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Riveting illustrated stories. Google has released a browser version of its “Read Along” Android app. The website, while still in beta, is up and running now.The site includes hundreds of illustrated stories at a few different reading levels. Once kids select a story, they start reading into their device’s microphone. Words are highlighted in blue after they’ve read them, and mispronounced words are underlined in red; click an underlined word, and a virtual assistant, Diya, will pronounce it for you. There may be math involved in some of these stories, just as a warning. Supported browsers include Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, while others (including Safari) are coming soon, Google says. Stories are available in English, Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Cryptocurrency lender Hodlnaut is the latest firm to respond to tumultuous market conditions by halting withdrawals (via Coindesk). In a post on its website, the Singapore-based company announced that it’s freezing withdrawals, token swaps, and deposits due to an uncertain economy that some say triggered a “crypto winter.”Hodlnaut is also rescinding its application to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for a regulatory license that would allow the company to offer digital payment token services in the city-state. As pointed out by Coindesk, the firm already received in-principle approval for the license in March, and its withdrawal means it can no longer offer token swaps. Hodlnaut says it’s also suspending its borrowing and... Continue reading…

The white version of the Arlo wire-free video doorbell is currently selling for less than the black model, which is also discounted. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Smart home brand Arlo is running a wide array of discounts that just kicked off recently, with a bunch of its products discounted on its site — ranging from security systems to indoor and outdoor cameras. Our picks for what’s most worth your time and hard-earned dollars are the Arlo Essential video doorbells (wire-free or wired) and the Pro 3 Floodlight Cam.First off, the best deal outright is on the wire-free Arlo video doorbell, which is currently on sale in white for $149 at Amazon. This discount of about $51 actually undercuts the deal price on Arlo’s site and at other retailers like Best Buy, where it’s on sale for $179.99. This video doorbell, along with its wired counterpart, were among our picks for the best video doorbells you... Continue reading…

Illustration by Grayson Blackmon A rebate for e-bike purchases was left out of the big climate deal, but it may yet live on Continue reading…

And why it’s 40 percent cheaper to run Continue reading…

The infamous green messaging bubbles. | Image: Google Google is kicking off a new publicity campaign today to pressure Apple into adopting RCS, the cross-platform messaging protocol that’s meant to be a successor to the aging SMS and MMS standards.The search giant has a new “Get The Message” website that lays out a familiar set of arguments for why Apple should support the standard, revolving around smoother messaging between iPhone and Android devices. Naturally, there’s also a #GetTheMessage hashtag to really get those viral juices flowing.For most people, the problems Google describes are most familiar in the form of the green bubbles that signify messages to Android users in Apple’s Messages app. While the iPhone app uses Apple’s own iMessage service to send texts between iPhones... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act on Tuesday, writing into law the $280 billion package that includes $52 billion in funding to boost US domestic semiconductor manufacturing.“Today is a day for builders. Today, America’s delivering,” Biden said during the White House signing ceremony on Tuesday. “The CHIPS and Science Act is a once in a generation investment in America itself.”The bipartisan deal to revive American innovation in opposition to growing Chinese technological dominance comes amid an ongoing global semiconductor shortage. The shortage has become an incentive for manufacturers like Intel to invest in new plants to meet the growing demand for tech products like laptops and smartphones worldwide. But US... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge AirPods could come with a charging case that supports USB-C in 2023, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. It doesn’t look like we should expect USB-C on the AirPods Pro 2 that Apple’s expected to launch later this year, though, as Kuo still believes the case may still feature a Lightning port.Adding a USB-C port to the AirPods case would be less convenient if you like to swap charging cables with a current iPhone, but would make them more compatible with everything else. It also saves you from going through the trouble of sawing into your existing case and then replacing the Lightning port with USB-C, like this modder did.

