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by Richard Lawler on (#66A7N)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Plus another crypto bankruptcy and Mario movie trailer. Continue reading…
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The Verge - All Posts
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| Updated | 2024-11-27 19:46 |
by Ash Parrish on (#66ARB)
Nintendo Today, Nintendo gave fans a second look at The Super Mario Bros. Movie with a new trailer, giving us another opportunity to hear Chris Pratt as the preeminent pixelated plumber. We also got the first official glimpse of Donkey Kong and Princess Peach and heard Anya Taylor-Joy’s rendition of the Mushroom Monarch.It’s interesting that we’re getting a second trailer a little more than a month after the first one captivated the internet. The constricted release schedule might have to do with the fact that promotional materials for the film leaked after the first trailer. Ironically, shortly before today’s presentation, posters for the movie were also apparently leaked, giving us more looks at Toad, Luigi, and perhaps most distressingly,... Continue reading…
by Jay Peters on (#66ARC)
Image: AWS and uCrowds Amazon has a new AWS service, AWS SimSpace Weaver, that lets users build massive simulations that look like real-world SimCity maps. The idea of this new service is that users can take advantage of Amazon’s massive AWS resources to run simulations that scale across multiple servers without running into computing or memory limitations, which could be useful for things like modeling the foot traffic surrounding a new sports stadium.You can see AWS SimSpace Weaver in action in this impressive video demo from uCrowds, which simulates 1 million people walking around Las Vegas. By layering in geospatial data with the hordes of simulated people, it can give you an idea of how people might move around the computerized streets of the city if... Continue reading…
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by Umar Shakir on (#66ARD)
My controller’s joystick broke off. Sure, I’ll take the free brand-new controller, but I really just wanted a replacement plastic part. | Image: Umar Shakir / The Verge It’s a good day when you get a free replacement for something broken. For me, it was a new controller. My old controller had its right joystick snap off in my bag. Despite the protruding nub snapping off, the analog mechanism still worked — so I reached out to the manufacturer for a replacement stick, and instead, they sent me a very nice and very new replacement. The thing is, like Carrie from Sex and the City, I didn’t want a replacement Blueberry iBook, Aiden! I just want my PowerBook fixed.Don’t get me wrong. Of course, I am just as grateful for the replacement as I was for the Thanksgiving turkey I’m still digesting. But my request to customer service wasn’t for a replacement — it was for a part. I inquired again about the part,... Continue reading…
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by Sean Hollister on (#66ARE)
The $1,699 LG-45GR95QE has 800R curvature — you can sit just 0.8 meters away and still get the full effect. | Image: LG My request has been granted: Samsung’s jaw-dropping lineup of ultra-wide, ultra-curved, ultra-fast gaming monitors is about to have much-needed competition. LG and MSI are both angling for your dollars, and unlike Samsung, they’re doing it with OLED panels.On December 12th, LG will introduce the first 240Hz OLED gaming monitors we’ve ever seen, and it won’t just be the $999.99 27-inch flatscreen we told you about last week. The company will also open preorders for the $1,699.99 LG-45GR95QE, a 45-inch curved OLED beast. It’s a 21:9 monitor at 3440 x 1440 resolution, so not quite as wide or high-res as the 49-inch Samsung Odyssey G9, but it could make up for that in other ways. Image: LG Not quite as wide or... Continue reading…
by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#66AAC)
The Noc Design / The Verge Cyber Monday is behind us — but is it really, though? Many of the deals that started on Black Friday continued through the weekend, remained with us on Cyber Monday, and now, we’re here. It’s Tuesday, and there are still many great tech deals available on gadgets like earbuds, smart speakers, smartwatches, and even some smartphones.Sure, some hot deals cropped up during that time and have since sputtered out, but if you didn’t get your chance to shop already or were indecisive, you may still be in luck. Check out all the deals we’ve compiled and rounded up for you, ranging from all types of handy products across a variety of price points. The holiday shopping season may continue to bring a smattering of great deals, though not all will... Continue reading…
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by Ash Parrish on (#66ARF)
