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The tracker was previously used in Manchester City’s Academy. | Image: Manchester City FC Say what you like about Manchester City FC, but it’s a soccer club that loves wearable gadgets. Not only does it have a smart scarf in the works, but today, it’s launching Cityplay, a wearable performance tracker that provides training insights to folks who like to play footy in their spare time.Cityplay is a collaborative effort with Playmaker, a tech company that makes a wearable soccer tracker. Playmaker’s tech has been around for a while, and the tracker is currently used in Man City’s Academy, which trains promising young players. According to the club’s press release, Cityplay gives users scores for “critical football skills” so they can better understand how they rank on technical aspects like first touch and dribbling as well as... Continue reading…

The Hyperloop tube hosted student competitions in 2018 and 2019. | Photo by Pauline Acalin for The Verge Elon Musk’s first prototype Hyperloop tunnel is no more. Bloomberg reports that the roughly one-mile-long white steel tunnel running along Jack Northrop Avenue near SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, has been removed and will be replaced with parking spaces for employees.Perhaps you’ll recall that before Musk assumed the mantle of free speech champion, he set out to circumvent “soul-destroying traffic” by building the Hyperloop, a theoretical system of tunnels that would revolutionize transportation. He also claimed to be able to dig tunnels faster and more efficiently than most current tunnel boring systems, which he rightly argued were laborious and costly.By pairing these things together, Musk said he could change the... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Netflix’s more affordable Basic with Ads plan goes live today in several countries, but there’s one popular streaming platform where you won’t be able to access it on day one: it’s not supported on the Apple TV. Thankfully, this is only temporary and should be resolved in the near future.As noted by 9to5Mac, Netflix has a support page up that directly confirms as much. It simply says, “Basic with Ads isn’t supported on Apple TV,” without any details as to why that’s the case. Plenty of other AVOD (advertising-based video on demand) services are present on tvOS, and since Basic with Ads works on iPhones and iPads, this doesn’t seem to be the result of a wider spat between Apple and Netflix. A Netflix spokesperson confirmed to 9to5Mac... Continue reading…

Now you can get Netflix cheaper — but with ads. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix with ads is finally here. After resisting ads in its streaming service, the company is rolling out its Netflix Basic with Ads in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the UK, the US, and on November 10th, Spain. It costs $6.99 per month in the US.On Basic with Ads, you’ll see an “average” of four to five ads every hour, COO Greg Peters wrote in a blog post about the tier in October. Ads will be 15 or 30 seconds long, and you’ll see them before and during the things you watch, though you can’t skip or fast-forward through them. (You can pause ads.) Netflix is partnering with Microsoft as its “global advertising technology and sales partner” for the new tier.Like with the ad-free Basic tier, TV... Continue reading…

A pedestrian uses an umbrella to protect herself from the sun, at Canary Wharf, during a heatwave in London, UK, on Monday, July 18th, 2022. | Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg via Getty Images Europe is heating up faster than any other continent in the world, a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) finds. Since 1991, temperatures in Europe have risen more than twice as fast as global average temperatures. That’s brought extreme swings in weather, from devastating floods to deadly heatwaves.The consequences are brutal, despite Europe having more resources than many other parts of the world to cope with climate change. For example, three in four people in Europe have access to early warning systems for disasters exacerbated by climate change. In comparison, the United Nations recently found that half of the world lacks adequate early warning systems.“Europe presents a live picture of a warming world and... Continue reading…

Peloton continues to spin both its wheels and numbers. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy is an optimist. During the company’s Q1 2023 earnings call, McCarthy said that the company was done with layoffs and that the “ship was turning,” referencing a colorful metaphor he issued during Q4 2022 earnings. Wall Street investors may disagree. Peloton’s stock price fell by about 19 percent this morning after the company announced a weaker-than-expected holiday forecast.On the product side, McCarthy noted that while customer satisfaction with the recently launched Guide was high, most people don’t know it exists. Meanwhile, the CEO heaped heavy praise on the Peloton Row, claiming that the device “reinvented the category.” He then noted that Row inventory would be constrained this year, even as demand was... Continue reading…

Drone shows have proved a popular alternative to fireworks, though not everyone is happy about their potential for advertising. | Photo by Yang Bo/China News Service via Getty Images Five hundred light-equipped drones are being launched into the sky above New York City this evening to form a giant flying advertisement for the Candy Crush mobile game. (via Gothamist).The 10-minute-long choreographed performance has been organized for the game’s 10th anniversary and will “turn the sky into the largest screen on the planet,” according to Fernanda Romano, chief marketing officer at Candy Crush.

