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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6FTX5)
Look at that magnificent fella on the far left - every bit as imposing as the real deal. | Image: Lego If you're bummed about Dune: Part Two being delayed until March 15th, 2024, Lego's latest Icons set might be the ideal fix to tide you over. The Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter - a 1,369-piece replica of the Imperium's favored flapping flying machine - is now available to preorder for $164.99, with a release date set for February 1st, 2024.While both the Dune (2021) and upcoming Dune: Part Two movies have PG-13 ratings, this Lego set is a premium-quality" model designed for adults. When assembled, it features flappable fold-out wings, deployable landing gear, and a cockpit that can be opened to place in one of the eight included mini figurines of the franchise's cast. Image: Lego When the wings are fully... Continue reading...
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The Verge
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
| Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
| Updated | 2025-07-05 16:17 |
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by Wes Davis on (#6FTX6)
Illustration: The Verge You know that thing in Apple Photos and Google Photos where they'll just randomly generate a generically titled video slideshow that sometimes includes just the worst pictures? Google says that, soon, you'll be able to ask Google Photos to make them for you! The company will start rolling out an update that lets you choose the parameters for the videos you want the app to make instead of just passively waiting for them to happen to you.Even if the app still sometimes makes objectively bad choices for the videos it creates, this is a great update. In fact, it's one of those features that, if you weren't immediately annoyed it wasn't there all along, you might see this news and think, Hey, yeah, why is this just now happening?" ... Continue reading...
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by Makena Kelly on (#6FTS7)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Dozens of states sued Meta on Tuesday, accusing the company of putting profit ahead of the safety of its young users.The lawsuit, filed in a California federal court, argues that Meta unlawfully misled the public about the harms its products, like Facebook and Instagram, could impose on children and teens. By implementing a business model meant to maximize time on the platform, Meta contributed to a youth mental health crisis, the complaint says.Over the past decade," the lawsuit says, Meta has profoundly altered the psychological and social realities of a generation of young Americans."Meta has profoundly altered the psychological and social realities of a generation of young Americans."The complaint alleges that Meta knowingly... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6FTS8)
Image: Apple Apple is gearing up for another product launch event on October 30th at 8PM ET / 5PM PT. The company has started sending out invites for everyone to tune in to the event, called Scary Fast" on Apple.com Monday night, following rumors Apple is preparing to reveal updates for the Mac lineup.Apple's page for the event shows an animation of the Apple logo transforming into the Finder icon, further suggesting that new Macs are on the way. Earlier this week, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple might be planning a surprise Mac-centered product launch" event.So far, rumors suggest that Apple could reveal a refreshed 24-inch iMac, along with a new MacBook Pro. As reported by Gurman, Apple's inventory of the 14- and 16-inch MacBook... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6FTS9)
Photo by Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge Chevy Bolt owners might have the option to receive a $1,400 payout from GM as compensation for dealing with the cars' defective EV batteries that required a software range limiter to prevent them from catching fire.As reported by Engadget, the new offer from GM comes as the company deals with a class action lawsuit stemming from two Bolt recalls that, over time, grew to include nearly every model ever released.To qualify for the offer, owners must install a final remedy" software update on their Bolt through a Chevy dealership by December 31st, 2023. Owners will get a letter that grants them access to a web form to accept the money in the form of a Visa e-gift card.However, it's not without strings attached. According to the terms... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6FTSA)
Image: YouTube YouTube Music is finally letting you change the cover art of your playlists. While you still won't get to upload your own image, you can now make a custom image using generative AI.As shown in the below GIF, you can create AI-generated art by tapping the pen icon in the bottom right corner of your playlist's cover art. You can then select the category that you want your image to fall into, like animals, food and drink, colors, nature, or travel.From there, you can either hit randomize" or choose from several prompts, such as creating a pug in the style of a Medieval Gothic painting." The AI will output five different images for you to choose from. Once you hit save," that art will become the image representing your playlist. ... Continue reading...
