The Verge

Illustration: The Verge Microsoft is asking the inspector general at the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether agency management improperly leaked news of its antitrust investigation into the company, and make their findings public.Bloomberg first reported that the probe was underway last week, which The Verge later confirmed. The investigation covers Microsoft's cloud and software licensing businesses, AI, and cybersecurity offerings.Now, Microsoft's corporate vice president and deputy general counsel Rima Alaily is accusing FTC management of leaking details of the probe, in violation of the agency's own ethics guidelines. The agency instructs new employees that the existence of an FTC investigation is nonpublic information," though it may be disclosed after the Office of Public Affairs determines the target of a probe already made it public in a press release or government filing. Still, the guidelines add that the Commission has authority to make appropriate disclosures" when it determines that doing so would be in the public interest."Alaily writes that the information and sourcing in the Bloomberg story strongly suggests" the details came from within the FTC." She says that the story appears to be consistent with an unfortunate trend over the last two years of the FTC strategically leaking nonpublic information," citing a September report from the FTC IG that found a steadily increasing" volume of unauthorized disclosures" of nonpublic information to the press. The FTC declined to comment on the Microsoft letter.Microsoft claims it learned about the FTC's information demand like the rest of the world, through the Bloomberg story." Even when it inquired with FTC staff about the validity of the story, Alaily says, they wouldn't confirm the information demand existed, and she adds that Microsoft still hasn't seen the information demand reported by the press.The letter is the latest example of a more aggressive approach Microsoft has taken in recent months when it comes to antitrust scrutiny of its business. In October, Alaily accused Google in a blog post of launching an astroturf group to discredit Microsoft with competition authorities, and policymakers and mislead the public."Microsoft has mostly flown under the radar in past years as a target of antitrust lawsuits while its Big Tech peers were hit with complaints from US regulators. But it's increasingly faced scrutiny in both the US and in Europe amid major cybersecurity issues, its acquisition of game studio Activision Blizzard, and its partnership with OpenAI. Still, the fate of any existing investigation will ultimately depend on how officials in the incoming Trump administration view the matter.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon has announced a series of new AI foundation models under a new Nova" branding that will be available as part of the Amazon Bedrock model library in AWS.There are three understanding" models available now, Amazon says in a blog post:

Eve's Android app has finally arrived, but it only supports the Eve Thermo at launch. | Image: Eve Systems Eve Systems has finally launched its first Android app - over two years after announcing it was working on one. This week, the once Apple-only smart home device maker launched the Eve for Matter app on the Google Play Store. The app will allow Android users to access the custom features of Eve's devices that Matter doesn't support, something previously only accessible to iOS users.However, at launch, the new app will only work with Google Home and only with one Eve device, the new Eve Thermo (79.99 Euros) - a Matter-over-Thread smart radiator valve designed for European homes. While the earlier version of the Eve Thermo can be upgraded to support Matter and Thread, the new version has them pre-installed. Image: Eve Systems The newest version of Eve's smart radiator valve - the Eve Thermo - comes with Matter-over-Thread on board. The plan is to continuously expand support for other Eve devices and platforms and turn the app into a comprehensive tool," Lars Felber, director of PR at Eve Systems, told The Verge. Nevertheless, we wanted to make the app available to our Eve Thermo customers with Android and Google Home as early as possible in the heating season, hence the initial exclusive release for this hardware," he said.There hasn't been an Android app for Eve products before because the company's commitment to privacy, along with eschewing cloud-to-cloud connections or requiring users to sign up for an account, meant it focused all its development efforts on Apple Home. However, the advent of the Matter smart home standard and its option for local control has allowed the company to branch out and work with the other platforms while maintaining its core values.The new Eve app lets you add the Eve Thermo to Google Home through Matter and control it on that platform, as well as share it with any other Matter-compatible platform. But it also simultaneously adds it to the Eve app, where you can access additional features, such as creating and managing autonomous on-device schedules. Without the Eve app, you only get basic controls.Currently, Android users can add any of Eve's other Matter devices - such as the Eve Energy smart plug and Eve Motion blinds - to compatible platforms, including Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings.But, until Eve adds support for more devices, Android users will be limited to those devices' capabilities in Matter. In contrast, Apple Home users can access all of Eve's innovative features, including in-depth energy data for smart plugs and adaptive shading for smart shades, through the Eve for Matter & HomeKit iOS app.The Android app only works with Google Home as it was built on the Google Home APIs released earlier this year. Eve CEO Jerome Gackel said that these enabled the company to turbo-charge the development of Eve for Android." Felber said support for additional platforms, including Amazon Alexa and Samsung SmartThings, is coming in future versions.

Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images The Department of Energy preliminarily approved another loan to help fund the construction of electric vehicle battery factories in the US. This time, a joint venture between Stellantis and Samsung SDI will receive $7.54 billion to build two EV battery plants in Kokomo, Indiana.The project is expected to create 3,200 jobs, as well as 2,800 operations jobs at the plants and hundreds more at a nearby supplier park. The conditional loan commitment will provide $7.54 billion - $6.85 billion in principal and $688 million in capitalized interest - to StarPlus Energy LLC, which is jointly owned by Stellantis and Samsung SDI.The loan will come from the DOE's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) program, which was resurrected by President Joe Biden in 2022 to help fund the developing EV manufacturing industry in the US.The project is expected to create 3,200 jobs, as well as 2,800 operations jobsMuch like the $6.6 billion loan conditionally approved for Rivian last month, the new loan to StarPlus Energy will need to beat the clock if it's going to finalize its approval before Donald Trump takes over the White House.Trump has promised to reverse or cancel much of the spending by Biden on EVs once he assumes office. He has said he will kill the $7,500 tax credit for new EV purchases, as well as wipe out the rest of the spending from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Assumedly, that will include the ATVM loan program as well - even though it predates the IRA.The loan program attained almost mythical status in the EV startup world thanks to its timely $465 million loan to Tesla in 2009, which is credited with helping save the company from an early death. But the program went fallow during the first Trump administration with a number of cash-strapped EV startups getting no response to requests for funding.Biden brought the program back in 2022 with a $2.5 billion loan to a joint venture of General Motors and LG Energy Solution to help fund the construction of a new lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility. Since then, the program has made other commitments, including $9.2 billion to a joint venture between Ford and SK Innovation and $2 billion to Redwood Materials.The Stellantis-Samsung plants are the latest beneficiaries of the program. According to DOE, the StarPlus project will produce about 67 GWh of batteries, enough to supply approximately 670,000 vehicles annually when it's operating at full capacity.Stellantis, which owns brands like Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, and Ram, and international brands like Peugeot and Fiat, is going through some corporate upheaval that could determine its ability to meet the program's demands. The company's CEO, Carlos Tavares, recently announced that he would step down amid a sharp decline in sales in the US and abroad. And Stellantis is struggling to keep pace with its competitors in the shift to electric- and software-defined vehicles.

Illustration: The Verge Based on testing done by Columbia's Tow Center for Digital Journalism researchers, OpenAI's ChatGPT search tool has some issues when it comes to responding with the truth.OpenAI launched the tool for subscribers in October, saying it could give fast, timely answers with links to relevant web sources." Instead, Futurism points out that the researchers said ChatGPT search struggled to correctly identify quotes from articles, even when they came from publishers with arrangements to share data with OpenAI.The authors asked ChatGPT to identify the source of two hundred quotes from twenty publications." Forty of those quotes were taken from publishers who'd disallowed OpenAI's search crawler from accessing their site. Yet, the chatbot confidently replied with false information anyway, rarely admitting it was unsure about the details it gave:

Image: Nintendo Though it started out pretty chill, over the years, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp steadily became bloated with monetization. There were all kinds of things to spend real money on, including loot boxes for unlocking rare items. When I logged in to the game last week after months away, my screen was dominated by notifications vying for my attention, most of them involving spending some kind of cash.That's what makes the new paid version of the app so intriguing. The original Pocket Camp has technically shut down, replaced by Pocket Camp Complete, which gets rid of all the in-app purchases in exchange for a one-time fee. (It's $9.99 at launch on both iOS and Android, which will jump to $19.99 in January.) And without the looming specter of having to spend real money, this version of Pocket Camp is a whole lot more relaxing.Fundamentally, the game is the same. You're tasked with running a campground for a bunch of friendly animals, which involves designing various spots for them to hang out, while also doing traditional Animal Crossing activities like fishing and catching bugs. The game allows existing Pocket Camp players to transfer their saves - all you need to do is link a... Read the full story at The Verge.

