The Verge

Nintendo throws a bone to Switch fans. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Nintendo has thrown Switch players a long-awaited bone alongside announcing its end-of-year financials results, confirming the console's successor will be unveiled before April, 2025. Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said that a next-generation Nintendo Switch console will be announced within this fiscal year" - giving the Japanese gaming giant a deadline of March 31st, 2025. That aligns nicely with its current Q1 2025 rumored launch.Regarding the Switch 2 console announcement, Furukawa said:

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images NASA will attempt to send a pair of astronauts to space aboard Boeing's Starliner aircraft for the first time soon, but not today. As the the astronauts settled into place, officials scrubbed Monday night's planned launch attempt at around 8:30PM ET, due to a faulty oxygen relief valve observation" on the ULA Atlas V rocket's Centaur second stage. Another launch window is available on Tuesday night, but it's unclear whether they will be able to reset that quickly.Starliner has faced several delays over the years, with its first uncrewed test flight in 2019 ending in failure before it successfully docked at the International Space Station in 2022. While Starliner's first crewed flight was supposed to take place last May, NASA delayed... Continue reading...

Image: Yahoo! Auctions (Japan) Over on the Japanese Yahoo Auctions site, someone has listed an apparent pre-production version of the Super Famicom - the Japanese counterpart of the Super Nintendo (SNES). It's similar to the console Nintendo eventually released in 1990 but with some stand-out differences, like a headphone jack and volume wheel on the side. Video game collector and historian Chris Kohler called it god-tier Nintendo collector bait."Some other variations include a big red power switch and the fact that the controller ports are on the left side of the console, rather than centered as they were in the eventual production model. There's also what looks like the console's expansion port on the front, rather than the bottom where it lived on the final... Continue reading...

Not a Chromecast remote with a new button. | Image: AFTVnews Google's rumored Magic Button" shortcut for Google TV has been spotted in the wild on a real-world remote for an upcoming streaming box... made by Walmart.AFTVnews got hold of Walmart's still-unreleased Onn 4K Pro - a Google TV-powered streaming box - and the remote features the new star button in the top right corner. The device simply calls it the customizable button," and it can be programmed as a shortcut to an app or to allow you to change inputs. It replaces the dedicated TV input button on previous Onn streaming box remotes. Image: AFTVnews Google's new button is introduced on non-Google hardware. The button has been leaking as part of Google TV-adjacent hardware for years, but it hasn't actually... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge As people try to find more uses for generative AI that are less about making a fake photo and are instead actually useful, Google plans to point AI to cybersecurity and make threat reports easier to read.In a blog post, Google writes its new cybersecurity product, Google Threat Intelligence, will bring together the work of its Mandiant cybersecurity unit and VirusTotal threat intelligence with the Gemini AI model.The new product uses the Gemini 1.5 Pro large language model, which Google says reduces the time needed to reverse engineer malware attacks. The company claims Gemini 1.5 Pro, released in February, took only 34 seconds to analyze the code of the WannaCry virus - the 2017 ransomware attack that hobbled hospitals, companies,... Continue reading...

Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, speaks during a climate initiative event at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington, on Thursday, January 16th, 2020. | Photo: Getty Images Microsoft is doubling down on a controversial plan to capture carbon dioxide emissions from wood-burning power plants. It announced a contract with energy company Stockholm Exergi to capture 3.33 million metric tons of carbon emissions from a biomass power plant in the Swedish capital in what is potentially the biggest deal of its kind to date - equivalent to taking more than 790,000 gas-powered cars off the road for a year.It's supposed to help Microsoft meet its goal of capturing more planet-heating carbon dioxide than it produces as a company by 2030 and then removing as much CO2 from the atmosphere as it has ever emitted since its founding by 2050.But the jury is still out on whether wood-burning power plants actually help fight... Continue reading...

Image: Schuurman There's a lot riding on Sonos' first pair of wireless headphones; CEO Patrick Spence has expressed confidence that the new product category will be a huge revenue driver for his company after Sonos has faced cooling demand for its speakers. The headphones are expected to ship sometime next month, but today, we're getting a first look at the hardware design - and we now know what they'll be called.You're looking at the Sonos Ace headphones. These images were prematurely published by authorized Sonos parts dealer Schuurman. The main image reveals quite a few buttons on both ear cups, a toggle switch of some sort, and a premium build that seems fitting of headphones expected to be priced around $450. The Schuurman website shows a price of... Continue reading...

