to scan the QR code while ensuring that your saved passkeys remain protected by end-to-end encryption, so not even Google can... Continue reading...

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will officially launch on November 19th, 2024. | Image: Microsoft Preorders are now open for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 through the Microsoft Store. The next installment of the franchise will launch on Xbox and PC on November 19th, with updates that include new aircraft like hot air balloons and a more realistic-looking simulated earth. But the most welcome upgrade could be a much smaller installation size.The current version of Microsoft Flight Simulator needs over 130GB of storage, but that's just for the base version of the game. Players can enhance their experience by downloading additional aircraft or installing world updates that bring more details to local scenery and airports, but that can gobble up even more storage. Those playing on the Xbox Series S, which only offers players 364GB of... Continue reading...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge A few months ago, I was driving my 2023 Volkswagen ID.4 when, seemingly out of nowhere, my driver-side door made several unusual clicking noises and then popped open.That's not good," I thought, as I quickly shut the door while also attempting to keep my hands on the wheel. And apparently, I wasn't the only one experiencing this problem. Hundreds of other VW owners were also struggling to keep their doors closed while driving.The issue culminated this week with VW halting production of the all-electric ID.4 at its factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as it scrambles to find a fix for the faulty electronic door mechanism. According to the recall, water was seeping into the door and shorting out the electronics, causing the circuitry... Continue reading...

Issa Rae. | Photo by Rodin Eckenroth / WireImage We still don't know much about the seventh season of Black Mirror, but at least the show's return will have a stacked cast. Netflix announced a big list of actors who will appear in the next installment of the anthology when it premieres in 2025, and it includes Doctor Who alum Peter Capaldi, Barbie star Issa Rae, Sunny's Rashida Jones, and the always delightful Paul Giamatti.Here's the full list:

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Today on Decoder, we're talking about the big Google antitrust trial that's currently taking place in a federal courthouse. No, not the one you're thinking of - it's the second Google antitrust case in just as many months. The company lost a landmark case in August in which a court ruled that it had an illegal monopoly in search.This time around, the Department of Justice is claiming Google has another illegal monopoly in the online advertising market.Unlike the search case, the ads case is both extremely complicated and somewhat harder to see. We all use search all day, and we're surrounded by online ads all day, but while it's easy to talk about search, no one really wants to think about how the ads get there or how much they really... Continue reading...