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by Ash Parrish on (#65W59)
Image: Blizzard World of Warcraft: Dragonflight’s prelaunch battery of content, including a new launch cinematic, the pre-expansion release of the new Dracthyr class, and especially the allure of being able to party up with my Horde buddies, is doing a lot to get me to come back to WoW. (To say nothing of the serendipitous brand synergy between this latest expansion and the recent Game of Thrones spinoff.)Like a lot of players, I felt burned by the developments of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. The expansion’s story was wildly unpopular, with a character celebrated for making the best out of a bad situation turning to full-on war crimes. Left with that bad taste in my mouth, that “Have you heard of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV...”... Continue reading…
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The Verge - All Posts
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
| Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
| Updated | 2024-11-27 23:15 |
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by Mary Beth Griggs on (#62X62)
Photo by Loren Grush / The Verge Here’s a cheat sheet for the Artemis I mission Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#65W2G)
If you log out, you should be able to get back in. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has confirmed that two-factor authentication is still up and running on the service, despite concerns that it had inadvertently been shut down or broken. A tweet from Twitter Support says the company is “looking into the few cases where SMS codes aren’t being delivered,” but it doesn’t give much indication of how many people were affected.On Monday, a few tweets went viral on the platform featuring screenshots of error codes about how SMS codes couldn’t be sent, with some users linking the issues to CEO Elon Musk saying that the platform would be shutting down unnecessary parts of Twitter’s infrastructure. However, our tests showed that the service wasn’t completely broken, and when we put out a public call asking people if... Continue reading…
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by Ariel Shapiro on (#65W0H)
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images I know saying that Normal Gossip is a must-listen podcast is a room temperature take, but if you have not tuned in yet, I implore you to listen to its most recent episode. I will not spoil it beyond the fact that niche pocket watch community drama is spicier than I could ever imagine.On to the news! Anchor users around the world can now upload video podcasts, Acast has a fancy new tool for advertisers, and Edison has some promising new research on the growth of podcast listening.Anchor users around the world can now publish video podcasts on SpotifyAs YouTube becomes a bigger player in the podcasting industry, Spotify is expanding its video podcast capabilities to creators across the globe. Anchor users in 180 markets can now publish... Continue reading…
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#65W0J)
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images Following his recent departure from the studio formerly known as DC Films, Walter Hamada is heading over to Paramount Pictures to head up the studio’s upcoming horror projects.Paramount Pictures announced today that it’s entered an exclusive multiyear deal with Hamada that will see him heading up all of its horror genre films for both theatrical and streaming releases. In a public statement about the deal, Paramount Pictures president and CEO Brian Robbins called Hamada “the ideal partner and visionary” to take point on the company’s horror-focused endeavors. He also pointed to the success of director Parker Finn’s Smile, which was released theatrically after originally being meant for Paramount Plus, as an example of the kind of... Continue reading…
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by Sean Hollister on (#65W0K)
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images After purging half of Twitter’s staff with a snap of his fingers and firing as many as 5,500 additional contract employees without so much as a goodbye, “free speech” maximalist Elon Musk is now additionally getting rid of anyone who dares criticize him, both on Twitter and even in the company’s private Slack.Yesterday, Musk admitted to firing an engineer who attempted to correct him publicly on Twitter, and Eric Frohnhoefer wasn’t the last to go that way — Twitter software engineer Sasha Solomon also tweeted that she got “fired for shitposting” after a series of now-deleted tweets criticizing Musk, adding “kiss my ass elon.”
