The Verge

Image: Apple Alongside a refreshed iMac and new entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro featuring the M3 chip (and sans Touch Bar), Apple is introducing upgraded models of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro and M3 Max processors today. Design-wise, they retain the exact same look and port layout as their predecessors but now come in a new space black" color that replaces space gray.The machines raise the bar in several ways, ranging from sheer performance to configurability. For example, the M3 Max MacBook Pro can be ordered with up to 128GB of RAM - a new high for Apple's laptops. Preorders start today, and M3 Pro models will be available on November 7th. M3 Max units will take a bit longer to ship and are due to arrive sometime later in... Continue reading...

Image: Apple Apple is unveiling its new M3 processors today, and all three include big improvements to the GPU side of the chips. The M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max will all offer faster CPU performance, but crucially, the M3 family of chips will include significant changes to the GPU to improve professional apps and gaming performance. All three M3 chips will debut in new MacBook Pro models, with the M3 also part of a new 24-inch iMac.The base M3 includes an eight-core CPU with four performance cores and four efficiency cores, and Apple claims it's up to 35 percent faster than the M1 for CPU performance. We don't know exactly how the M3 compares to the M2, but when Apple announced the M2 last year, it said it had 18 percent faster CPU performance over the... Continue reading...

Dark Finder. | Image: Apple Apple plays a pre-Halloween trick with new product announcements coming in from a surprise nighttime livestream event. Continue reading...

Image: Kick.com / Instagram Nick Nickmercs" Kolcheff recently inked a reported eight-figure deal with Twitch rival Kick. In a recent livestream, the Faze Clan co-owner and popular Call of Duty streamer said that, as part of his new deal, he will be running gambling streams. The first question I've been seeing is like, Nick, are you gonna do gambling streams?'" he said during his first Kick stream. We're gonna do some gambling for sure. It's part of the contract."Kick's head of strategic partnerships clarified that a gambling clause is not in Kolcheff's Kick contract. According to a post by gaming and esports reporter Jake Lucky, Nickmercs has a Stake contract alongside his Kick contract," referencing Stake.com, a gambling site owned by Kick co-founder Ed... Continue reading...

Photo: Getty Images You might not expect an antitrust trial focused on Google's overwhelming dominance in the year 2023 to spend a lot of time talking about Internet Explorer circa 2005. But you'd be wrong.Google CEO Sundar Pichai spent a good chunk of Monday in a DC courtroom, testifying as part of the ongoing US v. Google antitrust trial. He stood at a podium instead of sitting (apparently he hurt his back), often with a magnifying glass in his hand, pushing his glasses up on his forehead as he squinted down at a binder full of exhibits. One exhibit proved particularly interesting: a letter from Google's then-top lawyer David Drummond, sent on July 22nd, 2005, to Microsoft's then-general counsel Brad Smith.Drummond's letter concerned the launch of... Continue reading...

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Porsche said today that future models would include native versions of popular Google apps, like Maps and Assistant. The German automaker is the latest to support Google built-in, enabling native Android apps with over-the-air (OTA) software updates.Earlier this year, Porsche said it was considering adopting Google's software for its in-car infotainment in a sign that parent company Volkswagen was still struggling to fix its software issues. Today, VW said it was planning around 2,000 job cuts at its in-house software provider, Cariad, that will delay the launch of its new architecture, according to Reuters.It was just a few months ago that VW rolled out an entirely new app store designed to serve its wide portfolio of car brands.... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Mastodon, the decentralized Twitter / X alternative, is adding lists to its Android app, according to a blog post from CEO and founder Eugen Rochko. Lists are available as part of the most recent Mastodon for Android update.With the new update, you now have the ability to create custom lists and categorize your follows based on specific topics or interests, while removing them from your home feed," Rochko writes. This not only helps in decluttering your home feed but also allows you to engage with certain topics on your own terms, when you are ready." The update also has a redesigned home tab to make it easier to navigate between your home feed, lists, and hashtags, Rochko says. Image: Mastodon Rochko didn't... Continue reading...

