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by Richard Lawler on (#69MSV)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A letter from CEO Mary Barra sent to GM workers on Thursday offered buyouts to many of its 58,000 employees, saying the company plans to trim $2 billion in fixed costs over the next two years. GM announced its plan to cut costs in January, on the same earnings call where it announced a record income of $14.5 billion for 2022. GM plans to spend billions over the next few years transitioning to building electric cars and making other changes.It’s not alone in making that shift either — Ford announced a split between its gas and electric automotive segments and followed that by laying off thousands of employees in the fall. Ford has said it will spend up to $20 billion reorganizing for EVs on top of the $30 billion it already planned to... Continue reading…
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The Verge - All Posts
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
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| Updated | 2024-11-27 02:15 |
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#69MSW)
The Accessibility Assistant will begin rolling out “in the coming weeks” and will eventually replace Microsoft 365’s current Accessibility Checker. | Image: The Verge Imagine if Clippy didn’t suck and instead made genuinely helpful suggestions to ensure the content you create is accessible to as wide an audience as possible. That’s the idea behind a new tool Microsoft announced today at its annual Microsoft Ability Summit. The new “Accessibility Assistant” for Microsoft 365 office software is like a spelling or grammar checking tool that will instruct users on how to prevent and correct accessibility issues in real time when creating content.A new person-shaped icon will be used to flag the location of accessibility issues across your work, such as low contrast between text and background — the most frequent accessibility issue that occurs in Word documents, according to Microsoft. The Accessibility... Continue reading…
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by Justine Calma on (#69MSX)
A plane in Washington, DC, on February 16th, 2023. | Image: Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Delta Air Lines laid out a new plan to wean its planes off fossil fuels in an effort to address climate change. The goal, the airline said, is for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to make up at least 95 percent of its fuel consumption by 2050.SAF is made from waste or crops through a process that’s supposed to cancel out much of the greenhouse gas emissions a plane produces. It’s not a perfect system and could create new environmental problems. And with very little SAF produced today, it’s going to be an uphill climb for Delta to hit its 2050 target. Nevertheless, SAF is largely seen by the industry as the most viable alternative to fossil fuels for now.With very little SAF produced today, it’s going to be an uphill climb for Delta to... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#69MSY)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is finally adding a keyboard shortcut to Word that lets you paste something as plaintext, stripping it of any formatting it had when you copied it. It’s the same Control + Shift + V shortcut that’s used in many other apps, and it’s currently rolling out to people using the Word beta on both Mac and PC, according to Microsoft’s Jennifer Gentleman.Word has long let you remove formatting from whatever you pasted after the fact, using the little ribbon that pops up and gives you the option to keep the original formatting, match the formatting of your document, or just use plaintext. Some people may prefer that option — one of my colleagues from the UK said the Ctrl + Shift + V shortcut “isn’t natural at all” for him, confusing all... Continue reading…
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by Victoria Song on (#69MNF)
Peloton says it isn’t too concerned about the ITC ban. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Connected fitness giants Peloton and iFit are facing an import ban on their fitness equipment. The ban was announced today by the US International Trade Commission after a trade judge ruled that the two companies infringed on Dish’s streaming patents. While it’s hard to have connected fitness without streaming, this also isn’t Peloton or iFit’s first patent showdown.Dish and its subsidiary Sling TV initially sued Peloton, iFit, and Lululemon in 2021. The four patents in question stem from Dish’s Hopper set-top box and relate to how the device adjusts the bitrate of a stream in real time to improve video quality. The ITC complaint was separately filed at the same time, seeking a ban on Peloton and iFit’s NordicTrack equipment, as well as... Continue reading…
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#69MGT)
Image: Specialized Specialized shocked the bike world when it announced it would resurrect its defunct Globe brand for an all-new lineup of e-bikes. Here’s how the company went about designing an e-bike for maximum cargo-carrying capabilities. Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#69MGV)
Illustration: The Verge Microsoft is making ChatGPT available in its own Azure OpenAI service today. Developers and businesses will now be able to integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT model into their own cloud apps, enabling conversational AI in many more apps and services.Businesses could use ChatGPT to power custom chatbots to handle queries from customers, provide summaries of conversations, help automate emails, and much more.Microsoft says Azure OpenAI users can start to access a preview of ChatGPT today, with pricing set at $0.002 for 1,000 tokens. Billing for all ChatGPT usage starts on March 13th as part of Azure OpenAI. Developers will need to apply for special access, as the Azure OpenAI Service requires registration and is “currently only available to... Continue reading…
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by Ash Parrish on (#69MGW)
Image: KFC / Blizzard Entertainment With Diablo IV right around the corner, Blizzard is teaming up with KFC to give players an early crack at the beta... for the small price of all your daily allowance of sodium. From now until March 18th, you can purchase the KFC Double Down — the chicken sandwich that eschews common sense, good taste, and health considerations by swapping out bread for two pieces of fried chicken — and receive early access to the open beta.