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by Alice Newcome-Beill on (#65AMH)
Right now, you can save on Vizio’s M6-Series QLED and other cool tech as part of Target’s ongoing Black Friday sale. | Image: Vizio The holiday shopping season has begun and several retailers, including Target, have already kicked off some spectacular Black Friday deals in the lead-up to the annual shopping event. Some of the best discounts we’re currently seeing extend to wireless earbuds like the Beats Studio Buds ($99.99), as well as TVs like Vizio’s 50-inch M6-Series QLED (now $399.99).Here, we’ve collected some of the best discounts you can find at Target, many of which will be available through the week of Thanksgiving and price matched elsewhere. Target also intends to roll out new deals every Sunday so we’ll be updating this page on a weekly basis as new deals and discounts become available. As usual, we’ll make sure to give you a heads-up as to which deals... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#65VYB)
The current version of the iPhone 14 Pro’s always-on display can be a bit... distracting. | Image: Apple iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max owners could be getting more control over their phone’s always-on display. The latest developer beta for the upcoming iOS 16.2 includes toggles that let you hide the wallpaper and notifications while using the feature, according to reports from MacRumors and 9to5Mac.Turning off both with always-on activated will make it so you just see a clock and your lockscreen widgets when your phone is locked, according to an image tweeted by 9to5Mac editor Chance Miller. On the currently shipping version of iOS, it’s all or nothing; you can have the always-on display that’ll show a wallpaper and notifications, or you can turn it off, leaving your phone’s screen blank when it’s locked and asleep, the way iPhones always have... Continue reading…
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by Mary Beth Griggs on (#62YT7)
NASA’s Space Launch System at its launchpad in July 2022 ahead of a rehearsal. | Photo by GREGG NEWTON/Gregg Newton/AFP via Getty Images The Space Launch System is finally ready for its big debut. Continue reading…
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by Mia Sato on (#65VYC)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge New shopping features are coming to YouTube Shorts, including affiliate marketing and the ability to purchase items through Shorts, as first reported by the Financial Times (via TechCrunch).The long-form video giant is testing shopping features with US-based creators and audiences in the US, India, Brazil, Canada, and Australia, allowing influencers to tag their own products in Shorts that viewers can then purchase, according to the report. An affiliate marketing program, open to select US influencers, adds yet another way for creators to monetize their Shorts, with YouTube, the creator, and the merchant all taking a cut of sales, according to the Financial Times.YouTube didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.S... Continue reading…
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by Adi Robertson on (#65VW5)
A DreamUp generation for “a man in a 1950s business suit defusing a bomb at a table in the style of Norman Rockwell.” | Image: DreamUp Artificial intelligence is learning to make art, and nobody has quite figured out how to handle it — including DeviantArt, one of the best-known homes for artists on the internet. Last week, DeviantArt decided to step into the minefield of AI image generation, launching a tool called DreamUp that lets anyone make pictures from text prompts. It’s part of a larger DeviantArt attempt to give more control to human artists, but it’s also created confusion — and, among some users, anger.DreamUp is based on Stable Diffusion, the open-source image-spawning program created by Stability AI. Anyone can sign into DeviantArt and get five prompts for free, and people can buy between 50 and 300 per month with the site’s Core subscription plans, plus... Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#65VW6)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has revealed why the company delayed its plans to introduce an Xbox streaming console, speaking to Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel on The Verge’s Decoder podcast this week.“It was more expensive than we wanted it to be when we actually built it out with the hardware that we had inside,” said Spencer, discussing the Keystone prototype device that recently appeared on his office shelves. “We decided to focus that team’s effort on delivering the smart TV streaming app.”Microsoft delivered an Xbox TV app in partnership with Samsung instead, but it doesn’t mean the idea for a streaming-only Xbox console is fully over. “With Keystone, we’re still focused on it and watching when we can get the right... Continue reading…
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by Chris Welch on (#65VW7)
