The Verge

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon has closed its $3.9 billion acquisition of membership-based healthcare provider One Medical, which was originally announced last summer. For the subscription (usually $199 annually but currently discounted to $144 per year), One Medical offers members an app, 24/7 access to on-demand telehealth services over video, and guaranteed same- or next-day appointments available through more than 125 offices.The FTC, which is reportedly considering leveling an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, has been investigating this deal as well as others (like iRobot) made by the company. FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar said to CNBC that the investigation into this acquisition is ongoing, and “The commission will continue to look at possible harms to... Continue reading…

Microsoft is allowing its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers to share account access with up to four other people. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is expanding the availability of its Friends & Family plan for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to six additional countries following its initial pilot in Ireland and Columbia last year. The Friends & Family plan is now also available in New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, Hungary, Israel, and Sweden and allows Xbox Game Pass members to share benefits with up to four other friends or family members.Each individual on a Friends & Family membership receives their own unique access to the entire Game Pass Ultimate library across Xbox and PC, EA Play, and other benefits like exclusive member discounts. Pricing for each new region will vary and has not been publicly disclosed by Microsoft. For context, though, the plan is currently available... Continue reading…

Bing is now available as a contact in Skype. You can chat to it directly or add it to other conversations. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft evidently hasn’t been daunted by the often wild outbursts of its AI chatbot Bing and is launching the service on iOS and Android mobile apps today as well as integrating the bot into Skype and adding voice access.On mobile devices, Bing is now available on Microsoft’s Edge mobile browser and dedicated Bing app for those who have been accepted from the waitlist. The bot’s functionality is the same as on the web, which is to say that it’s somewhat muted compared to its startling debut. Voice control is also fine but a little slow, and Bing’s voice is unremarkable — female (of course) and vaguely robotic — not as convincing as recent AI voice clones.After the “new Bing” was launched two weeks ago, users quickly found the... Continue reading…

It’s like you’re actually in the ship. | Image: Hello Games No Man’s Sky is one of many titles you can play on the now-released PlayStation VR2, but the game’s virtual reality mode on all VR platforms is getting a big overhaul as part of the new 4.1 “Fractal” update, developer Hello Games announced Wednesday.One of the biggest changes with the Fractal update is that the game’s HUD and UI have been redesigned for VR. That means you’ll be able to look through your multitool’s options in a menu embedded in the multitool, for example, or look at your inventory on a wrist-mounted display.Of course, there are a handful of features that take advantage of the PS5 and the PSVR 2. You’ll see increased draw distances and denser foliage while exploring planets, and the game will use the PSVR 2’s headset... Continue reading…

Jabra’s Elite 3 wireless earbuds are on sale for $59.99 ($20 off) today. | Image: Chris Welch / The Verge Cheap gadgets are often cheap because, well, they’re not the best in terms of quality. That’s not true of Jabra’s Elite 3, however, which are once again on sale for $59.99 ($20 off) at Amazon and Best Buy.As our favorite pair of wireless earbuds under $100, the Elite 3 sound terrific for the price and offer a few niceties typically reserved for more expensive earbuds. They include an IP55 rating for dust and water resistance, for instance, along with the ability to use either earbud independently. So long as you’re fine without multipoint Bluetooth support and active noise cancellation, they’re a good pair of buds that nail the basics and shouldn’t disappoint. Read our review.Gaming laptops are fun, but they’re not the most practical... Continue reading…

Ayaneo 2 review: this flashy competitor has the Steam Deck beat on specs, but you can’t play a spec sheet. Continue reading…

Álvaro Bernis / The Verge Chinese regulators have reportedly told the country’s tech giants not to offer access to AI chatbot ChatGPT over fears the tool will give “uncensored replies” to politically sensitive questions.That’s according to a report from Nikkei Asia citing “people with direct knowledge of the matter.” Nikkei says Chinese regulators told tech firms Tencent and Ant Group (a subsidiary of e-commerce giant Alibaba) to not only restrict access to the US-developed ChatGPT, but to also report to officials before launching their own rival chatbots.Such a move would fit the Chinese government’s heavy-handed approach to censorship and quick regulatory responses to new tech. Last month, for example, the country introduced new rules regarding the... Continue reading…