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#69MGX)
The 2021 iPad Pro is very similar to the newer model from 2022, but for much cheaper. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge It’s always tempting to get the latest tech so that it will last as long as possible, but iPads have lofty performance headroom that makes opting for a last-gen model easily viable. Right now, the 11-inch iPad Pro with M1 from 2021 is selling for $599 ($200 off) at Expercom, an authorized Apple dealer. That’s the lowest price we’ve seen on this very capable tablet, which is getting increasingly hard to find in stock in new condition.The M1 iPad Pro is a lot like the newer M2 model, which was mostly a spec bump. The M1 processor is still very speedy, even now in 2023, and should easily last over five years (or more), as Apple has a good track record for offering software support. If you’re picking up a 2021 iPad Pro, you’re getting a... Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#69MGZ)
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Discord is now using OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology to transform its existing Clyde bot into a talkative chatbot. Clyde is being upgraded next week to answer questions and have conversations with users, much like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Microsoft’s Bing chat feature. It’s part of a broader push for AI in Discord, which also includes AI-generated conversation summaries and the ability for Discord admins to leverage AI technology to moderate servers.The Clyde chatbot will be free for Discord users during a public experiment in a very limited number of servers with Discord alpha users next week. Discord admins will eventually be able to add the Clyde chatbot to servers to allow users to summon it into conversations and have it respond to queries... Continue reading…
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by Andrew Webster on (#69MGY)
Image: Snowman The developers at Snowman, best known for the Alto series of chill snowboarding games, are teasing their next adventure. It’s called Laya’s Horizon... and that’s about all we know right now. The game was announced via a brief teaser, which shows off a charming seaside village among some mountains before zooming out to reveal a caped character. The description simply reads, “A whole new world is just beyond the horizon.”While we don’t know when Laya’s Horizon will be launching or how it will actually play, we at least know where to find it. The game is coming to Netflix, which offers mobile games as part of its subscription. This will be Snowman’s second release on the platform following the unique platformer Lucky Luna, which released... Continue reading…
by Gita Jackson on (#69MDY)
Image: Dale Crosby Close / The Verge Twitter is in a period of decline. The site still functions, people are still using it, but there’s a familiar stink that lingers on the website. It reminds me of the twilight days of two other social media platforms I’ve used: LiveJournal and Tumblr — onetime vibrant communities that grew in popularity until everyone seemed to be using them, which then began a long, slow death.Pop onto LiveJournal and Tumblr today, and you’ll still see inscrutable blogs, endless GIFs, and earnest writing. But something is missing — although there’s still content and posters, the sites no longer feel like the communities they once were.LiveJournal began as an online diary service in 1999, but by the time I signed up for the site in the early 2000s, it w... Continue reading…
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by Allison Johnson on (#69MDX)
The Vivo X90 Pro uses a big 1-inch-type sensor, while the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra goes for maximum resolution with 200 megapixels. Shooting with the Vivo X90 Pro and Samsung S23 Ultra for a week taught me that bigger sensors aren’t always better. Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#69ME0)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Epic Games is finally going to let developers self-publish games to the Epic Games Store beginning Thursday. The change could mark a potentially seismic shift for the PC storefront because now that self-publishing is available, a lot more games may show up on the store.The big draw for developers is Epic’s generous revenue share model. Epic takes a 12 percent commission on game sales, meaning developers keep the money earned from the remaining 88 percent. Valve generally takes a 30 percent cut on its competing Steam marketplace, though that cut decreases if your game hits certain sales milestones.Epic also doesn’t necessarily take any cut of in-app purchases. Developers can keep the entire split if they use their own payment system,... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#69MDZ)
