The Verge - All Posts

Windows 11 2022 Update arrives today. | Alex Castro / The Verge The Windows 11 2022 Update is officially here. Microsoft’s latest OS update includes app folders in the Start menu, drag and drop on the taskbar, new touch gestures and animations, and lots of accessibility improvements. You can find our full overview of all the new features right here.Microsoft has moved to the “Windows 11 2022 Update” naming instead of the 22H2 update moniker it has been using for months. This new simplified naming comes as the software maker commits to continuing with annual updates to Windows 11, despite recent rumors. “We will still have an annual release that will be available one time per year, and it will be available in the second half of the year,” says Nicci Trovinger, senior director of Windows product... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge One of Washington’s loudest tech groups, The App Association (ACT), says it proudly represents thousands of app developers across the world. But according to a new report from Bloomberg on Monday, the group receives more than half of its funding from Apple.The report paints Apple and the ACT as strange bedfellows, especially as the company’s App Store frequently finds itself at odds with the developers whose software it hosts. Over the last few years, major software developers like Epic Games and Spotify have accused Apple of running an anti-competitive online marketplace by requiring them to use the company’s in-app purchasing system while taking a stiff 15 to 30 percent cut from all sales.The report paints Apple and the ACT as... Continue reading…

This is a triumph. I’m making a note here; “Huge success” | Nvidia At Nvidia’s September event, where it announced the new RTX 4080 and 4090 graphics cards, it also showed off an upcoming mod for the original Portal on PC that injects gorgeous, ray-traced visuals into the game. It’ll be available for free to all current owners of the game on Steam sometime in November.Whether you’ve played the game numerous times (raises hand) or you’re about to get it for the first time (I envy you), it’ll look even better if you have a Nvidia RTX-series graphics card in your laptop or desktop. This launch follows Nvidia’s past visual treatments that spruced up classic games, including Quake II and Minecraft. Check out Nvidia’s blog post for the full details.Nvidia also announced a modding tool called RTX Remix,... Continue reading…

Google Tasks is now the one place to see your tasks across Google. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Google is working on a big update to Google Tasks, the company said today. It’s bringing a couple of new features to the app, making it easier to add tasks, and finally integrating its reminder system across Google Assistant, Calendar, and the rest of the Google suite of apps. The new changes should make Tasks a better to-do list app and might also make Google’s overall task management tools make sense. Finally.Going forward, Google views Tasks as a hub for all your tasks across Google products. Hit the button that adds any Gmail thread to your to-do list so you can get to it later. Create reminders in Google Calendar, and they’ll show up both in your schedule and in Tasks. Say “hey Google, remind me to take out the trash at 9” to the... Continue reading…

Diego Luna as Cassian Andor. | Lucasfilm/Disney Plus Disney Plus’ Andor gets down to brass tacks about what it takes to win a war Continue reading…

A promotional image for the new Iron Man game. | Image: EA EA is teaming up with Marvel to make a new single-player Iron Man game, EA announced on Tuesday. The game is being developed by Motive Studio, which is working on the upcoming Dead Space remake.EA is describing this new Iron Man title as an “all-new single-player, third-person, action-adventure” Iron Man video game that will feature an “an original narrative that taps into the rich history of Iron Man, channeling the complexity, charisma, and creative genius of Tony Stark, and enabling players to feel what it’s like to truly play as Iron Man.”It’s currently in preproductionThe new game is currently in preproduction, so it seems as if it could be quite a while before we’ll actually be able to play it. The development team is led by... Continue reading…

Photo by: BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Digital health tools could help detect early signs of hearing loss and prevent further damage, a new analysis highlights. Virtual care, coupled with newly available over-the-counter hearing aids, could make it easier for people living in rural areas and far from specialists to keep their hearing sharp.“We can really meet people where they are,” says Samantha Robler, study author and an audiologist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.Millions of people around the world have some type of hearing loss, which can make it harder for them to do well in school, have fulfilling relationships, and get good jobs. Most of this hearing loss — like the kind caused by exposure to loud noises or infections — is preventable. But the... Continue reading…

