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Honda’s power station battery slots are angled for easier access. | Image: Honda Honda delivered a new battery swapping station in Tokyo that’s looking mighty similar to the one Gogoro makes. The automaker’s new power pack exchanger lets electric motorcycle riders easily flip their depleting batteries for fresh ones instead of needing to wait around for a charge.The Honda power station itself looks very similar to Gogoro’s: like a vending machine with a grid of battery packs that slide in and out of slots. Image: Honda Honda’s “Power Pack Exchanger e:” station can be expanded to accommodate a whole lot of batteries in busy parts of cities. You can access fully charged batteries by interacting with the touchscreen, pulling one out, and popping in your discharged ones to charge up for use by... Continue reading…

Learn how to use Google Home Routines in your smart home. | Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Google Home is Google’s smart home ecosystem, where you can control all your compatible smart home devices — such as smart lighting, smart cameras, smart locks, and more. The easiest way to do this is with Google’s smart home Routines. These are multi-action shortcuts that control one or more devices and / or trigger one or more actions to happen automatically based on another single action.For example, you can set a Routine that turns your lights off and your cameras on at 10PM each night. Or you can set one up that adjusts the brightness of your lights when the TV turns on and one that turns the bathroom light on when a motion sensor detects movement. Routines can be tailored by time as well, so if your doorbell rings after sunset,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge I recently decided that I was going to figure out how to play custom Beat Saber tracks on my Meta Quest 2, no matter what it took. Thankfully, the free program I ended up using, called SideQuest, only took an hour or two of tinkering to get working, making it the perfect weekend project. Even better, SideQuest is useful for so much more than just modifying Beat Saber — it lets you sideload community-made games and experiences and even change the Quest home environment that acts as the backdrop to the system menus and app picker.If that sounds intriguing, read on: we’re about to go over how to install SideQuest and use it to get software onto your headset.Installing SideQuestThe first thing you have to do is install SideQuest on your... Continue reading…

Driverless cars aren’t going to change the world. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The driverless car startups that haven’t run out of money, gone out of business, or been bought out want you to know that driverless cars aren’t going away. These companies insist that skepticism about the technology is expected but unwarranted and that driverless cars will, in the words of one co-founder, “change the world.”Where have we heard this before? Oh right, practically every tech company and Silicon Valley partisan that has emerged in the last decade or so has insisted that their only goal is to empower mankind and change the world (and not, I don’t know, make gobs and gobs of money).I do agree autonomous vehicles are coming (many are already here), but I think we need to rein in the “change the world” rhetoric. Like,... Continue reading…

Cars are lined up in traffic on Airline Drive in Houston, Texas, on April 13th, 2020. | Photo by MARK FELIX / AFP via Getty Images Traffic jams are linked to lower birth weights, new research finds. Pregnant people in the most congested neighborhoods gave birth to babies who weighed less than babies in less congested areas, according to a study published today in the journal Science Advances.A baby with low birth weight faces a greater risk of health complications — from infection to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The new study adds to the body of evidence showing that clearing up pollution from cars and trucks will help babies stay healthier. It shows that it’s not just the volume of traffic that affects air quality and health outcomes — the flow of that traffic matters, too.A baby with low birth weight faces a greater risk of health complicationsBabies... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Snapchat is decreasing the reward money creators can get when they make content for the platform’s TikTok competitor — again.Business Insider reports that the pot of cash up for grabs for users making Spotlight videos now sits at millions of dollars per year. In February, Snap said it was offering up millions a month to creators making high-performing short-form videos for Spotlight. Even that was a dip from when Spotlight first launched in the fall of 2020, and Snap made splashy promises of paying out $1 million a day for a period of time to people making TikTok-style videos.Snap spokesperson Farrin Jay confirmed the fund sits at “millions of dollars throughout the year” and said the company is focused on rewarding Spotlight creators... Continue reading…

Signalis. | Image: Humble Games If you miss the days of old-school Resident Evil and Silent Hill, this is just the thing Continue reading…

