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by Umar Shakir on (#6FT74)
Toyota's Land Cruiser Se concept. | Image: Toyota Toyota is bringing the content for its 2023 Japan Mobility Show showcase that includes an all-electric Land Cruiser SUV concept that could either be a serious contender to duke it out with competing three-row EVs or just a premature look for things to come.The Toyota Land Cruiser Se" has an angular boat-like appearance with a long hood, swooping windshield, and rounded rear end with a visor taillight design. The seven-seater concept also comes with some size specs: it has a 120.08-inch wheelbase and is 202.76 inches long, 78.35 wide, and 67.13 tall. It's got a wider stance and a shorter height than the real gas-powered 2024 Land Cruiser, which has a wheelbase of about 112 inches.The extra space between the wheels likely accounts for... Continue reading...
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The Verge
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
| Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
| Updated | 2025-09-16 11:03 |
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by Emilia David on (#6FT4E)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The long-awaited EU AI Act is still under debate as European lawmakers can't agree on how to regulate foundation models, and it's unlikely to pass regulation before December.As first reported by Reuters, Spain, which currently heads the EU, is pushing for more regular vetting for vulnerabilities and the creation of a tiered system of regulation depending on the number of users a model has.European lawmakers have had three trilogues (a three-party discussion between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, and the European Commission) around the AI Act, with a fourth expected to happen this week.Another meeting has been set for December, if none of the parties agree on anything this month. This has sparked concern... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6FT4F)
Image: Murena The Murena 2, the follow-up to last year's de-Googled and privacy-focused Murena One smartphone, is now available to back on Kickstarter and has pulled in more than $156,000, far exceeding its $26,437 goal.The big update for this new model is a physical privacy switch that, when toggled on, disconnects the front and back cameras as well as the microphones. (It's kind of like the privacy switches we've seen for some laptops.) The Murena 2 also has a second physical switch that, when activated, flips on airplane mode to disconnect the phone from networks and turns on do not disturb mode.As for other hardware specs, the Murena 2 has a 6.43-inch screen with a 1080 x 2400 resolution, 128GB of storage, a 4,000mAh battery, and a MediaTek... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6FT4G)
AMD and Qualcomm Surface devices. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Nvidia and AMD are both reportedly planning to launch Arm-based CPUs for Windows-based PCs. Reuters reports that Nvidia has started designing Arm-based CPUs in what could be a major expansion of Microsoft's Windows on Arm work. Nvidia and AMD could both be ready with PC chips as soon as 2025, according to Reuters.Microsoft has so far exclusively partnered with Qualcomm for Arm-based versions of Windows 11, and the Reuters report comes on the eve of Qualcomm's next big Snapdragon launch for Arm-based chips that will likely power Samsung's upcoming flagship phone. Reuters reports that Microsoft executives will be part of Qualcomm's announcement tomorrow, including vice president of Windows and Devices Pavan Davuluri.Microsoft's first... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6FT4H)
Illustration: The Verge In a post earlier this month, Valve announced the Steam Link app will no longer be available on Samsung TV after November 30th, 2023." The service lets users wirelessly stream PC games from their Steam library to other devices, such as a TV or phone. It launched with the Steam Link dongle in 2015, which was discontinued in 2018 in favor of the app.Samsung brought the Steam Link app to its TVs in 2017 but stopped supporting it on newer TVs after the launch of its Gaming Hub, which focused on cloud gaming services like the ones from Xbox and Nvidia GeForce Now. However, Steam says users can access the Steam Link app on Apple TV and Android hardware, including the Nvidia Shield or Amazon Fire TV.While the Steam Link app might've seemed... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6FT4J)
Image: Square Enix Earlier this year, Final Fantasy XIV fans were treated to a first look at the next expansion, Dawntrail. Over the weekend, during the London leg of the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival event, Square Enix shared a bit more detail about the expansion, including a new trailer revealing the newest class: Viper.Viper will be a melee DPS class that seems similar to the Ninja class already present in the game. Vipers will dual-wield swords that can be fused together into one big sword for more damage a la Zidane from Final Fantasy IX. (Remember his Butterfly Sword?) As is tradition, the Viper was introduced by game producer Naoki Yoshida dressed up as the class, and as also is tradition, the look was pretty damn cool.(Eat your heart out, Todd... Continue reading...
