The Verge

The Frame can easily pass for a traditional picture frame, which is part of its charm. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge If you want to help the student in your life feel a little more at home this school year, Samsung's Music Frame is a unique piece of dorm decor that'll do just the trick. And right now, the art-inspired smart speaker is down to $347.99 ($52 off) at Amazon, which matches the all-time low we last saw during Amazon Prime Day.Samsung's Music Frame is a lot of things. As the name implies, it's a mountable 12.9 x 12.9-inch picture frame you can hang on your wall or rest on the included display stand. However, unlike the larger Sonos / Ikea Symfonisk frame speaker, you can customize Samsung's speaker with physical photographs of, say, loved ones back home. You can even get creative and swap it out with physical art prints if you feel so... Continue reading...

There's a bit of soldering involved with the mod, so Voultar will initially be only selling an installation service. | Screenshot: Macho Nacho Productions Nintendo sold over 49 million Super Nintendo consoles, but not all of them were created equal. A later hardware revision improved the quality of the SNES's video output, and over three decades later, one modder has come up with a way to bring those same improvements to nearly every Super Nintendo ever released.Zach Henson, a console modder who also goes by the name Voultar, has created a DIY modification kit for older Super Nintendo consoles called the Edge Enhancer. Expected to sell for around $60, the mod kit upgrades the console's video output, making graphics appear much sharper and colors more saturated.Although Nintendo made many revisions to the Super Nintendo's hardware during the console's production run, for retro gamers,... Continue reading...

Image: Jay Maidment Check out all of The Verge's coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2024. Continue reading...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge If you're a PlayStation 5 owner and are curious about VR gaming, now may be the best time to pick up Sony's headset. The PlayStation VR2 is currently on sale for its lowest price ever, available on its own for $349.99 ($200 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and direct from PlayStation or as a bundle with Horizon Call of the Mountain for $399.99 ($200 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and PlayStation. The deal is part of the ongoing PlayStation Summer Sale, which runs through August 5th.Now, it's true that the PSVR 2 has some flaws - such as its reliance on a wired tether to your console - but it remains a state-of-the-art experience with 120Hz OLED displays, eye tracking, and one of the comfiest fits out there for a VR headset. The naked truth is that... Continue reading...

Image: Dinosaur Polo Club Canceled video games are typically shrouded in secrecy, the kind of thing we only learn about via leaks well after the fact. But Dinosaur Polo Club, the indie studio behind the minimalist strategy games Mini Metro and Mini Motorways, has revealed a recently canceled project in a refreshing bout of transparency.The game was codenamed Magic School, and it was an attempt for the studio to branch out from the clean, streamlined experiences it has become known for. The problem? As the concept grew in scope, it became clear to the studio that a much bigger team would be needed, which led them to abandon it.You can get a sense of what it would've been like in the footage above as well as from the concept images in the gallery below. (There's... Continue reading...

Photo by Kenny Holston-Pool / Getty Images X owner Elon Musk shared a deepfake video spoofing a campaign ad for Vice President Kamala Harris. It appears to violate the platform's own policies against synthetic and manipulated media.The video Musk shared on Friday alters a recent campaign video Harris released, one that makes it sound like the presidential candidate said things she didn't. The manipulated clip has Harris saying things like she is the ultimate diversity hire" and that she had four years under the tutelage of the ultimate deep state puppet, a wonderful mentor, Joe Biden." The original account that had posted the video labeled it, Kamala Harris Campaign Ad PARODY," a disclaimer that might prevent it from violating X's policies. But this context did not appear in... Continue reading...

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Apple's new AI features for the iPhone may not arrive with the initial rollout of iOS 18 and the expected launch of the iPhone 16 in September, according to a report from Bloomberg. Instead, the company reportedly plans on launching Apple Intelligence with iOS 18.1 in October as it works to get the rollout right.Apple took the wraps off its first AI features during its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, showing off a new and improved Siri, AI-powered image generation, and an integration with ChatGPT. These features may not be available with a new iPhone 16 purchased at launch, but Apple could roll out the update later to new devices in store with its in-the-box updating machine called Presto.While Apple doesn't usually launch... Continue reading...

