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by Jacob Kastrenakes on (#6GDA0)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta is challenging the European Commission's decision to regulate two of its services, Messenger and Marketplace, as gatekeepers under the bloc's tough new restrictions on tech platforms. The company filed an appeal over the two services today arguing that neither should qualify, Meta spokesperson Chris Sgro told The Verge.Reuters reported earlier Meta will not fight the European Commission's gatekeeper designation from being applied to Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.Being designated as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act means that tech platforms have to abide by certain neutrality and openness rules. Messaging services like Meta's Messenger need to be made interoperable with other messaging services; sales platforms like... Continue reading...
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The Verge
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
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| Updated | 2025-07-06 16:47 |
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by Chris Welch on (#6GDA1)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram is changing a lot these days, especially when it comes to the ways in which we can share our content with others and segment different audiences. But today, the Meta-owned app is bringing the focus back to its creative tools - adding a handful of features including Instagram's first new filters in ages. And there are a ton of them: I count 25 new filter additions on iOS before you reach the ones that were present before.From subtle color edits to options for expressive styles, these updates make it easy for you to try various looks for your posts," Meta's blog post reads. As always, you can adjust the intensity of any filter with a slider. For the first time, some of these filters (like wide angle" and wavy") make... Continue reading...
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by Allison Johnson on (#6GDA2)
Honestly? Unlimited storage is tempting. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Verizon's cloud storage options are growing: today the company unveiled a new individual plan for its unlimited storage tier. It's an add-on available for existing Verizon subscribers and costs $13.99 per month. It is - I'll repeat - unlimited, so you can upload all the photos, videos, documents, PDFs, and PNGs that your heart desires, from your phone and your computer. That's an unusual offering when most other cloud storage services come with data caps, but this is a wireless carrier after all, so it's worth considering a couple of words of caution.Carriers, including Verizon, often have funny definitions of unlimited," and there are indeed a few limitations. Individual files can't exceed 10GB, and you can only upload 50GB per day.... Continue reading...
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by Nathan Edwards on (#6GD3M)
Okay, this is a MagSafe charger, not Qi2, but it's the same idea, and there's a skeleton for some reason. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge Qi2 - the next version of the wireless charging standard, now with more magnets! - is more almost-here than ever. The Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) announced today that the first Qi v2.0 devices are nearly through the certification process, with the first available in time for the holiday season" and more than 100 either in certification testing or waiting in line. The iPhone 15 series will be the first Qi2-certified phones.Qi is the open wireless charging standard that pretty much everyone uses. It's in Androids and iPhones, and MagSafe is built on top of it. Version 2.0 includes updates to the non-magnetic Qi standard, which we'll get to, but it also introduces Qi2.Qi2 promises faster, less finicky wireless charging using... Continue reading...