by Nilay Patel on (#6FT1D)
Here's a Ram truck at CES 2018. | Image: Sean O'Kane / The Verge Stellantis - the gigantic international automotive conglomerate that owns everything from Jeep to Ram to Alfa Romeo and Opel - has canceled its plans for CES 2024, we are told via a short press release. The company blames the current United Auto Workers (UAW) strikes, which today expanded to include 6,800 workers at the factory that makes Ram 1500 trucks, which is the largest Stellantis factory in the United States. Stellantis has the worst proposal on the table regarding wage progression, temporary worker pay and conversion to full-time, cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), and more," the UAW said in a statement to Axios.As the costs of the ongoing UAW strikes against Stellantis continue to mount, the Company has decided to cancel its... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6FT1E)
A screenshot of the Meta Verified toggle. | Image: Meta Instagram is testing a toggle that lets you only see posts from Meta Verified users, according to Instagram head Adam Mosseri on Monday. We're exploring this as a new control for people and a way for businesses and creators to get discovered," Mosseri wrote on his broadcast channel.The new Meta Verified toggle will appear as an option under Following" and Favorites" when you tap the Instagram logo at the top of the app. The prominence of the toggle could make paying for Meta Verified, which costs $11.99 on the web or $14.99 in an app, a more attractive proposition as it gives people a new way to try and appear more prominently in an Instagram feed. That said, Mosseri's post didn't say how big the test is or who might have access to... Continue reading...
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by Ash Parrish on (#6FSXN)
Image: Marvel / Wizards of the Coast The great IP crossover experiment continues with Marvel showing up in yet another place you don't typically expect Marvel to be. Today, Wizards of the Coast announced that Marvel's bringing its iconic (and inescapable) heroes to Magic: The Gathering with new collectible products and tentpole sets" that will hit your Local Game Store in 2025.Crossovers are not new to Magic: The Gathering. It just launched the card game's Doctor Who-themed Commander set. Earlier this year, Magic released a Lord of the Rings set (complete with its own One Ring bonanza that caught the attention of prolific Magic collector Post Malone). Throughout the years, Magic has released tons of smaller, collectible sets based on everything from My Little Pony to Bob... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6FSXP)
Illustration: The Verge Google is adding some new features to the Google Play Games Beta on PC, its service that lets you play Android games on a PC, including support for 4K screen resolution on supported monitors" and for popular console gaming controllers. Google detailed the updates in a blog post from Arjun Dayal, Google Play Games' director of product.With the new support for 4K, you can now pick your screen resolutions while in game. Simply press Shift + Tab in any game to select from a menu of supported resolutions," according to Dayal.The game controllers that are now supported include the Xbox Series X / S controller, the Xbox One controller, Sony's DualSense controller for PS5, and its DualShock controller for PS4. Google isn't the only company... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6FSXQ)
Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Nvidia is rumored to be preparing Super versions of some of its RTX 40-series cards, including an RTX 4080 Super with 20GB of memory. VideoCardz reports that hardware leakers have been teasing out information about possible RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 Super cards recently, with reliable hardware leaker kopite7kimi backing up the claims.Nvidia canceled a 12GB variant of the RTX 4080 a year ago before announcing it as the RTX 4070 Ti at CES earlier this year. Now, the company might be preparing a 20GB variant of the RTX 4080 with the Super moniker that we haven't seen since the RTX 20 series. Nvidia is also rumored to be working on an RTX 4070 Super, too.The new RTX 40-series Super GPUs might have a higher memory busBoth RTX 40-series Super... Continue reading...