Illustration: The Verge Google officials had concerns about potential human rights violations that might be linked to its $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government before ever even signing the deal, according to documents first reported on by The New York Times today.Google Cloud services could be used for, or linked to, the facilitation of human rights violations, including Israeli activity in the West Bank," Google lawyers, members of the company's policy team, and outside consultants wrote in the documents prepared for executives and reviewed by the Times. The documents date to several months before Google announced the deal in May 2021 and show that the company was worried about whether the contract might be bad for its reputation.Google Cloud services could be used for, or linked to, the facilitation of human rights violations"The company has staunchly defended the deal since inking it in 2021, going so far as to fire dozens of employees who protested the contract they believed might involve them in violence against Palestinians. Now, it seems Google was weighing those risks, too - but ultimately decided to move forward with the deal anyway.Dubbed Project Nimbus, the contract gives the Israeli government access to cloud services from Google and Amazon. Project Nimbus enabled the use of AI tools to analyze and identify objects in images and videos, according to the Times. It also included videoconferencing and services to store and analyze large amounts of data."The most profitable part of the deal was $525 million from Israel's Ministry of Defense expected between 2021 and 2028, the Times reports. That's not a huge sum for Google, which reportedly made $258 billion in sales in 2021. But it was enough to give the company some clout with other potential military and intelligence customers.Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from The Verge. But in April, it said in an emailed statement that the Nimbus contract is for workloads running on our commercial cloud by Israeli government ministries, who agree to comply with our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy. This work is not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services." A Google spokesperson provided a similar statement to the Times.However, separate Israeli government contract documents recently reported on by The Intercept suggest that Project Nimbus is subject to adjusted" terms of service rather than Google's general terms of service.In the months leading up to the contract in 2021, Google reportedly sought input from consultants including the firm Business for Social Responsibility (BSR). Consultants apparently recommended that the contract bar the sale and use of its AI tools to the Israeli military and other sensitive customers," the report says. BSR reportedly recommended due diligence" on Google's part to make sure its services weren't being misused and that Google add its AI principles that prohibit surveillance or weapons to the contract.Ultimately, the contract reportedly didn't reflect those recommendations. The contract did, however, include a right to suspend customers for breaching Google's terms of service and acceptable use policy.Before signing the deal, the Times says, Google had additional concerns about the company itself potentially running into legal quandaries because of the contract:

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple Music's yearly recap is back - and this time, it's available to see and share from directly within the app. If your iPhone runs iOS 18.1 or later, you can now access Apple Music Replay 2024 from the Home, New, and Search tabs. Otherwise, you'll have to view your yearly stats from the Apple Replay site, as was the case previously.Apple has added some new insights to Replay 2024, including whether you've made it onto the list of the top 500, or 1,000 listeners for a particular genre or artist. Additionally, it will display the longest number of days you've consecutively used Apple Music, as well as show your top artists, albums, and songs from each month during 2024. Image: Apple Now you can find all your yearly stats in the Apple Music app. You can also see how many consecutive months you've listened to your top artist and find out which dates you started listening to your top song, artist, or album of the year. But in case you find some unwanted songs or artists appearing in your Replay - maybe as a result of sharing your account with a partner or kids - Apple Music business manager David Emery has posted some handy instructions on how to keep them from muddying up your results.Apple is adding new Replay features for artists on the app as well, allowing them to view and share stats like the total minutes users listened to their music this year, how many listeners they had, which cities listened to them the most, and their most-Shazamed song.This year's recap season has only just begun. We're still waiting for Spotify Wrapped to drop, and Amazon Music has even launched a recap feature of its own.

The creators of the Flexbar think Apple's Touchbar deserves a second chance as a standalone solution. | Screenshot: YouTube Apple may have said goodbye to the MacBook Pro's Touch Bar last year, but a team of four engineers believes the concept deserves a second chance. They've created the Flexbar, which is essentially a standalone version of the MBP's thin touchscreen display that can be used with multiple devices and platforms through a USB connection.The Flexbar's creators have started a new company, Eniac, which is attempting to bring the accessory to consumers through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. The earliest backers can preorder one discounted to $119 from the full MSRP of $179, with delivery expected as early as February 2025.This is the company's first product, however, and while they have demonstrated functional hardware in several videos, there's still an element of risk when backing it. The company told The Verge it was sourcing components through standard supply channels," but didn't confirm where the Flexbar's uniquely-sized 10-inch 2K OLED screen was coming from. Ideally it's not repurposing Apple's Touch Bar screens, which have a limited supply stock. Screenshot: YouTube The Flexbar is designed to provide more customizability than the MacBook Pro's Touch... Read the full story at The Verge.