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by Brandon Widder on (#6FTSB)
The Switch OLED has a bunch of small improvements beyond its screen, like a better kickstand and revised dock. | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Expectations may be high for an often-rumored Nintendo Switch 2, but until Nintendo announces something new, the best option around remains the Switch OLED. Since it's been such a big year for Nintendo games, there's really no shame in getting a Switch so late into the console's lengthy lifecycle, and you can do so with some very good deals.The Nintendo Switch OLED model with either white or neon red and blue Joy-Con controllers is on sale once again for its lowest price of $289.99 ($60 off) at Monoprice. The OLED model is the best Switch for those who spend a lot of their game time in handheld mode since its seven-inch OLED display is a little larger than the standard model and offers much better picture and color quality (yes, even... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6FTP3)
Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge General Motors announced the delay of production of its upcoming slate of electric vehicles, including the Chevy Equinox EV, Chevy Silverado EV, and GMC Sierra Denali EV. The news comes amid a broader environment in which EV demand is softening and prices are dropping, even as sales continue to grow year over year.The delay in production of just a few months" is intended to protect pricing and enhance viability, GM CEO Mary Barra said. The adjustments will make the trucks more efficient and less expensive to produce, and therefore more profitable" in the future.GM is also pulling its near-term targets for EV sales in a nod to slower-than-expected demand growth. The company had said it would sell 400,000 EVs in North America from... Continue reading...
by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6FTP4)
Mahershala Ali as G.H. and Myha'la as Ruth. | Image: Netflix Most people like to think of themselves as having some sort of game plan ready in the event that apocalyptic things start going down. But in the new trailer for Netflix's upcoming film Leave the World Behind, from director Sam Esmail, a lack of planning seems to be a big part of what has everyone running scared.Based on Rumaan Alam's 2020 novel by the same name, Leave the World Behind tells the story of two families who unexpectedly find their fates intertwined just as a massive blackout shuts down most of the Eastern Seaboard's power grid. When Amanda (Julia Roberts) and her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) rent a house in Long Island, they assume they'll be able to get out of the city for a much-needed quiet weekend vacation with their... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6FTP5)
Photo by VCG via Getty Images By 2030, transportation and electricity around the world will be far greener than it is today, according to the latest forecast from the International Energy Agency. Imagine 10 times more electric vehicles on the road. Renewables make up half of the world's electricity mix. Solar panels alone generate more electricity globally than the entire US power sector does today.That's the picture the International Energy Agency (IEA) paints in the World Energy Outlook it published today, which is based on governments' current energy policies. The IEA was established to help safeguard global energy supplies after the 1970s oil crisis. Now, shoring up energy systems means bringing renewables online to prevent more extreme climate change -... Continue reading...
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by Nilay Patel on (#6FTP6)
Photo illustration by Alex Parkin / The Verge After 30 years teaching law, the internet policy legend is as worried as you'd think about AI and TikTok - and he has surprising thoughts about balancing free speech with protecting democracy. Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#6FTK5)
Image: Crunchyroll If you're a Prime Video subscriber, beginning today, you can start streaming Crunchyroll, the popular anime service, right from inside the Prime Video app. The companies have announced a global distribution agreement that allows Amazon to offer Crunchyroll as one of its Prime Video Channels. Prime Video Channels are optional add-on services that come at an extra monthly cost. But there's a convenience aspect in that Amazon handles all billing, and more importantly, you can watch these channels directly inside Prime Video without having to hop between numerous entertainment apps.In the case of Crunchyroll, that's a good thing, as its app available for smart TV and set-top platforms can be buggy and annoying to navigate. Now, you can skip... Continue reading...
