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by Wes Davis on (#6FDB2)
The next Apple Vision headset could get built-in prescriptions. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Mark Gurman writes in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today that a future Apple virtual reality headset could be smaller and lighter, and each unit could ship customized from the factory for people with impaired vision. With the first-generation Vision Pro, the company's solution for glasses wearers is to stock optional Zeiss-made lenses in its retail stores, which creates its own problems with managing the supply, and turning its electronics store into a health provider.The article points out how fraught tying a product to a custom display could be, given how prescriptions can change with time and how it would limit the ability to share the headset or resell it.But Apple has almost certainly already thought about this, and... 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 07:32 |
by Wes Davis on (#6FD7F)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta is looking down the road at a follow-up to the Quest 3, which is releasing this week, and plans to take cues from Apple's Vision Pro while it races to mainstream its VR tech. That's according to Mark Gurman in today's Power On newsletter for Bloomberg, who writes that the company's Quest headset marketing plans have changed in response to Apple's Vision Pro announcement earlier this year. Part of the plan is to release a VR headset without controllers to get the cost down next year.Gurman says a person within Meta told him the company is in the afraid of Apple' stage," comparing it to the mobile phone industry just before the iPhone's launch. He writes that the company's shift away from a heavy focus on the metaverse and more to... Continue reading...
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by Kevin Nguyen on (#6FD61)
Image: A24 During World War II, the Germans designated the area surrounding Auschwitz the zone of interest." The dullness of the phrase was intentional, another euphemism as operative as concentration camp."In Jonathan Glazer's sorta adaptation of Martin Amis' eponymous novel, this self-delusion is on display. Hedwig Hoss (Sandra Huller) runs a stately home. She raises her children, bosses maids around, and tends to the garden. Their house is on a plot beside Auschwitz. Jews are being slaughtered on the other side of the wall.Whereas Amis' novel fictionalized its characters, Glazer centers it on the real-life Rudolf Hoss (Christian Friedel), the commandant of the camp and a rising star in the Nazi party. A powerful and frightening early scene... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6FD62)
Image: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 9, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, hurray! I'm so happy you're here, and also, you can catch up on all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)This week, I've been reading Zeke Faux's excellent crypto book and the story of the viral cookies that suddenly disappeared, trying desperately to figure out what the heck the Humane AI Pin actually does, pouring all my notes and tasks into NotePlan, watching the new-to-Netflix season of The Great British Baking Show and anything at all I can find about The Sphere in Vegas, and am on like my fourth week of being totally obsessed with the history of the AltaVista search engine.This week, I also have for you... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6FCXM)
K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images The Wall Street Journal wrote on Thursday that MGM Resorts International didn't pay the ransomware attackers who broke into its systems last month, forcing the company to shut down systems at several of its hotels and casinos. The hack kept many waiting to check into their rooms, including FTC chair Lina Kahn, who was in Las Vegas, Nevada to attend meetings about a merger between Kroger and Albertsons.MGM said in a press release that hackers made off with customer data, including names, contact information, date of birth, and driver's license numbers, as well as a limited number" of customers' social security numbers, passport numbers, or both.The company didn't specify how many people were affected by the hack, but according to its... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6FCXN)
Illustration: The Verge It's been almost 10 months since a trial date was set in Epic's antitrust lawsuit against Google, and with all of the other big tech cases going on right now, including Google's other antitrust proceedings, you'd be forgiven for forgetting about this one. But believe it or not, the trial will start in less than a month, on November 6th, in the United States District Court in California's Northern District.The court released a tentative list of witnesses, mostly executives and leads from both companies, on Thursday. Epic listed 53 witnesses it either will or might call, including Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Google and Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat, and Epic CEO Tim Sweeney.Andy Rubin, one of the co-founders of the Android... Continue reading...
