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by Sheena Vasani on (#6CASK)
Image: Domino's Domino's can deliver your pizza directly to you - instead of to a specific address - while you lounge by the beach or picnic at the park this summer. That's with the new Pinpoint Delivery feature, as first reported by Business Insider, which lets drivers deliver to locations without addresses at no extra cost to the customer.As a result, all you need to do is simply drop a pin of your location in Google Maps from within Domino's mobile app to receive your order. From there, you'll be able to track drivers' GPS locations, check wait times, and receive text updates about your order.Sadly, though, you can't get your pizza delivered straight to your beach chair. That's because you'll have to meet your driver wherever the app deems the... Continue reading...
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The Verge - All Posts
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
| Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
| Updated | 2024-11-26 12:15 |
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by Alex Heath on (#6CAQE)
Roblox recently partnered with the Parsons School of Design on a course that had college students design virtual avatars. | Image: Roblox Roblox has been signaling that it wants to be more than a gaming platform for kids. Today, the company is making another push in that direction by letting its creators make experiences specifically for people who are 17 and older.The new age category will allow for more graphic content and adult themes than Roblox has permitted to date, including depictions of heavy bloodshed and alcohol use, chief product officer Manuel Bronstein tells me. To keep underage users from accessing 17 and older experiences, Roblox will require that people scan their driver's licenses and submit a selfie before they can access the new category.Thirty-eight percent of Roblox's daily users last year were over 17, and its fastest-growing user age group is... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6CAQF)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A handful of subreddits have classified themselves as not safe for work (NSFW) to protest Reddit's recent treatment of the platform's volunteer moderators, and as a result, some non-porn communities are starting to get a lot of porn.More than 8,000 subreddits went dark last week in protest of the company's API pricing changes that are set to shut down popular third-party apps. But as the protests went on, Reddit started to push back. In an interview with The Verge, CEO Steve Huffman said that, while the platform allows the protests, the users are not in support of it now. It's like a protest in a city that goes on too long, and the rest of the citizens of the city would like to go about their lives." In an interview with NBC News,... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6CAA2)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Spotify is reportedly planning to include lossless audio streaming in a new, more expensive subscription tier codenamed Supremium" internally, according to Bloomberg. The lossless streaming feature was first announced in February 2021 as Spotify HiFi," but is still yet to release over two years later. Bloomberg reports that the new more expensive plan could release later this year, initially in non-US markets.The pricing of Spotify HiFi has been a source of much speculation in the years since its announcement, especially after competitors Amazon Music and Apple Music started offering lossless streaming as part of their standard plans at no additional charge. Bloomberg reports that Spotify delayed the release of HiFi after Amazon and... Continue reading...
by Nilay Patel on (#6CAN8)
It's a big year for the Code Conference - Vox Media's annual tech-and-media gathering founded by Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg has a new location and new hosts: CNBC's Julia Boorstin, Platformer's Casey Newton, and... me. It's going to be a big one, with lots to discuss: it feels like the internet itself is changing as social platforms reinvent themselves in controversial ways, big players push for platform changes like VR, and - of course - as AI disrupts everything.The first guest we're announcing is a big one: newly-installed Twitter/X CEO Linda Yaccarino. Linda's taking over a company that Elon Musk reinvented in dramatic ways - most notably by laying off huge numbers of people, but also by refocusing its mission on a... Continue reading...