Image: PlatinumGames / Nintendo Bayonetta 3 launches today and streamers might need to adjust some settings before they happily dig their seven-inch gun-barreled heels into the game, as one of the songs might get you slapped with a copyright strike.One of the prevailing themes of the Bayonetta series was that there’s always a pop-y remix of a classic song that accompanied our bundled busty bad bitch Bayonetta as she stomped demons, angels, and now, scientific horrors to death. The original Bayonetta featured “Fly Me to the Moon,” and Bayonetta 2’s theme was “Moon River.” Bayonetta 3 keeps up the tradition of remixing the golden oldies with “Moonlight Serenade,” and that’s where content creators might get into a bit of trouble.In its review embargo for the game,... Continue reading…

Bucks Gaming celebrating winning the 2022 NBA 2K League 5v5 finals in August. | Photo by Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images The NBA 2K League has announced that six players and a coach have been “disqualified indefinitely” following a gambling controversy. The esports league made the announcement yesterday.The suspended players include Christopher Lafanette, Dorian Earl Miller, and Robert Nastasi from the league’s affiliate of the Portland Trail Blazers; Zekirri Dennis of Mavs Gaming; and Kimanni Ingram of Jazz Gaming, who the league said “wagered or attempted to wager on NBA 2K League games, either on their own or through other individuals, and also violated the rules by failing to report violations or cooperate fully with the investigation.” Also receiving punishment are Blazers coach Andrew Maxie and player Marquis Gill for “failing to report violations... Continue reading…

Image: Activision If you’re itching to play the latest Call of Duty game that releases today but you’re in the sad state of not owning a game console to play it on, we have a deal for you. At Target, you can pick up the $299.99 Xbox Series S online or in-store, and you’ll receive a free digital copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (no, not the 2009 classic; Activision is just reusing old names now). Buying that game by itself normally costs $70, so this could be a great promo for you to take advantage of before it expires Saturday, October 29th, at 11:59PM PT.The Series S is a great console with or without this deal. It’s small, so it won’t hog a bunch of space in your entertainment center. And despite being significantly less powerful than the Series... Continue reading…

The race to create a solid-state battery that could compete with today’s lithium-ion cells is heating up. Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere: in your phone, car, camera, and more. Since their debut in the 1990s, they’ve become a leader in energy storage. But they have one major flaw: safety. Lithium-ion batteries have a tendency to catch fire, especially when damaged or at high temperatures.Solid-state batteries replace a flammable liquid electrolyte in lithium-ion batteries with a more stable solid one. They also could have more power, faster charging, and a longer lifespan. Right now, lots of startups are trying to get their first batteries out of the lab and into a factory and hope to prove that solid-state batteries can be... Continue reading…

Alex Castro / The Verge Internal surveys from 2019 to 2022 show that the company’s morale crisis predates Elon Musk Continue reading…

F. Murray Abraham in Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. | Image: Netflix From black-and-white superhero stories to stop-motion family films, the streaming services have plenty of new stuff to freak you out this spooky season. Continue reading…

Image: Activision Xbox and PC players are quickly discovering that they can’t disable crossplay in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. Activision’s latest Call of Duty installment launched early this morning, with PlayStation players able to freely toggle crossplay on or off. Xbox and PC players are rightly not happy about this.There are a variety of reasons why Xbox players want to disable crossplay, including trying to keep away from PC cheaters or simply avoiding PC players with the mobility advantages of mouse and keyboard. Likewise, PC players often want to steer clear of controller players and their aim assist.

Photo by RONNY HARTMANN/AFP via Getty Images European Union lawmakers have reached a political agreement on legislation that will effectively ban the production of new combustion engine cars and vans from 2035.As one of the world’s largest trading blocs and home to some of the world’s biggest car manufacturers, the EU’s decision will have a huge impact on global transport, pushing the industry even more firmly towards a fully electric future. The legislation will now have to be formally approved by the EU Council and the Parliament, though it’s expected only minor changes will be made.The key requirements are that, by 2030, new cars reduce their C02 emissions by 55 percent and new vans by 50 percent (in both cases these emissions are compared to 2021 levels). Then, by 2035,... Continue reading…