The feature is only available in Korean on select handsets, including the Galaxy S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra (pictured). | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge AI voice clones are already being deployed in podcasts and video games, but how long until they can be harnessed directly by the general public? Probably sooner than you think, with Samsung today announcing a feature for its Bixby mobile assistant that lets users clone their voice to answer phone calls. The idea is that if someone calls you but you can’t answer aloud you can type out a response and it’ll be read in a simulacrum of your voice.Some caveats here: this feature is only currently available in Korean as the Bixby Custom Voice Creator app for a small number of Samsung handsets (the new Galaxy S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra), which means we’ve been unable to test it ourselves. The voice quality might be abysmal and response time too... Continue reading…

Image: Getty Plus yet more Twitter layoffs, and Nvidia partners with Microsoft as it fights to acquire Activision Blizzard. Continue reading…

It’s early days, but WhatsApp’s 2 billion active users could be one hell of a market for independant writers. | Illustration: The Verge Would you be more likely to subscribe to a newsletter from your favorite creator if you could read it through a messaging app like WhatsApp? As noted by Wabetainfo, code in beta version 2.23.5.3 of WhatsApp Messenger for Android contains references to a new “Newsletter” feature that’s currently under development. The name could itself be a codename, but clues hidden within the code suggest that the one-to-many broadcast tool will be optional and self-contained within its own section of the WhatsApp Status tab, separate from encrypted group chats and messages.According to Wabetainfo’s findings, Newsletter will grant users full control over what they see — there’s no mention of ads (yet), nor is there any sign of algorithm-based... Continue reading…

Today, Sony is officially launching its PlayStation VR2 headset. It costs $550, and you can read our PSVR 2 review right here. But there are a few key experiences that Sony didn’t distribute to reviewers ahead of time — like a day-one patch for Gran Turismo 7 that makes almost the entire racing game playable in virtual reality.I’m beginning to think that was a mistake, because GT7 is easily one of the best things I’ve tried in this headset, and I’m saying that having never played GT7 before. I’m certain a number of gearheads will buy a PlayStation VR2 for this game alone — and quite possibly a PS5, a steering wheel, and a set of pedals to go with it.The game starts exactly the way it does on a flat screen TV. You adjust your screen... Continue reading…

This could be Motorola’s next Razr. | Image: Evan Blass Upcoming foldable flip phones from Samsung and Motorola could have much larger cover displays than the current generation, if a series of leaks about the unannounced devices are to be believed.First there’s the Galaxy Z Flip 5, which Samsung is anticipated to announce this summer. Leaker Ice Universe, who’s been a reliable source of information on unannounced Samsung devices in the past, recently tweeted to “say for sure” that Samsung’s next flip phone will have a bigger external display than the Oppo Find N2 Flip. For reference, Oppo’s flip phone has a 3.26-inch cover display, which is already substantially larger than the Z Flip 4’s 1.9-inch display.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge As it nears the launch of two new smart speakers, Sonos appears to be taking another look at pricing across the company’s product portfolio — and raising them in some cases. The second-generation Beam, which was $449 just a week ago, is now shown as $499 on Sonos’ website and retailers, including Best Buy.The already-pricey Sub has also been bumped by $50 and now costs $799. Ouch. The Wayback Machine shows that it was still listed at $749 from Sonos as recently as February 15th.Sonos increased the prices of numerous products back in 2021, citing supply chain issues and consumer demand as factors behind the decision. At that time, the company said it is “always assessing market dynamics including demand, supply chain, component costs,... Continue reading…

