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by Wes Davis on (#6CVJH)
Police responded to a fake hostage situation at Ubisoft Montreal's offices on November 13th, 2020. | Photo by Eric Thomas / AFP via Getty Images Twenty-two-year-old Yanni Ouahioune was recently sentenced in France to three years of community service for calling in a fake hostage situation in 2020, also known as swatting, at the Ubisoft Montreal offices, as well as initiating DDoS attacks against a French government office and making threats toward Minecraft maker Mojang, according to Montreal Gazette.Ouahioune was allegedly upset about having been banned from Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege more than 80 times for cheating. He was named as a suspect in the case in April of 2021, Montreal outlet La Presse reported at the time.Ouahioune routed his calls through Russian servers to avoid detection, Montreal Gazette reports. After his calls, Ubisoft Montreal's offices were swarmed by... Continue reading...
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The Verge
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
| Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
| Updated | 2025-12-22 12:03 |
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by Andrew Webster on (#6CVJJ)
Image: Peacock The bullets fly in the latest trailer for Twisted Metal - and so do the jokes. Our previous look at Peacock's adaptation of the PlayStation vehicular mayhem series didn't show much other than how Will Arnett and Samoa Joe were joining forces to play the murderous clown Sweet Tooth. But the latest clip gives a much better idea of what viewers can expect when the series starts streaming later this month.Unlike the video games, which follow a tournament that's sort of like a cross between a destruction derby and a fight to the death, the show takes place in a postapocalyptic version of the US where cities are walled off from the lawlessness outside. That means courier drivers - like the lead character, played by Anthony Mackie - are both... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6CVJK)
Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine on the set of Deadpool 3. | Marvel Studios After years of Fox's live-action X-Men movie franchise (RIP) being violently allergic to the idea of letting Marvel's mutants be seen wearing anything but boring black getups vaguely inspired by Frank Quitely's New X-Men designs, Deadpool 3 seems ready to switch things up.Following last week's surprising announcement that Jennifer Garner has signed on to Deadpool 3 to reprise her role as Greek assassin Elektra Natchios, Ryan Reynolds - who's currently filming on set - took to his Instagram account today to post a photo of himself and co-star Hugh Jackman in-costume as Deadpool and a very animated-looking Wolverine. Reynolds and Jackman have been teasing how Deadpool 3 - in addition to folding their characters into the MCU - will... Continue reading...
by Makena Kelly on (#6CVJM)
Image: Nick Barclay / The Verge Last week, Meta debuted its Twitter competitor, Threads. The app gained more than 100 million users in the US, UK, and hundreds of other countries in less than a week - but you won't be able to download it in the European Union anytime soon. The app has been held up by what Meta spokesperson Christine Pai described to The Verge as upcoming regulatory uncertainty," widely assumed to refer to the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA).Tech companies and regulatory skeptics have long claimed that laws like the DMA hold back innovation by requiring onerous user protections, but the looming competition law doesn't stop Meta from introducing new products - and Meta hasn't indicated it will forgo a European launch. If anything, the DMA adds friction... Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6CVFJ)
Google's Pixel 7A has a very good camera and solid specs all around in an affordable package. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Amazon's Prime Day sales event kicks off tomorrow in earnest, though deals have been piling on early for well over a week. A new discount that's coming in pretty hot is a $50 discount on Google's latest phone, the Pixel 7A, which is now available at Amazon and Best Buy for $449. The excellent midrange phone offers a nice sampling of what Google's fancier Pixel 7 flagships feature but at a much more modest price. It's our top pick of phones around $500, in part due to its fast 90Hz refresh screen, matched Tensor G2 processor from its higher-end brethren, and the inclusion of wireless Qi charging (finally). Wrap all that up with an approachable 6.1-inch screen size and a great dual-camera setup, and you've got yourself plenty of phone for... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6CV6J)
Illustration: The Verge Instagram's new Threads app has already surpassed 100 million users, meaning it reached the milestone dramatically faster than even ChatGPT. OpenAI's chatbot passed the mark after two months, but Threads, which only launched on Wednesday, got there in a matter of days. The number of users can be found in the Instagram app, which tracks the size of the Threads userbase.Threads proved to be an early hit almost immediately. In the first two hours, it hit 2 million users and steadily climbed from there to 5 million, 10 million, 30 million, and then 70 million. The launch has been way beyond our expectations," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Friday.On Monday, Zuckerberg said in a Threads post confirming the milestone that the growth was... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Webster on (#6CVC4)