A full recharge in the time in takes to watch a few TikToks. | Image: Xiaomi Xiaomi subsidiary Redmi has just announced its new Note 12 lineup headed by the Note 12 Discovery Edition, a midrange smartphone that supports its 210W HyperCharge fast charging standard. That’s enough wattage to fully charge the phone’s 4,300mAh battery in just nine minutes. Put the handset on to charge and hop into the shower, and the phone’s battery will likely be completely replenished before you’ve had a chance to towel yourself off.In recent years, there’s been fierce competition to offer faster and faster charging speeds for mobile phones. Xiaomi offered 120W fast charging on its 11T Pro handset last year, before competitor Oppo announced its own 150W SuperVOOC standard. Arguably we’ve quickly reached a point of diminishing... Continue reading…

Rihanna at the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever premiere at Dolby Theatre. | Photo by Axelle / Bauer-Griffin / FilmMagic It’s been six long years since Rihanna blessed the world with new solo music for Star Trek Beyond, of all things, but the wait’s finally over with “Lift Me Up,” an original song from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s forthcoming soundtrack.Co-written by Rihanna, Tems, Ryan Coogler, and producer Ludwig Göransson, “Lift Me Up” is both a moving ballad and a tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman, star of the first Black Panther film who passed away in 2020 at the age of 43 following a battle with colon cancer. In a press release about the song, Tems said that she wanted it to feel like a “warm embrace” to all the loved ones she’s lost personally — a theme present throughout Wakanda Forever.“I tried to imagine what it would feel like if I... Continue reading…

Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Stay up to date with the latest in the Musk-Twitter saga Continue reading…

Millie Bobby Brown and Helena Bonham Carter in Enola Holmes 2. | Image: Netflix The sequel doesn’t do all that much new, but it’s a solid take on a dying breed of film Continue reading…

Walmart and Netflix are expanding their partnership. | Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images Walmart and Netflix are expanding their digital Netflix merch shop to physical stores, the two companies announced on Thursday. The shop, called The Netflix Hub, will be coming to more than 2,400 Walmart locations.At the in-store Netflix zones, you’ll be able to buy things like “music, apparel, collectibles, games, and seasonal items” from big Netflix franchises like Stranger Things, Squid Game, and even the upcoming Knives Out sequel. Walmart and Netflix will also be selling “concession kits” of goodies like popcorn and candy to make watching Netflix at home feel like you’re at the movies. (Though in the case of the Knives Out sequel, you could just go see it at a theater.) Walmart will also be selling a $19.99 Netflix gift card, which... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Intel has confirmed that it will lay off workers soon as part of its plan to cut billions of dollars in spending. The announcement comes after reports that Intel is planning on cutting thousands of jobs.As part of its Q3 earnings, the company announced plans to cut around $3 billion in costs over the course of next year, and CEO Pat Gelsinger told Reuters that part of that would come from “people costs.” He also confirmed the job cuts to Bloomberg and added that the company was reducing factory work hours for some employees. By the end of 2025, the company hopes to have cut its costs by $8 to $10 billion a year.Intel is faced with an industry-wide shift in semiconductor availability as the pandemic shortages give way to overproduction... Continue reading…

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge Apple reported its fiscal fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, tallying $90.1 billion in revenue and earnings per share of $1.29 — both above Wall Street expectations — in a period when other tech giants aren’t faring so well. Practically all of Apple’s divisions, including iPhone, Mac, services, and wearables, were up year over year, with the exception of the iPad. But despite YOY growth, iPhone revenue came in beneath estimates.There’s been conjecture among analysts and other reports that the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus are underperforming Apple’s expectations for the “regular” lineup, with most upgraders favoring the 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. The Pro phones include a faster processor, upgraded camera system, and the new Dynamic Island... Continue reading…

Amazon just reported its third quarter earnings for 2022. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon’s sales finally picked up in the third quarter following three consecutive quarters of single-digit growth, according to the company’s earnings released Thursday. But it’s expecting a tighter holiday season amid an uncertain economic environment, and the company’s stock fell more than 4 percent in after-hours trading.Sales hit $127.1 billion last quarter, up 15 percent year over year. That number was likely buoyed by Amazon’s successful Prime Day event in July, which it has called its “biggest Prime Day event ever.” Despite that growth, the company is predicting a slower holiday season. In its guidance, Amazon said net sales should grow between 2 and 8 percent year over year next quarter; last year, Amazon saw 9 percent growth in... Continue reading…