The Pixel 7A may not have the fancier trickery of the Pixel 8 Pro's camera, but it's much cheaper for a very good all-around phone. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge It's nearly Halloween, and there are some scary-good deals on Google Pixel products as well as other great devices and tech accessories.Starting off, the unlocked Google Pixel 7A is $125 off at Best Buy and direct from Google, dropping it to a new low price of $374. Google's midrange phone was already a very good value at its full price of $499 when it debuted in the spring, but it's becoming a better and better value as it continues getting bigger discounts. The Pixel 7A sports a 6.1-inch OLED screen with moderately fast 90Hz refresh, the same Tensor G2 processor found in last year's Pixel 7 flagships, and wireless charging (which was left out of previous A-model Pixel phones). It's a great, affordable all-rounder with a very good... Continue reading...

Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge The Nest Thermostat is one of the only smart thermostats that works with the new smart home standard, Matter (see sidebar). This means you can finally add it to Apple Home natively and control it with voice commands using Siri and Apple Home automations. It is also compatible with any other Matter smart home platform, including Amazon Alexa and Samsung SmartThings, although those platforms were already supported by the device through cloud integrations.Adding the thermostat to Apple Home through Matter is straightforward. Here, I'll walk you through the process. All you'll need is a Nest Thermostat and an Apple Home Matter controller - such as a HomePod or Apple TV.Note that this guide only applies to the Nest Thermostat 2020, not... Continue reading...

A bigger iMac has been rumored for a long time - but where is it? | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Earlier this year, I bought a 15-inch MacBook Air. In many ways, it's the computer I needed at the time - but in the four months I've had it, I must confess, it's not the Mac I wanted.What I wanted was the bigger 32-inch iMac that's been rumored for years at this point. I was tempted by the 24-inch M1 iMac when it launched in spring 2021, but I've spent years using a 27-inch monitor and didn't want to downsize on screen real estate. All the reliable Apple prognosticators said the bigger version was in the works. How long could that take?It is now October 2023, and I'm still waiting. While a refresh of the 24-inch iMac is rumored for Apple's Scary Fast" Mac event tonight, I'm not hopeful a bigger version is on the table.Rumor mills... Continue reading...

Image: Western Digital Western Digital is splitting into two companies: one for its flash business and another for its hard drive storage products. The company announced the change alongside its earnings results on Monday, noting that spinning off its flash business will allow Western Digital to realize its full value."Western Digital acquired flash memory manufacturer SanDisk for nearly $19 billion in 2016. However, as noted by The Wall Street Journal, this decision will effectively reverse the merger, allowing its flash division to operate as a standalone business. The separation is expected to take place in the second half of 2024.Our HDD and Flash businesses are both well positioned to capitalize on the data storage industry's significant market... Continue reading...

Image: Getty General Motors became the last car company to agree to a tentative deal with the United Auto Workers, ending the nearly seven-week-long strike, Reuters reported. The news came one day after the UAW said it had reached a deal with Stellantis, parent company of Chrysler and Jeep, and several days after Ford.The strike has roiled the auto industry, costing each of the Big Three automakers hundreds of millions of dollars each week in lost production and throwing cold water on the industry's shift to electric vehicles. Autoworkers were extending their walkout to include new GM factories, including an engine plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, when the news broke that a deal had been reached.Previously, the UAW has succeeded in getting GM to... Continue reading...

The multimillion-dollar hypercar business is booming. The world's ultra-wealthy have dozens and dozens of different outrageously expensive, high-performance toys to choose from, like the Rimac Nevera or the Mercedes-AMG Project One. Some are so extreme, they're not even street-legal.But what's a tech-forward multibillionaire who's more into anime than motorsports to do with their discretionary fund?The Tsubame Archax might be the answer. This is, quite simply, a Gundam fan's dream made a reality: a 15-foot-tall, $3 million mecha that works just like the real thing - well, minus a few pesky details like jet boosters, laser swords, and the neural interfaces explored in many of Gundam's various (and conflicting) timelines.Made in Japan... Continue reading...

Image: Capcom It's incredible that Resident Evil Village plays as well as it does on the iPhone. The game is every bit as captivating as when I first played it on the PS5, and I was blown away by how well it translated to the tinier screen. But the game's graphics aren't the most interesting thing going on with this release - I'm much more excited for what it might be teasing for Apple gaming in the future.Let's start by talking about Village first. I've only played for a little over an hour on a prerelease version of the game on an iPhone 15 Pro Max - long enough to survive the attack by the Lycans in the snowy village. One area the port doesn't translate well is to the iPhone's touchscreen. I tried to use the game's touch controls, but they were... Continue reading...

The Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Samsung's Android 14-based One UI 6 update is leaving beta on the Galaxy S23 in Europe, users in the region are reporting. Across X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and Reddit, people are seeing the update roll out in countries including the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, and Portugal. While many are updating from the beta version of One UI 6, some are receiving a larger 3GB patch to update from the stable version of One UI 5.1.While the update appears to be limited to S23 users in European markets for now, Samsung's approach in previous years suggests that a stable US release won't be far behind. The company's Android 13-based One UI 5 update started rolling out for European Galaxy S22 owners around October 24th last year,... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is looking into an Android 14 bug that's been wreaking havoc on people with multiple user profiles. On October 27th, a Google representative acknowledged the bug and said the team is working hard on a fix" for it.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is starting to block unauthorized" Xbox controllers and accessories from being used on Xbox consoles. Resetera posters spotted a warning about the block last week, with some third-party Xbox controllers now throwing up a connected accessory is not authorized" warning when connected to an Xbox console. It's unclear if Microsoft is trying to target cheat devices, or whether the Xbox maker is trying to push its official partner program.An error has now started appearing for some third-party Xbox controllers, alongside a warning that notes the accessory will be blocked from further use after two weeks. From the moment you connect an unauthorized accessory and receive error code 0x82d60002, you'll have two weeks to use the... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge OpenAI is rolling out new beta features for ChatGPT Plus members right now. Subscribers have reported that the update includes the ability to upload files and work with them, as well as multimodal support. Basically, users won't have to select modes like Browse with Bing from the GPT-4 dropdown - it will instead guess what they want based on context.The new features bring a dash of the office features offered by its ChatGPT Enterprise plan to the standalone individual chatbot subscription. I don't seem to have the multimodal update on my own Plus plan, but I was able to test out the Advanced Data Analysis feature, which seems to work about as expected. Once the file is fed to ChatGPT, it takes a few moments to digest the file before... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge YouTube's NFL Sunday Ticket streams have been plagued with buffering and pixelation, making afternoon games today unwatchable, according to many, many posts. The @TeamYouTube account acknowledged the issue at 1:53PM ET. The team wrote that they're aware YouTube is having issues and they are working to fix them, but acknowledged that YouTube TV or NFL Sunday Ticket may also be impacted."Now that YouTube is the only place to watch NFL Sunday Ticket, that leaves viewers across the country with no options to watch games apart from any available local broadcasts. People have taken to X to complain that streams are freezing up or lagging, or that it's just like watching illegal streams. And plenty of them point out the money factor. NFL... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Android apps are about to get better built-in passkey support. Google announced in a developer blog post last week that Credential Manager, a new Android-specific API for storing credentials like username and password combinations and passkeys, is going public on November 1st. Credential Manager, which has been in developer preview for months, houses biometric authentication of passkeys, traditional passwords, and federated identity login under one roof in Android phones.Ultimately, the change should allow apps to offer better authentication support in Android 14. Using Credential Manager, apps can offer users easy biometric logins through passkeys. That should mean a more friction-free sign-in experience since people who use that... Continue reading...

Image: Apple I'm trying to remember the last time a company's big event came for prime time TV the way Apple's 8pm ET keynote is trying to lock down our attention tomorrow. The only company I can think of that's done it successfully lately is Victoria's Secret with its Fashion Show. While I suspect there's some overlap in audience between that and an Apple Keynote, I also suspect Bella Hadid is a bigger draw than a new iMac.But Apple is still going for it! Promising a keynote that will air on its website, YouTube, and over Apple TV while things like Monday Night Football airs on broadcast TV. The company is ready to take all the cultural cache its phones, Bluetooth headsets, and computers have earned it and convert that fanbase into a bigger... Continue reading...