Once again Overwatch 2 is the best in show with its skin design. | Blizzard The inaugural season of Overwatch 2’s battle pass is almost done, with season 2 starting on December 6th. With the new season come a fresh set of skins, a new hero, new map, and a new game mode, all with a Greek mythology flavor that might make you forget about that other god of war. (Unlikely.)The biggest development coming with season 2 is the release of the sexy sentient robot Ramattra. Over the weekend, Blizzard revealed more about his design, abilities, and play style, creating what Blizzard’s calling a “tempo tank,” reflecting his unique ability to change his form and thereby his abilities to fit the flow of battle.Ramattra’s two forms are his regular omnic form and a super-beefy nemesis form that has Ramattra hulk up like... Continue reading…
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by Alice Newcome-Beill on (#66APB)
You could win cash, in-game currency, or even consoles during the two-month-long tournament. | Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment Starting on December 1st, PlayStation gamers will be able to compete in ladder tournaments against other players for clout and prizes. Dubbed the “Win-A-Thon,” the ladder tournaments for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 run from December 1st to January 31st and can be entered via the Events page on each console.Sony seems to be making it deliberately simple to use this feature, giving it some front-and-center attention on the homescreen. After all, new features don’t mean much if you can’t find them (RIP Accolades).
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by Emma Roth on (#66APC)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge It’s a lose-lose situation. While some streamers are losing money by paying to get content on their platforms, others are losing money by distributing it on their own platforms. The result? Price hikes. Continue reading…
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by Ariel Shapiro on (#66APD)
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Hello there! I hope you all had a nice break. Thanksgiving food is not my thing, but I did enjoy watching the last third of Saturday Night Fever with my parents and in-laws (shockingly depressing!).Back to the grind. Today, Spotify Wrapped copycats make their debut and Google and iHeartMedia get a slap on the wrist for a misleading ad campaign.Slow Burn wins Apple’s new podcast prize (and promo)Today, Apple Podcasts introduced an award for “Show of the Year,” with its inaugural honor going to Slate’s Slow Burn. In the weeks leading up to the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade in June, Slow Burn published an in-depth account of the history behind the landmark 1973 case. Honestly, the podcast was great (and all the more... Continue reading…
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by Sheena Vasani on (#66APE)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Are you looking for an efficient and easy way to schedule meetings? Sharing your Google calendar helps you do that by essentially handing that job over to the other party. Others can get a glimpse into your schedule and find a time slot that works for both of you. That leaves you free to do more important things than studying your schedule and sending emails about availability.Even better, it’s a pretty simple and painless process, too, one that we’ll guide you through here so you can start sharing your calendar today.How to share a Google calendar with specific individuals
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by Georgina Torbet on (#66AMC)
“Orion reached its maximum distance from Earth during the Artemis I mission when it was 268,563 miles away from our home planet.” — NASA | Image: NASA On Monday, NASA’s Orion spacecraft reached its farthest distance from Earth, clocking in at 268,563 miles away from our planet. This marks the halfway point of the 25.5-day Artemis I mission, and the spacecraft will now continue its orbit around the Moon before heading back toward Earth.“Artemis I has had extraordinary success and has completed a series of history-making events,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said in a press conference, pointing out that Orion was the first spacecraft designed to carry humans to enter a distant retrograde lunar orbit and that it has surpassed the record for the furthest distance traveled away from Earth by a human-rated spacecraft.During Orion’s orbit around the Moon, which will last about a week, it... Continue reading…
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#66AHS)