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by Richard Lawler on (#6CAN9)
OceanGate CEO holds the Titan submersible's Logitech controller. | Image: CBS News Sunday Morning On Sunday morning, an OceanGate submarine vessel with five people aboard went missing in the Atlantic about an hour and forty-five minutes into a planned trip to explore the wreckage of the RMS Titanic. Made of carbon fiber and titanium, the vessel has enough air for 96 hours; however, as word of the emergency has spread, there's also shock at the wireless Logitech F710 gamepad used for steering.The Titan advertises state-of-the-art lighting and sonar navigation systems plus internally and externally mounted 4K video and photographic equipment," and this CBS News Sunday Morning segment from David Pogue, taken last summer, showed the reporter laughing as he was shown its controls. OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush holds up the F710, saying,... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6CAJZ)
The new Nomad x Peak Design rugged iPhone 14 Pro case is designed to take a beating and support Peak Design's range of SlimLink mounts. | Image: Nomad / Peak Design If you're in the market for a rugged iPhone 14 Pro case with a little utility, then you're in luck. Nomad, a reputable producer of phone cases, has collaborated with camera bag and accessory designer Peak Design to release a limited-edition phone case for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. The Nomad Rugged Case is available to purchase today from $60 with immediate shipping from either Nomad or Peak Design's website.The new Nomad Rugged Case supports MagSafe charging and features Peak Design's SlimLink magnetic attachment technology, making it compatible with all Peak Design mobile mounts, chargers, and accessories. Supported Peak Design mounts - which allow a mobile device to be attached to walls, bikes, motorcycles, cars, and... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6CAJY)
Image: Google Google is adding some more features to its Chrome iOS browser to tempt iPhone users away from Safari. Chrome on iOS is getting built-in Google Lens support soon, which will allow Chrome users to search for anything they see using just their camera. Translations are also being improved, alongside better calendar entry support and a new mini Google Maps view.The Google Lens support will make searching for objects like plants and clothing a lot easier in Chrome. Currently, you have to use the separate Google app to get access to Lens, but Google is adding this same feature into Chrome in the coming months so you can use existing or new photos to search from the Lens icon in the Chrome address bar on iOS devices. Image:... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6BMYM)
Suddenly, June can't come soon enough. | Image: Google During Google's I/O keynote in May, Google introduced both its new flagship foldable and midrange slab phone offerings: the Pixel Fold and the Pixel 7A. These were some of the showcase device announcements at the tech giant's big spring event, which was accompanied by other Android and AI-related news.The Pixel Fold is a new ultra-flagship addition to the Pixel lineup, one that represents Google's first attempt at a foldable phone and takes a page from Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 4 in the it's a regular-ish phone that also unfolds into a small tablet" department. It runs a whopping $1,799 and is due out in July. Here's what you need to know and where you can preorder one for yourself.Where to preorder the Google Pixel FoldGoogle is... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6CAK0)
Andrew and Tristan Tate, seen here leaving a Bucharest jail in March, have been indicted in Romania for multiple crimes. | Image: Daniel Mihailescu / AFP via Getty Images Social media influencer Andrew Tate was indicted in Romania on charges of human trafficking, rape, and the creation of a criminal organization, Romanian authorities announced today. Authorities also proposed extending the house arrest of Tate, his brother, Tristan Tate, and two associates who were also charged.Tate and the other defendants are alleged to have recruited seven people by misleading them about an intent to establish a marriage/cohabitation relationship," according to the Romanian law enforcement agency Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT). They were later held against their will and, through physical violence and mental pressure," sexually exploited on video for distribution on social... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6CAK1)
OpenAI suggested changes to the proposed EU AI Act to avoid its AI systems being subject to strict safety and transparency obligations. | Illustration: The Verge OpenAI has been lobbying the European Union to water down incoming AI legislation. According to documents from the European Commission obtained by Time, the ChatGPT creator requested that lawmakers make several amendments to a draft version of the EU AI Act - an upcoming law designed to better regulate the use of artificial intelligence - before it was approved by the European Parliament on June 14th. Some changes suggested by OpenAI were eventually incorporated into the legislation.Prior to its approval, lawmakers debated expanding terms within the AI Act to designate all general-purpose AI systems (GPAIs) such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and DALL-E as high risk" under the act's risk categorizations. Doing so would hold them to the most... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6CAH8)
Sony has every reason in the world to want to keep building out its own cinematic universe of superhero features around Spider-Man, his amazing friends, and the villains that want to kill him, but the first trailer for director J.C. Chandor's Kraven the Hunter movie doesn't exactly inspire hope for what the studio's dropping next.Rather than giving the nerds what they want and just pitting its titular big game hunter against Spider-Man, Kraven the Hunter will tell the dark and rather tragic story of how Sergei Kravinoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) became a psychopathic leather enthusiast with a taste for human blood. In Marvel's comics, Kraven's known as something of a fashion-forward criminal who - in addition to murdering Spider-Man - is... Continue reading...