Samsung’s early head start on foldables is paying off. | Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge Four years into folding phones and Samsung is the king of the party Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Hello again everyone — it’s been a while! Ariel’s on vacation for the next week-plus, which means I get to tap in again and do my best impression of your usual host. Today, I chat about Clubhouse’s big revamp, Panera adding a branded sound, and PRX Productions boosting its output through a new partnership.Clubhouse splits upOn Monday, I opened up Clubhouse to see if I could find any rooms worth tuning into. Right up top, the app suggested a room called “Tech News around the World,” which seemed relevant enough to me, a technology reporter. But after that, things broke down right away. “Quick tip for getting more SAVES on your Pinterest pins!” didn’t seem to be playing well with anyone. (It had only 17 listeners.) “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Samsung Galaxy Unpacked is set to begin on Wednesday, August 10th.Leading up to the event, Samsung has left us with breadcrumbs about what they’re going to announce at their Galaxy Unpacked event. Leaks and other clues have revealed that Samsung may be announcing an updated foldable to match last year’s announcement and release.We also have a guess that there might be some new Galaxy Watches to announce as Samsung released a reservation for a trade-in for the Galaxy smartphone, smartwatch, and earbuds.When does the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event take place? The Samsung Galaxy event is set to take place on Wednesday, August 10th, 2022, at 6:00AM PT / 9:00AM ET.Where can I watch the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event? We will have the... Continue reading…

With less than 100 days until the midterm elections, the Democrats are equipping influencers and TikTok creators with digital tools to reach voters across the internet with party-sponsored content.In the run-up to election season, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) built an online organizing hub to drive the party’s messaging beyond its own social channels. The hub creates a central online destination for influencers, surrogates, and supporters to receive party-sponsored talking points, messaging, and a wide variety of digital content to post on their own social media feeds.“Our goal is to equip grassroots supporters and volunteers with the tools to share our message with their own networks and to be trusted messengers.”“Our... Continue reading…

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge Nearly nine months after it stopped taking reservations, Ford is ready to reopen the order banks for the F-150 Lightning. But buyers beware: the price for the electric truck has gone up by around $7,000 across all trim levels.Ford is citing “significant material cost increases and other factors” as the primary reason for raising the price. Indeed, the F-150 Lightning is only the latest electric vehicle to see its price go up as a result of supply chain constraints, inflation, and greater demand for batteries and other components.“Significant material cost increases and other factors”Ford said it will honor the original manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) for all current reservation holders. But anyone plunking down the $100... Continue reading…

With a little effort, the Steam Deck can run more than just Steam. Steam may certainly have the lion’s share when it comes to building a library of PC games, but why would you leave yourself stranded in Valve’s ecosystem when there are mountains of free games and sales on the Epic Games Store and other platforms? For instance, in 2021, the Epic Games Store gave away 89 free games, and GOG is adding new games to its free library all the time. If you had EGS and GOG on your Steam Deck, you could also cash in on all the extra sales that you’d otherwise be missing.Integrating these stores requires a bit of upfront leg work, but it’s totally possible and can pay big dividends if you’re looking to expand the library of your new handheld. Besides, everyone knows that paying full price for games is for... Continue reading…

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is exposing a lesser-known unexpected link between Russia and the United States: the nuclear fuel supply chain. Back in March 2022, President Biden announced sanctions on Russia’s energy exports, specifically oil and gas. But one notable export was left off of that list: uranium.In 2021, the US relied on Russia for 14 percent of its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. The process of enriching uranium is highly complicated and can only be done in certain countries — including Russia.Uranium fuel starts as uranium ore, a naturally occurring radioactive material. Only very little of this ore is useful for fuel. Once mined, the ore is converted into yellowcake, which is just concentrated uranium. That... Continue reading…

The new 1Password 8 design on mobile. | Image: 1Password 1Password is launching a big update to its Android and iOS apps today. 1Password 8 overhauls the design of the mobile password management apps in many of the same ways the 1Password 8 apps for Windows and Mac were redesigned in recent months. The new mobile interface includes a personalized home tab, which should make it easier to find logins, pin favorites, and organize your passwords.The new personalized homescreen also lets you easily see logins you’ve recently created and even pin individual fields from a login. You can also reorder sections and add quick actions to the home tab, and the navigation bar now provides quick access to search, home, and settings.Search isn’t super obvious in the current 1Password mobile app, and the... Continue reading…