by Jay Peters on (#6FSXR)
Image: Netflix The first music video from Heartsteel, Riot Games' new virtual boy band starring characters from League of Legends, is here.The video, for the band's first song, Paranoia," has a slick look that harkens back to the awesome art style of Arcane, Netflix's animated series set in the League of Legends universe. While a second season for that show in the works, it's not set to release until Q4 2024, so this new video will have to tide you over for now. It helps that the song is pretty catchy. (You can hear it on music streaming services, too.)Heartsteel is just one of many virtual League bands, a roster that already includes K-pop group K/DA, Pentakill (heavy metal), and hip-hop group True Damage. Riot collaborates with real-life artists... Continue reading...
by Andrew Webster on (#6FSV0)
Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The VergeArt by Junji ItoOriginal story by Hirokatsu Kihara and Ichiro Nakayama It's been an interesting year for fans of Junji Ito. 2023 will be bookended by animated adaptations of the famed horror master's work; it started with Netflix's anthology in January, while Adult Swim's take on Uzumaki is expected by the end of the year. And right in the middle is a new collection of his work in English with Mimi's Tales of Terror. It's a series of short stories inspired by urban legends - just the thing for dark, cold October nights.The book is actually an adaptation itself, taking nine stories from Shin Mimibukuro - a collection of Japanese urban legends written by Hirokatsu Kihara and Ichiro Nakayama - and turning them into Ito's particular brand of horror manga. They follow the story of a university student named... Continue reading...
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by Justine Calma on (#6FSV1)
A Together Towards Zero" projection during the Volvo AB news conference at the IAA Transportation show in Hanover, Germany, on Monday, September 19th, 2022. | Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi / Bloomberg via Getty Images More than 130 companies, including Volvo Cars, Ikea, Unilever, Nestle, and AstraZeneca, signed a letter calling on governments to adopt a global plan to phase out fossil fuels without carbon capture during upcoming international climate negotiations.Our businesses are feeling the impacts and cost of increasing extreme weather events resulting from climate change," the letter says. We have an important role to play in sending a clear signal about our future energy use, which is rapidly becoming cleaner through renewables." It was coordinated by the We Mean Business Coalition that advocates for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.Together, the signatories represent close to $1 trillion in global annual revenue from diverse industries,... Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6FNC2)
Level Lock has launched a new Wi-Fi bridge for its invisible" smart locks that pack all their tech into the deadbolt. But apparently, there's no room in there for Matter or Thread. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge On October 16th, smart lock maker Level announced a new Wi-Fi bridge for its locks to enable remote access and integrations with smart home technology platforms," including Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Welcome to 2015, Level.Let's back up. In November 2022, Level revealed that all its locks had Thread-capable radios, were compatible with Matter, and that they would soon be updated to support the standard. That hasn't happened yet. Instead, Level has released the Level Connect, a $79 Wi-Fi bridge that plugs into an outlet and acts as a bridge between its lock's Bluetooth radio and your internet router, so it can be controlled remotely and work with cloud-enabled smart home platforms.Why is Level resorting to the old ways when it... Continue reading...
