The Verge

Image: Sony Santa Monica Studio Sony is kicking off this year's summer gaming events with a 30-minute showcase highlighting all the games coming to PlayStation this year and beyond. Continue reading...

Image: Apple One of the most beloved series on Apple TV Plus is returning very soon. The streamer just announced that season 2 of the historical epic Pachinko will start streaming on August 23rd. Weekly episodes will air every Friday through October 11th.Based on the novel of the same name by Min Jin Lee, Pachinko follows the multigenerational story of a Korean family immigrating to Japan. While the story unfolded chronologically in the book, the show took a different approach, with a nonlinear narrative that jumped back and forth between eras. The series premiered in 2022, and the show was renewed before the first season was finished.It's not clear exactly which parts of the story season 2 will cover, but Apple did provide a handful of first-look... Continue reading...

The new AI-powered search from Amazon for Fire TVs lets Alexa help you more easily find what you want to watch. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Navigating the sheer volume of streaming content available today can be a full-time job. Recommendations from friends, blog posts, and TikToks of movies I haven't thought about in years all help. But finding something myself, my husband, my 13-year-old daughter, and my 16-year-old son all want to watch together is still a herculean task.So, when Amazon announced its new AI-powered voice search function for Fire TVs at its fall event last year, I was intrigued. With its promise to make searching for content easier and smarter, I hoped it would be the solution to my problems. I've now had some hands-on time with the new feature, and while it shows promise, like a lot of AI-powered search right now, it's just not reliable enough to be all... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Threads is widely rolling out a desktop site redesign that lets you customize your homepage with a series of feeds, similar to TweetDeck. In a post on Threads, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced that it's coming to all users globally starting today.With the new layout, you can choose which feeds you want to see by selecting the pin icon in the bottom-left corner of the site. From there, you can display your Following feed, For You feed, saved posts, recent notifications, and more. You can scroll horizontally on your screen to see all of the feeds you've pinned. Or if you're more of a minimalist, you can still display one single feed.Meta started testing the new look earlier this month and says you can turn on autoupdates to... Continue reading...

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Smart home company Ecobee launched a new feature for its thermostats today that will automatically adjust temperatures to save energy when there's a risk of a power outage. And unlike some utilities' energy saving programs, customers will always be able to opt out with Ecobee.Sudden spikes in electricity demand, often triggered by people cranking up their air conditioning during a heatwave, can lead to power outages. One of the most effective tools utilities have to prevent outages are programs that ask customers to conserve energy during those demand peaks, say, by turning down their thermostats.Many homes taking a small action adds up to a big impact on the gridEcobee's new product update offers something similar to residents in... Continue reading...

Image: Microsoft The last time Microsoft really needed Windows developers was when it asked them to build a new type of application that could work across phones, PCs, tablets, Xbox consoles, and headsets like the HoloLens. It was all part of a larger effort to transform Windows with a new interface for touch-friendly apps, designed to rival the iPad.It failed miserably. Developers didn't flock to universal Windows apps, and Microsoft eventually abandoned its touch-friendly UI in favor of a more traditional desktop in Windows 10. The cross-platform dream of the Windows 8 era didn't last very long.Now, Microsoft is trying something new, and it needs developers' help again. It's adding AI models and tools directly into Windows for this first generation... Continue reading...

A new interactive Google Home widget is coming to Android. | Image: Google Quick access to smart home devices is coming to Android in the form of a new Google Home Favorites widget. This will let you control devices, actions, and automations directly from the homescreen of your phone. There's also a new Favorites tile and complication coming to Wear OS for accessing frequently used devices right from your wrist.The new Favorites widget lets you view and interact with the most-used devices directly on your homescreen, no need to open the Google Home app.Currently, the easiest way to do this is to tap on the tile shortcut to the Home app, but this opens the full app. An interactive widget should be faster overall for doing something like turning on a light, locking a door, or checking the temperature. ... Continue reading...