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by Adi Robertson on (#6FTK6)
The Air 2 glasses in their graphite and red models. | Image: Xreal Xreal is opening preorders for its latest generation of augmented reality glasses, the Xreal Air 2 and Air 2 Pro, for a November release in the US, UK, Germany, France, and Italy. The glasses are a follow-up to the first-generation Air glasses released last year under the company's former name Nreal. Starting at $399, they plug into phones, computers, and a variety of gaming devices to project a display through a pair of sunglasses.The Air 2 glasses are an iterative upgrade from the original $379 Air. They use Micro OLED displays to project a 1920 x 1080 pixel display in front of your eyes, the same resolution as the original Air. But they promise a brighter image than their predecessors (500 nits, compared to 400 nits on the Air) and... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6FTK7)
Image: Nintendo Super Mario Bros. Wonder's online multiplayer keeps making me think of Elden Ring.Nintendo's latest Super Mario game has a clever online multiplayer mode. When you connect online, you'll see near-invisible versions of other players throughout the game's islands and levels as they also travel the Flower Kingdom. It's a lot like how you see the outlines of other players as you traverse the Lands Between, and in Wonder, Nintendo created some smart ways for your fellow compatriots to help you out.While in a level, you'll see up to three other players jumping and elephanting their way through whatever series of dastardly obstacles Nintendo has cooked up for that location. But these aren't just Mario Kart-like specters to measure yourself... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6FTH3)
The number of people paying for Spotify Premium rose three percent to 226 million on a quarterly basis as the streaming service announced price increases across the US and several other global markets. Spotify's monthly active users (MAUs) also rose to 574 million as of September 30th, a four percent increase from last quarter. Both rises were slightly above Spotify's forecast.Comparing performance year over year, Premium subscribers were up 16 percent while MAUs were up 26 percent. Spotify says the net growth in monthly active users was the second largest third-quarter increase in its history.Spotify's latest subscriber figures came as part of today's earnings report, which covers the three months ending September 30th. In the midst... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6FTH4)
Texts is a messaging app... for all your messaging apps. | Image: Texts Automattic, the company that runs WordPress.com, Tumblr, Pocket Casts, and a number of other popular web properties, just made a different kind of acquisition: it's buying Texts, a universal messaging app, for $50 million.Texts is an app for all your messaging apps. You can use it to log in to WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn, Signal, iMessage, and more and see and respond to all your messages in one place. (Beeper is another app doing similar things.) The app also offers some additional features like AI-generated responses and summaries, but its primary purpose is to unify your many inboxes into a single interface.Matt Mullenweg, Automattic's CEO, says Texts is not just a product acquisition but also the beginning of a huge new... Continue reading...
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by Makena Kelly on (#6FTH5)
Photo by Drew Angerer / Getty Images Data workers urged lawmakers to protect their rights ahead of a Senate meeting with artificial intelligence leaders on Tuesday.In a letter addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), workers and civil society groups demanded Congress guard against a dystopian future" of surveillance and low wages for the people in charge of training AI algorithms.The contributions of data workers, often invisible to the public, are critical to advancements in AI," the letter read. Congress should develop a new generation of economic policies and labor rights related to prevent corporations like Amazon from leveraging tech-driven worker exploitation into profit and outcompeting rivals by taking the low road."The letter was sent ahead... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6FT73)
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge PimEyes, a public search engine that uses facial recognition to match online photos of people, has banned searches of minors over concerns it endangers children, reports The New York Times.At least, it should. PimEyes' new detection system, which uses age detection AI to identify whether the person is a child, is still very much a work in progress. After testing it, The New York Times found it struggles to identify children photographed at certain angles. The AI also doesn't always accurately detect teenagers.PimEyes chief executive Giorgi Gobronidze says he'd been planning on implementing such a protection mechanism since 2021. However, the feature was only fully deployed after New York Times writer Kashmir Hill published an article... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6FT74)
Toyota's Land Cruiser Se concept. | Image: Toyota Toyota is bringing the content for its 2023 Japan Mobility Show showcase that includes an all-electric Land Cruiser SUV concept that could either be a serious contender to duke it out with competing three-row EVs or just a premature look for things to come.The Toyota Land Cruiser Se" has an angular boat-like appearance with a long hood, swooping windshield, and rounded rear end with a visor taillight design. The seven-seater concept also comes with some size specs: it has a 120.08-inch wheelbase and is 202.76 inches long, 78.35 wide, and 67.13 tall. It's got a wider stance and a shorter height than the real gas-powered 2024 Land Cruiser, which has a wheelbase of about 112 inches.The extra space between the wheels likely accounts for... Continue reading...