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by Richard Lawler on (#6GDA3)
Google Titan security keys (2023) | Image: Google The latest iteration of Google's Titan Security Key is here, ready to work alongside the new passwordless passkey technology that's rolled out with support from Apple, Microsoft, Google, and many others. Two new versions of the key are available in the Google Store starting today with either a USB-C connection ($35) or USB-A connection ($30), and - like the previous versions released in 2021 - both also have NFC to connect wirelessly to phones and other mobile devices.I've been using the USB-C version for a few days, and it works just as well as other keys I have, like the older Titan hardware and other FIDO2 keys from Yubico. Having NFC support on both versions is convenient so that you don't have to choose, especially since when... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6GD71)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube has officially rolled out its YouTube Premium-exclusive enhanced bitrate" 1080p resolution option on Android and TVs, the company announced on Wednesday. The improved video quality launched on iOS first earlier this year and became available on the web in August.I don't subscribe to Premium, so I can't vouch for whether the enhanced bitrate makes much of a difference. But YouTube says that the improved video quality is turned on automatically based on your connection and viewing settings," so if you pay for Premium and your videos now look a little bit nicer, that might be why.YouTube also detailed a few other improvements that are now available to Premium subscribers. You can now pick up videos where you left off when... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6GD72)
Image: Niantic Peridot, Niantic's original augmented reality pet game, will start using generative AI designed to make the game's cute technicolor aliens behave more like your cat.Here's how it works. Starting with today's update, Niantic's algorithm will analyze real-world objects captured in game with your phone's camera and then convert those objects into words to be parsed by a large language model (LLM) - in this case, a customized version of Meta's Llama 2 program.Additionally, each pet, called Dots, will have their personality profile - which is similar to the different natures of pokemon - also fed to the LLM. Peridot will then ask the LLM how a dot with its specific personality type would interact with the objects around it. Its answers... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6GD73)
Image: Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz cut the ribbon on its first EV fast-charging hub in the US, complete with a swanky waiting area and 400kW charging speeds courtesy of ChargePoint.The hub is located at the automaker's US-based headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, meaning most of the early users are likely to be Mercedes employees. But the company says that owners of non-Mercedes EVs are welcome to use the chargers as well.The charging station is the first of a proposed 2,000 hubs that Mercedes plans on installing worldwide as part of a $1 billion, multiyear plan. But the company isn't shouldering the whole cost itself; 50 percent will be covered by MN8 Energy, an offshoot of Goldman Sachs Asset Management focused on solar power and energy storage.The new... Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#6GD3E)
Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge iPhone 14 and 15 buyers won't need to pay for Apple's satellite-powered Emergency SOS safety feature anytime soon. This morning, the company announced that it's extending the free phase of Emergency SOS for an additional year for iPhone 14 owners. That means that the service will now lapse at the same time for both iPhone generations in November 2025.Emergency SOS makes it possible to reach emergency services via a satellite connection in areas where Wi-Fi or a regular cellular signal are unavailable. Apple says the feature has helped save lives around the world."From a man who was rescued after his car plummeted over a 400-foot cliff in Los Angeles, to lost hikers found in the Apennine Mountains in Italy, we continue to hear... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6GD3F)
Image: Microsoft Microsoft launched its big AI push earlier this year as part of its Bing search engine, integrating a ChatGPT-like interface directly into its search results. Now less than a year later, it's dropping the Bing Chat branding and moving to Microsoft Copilot, the new name for the chat interface you might have used in Bing, Microsoft Edge, and Windows 11.Microsoft initially talked up the Google search competition for its AI ambitions earlier this year, but it now looks like it has its sights set on ChatGPT instead. The Bing Chat rebranding comes just days after OpenAI revealed 100 million people are using ChatGPT on a weekly basis. Despite a close partnership worth billions, Microsoft and OpenAI continue to compete for the same customers... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6GD3G)