Demonstrators demand action from the Republican presidential candidates about the water crisis in Flint outside the historic Fox Theatre before the GOP presidential debate on March 3rd, 2016, in Detroit, Michigan. | Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images In the wake of disaster, maintaining close ties with friends and family is a crucial part of recovery. Those relationships might help keep people safe in the moment and even nurture better mental health long after the initial disaster, according to new research on the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, that started in 2014.Sure, that might seem like common sense. But paying attention to how folks come together when things go horribly wrong is one way to get communities better help in future times of crisis. And it’s not just maintaining a social circle that matters — who’s in it and how close you are to them made a difference in Flint, according to a study recently published in the journal International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is giving YouTube Music users the ability to create custom stations based on specific artists and to tune how the algorithm decides what songs it should play. The feature, which is called the “Radio Builder,” started rolling out on Tuesday and can be accessed by scrolling to the “Your music tuner” section of the YouTube Music homepage in the iOS or Android app.When building your custom station, you can select up to 30 artists and choose whether you want to only hear music from them or if you want it to pull in songs from similar musicians. You can also tell it to play songs that you’re familiar with, new-to-you songs, or a mix of the two and add filters, letting you tune the mix. For example, you could make a station that plays... Continue reading…

The Apple Watch is facing two potential import bans over its EKG and pulse oximetry features. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Medical device maker AliveCor announced today that President Biden has upheld an International Trade Commission ruling that could result in a potential import ban on the Apple Watch over its EKG feature.“We applaud President Biden for upholding the ITC’s ruling and holding Apple accountable for infringing the patents that underpin our industry-leading EKG technology,” AliveCor CEO Priya Abani said in a statement sent to The Verge.Back in December, the ITC issued a final determination that Apple had infringed on AliveCor’s wearable EKG tech. In the ruling, the ITC recommended a limited exclusion order and a cease-and-desist order for Apple Watch models with EKG features. If enforced, that would mean that Apple would no longer be able... Continue reading…

Image: Starry Starry, an ISP that launched in 2016 with a focus on delivering home internet with wireless antennas instead of cables, has declared bankruptcy. In a press release, the company says that it intends to quickly restructure and that it’ll continue providing internet service in its “five core operating markets.” Those are Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, Denver, and Washington, DC.The ISP has clearly been struggling over the past few months. In October 2022, it announced that it was laying off around 500 people, which amounted to about half of its staff. A few months later, Starry announced it was leaving Columbus, Ohio, in a bid to focus more on its five “core” markets. All the while, it was burning millions of dollars in cash, and its... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is hoping two gaming giants will help get its Activision Blizzard deal across the line with regulators in Europe. Continue reading…

Image: The Verge Microsoft is already loosening restrictions it recently placed on interactions with the Bing AI chatbot and said it’s going to start testing another option that lets users choose the tone of the chat, with options for Precise (shorter, more focused answers), Creative (longer and more chatty), or Balanced for a bit of both.After repeated reports of strange behavior (like the time it split into multiple personalities and one of them offered us furry porn) and jailbreaks that did things like expose its secret rules, Microsoft set new rules last Friday that limited the number of interactions testers could have and how long they last. The limits cut down testers to five turns per session and a max of 50 per day.According to Microsoft,... Continue reading…

Vroom vroom in VR. | Image: Sony We’re just a day away from the Wednesday launch of Sony’s PlayStation VR2 headset, and ahead of its release, the company is sharing details on Gran Turismo 7’s VR mode and on 10 new games that will be available within the device’s “launch window.”Let’s start first with Gran Turismo 7. As part of the game’s free 1.29 update, which is available now, the entire game except for two-player splitscreen will be supported by PSVR 2. “GT7 takes full advantage of PS VR2’s next-gen features — utilizing specially optimized HDR tone mapping, as well as foveated rendering from the eye-tracking feature (a technology that renders areas of the screen that the player is directly looking at in high definition), and dynamic 3D audio support, players will... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is bringing its Xbox PC games to Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service. Speaking at a press conference in Brussels today, Microsoft president Brad Smith announced the news as it seeks to convince EU regulators to approve its proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition.“Microsoft will be bringing its Xbox games that play on PCs to Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service,” said Smith in a press conference attended by The Verge. “We will also bring all of Activision Blizzard’s titles including Call of Duty to GeForce Now.”You’ll still have to buy games individually before you can play them on GeForce Now; the deal is simply a 10-year agreement for the streaming rights. Microsoft is committing to make its games available to... Continue reading…