Kurtwood Smith as Red Forman and Debra Jo Rupp as Kitty Forman. | Netflix It’s been 20 years since That ‘80s Show spectacularly failed to recreate That ‘70s Show’s monster success and wound up being canceled just weeks into its first season. The way That ‘70s Show went out with a lackluster bang a few years later could easily have been the end of the franchise, but Netflix is gearing up to bring the Point Place crew back with the very imaginatively named That ‘90s Show.Similar to That ‘70s Show, That ‘90s Show revolves around a group of young Wisconsinites whose budding friendships are destined to become lifelong relationships as they all grow up and get to know one another. As much as Leia Forman (Callie Haverda) loves her mom and dad, she knows that if she ever wants to really get out there and explore the... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#66AHT)
The new SlimBlade Pro. | Image: Kensington Kensington’s new version of its SlimBlade trackball mouse has a big improvement over the original model: wireless connectivity. With the SlimBlade Pro, which Kensington announced on Tuesday, you’ll be able to connect the trackball to your PC or Mac via Bluetooth or with a 2.4GHz wireless dongle (via 9to5Mac).Kensington claims the SlimBlade Pro will be able to get up to four months of battery life on a single charge, so you should be able to use the trackball for quite a while before needing to plug it in. The dongle has a handy storage spot on the bottom of the trackball if you want to keep it out of sight. And if you prefer keeping your mouse or trackball hooked up to your computer all the time, the SlimBlade Pro works with a wired... Continue reading…
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by Justine Calma on (#66ACY)
A Rolls-Royce AE 2100-A regional aircraft engine converted to perform a hydrogen test at Boscombe Down in the UK. | Image: Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce and European airline easyJet announced that they’ve successfully tested a hydrogen jet engine — technology the companies hope might eventually help erase aviation’s greenhouse gas emissions. The ground test marks “the world’s first run of a modern aero engine on hydrogen,” Rolls-Royce said in a press release yesterday.Aviation is considered one of the most difficult industries to clean up because it’s much harder to make electric planes than electric vehicles. Batteries charged with renewable solar and wind energy are still too bulky for long flights. So airlines and plane manufacturers are working to develop planes that can run on cleaner fuels like hydrogen, which produces water vapor instead of carbon dioxide when burned.... Continue reading…
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by Mia Sato on (#66AA9)
Image: Apple Best of 2022 lists and end-of-year recaps are just around the corner, including Spotify Wrapped, the streaming platform’s flashy interactive feature that’s become an annual tradition that overtakes social media for a few solid days. Its main competitor, Apple Music, made some charts for listeners, too, and comes with some changes this time around.Apple Music Replay is available for users beginning today, accessed via the platform’s website. It’s not the first time Apple Music has tried competing with Spotify’s roundup — it launched Replay in 2019 in the form of custom playlists — but, until now, hasn’t had a major update. Image: Apple The custom reel includes listener insights like top albums. This year’s... Continue reading…
by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#66AAA)
Image: Polestar Polestar is making its own e-bike. In a recent interview with The Verge, Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath confirmed that the company was working on a battery-powered two-wheeler along with Sweden’s Allebike, with which it had previously worked on a Polestar-branded nonelectric mountain bike.But that said, Ingenlath said he is cognizant of how it looks when a company that makes cars strays into the bike lane. “I always hated that marketing stunt of buying a bike and then just putting your brand on it,” Ingenlath said in an interview.Ingenlath’s skepticism is warranted. Often, when you hear about car companies releasing their own electric bikes, it’s just a brand licensing deal. Think Jeep’s e-bike, those Hummer bikes from last decade, or... Continue reading…
by Nilay Patel on (#66AAB)
Photo illustration by William Joel / The Verge Has sound quality taken a back seat to convenience? Continue reading…
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by Jon Porter on (#66A7P)
YouTube Music’s 2022 recap will highlight your top tracks and artists. | Image; Google The end of the year is fast approaching, which means it’s time for the world’s biggest music streaming services to summarize your listening habits in the most shareable ways possible. First out of the gate this year is YouTube Music’s 2022 Recap feature, launching today.Like last year, the main attraction is the personalized music stats it pulls together, highlighting the artists, songs, music videos, and playlists you’ve most listened to and watched throughout the course of the year. But there are also some new inclusions, including highlights of artists you might have discovered before they blew up and a new “music personality” feature that attempts to analyze your listening habits to deliver a verdict on your “music vibe.”It’ll... Continue reading…