Image: @TheBlueMister (Twitter) Apple’s first-party lineup of MagSafe charging accessories for the iPhone is fairly limited: you’ve got the standard MagSafe puck, the MagSafe Duo, the underwhelming MagSafe Battery Pack, and well... that’s it. But new images indicate that Apple at some point considered releasing a metal stand with an integrated MagSafe charger.The photos and related details were shared by Twitter user @TheBlueMister and subsequently covered by MacRumors. @TheBlueMister is among a hobbyist group of collectors on Twitter that share details about prototype and prerelease Apple devices and accessories. More than one person has gotten ahold of the “Apple Magic Charger” (that’s what it’s identified as when plugged into a Mac), which helps lend some credence... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#65VPD)
Tough day for Taylor Swift fans. | Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic The massive demand for presale tickets for Taylor Swift’s latest concert tour has already crashed Ticketmaster. The company’s support account tweeted that fans “may be experiencing intermittent issues” and that it’s “urgently” working to resolve problems.On Tuesday afternoon, Ticketmaster said that the presale has led to “historically unprecedented demand” for tickets with “millions” showing up to the presale. Despite the issues, the company says it has sold “hundreds of thousands” of tickets already, but when the sales are for the giant stadiums that Swift will be playing at, that may not be as impressive as it sounds. Ticketmaster will also be delaying the onsale times for the Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Santa Clara, and Seattle shows to... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#65VRS)
Image: Obsidian Entertainment In Pentiment, you’ll spend a lot of time eating at dinner tables. Conversations touch on all sorts of topics, and the discussions help you learn more about the fictional Bavarian town of Tassing and the mysteries you’ll be investigating. Every so often, you’ll get to take a bite of bread or cheese of varying quality depending on who you’re eating with. Occasionally, somebody might ramble on. It honestly felt like a warm-up for Thanksgiving (though at my Thanksgivings, I’m not trying to figure out who committed a murder).But pay attention, and you’ll notice that Pentiment uses the meals to subtly teach you about the people the game’s protagonist, Andreas Maler, is eating with. Wealthier companions offer nicer food on finer dishware.... Continue reading…
by Victoria Song on (#65VRV)
If you logged 14 nights of sleep in October, you’ll get your Sleep Profile on November 22nd. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Pixel Watch, Fitbit Sense 2, and Fitbit Versa 4 make for a somewhat confusing lineup. The problem is that Google nerfed each — removing smart features from the Fitbit devices and removing some basic features from the Pixel Watch — to justify the existence of the rest. Thankfully, it looks like Google is taking some steps to reverse that. Today, it announced that one of the features omitted on the Pixel Watch, Fitbit’s Sleep Profile feature, is coming to the Pixel Watch starting next week and that Google Wallet is finally arriving on the Sense 2 and Versa 4 today.Fitbit Premium’s Sleep Profile categorizes your sleep patterns based on one of six cartoon animals. The feature tracks 10 sleep-related metrics so users can get a... Continue reading…
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by Elizabeth Lopatto on (#65VRW)
Sam Bankman-Fried testifies on Capitol Hill, before his fall from grace | Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images He had friends in high places — and they are probably embarrassed right now. Continue reading…
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#65VRX)
This massive Lego set is deserving of its own living room. | Image: Lego Who needs to travel the globe when you can bring the world’s biggest landmarks to your own home in plastic brick form? Lego has announced its tallest set to date with the new 10,001-piece Eiffel Tower, soaring 149cm / 59 inches tall when fully built. It’s the latest in Lego’s Icons line, joining the ranks of other legendary hallmarks of human history such as the Titanic, the Roman Colosseum, and the Atari 2600 — naturally. The Lego Eiffel Tower will be sold in Lego stores and on its site beginning November 25th for $629.99.The Eiffel Tower may be the tallest of all Lego sets so far, but it’s the second-biggest in terms of brick count — trailing the Lego World Map by about 1,700 pieces. Though if you’re anxious about its massive height... Continue reading…
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by Jon Porter on (#65VPE)
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Amid his endless spitballing of new features for the social media network he reluctantly bought, CEO Elon Musk has announced plans for Twitter to no longer display which device a tweet was sent from, whether it’s an iPhone, Android phone, or Twitter’s web client. “We will finally stop adding what device a tweet was written on,” Musk tweeted, adding that he thinks the feature is a “waste of screen space & compute.”“Literally no one even knows why we did that,” he added.
