by Robyn Kanner on (#6RK8W)
Image: Neon The director of Anora talks about representing sex work onscreen and how sticking the landing of a film means thinking about it first. Continue reading...
The Verge
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
| Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
| Updated | 2026-08-05 03:19 |
by Sean Hollister on (#6RK5K)
The DJI Mavic Pro 3 drone. | Image: DJI DJI, the world's largest drone company, is suing to avoid being seen as a tool of the Chinese government. On Friday, it sued the US Department of Defense to delete its name from a list of Chinese Military Companies," claiming it has no such relationship to Chinese authorities and has suffered unfairly as a result of that designation.Since DJI was added to that list in 2022, the company claims, it has lost business deals, been stigmatized as a national security threat, and been banned from contracting with multiple federal government agencies," and that its employees now suffer frequent and pervasive stigmatization" and are repeatedly harassed and insulted in public places."It also alleges that the DoD would not offer the company... Continue reading...
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by Thomas Ricker on (#6RK5M)
The Stoke Voltaic Nomad Cooking System (left) and Joulle Kettle Pot. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge Sometimes you just need a portable electric cookset. Maybe it's during a major power outage when everyone's huddled together over the warm glow of the family power station. Or maybe it's at a tailgate party or picnic. In my case, it's anywhere I decided to park my van over the last few months while testing two cooking systems from Stoke Voltaics.Most portable cooksets are powered by a liquid fuel like propane. It's inexpensive and readily available in canisters of all sizes. But sometimes you'd rather not deal with an open flame, pollutants, and the noise and smell that comes with it. Stoke Voltaics' gear is powered by electricity, which can be easily supplied by a solar generator and replenished by the sun.I tested the company's new $... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6RK12)
Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge Book publisher Penguin Random House is putting its stance on AI training in print. The standard copyright page on both new and reprinted books will now say, No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems," according to a report from The Bookseller spotted by Gizmodo.The clause also notes that Penguin Random House expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception" in line with the European Union's laws. The Bookseller says that Penguin Random House appears to be the first major publisher to account for AI on its copyright page.What gets printed on that page might be a warning shot, but it also has little to do with actual... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6RK13)
People cross a street while a traffic light is off in Havana on October 18, 2024, during a nationwide blackout caused by a grid failure. | Photo: Getty Images Cuba lost power across the nation on Friday after a major power plant failed, according to the country's energy ministry. Blackouts have been a recurring problem for Cuba's aging power grid, the New York Times reported, noting the country has lacked fuel to run the gird fully for weeks.Its national electricity system was completely disconnected at 11:00AM local time, the energy ministry posted on X. By around 4:00, the ministry reported that it was able to get micro power grid systems running in some areas, and restoration continued throughout the evening and on Friday night.Early Saturday morning, Cuban energy minister Vicente de la O Levy said that two thermoelectric plants were starting up and there were 500MW of power in the system... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6RK14)
The Chevy Equinox is one of the cheapest EVs available. | Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge GM is about to start making money on its electric vehicles by the end of this year, right on schedule, CEO Mary Barra told The New York Times. Barra also told the publication that GM will still phase out the sales of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035, a goal it set in 2021 alongside a promise to be carbon neutral by 2040. GM faced manufacturing and supply chain issues affecting its battery production in late 2023 that delayed the launch of a bunch of its EV models, but Barra says they are fixed.Right now Tesla sells the most EVs in the US - and has been making a profit on them alone since 2021. The second largest producer of EVs in the country is Ford, but it has been posting more than a billion dollars in losses for the first... Continue reading...
by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6RK15)
Adult Swim Though Shinichir Watanabe's new animated series Lazarus still doesn't have a solid release date, Adult Swim has just dropped a wild new clip from the project showcasing its parkour-friendly vision of the future.Along with giving New York Comic Con attendees a chance to see Lazarus' first episode, Adult Swim revealed today that Koichi Yamadera and Megumi Hayashibara - the Japanese actors who voiced Cowboy Bebop's Spike Spiegel and Faye Valentine - are part of the show's cast. Yamadera and Hayashibara are joined by Mamoru Miyano (Death Note), Maaya Uchida (Chainsaw Man), Yuma Uchida (Jujutsu Kaisen), Makoto Furukawa (Kaiju No. 8), Manaka Iwami (Phantom of the Idol), and Akio Otsuka (Spy x Family).Adult Swim also posted a short clip from... Continue reading...