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by Brandon Widder on (#6FCSR)
Hisense's latest entry-level model offers a lot for the price, including Mini LED backlighting and full-array local dimming. | Image: Hisense Happy Saturday, dear readers! As you might have seen, Amazon has already begun to roll out a bevy of deals and discounts ahead of its fall Prime Day event next week. However, Amazon isn't the only retailer currently slinging noteworthy discounts on Echo speakers, robot vacuums, and 4K TVs. Best Buy is also matching many of Amazon's current promos, including Amazon's terrific discount on the Hisense U6K, which drops the 55-inch TV down to just under $400 ($80 off).Although TCL TVs have been the go-to budget recommendation for the last decade or so, Hisense has really upped the ante in recent years. The U6K Series is a great example of a 4K ULED TV that punches above its weight with great color and contrast, low input lag, and Google's... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6FCSS)
Illustration: The Verge Mashable reports that users on X, formerly known as Twitter, have seen unlabeled ads in their feeds while scrolling through the company's mobile apps. When users tap them, they're taken to other websites, with no way to block or report them.Unlike normal ads that are just posts from company X accounts and have an Ad" label, these new ones have no account associated with them. Here, this post shows what they look like:
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by Wes Davis on (#6FCR3)
Illustration: Beatrice Sala 23andMe posted a blog yesterday saying that data from users of its genetic testing and analysis platform has been circulating on dark web forums after hackers used recycled logins to gain access to get into accounts. BleepingComputer wrote on Thursday that a hacker leaked what they said was 1 million lines of data" for Ashkenazi Jewish people before saying they would sell stolen 23andMe data for $1 - $10 per account. The data includes users' names, profile photos, genetic ancestry results, date of birth, and geographical location.The company confirmed to BleepingComputer that the data is legitimate in a statement it also shared in an email to The Verge. In the statement, 23andMe managing editor Scott Hadly wrote that "the preliminary... Continue reading...
by Ash Parrish on (#6FCR4)
Image: Ubisoft A richly constructed world and a pared-down gameplay experience refocusing on stealth and assassinations don't save a game that is largely just okay. Continue reading...
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by Natalie Weiner on (#6FCP1)
Photo illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge; Photo by Sean Gladwell / Getty Images A home for music diehards has been fractured by increased fees that are pushing sellers and shoppers to other platforms. Continue reading...
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by Barbara Krasnoff on (#6FCP2)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge The issueYou may have noticed recently that of the tabs on your Chrome browser have circles around the tab's icon and that the icon itself is smaller and slightly faded. What's that all about - and can I change them back? You can see how much memory has been freed up by hovering your cursor over the inactive tab. Quick fixChrome's recent Memory Saver feature, according to Google, automatically frees up memory from tabs you haven't used in a while." The circled tab icons indicate which tabs are currently inactive. To make them active again, you just have to click on them.The full storyI have a tendency to use a lot of tabs over the course of a working day - and I'm sure a lot of our readers do the same. Some of... Continue reading...
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by Nathan Edwards on (#6FCP3)
Temperature sensor. Temperature sensor? Temperature sensor. | Image: Google The Pixel 8 Pro has an infrared temperature sensor. Why does the Pixel 8 Pro have a temperature sensor?For an unusual feature on a $1,000 flagship phone, Google really isn't saying much about it. The Pixel 8 Pro announcement mentions it almost in passing:
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by Kevin Nguyen on (#6FCP4)
Image: Neon Before Anatomy of a Fall gives us a body, we get a booming steel drum cover of 50 Cent's P.I.M.P." It's coming from upstairs, where Sandra's (Sandra Huller) husband is insulating the attic. But he's playing the music loudly - possibly out of spite. Sandra is downstairs answering a grad student's questions about her career as a successful novelist, speaking pretentiously, and predictably, about how reality informs her fiction. Samuel (Samuel Theis), the husband, is also a writer but has never been able to publish a book. Blasting horrible music is perhaps how he expresses that bitterness to his wife. An hour later, he'll be found outside, head cracked open after tumbling from the third floor.That's the initial assumption at least. But... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6FCM4)
Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge One of the first known photo fakes, a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, was made just decades after the dawn of photography itself. Since then, photographers have found themselves in endless arguments about what truly constitutes a photo - what's real, what's fake, and when is editing too much? Now, as we head into an era where AI-powered tools are everywhere and easily accessible, the discussion is going to be messier than ever. And with the Pixel 8, Google has turned the question of what is a photo" right on its head.Google has been leading smartphone photography down this path for many years now. The company pioneered the concept of computational photography, where smartphone cameras do a huge amount of behind-the-scenes processing to... Continue reading...
