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Image: Microsoft Microsoft is moving some Microsoft Teams features over to its more costly Premium edition. Microsoft Teams Premium has been available as a 30-day trial since last month and will soon have exclusive access to features like live translated captions, custom Together Mode scenes, and virtual appointment options.The Register spotted that Microsoft revealed the changes in a licensing guide update late last month. Microsoft admits “some Teams features will move from Teams licenses to [a] Teams Premium license” once the Premium edition launches fully in February. Microsoft will keep the features inside the regular Microsoft Teams offering for 30 days once Premium launches, though. Here’s the full list of features affected:

The Verge When Tinder launched in 2012, its creators didn’t think much of it. “We put together what would eventually become Tinder in about six to eight weeks and launched it,” says Jonathan Badeen, one of Tinder’s co-founders and inventor of the swipe. The swipe was kind of like Tinder’s secret weapon — it seems obvious now, but a decade ago, swiping transformed mobile dating by turning it into a kind of game.Swiping was fun and compulsive, keeping users on the app for hours on end. It releases dopamine, a chemical in your brain that gives you a sense of pleasure, which, according to Dinesh Moorjani, another of Tinder’s co-founders, kept users hooked on the platform. “We had some users that were using the app north of 30 to 40 times a day.”“You... Continue reading…

A Chevy Silverado EV. | Image: GM Some big names in smart homes, solar power, and electric vehicles launched a coalition yesterday to develop standards and policies for virtual power plants.The effort was initially funded by Google Nest and General Motors and will be spearheaded by the clean energy advocacy nonprofit RMI. The new coalition is called the Virtual Power Plant Partnership, or VP3, and its founding members also include Ford, solar energy companies SunPower and Sunrun, as well as smart electrical panel maker SPAN and several other energy management companies.Virtual power plants (VPPs) tap into the idea that electric vehicles and home solar systems can serve as backup power sources for the electricity gridVirtual power plants (VPPs) tap into the idea that... Continue reading…

Another CES has come and gone. And after spending a few days reflecting on what I saw at the big trade show, it’s clear that 2023 will be a relatively quiet year for TVs on the whole. There were no major breakthroughs or new standards demonstrated at the show — at least none that will make it into your living room this year.Instead, we saw a lot of iterative, predictable evolution of current home theater tech. TCL and Hisense offered up Mini LED TVs with more dimming zones than we’ve ever seen. Samsung and LG are producing the most impressive OLED TVs yet. And nearly TV maker is talking up AI and deep learning gimmicks that cover everything from adding more depth to an image to rethinking the concept of picture modes.Let’s cover some... Continue reading…

Andrew Tate (seen left, holding a book) and his brother Tristan (right of Andrew) lost their appeal against the decision to extend their pre-trial detention from 24 hours to 30 days. | Image: DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP via Getty Images A court in Bucharest, Romania upheld the 30-day arrest of controversial influencer Andrew Tate on Tuesday, rejecting his appeal against a judge’s earlier decision to extend his arrest from 24 hours to 30 days. Tate, 36, a dual British-US citizen, was arrested on December 29th along with his brother Tristan (34) on charges of organized crime, human trafficking, and rape. Two Romanian women were also taken into custody.In a court document obtained by ABC News, the judge said “the possibility of them evading investigations cannot be ignored,” and that they could “leave Romania and settle in countries that do not allow extradition.”“I am very disappointed. The measure seems excessive to me,” said Eugen Vidineac, the Tate brother’s lawyer,... Continue reading…

Unofficial renders of the Galaxy S23 Ultra. | Image: Onleaks / Smartprix Samsung’s upgrades for this year’s Galaxy S23 lineup include higher-resolution camera sensors and improved low light photography, according to a pair of teaser trailers posted by Samsung China. The new phones are expected to be officially announced in three weeks on February 1st at Samsung’s first in-person smartphone event since the start of the pandemic.Both teasers show off a trio of camera lenses, which are likely to represent the main, ultrawide, and telephoto cameras that’ll be seen on the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Plus (rumors suggest the S23 Ultra will have an additional periscope lens). One trailer says that “wow-worthy resolution is coming” with “megapixels that’ll make you say wooow.” The second says “stunning night photos... Continue reading…