Haeun Jang / The Verge The 21st century is a wild time to be a young person. The old systems are crumbling, new ideas are bubbling up, and people are more restless than ever. At the center of it all is the greatest communication system the world has ever known, reflecting every frustration and desire through a maze of mirrors. Everything is falling apart — and anything is possible.We wanted to know firsthand what it’s like to be a young person in the present moment, so we went straight to the source. In June, we put out a call for pitches from young writers, asking for personal essays about their experiences with technology. Now, we’re ready to share what came back: 11 pieces exploring how technology is helping young people navigate our strange new world,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Lyssa Park for The Verge In May 2020, I was searching for something — anything — to bring me joy. The world had become a dark place, and I just wanted to feel hopeful. And so, rationally, I went looking in the most obvious place: Twitch. And what I found was the Twitch stream of music producer Kenny Beats.Kenny Beats, born Kenneth Blume III, is best known for his work with artists like Denzel Curry and Vince Staples. On his YouTube series, The Cave, he’ll produce a beat for artists in just 10 minutes. I’d been a fan of his music for some time, but like most producers, I knew very little about Kenny: he was just a name in a list of song credits who happened to have a YouTube show I enjoyed.Prior to 2020, I was not a regular Twitch user. But as I worked a job I... Continue reading…

Sonic in the initial live-action film. | Image: Paramount A third live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie is on the way, and it’s set for release on December 20th, 2024, the film’s official Twitter account has confirmed.There’s no word yet on whether Ben Schwartz will return in the titular role, or whether director Jeff Fowler, or writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller will be back either. This release date, though, puts it directly up against James Cameron’s second Avatar sequel, currently being produced under the working title Avatar 3. It’s the blue CGI character showdown we’ve all been waiting for.Development on the third Sonic film was first announced in February, alongside the news that Paramount and Sega were also working on a live-action series featuring Idris Elba’s Knuckles for streaming... Continue reading…

Crystal Du / The Verge In the summer of 2017, I was stuck between high school and college and stuck between two versions of myself. There was the high school version of me, someone with a laser focus on traditional academic success, and the college version of myself, a mystery that burst with the potential to do and create outside of the box that I had formed around myself.It started with a simple DM — something along the lines of “this seems fun; you should join it also!” When I clicked the link, I saw a dizzying array of character designs laid out in tidy rows, filling the homepage of the site. It was overwhelming, not just because so many people had joined this site but also because they had shared so many stories and characters. The characters were... Continue reading…

A Ms. Pac-Man arcade cabinet. | Photo by Gado/Getty Images As Hollywood looks ever further afield for IP to turn into new film franchises, the classic arcade game Pac-Man has emerged as the next potential basis for a live-action adaptation. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is currently under development at Wayfarer (the studio behind Disney Plus’s Clouds) with assistance from Bandai Namco, based on an idea from Sonic the Hedgehog associate producer Chuck Williams.Crucially, THR is only reporting that the film is “in development,” and there’s no mention of it having been officially greenlit or entering production. But the news makes sense in an environment where studios are increasingly turning to video games for IP to mine for their upcoming projects. In recent years, plans to... Continue reading…

A white version of the Xbox Elite 2 controller. | Image: Nicholas Lugo (YouTube) Microsoft appears to be working on a new white version of the Xbox Elite 2 controller. Video of the unannounced Xbox Elite 2 controller has appeared on YouTube, sporting a white face plate and black grips. The video comes months after a white Xbox Elite 2 controller was reportedly spotted at a retailer in the US earlier this year.The brief unboxing video, uploaded to a YouTube account identified as Nicholas Lugo, includes someone claiming the unannounced white Xbox Elite 2 controller was obtained in the US. Twitter users spotted this video recently after it was posted three weeks ago. It’s not clear whether the controller was sold at a US store, or whether Microsoft is still planning to announce a white version of its Xbox Elite 2... Continue reading…