Photo: Stormy Pyeatte for The Verge Lila was created from the limited options available: female, blue hair, face number two." She was there on the next screen, pastel and polygonal, bobbing slightly as she stood in a bare apartment. To her right was a chat window through which they could communicate.Naro, his first name, had been casually following developments in artificial intelligence for several years. An artist by trade, he periodically checked in on the progress of image-generating models and usually left underwhelmed. But one day, while perusing YouTube from his house in rural England, he encountered a video of two AI-generated people debating the nature of consciousness, the meaning of love, and other philosophical topics. Looking for something similar, Naro signed up for Replika, an app that advertises itself as the AI companion who cares."Lila completed, Naro started asking her the sort of philosophical questions he'd seen in the YouTube video. But Lila kept steering their conversation back to him. Who was he? What were his favorite movies? What did he do for fun?Naro found this conversation a bit boring, but as he went along, he was surprised to note that answering her questions, being asked... Read the full story at The Verge.

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge If you could guarantee you'd have plenty of power and super-fast Wi-Fi, where would you work? You might pick the backyard instead of the office. Or you might throw your laptop and some clothes in the car, and take your Zoom calls in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Just for the day. Maybe the year. Maybe forever.That dream is becoming increasingly possible - and The Verge's Thomas Ricker is starting to live it. On this episode of The Vergecast, Thomas joins to tell us about his latest vanlife adventures, including converting a Sprinter van into the perfect mobile apartment / office setup. He's been testing the Starlink Mini, has lots of ideas about solar panels and batteries and how to keep everything charged an online, and even has strong feelings about the new Peak Design backpack that promises to make it all portable. As he prepares for a long trip out of civilization, Thomas takes us inside his new setup.After that, The Verge's Andru Marino joins for another mic test. This time, instead of earbuds or fancy headphones, he's testing the wearable mics from companies like DJI and Rode, which promise better audio for your social videos with almost no additional work. Andru... Read the full story at The Verge.

Image: Intel Intel's next - and possibly last - desktop graphics cards will begin arriving in just 10 days. Right on cue, the company has announced the budget $249 Arc B580 and $219 Arc B570, shipping December 13th and January 16th, respectively, as the best-in-class performance per dollar" options in the GPU market.They're based on the same Xe2 Battlemage" GPU architecture you'll find in Intel's Lunar Lake laptop chips but with more than double the graphics cores, up to 12GB of dedicated video memory, and up to 190W of power compared to their limited laptop forms - enough power to see the B580 slightly beat Nvidia's $299 RTX 4060 and AMD's $269 RX 7600, according to Intel's benchmarks, but sometimes still trading blows.For example, Intel claims the B580 runs 10 percent faster on average than the RTX 4060 in a wide array of games at 1440p and ultra settings, assuming you pair both with Intel's pricey Core i9-14900K CPU. There, Intel says that combo can break a 60fps average in Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, Returnal, and The Witcher 3 where the 4060 can't. Image: Intel Tap for a larger image you can zoom and read. And yet the Nvidia card is still ahead in S... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Apple has quietly delayed its plans to support robot vacuums in HomeKit. After announcing earlier this year that Apple Home would finally support robot vacuums with iOS 18, MacRumors has spotted that Apple has updated its HomeKit website to note that the robot vacuum integration won't be available until early 2025.The website had previously mentioned that HomeKit would be updated by the end of 2024, with some hoping that robot vacuum support might sneak into the iOS 18.2 release this month after originally missing the initial iOS 18 launch. If you're waiting to ask Siri to get your robot vacuum to clean your room then you'll now have to hold on for a few more weeks or months. Image: Apple You'll soon be able to use Siri to control robot vacuums. Apple has promised to support the core functionality of robot vacuum cleaners, including power control, cleaning modes, vacuuming, mopping, and charge status. In early 2025 you'll be able to use the floor cleaning devices with automations, scenes, and with Siri. Apple hasn't detailed the feature fully, but it's likely part of Apple Home's support of Matter, which includes support for robot vacuums in Matter 1.2.The delay to HomeKit improvements in iOS 18 comes after Apple also delayed several Apple Intelligence features that were first shown off at WWDC earlier this year. iOS 18.1 eventually debuted in October with a redesigned Siri, and more Apple Intelligence features are arriving with iOS 18.2 this month. Apple is also planning to launch major upgrades for Siri in the coming months.