by Monica Chin on (#6CAH9)
This is a nice laptop with a somewhat confusing price. Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6CAHA)
The Cam Link is a tiny adapter, making it great for both laptops and desktops. | Image: Elgato The Elgato Cam Link 4K, an HDMI-to-USB dongle that seamlessly connects your compatible mirrorless camera, DSLR, or action cam is an essential piece of kit for many streamers and Twitch creators. It is now on sale for one of its lowest prices of $86.99 ($13 off) at Best Buy and Amazon.Elgato's Cam Link 4K is incredibly simple to use if your full-size camera is one of the many on its compatibility list. If so, you just plug it into your Windows or Mac computer and see your camera come up in the OS as a webcam source - which can go straight into streaming software like OBS or even video conference calls from Zoom and Google Meet. You'll generally get higher-quality video than any regular webcam, and using larger sensor cameras with it will... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6CAHB)
Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images Rivian announced it would adopt Tesla's electric vehicle charging standard for its future lineup of vehicles. The deal grants Rivian owners access to thousands of Tesla Supercharger stations across the country and puts Tesla one step closer to becoming the de facto EV charging standard in the US.Starting in 2024, Rivian will offer adapters to its customers so they can access Tesla Supercharger stations, which use the company's North American Charging Standard (NACS) plug and outlet. And in 2025, Rivian will begin to manufacture its R1T trucks and R1S SUVs with Tesla's charging port, obviating the need for an adapter.This agreement makes electric vehicle ownership simpler by offering more ways to fast charge your Rivian vehicle and... Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#6CAEX)
Illustration: The Verge Apple will expand its Self Service Repair program to cover recent products, including the iPhone 14 lineup and M2-based MacBooks, starting on June 21st. But perhaps more importantly, the company seems to be responding to feedback by eliminating needless friction from the process. The System Configuration" validation step that's required after repairs - and involves calling Apple on the phone - has been criticized as burdensome. With the new changes, you won't have to call the company's repair support team anymore.Self Service Repair users can now initiate System Configuration by placing their devices into Diagnostics mode and following onscreen prompts," Apple wrote in today's press release. Users no longer need to contact the Self... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Webster on (#6CAEY)
Image: Nintendo It seems that Nintendo might've been feeling a little left out. Following a busy few weeks of gaming news, which included showcases from Xbox and PlayStation, along with Summer Game Fest, we now have an impending Nintendo Direct. And it's happening very soon: the event will stream on June 21st at 10AM ET.The timing makes a lot of sense, as following the launch of Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo's lineup for 2023 is pretty sparse. There's Pikmin 4 on July 21st, the first expansion for Pokemon Violet and Scarlet, and... that's about it. The Switch's holiday should look a lot clearer tomorrow, though, as Nintendo says the Direct will feature roughly 40 minutes of information focused mainly on Nintendo Switch titles launching this year,"... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6CAEZ)
Cadillac Escalade IQ is going to be a really big EV. | Image: GM Big electric SUVs are taking over, and Cadillac's stressfully large SUV is being redesigned to be part of that movement. The automaker has new teaser footage of the Escalade IQ, which was first announced last month, and is planning to fully reveal the full-size SUV on August 9th.The new Escalade IQ footage gives only a few glimpses of the behemoth three-row, including an extruded taillight / spoiler wedge and animated front LEDs that are spread like a wing from the bottom of the grille and tessellated on the sides. The footage also has a close-up of what are likely to be huge 22-inch wheels mounted on Michelin Primacy LTX tires, and there's a close pan of the planar roof and antenna.The IQ's fascia has even more LEDs on the left and... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6CAF1)
Illustration by Hugo Herrera for The Verge President Joe Biden's internet access plan will hand $41.6 billion to internet service providers. In many places, that money will get funneled into private hands. Continue reading...
by Josh Dzieza on (#6CAC5)
Illustration by Richard Parry for The Verge As the technology becomes ubiquitous, a vast tasker underclass is emerging - and not going anywhere. Continue reading...