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Chinese smartphone maker Oppo and its sub-brand OnePlus have halted sales of smartphones in Germany after losing a patent lawsuit with Nokia.Nokia has accused the companies of using its patented technology for processing 4G and 5G signals without paying for a license, reports European patent news site Juve Patent, and won an injunction to halt sales last Friday in a German court. (For clarification: this is Nokia the Finnish telecoms giant, a massive player in European telecoms equipment. Nokia the mobile brand is owned by a separate company, also Finnish, named HMD Global.)Oppo and OnePlus have complied with this order, as evidenced by changes to their German web stores.Oppo’s site now makes no mention of hardware devices at all,... Continue reading…

Image: WhatsApp WhatsApp is rolling out a way to hide your “last seen” status from specific contacts, as well as the ability to leave a group without notifying other users.Last December, WhatsApp started hiding users’ online status from strangers by default. While this was a step in the right direction, it still allows your entire list of contacts to see whether or not you’re online. WhatsApp’s upcoming update is supposed to fix that, though, as it will let you choose which contacts can see your status. So if you don’t want someone to know that you’re ignoring their message, toggle on the setting for that user, and they’ll (hopefully) never know the difference.WhatsApp is also launching another handy feature that will let you silently leave groups.... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Burger King has just emailed thousands of customers with a blank order email receipt. The blank emails started appearing at around 12:15AM ET, leaving Burger King customers confused whether the company has been breached by a hungry hacker attempting a midnight feast, or if the emails are simply a giant whopper of a mistake.Twitter users were quick to turn to the social network in a state of confusion over the blank emails, with some even receiving two Burger King emails in an apparent double whopper of a mistake. The order emails are totally blank, and were sent by Burger King’s main promotional marketing email address. Screenshot by Tom Warren / The Verge Burger King’s blank order receipt. There’s no clear... Continue reading…

Image: Snap As part of Snap’s child safety efforts, Snapchat is launching a new supervision tool on Tuesday that the company says mimics how parents and teenagers interact in the real world.Snapchat’s new “Family Center” hub allows parents and guardians to keep tabs on who their teens message with on the app without disclosing what it is they’re saying to each other. Both the guardian and the child must accept the Family Center invite before the oversight tools can take effect. Once the invites are accepted, a guardian can see the entirety of their child’s friends list and a list of accounts they’ve interacted with over the last seven days and report concerning accounts to Snap’s Trust and Safety Team.“Our goal was to create a set of tools... Continue reading…

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel unveiling the company’s pair of AR glasses last year. | Photo by Snap Partner Summit 2021 - Snap Inc/Getty Images for Snap Inc Snap is in the early stages of planning layoffs, according to two people familiar with the plans.The planned cuts come after the company recently delivered disappointing earnings results and didn't forecast earnings for the third quarter — news that sent its stock price cratering to near-all-time lows. It’s currently unclear how many of Snap’s more than 6,000 employees will be laid off, as managers across the company are still planning the full scope of the cuts for their teams.Russ Caditz-Peck, a Snap spokesman, declined to comment.Snap’s business has been hurt recently on two major fronts: The first is Apple’s introduction of the “Ask App Not to Track” prompt, which an estimated majority of iPhone owners have opted “Yes” to, making... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Sent a wildly inappropriate text meant for your boo to, I don’t know, your boss? Now you have some extra time to save face and delete it — well, if you’re using WhatsApp, at least.WhatsApp users now have a little over two days after sending a message to delete it instead of just one hour, the company announced today.To start using the new feature right now, open up the WhatsApp group or individual chat where you sent the message(s). Make sure to tap and hold the content you want to get rid of, click “Delete,” and then select either “Delete for everyone” or “Delete for me.”Yet before you go off on a deleting spree, be aware there’s a (slight) catch: all recipients must be updated to the most recent version of WhatsApp in order for... Continue reading…

An overhauled design prioritizes comfort over the retro looks of Sennheiser’s past Momentums Continue reading…