by Jess Weatherbed on (#6FSV2)
Until we get some official stills of Amazon's Fallout series, we'll have to rely on games like Fallout 4 (pictured) to get us in the mood. | Image: Bethesda / The Verge Amazon has yet to release a public trailer for its highly anticipated Fallout series, but at least we now know when it'll arrive on our TV screens. The streaming giant has revealed that Fallout - a live-action adaptation of Bethesda's popular RPG video game franchise - will premiere on April 12th, 2024, exclusively via Prime Video.The announcement was made on October 23rd, otherwise known to Fallout fans as Fallout Day" - the in-game date that marks the beginning of the Great War that turns the world into an irradiated nuclear wasteland. Bethesda's executive producer and game director Todd Howard is an executive producer on the series, which stars Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets), Walton Goggins (The Hateful Eight), Aaron Moten (E... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6FSV3)
Amazon.com on iPhone supports passkeys so people can log in with Face ID. | Image: Amazon Amazon's rolling out passkey support for its online site and mobile shopping apps. Customers can log in to Amazon using just their devices' biometrics and start shopping without the need to enter a password or follow through with two-factor authentication (2FA) through email or text.Amazon dipped its toes into passkey support earlier this month for its web experience, but it wasn't ready for primetime yet since the implementation still required a 2FA code and wasn't enabled for the mobile apps. If you're interested in enabling passkey support with Amazon, you can enroll by going to Amazon.com, visiting your account settings, clicking Login & Security," and using the Set up" button next to passkey." Screenshot: Umar... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6FSV4)
These buds are even cheaper than they were during the recent Prime Day. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Amazon's second-gen Echo Buds may not be at the top of the pack for the best earbuds you can get in 2023, but they're quite good when they can be had for a song. That usually happens during sales events like Amazon Prime Day or Black Friday, but currently (on a random Monday), you can get the Echo Buds in black with a wireless charging case for just $56.99 ($83 off) on clearance at Best Buy. That's a new all-time low for these noise-canceling earbuds and almost as cheap as the lowest price we've seen on them with a wired charging case. It's also just $6 more than Amazon's newer, basic-looking Echo Buds for 2023, but those have a semi-open design that lacks noise cancellation.The Echo Buds came out in 2021 and offer a good value for... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6FSV5)
The social future is more open and connected -but what are you supposed to do with it? | Illustration by Hugo Herrera for The Verge The platform era is ending. Rather than build new Twitters and Facebooks, we can create a stuff-posting system that works better for everybody. Continue reading...
by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6FSQF)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating the range of Tesla's electric vehicles after reports surfaced that the company was relying on exaggerated numbers.In documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla said that it had received requests for information, including subpoenas from the DOJ, regarding certain matters associated with personal benefits, related parties, vehicle range and personnel decisions."Customers were incensed that their Tesla vehicles were falling well short of the advertised rangeEarlier this year, Reuters reported that Tesla had received so many customer complaints about range that it created a special diversion team" to cancel their service appointments. Customers were incensed... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6FSQG)
Image: Insomniac Games Marvel's Spider-Man 2 has become the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios title in the 24 hours following its release, Sony announced on Monday. The game sold over 2.5 million copies in just one day.Marvel's Spider-Man 2 was developed by PlayStation Studios' Insomniac Games. As the fastest-selling first-party PlayStation title, it dethrones God of War Ragnarok, which sold 5.1 million copies during its launch week last year. The first Marvel's Spider-Man also got the fastest-selling first-party crown following its release in 2018, selling 3.3 million copies in its first three days.
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by Jacob Kastrenakes on (#6FSQH)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The next big Snapdragon chip headed to Android phones is likely to be announced this week - and details have leaked early revealing a heavy focus on AI. According to MSPoweruser, Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will support some handy and creative AI camera tools, including the ability to remove objects from videos, expand areas of a photo, and generate fake backgrounds.The leaked marketing materials also boast about the chip's ability to run various AI models, including both Stable Diffusion and Meta's Llama 2. Making that happen is supposed to be an upgraded Hexagon neural processor, which the leaked document says is 98 percent faster (presumably than last year's processor, but the image doesn't clarify). Qualcomm showed off t... Continue reading...