Unified Microsoft Defender dashboard with analytics and Sentinel on the sidebar. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft is combining its Sentinel security analytics and Microsoft Defender XDR platforms into an industry first" unified security operations platform - with the company's Security Copilot chatbot stationed centrally for IT and security personnel to administer everything easily. During the company's enterprise-focused Ignite conference today, Microsoft is announcing expanded conversational AI abilities to better centrally manage its security platforms.Microsoft originally announced Security Copilot in March, demonstrating how its generative AI system can summarize all the alerts and data points that typically inundate security professionals. At the time, it had not been made available beyond a few customers" to test. Microsoft... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6GD3J)
Illustration: The Verge Ignite is Microsoft's chance to show why AI matters to developers and IT professionals. Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6GD3K)
Photo: Analogue Analogue seems obsessed with recreating the Game Boy family as faithfully as possible. For its latest endeavor, it's bringing the classic colorways of the Game Boy Advance and Pocket to the Analogue Pocket. These Classic Limited Edition Pockets have, according to the press release, been carefully color-matched" to resemble the colors of the Game Boys of old, offering blue, green, indigo, spice orange, pink, red, silver, and yellow.Just take a look at this. Don't you just feel somewhere between 10-15 years old again seeing that iconic indigo color? Photo: Analogue The Classic Limited Edition Pockets will go on sale on November 17th, retailing for $249.99. Expect them to start shipping a few days later on the 20th,... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6GD3N)
Image: Microsoft Microsoft is adding two new AI-powered features to Teams soon that will improve your voice and webcam. A new decorate your background" feature is coming to Microsoft Teams Premium in early 2024 and uses generative AI effects to clean up and replace clutter in the background when on a video call.While Microsoft Teams has long offered a variety of virtual backgrounds, this decoration feature will work in a real-world room, much like the augmented reality filters you find on Snapchat. It can even add plants, lights, and seasonal objects to the background behind you. We'll have to see how this functions in reality, but if it works as well as the GIF below, then it could be a good option to hide your messy background and avoid the... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6GD3H)
Image: Microsoft When I first used Microsoft Mesh, the company's mixed reality platform, I said it felt like the virtual future of Microsoft Teams meetings." Now, nearly three years later, Microsoft is making immersive 3D Teams meetings a reality. In January, Microsoft Mesh is being integrated into Teams to allow co-workers to meet together in a virtual space - no VR headset required.It's a big shift in Microsoft's original vision for Mesh - an entire platform built on top of Azure that Microsoft hoped developers would tap into - but then a lot has changed with Microsoft's VR / AR ambitions over the past few years. Microsoft's HoloLens boss, Alex Kipman, left the company last year following misconduct allegations. Six months later, Microsoft shut down... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6GCZB)
Image: Amazon Because the world wasn't frightening enough already, companies can now buy a security robot from Amazon to patrol their businesses. Lucky for humans, this thing looks like it's just a step above a Roomba - it's giving Wall-E instead of Terminator.Amazon launched Astro for Business for customers in the US today, a robot for sale for $2,349.99. It roves around autonomously or via remote control. It's also equipped with an HD periscope camera with night vision and offers a 24/7 live view and two-way talk. Along with the robot, Amazon is also offering three different subscription services to help companies monitor their facilities.It's giving Wall-E instead of Terminator.For $99 a month, its Virtual Security Guard subscription allows... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6GCZC)
Snapchat and NYX Professional Makeup launched a new AR filter and shopping tool called Beauty Bestie. | Image: Snapchat Snapchat just launched a new AR makeup filter that links to products that users can buy to recreate their looks in the real world. It's a partnership with cosmetics brand NYX Professional Makeup that they're calling Beauty Bestie.AR beauty filters are nothing new, but Snapchat and NYX have turned this filter into a marketing tool for products consumers would typically find in a local pharmacy. With struggling pharmacy chains shutting down a lot of locations lately, this is one way NYX might be able to nab more customers online.Snapchat and NYX have turned this filter into a marketing tool for products consumers would typically find in a local pharmacyUsers can find the filter by searching NYX Beauty Bestie" or visiting the makeup... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Webster on (#6GCZD)
Image: Nintendo Nintendo may have a conflicted relationship with its history, but if there's one thing the company loves, it's selling you classic games over and over again. I've honestly lost count of the number of platforms on which I own games like Super Metroid and Super Mario Bros. 3. That lack of attention from Nintendo is part of what makes Super Mario RPG such a curiosity - and its new remake on the Switch such a welcome sight.In 1996, Nintendo teamed up with Final Fantasy maker Square Enix (then known as Squaresoft) to craft a roleplaying game set in the Mushroom Kingdom. Not only was this seemingly strange combination a hit, but it also spurred two separate Mario RPG franchises. Mario RPG was both beloved and influential - and yet, there are... Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#6GCZE)