Thanks, I hate it. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge Apple released the iOS 16 beta 5 today and with it comes the long-awaited return of battery percentage to the status bar. Unfortunately, it’s ugly as hell and unreadable to boot.Previously, battery percentage appeared to the left of the battery icon. However, Apple removed it starting with the iPhone X because there wasn’t enough space to cram it in thanks to the notch. To find out battery percentage, you currently have to swipe down to Control Center. In iOS 16, Apple’s “solved” that issue by having the figure appear within the battery icon.(If you’ve updated to the latest version of the beta and don’t see it, that’s because it’s not enabled by default. To turn it on, you have to go to the Battery menu in Settings and flip on the... Continue reading…

We are beginning to live in a world where AI can genuinely do some incredible things, and I’m not just talking about DALL-E’s ability to produce uncanny original art on command. If you’ve ever experienced a shitty Blu-ray and wished someone could just upscale the DVDs for a better transfer, there is genuinely an AI app for that sort of thing. Two, in fact!ExtremeTech managing editor Joel Hruska knows a thing or two about that, having spent the last two and a half years attempting to remaster Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager using these continually evolving tools. And this past week, he wrote a 16,000-word explainer chock full of video samples and image comparison sliders to share it all with you. It’s like a... Continue reading…

Last fall during Gamescom, Take-Two studio Firaxis Games announced a new turn-based tactical RPG from the XCOM team called Marvel’s Midnight Suns. Taking place on the “darker side of the Marvel Universe,” and pitting well-known heroes like Iron Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Blade, Captain America, and Captain Marvel against Lilith, a supernatural villain, it was originally scheduled for release in March before being pushed back until October 7th.Along with reporting Q1 2023 earnings, today the publisher announced another delay without many specific details on when the game will be released. Also, the game now appears to have a split release strategy, with PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X / S, and PC versions due before the end of March next... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla has a new rewards program in China to encourage customers to trade in their used models for a brand new one (via electrek). From now until September 30th, Tesla vehicle owners in China who opt for the deal will receive half-off the Full Self Driving feature, 15,000km (9,320.57 miles) of Supercharging credits, and a home charger installation savings of about $1,184.Tesla enthusiast Ray4Tesla shared the news on the “Ownership Loyalty Program” last month, which prices the Full Self Driving package in the offer at CNY32,000 (or about $4,741 USD) for cars that already have at least the Enhanced Autopilot package. Considering the price of FSD is now $12,000 in the US, it would seem like a deal to get it for more than half the current... Continue reading…

BioWare BioWare games have developed a reputation for producing some of the finest player-driven romances in video games. In service to that reputation, the BioWare store is filled with all sorts of bits and bobs designed to entice players to buy things that’ll display their love for a certain character. In its latest merchandise drop, the brilliant bastards at BioWare are capitalizing on that devotion in a genius way with a “Romance bundle” dedicated to Dragon Age Origins’ cheese-loving heartthrob Grey Warden, Alistair Theirin.

Photo by Stefan Jaitner/picture alliance via Getty Images Polio is back, monkeypox isn’t slowing down, COVID-19 is still around — and now there’s more not-so-good news on the infection front: over 200 human diseases could get worse because of climate change, according to a new study.Researchers have known for a long time that the changing climate affects disease. Warmer temperatures can make regions newly hospitable to disease-carrying mosquitoes, while floods from more frequent storms can carry bacteria in their surges of water.Most research, though, only focused on a handful of threats or one disease at a time. The new study, published in Nature Climate Change, built a comprehensive map of all of the ways various climate hazards could interact with 375 documented human infectious... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Digital communication platform Twilio was hacked after a phishing campaign tricked its employees into revealing their login credentials (via TechCrunch). The company disclosed the data breach in a post on its blog, noting that only “a limited number” of customer accounts were affected by the attack. Twilio allows web services to send SMS messages and place voice calls over telephone networks and is used by companies including Uber, Twitter, and Airbnb.The hack occurred on August 4th and involved a bad actor sending SMS messages to Twilio employees that asked them to reset their password or alerted them to a change in their schedule. Each message included a link with keywords, like “Twilio,” “SSO” (single sign-on), and “Okta,” the name... Continue reading…