No screenshots yet, so you'll have to put up with this logo for now. | Image: EA Another big Marvel property is being turned into a video game. This time, EA is developing what it calls an original, third-person, single-player Black Panther game." We don't have many other details just yet - not even a screenshot - but development is being handled by a new EA studio called Cliffhanger Games in partnership with Marvel Games. Cliffhanger is led by Kevin Stephens, who was previously studio head at Shadow of Mordor developer Monolith Productions.We're dedicated to delivering fans a definitive and authentic Black Panther experience, giving them more agency and control over their narrative than they have ever experienced in a story-driven video game," Stephens said in a statement. Wakanda is a rich superhero sandbox,... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6CVC5)
There's also an account set up to track Mark Zuckerberg's private jet, though this hasn't posted any information yet. | Illustration: The Verge Jack Sweeney, the college student and creator of the banned @ElonJet Twitter account that tracked the movements of Elon Musk's personal jet, has now launched the tracking project on Meta's rival platform, Threads. ElonJet has arrived to Threads!" Sweeney posted to the new @elonmusksjet account on Thursday. As of Monday, July 10th, the Threads account currently has 80,000 followers.Sweeney addressed his second posting on the @elonmusksjet Threads account directly to Mark Zuckerberg, asking the Meta founder if he can remain on the platform. Sweeney includes a shoutout in the Threads bio of @elonmusksjet to the @zuckerbergjet account dedicated to tracking the location of Zuckerberg's private jet. That account hasn't posted any live... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6CVA0)
Ugreen's new 300W GaN charger. | Image: Ugreen Ugreen is teasing a new 300W GaN charger with enough ports to charge a suitcase-worth of gadgetry. The $269 device has four USB-C ports and one USB-A port, and spokesperson Roger Wan says it will go on sale in mid-August. The most powerful port is able to deliver as much as 140W via the PowerDelivery 3.1 spec, enough to fast charge a modern 16-inch MacBook Pro when used with Apple's MagSafe 3 to USB-C cable, even with four other devices being charged concurrently.With every USB connection in use, the charger can provide 140W via its first USB-C port, 65W from its second, 45W from its third, 20W from its fourth, and 22.5W from its USB-A port, according to Ugreen's table below. But if you've got fewer devices plugged in then some of these... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6CV6H)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge After several rounds of layoffs and a number of high-profile lawsuits, Rad Power Bikes' new CEO is determined to get costs and safety under control Continue reading...
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#6CDRP)
The Echo Pop (left) and Echo Dot (right) are just two of the many early Prime Day deals you can currently get. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Amazon Prime Day may not start until Tuesday, July 11th, but early deals are already trickling out. We're expecting to see some worthwhile discounts on wireless earbuds, noise-canceling headphones, tablets, TVs, smart home tech, games, and other gadgets on the actual days of, with the early deals functioning as a kind of small temperature check.As the ghosts of Prime Days past can tell us, the ahead-of-schedule deals are almost always on Amazon-owned devices and brands. There are sure to be more deals coming online in the days ahead - especially since Amazon has promised discounts from brands like Sony and Bose - but early bird shoppers already have some decent discounts to take advantage of.Usually, these early deals will hold... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6CV0M)
Image: Evernote / Bending Spoons Note-taking company Evernote has laid off most of its US- and- Chile-based employees, the company announced yesterday. Now Italian parent company Bending Spoons is taking most of Evernote's operations to Europe.The company says the step is intended to boost operational efficiency and to make the most of the Bending Spoons employer brand, which is extremely strong in Europe."Bending Spoons acquired Evernote in November last year, and at the time, Evernote CEO was quoted as saying the deal would help the company work on building new features, using Bending Spoons' proven app expertise and wide range of proprietary technologies." The company previously laid off 129 workers in February, with a Bending Spoons representative telling Tech... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6CTWB)
Comedian and author Sarah Silverman, seen here participating in a Tax Day protest in 2017. | Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images Comedian and author Sarah Silverman, as well as authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey - are suing OpenAI and Meta each in a US District Court over dual claims of copyright infringement.The suits alleges, among other things, that OpenAI's ChatGPT and Meta's LLaMA were trained on illegally-acquired datasets containing their works, which they say were acquired from shadow library" websites like Bibliotik, Library Genesis, Z-Library, and others, noting the books are available in bulk via torrent systems."Golden and Kadrey each declined to comment on the lawsuit, while Silverman's team did not respond by press time.In the OpenAI suit, the trio offers exhibits showing that when prompted, ChatGPT will summarize their books,... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6CTPJ)
The new Furby. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge I thought I was off the hook.When I told my kids the new Furby was done staying at our house, they seemed to understand. We'll miss you a lot, Furby!!" my six-year-old exclaimed - but there were no cries, no tantrums. They asked if Furby could play one more song. They gave it a goodbye hug. Then, I happily stuck the talking puffball deep in the garage.But a day later, my three-year-old made an uncharacteristic offhand remark: I wish we had enough money to buy a Furby..." she said, her full-force puppy dog eyes burning into my soul.Here's the good news: I can confirm 2023's Furby is no currently longer plotting to take over the world.But that's only because Furby wants the Moon first.