Google's latest grab bag of Android updates is rolling out throughout May and June. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is releasing seven new updates and features to make Android devices and services more useful. The most notable update is to Google Messages, which now lets users edit messages up to 15 minutes after they've been sent.This is achieved by tapping and holding on sent RCS messages and then selecting the pencil icon that appears at the top of the screen. The feature has been expected since last year, when references to editing first appeared inside the Messages app code. The Google Messages update starts rolling out today for all phones running Android 8 or later. Similar editing features have already been added to rival messaging services like WhatsApp and iMessage. Image: Google Just tap and hold your sent... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Anthropic is releasing a new feature for its AI chatbot Claude that will let anyone create an email assistant, a bot to purchase shoes, or other personalized solutions. It's called tool use" (or the nerdier function calling"), and it hooks up to any external API of your choosing.While I'm not a huge fan of the term AI agents," that's essentially the game plan here. For instance, the tool can analyze data to create personalized product recommendations based on a user's purchase history or provide quick responses to customer inquiries, such as tracking order status or offering real-time technical support. To spin up an assistant, all it needs is access to an API and someone who knows how to code.Also, this tool can work with images,... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge We've been covering big changes to Google and Google Search very closely here on Decoder and The Verge. There's a good reason for that: the entire business of the modern web is built around Google.It's a whole ecosystem. Websites get traffic from Google Search, they all get built to work in Google Chrome, and Google dominates the stack of advertising technologies that turn all of it into money. It's honestly been challenging to explain just how Google operates as a platform, because it's so large, pervasive, and dominant that it's almost invisible.But if you think about it another way - considering the relationship YouTubers have to YouTube or TikTokers have to the TikTok algorithm - it starts to become clear. The entire web is... Continue reading...

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge If you're selling your Windows computer or passing it on to someone else, you're going to want to first wipe everything. Or you may want to rid yourself of several years of data bloat and start again with a clean slate.The good news is that wiping and reinstalling Windows is a lot easier than it used to be. I'm old enough to remember when it involved hours of file swapping, installation discs, and hours spent putting programs, emails, and files back in place. Thanks to the cloud and online apps, it can now be done in less than an hour.Backing everything up beforehand is vital, though, even if you're planning to leave your personal files in place (which Windows lets you do). When you're planning a backup, besides your personal files,... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge More than 40 people working on the YouTube Music content operations team were fired in February, about a year after going on strike. On Thursday, 46 Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) urging the agency to act quickly on cases filed by the YouTube contractors, who worked on approving music content, against Google.The letter, signed by Congressional Labor Caucus co-chairs Donald Norcross (D-NJ) and Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Reps. Greg Casar (D-TX), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and 41 other members of Congress, says we write to express our serious concern regarding alleged retaliation and other coercive actions" taken... Continue reading...

The Sonos Move 2 comes in an olive color as well as the standard white and black. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Sonos hype may be high right now thanks to the impending launch of the Ace headphones, but its tried-and-true speakers and soundbars are where the deals are at. Now through June 16th, you can save up to 25 percent off select Sonos soundbars and speakers - including some of the latest and greatest models in its Era and Move lines.First up, the best deal is arguably on the Sonos Move 2, which launched in September and is now selling for a new low of $336 ($113 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Sonos. The beefy portable speaker offers up to 24 hours of stereo playback from its user-replaceable cell, which can also be used to charge external devices via USB-C. At 6.61 pounds, it may not be something you take with you everywhere, but the... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge It seems that the summer of live gaming events is kicking off a little earlier than expected. Sony joined the festivities by announcing its next State of Play showcase, which will air a full week before the busy Summer Game Fest period kicks off. This will be the second such showcase of the year for Sony; earlier in the year, we got fresh looks at Death Stranding 2 and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and the surprise launch of a Silent Hill game.The May showcase promises to be a rapid-fire event. While we don't know exactly what will be featured, Sony says that it will include 14 games in around 30 minutes, spanning both PS5 and PS VR2. There are a number of high-profile titles in the works that could potentially make an appearance,... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge I've been using Google Maps for years, and I never knew there was an option to message businesses in the app - that is until I saw this post from Search Engine Land, which says it's going away.The feature, called business profile chat, lets you message a business through the Google Maps and Search apps to ask questions, book an appointment, or request quotes. If a company has business profile chat enabled, you'll see a Chat" option next to the Call" and Directions" icons in Maps or Search. Tap on it, and you can start a conversation. Image: The Verge I've never noticed the Chat" option on Google Maps. But now, it's headed to the Google graveyard. In a notice posted to its website, Google says it will no... Continue reading...

This is Hera's asteroid framing camera being used in Spain for testing navigation algorithms. | Image: MPS / GMV The European Space Agency (ESA) is running some of the final tests required to launch its Hera mission this October, which aims to investigate the asteroid that NASA intentionally slammed a spacecraft into back in 2022. The goal is to gather more accurate information about the collision to help develop systems that can protect our planet by deflecting asteroids that head our way.The spacecraft for the Hera mission is undergoing preflight testing, alongside the Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC) system it needs to maneuver around the Dimorphos and Didymos binary asteroid system. The GNC system is being validated via virtual tests conducted in Spain and Germany using replicas of Hera spacecraft components.The system for Hera's... Continue reading...