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by Kevin Nguyen on (#6FCM5)
Image: GKids The setup of Blue Giant is familiar anime territory: a young boy from a small town moves to Tokyo to pursue his dream. This boy, Dai, is a saxophone obsessive. He practices all day under a bridge, honking and warbling until he wears out his reed. Naturally, Dai wants to be the greatest jazz musician in the world.For all his audacious ambition, Blue Giant is largely restrained. The movie focuses on the trio that forms the band - and even shifts its attention away from Dai at around the halfway mark. There's also Sawabe, a savvy and smug pianist who knows how the club performance circuit operates. And then there's Dai's roommate, Tamada, a high school friend who improbably becomes the band's rhythm section after trying the drums just... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6FCHG)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Intel has teased a Windows refresh" for 2024 which it hopes will boost its revenues. During Citi's analyst conference last month Intel CFO David Zinsner discussed a Windows refresh next year, suggesting that consumers might upgrade their PCs because of a new release of Windows.We actually think 2024 is going to be a pretty good year for client, in particular because of the Windows refresh," said Zinsner at the Citi analyst conference on September 6th. We still think that the install base is pretty old, and does require a refresh. We think next year may be the start of that given the Windows catalyst."Zinsner's comments from a month ago were spotted by PC Gamer, and come months after references to Windows 12 were leaked from internal... Continue reading...
by Jay Peters on (#6FCCG)
Image: Bethesda Softworks Remember Redfall? The blood-sucking shooter with soul-crushing problems? The game that released in May without a 60fps performance mode on Xbox? The game that, according to a Eurogamer article from earlier on Friday, hardly anyone has been playing on Steam? Well, it got a big new update on Friday - including that long-awaited performance mode.Arkane Studios detailed everything new in Redfall's Game Update 2 in a blog post on its website. In addition to the performance mode, the update adds things stealth takedowns, more enemies in the open world, some changes to controller settings, improvements to screen narration, and a lot more. It seems like a pretty substantial patch.Will it be enough for a Cyberpunk 2077-style turnaround, though?... Continue reading...
by Jay Peters on (#6FCCH)
Image: Ubisoft Amazon now offers the ability to buy games on its Luna cloud gaming service, but the new feature comes with a big catch: at least for now, you'll only be able to buy select Ubisoft titles.For me, Amazon was advertising games you can buy right on the main Luna homepage, including the just-released Assassin's Creed Mirage. However, if you end up buying an Ubisoft game on Luna, you'll need an Amazon Prime or a Luna Plus subscription to be able to stream that purchased game, according to an Amazon blog post about the feature. The ability to buy games is all well and good on its own; previously, you could only play games on Luna by subscribing to specific channels of content, accessing a rotating set of games available to... Continue reading...
by Elizabeth Lopatto on (#6FCAY)
What did Gary Wang commit? | Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge Gary Wang supervised the code that gave Alameda special privileges at FTX. But it's hard to conclude anyone but Sam Bankman-Fried gave the orders. Continue reading...
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by Emilia David on (#6FC8M)
Image: BBC The BBC, the UK's largest news organization, laid out principles it plans to follow as it evaluates the use of generative AI - including for research and production of journalism, archival, and personalized experiences."In a blog post, BBC director of nations Rhodri Talfan Davies said the broadcaster believes the technology provides opportunities to deliver more value to our audiences and society."The three guiding principles are that the BBC will always act in the public's best interests, prioritize talent and creativity by respecting the rights of artists, and be open and transparent about AI-made output.The BBC said it will work with tech companies, other media organizations and regulators to safely develop generative AI and... Continue reading...