Image: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 12, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome. I'm so psyched you found us, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)This week, I've been testing the Superlist tasks app, reading about the high-stakes race to crack crypto wallets, rehearsing my case for buying an e-bike, taking voice notes like a boss with Whisper Memos, and avoiding all my problems by watching Between Two Ferns bloopers on YouTube.I also have for you a new pair of AR glasses, a Netflix thriller, all the great sci-fi you could ever need, a great parenting app, a super-deep interview about Windows, a new puzzling platform, and a bunch more.As always, of... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Typical heart rate monitoring in wearable tech, like smart watches or wireless earbuds, relies at least partially on photoplethysmography (PPG), which uses light pulses to measure blood activity. It works generally well, but it has its limitations. Google scientists wrote in a new research blog spotted by 9to5Google yesterday that they had tried a different approach, called audioplethysmography (APG), that uses ultrasound to measure heart rate. And they did it with off-the-shelf active noise-canceling (ANC) earbuds and a software update.The trick works by bouncing a low-intensity ultrasound signal off the inside of the ear canal and using the tiny microphone that helps make ANC work to detect skin surface perturbations as blood pumps... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Users have been reporting that their iPhone 15's NFC chips were failing after using BMW's in-car wireless charging, but until now, Apple hasn't addressed the complaints. That seems to have changed as MacRumors reported this week that an Apple internal memo to third-party repair providers says a software update later this year should prevent a small number" of in-car wireless chargers from temporarily" disabling iPhone 15 NFC chips.Apple reportedly says that until the fix comes out, anyone who experiences this should not use the wireless charger in their car. Users have been complaining about BMW wireless chargers breaking Apple Pay and the BMW digital key feature in posts on Reddit, Apple's Support community, and MacRumors' own forums.... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said in a reply on Threads last night that his team is working on an API for Threads, despite concern that it would help publishers push content more than it would creators. TechCrunch spotted his reply in a thread in which Platformer's Casey Newton told another user the lack of a developer API is why Threads has no TweetDeck equivalent.If the API is robust enough, it could open the platform up to new ideas, expressed through third-party apps and web experiences, about how to actually interact with Threads or view its content. It could also add features that Threads is missing right now, like lists or the ability to follow specific topics.Big social platforms like X, formerly Twitter, and Reddit have... Continue reading...

The Journal app itself is incredibly basic - it's the Moments page that's really interesting. | Image: David Pierce / Apple The Apple Journal app is so simple that, at first, it felt like I was missing something. The whole app is just one screen: a reverse-chronological timeline of your journal entries, with a big plus button down at the bottom. I hit the plus, and an overlay appeared with some options: tap new entry" at the top, or respond to one of Journal's reflection" prompts. What could you do to make someone's day better this week?" one of them asks. Write about a time you found an unexpected solution to a hard problem," reads another.When you're creating a journal entry, you can add photos and video, record a voice memo, or log a location associated with your entry. When you're looking at the timeline, you can filter to see only the entries with... Continue reading...

Image: Sega With Sonic Superstars, I'm starting to get the feeling I've been here before.In Sonic's return to the 2D format, there's a good game here with lots of moments where I was pleased to see the innovation of Sonic Team shining through. These ideas were, unfortunately, buried in slower-than-it-should-be-for-a-Sonic-game moments with technical issues and unintuitive boss fights.For Superstars, I really, really wanted another Sonic Mania. That game was sublime, and I feel like both Sonic Team and Sonic fans have been chasing that high ever since. I can say Superstars did not deliver as Mania did but also did not frustrate me as badly as Sonic Frontiers did. There were no moments when I wanted to put either my controller or my head through a... Continue reading...

The new compact mode in the Xbox app. | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Microsoft has started testing new updates to its Xbox app on Windows 11 that improve the experience on handheld devices and smaller screens. In an Xbox test app released earlier this week, Microsoft has introduced a new compact mode that greatly reduces the sidebar on the left-hand side.Compact mode is designed to improve the experience on handhelds and small screens," according to Microsoft - it also works on any size screen. It's a relatively minor UI change, but very welcome on devices like the ROG Ally where you only have a 7-inch display. Windows 11 is a pretty cramped experience on the ROG Ally, and improvements to the Xbox app are an encouraging first step towards what we hope will be some type of handheld mode for Windows.E... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Google's Bard AI chatbot can now reply to your questions in real time, as spotted earlier by 9to5Google. Bard previously only sent a response when it was complete, but now you can get a glimpse at your answer as it's getting generated.If you don't want Bard to respond to your questions in real time, you can still switch between the Respond in real time" and Respond when complete" options from the cog icon in the top-right corner of Bard's window. Bing Chat, Microsoft's AI chatbot, also responds in real time. Screenshot by Emma Roth / The Verge In case you don't like the response that's getting generated, Google now lets you cut off the bot mid-sentence. When Bard starts generating a reply, you'll see a Skip... Continue reading...