Minecraft. | Image: Mojang Fifteen years after the game first launched, Minecraft is getting a new animated series on Netflix. The streamer announced that it's making a show that will feature an original story with new characters, showing the world of Minecraft in a new light." No other details were announced, but the production is being helmed by WildBrain Studios, which previously made adaptations like Sonic Prime and Ninjago. The series is listed as coming soon" but doesn't currently have a date.The news comes amidst a gold rush of video game adaptations. Blockbusters like The Last of Us and Fallout have been turned into successful shows, Mario and Sonic star in hit movies, and adaptations of everything from Among Us to Death Stranding to Stray are in the... Continue reading...

Image: Bungie Bungie's highly anticipated Destiny 2: The Final Shape expansion isn't due to launch until June 4th, but a number of players have been able to get access to the game this morning. Posters on Reddit and in Discord servers have been sharing images and video of gameplay of The Final Shape, which was apparently accessible through Sony's PS5 cloud streaming service.As the entire DLC was playable for at least five hours, Destiny 2 players have been able to share spoilers about upcoming raid gear, seasonal content, The Final Shape campaign and missions, and even cutscenes. Videos have also appeared on YouTube showing an early look at new weapons and gear that will be available next week.The Final Shape could be Destiny 2's most important... Continue reading...

Image: Instagram Instagram is expanding limits," a safety control you can use to hide DMs and comments from accounts who may be harassing you. Now, instead of just hiding content from recent followers or people who don't follow you, Instagram will mute incoming messages from everyone except the users on your close friends list.Even though Instagram first rolled out limits to help creators deal with harassment campaigns, anyone can use the feature if they're facing unwanted messages and comments from bullies and other bad actors. It could give a way to shut down incoming noise without disconnecting people from a supportive community. Image: Instagram When limiting interactions from everyone but close friends, you'll only see DMs,... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon now offers restaurant food delivery. And if you pay for Amazon Prime, the delivery part is free.Amazon is now embedding Grubhub into Amazon.com and the Amazon Shopping app, and Amazon Prime customers paying $139 per year for Amazon Prime will now pay $0 for food delivery fees on orders of $12 or more, among other benefits.Amazon had previously offered Prime customers a free one-year subscription to GrubHub Plus, but that one auto-renewed at $129 per year. Now, it's a permanent part of the Amazon Prime subscription.Amazon says the ordering experience is identical" to ordering from Grubhub's website or app and is accessible to all customers, even without Prime.Amazon and Grubhub say they'll continue collaborating on other... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon now offers restaurant food delivery. And if you pay for Amazon Prime, the delivery part is free.Amazon is now embedding Grubhub into Amazon.com and the Amazon Shopping app, and Amazon Prime customers paying $139 per year for Amazon Prime will now pay $0 for food delivery fees on orders of $12 or more, among other benefits.Amazon had previously offered Prime customers a free one-year subscription to GrubHub Plus, but that one auto-renewed at $129 per year. Now, it's a permanent part of the Amazon Prime subscription.Amazon says the ordering experience is identical" to ordering from Grubhub's website or app and is accessible to all customers, even without Prime.Amazon and Grubhub say they'll continue collaborating on other... Continue reading...

Peter Serafinowicz will host Million Dollar Secret. | Photo: Kate Green / Getty Images for Paramount Pictures UK Netflix has a new game show on the way called Million Dollar Secret. Netflix says that the eight-episode series will set 11 contestants on the hunt for a 12th one who's been given a $1 million prize in an effort to be the last person standing (and win that prize).The show seems to be aimed at the same audience that made the similarly dystopian-in-tone Squid Game: The Challenge the 15th-most watched TV show on Netflix in the second half of 2023 with over 33 million views (enough to slightly edge out CoComelon S1, Suits S1, and The Crown S6 but still well short of CoComelon S8).Once the $1 million prize holder is found and eliminated by another contestant, the money goes to them, Netflix wrote. But it involves some strategy: players who... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge A collection of 2,500 leaked internal documents from Google filled with details about data the company collects is authentic, the company confirmed today. Until now, Google had refused to comment on the materials.The documents in question detail data that Google is keeping track of, some of which may be used in its closely guarded search ranking algorithm. The documents offer an unprecedented - though still murky - look under the hood of one of the most consequential systems shaping the web.We would caution against making inaccurate assumptions about Search based on out-of-context, outdated, or incomplete information," Google spokesperson Davis Thompson told The Verge in an email. We've shared extensive information about how Search... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Free ChatGPT users can now access custom GPTs, analyze charts, ask questions about photos, and other features added with GPT-4o in early May.Features like model and web responses, data analytics, chart creation, vision, file upload, memory, and custom GPTs were available to paid users - ChatGPT Plus, Teams, and Enterprise - but are now open to anyone using ChatGPT.While free ChatGPT users can discover and use custom GPTs - previously only available to paid subscribers - they won't be able to create their own. Custom versions of ChatGPT we've used already have ranged from an on-demand thesaurus to an Ikea shopping guide. Makers of custom GPTs can also participate in a revenue sharing scheme that OpenAI began testing in March.Having... Continue reading...