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by Wes Davis on (#6CTPK)
Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Apple is experimenting with larger iMacs, including a 32-inch version, for the future of its famous desktop line, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who wrote in the subscriber-only version of his Power On newsletter today that development is still early, so much could change. He doesn't believe we'll see one before the end of 2024.Gurman also tweaked his predicted timeline for the M3-powered iMac he said in March would be coming as soon as the second half of this year at the earliest. This time, he said he expects them by early next year.It makes sense that Apple would be working on a bigger iMac. People like bigger screens! And while the 24-inch model Apple sells now is a solid compromise between the former 21.5-inch and the... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6CTE8)
Illustration: The Verge Google's Med-PaLM 2, an AI tool designed to answer questions about medical information, has been in testing at the Mayo Clinic research hospital, among others, since April, The Wall Street Journal reported this morning. Med-PaLM 2 is a variant of PaLM 2, which was announced at Google I/O in May this year. PaLM 2 is the language model underpinning Google's Bard.WSJ reports that an internal email it saw said Google believes its updated model can be particularly helpful in countries with more limited access to doctors." Med-PaLM 2 was trained on a curated set of medical expert demonstrations, which Google believes will make it better at healthcare conversations than generalized chatbots like Bard, Bing, and ChatGPT.The paper also... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6CTCA)
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge G/O Media, who owns popular tech site Gizmodo along with a slew of other outlets, began publishing AI-generated articles last week, despite strong objections from many of the members of its staff, according to The Washington Post. The articles are all credited to various bots - Gizmodo Bot, for example - with no other indication that the article was created using an AI chatbot. Unsurprisingly, the stories needed a lot of work.The internal reaction to Gizmodo's first chatbot-created story - a chronological list of Star Wars movies that wasn't chronological - wasn't exactly enthusiastic, with journalists reportedly writing in Slack that it was actively hurting our reputations and credibility."Brown told staff in an email in late June... Continue reading...
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by Wes Davis on (#6CT7V)
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Overnight, users across Twitter began reporting that the older, and much better, version of TweetDeck has returned along with the free API access that made third party Twitter clients possible. TweetDeck was disabled last week when Twitter abruptly threw up a rate-limiting paywall and killed the legacy APIs that allowed the old version of the feature to function, while third-party apps were banned in January.An update this morning from Harpy developer Roberto Doering says they switched to the old v1 API" to get it working again, but they also noted this doesn't mean that harpy will be maintained again, seeing as Twitter will most likely shut down access to their legacy api (again) soon and third party apps are still against their... Continue reading...
by Sheena Vasani on (#6CT7W)
Both the M2 Max and M2 Ultra-powered versions of the Mac Studio are discounted this weekend. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge It's a good week for Apple aficionados looking to score some good deals on Apple's newest computers. Not only is the 15-inch MacBook Air on sale for $100 off at Amazon and B&H Photo, but we're also seeing the first notable discount on Apple's latest Mac Studio. Right now, Expercom - an Apple-authorized retailer - is selling the new M2 Max-powered desktop machine starting at $1,899.05 ($100 off) with 32GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, a 12-core CPU, and a 30-core GPU. If you're looking for even more power, you can buy the M2 Ultra version starting at $3,799.05 ($200 off) with 64GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, a 24-core CPU, and a 60-core GPU.The new Mac Studio is a powerhouse of a desktop, one that's ideal for professionals who need a blazingly... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6CT7X)
Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One. | Image: Paramount Pictures and Skydance Paramount's seventh Mission: Impossible is the franchise's biggest, silliest, and most stunt-filled Tom Cruise delivery system yet. But its self-awareness is more of a bug than a welcome feature. Continue reading...