Image: Samsung In its quest to carve out a chunk of the OLED TV market, Samsung has, until now, focused on the premium end with impressive QD-OLED models. But today, Samsung announced the entry-level S85D series of OLED TVs, bringing the fight to LG Electronics at lower price points as well.And here's the interesting thing: these sets almost certainly include OLED panels manufactured by LG Display. Samsung placed a big order for them last year to help meet its production needs, establishing a business alliance that would've been unthinkable in the not-too-distant past.The S85D comes in 55-inch ($1,699.99), 65-inch ($2,099.99), and 77-inch ($3,399.99) sizes - and inevitably, you'll be able to nab them for less once retailers start discounting the... Continue reading...

Image: Arrowhead Game Studios Stand down, Helldivers. Your battle is won. Late last week, Sony announced that Helldivers 2, one of the most popular multiplayer games of the year, would require Steam players to link their account to a PlayStation Network account. After a weekend of strong player backlash, including review bombing the game on Steam, Sony reversed course earlier this morning and will no longer require PC players to link to a PSN account.

Illustration: The Verge Google is streamlining the process of setting up two-factor authentication (2FA). Instead of entering your phone number first to enable 2FA, you can now add a second step method" to your account such as an authenticator app or a hardware security key to get things set up.This should make it safer to turn on 2FA, as it lets you avoid using less secure SMS verification. You can choose to enter a time-based one-time passcode through apps like Google Authenticator, or you can follow the steps to link a hardware security key.Google offers two options to link a security key, including by registering a FIDO1 credential on the hardware key or by assigning a passkey to one. If you have a Workspace account linked to an organization and want to... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge OpenAI and the developer platform Stack Overflow have announced a partnership that could potentially improve the performance of AI models and bring more technical information into ChatGPT.OpenAI will have access to Stack Overflow's API and will receive feedback from the developer community to improve the performance of AI models. OpenAI, in turn, will give Stack Overflow attribution - aka link to its contents - in ChatGPT. Users of the chatbot will see more information from Stack Overflow's knowledge archive if they ask ChatGPT coding or technical questions. The companies write in the press release that this will foster deeper engagement with content."Stack Overflow will use OpenAI's large language models to expand its Overflow AI,... Continue reading...

Both the second- and third-gen AirPods are on sale for some of the lowest prices we've seen. The same goes for the latest AirPods Pro. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Apple's AirPods should be on every iPhone owner's list of earbuds to try before exploring third-party options. The wireless earbuds offer a wealth of exclusive features for Apple users, and they make for a great Mother's Day gift or replacement for an aging pair of earbuds.Fortunately, the second-gen AirPods are down to $79.99 ($50 off) at Amazon and Best Buy right now, which is just $10 more than they were during Black Friday. The third-gen AirPods, meanwhile, are also matching their all-time low of $139.99 ($30 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, while the second-gen AirPods Pro with USB-C can be had for $179.99 ($70 off) at Amazon and Target (also an all-time low).If you're after a simple pair of AirPods and could care less for... Continue reading...

Image: Supergiant Games The wait is over: Hades II launches in early access today. The game was slowly rolled out to select players during its technical test period that began last month. After that testing period - in which players got to experience the game's opening area, fight the first boss, and meet a smattering of new gods and characters - early access grants players an in-progress build of the full game.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla's brutal round of layoffs entered its fourth week, with more employees posting on LinkedIn and elsewhere about receiving notice that their time at the company has come to an end.The most recent layoffs, which were first reported by Electrek and Business Insider, appear to be hitting different segments of the company, including software, services, and engineering. Employees said they received layoff notices over the weekend and on Monday.It's unclear how many employees have been affected. Business Insider reported at least seven employees posted about being laid off on Sunday.The layoffs first started last month, when Tesla began laying off what was said to be at the time 10 percent of the company's global workforce of... Continue reading...