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by Emilia David on (#6FT4E)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The long-awaited EU AI Act is still under debate as European lawmakers can't agree on how to regulate foundation models, and it's unlikely to pass regulation before December.As first reported by Reuters, Spain, which currently heads the EU, is pushing for more regular vetting for vulnerabilities and the creation of a tiered system of regulation depending on the number of users a model has.European lawmakers have had three trilogues (a three-party discussion between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, and the European Commission) around the AI Act, with a fourth expected to happen this week.Another meeting has been set for December, if none of the parties agree on anything this month. This has sparked concern... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6FT4F)
Image: Murena The Murena 2, the follow-up to last year's de-Googled and privacy-focused Murena One smartphone, is now available to back on Kickstarter and has pulled in more than $156,000, far exceeding its $26,437 goal.The big update for this new model is a physical privacy switch that, when toggled on, disconnects the front and back cameras as well as the microphones. (It's kind of like the privacy switches we've seen for some laptops.) The Murena 2 also has a second physical switch that, when activated, flips on airplane mode to disconnect the phone from networks and turns on do not disturb mode.As for other hardware specs, the Murena 2 has a 6.43-inch screen with a 1080 x 2400 resolution, 128GB of storage, a 4,000mAh battery, and a MediaTek... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6FT4G)
AMD and Qualcomm Surface devices. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Nvidia and AMD are both reportedly planning to launch Arm-based CPUs for Windows-based PCs. Reuters reports that Nvidia has started designing Arm-based CPUs in what could be a major expansion of Microsoft's Windows on Arm work. Nvidia and AMD could both be ready with PC chips as soon as 2025, according to Reuters.Microsoft has so far exclusively partnered with Qualcomm for Arm-based versions of Windows 11, and the Reuters report comes on the eve of Qualcomm's next big Snapdragon launch for Arm-based chips that will likely power Samsung's upcoming flagship phone. Reuters reports that Microsoft executives will be part of Qualcomm's announcement tomorrow, including vice president of Windows and Devices Pavan Davuluri.Microsoft's first... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6FT4H)
Illustration: The Verge In a post earlier this month, Valve announced the Steam Link app will no longer be available on Samsung TV after November 30th, 2023." The service lets users wirelessly stream PC games from their Steam library to other devices, such as a TV or phone. It launched with the Steam Link dongle in 2015, which was discontinued in 2018 in favor of the app.Samsung brought the Steam Link app to its TVs in 2017 but stopped supporting it on newer TVs after the launch of its Gaming Hub, which focused on cloud gaming services like the ones from Xbox and Nvidia GeForce Now. However, Steam says users can access the Steam Link app on Apple TV and Android hardware, including the Nvidia Shield or Amazon Fire TV.While the Steam Link app might've seemed... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6FT4J)
Image: Square Enix Earlier this year, Final Fantasy XIV fans were treated to a first look at the next expansion, Dawntrail. Over the weekend, during the London leg of the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival event, Square Enix shared a bit more detail about the expansion, including a new trailer revealing the newest class: Viper.Viper will be a melee DPS class that seems similar to the Ninja class already present in the game. Vipers will dual-wield swords that can be fused together into one big sword for more damage a la Zidane from Final Fantasy IX. (Remember his Butterfly Sword?) As is tradition, the Viper was introduced by game producer Naoki Yoshida dressed up as the class, and as also is tradition, the look was pretty damn cool.(Eat your heart out, Todd... Continue reading...