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#6FSMN)
New device types, including robot vacuums, smoke alarms, washing machines and refrigerators are coming to Matter. | Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge One year in, and Matter is adding support for fridges, robot vacuums, smoke alarms, and more. It's a major step toward a complete smart home, but success hinges on platform and manufacturer follow-through. Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6FSJX)
Now your mom and dad can help you find your next potential partner and stop dunking on your questionable dating choices. | Image: Tinder If you're the kind of person who asks friends and family for help with your love life, Tinder is aiming to make things a little easier by letting them suggest potential partners for you directly within the app. Tinder's new Matchmaker feature lets users invite their loved ones, regardless of whether they have a Tinder profile or not, to view and recommend potential matches, essentially integrating a friend test" into the dating app.Tinder Matchmaker is available now in 15 countries including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, and Germany, with a global rollout expected in the coming months." Users can start a Matchmaker session either directly from a profile card, or within the app settings - creating a link that can be shared... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6FSG2)
Metal Gear Solid 3 protagonist Naked Snake." | Image: Konami It's hard to fault the breadth of content Konami has included in its tantalizingly-named Vol. 1' collection. Just don't go in expecting many modern upgrades to these decades-old titles. Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6FS1Z)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge October starting to slip away, and so far, all we've gotten was a very confusing Apple Pencil, despite rumors of iMacs and iPads. Well, it sounds like that new 24-inch iMac is on its way this month after all. Mark Gurman thinks so, having written in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today that it's coming very soon - as early as October 30th, in fact. That would end, as Gurman notes, an over 900-day drought since the M1 iMac launched in the first half of 2021. While he did not specify the chip today, he has previously predicted this refresh would put an M3 chip in the new iMac.Gurman writes that he was told that Apple is planning a Mac-centered product launch around the end of this month." He adds that if you try to order the iMac,... Continue reading...
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by David Pierce on (#6FS0E)
Image: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 11, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome to the Installerverse, which is officially a thing now - we did it, everybody - and you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)I'm traveling this week, so I've got a slightly abbreviated issue for you. But there's just way too much good stuff not to share.This week, I'm spending all my free time playing Subpar Pool, testing Twine as my new go-to Android RSS reader, watching Zane Lowe talk music with Blink-182, learning about the incredible work of the masters of film set design, reading Cory Doctorow's new book, The Internet Con, finally for real canceling some too-expensive streaming... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6FRQW)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In 2020, scientists decided just to rework the alphanumeric symbols they used to represent genes rather than try to deal with an Excel feature that was interpreting their names as dates and (un)helpfully reformatting them automatically. Yesterday, a member of the Excel team posted that the company is rolling out an update on Windows and macOS to fix that.Excel's automatic conversions are intended to make it easier and faster to input certain types of commonly entered data - numbers and dates, for instance. But for scientists using quick shorthand to make things legible, it could ruin published, peer-reviewed data, as a 2016 study found.Microsoft detailed the update in a blog post this week, adding a checkbox labeled Convert continuous... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6FRPK)
Illustration: The Verge A jury found Google guilty of sexual discrimination and awarded female Google Cloud executive Ulku Rowe, who filed the complaint, $1.1 million. Rowe's lawsuit alleged that the company gave higher pay to less-experienced male cohorts and that it later denied her promotions in retaliation for her complaints, both internal and later in court.Bloomberg Law reported that the jury ruled that Google owes Rowe for both punitive damages and pain and suffering. However, the jury reportedly found that while Google treated Rowe differently than other employees because of her gender," Rowe hadn't proven that Google violated New York law by paying her less than two of her male counterparts.Rowe said before the trial started that her time at Google... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6FRN4)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Great news for the dedicated few Apple Home folks who use YouTube Music (I know you're out there!) - you can now integrate the service with your HomePods and either ask Siri to play songs using YouTube Music or set the service as your default source. 9to5Google spotted a Reddit post from YouTube Music product head Brandon Bilinski announcing the update. You can find instructions for setting up the integration on a support page for the service.The list of third-party music services that you can integrate with HomePods is still pretty lean. Until now, the biggest alternatives to Apple Music that have added that support were probably Deezer and Pandora. You can finally ask Siri to play music with Spotify on HomePods, but the company still... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6FRKJ)
Courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival Director Ali Kalthami's debut feature film, Mandoob, takes a fascinating look into the world of Saudi Arabia's rideshare and delivery drivers. Continue reading...