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Apple is reportedly working on designing its own in-house MicroLED displays to use in devices like the iPhone and Apple Watch, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The report says that the screens could start showing up on devices as early as next year, following almost five years of planning and development.Currently, Apple uses displays designed and produced by a variety of vendors — the OLED panels for the iPhone 14s are reportedly made by Samsung, LG, and BOE. According to Gurman, Apple will likely still have other companies produce its displays, but they’ll be doing so using Apple’s designs and specifications rather than another firm’s.It’s a similar move to the company using its own chip designs in laptops and desktops,... Continue reading…

A collection of 100 Thieves apparel. | Image: 100 Thieves 100 Thieves, a popular gaming, esports, and lifestyle brand, laid off about 30 employees on Tuesday, according to esports journalist Jacob Wolf. The cuts hit roles in sales, marketing, content and human resources as well as senior positions including chief revenue officer, director of people, director of talent, and head of partnerships, Wolf reports.Matty Lee, the former chief revenue officer, wrote a blog post about his departure on LinkedIn. Other former staffers have been tweeting about being laid off, including one who produced and edited a splashy film released Tuesday hyping 100 Thieves’ 2023 esports jerseys.

RIP to the Twitter star. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter is changing how you move between the algorithmically-driven timeline and the reverse chronological one and making the algorithmic feed the default.In a change rolling out to iOS users first, the company has taken away the star button at the top right that let you switch between two feeds. In its place are two tabs — one labeled “For You” and the other “Following” — and when you open the app, you’ll see the For You tab first. Gif: Jay Peters / The Verge What swiping between the two timelines looks like. For You, which shares a name with TikTok’s algorithmically-driven feed, is similar to the old “Home” option, which shows you tweets from the people you follow out of order, interspersed with tweets it... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge Parlement Technologies, the parent company of “censorship-free” social media platform Parler, has laid off a majority of its staff and most of its chief executives over the last few weeks. The sudden purge of staff has thrown the future of Parler, one of the first conservative alternatives to mainstream platforms, into question.Parlement Technologies began laying off workers in late November, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. These layoffs continued through at least the end of December, when around 75 percent of staffers were let go in total, leaving approximately 20 employees left working at both Parler and the parent-company’s cloud services venture. A majority of the company’s executives, including its chief... Continue reading…

For over a year, the rollout of C-Band 5G around airports has been contentious. | Photo: Mitchell Clark / The Verge The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing a solution to the long-running dust-up between the airline and cellular industries over 5G rollouts: stricter requirements for radio altimeters in airplanes, which would potentially go into effect early next year (via Bloomberg).The piece of safety equipment, which ties into several systems for most commercial jets, operates using radio frequencies that are similar to the 5G C-band radio waves that Verizon and AT&T have been rolling out after acquiring licenses to use the bands for billions of dollars. C-band is almost critical for 5G to live up to all the hype; it’s what allows carriers to offer incredible speeds without the minuscule range of mmWave.In theory, this shouldn’t be a... Continue reading…

You can save money when you buy two Sonos One SL speakers. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Most would agree that Sonos offers some of the best speakers and soundbars currently available. That’s because Sonos makes speakers that — more often than not — boast great sound quality, support for all the major streaming platforms, and simple multi-room functionality. Unfortunately, however, those perks often come at a high price. Sonos products aren’t cheap, and, outside of the occasional rogue discount, they rarely go on sale. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t ways to save at least a few dollars on Sonos gear.You can often, for example, score discounts on even more Sonos devices if you’re comfortable buying refurbished ones. We also occasionally see sales on Sonos’ collaborative series with Ikea and discounted... Continue reading…