Call of the Sea is the free game from March 9th through the 16th. | Image: Raw Fury Epic Games is once again going to give away free PC games every week of the year through the Epic Games Store, the company announced on Thursday. But how does Epic choose which games to give away? The company tells us it’s about timing — and picking some big names.Since the Epic Games Store’s launch in late 2018, Epic has spent millions of dollars to give away games as a way to hook new users and bolster its nascent game store. (Originally, it gave away a free game every two weeks before upping that to every week in June 2019.) Epic’s goal is to have one “tentpole” game every month, Steve Allison, VP and general manager of the Epic Games Store, said in an interview with The Verge. “Those become really big weeks,” he said. For the weeks... Continue reading…
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#69ME1)
The Chrome Cleanup Tool has been superseded by Google’s alternative antivirus protection services, effectively rendering it obsolete. | Image: The Verge Google is retiring the Chrome Cleanup Tool, an application for Chrome users on Windows that detects and removes suspicious or unwanted software. The tool will be removed from user systems starting with the release of Chrome 111, at which point users will be unable to scan their device using Chrome Cleanup Tool through the web browser’s Safety Check feature or via the “Reset settings and cleanup” option in chrome://settings on Windows. Google is also removing a Chrome feature that intermittently scans Windows machines for suspicious activity.First introduced around 2015 as a standalone app named Google’s Software Removal tool, the feature was later renamed and integrated directly into the Chrome for Windows browser (with no equivalent... Continue reading…
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by Sheena Vasani on (#69ME2)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Starting March 12th, Verizon says customers can get a free year of Netflix Premium for a limited time when they sign up for a one-year subscription to select Plus Play partner platforms. Those who took advantage of last year’s similar Netflix promotion are not eligible for this deal, however.For the unfamiliar, Verizon’s Plus Play is a hub for Verizon customers that centralizes subscriptions to content services spanning from entertainment to fitness. The pitch is that it makes it easier for customers to manage subscriptions across multiple devices via their Verizon account while also informing them of exclusive deals. But it also gives Verizon useful information about its customers, a cut of the revenue, and another reason why customers... Continue reading…
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by Jon Porter on (#69ME3)
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge The Netherlands has made public its plans to restrict the export of key chipmaking tools, a crucial step in the US’s ongoing effort to limit China’s access to high performance semiconductors, the Financial Times reports. The deal — which is expected to include controls on critical chipmaking tech from the Dutch multinational ASML Holding — was reached with the US in January but was made public this week when Dutch trade minister Liesje Schreinemacher wrote to parliament to outline the new measures.ASML is a key player in the global chip supply chain, producing the tools that the likes of TSMC need to produce advanced semiconductors. Without its equipment, any domestic chipmaker in China will face significant challenges producing... Continue reading…
by Umar Shakir on (#69M6Q)
A Wing drone landing zone where it can stop to charge between deliveries. | Image: Wing Wing, the drone delivery company owned by Google parent company Alphabet, is unveiling a new system that enables its drones to dynamically take pickup and delivery jobs back-to-back without needing to report back to an originating base. The ability is part of the company’s new Wing Delivery Network, a decentralized logistics system that can automatically delegate tasks to a fleet of drones throughout a metro area.Wing Delivery Network consists of the drones themselves, pads where drones can take off an land as needed for charging, and Autoloader stations. Autoloaders are installed at retailers’ parking lots, and employees can load a prepared order when ready. Then, an available drone can come and lower a rope to grab it without anyone... Continue reading…
by Thomas Ricker on (#69M6R)
Wind, hills, and baby seats are supposedly no match for this Cowboy 4’s new adaptive power feature. | Image: Cowboy Cowboy’s latest 4 and 4ST e-bikes are being treated to a free software update today that adds a new adaptive power feature meant to automatically overcome any resistance as it occurs, be it a hill, blast of wind, or kid in a baby seat. Cowboy is also adding three new color options for its 4ST step-through model.According to Cowboy, its proprietary software feature works at low and high speeds and doesn’t require any gear changes — good, because the company only sells belt-driven single-speed e-bikes. With the new update, Cowboy says the motor will provide the extra power “seamlessly” whenever a C4 or C4ST senses any extra resistance in the environment.Cowboy’s premium 4-series e-bikes start at $2,990 / €2,990 and are slathered in... Continue reading…