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by Emma Roth on (#66A7Q)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter will no longer take action against tweets that contain covid misinformation or the accounts that post them. Instead of announcing the change, the platform added a note to the pages that outline its covid misinformation policies, saying, “Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy.”Twitter first introduced these policies in 2020 and began applying labels to tweets that contained disputed information about covid and its vaccines. The platform also removed tweets that contained “demonstrably false or potentially misleading content” and permanently suspended accounts if they continuously broke the rules. According to data posted by Twitter, the company suspended a total of... Continue reading…
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by Jon Porter on (#66A7R)
Portal, the first-person puzzle game that spawned a thousand memes, is getting a glow-up on December 8th, courtesy of a free piece of DLC. Portal with RTX was originally announced alongside Nvidia’s new RTX 4080 and 4090 graphics cards and adds ray-tracing support along with remade hi-res textures and models to the game. The result is much more realistic lighting and reflections, making the 15-year-old title look almost brand new.Nvidia says the DLC was created with RTX Remix, its new modding platform that’s designed to make it easier to add support for modern technologies like ray tracing, enhanced materials, and DLSS to classic titles. Portal with RTX supports DLSS 3, the latest version of Nvidia’s AI upscaling technology, which is... Continue reading…
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by Casey Newton on (#66A7S)
Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images After a long weekend away, today let’s talk about the largely positive reception that Elon Musk’s radical remaking of Twitter is getting from tech CEOs — and whether those views are likely to change if the fight that Musk is picking with Apple erodes even more value from his $44 billion purchase.The CEO’s revengeLast week, Musk publicly mocked Twitter’s somewhat notorious “Stay Woke” T-shirts. The shirts, which the company produced in 2016 in response to the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, were considered suspect even at the time. In those days, it was the left rolling its eyes — particularly after then-CEO Jack Dorsey wore the shirt during a Code Conference interview, giving the impression that a phrase that had... Continue reading…
by Jon Porter on (#66A7T)
Lancia’s new wordmark featuring its new brand font. | Image: Lancia Lancia, the Italian car company owned by Stellantis alongside Fiat, Chrysler, Citroën, Vauxhall, and Peugeot, is being revived as an electric car brand. The company announced plans to produce three electric vehicles between 2024 and 2028: a new Ypsilon, new Delta, and an unnamed “new flagship.” The brand is also getting a new logo, the eighth in its 116-year long history, which harks back to its 1957 design.By 2028, the plan is for Lancia to exclusively sell electric vehicles. But, as Electrek notes, the company only sells a single car (the Ypsilon) in a single market (Italy). So it shouldn’t be too hard to phase out sales of its combustion engine cars. Image: Lancia Lancia Brand CEO Luca Napolitano stands in... Continue reading…
by Allison Johnson on (#669DR)
Samsung’s foldable Galaxy Z Flip 4 is marked down to $799.99 ($200 off). | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge If you’ve been putting off replacing an old phone until the end of the year, then well done — there are plenty of Cyber Monday deals available to take the sting out of a new phone purchase. This year’s batch of deals features some healthy discounts on the latest flagships, including the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Google’s excellent Pixel 7, as well as some steep price cuts on already well-priced midrange models. If you’re shopping for a new phone, take a look at our picks for the best deals of the bunch.The best Cyber Monday phone accessory deals
by Adi Robertson on (#669DS)
Elon Musk is speaking out against Apple. | Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Elon Musk claims that Apple has threatened to “withhold” Twitter from the iOS App Store for unknown reasons. The news follows a tweet where Musk said Apple had “mostly stopped advertising” on the platform and a poll asking whether Apple should “publish all censorship actions it has taken that affect its customers.” Apple did not immediately comment on Musk’s claim.The news follows much more subtle signs of mounting tension between Apple and Musk-owned Twitter. Musk has criticized Apple’s App Store fee for in-app purchases, dubbing it a “hidden 30% tax” on the internet. And Apple App Store boss Phil Schiller deleted his Twitter account following Musk’s takeover, shortly after Donald Trump’s account was reinstated.In a November 15th... Continue reading…