The Grogu Tamagotchi comes in two flavors. | Image: Bandai Namco It’s a wonder it took so long, but Grogu, better known as Baby Yoda, has now become a Tamagotchi.The virtual pet toy will let you take care of the Mandalorian’s cuter half by feeding it squid chowder and macarons, playing some mini-games, and unlocking a bunch of outfits. But watch out: apparently “if you feed the Grogu Tamagotchi too much squid chowder, the squid will jump on him.” Considering that Grogu’s main personality trait is “hungry,” this seems like a perfect fit. Though it does appear that there are some dark possibilities depending on how well you take care of the little guy. The tagline reads, “Will you be able to successfully nurture Grogu or will the Dark Trooper take him away first?”The humble Tamagotchi has been making... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Nintendo is ending support for account logins and creation through Twitter or Facebook (via Eurogamer). Starting October 25th, you’ll have to log in using your Nintendo account username and password or through your linked Google or Apple account.If you’re asked to sign in again once the new policy goes into effect, simply enter the email address or username associated with your Nintendo account to sign in. You can also use your Google or Apple account (given that you’ve previously linked them to your Nintendo account).

Amazon is discounting select configurations of the Surface Pro 8 by as much as $600. | Image by Becca Farsace / The Verge Not everyone gets up in the morning ready to spend $1,300, but just in case you are, Amazon is currently offering an excellent deal on a 512GB configuration of the Microsoft Surface Pro 8, discounting this variant of the high-end tablet to $1,299.99. Normally available for $1,899.99, this is the best price we’ve seen — by far — for this model of the Surface Pro 8, which includes 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and an Intel Core i7 CPU. Amazon’s discount, unfortunately, doesn’t include the Type Cover as part of this deal, but the handy protective peripheral can still be purchased piecemeal from Microsoft for $179.99. We’re expecting Microsoft to announce a successor to the Pro 8 in the coming months, but with nothing confirmed just yet, this... Continue reading…

Amazon’s big devices event is next week. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon is holding an event next week to announce new devices, features, and services. The fully virtual event will kick off at 9AM PT / 12PM ET on September 28th and is expected to include the usual deluge of Amazon devices announcements just in time for fall. Amazon confirmed the event in an email invitation to The Verge today.It’s reasonable to assume there will be new Echo devices, new Ring products or services, and perhaps some surprises, too. Last year’s Amazon fall devices event was chock-full of news, including its new Astro home robot, the Echo Show 15, a Fibit-like fitness tracker, and even a new smart thermostat.There haven’t been any substantial rumors about what to expect from Amazon this year, but as it has been two years... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In the latest eye-watering crypto heist, Wintermute, a market-making firm, has been hacked for $160 million, according to its CEO.Early Tuesday morning, CEO Evgeny Gaevoy posted on Twitter that the company was experiencing an ongoing hack that had drained the funds from its decentralized finance (DeFi) operations.On blockchain tracking service Etherscan, a transaction flagged as an exploit showed tens of millions of dollars worth of Dai stablecoin, USD Coin, Tether, Wrapped ETH and other currencies transferred from the company to a wallet address labeled as “Wintermute Exploiter.”Market-making firms like Wintermute play a crucial role in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, providing liquidity to exchanges by holding large amounts of... Continue reading…

Photo by Erin Schaff-Pool / Getty Images Late last week, a US court effectively declared social media moderation illegal in Texas. The ruling doesn’t change anything for now. But it just set the stage for a Supreme Court decision that could transform the internet. And with that context... it’s remarkably bad.The case I’m talking about is NetChoice v. Ken Paxton, a fight over a law called HB 20, which we’ve discussed before. HB 20 bans large social networks from deleting (or hiding or demonetizing or downranking) content or users based on “viewpoint.” It’s positioned as an anti-“Big Tech” censorship bill, but it’s poised to cover many sites beyond your average Facebook or YouTube behemoth. It would require a radical reworking of many major services, plausibly including an end... Continue reading…