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by James Vincent on (#6CA8V)
Video platform Vimeo is integrating new AI tools for paying users, including an AI script generation feature powered by OpenAI's tech. The company is promoting the tools as a way for users to create a fully produced video in minutes," and stressing the utility for corporate customers - potential use-cases range from quickly creating highlight reels, to hosting virtual events or company meetings, to exporting quote clips for short marketing videos."There are three new features. A script generator that generates scripts based on a brief description and key inputs like tone and length." A teleprompter, which has no real AI component, but lets users adjust timing and font size. And a text-based video editor, which automatically... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6CA6G)
The new option is available from the privacy menu in settings. | Image: WhatsApp / Meta WhatsApp's latest feature can automatically mute incoming calls if they're from an unknown number, the service announced today. The setting is available by going into WhatsApp's settings, hitting Privacy," selecting Calls," and turning on the Silence Unknown Callers" toggle. WhatsApp says the feature will help screen out spam, scams, and calls from unknown people for increased protection."When enabled, the feature silences all signs of incoming calls from unknown numbers including both sound and visual alerts in the app. However, silenced calls will still appear in your recent calls list with a silenced unknown caller" note next to them, in case you want to call back.The addition of the feature comes after reports of an... Continue reading...
by Dan Seifert on (#6CA5S)
Google's first tablet in many years doesn't try to reinvent what tablets are good for. Instead, it leans into being a good media consumption device and can be a useful smart display when you're not holding it. Continue reading...
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by Mia Sato on (#6C9YA)
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge A ransomware group is claiming responsibility for a hack on Reddit's systems earlier this year - and demanding not just money but policy changes.BlackCat, a ransomware group, says it was behind the February phishing attack on Reddit, as previously reported by Bleeping Computer. In a post shared by researcher Dominic Alvieri, BlackCat claims to have stolen 80GB of data from Reddit and threatens to release it publicly if demands aren't met. The group wants a $4.5 million payout in exchange for the data and also demands Reddit roll back its planned API pricing changes that spurred user and moderator protests last week.At the time of the hack, Reddit said hackers had used a sophisticated and highly-targeted" phishing attack to get access... Continue reading...
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by Brent Rose on (#6C9YB)
Sous vide cooking can produce perfect meats every time, but it takes a long time to do so. Breville's new Joule Turbo can pull the same tricks in as little as half the time. Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6C9YC)
Amazon delivery drivers strike for the first time. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On Thursday, Motherboard reported that Amazon delivery drivers in Palmdale, California have gone on strike, a first for the company. The drivers, who unionized with the Teamsters in April and were recognized by Amazon Delivery Service Partner" (DSP) Battle-Tested Strategies in May, are demanding better pay and improved safety conditions. The 84 striking workers walked out on Thursday.
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by Wes Davis on (#6C9YD)
Nick Barclay / The Verge After Baylor microbiology professor and public health advocate Peter Hotez, MD Ph.D. tweeted out a Motherboard article about Spotify's lack of moderation of Joe Rogan's misinformation after a podcast episode with guest Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Rogan challenged him to debate Robert F Kennedy, Jr, proposing a $100,000 donation to a charity of Hotez's choosing if he agreed.In the episode, Rogan and Kennedy hit all the pandemic classics: conspiracy theories about vaccines, 5G and Wi-Fi technology, and ivermectin. All common tropes of covid pandemic conspiracy theories.Twitter's owner Elon Musk joined the Twitter fray, accusing Hotez of hating charity" by not accepting the debate, and after hours of Elon and Rogan stans taunting Hotez, the... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6C9YE)
Microsoft Outlook was subjected to a DDoS attack. | Illustration: The Verge In early June, complaints began cropping up on Twitter that Outlook was down for as many as 18,000 users at the peak of what, it turns out, was a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack, according to a story in The Associated Press (AP) this morning. Microsoft acknowledged the attack in a blog post on Friday, offering some technical details and recommendations for guarding against such attacks in the future.The blog doesn't mention whether the company got things under control or whether the attack abated on its own. But on Twitter, the Microsoft 365 Status account tweeted about the outage as it occurred on June 5th, then again later that day, finally seeming to get things under control the next morning:
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by Jay Peters on (#6C9YF)