by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#65VPF)
Image: Rimac Rimac announced that its Nevera supercar hit a top speed of 412 kmh (256 mph), making it the fastest electric production car in the world.The record was set on October 28th at the Automotive Testing Papenburg track in Germany, an oval-shaped racetrack with twin straights that were long enough — 4 km, or 2.48 miles — for the Nevera to achieve its top speed.The Nevera, a quad-motor, 1,914 horsepower demonstration of electric absurdity, has a top speed of 258 mph — though its speed is limited to 219 mph — and an ability to leap from 0–60 mph in less than two seconds.Miro Zrnčević, Rimac’s chief test and development driver, was behind the wheel during the test. Here’s how the company described the experience of breaking the EV speed... Continue reading…
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by Georgina Torbet on (#65TT0)
The Orion capsule and Space Launch System on November 13th, 2022. | Photo by Red Huber/Getty Images NASA’s Artemis I mission is still set to launch this week after its Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft were buffeted by high winds during Hurricane Nicole. The rocket and spacecraft suffered only “very minor damage,” according to NASA officials. The aim of the Artemis I mission is to launch the spacecraft on an uncrewed mission around the Moon to test out the technology before a series of crewed missions visit the Moon.The decision to leave the rocket on the launchpad during a hurricane was controversial, as experts were concerned that high winds could cause it to rock. Previously, when Hurricane Ian threatened the Florida coast last month, the rocket was returned to a building called the Vehicle Assembly Building for... Continue reading…
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by Emma Roth on (#62ZBA)
Photo by Joel Kowsky / NASA via Getty Images NASA’s massive Space Launch System (SLS) is almost ready for liftoff after facing multiple setbacks, including two scrubbed launch attempts and two hurricane-caused delays. This highly anticipated rocket launch has been over a decade in the making and marks NASA’s return to crewed missions to the Moon. This mission is called Artemis I, and while there won’t be any astronauts on board during this launch, it will serve as a test for the future goal of putting the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon.During its first launch, the SLS will catapult NASA’s Orion capsule into space, where it will embark on a voyage around the Moon that is expected to last until December 11th, when it will splash back down into the ocean. On... Continue reading…
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by Monica Chin on (#65VPG)
Asus’ Vivobook 13 Slate Steven Harrington Edition puts a bold, funky look on a pretty OLED display. It’s a cool collaboration and a convenient form factor. But a slow processor holds it back from being great. Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#65VKQ)
Looks Cyberpunk-y. | Image: Epic Games Over half of all announced games for next-gen game consoles are being developed using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine suite of developer tools, Epic VP of engineering Nick Penwarden said in an interview with The Verge.While that’s a small improvement from the previous 48 percent figure CEO Tim Sweeney shared in April at the launch of Unreal Engine 5, both numbers demonstrate the growing popularity of Unreal Engine for developing PS5 and Xbox Series X / S games. And it’s perhaps not too surprising that the number is trending up given that both the PS5 and Xbox Series X / S are now two years old and much easier to buy.Penwarden didn’t specify how many developers are using which versions of Unreal Engine but noted he’s been “pleasantly... Continue reading…
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by Emma Roth on (#65VKR)
The auction listing says the shoes retain “the imprint of Steve Jobs’ feet, which had been shaped after years of use.” | Image: Julien’s Auctions One (lucky?) bidder just paid $218,750 to get their hands on a pair of raggedy old sandals worn by Steve Jobs (via CNN). Oh, and the 360-degree non-fungible token (NFT) that goes with it.The sandals, a pair of Birkenstock Arizonas, were apparently worn by Jobs back in the 1970s and ’80s when he first started Apple. They were recovered from the trash (as you might’ve guessed) by Jobs’ estate manager, Mark Sheff, and then put up for sale at Julien’s Auctions on Friday. Image: Julien’s Auctions The old Birkenstocks were recovered from the trash by Jobs’ house manager. When talking about how he acquired the sandals in a 2016 article from Business Insider, Sheff explains that Jobs “kept very few things,” so he... Continue reading…
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by James Vincent on (#65VKS)