Spotify is launching audiobooks within the app. | Image: Spotify There is a lot happening today, so I won’t dally. Spotify is finally launching its audiobooks feature, Adnan Syed of Serial is free, and we are opening up the Hot Pod Summit lottery.Spotify launches audiobooks in the USSpotify is bringing audiobooks to its app today. At launch, the feature functions much like a traditional audiobook service, requiring users to buy each book they want to listen to. But the company has teased more unique business models that could come in the future and look more like the freemium approach listeners have become used to with music and podcasts.Users in the US can buy individual audiobooks from a library of 300,000 titles at prices set by publishers, similar to Apple Books. Listeners can browse and sample... Continue reading…

Adnan Syed leaves the courthouse after Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022, overturned his first-degree murder conviction in the 1999 killing of Hae Min Lee. | Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images Adnan Syed was set free on Monday after more than 20 years in prison for being convicted of the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in a case that spawned intense interest after it was documented in the podcast Serial. The New York Times reports Judge Melissa M. Phinn of Baltimore City Circuit overturned Adnan Syed’s murder conviction after prosecutors filed documents questioning the trial and the evidence presented, without saying that they believe he is innocent.According to the Baltimore Sun, the judge ordered Syed unshackled in court and to remain on GPS monitoring pending another trial, while the prosecutors have 30 days to determine whether to try him again or drop the charges. In her ruling, Phinn wrote, “the State has... Continue reading…

A canvas is a document that lives inside — and works with — Slack. | Image: Slack Slack is becoming a document editor. The Salesforce-owned company announced today at its developer conference that it is building a new feature, called Canvas, that will let users create and edit full docs from within the Slack interface. It’s one of Slack’s biggest announcements in a while and maybe its biggest departure ever from its email-killer roots.The idea behind bringing documents to Slack seems to have been to match everything about Slack that’s productive and useful but pull it out of a fast-moving chat window and into a more permanent and findable space. Canvas documents (which Slack calls canvases) can obviously contain text and images, but one big advantage they have is Slack’s ability to grab important content from any... Continue reading…

Adobe has come under fire for restricting its users to sharing files via it’s Creative Cloud. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Adobe’s $20 billion deal to buy Figma means the design community is watching the company’s every move with a careful eye, and a recent Twitter thread from Adobe’s chief product officer Scott Belsky makes it clear how challenging that can be — and also makes clear that Figma’s native cloud-editing features are the future Adobe’s really buying.Halide developer Sebastiaan de With expressed his frustrations on Twitter about Adobe removing the macOS share sheet option from Photoshop directly at Belsky, asking “Could someone at Adobe please throttle the user-hostile cloud upselling that’s happening?”Belsky responded saying that “retrofitting 30+ yr old legendary desktop products” to give them next-gen cloud features while preserving... Continue reading…

Nvidia’s RTX 40-series are expected today. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Nvidia is getting ready to announce its next-generation GPUs today. We’re expecting to see the new RTX 40-series, and rumors suggest there could be two RTX 4080 models and an RTX 4090.Nvidia has been teasing its RTX 40-series launch for a number of days now, and even has a 40-hour countdown that includes references to Ada Lovelace. Lovelace is Nvidia’s rumored next-gen GPU architecture that we’re expecting to hear a lot more about during today’s special broadcast at Nvidia’s GTC AI conference. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will hold a keynote at the opening of GTC today.When does the Nvidia event start? The Nvidia event is set to begin September 20th at 8AM PT / 11AM ET.Where can I watch the Nvidia event?A livestream for the Nvidia... Continue reading…

Put a disc in and play. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Microsoft is making it easier to play games on your Xbox Series X, even if it’s offline — as of the 2208 update released earlier this month, you won’t be forced to do an online compatibility check to play a game from an Xbox One disc (via Windows Central). Instead, you can just pop the disc in, install the game, and play; no internet connection required.The change, which isn’t listed as a feature of the 2208 update on Microsoft’s site, was confirmed by Xbox engineering lead Eden Marie, who tweeted that the check was removed because it wasn’t necessary “in the vast majority of cases” when playing a cross-generation game on the Series X.