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by David Nield on (#6CT63)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Chromebooks were originally synonymous with lightweight, online-only, relatively inexpensive computing. Over time, however, they've become more and more capable, not only as useful day-to-day systems but as gaming machines, too.In fact, there are actually more gaming options on ChromeOS than many people may realize. So we're going to take you through the options.To begin with, as well as giving you access to web games that run in a browser, ChromeOS supports Android games as well. Add in the Steam client for Chromebooks, plus the possibilities offered by cloud gaming services, and you're really spoilt for choice.You can pick some or all of these options, depending on your gaming needs and your budget.Android and web gamesChromeOS... Continue reading...
by Jay Peters on (#6CT0S)
James Bareham / The Verge A former Niantic employee filed a lawsuit against the AR gaming company on Friday, alleging that it devalued the work of female employees and women of color, denied equal pay to women employees and women of color. The lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, accuses Niantic of creating a boys club." The employee was laid off as part of last week's job cuts at the company, which affected about 230 staffers.The employee, who is an anonymous Jane Doe but is described in the complaint as an Asian female, started work at Niantic in February 2020 with a salary of $70,000, the complaint says. Later that year, she was promoted and received a raise to about $84,000, but in approximately" 2021, she learned that Niantic was paying a male... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6CSSX)
Image: Square Enix via YouTube Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka has been given a suspended prison sentence and fines of around $1.2 million (or 173 million yen) after he was found guilty of insider trading, according to a report from Japanese news outlet Jiji (via Polygon). While the court handed out a 2.5-year prison sentence, Jiji reports that it was suspended by four years.That means Naka shouldn't wind up behind bars anytime soon, as judges typically waive the prison sentence if the defendant doesn't commit any additional crimes during that period of time. Naka was arrested twice last year for his involvement in two separate insider trading incidents, both of which took place in 2020 when Naka was working at Square Enix.Naka joined Square Enix to work on... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6CSSY)
Pass issuers will need to enable the feature, though, so not every pass will be supported. | Illustration: The Verge Google Wallet is set to get a new pass sharing feature that some users have been asking for since the days of its predecessor, Google Pay.9to5Google spotted that the search giant mentioned adding a way to share your valuables in Google Wallet" in the Google Play system update list of features for Android devices for July. That rather vague entry has since vanished from the update list, but the Google Wallet support page can provide some additional information.A new entry at the bottom of the support page now says that users can share some passes" from their own Wallet with other Google Wallet users. We are working on a feature that will allow Wallet users to share select passes," Google spokesperson Leismer Schulten also confirmed... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6CSSZ)
Illustration: The Verge Instagram's new Threads app is not going to do anything to encourage" politics and hard news," Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said in a Threads conversation with The Verge's Alex Heath.The additional scrutiny, negativity, and integrity risks that come with politics and hard news aren't worth the incremental engagement or revenue," Mosseri wrote. There are more than enough amazing communities - sports, music, fashion, beauty, entertainment, etc. - to make a vibrant platform without needing to get into politics or hard news." (Mosseri's strong point of view here is likely informed by his time running Facebook's News Feed.)In recent years, Meta has distanced itself from news and politics, including reducing the amount of political... Continue reading...