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by Sheena Vasani on (#669DT)
The M2-powered MacBook Air is on sale. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Times are hard, and if you’ve been stressing about how you’re going to afford a good gift this holiday season, it’s understandable. Thankfully, Cyber Monday offers one of the best (and last) opportunities to save big before the holidays. As we highlighted in our guide to the best Cyber Monday deals, we’re seeing some steep discounts on some of the newest and most popular products, including the new AirPods Pro and LG’s latest C2 OLED. There are also deals still available that won’t absolutely destroy your budget — like those on the new fifth-gen Echo Dot and even a year of Hulu.Below, we’ve curated a guide to some of the best deals on presents you can still get. Many of these are taken right from our various holiday gift guides as... Continue reading…
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by Chris Welch on (#665BM)
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Whether you’re shopping for yourself or trying to come through with an amazing gift for someone else, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are great opportunities to pick up the latest wireless earbuds and headphones. Some of this year’s best models from Apple, Samsung, Sony, Bose, Beats, and others have now been on the market for a few months and seeing their first big discounts. Meanwhile, old favorites are hitting all-time lows.You can expect most of the deals to continue through Cyber Monday; we’ll be keeping an eye on this list and updating it with notable new discounts as they pop up.The best Cyber Monday deals on Apple AirPods
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by Alice Newcome-Beill on (#669DV)
Finally play StarFox64 the way Nintendo intended | Image: Nintendo Call it a Cyber Monday miracle if you will, but the official N64 controller for the Nintendo Switch has just been restocked at the Nintendo eShop. This $49.99 controller allows you to experience N64 games the way they were meant to be played — with a big gray controller that has an awkwardly placed central analog stick. This offer is exclusive to the Nintendo store and is only available to purchase if you’re a current Nintendo Switch Online subscriber. (Note: you can only access the N64 games with the purchase of the Switch Online Expansion Pack.)Unlike some restocks for the Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5, the method for purchasing this controller is very straightforward. Just sign in to your Nintendo account, click “add to cart,” and... Continue reading…
by Umar Shakir on (#6696D)
A preproduction Tesla Model 3 as revealed in 2016. | Photo by Chris Ziegler Tesla reportedly has a new Model 3 design in the works, according to four sources speaking to Reuters with knowledge on the matter. The new model, going by the codename “Highland,” will have fewer interior components and a slightly redesigned exterior, with the goal of both cutting production costs and increasing the appeal of the now five-year-old midsize electric sedan.The redesigned Model 3 may also have some powertrain performance adjustments, although it’s unclear if this means we will see a faster or more tame vehicle. The sources say that the production of the new model will begin at Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory in the third quarter of 2023. It’s planned for Tesla’s Fremont, California, plant as well, though no timeline was... Continue reading…
by Victoria Song on (#665BN)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Picking a smartwatch or fitness tracker can be daunting. There are dozens of factors to consider, such as style, durability, connectivity options, battery life, and the types of metrics tracked. Plus, there are enough models to make your head spin. With all the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, it can be hard to know what’s worth it and what isn’t.No worries. We’ve picked out the best deals so you don’t have to. They’re separated into three categories: smartwatches, multisport watches (for your hardcore athletes), and fitness trackers.The best Cyber Monday smartwatch deals
by Dan Seifert on (#6696E)
The latest Echo Dot with clock is available with a big discount and two free Philips Hue smart bulbs. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Black Friday is a not-so-distant memory, but Amazon still has some excellent Cyber Monday deals on a variety of tech devices. We’ve rounded up a collection of all the best discounts you can still get on wireless headphones, 4K TVs, tablets, and more.If you’re looking for discounts at other retailers, we’ve also put together roundups of the best deals you can still find at Target, Best Buy, and Walmart. To stay up to speed with everything happening today and through this week, make sure to bookmark our Cyber Monday hub and check back for regular updates.The best Cyber Monday deals you can get at AmazonThe best Amazon Cyber Monday deals on Echo devices