by Jon Porter on (#69M6S)
Humane’s Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, who previously worked at Apple. | Image: Humane Humane, a secretive startup led by two former Apple executives and staffed by several ex-Apple employees, has secured a further $100 million in investment as part of a new funding round, the company has announced. The Series C round includes investments from Microsoft, OpenAI founder Sam Altman, Volvo and LG, and brings Humane’s total funding to $230 million (per Crunchbase). The company appears to be working on a wearable camera device, if an apparent leaked pitch deck from 2021 is anything to go by.But despite the investment it’s generated, and its plans to reveal an “initial product offering” as early as this spring, it’s still unclear exactly what Humane actually plans to do as a company. Its press release notes that it’s hoping to... Continue reading…
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#69M6T)
Netflix brings user-adjustable subtitles and closed captions to TV users, allowing subscribers to personalize their viewing experience to best suit their needs. | Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix TV users can now customize the appearance of subtitles and closed captions on the streaming platform, allowing subscribers to adjust the size and style of the text. Announced on Wednesday, the new feature can toggle subtitle text size between small, medium, and large, and alter the overall appearance of the text to make it easier to read.Alongside the default white text, Netflix now also provides three new text style options with contrasting backgrounds to make the text stand out: Light (black text / white background), Drop Shadow (white text / black background), and Contrast (yellow text / black background). Image: Netflix Netflix TV users can now adjust subtitle text size and style to suit their needs,... Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#69M2M)
Illustration: The Verge Microsoft’s Bing search engine has passed the 100 million daily active users milestone just weeks after the software maker launched its AI-powered Bing Chat feature. Bing has been steadily growing in recent years, but it appears the new Bing Chat feature is helping Microsoft grow usage with people that have never touched Bing before.Google has more than 1 billion daily active users, so that puts Microsoft’s 100 million milestone in perspective as it seeks to gain market share.“We are pleased to share that after a number of years of steady progress, and with a little bit of a boost from the million plus new Bing preview users, we have crossed 100 million daily active users of Bing,” says Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s head of consumer... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#69KPY)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Silvergate Bank, which had been a cornerstone in the crypto world, announced it’s closing and returning deposits. In a press release, the bank’s holding company, Silvergate Capital Corporation, said it made the decision to shut down “in light of recent industry and regulatory developments.”It’s been clear for a while that the company was struggling along with some of its most high-profile clients like FTX and Genesis. In January, its earnings report revealed that it lost a billion dollars in one quarter after its customers withdrew $8.1 billion. Then, on March 1st, it filed a document saying its financials were even worse than the quarterly report had shown.There are several concerns about what the crypto landscape will look like... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#69KNB)
Imagine this, but with Nintendo Switch graphics. | Image: Activision In a filing (pdf) submitted to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Microsoft shared some details about how it thinks it will be able to get Call of Duty games to run on the Nintendo Switch.Last month, Microsoft signed a binding 10-year agreement to bring Call of Duty games to Nintendo players day and date as on Xbox with “full feature and content parity” if its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard goes through. In the CMA filing, Microsoft makes two main points to argue that it’s possible to bring games like Call of Duty: Warzone and “buy-to-play” titles like Modern Warfare II to Switch:
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by Umar Shakir on (#69KNC)