Image: Sharp Today, Sharp is announcing the first Roku TV that features an OLED display. Until this point, the program - launched back in 2014 - has exclusively produced sets with LCD panels from a slew of different TV manufacturers. But with its new Aquos OLEDs, Sharp is finally bucking that trend.Available in 55-inch and 65-inch sizes, these TVs support Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10, and feature four HDMI ports that all support variable refresh rate (VRR) for smooth 4K 120Hz gameplay. The Aquos OLED sets also include a 30-watt speaker system and full Dolby Atmos compatibility. Image: Sharp It's an OLED, so you can bet this is one thin TV. But as always with Roku TVs, the biggest hook is the easy-to-use software. You're... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6GCZF)
Image: Google Google announced a slew of updates to Maps, including improved transit directions, emoji reactions, and collaborative lists.With transit directions, Google Maps will now recommend different routes depending on what you want, with options such as best route," fewer transfers," less walking," wheelchair accessible," or lowest cost." The app will also clearly display station entrances and exits so you don't accidentally get on the wrong train.It's the latest feature in Google Maps' ongoing effort to make itself more user-friendly for commuters and transit riders. In 2019, it added new transit crowdedness predictions, allowing customers to see how crowded their bus, train, or tube is likely to be before heading out on their commute.... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6GCZG)
Illustration by Nico H. Brausch for The Verge For now, the window heat pump in apartment 1D sticks out like a sore thumb. Set between off-white lace curtains, it looks like a brand-new oven installed in a grandma's living room.The heat pump replaced a radiator - those rattling, hissing things that are hallmarks of most old buildings in New York City. And if the heat pump proves itself this winter, it could one day make its way into virtually every room in every home in the city's public housing system. And that could just be the start for the future of home heating.The prototype in this room at the Woodside Houses in Queens, New York, is already an engineering feat that New York state has funneled tens of millions of dollars into developing because nothing like it was on the... Continue reading...
by David Zipper on (#6GCZH)
Illustration by Nico H. Brausch for The Verge Robotaxi companies are eager to present themselves with a green halo.Climate change is the single biggest issue we face as a global community," Cruise declared in a blog post published on Earth Day 2022. Each of us has an opportunity to make an impact. Cruise knows the AV industry can -- and should -- help lead the charge." Its rival Waymo seems to agree. In a post this summer, the company stated, Cities where we operate gain another zero-emission transportation option, which could help them meet their climate goals."Sustainability is critical to the public pitch of robotaxi companies, which are under growing scrutiny after California regulators suspended Cruise's driverless permit last month due to safety concerns. But the idea... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6GCX0)
Orders for the new Model 915 Cyberquad for Kids are expected to ship in late November. | Image: Tesla After being recalled last year for not meeting product safety standards, Tesla's $1,900 Cyberquad for Kids is once again available to purchase on the Tesla webstore in the US. The latest release of the Cybertruck-inspired ride-on toy - identified as Model 915 - is an updated version of the Model 914 Cyberquad for Kids that launched back in December 2021. Orders for the Model 915 are expected to begin shipping in late November.Like the Model 914, the new Model 915 Cyberquad for Kids was jointly created by Tesla and popular children's toy maker Radio Flyer, best known as the makers of the Little Red Wagon. The battery-powered Cyberquad for Kids has a 500W motor with a top speed of 10 mph (that parents can switch to 5 mph) and a max range... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6GCX1)
Image: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Microsoft is investigating Windows activation issues that appear to be linked to the company's recent move to block Windows 7 and Windows 8 keys from activating copies of Windows 10 and Windows 11. If you have an installation of Windows 10 / 11 that has been activated using the free upgrade from Windows 7 or 8, then there's a chance it might become deactivated if you swap some hardware components or even upgrade your BIOS version.I personally experienced this in late October on a copy of Windows 11 after swapping a motherboard in one of my test PCs and no longer being able to activate it using the digital key assigned to my Microsoft account. I had to purchase a new Windows 11 key instead.A Verge reader experienced the same issue and... Continue reading...