Illustration: Max-o-matic The last year has seen a boom in AI models that create art, music, and code by learning from others’ work. But as these tools become more prominent, unanswered legal questions could shape the future of the field. Continue reading…
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by Sheena Vasani on (#65VKT)
The Xbox Series S is on sale for $249.99 at Adorama. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Black Friday is next week, which means we’re about to see a lot of great deals drop and inevitably disappear within seconds. That’s why it’s not the worst idea to start your holiday shopping before the madness begins. If you want to do so while saving, you can’t go wrong gifting a gamer a discounted Xbox Series S. Right now, you can buy Microsoft’s miniature console for just $249.99 ($50 off) at Adorama, which is one of its better prices to date.If your loved one lives in a small apartment or home, the Xbox Series S is a particularly ideal console to consider purchasing, one that’s much smaller than the more expensive Series X. Though it lacks a disc drive, you can use it to play the same digital games as the Series X, albeit at 2560 x... Continue reading…
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by Nilay Patel on (#65VGY)
Photo illustration by William Joel / The Verge. The CEO of Microsoft Gaming thinks King is the crown jewel of the Activision empire. Continue reading…
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by James Vincent on (#65VH3)
A screenshot of the new Storyboard UI. | Image: Descript Descript started life as an audio editing app but has slowly added more video editing tools over the years. Now, the app has launched one of its biggest updates yet and is putting video editing front and center with a new mode named Storyboard. The company has been testing Storyboard in beta for months, but it’s now available to all users.As ever, Descript’s key differentiator compared to traditional apps is its take on the standard editing timeline. Instead of presenting content and effects as a series of blocks in a visual timeline (which can get hellishly busy), the app uses AI to transcribe speech from audio and video and lets users edit this content just like they would a Word document. You just delete sentences from the... Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#65VH2)
Clippy is back to make or break your holidays. | Image: Microsoft Clippy has returned this year to appear on Microsoft’s latest ugly sweater. The Microsoft Office assistant that was both hated and loved is the latest in a series of Windows-themed ugly sweaters from Microsoft and will be available from the company’s Xbox Gear Shop today, priced at $74.99.That’s quite the price to pay to spread some holiday cheer, but all proceeds will be donated to the College Success Foundation this year, alongside a $100,000 donation from Microsoft. Image: Microsoft Nobody can see Clippy from behind. This is Microsoft’s fifth year of Windows-themed ugly sweaters and the third year the company has been selling them to the general public. “It started back in 2017, we had posted three made-up... Continue reading…
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by Jon Porter on (#65VH1)
The Wyze Mesh Router Pro. | Image: Wyze Budget smart home company Wyze has announced a pair of mesh Wi-Fi routers — the Wyze Mesh Router and Wyze Mesh Router Pro. The Pro version is a tri-band Wi-Fi 6E model with support for faster speeds and connectivity with more devices, while the other is a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 router.With a starting price of $173.99 plus shipping for a single base station (rising to $273.99 for a two-pack), the Wyze Mesh Router Pro looks set to be among the most affordable Wi-Fi 6E-compatible mesh routers on the market. It’s got a lower price than Google’s recently announced Nest Wifi Pro (which starts at $199), Eero’s Pro 6E ($299), and the two-pack variant is a hair more affordable than TP-Link’s Deco XE75 ($299.99 for a two-pack).The Wyze Mesh Router... Continue reading…
by Tom Warren on (#65VH0)
Nvidia is back with another new 40-series card. The RTX 4080 can deliver impressive 4K gaming compared to the RTX 30-series. Continue reading…
by Alice Newcome-Beill on (#65VGZ)
The Elgato Stream Deck Plus has fewer buttons than the standard Stream Deck but has some cool knobs. | Image: Elgato Elgato, the company responsible for my strange addiction to putting more buttons on my desk, has just launched its latest streaming accessory, the Elgato Stream Deck Plus, which is currently available on the Elgato store and Amazon for $199.99, $70 less than the Razer Stream Controller but $50 more than the Stream Deck MK. 2. Just like its predecessors, the Stream Deck Plus has an array of buttons that can be mapped to a variety of functions and plugins available through the Elgato Stream Deck software, but this version is equipped with a set of four knobs and an LED screen. Image: Elgato Eight buttons, four knobs, and one LED touchscreen If you’ve used a Stream Deck before, you know what to expect. The buttons... Continue reading…