by Nilay Patel on (#6FT1D)
Here's a Ram truck at CES 2018. | Image: Sean O'Kane / The Verge Stellantis - the gigantic international automotive conglomerate that owns everything from Jeep to Ram to Alfa Romeo and Opel - has canceled its plans for CES 2024, we are told via a short press release. The company blames the current United Auto Workers (UAW) strikes, which today expanded to include 6,800 workers at the factory that makes Ram 1500 trucks, which is the largest Stellantis factory in the United States. Stellantis has the worst proposal on the table regarding wage progression, temporary worker pay and conversion to full-time, cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), and more," the UAW said in a statement to Axios.As the costs of the ongoing UAW strikes against Stellantis continue to mount, the Company has decided to cancel its... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6FT1E)
A screenshot of the Meta Verified toggle. | Image: Meta Instagram is testing a toggle that lets you only see posts from Meta Verified users, according to Instagram head Adam Mosseri on Monday. We're exploring this as a new control for people and a way for businesses and creators to get discovered," Mosseri wrote on his broadcast channel.The new Meta Verified toggle will appear as an option under Following" and Favorites" when you tap the Instagram logo at the top of the app. The prominence of the toggle could make paying for Meta Verified, which costs $11.99 on the web or $14.99 in an app, a more attractive proposition as it gives people a new way to try and appear more prominently in an Instagram feed. That said, Mosseri's post didn't say how big the test is or who might have access to... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6FSXN)
Image: Marvel / Wizards of the Coast The great IP crossover experiment continues with Marvel showing up in yet another place you don't typically expect Marvel to be. Today, Wizards of the Coast announced that Marvel's bringing its iconic (and inescapable) heroes to Magic: The Gathering with new collectible products and tentpole sets" that will hit your Local Game Store in 2025.Crossovers are not new to Magic: The Gathering. It just launched the card game's Doctor Who-themed Commander set. Earlier this year, Magic released a Lord of the Rings set (complete with its own One Ring bonanza that caught the attention of prolific Magic collector Post Malone). Throughout the years, Magic has released tons of smaller, collectible sets based on everything from My Little Pony to Bob... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6FSXP)
Illustration: The Verge Google is adding some new features to the Google Play Games Beta on PC, its service that lets you play Android games on a PC, including support for 4K screen resolution on supported monitors" and for popular console gaming controllers. Google detailed the updates in a blog post from Arjun Dayal, Google Play Games' director of product.With the new support for 4K, you can now pick your screen resolutions while in game. Simply press Shift + Tab in any game to select from a menu of supported resolutions," according to Dayal.The game controllers that are now supported include the Xbox Series X / S controller, the Xbox One controller, Sony's DualSense controller for PS5, and its DualShock controller for PS4. Google isn't the only company... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6FSXQ)
Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Nvidia is rumored to be preparing Super versions of some of its RTX 40-series cards, including an RTX 4080 Super with 20GB of memory. VideoCardz reports that hardware leakers have been teasing out information about possible RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 Super cards recently, with reliable hardware leaker kopite7kimi backing up the claims.Nvidia canceled a 12GB variant of the RTX 4080 a year ago before announcing it as the RTX 4070 Ti at CES earlier this year. Now, the company might be preparing a 20GB variant of the RTX 4080 with the Super moniker that we haven't seen since the RTX 20 series. Nvidia is also rumored to be working on an RTX 4070 Super, too.The new RTX 40-series Super GPUs might have a higher memory busBoth RTX 40-series Super... Continue reading...
by Jay Peters on (#6FSXR)
Image: Netflix The first music video from Heartsteel, Riot Games' new virtual boy band starring characters from League of Legends, is here.The video, for the band's first song, Paranoia," has a slick look that harkens back to the awesome art style of Arcane, Netflix's animated series set in the League of Legends universe. While a second season for that show in the works, it's not set to release until Q4 2024, so this new video will have to tide you over for now. It helps that the song is pretty catchy. (You can hear it on music streaming services, too.)Heartsteel is just one of many virtual League bands, a roster that already includes K-pop group K/DA, Pentakill (heavy metal), and hip-hop group True Damage. Riot collaborates with real-life artists... Continue reading...