Evolution Championship Series / Sony Interactive The Evolution Championship Series 2022 wrapped up last night, capping a weekend full of some of the most fun I’ve ever had watching competitive video gaming. MultiVersus made its EVO debut, despite still being in open beta; some new games were teased or announced; and for a glorious moment, the Twitter gaming community (or at least my corner of it) came together to witness an incredible Street Fighter V grand finals.I started my EVO weekend watching Skullgirls 2nd Encore. I was dimly aware of the game, only knowing it was a quirky-looking fighting game with a rocky development history. I only tuned in because Dominique “SonicFox” McLean was competing, and they are a treat to watch. It’s always fun with these kinds of tournaments to... Continue reading…

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks during a news conference after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act at the US Capitol on August 7th, 2022. | Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images The US is tantalizingly close to passing landmark legislation that would push the country closer than ever toward national and global climate goals. Yesterday, the Senate narrowly passed a budget reconciliation bill after months of stalled negotiations that watered down some climate provisions and then nearly fell through completely. After that roller-coaster ride, we’re left with the Inflation Reduction Act, which invests $369 billion in clean energy and climate action.If the House passes the bill and Biden signs it into law — which they’re expected to do — it’ll be the most the US has ever spent in one go to tackle the climate crisis that’s driving devastating heatwaves, megafires, and hurricane seasons. While this latest iteration of... Continue reading…

Waluigi Pinball. | Image: Nintendo Nintendo is now a third of the way through its ambitious DLC plans for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the ultra-popular kart racer that was released for the then-new Nintendo Switch over five years ago. Back in March, it announced it would be releasing a total of 48 new tracks for the game over the course of six “waves,” consisting of eight tracks each.But the first wave, released back in March, felt a little basic compared to the highs of the base game, and often it was all too obvious which courses were based on content from handheld consoles or smartphone games. This wasn’t the case in the original Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, whose courses were so overhauled compared to their source material that you’d be hard pressed to tell the Game Boy Advance... Continue reading…

Image: Bored Ape Yacht Club Non-fungible token, or NFT, thefts aren’t uncommon, but they continue to be a little mind-boggling— a bizarre combination of high risk and massive financial losses. The latest high-profile target is Steven Galanis, the CEO of celebrity video platform Cameo. Galanis reported over the weekend that he’d gotten his Apple ID hacked, and as a result, he lost a variety of NFTs. Most prominently, that included a Bored Ape Yacht Club ape that he bought for nearly $320,000 in January.Galanis tweeted about the theft of Ape #9012 on Saturday, following a bot reporting the NFT being resold. Galanis originally purchased the ape for 100 Ethereum — around $319,500 at the time of purchase — and the alleged thief flipped it to a new owner for 77... Continue reading…

Focus can help you tame notifications — but not much else yet. | Image: Apple Two Fridays ago, just before I left for a week-long vacation to Florida, I went through my pretrip digital routine. I set my Slack status to “Vacationing” with a palm tree emoji and paused notifications until further notice. I turned on Gmail’s auto-responder. I deleted a bunch of apps from my phone that would only serve to distract me from poolside bliss.The last thing I did was pick up my iPhone and create a new Focus mode. Focus, in case you didn’t know, is a new-ish iOS feature designed to let you quickly switch your phone from one context to another. You can set it to shut up your work apps on the weekends, turn off notifications while you’re reading or sleeping, or only alert you to new emails from 9AM to 5PM and not a moment... Continue reading…

Intel’s new Arc Pro GPUs. | Image: Intel Intel is launching its Arc Pro series of GPUs today, designed primarily for powerful desktop workstations and laptops. The Intel Arc Pro A40 and A50 will both be available for workstations, while the A30M will be available in pro-focused laptops. All three GPUs are capable of hardware-based ray tracing and AV1 hardware acceleration — and are designed with AI tasks and creator apps like Adobe Premiere Pro in mind.The Intel Arc Pro A40 will ship in a small single-slot form factor with 3.5 teraflops of graphical power, eight ray-tracing cores, and 6GB of GDDR6 memory. Intel is targeting this GPU at slimline workstations or small form factor PCs.The larger A50 steps up to a dual-slot form factor, 4.8 teraflops of graphical power, eight... Continue reading…