Image: Second Dinner Marvel Snap’s first patch of 2023 is here. And while it comes with an interesting set of buffs and long-asked-for nerfs, it also brings a new bundle in the shop that’s finally causing me to give my favorite mobile game ever a bit of side-eye.As mobile games go, Marvel Snap’s been really good about its monetization scheme. You spend $10 a month if you want that season’s new card / premium battle pass filled with premium prizes, which feels fairly standard. You can also spend money on gold, which is used to buy credits that cosmetically upgrade your cards. As you upgrade your cards, you gain collector levels that, as your level increases, reward you with newer, more powerful cards. While that does sound slightly like “pay-to-win,” you can... Continue reading…

Why yes, that is a Frankenquest, adding a Vive Deluxe Audio Strap. | Photo by Owen Grove / The Verge Intel and Meta have teamed up on a new way to directly connect your Oculus Quest headset to a gaming PC. If you buy or build a computer with its AX1690 Wi-Fi chip — and possibly others, we’re checking — you should be able to directly connect your headset to the computer instead of relying on your router to do the lifting (via Wi-Fi Now).If you ask me, the Oculus Quest’s coolest feature is that you can tether it to a gaming PC, playing intensive titles like Half-Life: Alyx or Star Wars: Squadrons over Wi-Fi or wired USB-C. But if you’ve ever struggled to configure your router for the best Virtual Desktop or Oculus Air Link experience, like me, this might let you remove it from the equation.Interestingly, the new feature is based on an... Continue reading…

Photo by Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images The House Republican majority is finally underway, and newly elected Speaker Kevin McCarthy (CA) has made big promises about what his leadership means for big tech companies, including a brand new subcommittee tasked with investigating allegations of censorship.This new panel, called the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, has been empowered to go after any GOP-perceived wrongdoings of the Biden administration against conservatives, including oversight of ongoing federal investigations into former President Donald Trump. While Republicans have promised to investigate everything from the origins of the novel coronavirus to Hunter Biden’s laptop, the new panel could also become the epicenter for their... Continue reading…

Look at me, a gamer, playing the Sackboy game. | Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge Last week, AMD announced its upcoming Ryzen 7000 mobile CPUs and RDNA 3 laptop GPUs, and we got some very brief hands-on time with them. Well, okay — hands-on time is a stretch. I was able to play one specific title on one specific all-AMD system in the company’s demo area at CES 2023 last week. But that does at least confirm that these chips are real and functional in this year’s gaming laptops.The company had a number of upcoming laptops from partners on display at the show, including some of the most anticipated models from Asus and Alienware that we covered over the course of last week. Most of them were running videos that showed off the laptops’ displays but did not clue us in about how the chips inside might perform.But there... Continue reading…

Image: DJI DJI has announced the DJI RS 3 Mini, a more compact and lightweight alternative to the larger RS 3 and RS 3 Pro gimbals. Weighing just 1.75 pounds (795g), the RS 3 Mini is the smallest entry to the third-generation Ronin series of stabilizers designed for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras. Being around half the weight and size of the RS 3 Pro, the RS 3 Mini should be a lot easier to toss into a bag for traveling and allows some users to shoot stabilized video with one hand.It might have mini in the name, but the compact RS 3 Mini can support cameras up to 4.4 pounds in weight, so provided you can lift a little more than six pounds with one arm, you should be able to use this thing in just one hand. DJI has provided a full list of supported... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Microsoft has reportedly scrapped plans for a dual-screen Surface Duo 3 and is moving to a truly foldable design instead. Windows Central reports that the next Surface Duo will be more like devices like the Vivo X Fold or Honor’s Magic Vs, after Microsoft reportedly spent a year prototyping and experimenting with its current dual-screen design.A Surface Duo 3 was reportedly planned for the end of 2023 with the typical dual-screen design and narrower and taller displays, wireless charging, and other design changes. Microsoft has reportedly scrapped that design to fully focus on bringing a foldable display to the Surface Duo.Microsoft originally resisted a truly foldable display for the Surface Duo, preferring glass instead. “It wasn’t... Continue reading…