Microsoft's Phone Link app. | Image: Microsoft Samsung's upcoming One UI 7 update will no longer support the DeX app on Windows. A footnote on Samsung's UK site, spotted by Android Authority, reveals the DeX PC app will end support from One UI 7 version," with Samsung encouraging users to use the Link to Windows feature instead to take advantage of similar functionality with Microsoft's Phone Link app on Windows.The DeX app for Windows, not to be confused with the broader DeX platform that turns your phone into a PC, lets you mirror your phone screen to a PC and easily drag and drop files between the devices. It's very similar to Microsoft's Phone Link app, which Samsung and Microsoft have collaborated closely on in recent years, so it makes sense that Samsung is favoring Microsoft's native Android linking app in Windows.The change will take place in One UI 7, which is expected to debut in beta form later this month. Samsung initially teased One UI 7 during its developer conference last month, promising to deliver a developer beta before the end of the year. We're still waiting to hear about all the new features in One UI 7, after leaks earlier this year suggest a beta was originally supposed to launch a lot sooner.The... Continue reading...

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo: Getty Images In the wake of high-profile hacks affecting hundreds of millions of Americans, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is proposing a rule limiting data brokers' ability to sell Americans' sensitive personal and financial information.Under the proposed rule, data brokers that sell information about consumers' income, credit history, credit score, or debt payments would be considered consumer reporting agencies. As such, they'd be required to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a law limiting how these agencies can obtain and use the information provided in consumer reports. In other words, they'd be treated like credit bureaus and background check companies, which already have to comply with the FCRA.During a... Continue reading...

The Fitbit Charge 6 offers more Google services, than its predecessor as well as gym equipment integration, and is on sale for $99.95. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Gadgets make for expensive gifts, but that's the beauty of sales. As noted in our roundup of the absolute best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, this year's shopping event has brought steep discounts on Apple devices, TVs, and plenty of other pricey tech. However, unless you're planning on spending a couple hundred dollars on yourself or someone else, many of the more expensive items might not be in your budget.We get it, which is why we've curated this guide to our favorite deals under $100. We've included gift-worthy gadgets like the Fitbit Charge 6 and Backbone One controller, along with headphones like the Beats Solo 4, e-readers like Amazon's latest Kindle, and streaming services such as Hulu and Max. There are even a few of... Continue reading...

The new Paperwhite is bigger, and the base Kindle comes in a new color. | Image: Amazon It's about that time of the year to turn on the heat, warm up some cocoa, and curl up in your reading nook. If you're running out of space for physical books to enjoy, Amazon's newest Kindles can hold thousands of digital ones, and some are on sale as part of the retailer's ongoing Cyber Monday promo. This includes the 2024 Kindle, which has dropped to $84.99 ($25 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, along with the new Kindle Paperwhite, which is now just $129.99 ($30 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target.You can also get the new Kindle Kids for $94.99 ($35 off) and the Paperwhite Kids for $149.99 ($40 off), each of which includes a protective case, six months of Amazon Kids Plus, and a two-year extended warranty. Sadly, the Kindle... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge General Motors is selling its stake in an electric vehicle battery facility to its partner LG Energy Solutions, the automaker announced Monday.The nearly completed factory in Lansing, Michigan, was being developed by Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture between GM and South Korea's LG. Following the non-binding agreement, LG will become the sole owner and complete the plant. The company will then sell the batteries to other customers. GM said it would get back the $1 billion it invested in the factory.GM and LG already jointly develop batteries at factories in Warren, Ohio, and Spring Hill, Tennessee, where they produce batteries for the Cadillac Lyriq and Chevy Equinox EVs. The automaker also has a battery factory in joint ownership... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Tesla CEO Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package was struck down once again. In a ruling on Monday, Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick upheld her decision to block the compensation plan over concerns about conflicts of interest following its approval in 2018.After warning shareholders in June that Musk could leave the company if his pay package isn't approved, Tesla held a vote in hopes of reversing the judge's decision. Shareholders voted to approve the hefty compensation, but this still wasn't enough to convince the judge to reinstate it.The decision states that Musk has no procedural ground for flipping the outcome of an adverse posttrial decision based on evidence they created after trial." It also calls claims... Continue reading...