A new menu allows you to quickly select most used reactions. | Image: Telegram Telegram’s throwing a bone to its non-premium users this month by extending them access to more emoji reactions. The feature now lets all users choose from “dozens” of emoji that they can drop onto message bubbles as an alternative way to contribute to the conversation. And if you’re paying the $4.99 a month for Premium, don’t worry, you’re now getting an endless supply of reaction options by way of the custom animated emoji packs released last month, as well as other new features.Paying Telegram Premium subscribers can now use all animated emoji as a status, in addition to the default seven that can change colors based on the theme. For instance, you can choose a rotating controller emoji to indicate you’re busy fragging on your Xbox.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Gmail users could start seeing more campaign fundraising emails hitting their inboxes over the next couple days as Google starts rolling out a new political filtering system.Google told Axios on Monday that it was launching a controversial new pilot program to keep campaign emails out of spam folders this week. The program was announced back in June and allows candidates, political party committees, and leadership political action committees to apply for spam folder exemptions.In August, the Federal Election Commission narrowly voted to approve the program after Google asked for the agency to sign off on it earlier this year.The move comes after months of criticism from Republicans who fear Google disproportionately flags GOP emails... Continue reading…

Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty Images Memo to Beyond Meat COO Doug Ramsey: human noses aren’t vegan.Ramsey was arrested in a road rage incident at a parking garage in Fayetteville, Arkansas. According to local news outlet KNWA, which cited law enforcement, the incident started when “a Subaru ‘inched his way’ in front of Ramsey’s Bronco, making contact with the front passenger’s side tire.”Ramsey came out swinging, and the Subaru’s owner said Ramsey “pulled him in close and started punching his body” before he “bit the owner’s nose, ripping the flesh on the tip of the nose,” according to KNWA. Reportedly, Ramsey also threatened to kill the other driver.Maybe Ramsey was on edge because Beyond Meat shares have fallen 92 percent from their peak closing value of $234.90 in... Continue reading…

Craters from a meteorite impact on Mars that was picked up by NASA’s InSight instrument | Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona Bloop. That’s the sound a rock makes when it slams into Mars. At least, that’s what NASA’s InSight instrument picked up last September when it captured the faint — and, frankly, hilarious — sound of a meteoroid crashing into the Martian atmosphere, exploding into multiple pieces, and hitting the surface hard enough to leave a mark.Bloop, bloop, bloop. But don’t take my word for it. Listen for yourself.The noise sounds so funny in part because of how the soundwaves from the impact moved through the dry atmosphere of Mars. In certain conditions, like deserts on Earth, lower-pitched sounds move faster than high-pitched ones. “An observer close to the impact would hear a ‘bang,’ while someone many miles away would hear the bass sounds... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Uber said that a hacker associated with the Lapsus$ hacking group was to blame for a breach of its internal systems last week, while reiterating that no customer or user data was compromised during the attack.The hack, which was discovered last Thursday, forced the company to take several of its internal systems offline, including Slack, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud Platform.It occurred a few days before video game maker Rockstar Games was also breached by a hacker who claims to be the same person who attacked Uber. Dozens of videos of the company’s unreleased Grand Theft Auto VI were leaked online. In its security update, Uber references the Rockstar Games hack but does not confirm it was the same attacker.The company... Continue reading…

Metal: Hellsinger’s rhythm mechanics are a match made in hell. Metal: Hellsinger is the rhythm game that I always wanted but never knew. I’ve always liked rhythm games on a conceptual level, but despite being a child of the Dance Dance Revolution, none have evoked the same visceral reaction or trance-like state I got from Metal: Hellsinger. This is a game that drew tears from my eyes because I hadn’t blinked in over a minute and had me sighing after I defeated a boss because I’d been subconsciously holding my breath. And I needed more.With clear inspiration from the reimagined Doom franchise, Hellsinger is a highly mobile first-person shooter available on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 5 that has you performing everything to the beat of a metal soundtrack that features contributions from vocalists like... Continue reading…