by Georgina Torbet on (#6696F)
An artist’s illustration of the Lunar Flashlight mission. | Image: NASA The Artemis I mission isn’t the only lunar mission happening this month. On Wednesday, November 30th, a SpaceX Falcon 9 is expected to launch a commercial Japanese lander called Hakuto-R to the Moon, carrying the United Arab Emirates Rashid rover. And there will also be an extra payload tucked inside the rocket: a tiny orbiter called Lunar Flashlight.As part of a wave of increased commercial interest in the Moon, the lander could be among the first private missions to land on the Moon — although, as the Israeli lander Beresheet demonstrated when it crashed into the Moon in 2019, touching down safely on the Moon’s surface still remains a challenge that a private mission has yet to overcome. As for the small Rashid rover, this is the... Continue reading…
by Victoria Song on (#6696G)
The Oceanic Plus app turns the Apple Watch into a dive computer. | Image: Apple Divers no longer have to wait to use the Apple Watch Ultra as a dive computer. Starting today, you can download the Oceanic Plus app to plan, track, and review dives.While the Ultra has a native Depth app, it’s not meant to be used as a dive computer. It’s more for activities like underwater pool swims and snorkeling. It mostly tells you the water temperature and time as well as current and maximum depth. Conversely, the Oceanic Plus app was designed by Huish Outdoors to be used as a wrist-worn dive computer for depths up to 40 meters (130 feet). Before dives, users can set their surface time, depth, and gas, which the app will then use to calculate a no-decompression time, which is how long a diver can stay at a given depth. Divers can... Continue reading…
by Emma Roth on (#6696H)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Ireland’s Data Protection Commission hit Meta with a €265 million fine (about $276 million USD) after an April 2021 data leak exposed the information of more than 533 million users. The DPC started the investigation shortly after news of the leak broke and involved an examination into whether Facebook complied with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws.The leaked information, spotted by Insider, was posted to an online hacking forum and included the full names, phone numbers, locations, and birthdates of users on the platform from 2018 to 2019. At the time, Meta said the bad actor obtained the information through a vulnerability that the company fixed in 2019 and that this was the same information involved in a prior... Continue reading…
by Alice Newcome-Beill on (#6696K)
The Noc Design / The Verge Black Friday may be in the past, but many of the best deals remain. If you’ve been following our Black Friday coverage, none of the best Cyber Monday deals should come as a surprise. While this may not be particularly exciting, it does provide you with a final opportunity to snag some of our favorite tech ranging from noise-canceling headphones to video games and TVs that are still available for their lowest price ever.The following is an updated list of all the best deals that are still available on Cyber Monday, along with a table of contents breaking everything down by category.The best Cyber Monday dealsHere are the all-stars
by The Verge Staff on (#65BWK)
We’re rounding up all of the best deals from across the internet to help you cross some names off your holiday shopping list. Continue reading…
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6693Y)
VinFast sent a batch of 999 electric vehicles to the US. | Image: VinFast VinFast, the Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer, is shipping its first batch of EVs to the US, capping a five-year effort to develop a Southeast Asian hub for the North American and European markets.The shipment includes 999 VF 8s, an all-electric crossover with 402 horsepower, 472 pound-feet of torque, around 290 miles of range, and a starting price of $40,700. The first cars are expected to be handed over to preorder customers by the end of December, the company said. Some of the vehicles will end up with Autonomy, a car subscription service, but the majority will go to retail customers.“A proud historical milestone for the Vietnamese automotive industry”“The export of the first 999 VF 8s is a significant event for VinFast... Continue reading…
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by The Verge Staff on (#65E2Z)