by Ariel Shapiro on (#6GCJY)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge This is Hot Pod, The Verge's newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more.Today we have a look at how YouTube's new AI rules will (and will not) affect podcasting, another late-night host ditching TV for audio, and a bunch of your recs on podcasts covering the Israel-Hamas war.What do YouTube's new AI rules mean for podcasts? Not much.This morning, YouTube released new terms regarding AI-generated content on its platform. As my Verge colleagues Mia Sato and Nilay Patel reported, the company is creating a two-tier system in the way it moderates such content: a strict set of rules for music and a looser, nearly unenforceable standard for everything else (including podcasts). For creators who make podcasts... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6GCGQ)
Almost everything about the world of Pokemon revolves around humans and their magical monster buds fighting to near-death for fame and glory. But the first trailer for Netflix's upcoming Pokemon Concierge series from Dwarf Animation Studio is a reminder that in order to succeed in battle, one must also make time to relax.Set on a tropical island where pokemon travel for some much-needed downtime, Pokemon Concierge tells the story of Haru (Karen Fukuhara), a young woman working at resort that caters to the specific desires of its many pokemon guests. As new hires, there's a lot about tending to the needs of battle-hardened pokemon that Haru and her partner Psyduck have to learn. But as tricky as it can be figuring out what pokemon... Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6GBZ6)
The Nuki 4.0 comes in a Pro and Standard version; both work with Matter over Thread and are designed for European-style doors. | Image: Nuki After teasing it for over a year, Austrian smart lock maker Nuki has launched its Matter-over-Thread smart lock. The Nuki Smart Lock is the company's fourth generation of its retrofit smart lock for European-style doors and is the first built from the ground up to work with the new smart home standard. We are the world's first smart lock to fully integrate Matter into the product. No bridge or module is required, and parallel use with manufacturers' apps is possible without limitations," Chief Innovation Officer Jurgen Pansy said in a press release.As with previous models, the Nuki Smart Lock (4th-gen) comes in two versions: a standard 169 (about $181) model that requires a separate bridge to connect to Wi-Fi and a Pro version with... Continue reading...
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by David Nield on (#6GCGR)
The Verge There's no shortage of ways to share files with other people, whether you want to send them in a group chat, attach them to an email, or ping them over via AirDrop or Nearby Share. These all work perfectly well, but they're all best for smaller files.If you've got a larger file to send to someone - like a high-res video or an archive of many different files, for example - you can start to run into problems. Email clients might reject your file for being too big, or you might be waiting a while for the file to transfer over a protocol like Bluetooth.In addition, if you're looking to limit the amount of time a file is available for download, or if you want to limit who has access and the kind of access they have, a more feature-filled... Continue reading...
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by Amrita Khalid on (#6GCGS)
Image: iFixit Right-to-repair proponents are asking the FTC to introduce new rules for electronics manufacturers that aim to make it easier for consumers to fix their own devices. The repair guide site iFixit and the US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) on Tuesday submitted a petition to the federal agency, with the end goal of kicking off a new rulemaking process for right to repair. Although three states (California, Minnesota, and New York) have recently enacted right-to-repair laws, nationwide reforms have stalled in Congress. The repair reforms outlined in the petition also go well beyond what states have so far enacted.The Biden administration's FTC is in support of right to repair, but proponents say more aggressive action is needed to... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6GCEF)