Could the disc / digital divide be on its way out? | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The next revision of the PlayStation 5 could include a removable disc drive, potentially letting you play games using a drive connected via USB-C, according to Tom Henderson of Insider Gaming. The report says that we could see this new model of PS5 around September 2024.The PS5 currently comes in two versions: one with a disc drive built in and a “Digital edition” that can’t read discs, even if you plug a USB drive into it. It sounds like Sony’s trying to do away with that digital / disc divide, instead selling the same console with or without the drive bundled in. Hopefully, this means that you’ll be able to upgrade the console with a disc drive later on, even if you opted to save some money when you first bought the PS5 — that option... Continue reading…

A flooded road is seen during the passage of hurricane Fiona in Villa Blanca, Puerto Rico, on September 18th, 2022. | Photo by JOSE RODRIGUEZ / AFP via Getty Images The US was caught in the crosshairs of both the Atlantic hurricane and Pacific typhoon seasons over the weekend, which saw storms deal heavy blows to communities across both Puerto Rico and Alaska.More than 1.3 million customers are still without power in Puerto Rico today after Hurricane Fiona tore through the island on Sunday. Fiona’s heavy rains are forecast to bring more “life-threatening and catastrophic flooding,” mudslides, and landslides to Puerto Rico today before the storm moves on to batter other parts of the Caribbean.Much of Alaska’s western coastline, meanwhile, is reeling from the damage wrought by an unusual Northern Pacific storm that barreled through the state on Saturday. The storm, remnants of Typhoon Merbok,... Continue reading…

Image: Blizzard It’s been a rough week in big-ticket game development — and it’s only Monday. Shortly after Rockstar confirmed the prolific leak of GTA VI material was the result of a hack, Blizzard is dealing with its own leak of Diablo IV footage.Reported by PC Gamer, it appears an eagle-eyed Reddit user going by iV1rus0 noticed the videos had been uploaded to a file sharing website and shared the link. The leaked footage is spread across two videos clocking in at 43 minutes and appears to be from a Discord stream. The videos are watermarked, denoting that the footage was from a private test build with a number that might identify which tester this footage came from. (RIP to them.)The videos also feature computer-modulated voices (ostensibly to... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Some people have been experiencing a frustrating issue in iOS 16 that causes a “do you want to allow this?” dialog box to appear every single time they attempt to copy and paste anything. Now, as noted by MacRumors, Apple has chimed in to confirm that this is not what the company intended with its new stricter clipboard privacy measures.Ron Huang, a senior engineer at the company, responded to a customer complaint about the issue that was originally emailed to CEO Tim Cook and software chief Craig Federighi. “This is absolutely not expected behavior, and we will get to the bottom of it,” Huang wrote in response.Apparently, Apple hadn’t encountered this behavior internally before iOS 16 shipped early last week. The bug seems to... Continue reading…

The LG logo is prominent, as usual. | Image: LG LG is best known in the laptop space for its acclaimed high-end, ultra-light Gram line. Today, it’s announced two models that are heavier and lower-cost but carry a similar portable big-screen vibe: the Ultra PC 17 and Ultra PC 16. The models are available now for starting prices of $1,599 and $999, respectively.The models come with Glance by Mirametrix, a software that’s becoming more common to see on higher-end laptops. The program leverages a device’s webcam to track where a user is positioned. It can automatically lock the screen when you step away. It can also blur the screen if it perceives that someone is peering over your shoulder. And, per LG, if you have external displays connected, it can move your cursor and in-use Window... Continue reading…

Last chance for this streaming deal. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The evenings are getting cooler as we get closer to fall, so be prepared to get cozy indoors with a comfy sweater and a great streaming deal. After the recent Disney Plus Day, Disney’s annual event of self-congratulations and new announcements, the entertainment giant offered a deal on a one-month subscription to its streaming service. That deal is coming to a close at the end of the day today, so it’s your last chance to get a month of Disney Plus for $1.99 instead of the usual $7.99 price.This 75 percent discount is valid for both new and returning subscribers, though it’s ending at 11:59PM PT tonight. Though the timing is quite advantageous, as that one-month membership will cover you for the first few episodes of the upcoming Star... Continue reading…