by Andrew Webster on (#6FSV0)
Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The VergeArt by Junji ItoOriginal story by Hirokatsu Kihara and Ichiro Nakayama It's been an interesting year for fans of Junji Ito. 2023 will be bookended by animated adaptations of the famed horror master's work; it started with Netflix's anthology in January, while Adult Swim's take on Uzumaki is expected by the end of the year. And right in the middle is a new collection of his work in English with Mimi's Tales of Terror. It's a series of short stories inspired by urban legends - just the thing for dark, cold October nights.The book is actually an adaptation itself, taking nine stories from Shin Mimibukuro - a collection of Japanese urban legends written by Hirokatsu Kihara and Ichiro Nakayama - and turning them into Ito's particular brand of horror manga. They follow the story of a university student named... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6FSV1)
A Together Towards Zero" projection during the Volvo AB news conference at the IAA Transportation show in Hanover, Germany, on Monday, September 19th, 2022. | Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi / Bloomberg via Getty Images More than 130 companies, including Volvo Cars, Ikea, Unilever, Nestle, and AstraZeneca, signed a letter calling on governments to adopt a global plan to phase out fossil fuels without carbon capture during upcoming international climate negotiations.Our businesses are feeling the impacts and cost of increasing extreme weather events resulting from climate change," the letter says. We have an important role to play in sending a clear signal about our future energy use, which is rapidly becoming cleaner through renewables." It was coordinated by the We Mean Business Coalition that advocates for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.Together, the signatories represent close to $1 trillion in global annual revenue from diverse industries,... Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6FNC2)
Level Lock has launched a new Wi-Fi bridge for its invisible" smart locks that pack all their tech into the deadbolt. But apparently, there's no room in there for Matter or Thread. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge On October 16th, smart lock maker Level announced a new Wi-Fi bridge for its locks to enable remote access and integrations with smart home technology platforms," including Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Welcome to 2015, Level.Let's back up. In November 2022, Level revealed that all its locks had Thread-capable radios, were compatible with Matter, and that they would soon be updated to support the standard. That hasn't happened yet. Instead, Level has released the Level Connect, a $79 Wi-Fi bridge that plugs into an outlet and acts as a bridge between its lock's Bluetooth radio and your internet router, so it can be controlled remotely and work with cloud-enabled smart home platforms.Why is Level resorting to the old ways when it... Continue reading...
by Jess Weatherbed on (#6FSV2)
Until we get some official stills of Amazon's Fallout series, we'll have to rely on games like Fallout 4 (pictured) to get us in the mood. | Image: Bethesda / The Verge Amazon has yet to release a public trailer for its highly anticipated Fallout series, but at least we now know when it'll arrive on our TV screens. The streaming giant has revealed that Fallout - a live-action adaptation of Bethesda's popular RPG video game franchise - will premiere on April 12th, 2024, exclusively via Prime Video.The announcement was made on October 23rd, otherwise known to Fallout fans as Fallout Day" - the in-game date that marks the beginning of the Great War that turns the world into an irradiated nuclear wasteland. Bethesda's executive producer and game director Todd Howard is an executive producer on the series, which stars Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets), Walton Goggins (The Hateful Eight), Aaron Moten (E... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6FSV3)
Amazon.com on iPhone supports passkeys so people can log in with Face ID. | Image: Amazon Amazon's rolling out passkey support for its online site and mobile shopping apps. Customers can log in to Amazon using just their devices' biometrics and start shopping without the need to enter a password or follow through with two-factor authentication (2FA) through email or text.Amazon dipped its toes into passkey support earlier this month for its web experience, but it wasn't ready for primetime yet since the implementation still required a 2FA code and wasn't enabled for the mobile apps. If you're interested in enabling passkey support with Amazon, you can enroll by going to Amazon.com, visiting your account settings, clicking Login & Security," and using the Set up" button next to passkey." Screenshot: Umar... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6FSV4)
These buds are even cheaper than they were during the recent Prime Day. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Amazon's second-gen Echo Buds may not be at the top of the pack for the best earbuds you can get in 2023, but they're quite good when they can be had for a song. That usually happens during sales events like Amazon Prime Day or Black Friday, but currently (on a random Monday), you can get the Echo Buds in black with a wireless charging case for just $56.99 ($83 off) on clearance at Best Buy. That's a new all-time low for these noise-canceling earbuds and almost as cheap as the lowest price we've seen on them with a wired charging case. It's also just $6 more than Amazon's newer, basic-looking Echo Buds for 2023, but those have a semi-open design that lacks noise cancellation.The Echo Buds came out in 2021 and offer a good value for... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6FSV5)
The social future is more open and connected -but what are you supposed to do with it? | Illustration by Hugo Herrera for The Verge The platform era is ending. Rather than build new Twitters and Facebooks, we can create a stuff-posting system that works better for everybody. Continue reading...