Be safe out there! | Photo by Carmen Mandato / Getty Images I don't know what the explanation is - warm weather? too many histamines? too much Benadryl? - but we have once again entered Meltdown May, a season in which vulnerable specimens go absolutely wild on social media. We are not even a full week in, and folks, this one looks like a doozy. The Kendrick Lamar / Drake feud escalation alone is a formidable front that threatens to envelop much of the music industry.But even if you don't command the follower count of an extraordinarily popular rapper, knowing how to prepare for Meltdown May is the best way to avoid its dangers: becoming the main character of Online.Warning signs of an incoming meltdown include spending too much time on social media, especially Instagram and Twitter; searching... Continue reading...

The Kindle Paperwhite is our favorite Kindle, with waterproofing both the entry-level model and the Kindle Scribe lack. | Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge Whether mom's a bibliophile or you're looking to gift a graduate something useful as they head to college, Amazon's Kindles are great presents that we've highlighted in both our Mother's Day and graduation gift guides this year. They're even more attractive buys now that they're down to their best prices of the year.Right now, for example, Amazon's latest Kindle with ads and 16GB of storage starts at $79.99 ($20 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, which is just $5 shy of its all-time low price. The 2021 Kindle Paperwhite with ads and 16GB of storage starts at $114.99 ($35 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, while even the base Kindle Scribe is down to a new all-time low starting at $239.99 ($100 off) at Amazon and Target.Both the... Continue reading...

Image: Apple Apple's newest band honoring LGBTQ+ communities is a brightly fluorescent Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop, Apple's one-piece braided yarn band that stretches over a wearer's wrist. The band will be available for $99 at Apple retail locations or through the company's online store starting on May 22nd in the US and Canada - and elsewhere on May 23rd.The new Pride band, looking far less like it sprang forth from the early '90s than last year's Sport band, will be available in both 41mm and 45mm sizes, making it compatible with the Apple Watch Series 4 or later and all versions of the Apple Watch SE. If you haven't had one of the Braided Solo Loop bands, I hear you're in for a treat. (I haven't had one, but The Verge's David Pierce quite... Continue reading...

Image: Beat Games Beat Saber players using Meta's first Quest headset soon won't be able to compete against friends. In an updated support page, Beat Saber's developers say they're ending multiplayer support, along with updates and customer service for the Quest 1 starting November 2nd, 2024.Quest 1 users will still be able to play the game after the change goes into effect. They can also continue to access multiplayer features and updates by playing the game's PC version through the Meta Quest Link. But this is a bigger hassle than just booting up the game from a headset - and it also requires players to have a PC that can run the game.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Robinhood's cryptocurrency division could soon be in trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In an 8-K filing submitted on Saturday, Robinhood revealed that it received a Wells notice from the SEC's staff recommending the agency take action against the trading platform for alleged securities violations.Robinhood says it received the Wells notice after cooperating with the SEC's requests for investigative subpoenas about its crypto listings, custody of cryptocurrencies, and the platform's operations. A Well notice is a letter from the SEC that warns a company of a potential enforcement action. The SEC's response could include an injunction, a cease-and-desist order, disgorgement, limits on activities, and / or civil... Continue reading...

Photo illustration by The Verge / Photo: Polestar Polestar, now a more independent brand distinct from Volvo, is gearing up to deliver its most affordable cars yet. Continue reading...

Randy Travis in 1987. | Photo: Mark Junge / Getty Images For the first time since a 2013 stroke left country singer Randy Travis unable to speak or sing properly, he has released a new song. He didn't sing it, though; instead, the vocals were created with AI software and a surrogate singer.The song, called Where That Came From," is every bit the kind of folksy, sentimental tune I came to love as a kid when Travis was at the height of his fame. The producers created it by training an unnamed AI model, starting with 42 of his vocal-isolated recordings. Then, under the supervision of Travis and his career-long producer Kyle Lehning, fellow country singer James DuPre laid down the vocals to be transformed into Travis' by AI.Besides being on YouTube, the song is on other streaming platforms... Continue reading...

Photo taken during the Eta Aquarid meteor shower in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka on May 5th. | Photo: Thilina Kaluthotage / NurPhoto via Getty Images If you've got clear skies and want an excuse to get away from town, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower is roughly at its peak and should be going strong tonight. Made up of remnants of Halley's Comet that the Earth passes through, this annual shower is active from April 15th to May 27th and can show up at a rate of about 10-30 meteors per hour, according to the American Meteor Society.You can see the Aquarids starting around 2AM local time in the Northern Hemisphere, radiating from the Aquarius constellation (though you'll want to look 40-60 degrees around Aquarius to see them). Weather permitting, conditions are pretty good for watching them since the moon is in its late waning period and won't be reflecting much light. Try to plan your... Continue reading...