Arc'teryx's new powered MO/GO pants claim to boost leg strength by up to 40 percent. | Image: Arc'teryx Strength-boosting exoskeleton suits can help make jobs with physical labor feel less strenuous, but Arc'teryx has partnered with Skip, a spinoff of Google's X Labs, to bring the technology to leisure time. The powered MO/GO pants feature a lightweight electric motor at the knee that can boost a hiker's leg strength when going uphill while also absorbing the impact of steps during a descent.The MO/GO (which is short for mountain goat) pants weigh around seven pounds with the power-boosting module and three-hour rechargeable batteries attached. That module snaps onto the hiker using a pair of carbon fiber braces for each leg hidden beneath a pair of Arc'teryx Gamma hiking pants to make the apparatus easy to get on and off.Marketed as a... Continue reading...

Photo illustration by The Verge / Photo by Logitech The new head of Logitech discusses the company's return to growth and plans to reduce its carbon footprint by half. Continue reading...

Photo illustration by The Verge / Photo by Logitech The new head of Logitech discusses the company's return to growth and plans to reduce its carbon footprint by half. Continue reading...

When Simone Biles saluted the judges and stepped onto the mat to vault at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Belgium, it seemed like every camera in the packed arena was trained on her. People in the audience pulled their smartphones to record. The photographers zoomed in from their media perches. One TV camera tracked her run on a high-speed dolly, all the way down the runway, as she hurdled into a roundoff onto the springboard. The spider cam, swinging above, caught the upward trajectory of her body as she turned towards the table and blocked up and off, twisting one and a half times before landing on the blue mat and raising her arms above her head. The apex of human athleticism and kinesthetic beauty had been captured.But there were other... Continue reading...

Image: MysteryLupin (X) Google appears to be preparing to launch a fourth-generation Nest Learning Thermostat. Details on the thermostat first leaked last week, and now the same leaker has posted more documents on X that show this new model will have a customizable homescreen, a new Dynamic Farsight" feature, and a borderless" display.The leaks detail a high-res borderless display," which looks like it will allow the UI of the Nest Learning Thermostat to extend into the area that was typically a black bezel on existing third-generation units. Other leaked images show UI elements that appear much closer to the bezels of the display, too. Image: MysteryLupin (X) The leaked specs of the fourth-generation Nest Learning Thermostat. D... Continue reading...

The smaller sibling to UE's Epicboom offers plenty of punch for its size. But it's a little thin on features to justify $250. Continue reading...

Image: David Pierce / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 47, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)This week, I've been reading about Skibidi Toilet and the future of mall brands and the legacy of Bell Labs, watching Dirty Pop and catching up on Cobra Kai, downloading every single podcast episode mentioned in this excellent Reddit thread, writing stuff down with Napkin, and trying desperately to figure out what I forgot to pack for vacation. I've also been trying new blueberry muffin recipes all week - thanks to everyone who sent me one!Speaking of which: As I mentioned last week, Installer is taking a summer... Continue reading...

Photo by Tristan Fewings / Getty Images Following reports that the Russo brothers were in talks to helm more features for Marvel, the studio confirmed at this year's San Diego Comic-Con that the pair will be directing two new Avengers films.During Marvel's Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con, the studio announced that the Russo brothers have signed on to direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars - the former of which will see Robert Downey Jr. return to the MCU as Doctor Doom. Doomsday is due out in May 2026, while Secret Wars will follow in May 2027.

Image: Apple The end of the world just got a little closer. Apple confirmed that the much-anticipated second season of its postapocalyptic series Silo will start streaming on November 15th.Silo premiered last May and was renewed before the first season finished. Apple first teased season 2, alongside the return of Severance, at WWDC 2024. (Severance's second season will start streaming in January.)Based on the trilogy of novels by Hugh Howey, Silo is set in the distant future and follows the remains of humanity, who live in giant underground bunkers - the titular silos - to avoid the deadly world outside. The season 1 finale ended with a big twist that made it clear there's a lot more going on than the show initially lets on. It also only covers... Continue reading...