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by Ariel Shapiro on (#6FC8N)
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images The pain is not over yet for the podcast industry, with layoffs and cancellations continuing to pile up. Amrita covered the WNYC layoffs yesterday, which, thanks to negotiations between management and the union, were not as steep as initially expected (6 percent laid off versus 12 percent previously announced). Last week, Pushkin laid off another 30 percent of staff in its third round of cuts this year, with shakeups even targeting its C-suite. And live audio took another hit on Wednesday, with Amazon shutting down Amp.I have been talking to people from the business side of podcasting about how the ad market has changed and why it is hitting podcasts so hard, especially when the economy seems to actually be doing... fine? As I wrote... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6FC8P)
Sharge's transparent batteries and retro Mac charger. | Image: Sharge Ever heard of Sharge? The company is arguably just as responsible as Nothing for bringing transparent gadgets back - its see-through batteries swarmed social media and have inspired a wave of copycats. Less famously, it sells a kickass charger shaped like a classic Mac that offers 67 watts of USB-C PD charging across three ports despite its tiny frame.They all tend to be pricey, but through October 11th, almost all of its chargers and power banks are on sale for their best prices ever - after you clip the Amazon coupon codes, anyhow.I do want to caution you: while the transparent batteries are very cool, they run a little hot - I've sometimes found they stopped charging my most demanding devices due to overheating. That and an... Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6F9TJ)
You can already buy the latest clock-equipped Echo Dot for $44.99 ($15 off). Prime Big Deal Days, Amazon's next Prime Day-like sales event, doesn't officially kick off until October 10th, but the tech giant is already giving Prime members and non-members alike a taste of what's to come. A whole bunch of (mainly Amazon) gadgets are discounted ahead of the two-day shopping event, including Amazon's latest smart speakers, e-readers, TVs, tablets, and various smart security devices.Below, we've rounded up a selection of the best deals so far, many of which we expect to hold throughout the duration of the event. We'll also be covering the deluge of other notable discounts once the event kicks off in earnest, so make sure to keep an eye on all of our deals coverage in the coming week.The best smart... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6FC62)
Lenovo's rollable laptop concept. | Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge At first, Lenovo only seemed casually jealous of Framework's modular repairable laptops - first, it sent a cease-and-desist over a Framework power button, then it unveiled its own modular concept laptop dubbed Project Aurora with no promise to actually build such a thing.But it looks like the ThinkPad and Motorola owner might actually be serious about ramping up repairability. More than 80 percent of our devices will be able to be repaired at the customer," Lenovo executive Luca Rossi told the Canalys EMEA Forum 2023, according to The Register.Batteries, SSD, many things will not any longer be sealed into the product but will be available for the customer to be to repaired on site and then save a lot of waste," he reportedly said.L... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6FC38)
Richter Belmont. | Netflix Castlevania: Nocturne's season 1 finale made it crystal clear that there was even more to Richter Belmont's story still waiting to be told. But just in case there was any doubt that Netflix planned to bring the show back, the streamer's already teasing what's coming next.Along with a brief teaser video featuring production footage from the series, Netflix announced today that Castlevania: Nocturne will return for a second season following the adventures of Richter Belmont, Maria Renard, and Annette as they continue to wage war against demons. Both Sam and Adam Deats will return to direct the second season, and studios Project 51 Productions and Powerhouse Animation will continue to produce.Though Netflix didn't share a release date for... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6FC39)
Image: Getty Images The Treasury Department released new guidance Friday outlining how car dealers can give customers instant access to the electric vehicle rebate starting in January 2024. It's the latest move by the Biden administration to bring down the cost of EVs in the hopes that more people will buy them.The new guidance lays out how dealers can effectively reduce the price of an EV by as much as $7,500 at the point of purchase rather than the customer having to wait until they file their taxes to claim the credit.The administration hopes that by applying the credit immediately, more people will be convinced to consider an EV for their next purchase, which will help toward achieving the goal of making EVs 50 percent of new car sales by 2030.The... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6FC01)
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge I can't believe Google finally did it. I'm still in disbelief. An Android phone with seven years of updates - not security patches, but real OS and feature updates? It's unheard of. It's historic.It's the opposite of what we've come to expect from Google over the past decade and change - so many great smartphone features sadly left locked away because of Android fragmentation, so many products buried in the Google graveyard. With seven years of OS upgrades, security updates, feature drops, and AI innovations," will the new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro finally break the cycle?I was ready to buy a Pixel this week, and I still might. I want to believe.But during Google's keynote, I noticed a gaping hole in Google's promise - and though we... Continue reading...