The Xbox Series S console is still on sale for $223.99 ($76 off) at eBay via Antonline. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Presidents Day is one of the smaller holidays inexplicably linked to major sales promotions, and while it may be over, the sales sure aren’t. There are still some worthwhile deals you can take advantage of if you missed out over the weekend — and not just on mattresses or whatever your local small businesses are hawking.We’re currently seeing a variety of deals, like $20 off The Last of Us Part I for the PlayStation 5 and $65 off of Ikea’s Symfonisk picture frame speaker. Samsung’s 65-inch S95B OLED TV, meanwhile, is also discounted to half off its original MSRP. There are even some fun, extra-geeky deals to take advantage of, including a Best Buy deal that takes $38 off Nerf’s replica blaster from The Mandalorian. So let’s dive in and... Continue reading…

Illustration: Samar Haddad / The Verge If you constantly find yourself drowning in piles of tabs, apps, and windows while using your Mac computer, Stage Manager might be able to help. Also available on iPads, Stage Manager organizes your apps as thumbnails on the side of the screen and puts whatever you’re working on front and center. You can have a maximum of one window (or one group of windows) open at a time. The idea is that you can work without distractions while still having access to an easy at a glance view of your other software.When you’ve got Stage Manager open, you can click one of the thumbnails on the side to open that app or group. (This will close the one you already have open.) If you frequently need to use multiple windows at once, you can group them... Continue reading…

Image: Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard has allegedly suffered from a hacking attempt that has potentially exposed sensitive employee information as well as content timelines for Call of Duty.According to a report from TechCrunch, the data was accessed via a phishing attempt on December 4th. A collective of malware and cybersecurity experts known as vx-underground obtained screenshots of the allegedly stolen data that included a Call of Duty content schedule. Another website, Insider Gaming, reportedly confirmed the breach, stating that additional information such as employees’ “full names, emails, phone numbers, salaries, places of work, and more” were also accessed.In an email to The Verge, Activision Blizzard spokesperson Joe Christinat wrote, “On... Continue reading…

Day 588 and the other wall art still hasn’t noticed I am a speaker. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Presidents Day is over, but there are some excellent deals still lingering as well as some fresh ones to accompany them. The Ikea Symfonisk picture frame speaker, which can disguise itself as wall art, is one of the most unusual smart speakers on the market, and it’s on sale for its lowest price of $194.99 ($65 off) direct from Ikea. This 16 x 22-inch speaker is part of Ikea’s partnership with Sonos, so it works natively with Sonos’ Wi-Fi-connected ecosystem. It has good sound quality for the money, about on par with the $219 Sonos One, but no Sonos speaker allows you to free up space on your furniture quite like the Symfonisk picture frame.It may not be everyone’s style, especially if you’re not fond of the cable hanging from it, but... Continue reading…

Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) threw his support behind striking YouTube Music workers in a letter addressed to Google CEO Sundar Pichai Tuesday, as first reported by the Austin Chronicle.Sanders’ support comes amid growing tensions between workers on YouTube Music’s Content Operations team and its parent company, Google. The nearly 60 workers are formally employed by Cognizant, a third-party contractor to Google. Last October, they filed for a union election with the 1,300-member Alphabet Workers Union (AWU). But shortly after that request was filed with the National Labor and Relations Board, Cognizant issued a new return-to-office mandate that organizers — and Sanders — argue amounts to an illegal union-busting strategy.“Our request to... Continue reading…