by Andrew Webster on (#6RK16)
Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment Yet another PlayStation blockbuster is making its way to PC. Sony announced that Spider-Man 2, one of the PS5's biggest exclusives, will hit PC on January 30th. It'll be available via both Steam and the Epic Game Store.The PC port will include the base game and all of its subsequent DLC, like New Game Plus mode and extra spider suits, along with PC-specific features like keyboard and mouse controls, ultra widescreen support, and numerous graphical options," according to Mike Fitzgerald, Core Technology Director at developer Insomniac. That will include enhanced ray-tracing options."As part of the announcement, Sony also revealed that we have no additional story content planned for Marvel's Spider-Man 2" on either platform.The port... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6RJX7)
Image: World Worldcoin, the cryptocurrency / human identity network / UBI project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, is now known as World. Along with the name change, World introduced an updated version of its eyeball-scanning Orb device which is designed to solve a problem that does not currently exist: authenticating that someone is human in the age of AI."People registered to the system get a World ID that they can use to securely and anonymously" prove their humanness online, as well as a share of its associated WLD cryptocurrency token.The new Orb is made with 30 percent fewer parts than its predecessor, which is supposed to make it easier and cheaper to build, and equipped with Nvidia's robotics and AI platform, Jetson, for some reason.... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6RJX8)
Save me some money, Ultrahand. | Image: Nintendo If you've been waiting to pick up one of the all-time great games for the Nintendo Switch, you can do so now for as cheap as it gets. Woot is offering first-time customers the chance to buy a physical version The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for $39.99 ($30 off) when you use code ZELDAWELCOME at checkout. If you've purchased from Woot before you can still buy the game for a solid $49.99 ($20 off) - or just make a new Woot account, we're not the cops.Last year's mega-hit from Nintendo followed in Breath of the Wild's footsteps as a direct sequel, but it rewrote the formula of its open-world take on Hyrule with new crafting, physics, and exploration mechanics. It's the kind of game that opens up all kinds of avenues for your... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6RJX9)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge Google just netted a small but key victory in its Epic legal battle. Last week, the company asked Judge James Donato to press pause on his November 1st deadline to drastically alter its Android app store rules. Today, he did just that, Epic and Google confirm to The Verge, granting Google a temporary administrative stay on all but one specific piece of his ruling.That means Google may not have to open up its Play Store for years, if at all, while it appeals the verdict. In December, a jury unanimously decided that Google's Android app store, the Play Store, had become an illegal monopoly, though Google is now appealing that jury verdict as well as the court's order.Technically, today's temporary administrative stay only pushes back... Continue reading...
by Allison Johnson on (#6RJXA)
The future of phones is flat. | Image: Digital Chat Station on Weibo The next OnePlus flagship looks a little flat - and that's a good thing. The alleged image of the unreleased OnePlus 13 was posted to Weibo and has been since removed, but not before it was spotted by 9to5Google. It shows the phone with flat sides rather than the curved edges featured by recent OnePlus phones. It's a small shift, but it would make OnePlus the latest in a long list of phone makers to adopt the (arguably more comfortable) flat edge design.The current trend dates back to 2020 when Apple released the iPhone 12 with flat sides, calling on an older design from the iPhone 4 and 5. Over the past few years, other companies followed suit with flat screens and less curved side rails: Samsung started straightening out the Galaxy S... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6RJXB)
Image: Nintendo Fans of the popular Mario blog, Supper Mario Broth, have come together to remind us that the internet can still be a place where good things happen.Supper Mario Broth is one of the most wholesome Mario blogs on the internet. Since 2017, its owner has posted a regular stream of Mario-flavored tidbits he could dig up including interesting glitches, old advertisements and merchandise, screenshots, gifs, artwork, and more. If it's obscure and has to do with Mario, Supper Mario Broth will let you know about it and the blog has become a celebrated institution in the broader Nintendo community.However on October 17th, the person behind all this wonderful content posted a video saying the entire endeavor was in danger of being permanently... Continue reading...