Image: David Pierce / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 36, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, hello, I'm thrilled you found us, the Installerverse loves you, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)I missed you all last week! I was at a friend's bachelor party in South Carolina, playing golf and eating burgers and mostly staying offline. Thanks to everyone who reached out to say you missed the newsletter! But I'm back now, and so is Installer. We are so back. This week, I've been writing about AI gadgets and iPads, watching Baby Reindeer and The Fall Guy, reading A Drink Before the War, and listening to the excellent Challengers score.I also have for you a new browser for... Continue reading...

Know just how steep that hill is before you go. | Screenshot: Komoot Getting into cycling in my late thirties has been humbling.I'm responsible for my own medical costs, which really makes me consider things differently than when I was a kid tearing through the neighborhood park on a twelve-speed Huffy. I've also discovered you can spend infinite money on bike stuff if you have the resources, which I do not.Most of all, I've learned that knowing how to get from point A to point B in a car or on a bus does not mean you know the best way to get there on a bike. For this particular bit of cycling logistics, I've found a tremendous - and mercifully free of charge - solution: Komoot.Komoot helps adventurers plan and follow routes - by bicycle or on foot. There are iOS, Android, and smartwatch apps in... Continue reading...

May the Fourth be filled with awesome deals on games, toys, and collectibles. | Image: Star Wars Peruse these awesome deals on Star Wars stuff, you must, because today is May the Fourth. Fans of Lucasfilm's iconic franchise have long celebrated this day as a kind of borderline-religious holiday of sorts, one that recognizes an ever-growing franchise that has been adapted for almost every type of media - and product - you can think of.Since its debut in 77, Star Wars lore has been doled out in films, TV series, books and graphic novels, video games, and plenty of other mediums we're surely oblivious to. It's also inspired board games, toys, apparel, and enough merch to fill a galaxy far, far away. Many retailers commemorate May 4th by discounting the latter, and we've gone deep into the heap so you can see all of the best Star... Continue reading...

The tiny Flextail pump inflated this city bike tire in 45 seconds. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge Social media's algorithms know that I ride a bike almost every day. My quiver includes a city bike, mountain bike, and gravel bike, in addition to one or two e-bikes I'm always in the process of reviewing. I'm also the family mechanic, which makes me responsible for no less than 16 to 18 tires that I must keep inflated. So, you'd better believe I took notice when Instagram served me several ads for the Flextail Tiny Bike Bump.The mini rechargeable pump works with Presta (the thin one) or Schrader (the old fatty) valves and promises ultra-fast inflation that maxes out at 100psi (about 7 bars) - enough for any bike that doesn't require a stretchy wardrobe coordinated with your shoes and helmet.The origins of the pump are suspect, as I... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge The fate of Google's search business is now in the hands of Judge Amit Mehta, as closing arguments concluded in the landmark trial on Friday.The Department of Justice and plaintiff states made their last arguments Thursday on Google's alleged anticompetitive conduct in the general search market, and on Friday focused on its allegedly illegal conduct in search advertising. Google was also under fire (separately) for failing to retain chat messages that the DOJ believes could have been relevant to the case.The government is trying to show that Google locked up key distribution channels for the general search engine market, so that would-be rivals could not grow into significant threats. It says it did so through contracts with phone... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Google has had a longstanding ban on sexually explicit ads - but until now, the company hasn't banned advertisers from promoting services that people can use to make deepfake porn and other forms of generated nudes. That's about to change.Google currently prohibits advertisers from promoting sexually explicit content," which Google defines as text, image, audio, or video of graphic sexual acts intended to arouse." The new policy now bans the advertisement of services that help users create that type of content as well, whether by altering a person's image or generating a new one.The change, which will go into effect on May 30th, prohibits promoting synthetic content that has been altered or generated to be sexually explicit or... Continue reading...