The Noc Design / The Verge Black Friday has come and gone. The annual deals extravaganza that closes out the year is over, yet many retailers — including Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy — are still offering some of their best savings of the year now that we’re in the midst of Cyber Monday. This means it’s still a great time to score a steep discount on a wide range of tech, including noise-canceling headphones, smart displays, OLED TVs, robot vacuums, gaming laptops, and a bevy of other popular gadgets from the likes of Apple, Amazon, and Google.Today is a great opportunity to gift stuff to yourself, but it’s also your best chance to do a bunch of gift shopping for others. If you’re unsure where you should shop, keep in mind that many retailers offer... Continue reading…
by David Pierce on (#6693Z)
Jarett Sitter / The Verge There’s a decent chance you’ve come across Shudu on Instagram. She’s constantly having cool adventures in New York and Paris, she models for some of the biggest fashion brands on the planet, and she has a huge following on Instagram. Oh, and she’s not real. Or at least, she’s not human: Shudu is one of the Diigitals, “the world’s first all digital modeling agency.” And she’s a big part of the future of the creator economy.For the next three weeks on The Vergecast, we’re going to be exploring new parts of the business of being a creator. We’re going to dig deep on creator funds and how giant pools of platform money change the way those platforms operate. We’re going to look into livestreaming and why everything from shopping to sleeping... Continue reading…
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by William Poor on (#66940)
Fun fact from the files of “there’s a job for that”: there are multiple companies that specialize in making fake Moon dirt. Technically, it’s called lunar regolith to help differentiate it from “soil,” which implies the presence of organic material, or from “dirt,” which, for this story, I learned literally just means “anything that makes you dirty.” Whatever you call it, it is nothing like our friendly terrestrial soils: it’s sharp, dusty, and jagged; it’s full of glassy globs from meteorite impacts; and its chemical composition has been altered by constant bombardment from solar wind. In short, lunar regolith is strange and alien stuff.So why would multiple companies go out of their way to simulate it? Because as more governments and... Continue reading…
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by Jon Porter on (#6691A)
Obsolete Sounds is a new project that its creator Cities and Memory claims is “the world’s biggest collection of obsolete and disappearing sounds.” It consists of over 150 sounds that are increasingly rare, ranging from sounds used in retro video games, recordings of old-fashioned transport, and plenty of mechanical sounds from outdated hardware.Of course, the first sound clip I searched for was the sound of an old 56K modem connecting to the internet, which is thankfully present and accounted for. “In the 90’s, computers would scream every time you went online. That was foreshadowing,” was how one tweet recently described the piercing screech.“Obsolete Sounds is designed... to highlight those sounds that are worth preserving”Other... Continue reading…
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by Jon Porter on (#6691B)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter search results for major Chinese cities have become filled with tweets about escort services, porn, and gambling that are obscuring legitimate reports about a wave of protests that have gripped the country, Washington Post and TechCrunch are reporting. Searches for “北京” (Beijing) or “上海” (Shanghai) are filled with such spam which, as of this writing, vastly outnumber any tweets about the protests.One analysis highlighted by Stanford Internet Observatory’s Alex Stamos estimates that over 95 percent of tweets under the Beijing search term are from spam accounts, with over 70 percent of the accounts only having started tweeting in such volumes recently. New spam tweets are appearing every few seconds from accounts that are tweeting... Continue reading…
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by Jon Porter on (#6691C)
Photo by Soeren Stache/picture alliance via Getty Images The European Commission is opening the door for European airlines to begin offering inflight 5G connectivity, the organization has announced, by allocating certain spectrum for inflight 5G as well as “previous mobile technology generations.” Passengers will connect to an on-board pico-cell base station, which then connects to ground-based networks via satellite. Calls, texts, and data are all expected to be supported.“5G will enable innovative services for people and growth opportunities for European companies,” said EU commissioner Thierry Breton. “The sky is no longer a limit when it comes to possibilities offered by super-fast, high-capacity connectivity.” The Commission’s announcement does not offer details on exactly when 5G... Continue reading…
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by Dan Seifert on (#6691D)