by Victoria Song on (#6FC02)
There's contact pin charging now. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Unlike the smooth puck used with the first-gen Pixel Watch, Google's new Pixel Watch 2 has switched to a charger with pogo pins - a design used by Fitbit on all of its fitness trackers and smartwatches. Complicating matters, it also looks like first-gen Pixel Watch cases aren't compatible with the new watch, either. All this can be frustrating from a user standpoint, but it highlights why smartwatches and wearables will rely on proprietary accessories for a good long while.Switching to pogo pin charging might seem like a step back, but it's a functional choice. With the Pixel Watch 2, Google and Fitbit opted to add a new multipath sensor instead of the single strip of LEDs on the first watch. The upside is the additional sensors will... Continue reading...
by David Nield on (#6FC03)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge iOS 17 is available now and ready to install if you've got an iPhone released in the last five years - and as usual, Apple has added upgrades and new features to its iOS apps as well as to the mobile operating system itself.Here, we'll show you what you can now do in Messages using iOS 17 that you couldn't do before. There are several new features that you're likely to find useful, while a few existing features have been reorganized and improved upon.(What we still don't have yet and are unlikely to get in the near future is RCS messaging. Any of your friends or family members who are on Android are still going to appear as green bubbles and won't be able to share in a lot of the new iOS 17 features.)Audio messages are transcribedIf... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6FC04)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Microsoft has launched a new web version of its app store for Windows. It's designed as a replacement for the existing way to find Windows apps on the web, with links from the site opening in the Microsoft Store client on Windows 10 or Windows 11.The software giant has ditched its old React codebase from its previous web version of the Microsoft Store and replaced it with a modern web version that uses Shoelace, Lit, Vite, and a C# ASPNET backend.The old site was a React codebase built on an obsoleted UI framework," explains Microsoft engineer Judah Gabriel in a post on X (formerly Twitter). We created a fresh user experience with a thoughtfully designed interface, easier ways to discover new apps, modern web tech stack. I hope... Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#640MD)
Yale's latest smart locks offer something for everyone: Apple Home Key, a fingerprint reader, and compatibility with every platform. You just can't have it all. (And there's still no support for Thread or Matter.) Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6FBWH)
God bless Mark Hamill and his willingness to still say this after nearly 50 years. | Image: State Department / Screenshot The first thing we see is the planet Earth, floating in space like the beautiful marble it is before plunging through a wormhole and racing across space. We emerge in a well-lit California living room in front of an older man with a graying goatee and a familiar voice.Hello, I'm Mark Hamill," he says. The guy who played Luke' in all those Star Wars movies."As if we needed to be reminded. Hamill is lending his famous face and voice to the US State Department for a series of videos about - what else? - space. The six-part series, which is now live on the State Department's website, touches on a variety of space innovations, such as microbes, astronauts staying fit in space, maintaining muscle mass, advancing robots that track... Continue reading...
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by Verge Staff on (#6FBWJ)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Life these days can be very complicated, and many of us - I'd guess that most of us - are constantly looking for the best method to keep our lives in order. What do you need on your grocery list? When is that work project due, and who is working on it with you? A friend wants to do a movie-watching session, but is that the same day you promised your parents to help clean the garage? Which bills are due, and can you afford to pay them all? Where is that article about which masks to wear? And on and on.So we've asked the staff of The Verge what they use to keep track of all their appointments, tasks, projects, and workflows. And it turns out that they use a variety of different apps or some fairly old-fashioned paper-and-pen solutions -... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6FBWK)
A pile of new Pixel 8 devices. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge I don't know if you've heard, but Google's latest products are filled with AI. There's Magic Editor, a photo editing tool powered by generative AI; there's Conversation Detection, an audio transparency feature powered by AI; there are improved heart rate algorithms, which, yes, are also powered by AI.Seven years of OS updates? Sounds like a great way to get more AI features from Google. New photography features? All AI. Tensor processor? Designed for AI, baby! As always, our focus is on making AI more helpful for everyone, in a way that's both bold and responsible," Google's hardware chief Rick Osterloh said in an introduction that, by my count, included the word AI" over a dozen times. Over the course of the hour-long launch,... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6FBWM)
The free membership plan may soon be removed entirely. | Illustration: The Verge X (formerly Twitter) is looking to split its premium subscription service into three membership tiers, allowing the company to vary subscription pricing based on how many ads are shown to the user. According to Bloomberg's source who attended a Thursday call with X and debt holders that helped Musk finance the acquisition, the company is currently testing Basic, Standard, and Plus variations of the existing premium plan, which currently starts at $8 per month. It remains unclear if a free version will continue to exist.No pricing information has been announced for the new membership tiers. However, according to details previously discovered in the X app, the entry-level Basic plan will not reduce the number of ads that users see on the... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6FBWN)