Image: Framework I know, I absolutely stuffed this story's headline - but I'm just so excited to see the future of modular computing unfolding before my eyes. Framework, the company that actually delivered on the promise of an upgradable laptop, has apparently done it yet again.Not only is it now taking preorders for yet another generation of swappable mainboards to give you Intel Core Ultra chips, but the company has also developed a $39 webcam to improve the originals' middling image quality and a $269 drop-in display that replaces your 60Hz, 2256 x 1504 screen with a brighter, higher-res, variable refresh rate 120Hz 2880 x 1920 panel at 256ppi that should make everything smoother and crisper.To be clear, you don't need to buy a new laptop to get... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Opening a webpage inside an app is about to get a little more pleasant - in some Android apps, at least. The Chrome M124 update adds the ability to open in-app webpages in picture-in-picture mode, letting you swap between the webpage and the app without closing your browsing session.The feature is coming to the Android apps that use Chrome Custom Tabs, which let developers provide customized browsing experiences within their apps. If it's available in an app you use, you'll see a new down arrow in the top-left corner of an in-app webpage. Tap the arrow, and the webpage will minimize into a floating window in the bottom-right corner of the screen. You can tap the window to open the tab back up. GIF: Google This... Continue reading...

The Watcher is quite large. | Image: Disney Besides watching movies, there's not all that much to do with Apple's Vision Pro once you get over the novelty. That's why I was eager to try Disney and Marvel's new What If...? An Immersive Story experience / TV show / video game... thing that's available on May 30th. The companies promised a mixed reality show that would push the boundaries of technology." But what I experienced, while very pretty to look at, ended up feeling like an overlong, no-stakes video game tutorial - with no game to follow it.You'll go through the Vision Pro-exclusive app either by standing in one spot in a virtual environment, watching things play out and participating when prompted to, or in passthrough, where you can move around while cell-shaded 3D AR... Continue reading...

Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images Sony Interactive Entertainment has pulled a controversial interview with Neil Druckmann, head of The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog.Last week, Sony published a (now archived) Q&A with the Last of Us creator about the Evolution of Storytelling." In the interview, Druckmann spoke about the role of AI in game development, the impact of new technologies on storytelling, advice for new creators, and his hopes for a dream project.Since such interviews with high-profile, AAA creators are relatively rare, news outlets picked up the interview, focusing on Druckmann's comments about generative AI. Regarding AI Druckmann said:

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Samsung is under investigation after two employees were hospitalized following exposure to X-rays on May 27th, South Korea's Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) announced. The exposure took place at Samsung's Giheung chip plant, about 25 miles south of Seoul, writes CNBC.The two employees were exposed while using a machine that blasts materials with X-rays in order to analyze them. Both showed abnormal symptoms" due to radiation exposure on their fingers, the NSSC writes in its release. The agency says their blood tests came back normal, but it plans to conduct follow-up testing. Use of the machine has apparently been suspended, and the agency says it plans to figure out exactly how much radiation they were exposed to.S... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Discord wants to steer its app back to gaming, and it's rolling out an app redesign to help make that happen. The new look features reworked group messages, voice chats, video calls, and more.In a message to users, Discord CEO Jason Citron says the company realized it needs to narrow its focus from broadly being a community-centric chat app" to a service that helps people deepen their friendships around games and shared interests." The company now wants to make it easier to connect before, during, or after playing a game.This year, Discord will make some changes to the app that will let users reach their conversations faster, as well as improve the reliability of its voice, video, and streaming technology. The company also plans to... Continue reading...