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge With all the deals, discounts, and promotions running around, it can be awfully tempting to spend a mint over Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But for those trying to stay thrifty and keep their spending in check, we’ve gathered some of the best early Cyber Monday deals you can currently find for less than $50. There are plenty of deals on wireless earbuds, smart home devices, and Bluetooth speakers that fall below the $50 mark, many of which we’d normally recommend picking up at full price.If you’re planning to do some spending on bigger ticket items, we’ve also rounded up all the noteworthy discounts that are currently live at retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy, as well as the best early Cyber Monday deals overall.T... Continue reading…
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#665FF)
Apple’s AirTag tracker is down to just $25. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verg While much of our Cyber Monday coverage spans a wide range of prices, it’s no secret that the biggest savings are usually on the expensive, showy stuff like TVs. But if you’ve got a lengthy list for your upcoming holiday gift exchange, or you just need to stretch your budget a little more this year, look no further than these early Cyber Monday deals under $25 you can grab now.While anyone can find cheap crap on sale during Black Friday and Cyber Monday (just open up Amazon’s page and count all the items from brands you’ve never heard of), we’re compiling the best budget-friendly deals we know won’t steer you wrong. These are items we’ve tried or even tested ourselves — which is why we can say an Apple AirTag tracker for $24.98 is... Continue reading…
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by Cameron Faulkner on (#6691E)
The Noc Design / The Verge You know how most streets in US towns look exactly the same, barring a few differences? That’s kind of how Cyber Monday is to Black Friday. Many of its deals should be familiar if you’ve been paying attention throughout the Thanksgiving weekend, even though it’s taking on another name. If you haven’t been tuned in, well, you’re in for a treat. There are so many best-ever deals on tech like noise-canceling headphones and earbuds, iPads, video games, budget-friendly gadgets, and a lot more (pour one out for the $569 48-inch LG A2 OLED TV at Best Buy, which is no longer available).We’re serving you the best-of-the-best deals right up top, just below a handy table of contents that’ll help you zip around to your preferred product category.... Continue reading…
by Sheena Vasani on (#66642)
The Noc Design / The Verge Happy Thanksgiving, folks! Want to get a head start on your holiday shopping before the Black Friday madness officially begins tomorrow? Despite the fact the annual shopping holiday is another day away, many major retailers are already offering a number of early Black Friday sales. So if you need a distraction from the Thanksgiving dinner table, you have a smorgasbord of quality deals you can already binge before the more hectic rush tomorrow.While it’s possible prices will dip even lower once the big day arrives, the discounts we’re currently seeing are nothing to scoff at. Target, Best Buy, and Walmart are offering some seriously steep discounts on a number of popular tech and gadgets, ranging from Apple devices to TVs, tablets,... Continue reading…
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#66643)
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor. | Image: Lucasfilm / Disney Plus The final episode of Andor’s first season brought everything full circle, and was a powerful reminder of what Star Wars has always been about. Continue reading…
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by Jessica Lucas on (#66625)
Jackson Gibbs / The Verge Eli Betchik has always had a stomach of steel, but it wasn’t until they went to art school that they realized it could make them famous.“I was perfectly willing to eat random things for the entertainment of my friends. I would take a ketchup packet from the diner and suck it up or eat an entire block of Parmesan cheese,” remembers Betchik, now 23, who makes and sells jewelry from their basement in Ohio. “The more I did that, the more I started realizing I could do this on the internet. I thought that I would be able to entertain people.”In November 2020, the nonbinary jewelry maker was at art school in Cleveland, where they’d made friends with a group of performance artists. Soon, Betchik’s food performances became their own kind of... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#66624)
Photo by Mitchell Clark / The Verge Project Genesis launched in Las Vegas first, so I figured the experience of using it there would be much better than in Spokane. I was wrong. Continue reading…
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