Image: Hulu It only takes a few minutes before Futurama's new season starts explaining non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, a concept most people probably haven't thought about for more than a year.Despite being set in the far future, Futurama has always been comfortable commenting on modern life. There have been episodes about smartphones and 3D printers that use sci-fi nonsense to complicate the concepts in a way that makes them funny. That has largely continued to be true over many years (and cancellations). But in its Hulu revival last year, the show really started to mess up the balance, and its topical jokes began to overshadow the sci-fi gags. The upcoming 12th season struggles even more to find a Futurama-style twist on absurd... Continue reading...

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge I've got a stack of bookmarked, favorited, and saved-for-later web articles that I'm going to get around to reading one day... but haven't. I think that part of what puts me off working through that list is that reading on the internet, especially longer pieces, can be a slog. On most sites, besides the text and pictures that matter, you've got a constant flurry of ads, pop-ups, panels, and media to deal with.You can avoid this problem by using a bookmarking app such as Pocket, which offers an easier way to both save and read longer content, or you can buy a separate reading device such as a Kindle. However, if you don't want to deal with another app or device, there's another way. Most popular browsers now come with some kind of reading... Continue reading...

Image: Amazon Kiryu is getting a live-action makeover very soon. At Comic-Con today, Amazon revealed the first look at its upcoming adaptation of the Yakuza game series, with the show Like a Dragon: Yakuza (not to be confused with the game Yakuza: Like a Dragon). The streaming series will follow original Yakuza hero Kazuma Kiryu.Amazon says that the show showcases modern Japan and the dramatic stories of these intense characters, such as the legendary Kazuma Kiryu, that games in the past have not been able to explore." Kiryu will be played by Ryoma Takeuchi, while Kento Kaku also starts as Akira Nishikiyama. The series is directed by Masaharu Take.Of course, Yakuza joins a wave of gaming adaptions for TV, which has included The Last of Us on HBO, P... Continue reading...

Disney / BBC The Doctor Who franchise is about to get even bigger with a new spinoff series that, interestingly, doesn't seem like it's going to focus on everyone's favorite Time Lord.During the Doctor Who panel at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, Disney and the BBC announced that The War Between The Land And The Sea - a new series written by Russell T. Davies and Pete McTighe - is on the way. Rather than the Doctor, the new show will revolve around a group of humans as they work together to face the Sea Devils, a race of ancient, ocean-dwelling creatures who first appeared in Doctor Who back in 1972.Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient are set to reprise their roles as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Colonel Ibrahim, respectively, but they will also... Continue reading...

SpaceX is targeting Saturday, July 27th for its next Falcon 9 launch carrying 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. | Image: SpaceX SpaceX has completed its investigation into what caused an engine failure during a Falcon 9 launch on July 11th. The company has submitted a mishap report" to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and is ready to return the Falcon 9 rocket to flight as soon as tomorrow.The company's investigation team, working with the FAA, was able to determine the July 11th failure was caused by a liquid oxygen leak that developed during the initial burn of the Falcon 9's second stage engine. It says the leak originated from a crack in a pressure sensor sense line that's part of the rocket's oxygen system. A clamp that normally constrains the sense line had come loose, subjecting it to excessive engine vibrations that eventually caused it to... Continue reading...

A critically endangered California condor chick that will soon fly for the first time is seen at its nest site on a cliff above the drought-stricken Colorado River on August 31st, 2022, in Marble Canyon, Arizona. | Photo: Getty Images Conservationists will be able to release more California condors into the wild thanks to a record number of chicks hatched at the Los Angeles Zoo this breeding season. It's the latest success in an incredible conservation story for North America's biggest flying bird.A total of 17 chicks hatched at the zoo this season, which came to a close with the last little one arriving in June and thriving." That beats a 1997 record of 15 chicks in one season. The zoo credits the accomplishment to a new strategy it developed for minimizing the birds' contact with humans.The result is more condor chicks in the program and ultimately more condors in the wild," Rose Legato, curator of birds at the Los Angeles Zoo, said in a press release on... Continue reading...