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by Lauren Feiner on (#6RJTJ)
Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is probing whether John Deere used unfair practices related to the repair of its agricultural equipment that might violate the FTC Act.The investigation into John Deere's restrictions on customers' right to repair agricultural equipment was revealed by data analytics company Hargrove & Associates, Inc. (HAI), as it fights a subpoena-like civil investigative demand (CID) from the FTC to hand over sales data. As reported earlier by Reuters, the company fears sharing the information the FTC seeks about agricultural equipment sales could harm its business relationships. Screenshot: Hargrove & Associates, Inc.'s Petition to Quash or Limit Civil Investigative Demand (FTC) We are... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6RJQS)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Getty Images Google's NotebookLM now lets you customize its podcast-like Audio Overviews. Before you generate a discussion using the note-taking app, you can give your AI hosts instructions about what topic you'd like them to focus on, or even tailor their discussions for different audiences.Google launched NotebookLM's Audio Overviews last month, with two AI hosts that offer a lively" discussion of your research. The company notes that its Audio Overviews aren't meant to be a comprehensive or objective overview of a topic" and are simply a reflection of the sources that you've uploaded and any instructions you provide." GIF: Google To customize the chat, open up a notebook in NotebookLM, select Notebook guide," and then... Continue reading...
by Victoria Song on (#6RJQT)
The AirPods Pro 2 recently received FDA authorization as OTC hearing aids. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge The Federal Communications Commission announced that, going forward, all mobile handsets in the US including smartphones will have to be compatible with hearing aids. It's also established new rules around volume control and improved product labeling so people with hearing aids can make informed buying decisions.The gist is that the FCC is establishing a Bluetooth pairing requirement, thereby discouraging smartphone makers from using proprietary versions that could limit compatibility. In a press release, it says that doing so will ensure universal connectivity between mobile phones, hearing aids, and over-the-counter hearing aids. While a Hearing Aid Compatibility Task Force report found that most smartphones do support hearing aids,... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Liszewski on (#6RJQV)
Ploopy's trackpad can be purchased preassembled or in a DIY kit. | Image: Ploopy Ploopy is expanding its collection of mod-friendly peripherals with a new seven-inch trackpad that supports multi-finger gestures and features like palm rejection. Like Ploopy's mouse and trackballs, its new trackpad runs on the QMK open-source firmware, further expanding how its functionality can be customized.The trackpad is powered by a Raspberry Pi RP2040, while finger tracking is handled by a Microchip ATMXT1066TD processor which can all be found on a single mainboard that's easy to swap into another case. Although Ploopy says the included 3D-printed case has a fantastic surface finish" and is great to use all day," you can download the case's open-source design files to print it using a different material or change its design... Continue reading...
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by Mia Sato on (#6RJM7)
Image: Bluesky A handful of changes coming to X may be pushing users to its competitor. Bluesky, the decentralized social platform, says it added 500,000 new users in a day this week. The new wave of signups could be related to several controversial changes on X in the last few days.This week, X users got a pop-up message notifying them that their posts will be visible even to users they've previously blocked. Those accounts still won't be able to interact with their posts, but it's a substantial change to how the block feature works that could open users up to harassment.Today, block can be used by users to share and hide harmful or private information about those they've blocked," an official X account posted. Users will be able to see if such... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6RJM8)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge WP Engine is asking a court to put a stop to Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg's public campaign against the company. In a motion for a preliminary injunction filed against Automattic and Mullenweg on Friday, the third-party hosting platform requests that the court restore its access to WordPress resources and allow it to regain control of its plugin that had been taken over.In the filing, WP Engine claims it's facing multiple forms of immediate irreparable harm" as a result of Mullenweg and Automattic's actions, including loss of customers, market share and goodwill." The company also says it saw a 14 percent increase in cancellation requests from September 26th to the 30th - just days after Mullenweg called WP Engine a cancer" to the... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Webster on (#6RJM9)
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge I have always had an adversarial relationship with alarm clocks. They are gadgets designed to ruin my most precious time, and in order to work effectively, they must be as annoying as possible. Which is why I was intrigued by Nintendo's surprise reveal of Alarmo. (Once I got over my surprise of it not being the long-awaited Switch 2 announcement.) What if getting up in the morning could be a little more playful? Maybe what I really needed all along was Princess Zelda's soothing voice or the chirps of tiny pikmin to ease me into consciousness in the morning.After a week with Alarmo, I have to admit that it hasn't changed much about my sleep patterns. It has some clever ideas, and it looks great on a shelf, but ultimately, it's still an... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6RJMA)
Image: Owen Grove / The Verge NHTSA is opening a preliminary evaluation into Tesla's Full Self-Driving mode (FSD) over the possibility of crashes in reduced roadway visibility conditions. The agency is opening the investigation after noting four reports of incidents like that, including one last November in Rimrock, AZ, where a Model Y struck and killed a pedestrian, as reported by TechCrunch.