Photo by: Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty Images Three huge subreddits, r/pics, r/gifs, and r/aww, now only allow posts about comedian and Last Week Tonight host John Oliver. The subreddits have reopened after participating in the ongoing protests toward Reddit, and after each community polled users, the new rules are now in place.As many of you are aware, we recently held a poll to decide on the future of the subreddit," wrote r/gifs moderator u/IronSentinel. This initiative was prompted by statements from Reddit's CEO, who suggested that the desires of the platform's everyday users were being eclipsed by those of moderators." Moderators of thousands of subreddits set their communities to private or restricted modes to protest upcoming API changes that will force beloved... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6C9YG)
The Nikon Z9's stacked sensor doesn't require a mechanical shutter, but that doesn't mean its users don't need good feedback from their cameras. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Snapping a camera's shutter to take a picture is one of the best feelings in photography. You get a timeless, tactile feedback as you capture every decisive moment with a satisfying auditory click" sound. But we're slowly losing this hallmark of picture-taking. Not only because smartphones are replacing full-size cameras for most people but because more cameras are being built without mechanical shutters at all.Nikon's flagship Z9 and newer Z8 cameras forego traditional shutters entirely, so instead of hearing and feeling a mechanical action, you either hear nothing at all or are played the sound of a fake shutter. Just this week, Nikon released firmware 4.0 for the Z9, which added a slew of new features, including extra shutter sounds:... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6C878)
A Ukrainian drone. Ukraine has been using all manner of weaponized drones to push back Russian troops. | Photo by Andriy Zhyhaylo/Obozrevatel/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images Cops can’t attach weapons to drones in Illinois, starting today — and they can’t use drones for facial recognition unless they’re attempting to counter a terrorist attack, preventing “imminent harm to life,” or making sure a suspect doesn’t get away.But they can do something they couldn’t before in Illinois: fly over public events at all.Today, the state signed the Drones as First Responders Act into law (via Hacker News). The new act modifies another one from 2014 — the Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act, which has banned law enforcement from using drones to “gather information” in the state (aside from terrorist or imminent harm situations) for the past seven years.The new bill is designed to prevent shootings like the one at... Continue reading…
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by Victoria Song on (#6C879)
Bezels are back, baby. | Image: WinFuture Rotating bezels are back, baby. At least, that seems to be the case according to newly leaked photos of Samsung’s next-gen Galaxy Watches.The Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic photos come from German tech site WinFuture, which has a solid track record when it comes to this sort of thing. But aside from the Classic’s return, there isn’t anything too exciting to look at in these leaked marketing stills. Mostly because the Galaxy Watch 6 looks like the Galaxy Watch 5, which looks like the Galaxy Watch 4. Meanwhile, the Watch 6 Classic looks pretty much like the Watch 4 Classic. Image: WinFuture The Galaxy Watch 6 sure looks like the Galaxy Watch 4 and 5. The vanilla Galaxy Watch 6 will purportedly come in 40mm... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#6C87A)
A screenshot of rif is fun for Reddit. | Image: TalkLittle On Thursday, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman told me that the developer of rif is fun for Reddit (RIF), a popular third-party Reddit app for Android, did not want to work with Reddit on the company’s planned API pricing changes. However, the developer, Andrew Shu, tells me that’s not the case — and shared emails with The Verge that appear to back him up.During the interview, I asked Huffman if Reddit could give developers more time to implement the API changes, which Shu has already said are forcing him to shut down RIF at the end of the month. Here’s exactly what Huffman said in response (emphasis mine):
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by Alex Heath on (#6C87B)
The Meta Quest 3 headset ships later this year. | Image: Meta Government scrutiny of how tech companies handle their underage users is continuing to heat up. A flood of bills in Congress on this topic seeks to strengthen the power of regulators and even ban kids under 13 from social media entirely.Enter Meta, which is lowering the minimum age for its Quest headsets from 13 to 10. After I heard about the plan and contacted Meta for comment this week, spokesperson Joe Osborne confirmed it and shared a blog post about the news that the company is planning to publish soon. It says that parents will have to approve the creation of a kid’s account and that Meta will only recommend apps that are rated safe for that age group. Ads also won’t be shown to kids.Perhaps most importantly, a 10 to... Continue reading…
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by Allison Johnson on (#6C87C)