The government thinks there’s a high-tech fix to the rise of traffic fatalities, but the answer is much simpler. | Image: Department of Transportation Ford announced today that it’s exploring “new smartphone-based communications technology” to warn drivers about pedestrians, cyclists, and other vulnerable road users that may be hidden from their view. This follows a request for information from the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) on the possibility of using similar communication technology as “warning systems for both drivers and [vulnerable road users].”The underlying message of both of these announcements is that technology can help slow or even reserve the dramatic rise in road deaths in the US. Traffic fatalities hit a 20-year high in early 2022, with officials blaming the pandemic for causing more reckless driving behavior. And technology, that amorphous panacea to so... Continue reading…

The iPhone 14’s glass backing is held in place by a connector and two screws. | Image: iFixit A new iPhone 14 teardown video from iFixit shows a major repairability improvement: removable back glass. The video demonstrates how you can lift the rear glass panel with ease, using only a heating mat, a suction handle, and an opening pick — a huge deviation from the past few generations of iPhones that weren’t so repair-friendly.iFixit describes the process in more detail in a post on its site, noting that the back glass is “simply secured with two screws and a single connector.” Apple appears to have used an adhesive that isn’t so strong, making it a lot easier to take off the back panel without any expensive tools. iFixit also points out that removing those same screws will give you access to the screen in case you need to repair... Continue reading…

The Caper Cart has sensors that can detect what you put in it, plus a touch screen and built-in payment system for self-checkout. | Image: Instacart Instacart gig workers have a smartphone app with scanning tools at their disposal to fulfill delivery orders — but what if regular shoppers could also use them? The grocery delivery service plans to get regular everyday shoppers into “Connected Stores,” where they’d use a rolling smart cart with built-in support for lists, order deli meats or baked goods, finding items, and self-checkout.The star of the show is Instacart’s upgraded “Caper Cart,” a smart cart that can detect what items in your list are placed in — based on computer vision and weight — and checks them off in your app. It’s got a big touchscreen that syncs your grocery list from your app and an attached payment terminal so you can self-checkout without waiting to use a... Continue reading…

The Braided Solo Loop is the stretchy watch band I’ve been waiting for. | Image: Apple My problem with the Apple Watch, and with practically all watches in general, is the band. Like many people, I spend most of my time sitting at a desk typing on a computer, and I’ve never been able to get used to the way my watch strap, or even just the small metal clasp, clacks around on my desk or on the palm rest of my laptop. It’s scratchy, it’s loud, and it’s uncomfortable. Inevitably, I get into a watch-wearing habit only to take it off to work and then eventually just never put it back on again.But I bought a Watch Series 8 this weekend with the stretchy Braided Solo Loop, and it changed things for this watch wearer. The Braided Solo Loop (I call it the BSL, as in, “hang on bros, let me throw on the BSL before we hit those gnarly... Continue reading…

Image: Rockstar Rockstar has confirmed the Grand Theft Auto VI footage leaked online over the weekend was stolen from its network. The user who posted the gameplay, “teapotuberhacker,” claims they also carried out an attack on Uber that occurred last week, but it’s still unclear whether they’re actually connected.“We recently suffered a network intrusion in which an unauthorized third party illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information from our systems, including early development footage for the next Grand Theft Auto,” Rockstar says on Twitter. “We are extremely disappointed to have any details of our next game shared with you all in this way. Our work on the next Grand Theft Auto game will continue as planned and we remain as committed... Continue reading…

Samar Haddad / The Verge A new biopic about Elvis Presley came out this summer, and it was naturally accompanied by a big soundtrack full of popular Elvis tracks like “Suspicious Minds.” But the biggest hit of the album — the one getting radio play this year — was “Vegas.” The song, performed by Doja Cat, didn’t include a lick of Elvis’ work but did include samplings of Big Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog” — a song that Elvis covered to great success in the ’50s.And that was kind of the point. Many of the songs on the soundtrack — the ones not sung by Elvis or the guy playing Elvis in the movie — were borrowing motifs and samplings of Elvis-associated songs. They were attempts by Elvis’ former label, RCA, to capitalize off the songs many of us already know. And RCA... Continue reading…