The beta UI’s homescreen certainly looks more modern. Valve is officially letting users try out a new version of Steam’s Big Picture mode, which makes the game client look like its popular Steam Deck handheld. The long-awaited change (we were hearing rumblings about it in July 2021) is a big upgrade for the gamepad-friendly version of the Steam user interface.In a news post, the company warns that the new UI has “rough edges” but says it’s looking to gather feedback from the community on it. In addition to the updated look, the test also includes new features, including a universal search that’ll surface results from your library, friends list, and the store as well as updates to the quick access and system menus and controller configurator.It’s likely to be a welcome change for people... Continue reading…

Apple’s updated App Store rules could have a big impact on developers. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple’s most impactful changes this week weren’t new iPads or operating systems. The company also shook up the App Store with new rules and ad slots designed to wring more money out of its tight grip over the iOS ecosystem. The changes have big ramifications for developers, either forcing them to share more of their money with Apple or deal with ads they don’t like. And as developers have found in the past, they don’t have much room to push back.In its changes this week, Apple updated its App Store rules to give itself a cut of some advertising revenue in social media apps and purchase revenue from Web3 apps. The company also expanded the scope of its App Store advertising in ways that further intrude on the presentation of developers’... Continue reading…

Kat introducing herself to her new classmates | Image: Netflix Netflix’s Wendell & Wild, starring Lyric Ross, Jordan Peele, and Kegan-Michael Key, feels like an instant classic tailor-made for all the young punks too cool for school Continue reading…

Photo by Scott Olson / Getty Images Who knew left-hand turns were so dangerous? Well, anyone who drives in a city, like an Uber driver, for example, has probably encountered their fair share of dangerous left turns. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 22 percent of crashes involve a vehicle making a left turn at an intersection. Uber has a novel solution to this problem: fewer left turns.Uber announced today that its in-app navigation system will now recommend fewer left turns in an effort to reduce crashes and make trips safer overall. The adjustments are expected to be “minor” with little impact on trip time, but the effect will hopefully make for a less stressful experience for drivers. Uber Video recording presents... Continue reading…

It seems like we’re getting a Sonic multiverse show. | Image: Netflix Netflix’s Sonic Prime, a new animated series starring Sega’s iconic blue hedgehog, will premiere on December 15th, Netflix announced on Thursday. The streaming company released some new plot details that indicate Sonic will have to deal with some major multiverse shenanigans.“It’s the Sonic you know and love until an incredible twist thrusts Sonic into a new adventure featuring a reinvented cast and Sonic like you’ve never seen him before, where the fate of the multiverse rests in his gloved hands,” according to the Sonic Prime synopsis. A new poster littered with shards (from Chaos Emeralds?) hints at some of the “reinvented” characters to come. In one, you can see a reflection of what appears to be a Metal Sonic-ized Amy. In another —... Continue reading…

In an aerial view, some pumpjacks operate while others stand idle in the Belridge oil field on November 3rd, 2021, near McKittrick, California. | Photo by Mario Tama / Getty Images Concentrations of a super potent greenhouse gas in the atmosphere — methane — grew tremendously in 2021. It’s still something of a mystery why the world saw such an “exceptional increase” last year, says the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which released the numbers yesterday.The reasons for the big leap last year are unclear because methane in the atmosphere can come from many different sources. But we do know who’s consistently responsible for huge amounts of methane pollution. Every year, the oil and gas industry leaks tremendous amounts of methane. There are also natural sources of methane emissions, and climate change can make that a bigger problem. So it’s no wonder methane is building up at astonishing levels in our... Continue reading…

It won’t just be another one of these, they claim. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Laptops are a mature category, and foldable screens are arguably one of the last frontiers. Several companies have attempted to bite that pie this year — notorious chaos agent Asus put out a surprisingly decent foldable Zenbook in August, and rumors of an HP model continue to swirl. But it’s easy to forget (and perhaps the company would like us to) that Lenovo was actually the first to the punch on this form factor, with the 2020 ThinkPad X1 Fold that had, shall we say, a number of problems.Lenovo is making its second attempt at an X1 Fold this year, with the second-gen model slated for release this quarter. And Brian Leonard, the company’s VP of design, would like us all to know that our complaints have been heard and addressed.“We... Continue reading…