Wii U system on display at the Nintendo Store in NYC. Note the melting joystick — I wonder if it still works... | Image: Umar Shakir / The Verge Thinking of dusting off your Wii U real quick before the eShop goes down forever so you can nab a digital copy of Wii Party U while you still can? Well, hopefully, your Wii U is of sound health. Wii U owners on forums and Reddit are finding that their systems aren’t working anymore, with errors many owners suspect are linked to leaving them sitting unused for a long period, as Exputer reports.The issue seems to have come to light based on an account of NeoGAF forums member cireza, whose friend booted up a Wii U system after a long while and got error code 160-0103 on the Game Pad screen, which points to an issue with the on-board memory. Some Twitter users are also reporting the issue. And a similar error 160-2155 was also reported by... Continue reading…
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by Victoria Song on (#69KJ7)
Smart lights can be an excellent tool in building the perfect bedtime routine. | Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge You don’t have to sell me on the benefits of being an early bird. I’ve seen dozens of articles and studies breaking down how getting up early is better for your health, productivity, and stress levels. But becoming an early riser isn’t easy. Speaking from experience, it’s much harder if you’re naturally a night owl and there’s no particular reason — like getting your kids to school — to be up before 7AM. Plus, alarm clocks and phone alarms don’t always work for the sleepiest of sleepyheads.That said, there are other sleep gadgets and apps that can be a huge help.If you’re an incorrigible night owl trying to masquerade as an early bird, good news. That was me for the past 10 years, and I’ve tried everything from melatonin to those a... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#69KJ8)
Image: Microsoft Microsoft is starting to test a system called File Recommendations in File Explorer, which does exactly what the name suggests — when you visit the home tab, it shows specific files that you may want to open at the top. The feature is still in the very early stages, but it could be a sign of things to come, both good and bad.In a blog post, the company says the current version is only available to some Insiders in its Dev Channel who have installed the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23403 update and will only work if you’re logged in with an Azure Active Directory account (meaning that currently, this feature feels squarely aimed at business users).For those that do have it, it’ll suggest cloud files that you own or that have been... Continue reading…
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by Sean Hollister on (#69KJ9)
Image: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Two years ago, I wrote a reasonably prescient editorial about how the writing was on the wall for Google’s cloud gaming service Stadia — and how the company was now hoping to sell its white label streaming technology to other companies instead of building out its own Netflix of games.But it seems that, when Google killed off Stadia, it threw away that technology, too.Google executive Jack Buser has now admitted that the company is no longer offering the white label version of Stadia that allowed companies like AT&T and Capcom to let anyone try games like Batman: Arkham Knight, Control, and a demo of Resident Evil Village for free over the internet, not to mention the first game from Peloton.“We are not offering that streaming... Continue reading…
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by Justine Calma on (#69KFZ)
Porsche’s Haru Oni e-fuel pilot plant in Punta Arenas, Chile. | Image: Porsche Porsche showed off a new pilot plant in Patagonia, Chile, last month — not one that manufactures cars but, rather, one that makes e-fuel, a synthetic alternative to conventional gasoline made from air and water using electricity. The plant, a joint project with ExxonMobil and other energy companies, “is a symbol of hope in the fight against climate change, for a more sustainable future – and one that might also feature the music of a Porsche engine,” Porsche boasts in a February 14th press release.The dream that car companies like Porsche are selling with e-fuel is that drivers can keep their internal combustion engines and fight climate change at the same time. All they have to do is switch to e-fuel.When it comes to cleaning up... Continue reading…
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by Ariel Shapiro on (#69KG0)