Roku’s Streaming Stick 4K is selling for just $24.99 instead of $49.99, which is a new all-time low. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Want to get a super early head start on your holiday shopping before Black Friday rolls around? Today’s deal on Roku’s Streaming Stick 4K is a present that will appeal to a wide range of people, given its support for all major streaming apps. It’s also a gift that won’t hurt your wallet, either, as it’s half off at Amazon, Target, and Best Buy, selling for $24.99 instead. That’s a new all-time low on the excellent, easy-to-use device, which organizes all of your streaming service apps into one big grid so they’re quickly accessible. So long as you don’t need support for Wi-Fi 6 and USB-C, this is a terrific streaming stick with a range of other perks, too, including support for Dolby Vision, Apple’s AirPlay 2, and compatibility with... Continue reading…

The CSA is hosting an event in Amsterdam this week to celebrate the launch of the new smart home standard Matter. | Illustration: The Verge Matter was finally released last month, and now, we are getting our first look at the devices that will work with the new smart home interoperability standard. At a Matter launch event in Amsterdam hosted by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), the organization announced that over 190 products are now certified or close to gaining certification in the first Matter categories. These include smart lighting, smart plugs, smart thermostats, smart shades, smart sensors, and smart locks. That’s a relatively small number in the infinite pool of smart home devices, but it's a good start.Today, the CSA announced four new device categories that are coming next, in addition to cameras, home appliances, robot vacuums, and more advanced energy... Continue reading…

The latest generation of the Eve Motion is gaining Matter support next month. Thanks to its forward planning and early adoption of Thread, smart home device maker Eve System will be among the first companies with Matter devices. It’s making a free update available to its Thread-enabled Eve Energy smart plug, Eve Door & Window sensors, and Eve Motion sensor on December 12th to support Matter. The company announced this at a Matter launch event in Amsterdam and confirmed that the rest of its Thread lineup will receive the updates over the next year. Additionally, Eve products with Matter already built in will start shipping in Q1 of 2023.Also coming in the first half of 2023 is the company’s first-ever Android app. This will mean those with Android phones can add and control Eve devices in their smart home. Until... Continue reading…

Welcome to Versus.It’s been a while, but we’re back to pitting our favorite tech and gadgets in a head-to-head battle to determine the pros and cons of each. For our first episode, we’re diving straight into the Google Pixel Watch and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5.Wear OS 3 is a work in progress, but naturally, these are the two big-name flagships you can currently buy. While Google and Samsung did join forces to create Wear OS 3, the companies have slightly different visions for how the unified platform should work. So while you’ve got two smartwatches running the same software, the experience and UI aren’t the same. Under the hood, the two watches are also running on different chips with an assortment of varying sensors.Does the... Continue reading…

Image: Connectivity Standards Alliance The smart home is entering a new phase of interoperability, and these are the first product announcements Continue reading…

Nanoleaf’s new bulbs will support Thread and Matter. | Image: Nanoleaf Nanoleaf has announced the addition of four new Matter-compatible smart bulbs and light strips to its Essentials smart lighting line. The Thread-enabled LED lights will launch in Q1 of 2023 and include a light strip and A19, GU10, and BR30 bulbs, making them some of the first to support Matter directly without a bridge.Pricing will range from $19.99 to $99.99, and all the new products will be RGBW, capable of displaying over 16 million color options, including tunable whites with color temperatures ranging from 2700–6500K. The company made the announcement at the Matter launch event in Amsterdam this week.“The bulbs and light strip will use Matter over Thread — with a Bluetooth fallback.”Matter compatibility means the lights can be... Continue reading…