This guy rules. | Photo by Christopher Person / The Verge Learning to solder was a life-changing experience for me, but it can seem daunting. You aren’t just screwing and unscrewing parts — you are melting hot metal with a scorching tip. While that seems like something out of reach for most people, I am here to assure you that it’s never been easier to do, and that’s in part thanks to the Pinecil.The Pinecil by Pine64 (makers of single-board computers and affordable Linux laptops) is an efficient, nimble soldering iron that runs on an open-source firmware called IronOS by Ralim. It has a bright little OLED screen, easy-to-understand controls, a 32-bit RISC-V SOC, and can be powered by either a DC adapter or a USB-C charger. Hell, you can even run it on a power brick, and I definitely have done... Continue reading…

Best Buy is removing purchase minimums for anyone with a free My Best Buy account. | Image: Best Buy Best Buy is bringing some changes to its rewards program in the new year. Beginning on January 9th, My Best Buy members are eligible to get free shipping with no required minimum purchase. However, My Best Buy members will no longer be eligible to earn rewards points beginning on February 14th, restricting that benefit to Best Buy credit card holders.If you currently have an active My Best Buy account, you can still accrue points on eligible purchases before the new terms and conditions go into effect, and you’ll still be able to redeem any points you’ve accumulated without having to apply for a My Best Buy credit card.I’m not going to tell anyone to run out and apply for a Best Buy credit card, but if you’re looking for free... Continue reading…

Image: Nothing Nothing is finally giving people in the US a way to purchase its debut smartphone… sort of. After its CEO teased a “US launch” last month, the company has officially announced a new US-focused beta program. Customers can pay Nothing $299 and, in return, receive the black version of the smartphone with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage to test. At launch last year, the phone was only officially sold in European and Asian markets.This is far from a full US launch — and not just because the devices are being distributed to test Nothing’s beta Android 13 software. The company’s website cautions that the phone “may not work with all US carriers,” so it sounds like you shouldn’t expect to be able to rely on it for day-to-day usage.5G is only... Continue reading…

In a report released October 3rd, 2000, the Goddard Space Flight Center said satellites have observed an 11.5 million square-mile hole, a severe thinning of Earth’s protective ozone layer, over Antarctica. | Image: Newsmakers via Getty Images For decades, the Earth’s ozone layer, which protects life on our planet from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays, has taken a beating from common chemicals used in everything from refrigerants to hairspray. But now the holes in the ozone layer are diminishing, thanks to a decades-long global effort to repair it, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed yesterday.Scientists first discovered a gaping hole over the Antarctic in 1985. A couple years later, countries around the world adopted the Montreal Protocol, a global effort to phase out “ozone-depleting substances.” And now, thanks to that work, scientists expect the ozone layer to start looking more like its normal, healthy self in the coming decades. That lowers the... Continue reading…

Matter made a big splash at CES 2023. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The new smart home standard had a huge presence at CES this year. We break down all the big product announcements and new devices and look at the challenges Matter faces as its backers — including Apple, Google, Amazon, and Samsung — prepare to monetize this newfound interoperability. Continue reading…

The Comma 3 is slightly bigger than an iPhone and plugs into your vehicle’s CAN bus. | Image: Comma George Hotz just wants to build robots. You can see the desire in the Comma 3, the next-generation assisted driving hardware from his company, Comma.ai.“It’s got two eyes,” he tells me, pointing to the two forward-facing cameras. He then holds the device up to his face so I can see the cameras are spaced about as far apart as a set of eyes on a human.Hotz goes on, “It has a mouth for speaking. It can breathe air to cool itself… We’re building a human head.”“We’re building a human head.”You may remember Hotz when he went by the hacker name “geohot” to jailbreak an iPhone at the tender age of 17. Since then, he’s been a thorn in Elon Musk’s side, dissing Tesla’s Autopilot technology. And he’s pissed off Sony by breaking into a... Continue reading…

Image: Amazon Amazon’s expanding the availability of its “Buy with Prime” button. Starting on January 31st, more online stores in the US can start offering the benefits of a Prime subscription, such as free shipping and next-day deliveries, on their own websites.Of course, customers who actually want to use the feature will have to pay for a Prime membership, which went up from $119 to $139 per year last February. The main difference between ordering on Amazon and ordering through Buy with Prime is that you can’t track your orders on Amazon.com and that you’ll instead have to click the link in your shipment confirmation email to get information about your order’s status.If you do decide to use the Buy with Prime button, it’s worth noting that Amazon... Continue reading…