Image: The Verge The will-they-won't-they of Threads direct messages has been going on for a while now. Last we heard, Instagram (and Threads) head Adam Mosseri said that Threads was not planning to build DMs. That still appears to be true - but it's not the whole story.Mosseri said on Tuesday, in a Threads post replying to Platformer's Casey Newton, that his reluctance to build DMs into Threads stems from the fact that he thinks Instagram's messaging service might be the right one for Threads. Threads is, after all, build on top of the Instagram app and is already connected to Instagram in a number of ways. And Mosseri has been hinting for months that he thinks Instagram DMs can be the main place for private chat.My hope is that we can make the... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6GCEG)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Meta, ByteDance, Alphabet, and Snap must proceed with a lawsuit alleging their social platforms have adverse mental health effects on children, a federal court ruled on Tuesday. US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected the social media giants' motion to dismiss the dozens of lawsuits accusing the companies of running platforms addictive" to kids.School districts across the US have filed suit against Meta, ByteDance, Alphabet, and Snap, alleging the companies cause physical and emotional harm to children. Meanwhile, 42 states sued Meta last month over claims Facebook and Instagram profoundly altered the psychological and social realities of a generation of young Americans." This order addresses the individual suits and over... Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#6GCBF)
The third-generation Echo Show 5 is running a new OS 1.1 instead of the standard Fire OS. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Last week, it was reported that Amazon is quietly developing its own operating system that will replace Android on its Fire TV devices before expanding to other products, including the company's many smart displays. Janko Roettgers spilled the details in his Lowpass newsletter. The report predicted that Amazon's software, codenamed Vega, could appear on Fire TV streaming hardware as soon as next year.But as discovered by Zatz Not Funny!, it turns out this new homegrown OS is already being used on the latest Echo Show 5, which displays its software as OS 1.1" instead of the expected Fire OS. The low number is an obvious indication that we're dealing with a brand-new platform; the Echo Show 8, by comparison, currently runs Fire OS... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6GCBG)
The Asus ROG Azoth (top) and Razer BlackWidow V4 75% (bottom) aren't your typical gaming keyboards. The new Razer BlackWidow V4 75% and Asus ROG Azoth play to traditional gaming strengths, while feeling and sounding significantly nicer to type on. Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6GCBH)
Image: Getty American car buyers can't get enough big, tall SUVs and trucks - but new data suggests that the downsides of this trend are growing increasingly deadly.Crashes involving vehicles with hood heights that are 40 inches or higher are 45 percent more likely to result in a fatality as compared to vehicles with hood heights that are 30 inches or less with a sloping profile, according to a new report analyzing federal crash statistics by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).The data comes amid an ongoing pedestrian safety crisis in the US in which fatalities are at a 40-year high and the number of pedestrians killed has increased by 80 percent since hitting a low in 2009.The data comes amid an ongoing pedestrian safety crisis... Continue reading...
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by Daniel Golson on (#6GCBJ)
Image: Daniel Golson Last week, I attended Polestar Day, a massive event put on by the Geely-owned Swedish brand in a hangar at the Santa Monica airport.The Volvo offshoot company invited hundreds of media, investors, and owners to experience the latest products and upcoming models and learn about a bunch of new technology innovations and partnerships that were announced at the event.Polestar 3 SUV This was the media's first opportunity to ride in the Polestar 3, the Porsche Cayenne-fighting SUV that will be built in South Carolina and go on sale in the US in the second quarter of 2024. I rode in a fully loaded 3 with the optional Performance package, which bumps output to 517 horsepower, adjusts the torque vectoring and all-wheel drive... Continue reading...
by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6GCBK)
Smart string lights can bring some festive cheer to your holiday season. | Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge Put some smarts into your sparkles this holiday season. Continue reading...
by Richard Lawler on (#6GC8F)
Image: Dapper Labs NFTs aren't gone yet - Disney will launch an all-new socially driven collectible experience" called Disney Pinnacle later this year, turning characters from Pixar, Star Wars, and its classic animated films into tradable digital pins. The Disney Pinnacle website has a waitlist for interested traders and collectors; however, it doesn't explain what the digital pins" are actually like or why the company would bother to create a verifiable digital hoard.While announcing Pinnacle, Disney and its partner Dapper Labs won't even say the word NFT." Dapper Labs still calls itself the NFT company," but between a variety of scams, an eye-blistering episode at a recent Bored Ape event, and a market that has plunged since peaking in early 2021,... Continue reading...