Image: OnLeaks via Android Headlines While there's been no shortage of Pixel 9 leaks over the past couple of days, a new ad for the device seems to have leaked in full - and it shows off a new feature that makes sure you aren't left out of a group photo.The feature, seemingly called Add Me," appears in a leaked ad shared with Android Headlines by OnLeaks. The ad shows someone using a Pixel 9 to take a picture of two friends in front of a van. After snapping a shot, the photographer trades spots with her two friends, allowing her to get a picture in front of the van - only the Pixel's display shows the phantom-like image of the two friends standing beside her. Her friend snaps a photo, and boom, she appears in the picture as if she were there the entire time.Judging by... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge X uses your data to train its Grok AI assistant, but if you'd like to opt out of that, you can do that right from your settings menu. It is accessible on the web right here, or you can find it yourself if you click the three dots menu, then Settings and privacy," then Privacy and safety," and then Grok."X's @Safety account wrote in a post on Friday that the setting is available to all users on the web now and will soon be rolled out on mobile."

An Intel Core i9-13900K CPU, one of the first types that was identified to sometimes crash games this way. | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge On Monday, it initially seemed like the beginning of the end for Intel's desktop CPU instability woes - the company confirmed a patch is coming in mid-August that should address the root cause" of exposure to elevated voltage. But if your 13th or 14th Gen Intel Core processor is already crashing, that patch apparently won't fix it.Citing unnamed sources, Tom's Hardware reports that any degradation of the processor is irreversible, and an Intel spokesperson did not deny that when we asked. Intel is confident" the patch will keep it from happening in the first place. (As another preventative measure, you should update your motherboard BIOS ASAP.) But if your defective CPU has been damaged, your best option is to replace it instead of... Continue reading...

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Samsung's upcoming One UI 7 update could bring some pretty big changes to the look of its Galaxy devices. Leaked screenshots @chunvn8888 shared with Smartprix show Samsung's Android skin with tweaks to the quick settings and notification panels, along with UI elements that take on a rounder appearance throughout.As shown in the leaked screenshots, it looks like Samsung may split the notification panel from the quick setting shade. The unified shade in One UI 6 has you swipe down once to access your notifications and again to reach your quick settings (unless you're using instant access) - but that may change in One UI 7.You might also notice that the shaded elements surrounding the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth icons trade their squircle shape... Continue reading...

Bev Priestman, head coach of the Canadian Olympic women's soccer team, has been suspended for the rest of the Paris Games. | Photo by Vaughn Ridley / Getty Images The plot in Canadian soccer's Olympic drone spying scandal thickens. A TSN report alleges that the Canadian men's and women's soccer teams have been spying on opponents - with and without drones - for years.Earlier this week, the Canadian Olympic women's soccer team landed in hot water after the New Zealand team spotted a drone flying over their practice. The incident was reported to French authorities, and it was discovered that the drone operator was Joseph Lombardi, an unaccredited analyst" with the Canadian squad. Lombardi and assistant coach Jasmine Mander were subsequently sent home, while head coach Bev Priestman voluntarily withdrew from the opening match against New Zealand. Priestman has since been suspended from the Games... Continue reading...

If you're using a newer iPhone, ESR's latest car mount is just as fast as an official MagSafe charger. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge At this point, I can confidently say that the new Qi2 wireless standard has found its footing. Everyone from Anker to Nomad now offers a selection of speedy Qi2 chargers, with the HMD's forthcoming Skyline being one of the first Android phones to support the MagSafe-like standard. However, despite the influx of competition, ESR's wireless car mount remains one of the cheapest Qi2 chargers available - especially now that it's on sale at Amazon for $22.99 ($17 off).If you own an iPhone 12 series phone or newer, ESR's Qi2 Magnetic Wireless Car Charger (Halolock) is a straightforward solution for topping off your device while on the go. You can affix the magnetic mount to your dashboard or most air vents using the provided clip or flexible... Continue reading...

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge Google is dying. Google is unstoppable. Somehow, right now, it feels like both of those things are true. For the first time in more than a decade, there appear to be products that might actually threaten Google Search as the centerpiece of the web - including OpenAI's new SearchGPT. And yet Google Search continues to dominate the market and make truly unfathomable amounts of money.On this episode of The Vergecast, we discuss the launch of SearchGPT, Google's latest earnings, and the increasingly brazen ways AI companies are scraping the web for their own purposes. Who will win the future of search is anyone's guess, but one thing's for sure: the way the web used to work doesn't work anymore. We need new rules, new norms, and new ideas... Continue reading...