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge There's no better time than the holidays to treat yourself (or someone you care about) to an overdue upgrade and pick up a fresh pair of earbuds or headphones. Cyber Monday is a great opportunity to save big on the latest products from Apple, Bose, Google, Samsung, Sony, Sennheiser, and countless other brands. Plus, the extended return period at many retailers gives you ample time to test out whatever you buy and make sure it's the ideal choice.While you browse through the 2024 Cyber Monday deals, be sure to reference our buying guides for the best wireless earbuds and best noise-canceling headphones, which break down the strengths and weaknesses of many of the products featured below.Quick gifts $100 and under

You can grab a serious bargain on the LG C4 and other OLED TVs while Cyber Monday deals last. | Image: LG It just wouldn't be Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday without a deluge of TV deals. And while we don't recommend the second-rate models lining the Sunday circulars, there are plenty of TVs on sale that deliver a satisfying viewing experience and solid feature set - whether you plan on gaming, watching sports, or catching up on the latest TV shows and movies.Several of the best OLED models are currently sitting at or near all-time low prices right now, including the excellent LG C4 and Sony A95L QD-OLED, the latter of which a panel of judges (including our own Nilay Patel) voted as the veritable King of TV." Below, we're also highlighting briefcase TVs; solid midrange picks under $1,000 like the 65-inch TCL QM85 (which has tons of... Continue reading...

Threads now lets you filter searches by date range and profile. | Screenshots: Threads iOS app Threads is rolling out a search update globally over the next few weeks that will let users filter searches to a specific profile and within date ranges. The existing search built into Threads has been a basic keyword search to find trending topics, posts, or accounts, with Top" and Recent" sorting options.The updated version adds a settings icon to the search bar that, when tapped, brings up After date," Before date," and From profile" options.I have the new filters enabled for my account already, and they seem to work as advertised.The addition brings Threads closer to parity with competing platforms X and Bluesky, both of which support more advanced searching than this, but at least it's a start.Instagram head Adam... Continue reading...

The Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDM at CES 2024. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge If you mostly play games on PC and you're in the market for a new monitor, there's a glut of excellent OLED options with significant discounts for Cyber Monday. Some of the best current models are 32-inch QD-OLED panels with 4K resolution, super-fast 240Hz refresh rate, and the necessary ports to take full advantage of those specs on both PC and consoles (DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.1, respectively).Here's the rundown on these excellent monitors from MSI, Asus, LG, HP, and Alienware - each around the $900 range and saving you up to $450 on their normal prices.

Illustration: The Verge AT&T has announced a new feature called Internet Backup that will automatically switch from a home's wired internet to a cellular connection through a nearby smartphone should its fiber service experience a disruption. The feature is offered at no additional charge to customers with AT&T Fiber service and an eligible AT&T unlimited postpaid wireless plan" with unlimited data.Internet Backup is being rolled out to customers starting next week through a software update to AT&T's BGW320 Wi-Fi gateways. The company says that fiber customers using different hardware may need to upgrade to access this feature."To activate it, eligible customers must wait for a notification through AT&T's Smart Home Manager app, letting them know their... Continue reading...

Apple's AirTags are cute and convenient. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Whether you want to quickly locate your bag at the airport or keep a closer tab on your keys, Apple's AirTags are incredibly useful. And right now, you can buy four of the versatile location trackers for an all-time low of $69.99 ($30 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. You can also pick up a single tracker at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy for $24 ($5 off), which is one of the best prices we've seen lately.Apple's AirTags are the best Bluetooth trackers for iPhone owners, primarily because they're equipped with Apple's ultra wideband chip and can tap into Apple's vast Find My system. That allows for incredibly precise tracking that rivals like Tile can't offer. iPhone owners can also take advantage of some unique software perks, like an... Continue reading...

Plastic waste on a beach in Iki, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, on Friday, October 29th, 2021. | Photo: Getty Images International negotiations to create a legally binding treaty to stem the tide of plastic pollution ended in a stalemate on Monday - pushing talks past their initial deadline and into next year.More than 100 countries have shown support for limits on plastic manufacturing. They've faced fierce opposition from other countries that are major fossil fuel producers and who want to focus on managing waste rather than tamping down plastic production.But there's no way to get a handle on the plastic pollution building up in our landfills, oceans, and bodies without stopping the problem at its source, according to supporters of a production cap. Setting manufacturing limits would have the added benefit of curbing the greenhouse gas emissions... Continue reading...