The OnePlus Buds Pro are currently on sale in white for a mere $79.99. | Image: OnePlus If you ask me, one of the best things about new products releasing is seeing the steep discounts on older models. With the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 set to debut next month, we’re starting to see some terrific deals on their soon to be predecessor, the OnePlus Buds Pro. In fact, the wireless earbuds are on sale in white right now at Amazon for just $79.99, their lowest price to date.For this price, the OnePlus Buds Pro bring a very compelling set of features. They offer good sound quality and effective noise cancellation along with an IP55 rating for dust and water resistance. They also feature multipoint support — a somewhat rare thing for earbuds in this price range — along with a comfortable fit that should accommodate most ear shapes. If... Continue reading…

Nell Tiger Free, Rupert Grint, Katie Lee Hill, and Toby Kebbell in season 4 of Servant on Apple TV Plus. | Image: Apple As the Apple TV Plus thriller from M. Night Shyamalan kicks off its fourth season, the mysteries continue to pile up. Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is the latest tech company to announce mass layoffs. In an email to staff on Tuesday, CEO Brain Armstrong said the company would be letting 950 employees go as it attempts to “weather downturns in the crypto market.” The email was made public on the Coinbase blog, and the company also submitted an 8-K filing with the news.In a not-so-subtle reference to the collapse of major cryptocurrency player FTX, who’s former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has subsequently been charged with money laundering and fraud, Armstrong cited “the fallout from unscrupulous actors in the industry” as one of the reasons fueling Coinbase’s cost-cutting efforts. Armstrong says the layoffs are part of a plan to reduce Coinbase’s operating... Continue reading…

The LauncherOne rocket (visible under the left wing) was carried by the modified 747 Cosmic Girl to its launch destination over the Atlantic Ocean. | Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images What should have been a historic moment for the UK ended in failure last night after an undisclosed “anomaly” prevented the country’s satellite mission from reaching orbit. The Virgin Orbit “Start Me Up” mission was the first-ever rocket launched from British soil.The first stage of the mission proved successful — Virgin Orbit’s Cosmic Girl (a converted Boeing 747 acting as a carrier aircraft) took off from Spaceport Cornwell on January 9th as planned and released the LauncherOne rocket over the Atlantic Ocean at 11:11 PM GMT (6:11 PM ET). According to the live Virgin Orbit mission updates on Twitter, the LauncherOne rocket experienced a successful stage separation and second-stage engine ignition.

Google Docs’ voice-typing feature in action. | Screenshot by Barbara Krasnoff / The Verge Google Docs’ voice-typing feature, which lets you “type” and edit text using your voice and a microphone rather than your hands and a keyboard, is getting a couple of key upgrades.First is that the feature is expanding to “most major browsers.” Currently, Google’s support page notes that it’s “only available in Chrome browsers.” Second is that it is being upgraded to “reduce transcription errors and minimize lost audio during transcription.”As 9to5Google notes, voice typing has been available in Google Docs for over half a decade, allowing users to get words on the (virtual) page even if their hands are full or otherwise not in a position to be able to traditionally type. It can also work as a handy transcription tool in a pinch,... Continue reading…

Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann’s The Last of US TV series is a faithful adaptation of the beloved video game, but it doesn’t feel distinct as an apocalyptic survival series. Continue reading…

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge Plus more camera tech for the Raspberry Pi, and we say goodbye to this year’s CES. Continue reading…

The money machine is coming. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube has announced that creators can start making ad revenue on Shorts starting February 1st, following a promise from September that the monetization option was on its way. The change is coming as part of a broader update to YouTube’s Partner Program, which will require everyone who’s currently part of it to sign new agreement terms, whether or not they’re looking to make money from Shorts.Creators have been able to make some money from the format that rolled out in 2021 for a while via things like Super Chats and shopping integrations, as well as a creator fund that the company had set up, but that model wasn’t all that much better that TikTok’s monetization scheme. What TikTok doesn’t do, though, is directly share ad revenue with... Continue reading…