Image: AMD It’s November 3rd, which means it’s RDNA 3 day. AMD is ready to unveil its next line of powerful GPUs to the world in a livestream that promises “the next generation of AMD graphics” powered by AMD’s RDNA 3 architecture. After months of teases and a Ryzen 7000 CPU launch, we’re about to see how AMD will compete with Nvidia’s RTX 40 series.Leaks have already shown at least one of the Radeon 7000 GPUs we’re expecting to see today, showing what’s likely the RX 7900 (successor to the current RX 6900). AMD has already said it won’t be using the new 12VHPWR connectors that are found on Nvidia’s RTX 40-series cards, which have caused some controversy, with owners of RTX 4090 cards reporting the power cables melting or burning. Nvidia says it’s... Continue reading…

An image of early pregnancies from five weeks (bottom left) to eight weeks (top right). The tissue has been rinsed of blood and the menstrual lining has been removed, leaving only the gestational sac. | MYA Network/Dr. Joan Fleischman, MD, MPA Most people don’t know what early pregnancy actually looks like. That complicates abortion discussions. Continue reading…

The new Amazon fashion shopping lenses allow Snapchat users to try on eyewear and then buy products via an on-screen link. | Image: Snap Snap and Amazon Fashion are partnering up to provide Snapchat users with the ability to try on branded glasses and sunglasses using augmented reality filters.Snapchat’s 363 million daily active users now have access to thousands of glasses, goggles, and sunglasses from the likes of Maui Jim, Persol, Oakley, and Costa Del Mar through the apps’ AR feature. The AR lenses don’t just overlay eyewear: in some cases, on-theme accessories are added, like knitted hats and frosted backdrops for Oakley’s line of ski sunglasses. Image: Snap Some filters on the shopping experience include additional overlays such as hats, eyelashes, and themed backgrounds. Snapchat users can find the new Amazon AR shopping lenses on the... Continue reading…

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz CTO Markus Schäfer is energized by his visit to Silicon Valley. The executive is at the automaker’s Sunnyvale, California, research and development center to meet with his team and local tech companies.“Very, very interesting discussions were had about potential partnerships in the future,” Schäfer tells The Verge as we sit down for a chat about the future of Mercedes-Benz. The company is in the midst of a supercharged transformation into an EV platform while working to become the first automaker to have a passenger vehicle for sale in the United States with Level 3 driver-assistance technology. The system allows the driver to not pay attention to the road or control the vehicle under very select circumstances — typically... Continue reading…

The Pocket S in green, gold, and rose gold. | Image: Huawei Almost a year after Huawei announced its first clamshell foldable in the form of the P50 Pocket, it’s back with a followup. The new device is called the Huawei Pocket S, and it maintains the same foldable form-factor as the P50 with circular notification display and camera bumps on its outside. But the new phone comes with one fewer external cameras, a lower-end processor, and a lower starting price of ¥5,988 (around $818) versus ¥8,988 (around $1,228) for the P50 Pocket.That price means the Pocket S neatly undercuts its main foldable clamshell competitor, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 4 (which was priced at around ¥7,499, or $1,025, in China, according to Gizmochina). But continuing US sanctions against Huawei mean the Pocket S faces... Continue reading…

Image: Patreon Patreon is officially launching its own video hosting feature, nearly a year after it was first teased.The update marks a major shift in how creators on Patreon can share video content with fans. Previously, creators had to upload videos to third-party platforms like YouTube and Vimeo and then embed video players or share links with subscribers. Uploading to a third-party app had its wrinkles, however, like videos being shared outside of paying subscribers.The native and ad-free Patreon player allows creators to upload their content directly to the platform, select thumbnails for their videos, and view audience data like view count. Creators will also be able to select who can view the video without worrying whether links will be... Continue reading…

Over 40 existing Aqara devices will be Matter compatible after the Hub M2 is updated in December. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge Aqara just lifted the veil on its smart home roadmap at the Matter launch event in Amsterdam. It starts with a free software update in December for the Hub M2 to make many of Aqara’s existing Zigbee devices Matter compatible. That will be followed by the release of Aqara’s first two Matter-over-Thread devices in early 2023 and a new multi-protocol hub coming sometime in the future.Starting in December, the maker of low-cost smart home devices will issue an over-the-air update to the Aqara Hub M2 to make over 40 of Aqara’s existing Zigbee devices Matter compatible when attached to the hub. That list will eventually expand to support more than 160 of the company’s Zigbee devices. Aqara’s other hubs, including the Hub M1S/M1S Gen 2, Hub... Continue reading…