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#6CSQ0)
Image: Mercedes-Benz AG Mercedes-Benz is the latest automaker to commit to adopting Tesla's electric vehicle charging connectors for its vehicles, bringing Elon Musk's company one step closer to total EV charging dominance.Starting in 2024, the German automaker will offer adapters to its customers so they can access Tesla Supercharger stations, which use the company's North American Charging Standard (NACS) plug and outlet. And in 2025, Mercedes will begin to manufacture EVs with Tesla's charging port, obviating the need for an adapter.The company joins Ford, GM, Volvo, Polestar, and Rivian in adopting Tesla's connector, which is rapidly becoming the de facto charging standard in North America and Europe. Mercedes is also the first German automaker to jump... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6CSQ1)
Jimmy Olsen, Superman, and Lois Lane. | Image: Adult Swim Adult Swim's My Adventures with Superman reimagines the Man of Steel as the charming, bumbling heart of a classic but modern shonen trio. Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6CQWE)
Image: Meta The latest app taking on Twitter is getting a boost from Instagram's billions of users. Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6CSKQ)
Illustration: The Verge While Google Calendar already lets you set your working location for certain days of the week, you can now specify which times you'll be working from home or in the office. The new update should make it easier for your colleagues to figure out where you'll be if you swap between locations during the day.Once you have access to the feature, you can set your working location by selecting Create from the main Calendar page and clicking Working Locations. From there, you can select a date and specify your whereabouts during different timeframes. Image: Google As an example, you could set your working location to Home" from 9AM to 12PM and to Office" from 1PM to 5PM. That way, your colleagues can work around your... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6CS42)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Many communities on Reddit have used the NSFW (Not Safe For Work) designation in some form to protest Reddit's new API pricing, which forced apps like Apollo and rif is fun for Reddit to shut down, as well as a recent pattern of behavior toward its unpaid volunteer moderators that they find threatening." Subreddits, including r/PICS and r/military, had made the NSFW switch, pointing to language from Reddit websites to justify the change.The moderators of the r/military community said they switched their label to NSFW because military content has a chance to be violent content" and argued that this subreddit should have been NSFW already, but we'd never thought to change it until recently," according to a public post on Thursday.M... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6CSKR)
Screenshot by Emma Roth / The Verge Some of the ads on Twitter aren't looking quite right. Several users on the platform's mobile app say they're seeing an image of Twitter's logo in place of the advertisement paid for by Amazon, Sky, and the sportswear company On Running.The ads affected by this issue show the advertiser's name, along with what looks like the intended caption. However, instead of linking to the advertiser's website, the busted ads link to Twitter.com and have DPA_Placeholder" as the heading for the link. In advertising, DPA stands for dynamic product ads," which suggests there might be an issue affecting Twitter's ability to display the right ads.
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by Masha Borak on (#6CSGS)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The messaging app has become a key channel for news about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But the government's relationship with it is complicated. Continue reading...
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by Elizabeth Lopatto on (#6CSGT)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge I've read a lot of recommendations over the years from so-called travel pros who tell you to take a carry-on. There are reasons to recommend carry-ons! For instance, most airlines don't charge for them. But also, a carry-on bag is for the poor shlubs who are coming up with a packing plan" and using packing cubes." The people who suggest you get an Airbnb so you can do laundry. They're repackaging their shampoo and conditioner and lecturing you about editing" your wardrobe. They're explaining that you should roll your clothes, not fold them, to save space. How virtuous! How boring.Check a bag, you glamorous beast.Ideologically, I am strongly against doing laundry in my hotel sinkOn my last trip, which was a two-week jaunt to five... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6CSGV)
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple is planning to sell its $3,499 Vision Pro headset on an appointment-only basis at launch, according to a report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. According to Gurman, Apple will create designated sections where customers can try on the headset in its stores, with the first ones appearing at stores in major areas like New York and Los Angeles.Apple will reportedly ask in-store buyers to schedule an appointment to purchase the Vision Pro, similar to the rollout of the first Apple Watch in 2015. During the appointment, Gurman says Apple will ensure that the Vision Pro fits the wearer and also outfit the device with prescription lens inserts if needed. Gurman says Apple Stores will need to keep hundreds or thousands of lenses" in stock... Continue reading...
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by Brandon Widder on (#6CSGW)
Amazon's Echo Pop speaker comes in a host of fun colors, including an attractive teal option. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Amazon Prime Day inches ever closer, with deals having already kicked off on Amazon devices and a host of other items courtesy of Amazon's Buy with Prime" program. Overall, there are a number of solid deals to find - from Hisense TVs to Anker chargers - but one of the most notable applies to Amazon's newest smart speaker: the Echo Pop. Right now, Prime subscribers can pick up the smart speaker at Amazon for just $17.99 ($22 off) or with a Sengled smart bulb for just $1 more.Unsurprisingly, the Pop sheds a few features found on pricier smart speakers to hit its bargain-level price point. It offers fewer sensors than the fifth-gen Echo Dot, for instance, and skips the physical Action button found on most other Echo models, which lets... Continue reading...