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by David Pierce on (#6RJHM)
Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge Amazon launched four new Kindles this week, maybe the biggest single launch day in the 17-year history of the company's wildly successful e-reader. One of them even comes in color! It is very much not a coincidence that the launch happened roughly a year after Panos Panay joined the company. Panay, a longtime Microsoft executive who was for years in charge of all things Windows and Surface, is now leading the devices and services team at Amazon. His big task is Alexa and turning Amazon's assistant into the AI platform of the future. That's apparently coming soon. Maybe. But first: e-readers.On this episode of The Vergecast, Panay joins the show to talk about how he decided to join Amazon, why people love their Kindles so much, the S... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6RJF8)
Illustration: The Verge Google is planning to ban advertisers from running ads related to the US presidential election after polls close on November 5th. Axios reports that this is the second time Google has decided to ban election ads once polls close, after first implementing the policy during the 2020 election.Google says it's reenacting the policy again this year out of an abundance of caution and to limit the potential for confusion, given the likelihood that votes will continue to be counted after Election Day."During the last presidential election in 2020, it took days for President Biden's win to be confirmed after an influx of postal voting during the pandemic. Google's policy applies to any US election ads or ads that refer to the US elections that... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6RJF9)
Image: The Verge Google is updating Chrome on Android next month to greatly improve how password mangers operate inside the mobile browser. Chrome on Android will allow third-party password managers to natively autofill forms on websites, improving the experience of apps like 1Password, Dashlane, and others.Google offers its own password manager in Chrome, alongside passkeys and autofill support for information like your address and payment card data. While you can set a preferred autofill service on Android, it uses a compatibility mode inside Chrome that makes it feel super glitchy for third-party password managers. I regularly swap between iOS and Android devices, and using 1Password on iOS feels like a far better experience in Chrome even though it... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6RJDQ)
Image: Qualcomm Qualcomm has canceled its Snapdragon Dev Kit, the miniature Windows on Arm PC that was originally supposed to ship in June. In an email to customers, Qualcomm said the mini PC has not met our usual standards of excellence" and orders will now be refunded.Qualcomm has been struggling to ship the mini PC for months now, after originally planning to release it in June alongside the chips that powered the first wave of Copilot Plus PCs. Beyond the mention of not meeting standards, Qualcomm doesn't explain why it took months to reach the conclusion of canceling the hardware before it shipped to most people.Some developers, like Jeff Geerling, already received their Snapdragon Dev Kit before Qualcomm's cancelation. Greeling even performed a... Continue reading...
by Jay Peters on (#6RJ63)
Image: Amazon Amazon wants Prime Video to be the place you watch coverage of election night. The company announced today that it will be streaming a live election night special on Prime Video hosted by former NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. The show will kick off on November 5th at 5PM ET.Brian Williams will be joined live by guests including prominent contributors across news and traditional media, representing a range of backgrounds and perspectives, to share real-time poll results and commentary while also referencing third-party news sources across all political affiliations," Amazon writes in a blog post. The company adds that it will be an informative, accessible and non-partisan presentation." Amazon will announce the guests in the... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6RJ4J)
Image: The Verge OpenAI is testing a ChatGPT app for Windows - but it's only available to paid users for now. You can download an early version of the app from the Microsoft Store.Just like the Mac version of the app, ChatGPT on Windows lets you ask the AI-powered chatbot questions in a dedicated window that you can keep open alongside your apps. You can quickly access the app by using the Alt + Space shortcut.
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by Jay Peters on (#6RJ4K)
Image: Activision Activision says it has disabled a workaround to a detection system" in Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone that led to legitimate players getting banned by the Ricochet anti-cheat system. The company says the problem impacted a small number of legitimate player accounts," and all accounts affected were restored.However, zebleer, who runs the Phantom Overlay store selling cheats, claims the problem is much bigger than Activision's post makes it seem. In a detailed post on X, they write that when Ricochet scanned the memory of a player's computer to find known cheat software, one of the signatures it scanned for was a plaintext string reading:
by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6RJ4M)
Image: Zens Qi2 chargers are quite prevalent these days, and come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, so why not make one exclusively for Europeans with outlets above their kitchen countertops and a neat assortment of olive oils?Zens may have figured out the key to a truly wire-free wireless charger with its new Wireless Charging Adapter. It's a lot like most Qi2 / MagSafe chargers, capable of charging an iPhone at up to 15W, but it skips the usual wire between the outlet and magnetic pad to just plug directly into the wall. Image: Zens What, you don't color-match your charger and outlet covers to your wall? And you call yourself civilized? The 49.99 charger seems a little limiting if you don't have the ideal outlet... Continue reading...