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge After spending more than $1 billion on podcast assets, challenging investor skepticism, laying off dozens of podcasting employees, and parting ways with its main podcasting chief, Spotify is establishing its focus for the vertical moving forward: more video, more consolidation, and more splashy names.At the company’s Stream On event in Los Angeles, head of global podcast studios Julie McNamara unveiled new video podcasts that’ll appeal to younger listeners. Video episodes of Distractable from Markiplier, the popular gaming YouTuber, are coming exclusively to the platform. The podcast ranks at number 36 on Spotify’s top podcast chart. Additionally, Spotify original Forbidden Fruits with Julia Fox is going video for its second season, no... Continue reading…
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by David Pierce on (#69KD4)
Spotify’s new homescreen design goes hard on full-screen images and video. | Image: Spotify Spotify is redesigning the core homescreen of its app, trying to make it easier for users to find new stuff to listen to — and watch. The new design goes heavy on imagery and vertical scrolling, turning your homescreen from a set of album covers into a feed that much more closely resembles TikTok and Instagram. As you scroll, Spotify is also hoping to make it easier to discover new things across the Spotify ecosystem.The new look, which Spotify just announced at its Stream On event, is clear evidence of the kind of company (and product) Spotify wants to be. Over the last few years, it has invested heavily into podcasts, audiobooks, live audio, and more, all in an attempt to be more than just a music app. The company also wants to be a... Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#69KD5)
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Sony has laid out its concerns about Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, including a host of fears about the future of Activision’s Call of Duty franchise. In new documents (pdf) submitted to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Sony says it’s worried that Microsoft could raise the price of Call of Duty, make it only available on its own Xbox Game Pass subscription service, and even strategically or incidentally degrade the quality and performance of Call of Duty on PlayStation.Sony cites a specific hypothetical situation where Microsoft could release a Call of Duty game on PlayStation that has bugs and errors on the final level. Here’s Sony’s example in full:
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#69KD6)
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Google has just released the second developer preview for Android 14, as app developers test their programs against changes coming in this year’s big mobile OS update. Most of the features in this latest release were already mentioned in the first Android 14 dev preview back in February, such as operational improvements to Android devices, changes to app security and privacy permissions, and a new API that supports passwordless sign-in using passkeys.The Android 14 preview also includes a test of Credential Manager, a platform API that supports multiple sign-in methods, such as passkeys and federated sign-in solutions (such as the option to sign in with Google) alongside the traditional username / password combinations. This API isn’t... Continue reading…
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#69KD7)
Chris O’Dowd as Dusty and Gabrielle Dennis as Cass in The Big Door Prize. | Apple There are probably more people who know better than to trust strange pieces of biometric-capturing technology in the world of Apple TV Plus’ upcoming comedy The Big Door Prize from David West Read. But in the series’ first trailer, almost no one can be bothered to think about whether they should be messing around with the eponymous machine because they’re all far too busy having the time of their lives thanks to what it does for them.Based on M.O. Walsh’s novel by the same name, The Big Door Prize tells the story of a sleepy little town that’s turned upside down when a mysterious machine that can show people the untapped potential for greatness they have within them appears one day. When the “Morpho” first appears, neither Dusty (Chris... Continue reading…
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by Georgina Torbet on (#69KD8)
Image: Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images After several false starts, NASA finally launched its Artemis I mission in November last year. The big aim of the mission was to test out new hardware like the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft ahead of the crewed Artemis II mission.Artemis II will be the first crewed launch using the new system and is currently scheduled for next year. This mission will see four astronauts travel into orbit around the Moon, making it the first crewed mission to travel out of low Earth orbit since 1972. It will be followed by Artemis III, which aims to land a crew on the Moon’s surface, launching in 2025.Before a crewed launch, however, some of the hardware used in Artemis I needs to be refreshed. In a press conference this... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#69KD9)