Communities are like Discord, but for WhatsApp. | The Verge Meta is rolling out a few changes to WhatsApp that will make the app better to use for large circles of people, including the wide rollout of Communities.Communities are designed to house multiple related groups within bigger organizations of people, such as a neighborhood or a workplace. Think something like Slack or Discord, but with a WhatsApp spin (including end-to-end encrypted messages), and admins can share updates with an entire community through an announcements channel. The company first began testing Communities out in April, and now they’re rolling out to everyone. Image: Meta Multiple groups can be included in one Community. Meta is also introducing some new features that could improve day-to-day... Continue reading…

Secretlabs is finally giving you a way to wash your gaming chair and swap aesthetics | Image: Secretlabs Secretlabs, a company that’s become synonymous with gaming chairs, is finally giving us a better way to keep your seat clean. Secretlab Skins are available to purchase now directly through Secretlabs and allow you to finally wash off the sweat stains in your gaming chair, you filthy try-hard.Essentially slipcovers for Secretlabs’ Titan Evo 2022 gaming chair, Secretlab Skins give you a quick and easy option not just for keeping your chair clean but also swapping out its aesthetic. Made from the same SoftWeave fabric used on its gaming chairs, the Skins are all machine washable and are available in seven colorways at launch, in addition to several branded designs as well. The solid colorways of the Secretlab Skins are priced at $169,... Continue reading…

Qualcomm is expecting phone sales to be less than expected. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Qualcomm, one of the primary providers of chips and modems in phones, is predicting that phone sales will be down much more than expected in 2022 due to the uncertain economic environment, according to the company’s latest earnings release published Wednesday.“Given the uncertainty caused by the macroeconomic environment, we are updating our guidance for calendar year 2022 3G/4G/5G handset volumes from a year-over-year mid-single-digit percentage decline, to a low double-digit percentage decline,” Qualcomm wrote. The company also says that “rapid deterioration in demand” and “easing of supply constraints” in the semiconductor industry have led to increased inventory and that Qualcomm’s largest customers are having to draw down their... Continue reading…

Nearly two years later, Sony’s PlayStation 5 remains an elusive holiday gift. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge As Sony’s PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition near their second birthday, it seems that supplies of both next-gen consoles are finally catching up with demand (even with a new model reportedly on the way). Restock events are still the norm for snagging a console online, but things get a little more forgiving if you’re willing to visit a brick-and-mortar store, especially if you’re okay with paying a little more upfront for a bundle.The PS5 is sure to remain a hot-ticket item for holiday shoppers, but we’re beginning to see online stock stick around for several days if not longer, giving would-be buyers a better chance at securing Sony’s next-gen console ahead of the holiday season. And although retailers haven’t announced... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge Google is adding package tracking features to Gmail, which should make it easier to see where your orders are at a glance while you scroll through your emails. In a blog post on Wednesday, the company says you’ll start seeing “a simple, helpful view of your package tracking and delivery information right in your inbox” in the next few weeks.Gmail will show you the delivery date on the list item for any shipping email, making it so you don’t have to actually open the email and click a tracking link to figure out when you should expect the package. If you do go into the email, though, you’ll see a card with more detailed info. At the moment, it seems as if the feature will be opt-in — when it becomes available, you’ll be able to turn it... Continue reading…

The company will assemble batteries primarily for Tesla. | Image: Panasonic Four months after selecting De Soto, Kansas, as the location of its future EV battery plant, Panasonic has broken ground on the $4 billion facility — an important step as the US aims to increase the number of electric vehicle batteries that are assembled domestically.The facility will primarily supply batteries to Tesla, which is the number one seller of EVs in the world and is gearing up to begin production of its Cybertruck at the end of 2023. The factory will focus on rapidly ramping up the manufacture of Tesla’s 2170 cylindrical lithium-ion batteries, which power the company’s Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.Panasonic is also working with Tesla on the next-generation 4680 cells. During the most recent earnings call, Tesla CEO Elon... Continue reading…