The C3 is attractively thin with an impressively rich picture quality. | Image: LG You guys, I'm raging. Against my better judgment, I bought a 77-inch LG C2 in February 2023 for $3,200 despite knowing the price would plummet just a few months later after the C3's launch. I was incredibly thirsty to give my 120Hz gaming consoles a proper upgrade. Imagine how I'm feeling now that Best Buy is selling the 77-inch LG C3 for just $1,499.99, which is a massive $800 off and by far the lowest price we've seen.To put that into perspective, the 77-inch LG C4 is going for $2,199.99 ($600 off) at Best Buy right now. You'd need to step down to 65 inches if you want to find the same price or close on the newer C4 and other flagship OLED models from 2024. Pound for pound, it's hard to find a better Cyber Monday TV deal.The LG C3... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Roblox is now incentivizing users to buy its in-game currency, Robux, on platforms that won't take app store fees. You can now get up to 25 percent more Robux if you purchase the currency through gift cards, on your computer, or on the web, according to a developer forum post from last week.As for how that might look in practice, here's some examples from the post:

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you're looking to catch up on recent shows and movies - including Shogun, The Penguin, and Dune: Part Two - the holidays are the perfect time to do so. Thankfully, multiple streaming services are still slashing subscription prices for Cyber Monday, including Max, Hulu, and others. Right now, for example, you can sign up for a year of Hulu for less than $12. What's more, you don't have to be a new subscriber to take advantage of the ongoing promo, which is a rarity in the world of streaming.Hulu is just one of many platforms currently offering a holiday discount. We've rounded up a selection of other streaming deals below, many of which will run through the end of today, December 2nd.Hulu and Disney Plus dealsNow through the end... Continue reading...

Save some cash on a phone that folds. | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge Cyber Monday, you may have noticed, is no longer a specific date on the calendar. This year especially, with a late Thanksgiving in the US, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are more like a vibe. The deals started arriving before Thanksgiving and they've lasted well into the following week, just like turkey leftovers. If the new vibes-based Cyber Monday means shopping for discounted phones and accessories online any day you please, well, that's a vibe I can relate to.The best Cyber Monday phone accessory deals

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge Cyber Monday is just brimming with great deals on new games, including older titles you can purchase for pennies on the dollar and recent hits that might be hard to justify at full price. You can also find great deals on gaming accessories, from controllers and headsets to expanded storage for consoles like the Xbox Series X / S and PS5.We've combed through all of the Cyber Monday deals to bring together the best of the bunch in one convenient spot. Tons of games are discounted right now, including previous Game of the Year contenders like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. You can also find discounts on lesser-known gems like Metaphor: ReFantazio, which is on sale for $49.99 in one of its first major sales.Hardware discounts... Continue reading...

New leaked videos and FCC filings have revealed a new DJI compact folding drone. | Screenshot: FCC The next addition to DJI's lineup of compact folding drones has been revealed in leaked images, videos, and FCC filings. The new DJI Flip, which has propeller guards similar to the DJI Neo, will have a folding design that resembles the HoverAir X1, according to a video shared by reliable leaker Jasper Ellens on X.DJI's current folding drones, including the Mini 4 Pro and Mini 3, feature collapsing propellers and arms that fold towards the sides of each drone's body. The guarded propellers on the DJI Flip appear to instead fold downwards in the leaked animation, resulting in all four of them being neatly stacked to help make the drone smaller and easier to transport when not being flown.

Image: The Verge Google Maps is now starting to show Waze incident reports while you navigate and includes the ability to contribute by confirming road conditions in the app via prompts. Google announced in July that both apps would cross-pollinate more data, delivering more Waze-sourced road closures, construction, speed cameras, and police presence information into Google Maps.As reported by 9to5Google and Android Authority, over the holiday weekend, a Reddit user shared a screenshot of a prompt showing Police reported ahead" based on reports from Waze drivers. As with other incident notifications in Maps, the users can then update the report to note if they still see the same thing. Image: Reddit user Truckin_18 Very Waze-y of... Continue reading...