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by Victoria Song on (#65VDV)
You can also send your location via satellite in the Find My app. You don’t have to hold your arm up to get a signal, though there is a lot of turning around and waiting when trying to connect to satellites. Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#65VBA)
Image: Activision Bored of hearing about whether Microsoft will keep Call of Duty on PlayStation or not? Good, because so is Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. In an interview on Decoder, a show hosted by The Verge’s Nilay Patel, Spencer has settled the debate over the future of Call of Duty on PlayStation once and for all.“It’s not about at some point I pull the rug underneath PlayStation 7’s legs and it’s ‘ahaha you just didn’t write the contract long enough,’” says Spencer. “There’s no contract that could be written that says forever.”Spencer has spent weeks responding to questions over whether Microsoft would make Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox if the company’s proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard goes through.The Verge... Continue reading…
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#65VBC)
Aqara’s new automatic pet feeder works with smart home automations and voice commands. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Smart home company Aqara is bringing some connected fun to your pets. The new $99.99 Aqara Smart Pet Feeder C1 can feed your cat or dog on a schedule, remotely using its app, by a voice command with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple’s Siri, or based on motion when connected with an Aqara motion sensor.There are plenty of automatic pet feeders out there, but very few can integrate with smart home devices to create useful automations for feeding your pet. The C1 uses Zigbee 3.0 and requires an Aqara smart home hub (starting at $30) to connect to the internet and Aqara’s app to set up those automations.For example, you can have an Aqara indoor camera start recording when the food is dispensed so you can check and see if your... Continue reading…
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by Victoria Song on (#65VBB)
The Garmin Bounce is the company’s first LTE watch for kids. | Image: Garmin Garmin already has a ton of colorful fitness trackers for kids, but today, it’s launching the $149.99 Bounce — its first LTE smartwatch for kids. The device is meant to help parents keep an eye on their kids without having to shell out for a smartphone or manage what their kids are doing with it.Bounce includes both built-in GPS and LTE. On top of tracking their child’s whereabouts, Bounce allows parents to set alerts for whenever their child leaves a designated area. Children can also send their current location to their parents via a notification in the Garmin Jr. app. Like Apple’s Family Setup on the Apple Watch, parents can activate a do-not-disturb mode during school hours.Aside from location tracking, Bounce also supports... Continue reading…
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#65VBD)
Amazon Clinic is a new message-based virtual healthcare service that offers accessible treatments for a variety of common health concerns. | Image: Amazon Amazon has launched Amazon Clinic, a message-based online healthcare service that offers treatments for over 20 “common health conditions” such as allergies, dandruff, hair loss, birth control, erectile dysfunction, and acne.Amazon Clinic requires customers to select the condition they require treatment for and then choose a preferred provider from an available list of licensed telehealth providers. After completing an intake questionnaire, customers can connect with clinicians for a consultation via a secure message-based portal. A personalized treatment plan will then be provided via the portal alongside any necessary prescriptions, which can be filled at any pharmacy of the customer’s choosing — including Amazon Pharmacy. ... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#65TZ2)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter may be in big trouble when it comes to generating advertising revenue: GroupM, part of WPP, the world’s biggest ad company — and Twitter’s biggest spender — is reportedly telling its clients that buying ads on the platform is “high-risk,” according to Platformer and Digiday. That makes it the third advertising juggernaut telling massive corporations that they might want to take their money elsewhere, after IPG and Omnicom Media Group both recommended pausing advertisements on the platform.GroupM works with companies like Google, L’Oréal, Bayer, Nestle, Unilever, Coke, and Mars. If you’ve ever seen that graphic about how a few brands make pretty much everything you buy at the grocery store, you’ll notice a lot of Venn diagram... Continue reading…