Congress is poised to approve newly expanded tax credits for electric vehicles, but the rules are written in such a way as to effectively disqualify every EV that’s currently on the market today.That’s because most EVs run on lithium-ion batteries that are mostly made in China. The nation has a lock on some 76 percent of the battery market today (the US only represents 8 percent). And to get a deal passed in a deadlocked Senate, Democrats agreed to provisions that would require eligible vehicles to use batteries that are made in North America.The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which passed the Senate this weekend in a party-line vote, would require batteries to have at least 40 percent of materials sourced from North America or a... Continue reading…

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Nvidia’s Q2 earnings won’t come out for another two weeks, but the company has dropped its preliminary numbers today and the results are not looking particularly good for its gaming business. Its gaming revenue is reported at $2.04 billion, a staggering 33.33 percent decrease from the previous year’s $3.06 billion.The shortfall mirrors other gaming hardware companies, including Logitech, which reported a 12 percent drop compared to the same quarter last year, reflecting peak pandemic changes where consumers are done investing in all kinds of home equipment for work, play, and even exercise. And gaming sales as a whole have dropped 13 percent in Q2 to $12.35 billion compared to last year, according to market research firm NPD.One... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The US Department of the Treasury has added the Tornado Cash crypto mixer to a list of sanctioned organizations, barring all US citizens from interacting with it and requiring that US assets belonging to Tornado Cash be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control.The announcement was made on Monday morning by the Treasury in a press release that cited Tornado Cash’s role in laundering cryptocurrency stolen in major hacks, especially those linked to North Korean hacking groups. In March, $625 million was stolen from the blockchain behind the Axie Infinity crypto game and laundered through Tornado Cash — a heist that the FBI has attributed to the North Korea-based Lazarus Group.The dramatic move from the Treasury is the latest... Continue reading…

The 256GB and 512GB models of the M1 MacBook Air are on sale. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Start your week off right with these handpicked deals, all part of this balanced breakfast. Our inaugural discount this week sees the M1-equipped MacBook Air discounted to $849.99 at Best Buy from its usual $999.99 price. This is the best discount we’ve seen yet on the 256GB model of the M1-equipped MacBook Air, making this an excellent chance to snag this lightweight Apple laptop. If you need a model with a little more storage space, you can also get the 512GB model for $1,049.99, a discount of $200 off the regular price.It may not share the same level of performance with the newer M2-laden MacBooks, but the lightweight form factor and impressive battery life still make the M1 MacBook Air an excellent choice for a daily driver, e... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge As Netflix continues to build out its portfolio of games, the streamer’s seeing less than 1 percent of its subscribers interact with them on a daily basis. According to data obtained by CNBC from app tracking group Apptopia, Netflix’s games average 1.7 million users per day, a sliver of Netflix’s 221 million subscribers globally.Apptopia found that Netflix’s games have been downloaded a total of 23.3 million times since Netflix announced a push into mobile gaming in November 2021. The streamer started with just five games, a collection that it has since expanded to over two dozen titles, including a game based on the Exploding Kittens card game, the League of Legends spinoff Hextech Mayhem, and the strategy title Into the Breach.... Continue reading…

Lucid Motors is leaning into the dark side with a new trim package called “Stealth Look.” The subdued styling option, which features a total of 35 new exterior design cues, will be available for the full range of Air electric vehicles starting this week.The changes include mirror caps, glass roof trim, and frames around the headlights and taillights. A platinum finish has been swapped with something called “dark Stealth Polished finish.” Lucid said the goal is to imbue the Air, which is the only model the company has in production, with “a darker and overtly sporting personality.”“A darker and overtly sporting personality”Stealth Look will be available as an option for Air Grand Touring Performance, Air Grand Touring, and Air... Continue reading…

Calling the Z a parts bin car is not an insult but, rather, a necessary move for this car to exist in the first place. Nissan reused a lot of parts when it put together this sports car — so why is it still so dang fun? Continue reading…