You can return a critical component for a $1,900 refund. | Image: Tesla The $1,900 Tesla Cyberquad for kids is being recalled after the Consumer Product Safety Commission determined that it doesn’t meet safety standards for youth ATVs. Although the vehicle is designed to look like the one Tesla announced alongside its Cybertruck and was sold on the automaker’s online store, it was actually made by Radio Flyer. That company, most famous for its classic red wagons, is the one handling the recall.The Cyberquad for kids features a “full steel frame” and electric powertrain and can go up to 10 miles per hour. According to the CPSC, it failed to meet federal standards for mechanical suspension and maximum tire pressure on ATVs for kids and doesn’t have a “CPSC-approved ATV action plan” meant to dictate things... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla is issuing a safety recall on over 24,000 Model 3 vehicles that can’t be fixed with a software update this time. The affected cars may have an improperly fastened rear-left seat belt buckle and center seat belt anchor (via Electrek). All model years are affected (2017–2022) but it’s not an issue from the factory — it’s caused by a previous service visit where the seat belt anchor was removed for another repair.Tesla submitted a safety recall report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on October 21st. In the report, it says Tesla service technicians noticed that second-row center seat belt anchors weren’t being secured properly after previous repairs that require its disassembly and reassembly. Both... Continue reading…

DC Attorney General Karl Racine appears before the US Supreme Court. | Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images DC Attorney General Karl Racine sued Shipt, a gig delivery company, Thursday for misclassifying full-time workers as independent contractors in order to “cheat” them out of wages and avoid payroll taxes.In the Thursday complaint, Racine accuses Shipt of unlawfully denying full-time delivery workers basic employment benefits and protections by wrongfully classifying them as contractors. Specifically, the suit claims that Shipt misrepresents the nature of a delivery driver’s work, suggesting that the worker acts as their “own boss.” But in reality, drivers are required to sign up for hourly shifts, and the amount of money they make depends on the number of orders placed within that timeframe. If no orders are placed, drivers don’t turn a... Continue reading…

This update is “just the beginning” for the driver assist system, Ford says. | Image: Ford When Ford announced yesterday that it was pulling its support for Argo AI, the autonomous driving startup it had financed since 2017, it cited as one of its reasons a belief that driver-assist technology will have more near-term payoffs.The automaker said it will be shifting its resources from the Level 4 autonomous technology that was under development at Argo to “internally developed L2+/L3 technology.”“So it’s taking that investment and putting it towards a business where we think we will have a sizable return in the near term relative to one that’s going to have a long arc,” said John Lawler, Ford’s chief financial officer, during a call with investors Wednesday.“So it’s taking that investment and putting it towards a business... Continue reading…

Minus a few gimmicky social features, the Square Link adds up to good nostalgic fun Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has revealed that the company’s Xbox game streaming console is now “years away.” Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live conference yesterday, Spencer discussed the Xbox game streaming device, Keystone, that we saw appear on his shelf recently.“Keystone was the codename of something we were incubating internally, which was ... a streaming console, so there’s no local gameplay, low-cost, plug it into a TV, and you’d be able to stream Xbox games,” said Spencer. “In the late spring, we pivoted to working with Samsung. We put an app on Samsung TVs that let you play Xbox games, and I still have the prototype; it sits on the shelf behind my computer.” Image: Phil Spencer (Twitter) ... Continue reading…

United lead line technician Mansur Zia observes the exterior of the plane and uses the iPad to create service tickets and perform a digital maintenance release sign-off. | Image: Apple / United It’s great that iPads can help pilots replace heavy paper flight plans and logbooks, but digitizing airplane maintenance could arguably be even more important. Apple and United announced today that the latter is now doable, after United received the first and only FAA approval to complete maintenance sign-off via iPads.If you’ve boarded a flight before, you might have noticed technicians on the ground checking around the plane for anything that could be a problem (and you silently thank them for it).United says that using iPads expedites the document release process by 10 minutesAt the end of their process, a lead technician would need to sign off on a physical Maintenance Release Document (MRD) that confirms the completion of... Continue reading…