The Pixel Buds Pro will be getting software updates with new features over the next few weeks. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge It's been a week of Google news, both on the announcement stage and even in the courtroom. While the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro may have received much of the attention at the Made by Google keynote, Google also announced a sizable software update coming for its Pixel Buds Pro that includes automated conversation detection and increased voice call bandwidth.What a perfect time, then, for the Pixel Buds Pro to drop to a new low price. You can get Google's flagship wireless earbuds for just $134.99 ($65 off) at Wellbots when you use code VERGE65 at checkout until October 11th. The Pixel Buds Pro are some of the best earbuds you can buy today, particularly if you're a Pixel phone owner and want to take advantage of exclusive features like... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6FBQJ)
Magnifier includes some additional accessibility benefits that go beyond simply zooming into distant text. | Image: Google Google has released its Magnifier app for Pixel phones that's designed to make small, dimly lit, or distant text easier to read. The new accessibility app debuted on the Pixel 8 series introduced at Google's Pixel event earlier this week, and allows users to magnify small text, see object details, or zoom in on faraway text like street signs or restaurant menus behind a service counter," according to the Magnifier app Play Store listing.Magnifier is currently supported on Pixel 5 phones or later, though that doesn't include the Pixel Fold or Pixel Tablet devices according to 9to5Google. The app itself features a fairly simple user interface. The default screen includes large + and - buttons used to control the zoom function, located on... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6FBQK)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is planning to finalize its $68.7 billion proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard next week. A source familiar with Microsoft's plans tells The Verge that the company is eyeing up Friday October 13th as the closing date where it announces to the world that the 20-month process to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard is over.That date will still depend on the UK's Competition and Markets Authority though, a regulator that blocked Microsoft's deal earlier this year. Microsoft recently restructured the deal to transfer cloud gaming rights for current and new Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft, and the Xbox maker secured preliminary approval from the CMA late last month as a result.The CMA has a deadline that expires... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6FBNV)
Image: Genvid Silent Hill: Ascension, the interactive streaming series set in the universe of the classic horror games, will have its world premiere" on October 31st at 9PM ET, says Jacob Navok, the game's executive producer and CEO of developer Genvid. If you want to take part you'll be able to participate through Ascension's iOS and Android apps, or by visiting Ascension.com.I use the phrase world premiere' intentionally because Silent Hill: Ascension is not a game," Navok explains. It is a streaming series where you, the audience, participate live to determine what happens. You, and the rest of the community, will decide the fate of its characters." That doesn't mean Ascension is live-action, however. It's very much a video game-looking... Continue reading...
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by Elizabeth Lopatto on (#6FBFJ)
Choose your college roommates carefully... | Photo illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Drew Angerer, Getty Images Two of Bankman-Fried's MIT roommates make a damning case for the prosecution. Continue reading...
by Amrita Khalid on (#6FBEB)
Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images The Canadian regulatory body that oversees radio, television, and online streaming services put out a news release last week about a provocative new rule. Any online streaming service that operates in Canada, offers broadcasting content, and earns more than $10 million in annual revenue will need to complete a registration form by November. This includes online services that offer podcasts, the release stated.The move has drawn some criticism on social media as well as in op-eds in a number of Canadian news outlets, which suggest that the rule is the beginning of an effort by the government to control speech on podcasts. A spokesperson for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) told Hot Pod that that... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6FBEC)
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge Sony is sending out notices to some current and former Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) employees warning that their personal information was compromised in a system breach that occurred in May. The letters went out to about 6,800 affected individuals, as reported by Bleeping Computer. The publication also received confirmation from Sony that another breach occurred in September.A ransomware group known as Cl0p claimed responsibility for breaking into a Sony server in June. The breach occurred via a vulnerability in the file-sending MOVEit Transfer platform that SIE was using. Sony is one of many organizations that have been affected by MOVEit cyberattacks.Progress Software, the creator of MOVEit Transfer, told its clients... Continue reading...