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images It's a scheme that reads like it's ripped from a screenplay," according to one Commerce Department official. Thirty-five-year-old Chinese national YunHe Wang allegedly helped run an international botnet that deployed VPN programs to infect more than 19 million IP addresses around the world.After distributing malware through programs such as MaskVPN and DewVPN, Wang allegedly operated the botnet and sold access to the compromised IP addresses, according to the Department of Justice. The department says his customers then went on to commit their own crimes under the concealment of the proxied addresses.The botnet, known as 911 S5, facilitated cyber-attacks, large-scale fraud, child exploitation, harassment, bomb threats, and export... Continue reading...

Image: Zotac Zotac is getting into portable PC gaming. The company has started to tease the Zotac Zone, a gaming handheld with a seven-inch, high-refresh-rate, touch-enabled screen and two-stage adjustable triggers. Its display will also come with one spec many of its rivals lack: OLED.Right now, the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Switch are the only two gaming handhelds with OLED display options. This could help set the Zotac Zone apart from an increasingly crowded handheld gaming market, which also includes the Asus Rog Ally, MSI Claw, and the Lenovo Legion Go.

Image: The Verge Two more media companies have signed licensing agreements with OpenAI, allowing their content to be used to train its AI models and be shared inside of ChatGPT. The Atlantic and Vox Media - The Verge's parent company - both announced deals with OpenAI on Wednesday.OpenAI has been quickly signing partnerships across the media world as it seeks to license training data and avoid copyright lawsuits. It's recently reached deals with News Corp (The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and The Daily Telegraph), Axel Springer (Business Insider and Politico), DotDash Meredith (People, Better Homes & Gardens, Investopedia, Food & Wine, and InStyle), the Financial Times, and The Associated Press.The deals appear to range in price based on... Continue reading...

Image: Activision Activision notched a second victory in an ongoing legal case against EngineOwning, a cheat maker that the company sued in 2022. Yesterday, District Judge Michael Fitzgerald ordered several defendants, including EngineOwning itself, to pay the company $14.465,600 for their creation and distribution of Call of Duty cheats.In addition, the judge ordered EngineOwning to turn over its website, stop making and selling cheats, and pay $292,912 in attorney fees to Activision. You can find a PDF of the ruling here. The site, engineowning.to, is apparently still operating today, offering cheats like an Aimbot" that automatically aims and fires or the ability to see other players through walls for many games, including several in the CoD series.A... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Verizon's inked a deal with satellite broadband provider AST SpaceMobile to help fill customers' coverage gaps when they travel outside the reach of terrestrial cell towers. The company is committing $100 million in a new deal connecting AST's satellite network to mobile phones using the 850 Mhz band.AST SpaceMobile is launching five satellites into low orbit this summer and recently announced a deal with AT&T, which joined Google and Vodafone as an investor in AST earlier this year, that runs through 2030.Apple added an Emergency SOS via satellite feature for iPhone 14 and 15 that lets you message for roadside assistance through AAA (and also Verizon) in areas of no connectivity. Android is also getting similar messaging features.... Continue reading...

Image: Getty Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced major new tariffs on Chinese imports, including electric vehicles, batteries, solar cells, and a range of other goods. The goal was to prevent China from flooding the market with cheap products that could endanger domestic manufacturers. But environmental groups warned it could hinder our efforts to meet our climate goals by making things like EVs and solar panels more expensive.Caught up in all this are electric bikes, those big battery-sporting, sometimes goofy-looking but always fun to ride motorized two-wheelers. E-bikes aren't just for delivery workers or beach town grannies. They're important tools for fighting climate change, combating car culture, and improving mental and... Continue reading...

There's something about that green power light on the keyboard's top-right corner that overwhelms me with a sense of calm. | Image: 8BitDo I love a good re-skin or fresh coat of paint, and I can be a sucker for a little nostalgia bait just like anyone else. But let's not mince words here: there's no way 8BitDo's upcoming $100 M Edition of its Retro Mechanical Keyboard will stand up to the legendary IBM Model M keyboards of yore - not in sound, typing feel, or relative chonkiness. However, it certainly looks the business, especially with the slick new wireless numpad / calculator combo pad 8BitDo will sell alongside it for another $44.99. Image: 8BitDo Somebody tell 8BitDo it doesn't need to write Retro" on everything. The design speaks plenty. The M Edition has the same exact specs as 8BitDo's previous Retro Keyboards, right down to the top-mount... Continue reading...