The cockpit comes with a lightweight carbon steel frame and a seat made out of Actifit material. | Image: Logitech Logitech G’s first racing cockpit costs $599 and is designed to fit its even costlier premium gaming wheels and pedals. The company teamed up with gaming chair maker Playseat to create the Playseat Trophy - Logitech G Edition — a rebadged version of Playseat’s fully adjustable Trophy cockpit.Its seat is made with the same Actifit material, which is supposed to conform to your body and keep you cool while you’re on the virtual racetrack. You can also make adjustments to the seat hardness, the position of the backrest, the pedal, and the steering plates. The main difference between this cockpit and the one created by Playseat is that it features Logitech branding and a 37-pound dark gray carbon steel frame instead of black.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The first shots have been fired in a Supreme Court showdown over web platforms, terrorism, and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Gonzales v. Google — one of two lawsuits that are likely to shape the future of the internet.Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh are a pair of lawsuits blaming platforms for facilitating Islamic State attacks. The court’s final ruling on these cases will determine web services’ liability for hosting illegal activity, particularly if they promote it with algorithmic recommendations.The Supreme Court took up both cases in October: one at the request of a family that’s suing Google and the other as a preemptive defense filed by Twitter.... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge Microsoft and Sony’s gaming chiefs are both preparing to meet with EU regulators today in a showdown over Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The closed-door hearing in Brussels will see Xbox chief Phil Spencer and other senior Microsoft executives argue the case for the $68.7 billion deal to proceed, with PlayStation chief Jim Ryan attending to voice Sony’s concerns over the deal.It’s a pivotal moment for Microsoft’s proposed acquisition, which has already seen opposition from regulators in the UK and US. The FTC is suing Microsoft to block its Activision Blizzard purchase, while the CMA published its provisional findings of its investigation earlier this month, warning that the deal could harm UK gamers. The CMA... Continue reading…

The Sonos Era 300. Plus an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto and more lobbying from Microsoft. Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Call of Duty will be available to Nintendo players on the same day as Xbox with “full feature and content parity” under a 10-year agreement between the two platforms, Microsoft’s Brad Smith announced. The deal was announced in early December, but Smith is offering more details today ahead of a hearing in which Microsoft will argue its case with EU regulators to allow its $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard to proceed, Reuters reports.As my colleague Tom Warren wrote back in December, the Nintendo deal is almost certainly part of Microsoft’s attempt to pressure Sony into accepting a similar offer and allay regulatory competition concerns. The PlayStation maker has emerged as one of the chief opponents of... Continue reading…

This was a great moment adapted from a cutscene from the video game — and I didn’t have to fight a single zombie to see it. | Image: HBO Sometimes you don’t need violence and zombies. Sometimes you just need human beings hanging out at the end of the world. Continue reading…

“Brain stimulation system to provide a sense of wellbeing.” | Embraer Commercial air travel is a largely terrible experience, and aviation companies patent a lot of ways to make it either slightly less miserable or an even more dystopian hell. Where does reading passengers’ emotions to offer them transcranial stimulation therapy fall? I’ll leave that up to you.Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer filed a patent application for a “brain stimulation system to provide a sense of wellbeing” back in 2016, and it was granted last year. But I only discovered it thanks to a more recent Mastodon post by attorney Jeff Steck, and I am fascinated. Embraer’s reasonable starting premise is that lots of people become anxious on long car, train, and airplane rides, “turning a short trip into a long one.” From there,... Continue reading…

The Era 300 has a unique design and six drivers for immersive spatial audio. Sonos is continuing to finalize details for a pair of new smart speakers set to launch in the coming weeks, and The Verge has now obtained marketing images of the products and learned roughly how much they will cost. The spatial audio-focused Era 300 is expected to be priced in the ballpark of $450, making it less expensive than the company’s flagship Sonos Five. As such, the Five will likely remain part of Sonos’ lineup after the pending hardware announcements.But the same cannot be said for the Sonos One, which is all but certain to be replaced by the upcoming Era 100. Sonos has discussed pricing that speaker around $250, a slight price increase compared to the $219 One. But customers should be gaining several improvements for the... Continue reading…