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by Emilia David on (#6FBCE)
The real World Trade Center in 1980. | Photo by Jack Mecca / Getty Images After some users of Bing's DALL-E 3 integration found a loophole in the tool's guardrails and generated art featuring several beloved animated characters and the Twin Towers, Microsoft seems to have blocked prompts like twin towers' and world trade center' - although the generator will still produce the towers with some word changes.As reported by 404 Media, users of Microsoft's Bing Chat and its Bing image generator - recently integrated with OpenAI's DALL-E 3 - used the tools to create photos of SpongeBob SquarePants, Kirby, pilots from Neon Genesis Evangelion, and many others flying a plane into the Twin Towers.People have been able to create truly unhinged photos using AI image generators, some featuring copyrighted characters.... Continue reading...
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by Richard Lawler on (#6FBCF)
Image: Microsoft The new Forza Motorsport's strengths are in the sections you can't see with your eyes, like better physics, AI, and audio. Continue reading...
by Jay Peters on (#6FBA6)
Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is suing Elon Musk over his refusal to testify in an investigation into Musk's purchase of Twitter stock in 2022.According to the SEC's complaint, Musk was scheduled to appear for testimony on September 15th after receiving a subpoena. However, two days before his scheduled testimony, Musk abruptly notified the SEC staff that he would not appear" and apparently raised several spurious objections, including an objection to San Francisco as an appropriate testimony location," the SEC said. The lawsuit was first reported by Bloomberg.The SEC says it offered to conduct the testimony in Fort Worth, Texas, which is closer to where Musk lives, as well as on multiple dates in October and... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6FBA7)
Image: iRacing iRacing, known for its simulation racing game for PC, has acquired the rights from Motorsport Games to make a NASCAR racing sim for consoles, according to a Thursday press release. NASCAR and iRacing already work together on virtual races within iRacing that have thousands of people participating daily," the press release says, and now they'll partner up for a NASCAR game for PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and Steam that's expected to come out in 2025.Having the ability to build a NASCAR console game is a privilege we promise to execute with the utmost care," iRacing president Tony Gardner said in a statement. We look forward to working diligently with NASCAR industry stakeholders to deliver a product that provides an amazing... Continue reading...
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by Mia Sato on (#6FBA8)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Fortnite developer Epic Games is changing the way it charges people who use its creation tool Unreal Engine sometime next year - but only for a subset of users, according to CEO Tim Sweeney (via Game From Scratch).Game developers using Unreal Engine won't be affected and will continue to pay for a license based on a royalty model. However, users in industries like film or automotive will be moved to per-seat pricing, meaning they'll be charged for the subscription the same way someone might pay for Photoshop.In posts on X, Sweeney clarified that educators and students will be able to continue to use Unreal Engine for free, and there will be a minimum revenue threshold for indie filmmakers and others whose commercial projects earn... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6FBA9)
A white Xbox 360 with a hard drive, controller, and a copy" of Halo 3 - you build them all with bricks. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Have I mentioned recently that I have the best job in the world? This week, I spent three and a half hours building an Xbox 360 out of Mega Bloks, the Lego-like bricks produced by Mattel.In September, we brought you word that Target would exclusively sell a brick-built $150 Xbox 360 replica, complete with a gamepad, internal Easter eggs, and a copy" of Halo 3.Now, ahead of an October 8th debut, I've built the thing, snapped some hasty photos, and shot a little basic video:
by Umar Shakir on (#6FBAA)
Lucid is finally ready to ship a lower-end offering for customers who are interested in the automaker's electric Air sedan. The new Lucid Air Pure RWD brings the line's starting price down to $77,400 - the entry price announced by the automaker in 2020 - with 410 miles of range on a single charge when equipped with 19-inch wheels.With a single rear-wheel motor, the Lucid Air Pure saves customers $5,000 by eschewing the dual motors in the Air Pure AWD, which was Lucid's lowest-cost offering at $82,400 since it cut prices in August.The Pure RWD outputs 430 horsepower and accelerates from 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds, compared to 480 horsepower and 3.8 seconds 0-60 mph for the AWD version - but with no loss in range. Lucid does mention that... Continue reading...