The Nest Hello video doorbell can now be fully migrated to the Google Home app from the Nest app. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Google announced this week that it's rolling out support for its Nest Hello doorbell in the Google Home app. This allows you to transfer Google's original video doorbell camera - aka the Nest Doorbell (wired, first-gen) - from the Nest app to Google's Home app. Google is also bringing its garage door detection feature out of public preview, making it available to all users with compatible hardware. This uses a Nest Cam to alert you when your garage door is left open.Garage door detection launched last fall in Google's public preview - a public beta where users can try out upcoming features - but it's now available to all Nest Aware subscribers in the US and Canada. (Nest Aware starts at $8 a month / $80 a year.)The feature works with... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Valve has introduced some changes to Steam that should make it easier to find and install playable game demos. In a new events blog post, Steam said the Great Steam Demo Update" was based on developer and player feedback, with new functionality that makes demos behave more like standalone games hosted on the platform.For one, demos can now have a store page that's completely separate from the main game, allowing developers to display demo-specific content like trailers, screenshots, and supported features. These pages will also display buttons to both install the demo and visit the main game's store page, and allow players to leave demo-specific reviews.And if a demo becomes available for a game that users have on their wishlists, or... Continue reading...

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Microsoft has started testing a new way to access your Android phone from directly within Windows 11's File Explorer. Windows Insiders are now able to test this new feature, which lets you wirelessly browse through folders and files on your Android phone.The integration in File Explorer means your Android device appears just like a regular USB device on the left-hand side, with the ability to copy or move files between a PC and Android phone, and rename or delete them. It's certainly a lot quicker than using the existing Phone Link app. Image: Microsoft Android phones will appear inside File Explorer. You'll need a device running Android version 11 or higher, be part of the Windows Insider program, and the... Continue reading...

Image: Peacock It looks like Peacock is getting a solid dose of horror very soon. At San Diego Comic-Con, the streamer showed off a very brief teaser for its upcoming thriller series Teacup, while also confirming that it will start streaming in October.According to Peacock, the show follows a disparate group of people in rural Georgia who must come together in the face of a mysterious threat in order to survive." It's helmed by showrunner Ian McCulloch - best known as a producer on the Western hit Yellowstone - and based on the novel Stinger by Robert McCammon. In a statement about the adaptation, McCulloch had this to say:

Image: Epic Games Epic Games plans to bring Fortnite to the third-party iOS app store AltStore PAL, which is only available in the EU. The company made the announcement in a Thursday blog post about its strategy for mobile stores, and it says it expects to announce support for at least two other third-party stores soon."While Epic says that it plans to bring our own mobile games including Fortnite to other mobile stores that give all developers a great deal," it didn't provide a specific timeline. In addition to Fortnite, Epic also plans to bring Rocket League Sideswipe to AltStore PAL, spokesperson Natalie Munoz tells The Verge.When reached for comment, AltStore's Riley Testut pointed to Epic's post and said that we're very excited to be bringing F... Continue reading...

California Gig Workers Union members gather outside the Supreme Court in May. | Photo by Lea Suzuki / San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash workers in California will remain independent contractors after the state's Supreme Court upheld Proposition 22, as reported by CalMatters. The unanimous decision issued on Thursday is a win for ridehailing and food delivery services, which have spent millions campaigning for Prop 22 to avoid having to classify gig workers as employees.While Prop 22 guarantees workers some protections, such as 120 percent of the local minimum wage for each hour spent driving, a health insurance stipend, and reimbursement for job-related injuries, it's far from the full range of benefits Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and other services would've had to provide if workers were classified as employees.

Image: NASA NASA and Sierra Space blew up another space habitat in June, and everyone is smiling about it. That's because the full-size inflatable structure in this ultimate burst pressure" test only failed after exceeding NASA's recommended x4 safety levels by 22 percent.Sierra Space's inflatable structure, known as a Large Integrated Flexible Environment, or LIFE, had its last stress test in January. LIFE is built from basket-weaved Vectran fabrics" that strengthen once inflated. It's intended to be used as a component in the Orbital Reef space station project involving NASA, Blue Origin, and Sierra Space.This second burst test will get us the design, repeatability, and architecture as we go towards our certification of the pressure shell of... Continue reading...