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by Sheena Vasani on (#6FRKK)
Diablo IV, the spookiest of dungeon crawlers, will be steeply discounted through Halloween. | Blizzard It's hard to believe, but Halloween is now just a little over a week away. Luckily, if you haven't had a chance to celebrate spooky season, a bunch of horror games are on sale this weekend. Now through October 31st, for example, Nintendo is taking up to 85 percent off digital Bethesda titles like the remastered Quake 2 (now $3.99) and Doom Eternal (now $15.99). Amazon Prime subscribers, meanwhile, can snag a free copy of Doom 3 - an Xbox 360-era classic - for PC until November 18th.Yet perhaps the best Halloween sale comes courtesy of Microsoft, which is taking up to 75 percent off hundreds of digital horror games through October 31st as a part of its Shocktober sale. The ongoing promo extends to newer Xbox titles like Blasphemous 2... Continue reading...
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by Tom Warren on (#6FRGC)
Image: Microsoft Microsoft and Sony have both spent thousands of dollars this week in marketing campaigns at The Sphere in Las Vegas. The $2.3 billion attraction has been lighting up social media for weeks now, after U2 played the first-ever show at The Sphere last month. On Thursday night Microsoft lit up The Sphere with its new Xbox marketing campaign, and just a day later Sony chose The Sphere to showcase Spider-Man 2.Both companies may have paid as much as $450,000 to get their campaigns displayed on The Sphere, after pricing for creative spots at the attraction leaked earlier this month. Microsoft worked with BCN Visuals to create its Xbox Sphere takeover on Thursday night, with a fully anamorphic 3D billboard on display that was similar to the... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6FRGD)
The 2013 Moto G, Nexus 4, and iPhone 13 Mini. I pine for the days this size was normal. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Ever Googled for Best Small Phones"? I'll save you the click: the guides you'll find feature phones that are old, underpowered, or simply not small to begin with.I've long been a small phone guy. I loved my 2013 Moto X, with its 4.7-inch screen, and I've used a 5.4-inch iPhone Mini for years. But when Apple discontinued the Mini last month, I decided it was time to jump ship. I saved my money for the Pixel 8, figuring I'd eventually learn to live with a new normal" of 6.2-inch handsets.But for gadget enthusiasts like me, Google had other plans: it's arbitrarily pushing buyers to the ginormous Pixel 8 Pro instead, bragging about how its larger handset can handle niftier features even though both phones have the same cameras and chips.... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6FRA2)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Twitch will now let its creators simultaneously stream across any live streaming service, the company announced on Friday as part of a big batch of news from TwitchCon. Previously, streamers could simulcast on mobile platforms like TikTok and Instagram, but as of Friday, Twitch is significantly broadening where streamers can simultaneously go live. (Well, assuming the streamers don't have a Twitch exclusivity agreement in place.)As of late, some Twitch streamers have been exploring options on other platforms. Big names like xQc, Amouranth, and Nickmercs have signed major deals with Twitch competitor Kick this year; xQc's and Nickmercs' deals are non-exclusive, and given that Amouranth has a video on her Twitch account from a couple... Continue reading...
by Amrita Khalid on (#6FR8F)
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images This is Hot Pod, The Verge's newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more.Well, this is a weird email to write - today is technically my last day at Hot Pod. But you'll still see my byline around from time to time because I'm joining The Verge's news team in November. Starting next week, the newsletter will entirely be back in the very capable hands of lead Hot Pod reporter Ariel Shapiro. Although I'm sad to leave, I'm also really excited to see her take the reins again and continue to churn out the coverage that Hot Pod is known for.It's probably not a surprise to most of you that I knew very little about podcasts before taking this job back in April - a time that also coincided with some seismic changes... Continue reading...