I wouldn't call portable in the traditional sense, but it sure as hell beats lugging a 65-inch OLED around. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge As my colleague Chris Welch pointed out in his review of the LG StanbyME Go, there's something refreshing about a TV that takes a chance on a less familiar concept, especially at a time when beastly OLED panels and art-inspired TVs seem to dominate the landscape. And now, thanks to a $200 discount, you can pick up LG's suitcase TV at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo starting at $996.99.In terms of design, the StanbyME Go is basically a 27-inch touchscreen TV that's built directly into a 28-pound, military-grade briefcase you can tote around with you. The panel itself is nothing to write home about - it's a basic 1080 LCD with an HDMI/eARC port and a peak brightness of 500 nits - but it's the concept itself that makes it a fun... Continue reading...

Image: Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge Luminar, which makes lidar sensors for autonomous driving systems, announced today plans to lay off 20 percent of its workforce amid a broader restructuring of its production process.The company, which just announced shipments of its next-generation laser sensors to Volvo, said that it will transition to an asset light" business model that will see more of its production outsourced to its partners. As part of the restructuring, at least 147 people will lose their jobs. Luminar has at least 730 employees based in the US, according to LinkedIn.Many of these team members have been on our journey with us for years, which is why this is so difficult," Luminar CEO Austin Russell said in a statement. We have also made the decision to... Continue reading...

Rufino Choque, from the Urus Indigenous community, stands over a boat in the middle of the extinct Poopo Lake, which disappeared in 2015. | Photo by Manuel Seoane Attacks against environmental journalists have risen dramatically across the world, according to a report released by UNESCO to commemorate World Press Freedom Day.UNESCO and the International Federation of Journalists surveyed 905 journalists across 129 countries. Between 2009 and last year, more than 70 percent of reporters experienced attacks while working on environmental stories ranging from mining and deforestation to protests and land grabs.There were more than 300 attacks reported over the past five years alone, a 42 percent jump from the previous five-year period. The attacks come in many forms, from legal threats and online harassment to physical violence and death threats - although physical attacks were most common. They... Continue reading...

Image: Getty Images The TSA's been planning to expand facial recognition to a whopping 430 US airports over the next several years - but a bipartisan group of 14 senators is now challenging that.Facial recognition poses significant threats to our privacy and civil liberties, and Congress should prohibit TSA's development and deployment of facial recognition tools until rigorous congressional oversight occurs," reads part of the May 2nd letter (via Gizmodo) from Sens. Merkley, Kennedy, Markey, Marshall, Cramer, Wyden, Warren, Daines, Braun, Sanders, Lummis, Van Hollen, Welch, and Butler.They add later that this powerful surveillance technology as deployed by TSA does not make air travel safer" and suggest that the TSA's current error rate of 3 percent... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Apple CEO Tim Cook has made it clear that AI features are coming soon, and a new report from AppleInsider offers more details about what we might see in the next version of iOS. One of the big focuses will be on Siri, which will reportedly gain the ability to analyze and summarize texts within the Messages app.AppleInsider previously said a similar Intelligent Search" feature is coming to Safari in iOS 18, allowing users to summarize webpages. Apple's large language model (LLM), called Ajax, will power these features. Several papers published by Apple suggest that the company is working on bringing on-device AI processing to the iPhone, and AppleInsider's report further aligns with this.The report says that Ajax uses on-device... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Last week, I placed a big dinner order for myself and several friends through DoorDash. There was no way to add a tip when I placed my order, but I wasn't too worried - DoorDash assured me I'd be able to tip after the order was placed or delivered.It was the first time I had used the service since last November, and since then, DoorDash made some big changes: in protest of a New York City law guaranteeing a minimum wage for delivery drivers, the platform removed the ability to add a tip when you place an order. Now, in New York City, customers like myself who want to continue tipping must do so after their order is placed.It wasn't until I went back to add a tip to that dinner order that I realized just how difficult DoorDash has made... Continue reading...

Image: Arrowhead Game Studios Attention, Democracy Defenders: Helldivers 2 will soon require players on Steam to link their account to a PlayStation Network account. According to the announcement, all new players on Steam will be required to link to a PSN account starting May 6th, while current players will have a little bit longer, with mandatory enforcement delayed until June 4th.According to Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios, linking to a PSN account was always going to be a requirement for Steam players, and the policy is there to ensure players are protected from griefing and other in-game abuses. But the game's community isn't buying it, vociferously protesting the decision on social media and on Steam itself.