Hot foldable summer, y’all. | Image: MySmartPrice Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 leaks and rumors have all pointed to a larger cover screen on the upcoming phone, and a new alleged render published by MySmartPrice continues the trend. The image shows the Z Flip 5 with a gloriously big cover screen, which is exactly what we want. And by we, I mean me personally. I want this.The Galaxy Z Flip 4’s outer screen measures just 1.9 inches. It’s fine for checking the weather and reading notifications, but the small size limits the kinds of actions you can take with it, like typing out responses to texts. It’s also not ideal for framing up selfies with the outer cameras — one of the benefits of a flip-style phone — because the preview image is literally the size of a postage stamp. I checked.That... Continue reading…
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by Victoria Song on (#6BY9K)
Illustration by Hugo Herrera for The Verge It’s easy to blame trackers when fitness goals don’t go according to plan, but sometimes the problem lies closer to home. Continue reading…
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by Ash Parrish on (#6BY9M)
Image: Nintendo If you’re 20 or so hours into Tears of the Kingdom and you don’t have Autobuild, you’re doing it wrong.Last week, there was a tweet going around asking that now Tears of the Kingdom’s been out a few weeks, what advice would you share? Lots of people left valuable nuggets of information like fusing rubies to your equipment that can keep you warm during the Rito quest-line (just, y’know, don’t fuse ‘em to anything wooden). Another good piece of advice: use Ascend more! Are you using Ascend already? Great! Use it 1,000 percent more!I shared that unless your Purah Pad’s power wheel is complete, you are not done with the tutorial, emphasizing that Autobuild is an easy-to-miss but life-changing ability. My mentions were then flooded with... Continue reading…
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by Monica Chin on (#6BY9N)
Image: Future Publishing via Getty Images Computex, one of the biggest trade shows of the year for the laptop and PC space, begins in a couple of days. A number of companies will have big announcements, but the most anticipated event of the week is Nvidia’s keynote, which will open the show on Monday morning.The keynote speaker will be Nvidia’s founder and CEO Jensen Huang, who — in case you missed it — added $7 billion to his net worth a few days ago following the company’s massive Q1 earnings report.Nvidia hasn’t publicly released much information about the topics Huang will cover; Computex revealed that the talk would include “advanced developments in the fields of accelerated computing and artificial intelligence.” Needless to say, we expect AI to feature heavily.... Continue reading…
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by Thomas Ricker on (#6BY9P)
Two humans and a beagle named Hank spent two weeks and 2,000 miles in Europe with a Ququq camping box to preview the future of #vanlife. Continue reading…
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by Emma Roth on (#6BY9Q)
Image: Google Google has finally started to roll out the beta of Magic Compose, its new Messages feature that uses AI to help you write text messages. However, as pointed out by Android Police, the feature comes with a pretty big caveat: it will send up to “20 previous messages” to Google’s servers to generate suggestions — even if you’re using RCS with end-to-end encryption (E2EE).Google outlines these conditions on its Magic Compose support page, noting that it will send these messages, along with any included emoji, reactions, and URLs, to its servers to help its AI craft an appropriate response. The company adds that it won’t send any messages with attachments, voice messages, and images but notes “image captions and voice transcriptions may be... Continue reading…
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by Emma Roth on (#6BY9R)
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Google has been ordered to pay Sonos $32.5 million for infringing on the company’s smart speaker patent. A jury verdict issued in a San Francisco courtroom on Friday found that Google’s smart speakers and media players infringed on one of two Sonos patents at issue.The legal battle started in 2020 when Sonos accused Google of copying its patented multiroom audio technology after the companies partnered in 2013. Sonos went on to win its case at the US International Trade Commission, resulting in a limited import ban on some of the Google devices in question. Google has also had to pull some features from its lineup of smart speakers and smart displays. Image: United States District Court for the Northern District of... Continue reading…
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6BY9S)
Halle Bailey as Ariel. | Image: Giles Keyte Halle Bailey’s turn as The Little Mermaid’s Ariel is inspired, but the movie’s lackluster sense of visual magic does her very few favors. Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#6BY9T)
I’m sorry, I don’t have any invites. | Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge One of Bluesky’s potentially biggest features is here: custom algorithms, or what it calls “custom feeds.” The idea is that you can subscribe to feeds that have algorithms tuned to showcase different kinds of posts than what you might see in Bluesky’s main “What’s Hot” feed.In practice, the custom feeds work a lot like Twitter lists. Similar to those, you can pin specific custom feeds, and they’ll show up at the top of your timeline as different tabs to pick from. You can pick which feeds to pin from a new “My Feeds” menu in the app’s sidebar. By default, that tab has feeds for “What’s Hot” (“Top trending content from the whole network”), “What’s Hot Classic” (“The original What’s Hot experience”), “Bluesky Team” (“Posts from members of... Continue reading…