by Emma Roth on (#6FR8G)
Illustration: Beatrice Sala Here's where we'll keep track of late-in-the-week news companies really wish you wouldn't read. Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6FR6R)
Image: iFixit via YouTube We've already seen a teardown of the standard Pixel 8 model, but now iFixit has taken apart the $999 Pixel 8 Pro, offering a close look at the new temperature sensing tech that lives beneath the phone's display.iFixit's Shahram Mokhtari starts by removing the Pixel 8 Pro's screen using a heating mat, a clamp, and a pick. After disconnecting the display from the device, Mokhtari folds back the 5G mmWave antenna cable and unscrews the main frame. From there, Mokhtari attempts to remove the 5,050mAh battery by pulling at the plastic tabs beneath the component. Image: iFixit via YouTube iFixit offers a look at the Pixel 8 Pro's camera setup. However, Mokhtari runs into the same issue as PBKreviews, the YouTube... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6FR6S)
How many motors have you got? | Photo by Sean O'Kane / The Verge Tesla's Cybertruck is finally nearing its first delivery event on November 30th, and yet we still don't have key details on configurations, prices, and other specifications of the unconventionally designed pickup truck.But today, we got some insight for the launch, including initial Cybertruck powertrain options and Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR), thanks to new VIN info from the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).A required VIN decoder submission that Tesla and other automakers must provide to NHTSA before vehicles are delivered to customers is now available for all to see and decipher. A Verge tipster pointed us to a Cybertruck Owners Club forum post where user Throwcomputer provided an analysis of Tesla's... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6FMPZ)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge From January 2nd, 2024, Google Drive will allow downloads without requiring third-party cookies that are embedded on third-party websites," the search giant has announced.However, while we interpreted the original post as applying to all downloads from Google Drive, Google has updated its post on the Workspace Updates blog to clarify that this doesn't change anything if you're using the site directly. For anyone using Chrome with third-party cookies blocked, this workaround to manually unblock third-party cookies just for Google Drive is still required to enable downloads directly within Google's service on Google's browser for the foreseeable future.The change comes as Google prepares to (finally) disable third-party cookies by... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6FR1Q)
Image: SharkNinja Can you heat up a pan to 30,000 degrees Fahrenheit? That's the burning question at the center of this proposed class action lawsuit, which claims the advertising for SharkNinja's nonstick cookware violates the laws of physics and thermodynamics.While SharkNinja is the company best known for its Shark robovacs and Ninja kitchen gadget, this lawsuit takes issue with the Ninja NeverStick Premium Cookware collection, a line of pots and pans it advertises as having superior nonsticking and nonflaking qualities thanks to its manufacturing process.Instead of making its pans at a measly 900-degree temperature that other brands use, SharkNinja says it heats up the cookware to a maximum of 30,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That process, according to... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6FR1R)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Washington Post reported Friday that Reddit might cut off Google and force users to log in to Reddit itself to read anything, if it can't reach deals with generative AI companies to pay for its data. Initially, Reddit seemed to deny the report. Nothing is changing," Reddit spokesperson Courtney Geesey-Dorr told The Verge, adding that the Post would soon be correcting its story.But after the Post corrected that story, only one major detail had changed - the Post no longer suggests Reddit users would need to log in. The publication now writes that if Reddit can't get AI to play ball, the company may block Google and Bing's search crawlers, which means Reddit posts wouldn't show up in search results.Reddit can survive without... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6FR1S)
The Asus ROG Ally handheld PC in a Dbrand Killswitch case. | Images: Dbrand Your Asus ROG Ally gaming handheld is brilliantly white, and that will not stand: you've decided your gadgets must be black. Or... maybe you just want a rugged case that'll survive a drop or three? Either way, Dbrand thinks it's got what you need - a $60 Killswitch case like the one it makes for the Steam Deck that'll ship early next year.But wait," I will pretend to hear some of you thinking, Didn't Dbrand royally screw that up? Didn't The Verge trigger a million-dollar recall when you folks discovered it interfered with a Steam Deck fan?"Yes - but Dbrand did rapidly recall them, admitted its mistake, then shipped a replacement Killswitch 2.0 that I've been testing for months with no issue. It's still an impressively rugged,... Continue reading...
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by Umar Shakir on (#6FR1T)
Faze Clan team winning Halo World Championship 2023. | Image: Faze Clan via X Gaming analytics and esports brand company Gamesquare, which counts Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones as one of its investors, is acquiring the struggling gaming influencer group Faze Clan. The all-stock deal is worth about $17 million, Bloomberg reports, a steep drop-off from Faze's $725-million valuation at the time of its special purpose acquisition company, SPAC, merger in July of 2022.Since the SPAC made it publicly traded on the Nasdaq exchange, Faze Clan, like much of the esports industry, has struggled, with the company posting a $28.4-million loss through the first half of 2023," according to Bloomberg. Last month, Faze Clan's troubles reached an inflection point that led to the firing of CEO Lee Trink, who once compared the... Continue reading...