Image: Joe Brady The Overwatch League playoffs are already underway, but it’s not too late to catch the first live grand finals event in two years on Friday, November 4th, broadcast on YouTube. (Get the full playoff schedule here.) We don’t know yet which two teams will be competing in the final match, and any attempt to predict the participants is an act of monumental hubris.Depending on your perspective, the Overwatch League has this either frustrating or exciting tradition of introducing balance patches right before the playoffs. When that happens, the game’s strategies, known as metas, that have been solidified over the last few weeks of the season are tossed out, and teams have to adapt quickly to a new style of play.For this year’s playoffs, O... Continue reading…

Time for a meeting! You know, those things we have. | Image: Microsoft Picture this. You’re sat down with your direct reports for your weekly virtual meeting over Microsoft Teams. Your presentation is queued. You’re raring to go. But as you scan the sea of camera feeds that faces you, you realize that something is missing. No meeting is truly a meeting, you realize, unless the participating masses are seated before you in a pixelated virtual auditorium, arranged in an order of your choosing.Don’t worry. Teams has your back. In a recent post on the Microsoft Teams blog, product marketing manager Holly Lehman outlined a number of features that have been added to the software throughout October. These include some genuinely useful additions — live translated captions, detailed call history, and the ability to... Continue reading…

Image: Google Google Play Games is launching in open beta in the US today, allowing anyone to try out a selection of Android games on PC. Google launched an initial beta of the software on Windows PCs earlier this year, but it was limited to Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan. Today’s launch sees the beta service expand to the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore.Available games include 1945 Air Force, Blade Idle, Cookie Run: Kingdom, and Evony: The King’s Return. The app will even sync progress between PCs and mobile so you can continue where you left off on different platforms. While Google continues to add titles to the Play Games catalog, there are only 85 games available worldwide on the service right... Continue reading…

Image: Comcast Comcast and Charter have settled on a name for the streaming hardware ecosystem it hopes will give Roku a run for its money: Xumo. If this sounds familiar, it’s because this is the name of the free ad-supported streaming TV service Comcast acquired in 2020, which will now go by Xumo Play. Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like Comcast thinks Xumo is a super rad name and wants to use it again just to make sure everyone has heard how rad it sounds.Much like the streaming setups offered by Apple, Roku, Google, and Amazon, the Xumo platform will live inside Comcast’s hardware and should let viewers access a network of apps, including the Comcast-owned Peacock and Xumo Play. It’ll also feature other “popular apps,” which will presumably... Continue reading…

The show looks pretty bleak, just like the games. | Image: HBO The TV adaptation of PlayStation’s postapocalyptic game series The Last of Us debuts on HBO and HBO Max on January 15th. Text in HBO Max spoiled the release date earlier this week, but you can actually circle January 15th on your calendars now that the date has been officially announced. The first season will have nine episodes.Based on the bleak and brutal trailer released in September, The Last of Us looks to be an extremely faithful adaptation, with many characters from the games appearing in the show. (The trailer also gives a brief and terrifying glimpse at a clicker.) The similarities to the games are probably in large part because Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann, the creative director of the games, is an executive producer and... Continue reading…

Google’s Douglas Eck introducing Wordcraft, an AI-powered creative writing tool, at Google AI@. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge Remember that time Google showed off its artificial intelligence prowess by demoing conversations with Pluto and a paper airplane? That was powered by LaMDA, one of Google’s latest-generation conversational AI models. Now, Google’s using LaMDA to build Wordcraft, a prototype writing tool that can help creative writers craft new stories.AI-powered writing tools aren’t new. Chances are you’ve heard of Grammarly or copywriting tools like Jasper. What makes Wordcraft a bit different is that it’s framed as a means to help create fictional work. Google describes it as a sort of “text editor with purpose” built into a web-based word processor. Users can prompt Wordcraft to rewrite phrases or direct it to make a sentence funnier. It can also... Continue reading…