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by Chris Welch on (#6BW0Z)
Image: Warner Bros. Discovery Today marks Warner Bros. Discovery’s big debut of Max, the new streaming service that bundles all of the company’s entertainment together inside one single destination. All the eggs are going into one basket, and yes, HBO is still getting a prominent focus — even if it’s no longer in the name.I got an early preview of Max at Warner Bros. Discovery’s New York City office last week, and I was initially struck by just how closely it resembles the HBO Max app that it’s replacing. The homescreen, show and movie pages, and general user experience will feel instantly familiar to everyone switching over. But just because it looks similar doesn’t mean it’s a recycled app: Warner Bros. Discovery has largely rebuilt Max with a focus on simpler... Continue reading…
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6BW10)
Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge After fleshing out its vlog-focused camera lineup with the full-frame ZV-E1, Sony is now updating its bread-and-butter point-and-shoot that kicked off the ZV family. The new ZV-1 II is an $899.99 camera with a one-inch-type sensor, wider zoom lens than its predecessor, and various quality-of-life improvements over the ZV-1 of 2020. While the 20.1-megapixel resolution and ISO range remain the same, the new model opts for a wider, more vlog-friendly zoom lens and various conveniences like a USB-C port when it launches in June.The original ZV-1 was very much an offshoot of the longstanding RX-100 line — a longtime favorite for people who wanted a compact camera with good image quality for stills — with enhanced video features and a better... Continue reading…
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by Emma Roth on (#6BW11)
Illustration: The Verge Apple has signed on to a multiyear, multibillion-dollar agreement with Broadcom, a chipmaker based in the US. The company announced the news on Tuesday, saying it will continue to work with the chipmaker to develop 5G components and other wireless connectivity parts.From the announcement:
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by Barbara Krasnoff on (#5PJTM)
Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge Yes, of course you want to back up your iPhone. As we all know, despite phone cases and the latest protective glass and careful engineering, disaster — in the form of cracked displays, lost devices, and three-year-olds who think it’s fun to sit on your latest phone — can happen. When that happens, you want to have all your data backed up.The easiest way to go is to back up using iCloud, which is not only simple to set up but also makes it just as simple to set up a new phone if your old one is no longer available. (You can also back up to other services, such as Google Drive, but it isn’t nearly as convenient.) Or, if you’re an iPhone user who is steadfast about retaining your privacy, you can back up your iPhone to your Mac or Windows... Continue reading…
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by Andrew Webster on (#6BW12)
Image: Epic Games Some more spider people are swinging into Fortnite today. As expected, Epic announced today that both Miles Morales and Spider-Man 2099 will be added to the in-game item shop ahead of next week’s premiere of Across the Spider-Verse (Part One).Here’s what the characters look like in the battle royale:The two skins join a surprisingly large number of spider people in the game, which started way back in 2021 when the original Spider-Man debuted as part of Chapter 3. (Miles’ co-star Gwen joined the roster last year.) The update is more than just some new characters, though: it will also include the return of the web shooter items, which let any character swing around the island as if they were Spider-Man. There are also some new quests,... Continue reading…
by Umar Shakir on (#6BW13)
Amazon Fire Max 11 with productivity accessories, including a new keyboard with trackpad and a stylus. | Image: Amazon For years, Amazon’s Fire tablet lineup has consisted of smaller seven-inch, medium eight-inch, and larger 10-inch screen options, but now the company has a new one that stretches it up to 11. The Fire Max 11 is Amazon’s biggest-screened tablet yet, and it also sheds the plastic bodies the other models have for a more premium-feeling aluminum one.Despite the sleeker design and slim bezels, it isn’t exactly a premium tablet like the iPads and Galaxy Tabs of the world. It’s still very much a budget-friendly media consumption device, just like Amazon’s other Fire tablets, and even then, it’s not that cheap; instead of paying $150 for Amazon’s previous biggest screen model, the Fire HD 10, the Max 11 starts at $230. However, that extra $80... Continue reading…
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by Andrew Webster on (#6BW14)
The Playdate is the size of a Post-it note, and it is loved. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge $199 gets you a system with 24 games and plenty of indies to sideload. Continue reading…
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