by Sean Hollister on (#6GC8G)
We cut Peely the Banana - he's been pretty absent so far. | Illustration: Cath Virginia The Epic v. Google trial is absolutely chock-full of intriguing lingo, so we couldn't resist - we whipped up a custom set of bingo cards to make your trial live blog experience that much sweeter.Here are four bingo cards to get started with; you can click to enlarge and save whichever strikes your fancy. Want to print them out for the authentic experience? Be our guest! Unless you don't have a printer anymore for some reason, of course. There are no prizes, but feel free to let us know in the comments if you win.You might be wondering what some of these terms mean. May I direct your attention to times they previously came up and why? That way, you'll be fully prepped f... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6GC8H)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you buy something from a merchant that uses Amazon's Buy with Prime button, you'll now be able to track those orders on your Amazon account, access 24/7 customer service over live chat, and be able to return eligible" orders at more drop-off locations" without having to box them up or add a label, Amazon announced on Tuesday.Amazon's Buy with Prime initiative lets shoppers buy things from non-Amazon websites and merchants but still be able to take advantage of Prime benefits like free two-day shipping. The company launched it in April 2022 and expanded its availability earlier this year. However, until now, you couldn't track a Buy with Prime order from an Amazon account, which could be useful if you end up doing a lot of holiday... Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6GC8J)
The new Map View for the Alexa app should make managing devices in the app a little easier. | Image: Amazon Finally, no more scrolling through an endless list of devices named First Motion Sensor" or Fourth Light" in Amazon's Alexa app. The smart home controller is getting the option of a new user interface - Map View.Launching November 14th in public preview, the new map interface allows you to create a digital version of your home's floor plan and pin your Alexa-connected devices to each room. Now you have a single place where you can quickly check the status of everything, see which Echo is playing music, see the temperature, see if lights are on or off, and everything is controllable from the map," Amazon's Charlie French, director of smart home, explained in an interview ahead of the launch.First announced at Amazon's fall hardware... Continue reading...
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by Brandon Widder on (#6GC8K)
With more features and a lower price tag, Fitbit's latest fitness band represents a small - albeit welcome - return to form. | Image: Google / Fitbit We've said it before and we'll say it again: the line between modern smartwatches and fitness trackers is getting increasingly difficult to make out. Thankfully, Google appears to be correcting course somewhat with the launch of the Fitbit Charge 6, further differentiating the Fitbit lineup from newer smartwatches like the Google Pixel Watch 2. And now, less than a month after its release, Amazon, Best Buy, and Target are all offering the Fitbit Charge 6 for $99.95 ($60 off).At its core, the Charge 6 is a lot like the last-gen Charge 5, save for a new haptic button on the side and a handful of software updates. The feature-rich fitness tracker still touts long battery life, a bright always-on display, and a full suite of sensors for... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6GC8M)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Nintendo's showcasing all the indies you can expect to see on the Switch in late 2023 and 2024. Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6GC4V)
Photo illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Philip Pacheco, Bloomberg, Getty Images We have spent five days in a San Francisco courtroom watching witness after witness in the Epic v. Google trial. We've heard a lot about Google's app store dealings, mostly from people who aren't widely known to outsiders. But today, November 14th, we're expecting to hear from Google CEO Sundar Pichai as he defends Google's Android empire against antitrust claims from the publisher of megahit game Fortnite.Precisely 1,188 days ago, Epic sprung a legal trap and accused both Apple and Google of creating illegal monopolies with their respective app stores. It's a fight that could shape the future of the Play Store, particularly if Epic gets its way.I'll be bringing you Pichai's testimony live from the courtroom right here. Before it... Continue reading...