Image: Mismatch Media Nothing, Forever, the show that streams an AI-generated Seinfeld parody, is returning this evening after it received a temporary ban from Twitch due to transphobic content. The show will be back on Wednesday, March 8th, at 8PM ET, according to a tweet from Mismatch Media, which created the show.Nothing, Forever had become something of a Twitch sensation before the ban. For 24 hours a day, it would generate Seinfeld-like scenes and jokes with crude pixelated graphics and bizarre robotic voices. It was absolutely absurd, and I regularly found myself tuning in to hear the next ridiculous non-sequitur and read Twitch chat’s responses.But in early February, Nothing, Forever received a two-week suspension from Twitch because the Jerry... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#69KDA)
Illustration: The Verge If you pay for a Google One plan to get extra storage or other benefits, you might be about to get some extra features. The company has announced that all One subscribers will be getting access to the VPN that used to be limited to its Premium tier and that it’s adding dark web monitoring to alert you if your sensitive information starts circulating on sites that search engines normally don’t index.If you live in a supported country, you can use Google’s VPN on a variety of devices, including Android phones and iPhones, as well as Macs and PCs. Previously, you had to pay for the $9.99 monthly tier that included 2TB of storage to access it (or buy a Pixel 7, which includes it even if you’re not a One subscriber). Now, however, it’s even... Continue reading…
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by Ariel Shapiro on (#69K8K)
Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images I sadly cannot attend Podcast Evolutions this year. If you are in attendance and have some hot goss, feel free to send my way! Also some warm, dry weather — that would be nice.Today, SiriusXM lays off hundreds of staffers, Twitter Spaces loses another feature, and podcast bros can’t catch a break on the dating market.How will SiriusXM’s layoffs affect its podcasting business?On Monday, SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz announced that she was cutting 475 roles, or about 8 percent of employees at the company. Citing economic uncertainty (novel!), Witz said the cuts are a consequence of management’s plan to “improve collaboration, consolidate teams to achieve greater efficiencies, and ultimately, design an organization structure that is best... Continue reading…
by Andrew Webster on (#69K8M)
Metroid Fusion. | Image: Nintendo With Metroid Fusion joining the retro games lineup of Nintendo’s Switch Online subscription this week, every mainline 2D entry in the franchise will be playable on the Switch. And if you’ve never played a Metroid before, it’s a great place to start. Fusion combines depth and accessibility, while also nailing all of the things that make Metroid so distinct — namely, its moody exploration and the feeling of being isolated in a dangerous place. Plus, it has a smartass robot and a terrifying villain.First, some caveats. Fusion isn’t the first in the series chronologically — and obviously isn’t the only place to get started with Metroid. You could play the NES original, which remains a cryptic masterpiece, or its Super Nintendo successor, w... Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#69K2E)
Image: Bethesda Starfield, a big upcoming title from Microsoft-owned Bethesda, is getting a new release date today. Starfield had been delayed to the first half of 2023, and it will now arrive even later on September 6th.In a new video, game director Todd Howard says Bethesda and Microsoft will now hold a Starfield direct event on June 11th to detail the game. “This June, we’re going to bring you into the studio and give you a deep dive in the game at our Starfield direct,” says Howard. “There’s so much that we still have to show you.” The dedicated Starfield showcase will follow Microsoft’s annual Xbox showcase on Sunday June 11th.
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#69K2F)
The preliminary evaluation opened on March 4th and applies to over 120,000 Tesla vehicles. | Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Auto safety regulators in the US have opened an investigation into Tesla following reports that steering wheels on Model Y SUVs have fallen off while the vehicle is being driven. In documents posted on Wednesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it’s aware of two separate incidents involving 2023 Tesla Model Y vehicles in which the SUV’s steering wheel completely detached from the steering column.The preliminary evaluation was opened on March 4th and, according to NHTSA, applies to over 120,000 vehicles. In both instances, the brand-new vehicles were delivered without a necessary retaining bolt to attach the steering wheel to the column and had low mileage during the time of the incidents.