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by Casey Newton on (#65TZ3)
Laura Normand / The Verge Employees and advertisers keep telling him about the risks of the changes he’s making to Twitter — but he’s not listening Continue reading…
by Mitchell Clark on (#65TQY)
Pro tip: if you care about keeping your job, you probably shouldn’t tweet about how your boss’s “simps” are pro “dickriders.” | Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Twitter has seen thousands of layoffs, departures, and resignations since Elon Musk took over, but one of the latest staffing changes appears to have been personal — the company’s new CEO tweeted that Eric Frohnhoefer, an employee who had publicly argued with him on the platform, had been fired.The saga started on Sunday, when Musk tweeted an apology for Twitter being slow in “many countries” and implied that the poor performance is because the app does over 1,000 “poorly batched” remote procedure calls to load the home timeline — basically saying the app has to reach out to other servers a bunch of times and wait for a response for each request. Frohnhoefer, who tweeted that he’s spent six years working on Twitter for Android, quote... Continue reading…
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by Emma Roth on (#65TWW)
Image: Nike Nike’s still planning to get in on the non-fungible token (NFT) game, even though the NFT market is plummeting and the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume went bankrupt last week. The company’s launching what it calls .Swoosh, a Web3 platform that will eventually let users buy, sell, and trade virtual shoes and apparel.Nike didn’t offer too many details about what exactly to expect but suggests that you will one day be able to use its assets as wearable items in digital games and “other immersive experiences.” While signups for the platform open on November 18th, don’t expect to actually buy anything: .Swoosh’s first digital collection doesn’t come out until next January. Once that happens, Nike says it’ll let creators... Continue reading…
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by Umar Shakir on (#65TVH)
A solar panel installation by Californian solar company Sunrun. | Photo by Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images The California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) new solar energy proposal removes a previously proposed monthly grid tax that could’ve added hundreds of dollars per year to the cost of solar installations (via Reuters).The CPUC was looking to slash solar incentives for customers of investor-owned utilities and, in December, proposed charging a monthly fee of $8 per kilowatt to connect new solar customers to the grid. As pointed out by my colleague Justine Calma, some industry groups opposed the plan saying it “would end California’s solar boom,” which has made it the state with more rooftop solar than anywhere else in the US.The CPUC responded by removing the monthly grid fee from its proposal.At the same time, the CPUC is also... Continue reading…
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by Umar Shakir on (#65TSZ)
The new Archer BE900 has a touchscreen and LED lights that can display stats and fun things like emoji. | Image: TP-Link Before you can even get tired of hearing about Wi-Fi 6 and 6E, TP-Link is announcing a slew of new “world’s first” Wi-Fi 7 routers based on the upcoming IEEE specification. The company is revamping its whole product line, including its main Archer router line, home mesh Deco products, and even its business products.Wi-Fi 7, known technically as 802.11BE, is the upcoming successor to Wi-Fi 6 and 6E with obvious improvements like faster speeds and reduced latency, and it can enable a device to connect to two spectrums at a time (5Ghz and 6Ghz simultaneously) using Multi-Link Operation (MLO). Like previous generations, it will support backward compatibility for Wi-Fi 6, 5, and older devices but will need you to purchase new devices to take... Continue reading…
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by Emma Roth on (#65TQV)
Illustration: The Verge Google has agreed to pay a $391.5 million settlement to 40 states over allegations that the company tracked users’ locations without their knowledge (via The New York Times). As part of the settlement, Google’s required to alert users when location tracking’s enabled, as well as provide information on how to turn off the feature starting in 2023.A coalition of attorneys general from Oregon, New York, Florida, Nebraska, and other states filed the lawsuit in response to a 2018 report from the Associated Press that reveals how Google silently tracked users’ locations across its various services on iPhone and Android. The lawsuit alleges that from 2014 to 2019, Google misled users into thinking their location had been switched off and would... Continue reading…