by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6FSQF)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating the range of Tesla's electric vehicles after reports surfaced that the company was relying on exaggerated numbers.In documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla said that it had received requests for information, including subpoenas from the DOJ, regarding certain matters associated with personal benefits, related parties, vehicle range and personnel decisions."Customers were incensed that their Tesla vehicles were falling well short of the advertised rangeEarlier this year, Reuters reported that Tesla had received so many customer complaints about range that it created a special diversion team" to cancel their service appointments. Customers were incensed... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6FSQG)
Image: Insomniac Games Marvel's Spider-Man 2 has become the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios title in the 24 hours following its release, Sony announced on Monday. The game sold over 2.5 million copies in just one day.Marvel's Spider-Man 2 was developed by PlayStation Studios' Insomniac Games. As the fastest-selling first-party PlayStation title, it dethrones God of War Ragnarok, which sold 5.1 million copies during its launch week last year. The first Marvel's Spider-Man also got the fastest-selling first-party crown following its release in 2018, selling 3.3 million copies in its first three days.
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by Jacob Kastrenakes on (#6FSQH)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The next big Snapdragon chip headed to Android phones is likely to be announced this week - and details have leaked early revealing a heavy focus on AI. According to MSPoweruser, Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will support some handy and creative AI camera tools, including the ability to remove objects from videos, expand areas of a photo, and generate fake backgrounds.The leaked marketing materials also boast about the chip's ability to run various AI models, including both Stable Diffusion and Meta's Llama 2. Making that happen is supposed to be an upgraded Hexagon neural processor, which the leaked document says is 98 percent faster (presumably than last year's processor, but the image doesn't clarify). Qualcomm showed off t... Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6FSMN)
New device types, including robot vacuums, smoke alarms, washing machines and refrigerators are coming to Matter. | Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge One year in, and Matter is adding support for fridges, robot vacuums, smoke alarms, and more. It's a major step toward a complete smart home, but success hinges on platform and manufacturer follow-through. Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6FSJX)
Now your mom and dad can help you find your next potential partner and stop dunking on your questionable dating choices. | Image: Tinder If you're the kind of person who asks friends and family for help with your love life, Tinder is aiming to make things a little easier by letting them suggest potential partners for you directly within the app. Tinder's new Matchmaker feature lets users invite their loved ones, regardless of whether they have a Tinder profile or not, to view and recommend potential matches, essentially integrating a friend test" into the dating app.Tinder Matchmaker is available now in 15 countries including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, and Germany, with a global rollout expected in the coming months." Users can start a Matchmaker session either directly from a profile card, or within the app settings - creating a link that can be shared... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6FSG2)
Metal Gear Solid 3 protagonist Naked Snake." | Image: Konami It's hard to fault the breadth of content Konami has included in its tantalizingly-named Vol. 1' collection. Just don't go in expecting many modern upgrades to these decades-old titles. Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6FS1Z)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge October starting to slip away, and so far, all we've gotten was a very confusing Apple Pencil, despite rumors of iMacs and iPads. Well, it sounds like that new 24-inch iMac is on its way this month after all. Mark Gurman thinks so, having written in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today that it's coming very soon - as early as October 30th, in fact. That would end, as Gurman notes, an over 900-day drought since the M1 iMac launched in the first half of 2021. While he did not specify the chip today, he has previously predicted this refresh would put an M3 chip in the new iMac.Gurman writes that he was told that Apple is planning a Mac-centered product launch around the end of this month." He adds that if you try to order the iMac,... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6FS0E)