by Jess Weatherbed on (#6RJ4N)
Project Turntable for Adobe Illustrator is capable of rotating vector images without warping the design elements. | Image: Adobe Adobe has been working on some experimental tech that could help speed up concept and planning work for graphic designers and audio engineers. Some of the sneaks" previewed during Adobe's MAX event include tools that can turn sketches into a variety of polished designs, and a feature for rotating 2D art as if it were a 3D object.Project Turntable" is capable of the latter. The tool allows users to click a button and then drag a slider along to automatically view and snap a vector image into a different viewing perspective - something that would typically require an artist to redraw the image entirely from scratch. The examples demonstrated at the event retained their original designs when rotated without warping into a new overall... Continue reading...
by Emma Roth on (#6RJ2B)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Netflix says subscribers spend an average of two hours each day using the platform, while household viewership increased compared to last year, according to the company's third-quarter earnings report released today.The streamer has had a massive past few months, reporting $9.83 billion in revenue and $2.91 billion in operating income. It also added around 5 million subscribers for a total of 282.7 million globally. Around half of subscribers who signed up for Netflix in the third quarter of 2024 chose the ad-supported plan.Netflix says it currently makes up just under 10 percent of total TV usage in its biggest countries. However, it believes there's a huge opportunity to grow that share" by consistently pushing more quality TV shows... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6RJ2C)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Last year, YouTube axed Premium Lite, its cheaper version of YouTube Premium, but the company has been testing a new version of the subscription in Australia, Germany, and Thailand, YouTube confirmed to Android Authority.The company confirmed the tests to The Verge as well, with spokesperson Jessica Gibby saying that it has been testing a different version" of the subscription with some users in Australia, Germany and Thailand for several months (with the most recent one beginning in Australia at the start of this year)." Gibby adds that we don't have anything else to share in terms of a broader rollout at this time."According to a screenshot shared by singer-songwriter Jonah Manzano on Threads, the Premium Lite subscription in... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6RJ2D)
Gen 2 Rivian vehicles can animate a red scanner light up front like KITT from Knight Rider. | Image: Rivian Rivian's getting into the Halloween spirit by adding new car costumes" to its electric vehicles that can theme out its screens to look like the Time Machine interface from Back to the Future or KITT from Knight Rider. (It'll animate red KITT-like scanner lights on the front of the car, too.) There's also a non-IP-specific Haunted" theme that displays a ghostly static TV screen inside the car.The costumes will come via a software update Rivian will roll out right after midnight local time tonight (October 18th at 12:01am). R1T and R1S vehicles must already have the 2024.39 update installed to get the new features, as well as the latest version of the mobile app. Image: Rivian KITT Driver screen. ... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6RJ2E)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg offered a second buyout round to employees who don't agree with his actions, according to a report from 404 Media. In a message to employees seen by the outlet, Mullenweg gave employees until October 17th to decide whether they would resign in exchange for nine months of pay.New alignment offer: I guess some people were sad they missed the last window. Some have been leaking to the press and ex-employees," Mullenweg wrote in the message seen by 404 Media. You have until 00:00 UTC Oct 17 (-4 hours) to DM me the words, I resign and would like to take the 9-month buy-out offer' You don't have to say any reason, or anything else. I will reply Thank you.' Automattic will accept your resignation."Earlier... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6RHZE)
Image: McLaren McLaren is updating the version of Google Chrome on its F1 racecar. By that, I mean: McLaren's got more Google Chrome logos and chrome finish than usual on the F1 car it's bringing to the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, this weekend.McLaren's MCL38 continues the tradition of rocking Google-colored wheels and logos, but like last year's special British Grand Prix version, the livery for this weekend's race has a splash of literal chrome beneath the Chrome logo, looking like it came out of a custom car shop from the aughts. This time, however, McLaren has added extra Chrome logos and what looks like a heavier slathering of metallic chrome that extends down the sidewalls.It's a lot of chrome, as driver... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6RHZF)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Federal Police of Brazil announced the arrest of the hacker linked to a breach that leaked 2.9 billion records that included sensitive personal information, including some Social Security numbers. The data from that hack, which came to light in August, was put for sale on the dark web in April by an entity identifying themselves as USDoD.As pointed out by Bleeping Computer, according to a machine translation of the department's press release, the hacker was linked to two publications selling" federal police data. The hacker also boasted of disclosing the personal data of 80,000 members of the FBI's InfraGard program, the department said.Security researchers at Atlas have created a tool to search the leaked records and told P... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6RHZG)