by Daniel Golson on (#6GC4W)
The new Polestar 4 is the Swedish EV brand's first crossover coupe, slotting between the compact and midsize segment. It features the quickest acceleration yet from a Polestar vehicle, a completely new Google-based infotainment system, lots of fresh designs, and the lowest carbon impact of any Polestar. But by far the most controversial feature is the Polestar 4's lack of a rear window.Instead, the 4 uses a roof-mounted camera system that projects its view to the digital rearview mirror, which is positioned in the normal place in the cabin. This has been decried by many as being dangerous and silly, especially coming from such a safety-forward brand, with naysayers saying Polestar is needlessly sacrificing visibility for the sake of... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6GC4X)
Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Nothing Phone 2 owners get blue bubbles now. The company shared it has added iMessage to its newest phone through a new Nothing Chats" app powered by the messaging platform Sunbird. The feature will be available to users in North America, the EU, and other European countries starting this Friday, November 17th.Nothing writes on its page that it's doing this because messaging services are dividing phone users," and it wants to break those barriers down." But doing so here requires you to trust Sunbird. Nothing's FAQ says Sunbird's architecture provides a system to deliver a message from one user to another without ever storing it at any point in its journey," and that messages aren't stored on its servers.But you're giving them... Continue reading...
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by Victoria Song on (#6GC4Y)
I'd be willing to bet that when you think of E Ink, you're picturing an Amazon Kindle. But E Ink has come a long, long way in the past few years. Outside of e-readers, there are E Ink tablets, laptops, desktop monitors, signs, dresses, color-changing cars, smartwatches, and a whole gaggle of devices that utilize the tech. You might say that there's been a bit of an electronic paper renaissance.Why now? Well, E Ink - the company behind the tech - and companies that build its electronic paper into consumer devices, like Onyx and Dasung, have made big strides in challenges like contrast, refresh rates, and color. The price to enter the market has also dropped. The tech itself also has some specific benefits over traditional LCD and OLED... Continue reading...
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by Nilay Patel on (#6GC4Z)
Photo Illustration by The Verge | Photo by Bloomberg, Getty Images As cars become computers on wheels, the former BlackBerry and Dyson executive is approaching Volvo's EV transformation with a consumer electronics mindset. Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6GC50)
Image: Instagram Instagram's latest feature lets you limit your posts to just close friends. You could already share Stories and Notes with only the users on your close friends list, but including posts and Reels could drastically change how Instagram works.Since you no longer have to share posts with your entire follower list, and other users can do the same, your Instagram feed could start to feel like it's filled with posts from a more close-knit community. You see a green star next to the accounts of close friends, and expanding that green list" to Reels could go a long way toward making the app feel more private.Instagram took a stab at a close friends-only platform with the launch of its original Threads app in 2019, but now, it seems like it's... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6GC51)
Logitech has launched a crowdfunding campaign for its latest webcam, the Logitech Reach. Prices range from a discounted $259 Black Friday deal to $399, with shipping expected in July 2024.At first glance, it seems unusual to see a large brand like Logitech on Indiegogo, a platform normally associated with small startups that need the preorder money to put their projects into production. But Logitech said that the crowdfunding campaign would allow it to gain invaluable insights into the use cases for Logitech Reach in various environments" when it announced its decision to use Indiegogo Enterprise when it first promoted the webcam in early September.Indiegogo advertises that its Enterprise service is a way to de-risk and accelerate... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6GC52)
This follows earlier reports that verified X users are superspreaders of misinformation" regarding the Israel-Hamas war. | Illustration: The Verge The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) released a new report on Tuesday that suggests X (formerly Twitter) is failing to remove posts that violate its own community rules regarding misinformation, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other hate speech. Researchers in the CCDH study reported 200 hateful" posts about the Israel-Hamas war that breached platform rules to X moderators on October 31st, finding that 98 percent of the posts still remained live after allowing seven days to process the reports.According to the CCDH, the reported posts, which largely promoted bigotry and incited violence against Muslims, Palestinians, and Jewish people, were collected from 101 separate X accounts. Just one account was suspended over their... Continue reading...
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