Image: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 11, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome to the Installerverse, which is officially a thing now - we did it, everybody - and you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)I'm traveling this week, so I've got a slightly abbreviated issue for you. But there's just way too much good stuff not to share.This week, I'm spending all my free time playing Subpar Pool, testing Twine as my new go-to Android RSS reader, watching Zane Lowe talk music with Blink-182, learning about the incredible work of the masters of film set design, reading Cory Doctorow's new book, The Internet Con, finally for real canceling some too-expensive streaming... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6FRQW)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In 2020, scientists decided just to rework the alphanumeric symbols they used to represent genes rather than try to deal with an Excel feature that was interpreting their names as dates and (un)helpfully reformatting them automatically. Yesterday, a member of the Excel team posted that the company is rolling out an update on Windows and macOS to fix that.Excel's automatic conversions are intended to make it easier and faster to input certain types of commonly entered data - numbers and dates, for instance. But for scientists using quick shorthand to make things legible, it could ruin published, peer-reviewed data, as a 2016 study found.Microsoft detailed the update in a blog post this week, adding a checkbox labeled Convert continuous... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6FRPK)
Illustration: The Verge A jury found Google guilty of sexual discrimination and awarded female Google Cloud executive Ulku Rowe, who filed the complaint, $1.1 million. Rowe's lawsuit alleged that the company gave higher pay to less-experienced male cohorts and that it later denied her promotions in retaliation for her complaints, both internal and later in court.Bloomberg Law reported that the jury ruled that Google owes Rowe for both punitive damages and pain and suffering. However, the jury reportedly found that while Google treated Rowe differently than other employees because of her gender," Rowe hadn't proven that Google violated New York law by paying her less than two of her male counterparts.Rowe said before the trial started that her time at Google... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6FRN4)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Great news for the dedicated few Apple Home folks who use YouTube Music (I know you're out there!) - you can now integrate the service with your HomePods and either ask Siri to play songs using YouTube Music or set the service as your default source. 9to5Google spotted a Reddit post from YouTube Music product head Brandon Bilinski announcing the update. You can find instructions for setting up the integration on a support page for the service.The list of third-party music services that you can integrate with HomePods is still pretty lean. Until now, the biggest alternatives to Apple Music that have added that support were probably Deezer and Pandora. You can finally ask Siri to play music with Spotify on HomePods, but the company still... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6FRKJ)
Courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival Director Ali Kalthami's debut feature film, Mandoob, takes a fascinating look into the world of Saudi Arabia's rideshare and delivery drivers. Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6FRKK)
Diablo IV, the spookiest of dungeon crawlers, will be steeply discounted through Halloween. | Blizzard It's hard to believe, but Halloween is now just a little over a week away. Luckily, if you haven't had a chance to celebrate spooky season, a bunch of horror games are on sale this weekend. Now through October 31st, for example, Nintendo is taking up to 85 percent off digital Bethesda titles like the remastered Quake 2 (now $3.99) and Doom Eternal (now $15.99). Amazon Prime subscribers, meanwhile, can snag a free copy of Doom 3 - an Xbox 360-era classic - for PC until November 18th.Yet perhaps the best Halloween sale comes courtesy of Microsoft, which is taking up to 75 percent off hundreds of digital horror games through October 31st as a part of its Shocktober sale. The ongoing promo extends to newer Xbox titles like Blasphemous 2... Continue reading...
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