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by Brandon Widder on (#6FR1V)
If Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Versetaught us anything, it's that two spider-men are better than one. | Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment There are few types of deals better than a launch day promo, especially when it concerns a sequel that has been five years in the making. Thankfully for those looking to delve back into the sunset-tinged world of Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Insomniac's latest action-adventure title for the PlayStation 5 is available at Newegg through the rest of today, October 20th, with a $10 PlayStation Store e-gift card for $69.99.In many ways, the follow-up to the original open-world game and its more recent spinoff focused on Miles Morales doesn't reinvent the formula. It still has you swinging around New York City and engaging in a hodgepodge of side quests in addition to the game's narrative-heavy main storyline, which focuses on Kraven the Hunter... Continue reading...
by Ash Parrish on (#6FR1W)
Image: GameMill Entertainment According to developers who worked on the project, Skull Island: Rise of Kong only had a year's worth of development time. Continue reading...
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by Andrew Webster on (#6FQYQ)
One of the unlockable badges basically gives you a grappling hook. | Image: Nintendo When it comes to difficulty, most games like to put you in a bucket. At the start of the experience, you have to choose whether you want to play on a hard or easy mode, and usually, over the course of the game, you can move between these as you see fit, which is good because it's hard to really know what mode is right for you at the beginning. Super Mario Bros. Wonder doesn't force you to make this decision. It doesn't have traditional difficulty settings at all. And yet, its approach to difficulty is one of the most refreshing I've ever seen - it's both subtle and powerful and as playful as the rest of the game.The most obvious form this takes is in the characters you can play as. The main cast of Mario and friends are all basically... Continue reading...
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by Allison Johnson on (#6FQYR)
Your private web browser might have come with a side of unwanted VPN service downloads. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Brave's privacy-centric browser has been downloading VPN services to some customers' computers without their consent. Noted by Ghacks, starting in 2022, downloading Brave to a Windows PC meant you were also downloading the company's VPN service, regardless of whether you wanted it. The Firewall + VPN service is an extra paid subscription and would remain dormant unless the user subscribed to it. Still, that's not the most transparent move from a company based on transparency.The behavior is limited to the Windows version of Brave, and a post on GitHub from the company's VP of engineering details the current behavior and a plan to change it. You can check for the VPN services on your machine in the services manager on Windows - they're... Continue reading...
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by Casey Newton on (#6FQVJ)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge This is Platformer, a newsletter on the intersection of Silicon Valley and democracy from Casey Newton and Zoe Schiffer. Sign up here.Today, let's talk about how the traditional platform justice system is seeing signs of a new reform movement. If it's successful at Discord, its backers hope that the initiative could lead to better behavior around the web.I.Discord's San Francisco campus is a tech company headquarters like many others, with its open-plan office, well stocked micro-kitchens and employees bustling in and out of over-booked conference rooms.But step through the glass doors at its entrance and it is immediately apparent that this is a place built by gamers. Arcade-style art decks the walls, various games hide in... Continue reading...
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by Chris Welch on (#6FQVK)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Chatting with someone while wearing your AirPods Pro has never been difficult: all it takes is a quick press-and-hold of the earbuds' stem to activate transparency mode, and then it's easy to hear anyone in your vicinity. But now Apple is taking things a step further and attempting to remove any and all friction from interacting with other people. This fall, the company rolled out a new feature called Conversation Awareness to the second-generation AirPods Pro.When you enable this setting, the earbuds will detect whenever you've started speaking. And once you do, the volume of your music will automatically get dialed down, and the AirPods Pro will enhance voices in front of you while reducing additional background noise," according to... Continue reading...
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