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge Unity hasn't had the easiest go of things as of late, but as part of its efforts to get back in the good graces of game developers, the company has released Unity 6 globally. In addition to new features like tools that let developers to target mobile web, the game engine maker is also promising that it will dedicate long-term" resources to to enhance feature sets and deliver new functionality while maintaining ease of upgrade and continued stability," according to a press release.Unity is a widely-used game development engine powering games like Among Us, Hollow Knight, and many more, but the release of Unity 6 follows a turbulent period in the company's history. Unity charges developers on a per-user basis, but in September 2023, the... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6RHW6)
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Apple Pay will now include Klarna as an option at checkout. The addition of the buy now pay later (BNPL) service comes just months after Apple shut down Pay Later, its own BNPL service launched in 2023.Klarna lets users purchase products with four interest-free installments. Even though BNPL services like Klarna are rising in popularity, surveys suggest the services may lead to overspending. Image: Apple These loans are also harder to track because most aren't reported to credit bureaus. Earlier this year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a rule that classifies BNPL services as credit card providers, requiring them to investigate disputed purchases and provide refunds for returned products.Alongside... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6RHW7)
Illustration: The Verge Google is making a big change to company leadership. In a memo to staff posted on Thursday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that Prabhakar Raghavan, the senior vice president in charge of search, ads, and other important segments, will now take on the role of chief technologist.Prabhakar has decided it's time to make a big leap in his own career," Pichai writes. After 12 years leading teams across Google, he'll return to his computer science roots and take on the role of Chief Technologist, Google. In this role, he'll partner closely with me and Google leads to provide technical direction and leadership and grow our culture of tech excellence."Raghavan has been in charge of ads and commerce since 2018 and was promoted to the head... Continue reading...
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by Gaby Del Valle on (#6RHW8)
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images The European Union has reportedly warned X that it could use the revenue of several companies owned by Elon Musk to calculate fines levied against the platform for violating social media laws. European regulators may take the annual revenues of Musk's other companies - including SpaceX, Neuralink, xAI, and the Boring Company - into account to calculate fines, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.X is being investigated for potentially violating several provisions of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping law that requires major platforms to remove posts that contain illegal content - and holds them financially accountable if they don't. Under the DSA, which was passed in 2022, regulators can fine companies as much as... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6RHW9)
Image: The Verge Xbox is putting on a 20-minute no fluff, all games" showcase from third-party studios. Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6RHWA)
Illustration: Beatrice Sala The FBI has arrested an Alabama man who is accused of hacking the Securities and Exchange Commission's X account in January. The indictment (PDF) alleges that 25-year-old Eric Council Jr. worked with co-conspirators to take control of the account and post a fake message from SEC Chair Gary Gensler about Bitcoin ETFs that caused the price of Bitcoin to jump by more than $1,000 momentarily.To carry out this scheme, Council is accused of creating a fake ID using the information belonging to the person in control of the SEC's X account. He then allegedly tricked AT&T into providing a SIM card with the victim's phone number and install it into a new iPhone he purchased. Finally, Council was able to gain control of the SEC's account using... Continue reading...
by Jay Castello on (#6RHRX)
Image: Jack Bullard for The Verge In Stardew Valley, you can usually only speak to characters a few times per day. This limitation has led to a number of mods that add things for them to say so that players can spend more time with their virtual pals. But like many games, Stardew recently turned to AI, resulting in the addition of a mod with the ability to have theoretically endless conversations with your favorite farm companion.The reception has been a lot better than I initially thought [it would be]," says modder DualityOfSoul. In the comments on Nexus Mods, users have called it brilliant" and one of the best mods out this year."To function, the mod plugs into OpenAI's API. The implementation is impressive but limited in its own way. Every character... Continue reading...