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#65TQW)
Laura Normand / The Verge As if he doesn’t have enough going on, Elon Musk will find himself in court later this week defending his $56 billion pay package from allegations by Tesla shareholders that it was rigged with easy performance targets.And that’s not all! On Tuesday in Los Angeles, a Tesla Model S owner is on trial for manslaughter in a case that experts are calling it a first-of-its-kind legal test of the responsibility of a human driver in a car with advanced driver-assist technology like Tesla’s Autopilot.Taken together, the twin trials represent a critical test for Musk’s multitasking skillsTaken together, the twin trials represent a critical test for Musk’s multitasking skills. He’ll take the stand in one trial, and while Tesla isn’t facing... Continue reading…
by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#65TQX)
Devil Dinosaur hanging out while Moon Girl gets ready to jump into action. | Disney Marvel’s recent superhero shows have never exactly been known for their music, but Disney’s upcoming Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur animated series might be the one to change that.Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur from executive producers Laurence Fishburne, Helen Sugland, and Steve Loter revolves around Lunella Lafayette (Diamond White), a brilliant young Black girl whose massive intellect is just one of her many gifts. In addition to being an inventive super scientist in the making, Lunella shares a psychic bond with a massive crimson T-rex known as Devil Dinosaur (Fred Tatasciore), whom she accidentally summons to present-day New York City when one of her experiments goes haywire.In Marvel’s comics, Lunella’s one of the many... Continue reading…
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by Barbara Krasnoff on (#65QYN)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge These days, there seems to be almost daily upheaval at Twitter. You may be thinking about leaving the social network, or you may be determined to stay and see what happens. In either case, when an online app is experiencing that kind of Sturm und Drang, it’s usually a good idea to back up your data just in case. In Twitter’s case, that means downloading an archive of your data.According to Twitter’s support page, your archive will include your account info and history, any apps and devices you used to access it, any accounts you’ve blocked or muted, all the interests and other ad data that Twitter has listed for you, and your tweet history.It’s very simple to apply for a download of your archived material on Twitter. ... Continue reading…
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by Sean Hollister on (#65TQZ)
This is not a photo; Hasbro’s only sharing digital renders of the product. | Image: Hasbro If you’ve been to a toy aisle recently, you’ve probably seen how cartoony Fortnite renditions of real-world guns dominate the shelves. Now, Hasbro is licensing the blasters of another mega-hit video game: League of Legends. But if you or your giftee has a LOL obsession, know that the starting price of a Nerf object of power won’t be cheap.The company’s first blaster is the $170 Jinx Fishbones, a cosplay-grade blaster from the same pricey “Nerf LMTD” brand that’s producing the Destiny 2 Gjallarhorn rocket launcher, Halo Needler, Aliens Pulse Rifle, and Mandalorian Amban Phase-pulse blaster. The nearly three-foot-long blaster is now on preorder at Amazon and Hasbro Pulse and scheduled to release on December 1st of next year.It’s an... Continue reading…
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by Justine Calma on (#65TKJ)
An oil pumpjack pulls oil from the Permian Basin oil field on March 14th, 2022. | Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images One of the biggest oil producers in the US has a new kind of product in its lineup, one that’s supposed to clean up the climate pollution that’s still coming from its petroleum business. Its plan is to sell customers supposedly green credentials that they can show off to the world. That risks giving polluters a license to keep polluting, critics say, and positions Big Oil as a heavyweight in the carbon removal and trading business.This is all going down in Texas, where oil giant Occidental recently announced plans for a massive climate tech project. Occidental signed an agreement to lease over 100,000 acres within the historic King Ranch, where it plans to build “direct air capture” (DAC) plants capable of filtering millions of tons of... Continue reading…
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