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by Brandon Widder on (#69K2G)
What’s the term? Yahoo? | Image: Nintendo Friday, March 10th, marks the official return of Mario Day, an annual celebration of all things Nintendo and one of the best opportunities of the year to score steep discounts on games starring Nintendo’s mustachioed plumber. Nintendo has a full month of shenanigans planned — including the release of a Mario-themed Nintendo Switch and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s fourth wave of DLC tracks — but numerous retailers are already slashing prices on both physical and digital Switch games ahead of the namesake event.There’s a lot on offer, and although we’ll publish a larger roundup later this week encapsulating all the hits, we at least wanted to note a few highlights that are currently available for $39.99 instead of their typical list price of... Continue reading…
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by Andrew Webster on (#69K2H)
Image: Lucasfilm It’s no secret that The Mandalorian often feels like a video game. The show has it all: fetch quests, escort missions, gear upgrades, and even difficulty spikes. That’s probably why ol’ Mando feels right at home in an actual video game. The opening of the third season of the show got away from the gameplay in order to do some scene setting that felt like one of those lengthy cutscenes Naughty Dog loves. But in episode 2 — aka chapter 18 — the cutscenes are over and we’re back to the action. The episode doesn’t just feel like any video game, either: it’s very Metroid.Note: this article contains light spoilers for the first two episodes of The Mandalorian season 3.At this point in the story, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his little green... Continue reading…
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#69K2K)
Ring’s newest video doorbell is its first battery-powered doorbell camera with a head-to-toe view. | Image: Ring Ring’s new Battery Doorbell Plus fixes some of the biggest problems with its existing doorbells. While Ring created the category, many video doorbell competitors have surpassed its capabilities, offering better video quality, better viewing angles, and notifications for things like animals and vehicles (as well as people and packages). Only Ring’s top-of-the-line Ring Pro 2 (a wired doorbell) was really keeping up with the Joneses.The new $179.99 Battery Doorbell Plus, available for preorder today at Amazon and Ring.com and shipping April 5th, improves on Ring’s existing battery-powered buzzers by adding a square 1:1 aspect ratio with a 150-degree by 150-degree field of view and 1536p HD video resolution. These are the same specs as... Continue reading…
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by Thomas Ricker on (#69K2J)
Image: Lightship The self-propelled trailer reduces drag to extend range, comes loaded with solar panels to charge your EV, enough battery capacity to power your home, and sleeps up to six people. Continue reading…
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by James Vincent on (#69K2M)
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Two weeks ago, Meta announced its latest AI language model: LLaMA. Though not accessible to the public like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Microsoft’s Bing, LLaMA is Meta’s contribution to a surge in AI language tech that promises new ways to interact with our computers as well as new dangers.Meta did not release LLaMA as a public chatbot (though the Facebook owner is building those too) but as an open-source package that anyone in the AI community can request access to. The intention, said the company, is “further democratizing access” to AI to spur research into its problems. Meta benefits if these systems are less buggy, so will happily spend the money to create the model and distribute it for others to troubleshoot with.“Even with all the... Continue reading…
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#69JXY)
The Car-Net Safe & Secure add-on required to track stolen vehicles previously required an additional subscription fee. | Image: Robert Michael/picture alliance via Getty Images Volkswagen has announced changes to its Car-Net security system after a “serious breach in process” delayed law enforcement from using the service to locate a vehicle stolen with the victim’s child still inside. From June 1st this year, VW will provide five years of free Car-Net Safe & Secure connected emergency services in the US — including automatic crash notifications, emergency assistance, stolen vehicle locator, and anti-theft alerts — for “most model year 2020 to 2023 vehicles.”VW’s Car-Net system is a collection of technologies and services that allow vehicle owners to remotely monitor and operate their vehicle. While its basic package was already free for the first five years on compatible 2020 or newer VW models, Car-Net’s... Continue reading…
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by Jon Porter on (#69JXZ)
Realme’s pill-shaped “Mini Capsule.” | Image: Realme Less than six months after it debuted on the iPhone 14 Pro, Apple’s Dynamic Island has made it to an Android phone as a native feature. The Realme C55, which just launched in Indonesia (via GSMArena), includes a feature the company is calling the “Mini Capsule,” a pill-shaped black bar that expands out of the phone’s selfie camera.An animation on Realme’s website shows the Mini Capsule extending out of the left and right of the phone’s selfie camera hole-punch notch. Its capabilities include displaying the phone’s charges status, data usage, and your step count. Image: Realme An animation of the C55’s Mini Capsule. In spite of how shameless this all is, I’m broadly in favor of good new phone features being... Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#69JT5)
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony has released a new PS5 update that includes the highly anticipated Discord integration. Version 7 of the PS5 software is available for all consoles right now, allowing PS5 owners to join Discord calls on their console, alongside improvements to 1440p resolution, the ability to transfer data between PS5 consoles, and a new option to use your voice to capture clips of your gameplay.PS5 owners will be able to use the Discord app on mobile or a PC to transfer a Discord call to their console. It’s very similar to how Microsoft initially launched Discord support on the Xbox last year, which means you can’t directly access Discord servers on a PS5 without using a mobile device or a PC to transfer the call.The Discord integration is... Continue reading…
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