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by Nilay Patel on (#6RHRY)
Photo illustration by The Verge / Photo: Digitas The future of marketing - and, in a way, everything else - is getting a shakeup. Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6RHRZ)
SETIA ALAM, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - 2024/07/21:A charging plug seen attached to BYD car 6 at the EvX expo. | Photo" Getty Images Automakers aren't doing enough to identify and prevent human rights abuses along supply chains for EV batteries, Amnesty International warns in a new report.The charity ranked 13 of the world's largest EV manufacturers, giving each a score based on its human rights policies and practices. BYD, one of the leading companies in global EV sales, and Mitsubishi scored the worst. They scored just 11 and 13, respectively, out of 90 points possible. Mercedes-Benz and Tesla scored the highest - earning 51 and 49, respectively.The scores are still pretty grim across the board, though, showing how much work the industry has to do to protect workers and communities near mines. None of the companies included in the report show that they are... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6RHS0)
The park expansion is still under construction, but some early illustrations (pictured) give us an idea of what to expect. | Image: Universal Universal's Florida resort will open new worlds themed around franchises like Harry Potter and Super Mario on May 22, 2025. The announcement sets a date for the new park expansion, dubbed Epic Universe," which consists of four new worlds connected via a centralized hotel and shopping distinct called Celestial Park.The lineup includes Super Nintendo World, the first to open on the US East Coast following earlier versions that debuted in California and Japan. Some early glimpses reveal it has all the theming you'd expect for an immersive Mushroom Kingdom experience - down to entering the world through a massive green pipe - and is supposedly larger than the two previous parks. A third Harry Potter park is also one of the most anticipated... Continue reading...
by Emma Roth on (#6RHS1)
Laura Normand / The Verge Donald Trump said Apple CEO Tim Cook called him to discuss the billions of dollars that Apple has been fined in the European Union. Trump made the statement during his appearance on the PBD Podcast - and said that he won't let the EU take advantage" of US companies like Apple if reelected.Two hours ago, three hours ago, he [Cook] called me," Trump said. He said the European Union has just fined us $15 billion... Then on top of that, they got fined by the European Union another $2 billion." In March, the EU fined Apple around $2 billion after finding that Apple used its dominance to restrict music streaming apps from telling customers about cheaper subscription deals outside the App Store. The EU later won its fight to make Apple pay... Continue reading...
by Quentyn Kennemer on (#6RHS2)
Sorry, Chris Redfield, but Leon S. Kennedy is still Resident Evil's best protagonist. | Image: Capcom The Silent Hill 2 remake just came out for those looking for a nostalgic scare, but if you're in need of heebie-jeebies on a budget, the Resident Evil 4 remake is just as capable. It's down to $21.99 ($8 off) at Amazon for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. That's the lowest price we've seen for a physical copy, and it's just in time for Halloween and to reminisce about 2004 with us.Resident Evil 4 stars series favorite Leon Kennedy, who's been tasked with infiltrating a cultish compound in Spain to rescue the president's daughter, one Ashley Graham. It quickly becomes apparent that the cannibalistic desires of the townsfolk aren't due to sheer psychosis and viral mutation alone. The RE4 remake is very faithful to the original... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6RHS3)
Amazon's 2024 lineup includes a new note-taking Kindle Scribe, a faster Kindle Paperwhite, an upgraded entry-level model, and the apt-titled Colorsoft. Earlier this week, Amazon refreshed its entire Kindle lineup while adding a new color model to the mix. The updated entry-level Kindle ($109.99) and Kindle Paperwhite ($159.99) are available now, while the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition and updated Kindle Scribe will launch on October 30th and December 4th, respectively.We've yet to fully test Amazon's latest e-readers, but we came away impressed after briefly tinkering with them. They're faster than prior models, particularly the new Paperwhite, and the Kindle Colorsoft offers an impressive color display, even if it doesn't rival a tablet.We'll let you know how they stack up to other models after we spend more time with them, but if you can't wait, we've rounded up all the info... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6RHS4)
Ferrari F80. | Image: Ferrari Ferrari's new F80 hypercar can record the track it is driving on and will boost the driver at the right time during the next lap. The Boost Optimization" feature reads the straights and curves of the circuit and, with no further action from the driver, delivers more power to its hybrid system to help achieve the best lap time possible.You can use Boost Optimization in Performance" mode to get a consistent amount of electric power for as long as possible throughout your drive, or you can select Qualify" mode to max out on boost power at the proper times at the cost of losing battery power fast. Unlike Ferrari's SF90 Stradale and 296 GTB, there is no full-electric driving mode. Image: Ferrari The F80 has a 4WD... Continue reading...