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6CSDY)
Products from the Project-CSTF: Protection from Impact line. | Image: Khara / Casetify The Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise has given rise to quite a few interesting real-world smartphones and even more mech-themed accessories over the years. But rather than simply trying to replicate pieces of tech from the classic anime, the new line of Evangelion-inspired cases and chargers from Casetify aims to transform your ordinary iPhone into a device capable of surviving an Impact event.Casetify, the company behind those phone case ads you've undoubtedly seen on Instagram, is collaborating with Studio Khara for a new line of Evangelion-inspired iPhone and AirPods accessories that are all designed to help protect your devices from falls. Like Casetify's classic Impact line, each of the new cases featured in the Project-CSTF:... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6CSDZ)
Even without Wi-Fi 6E, you're still getting your money's worth. | Image: TP-Link TP-Link has launched a new competitively priced Wi-Fi 6 router that might make you think twice before upgrading to Wi-Fi 6E or even Wi-Fi 7. The Deco X55 Pro is a whole-home Wi-Fi 6 mesh router system that's available in a three-pack now on Amazon and the TP-Link webstore at an initial discounted launch price of $239.99 (if you use the 20DECOX55PRO promo code). Once this promotional offer ends on July 31st, the Deco X55 Pro will switch to its standard $299.99 price.Each node of the three-pack mesh router comes with two 2.5 gigabit ethernet ports, and TP-Link advertises the Deco X55 Pro's Wi-Fi 6 capabilities can deliver up to 3Gbps of wireless speed and that it features an AI-driven" mesh system that's designed to automatically switch... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6CSBM)
The Linn Sondek LP12-50 turtable. | Image: Linn LoveFrom, the design firm formed by Apple's former design head Jony Ive, has collaborated with British audio brand Linn on a 50th anniversary edition of its Sondek LP12 turntable. Just 250 models of the Linn Sondek LP12-50 will be produced and delivered between August 2023 and March 2024, with the limited edition turntable available to reserve now for an eye-watering $60,000 (50,000).According to a blog post from Linn CEO Gilad Tiefenbrun, the collaboration dates back to early 2022 when Tiefenbrun was offered a meeting with Ive out of the blue over LinkedIn. Eventually, the two companies decided to collaborate on the upcoming turntable, which Fast Company calls Ive's first hardware project post-Apple." Image: Linn... Continue reading...
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by Sean Hollister on (#6CS12)
Reddit has crushed the biggest protest in its history. What's next? Make AI-generated porn legal again, apparently - as long as it's not deepfaked. Today, Reddit has added an explicit carveout to its Content Policy that allows AI-generated sexual media that depicts fictional people or characters."Some backstory: In 2018, Reddit was among the many platforms that banned deepfake AI porn communities, declaring that involuntary pornography" was not okay. Specifically, Reddit modified its Rule 3 to ban depictions of nudity or sexual contact that may have been faked."But as of 2018, Reddit left an explicit carveout for porn distributed with a sexual worker's consent - and today, Reddit has added another carveout for AI-generated sexual... Continue reading...
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6CRZ2)
Google's plan to move Pixel phones away from Samsung's modified chips has been delayed. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge According to a report by The Information, Google originally planned to replace the modified Samsung Exynos chipsets it uses in Pixel phones with a Redondo" chip designed in-house sometime in 2024. However, the report claims that Google has now pushed that planned release window back to 2025 and will instead introduce a new custom processor codenamed Laguna."A former Google chip executive told The Information that challenges with retaining employees and coordinating development between US and Indian teams are at least partly to blame for the delay. The team behind the project was frustrated by Google's decision to cancel the development of several Tensor chips over the last two years, according to the outlet's source. We have contacted... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6CRZ3)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge European Union regulators have opened an official investigation into Amazon's proposed $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot, the company behind the popular Roomba lineup of robot vacuum cleaners.In a press release, the European Commission said it's concerned that the transaction would allow Amazon to restrict competition in the market for robot vacuum cleaners (RVCs') and to strengthen its position as online marketplace provider." The European Commission is also looking at how getting access to iRobot users' data may give Amazon an advantage in the market for online marketplace services to third-party sellers (and related advertising services) and / or other data-related markets."We continue to work through the process with the... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6CRZ4)
Image: Laura Normand / The Verge Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over concerns about its new Threads app, according to a letter obtained by Semafor. In the letter, which is addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter lawyer Alex Spiro argues that Meta used Twitter's trade secrets and intellectual property to build Threads.Spiro, who is also Elon Musk's personal lawyer and a partner at the Quinn Emanuel law firm, claims that Meta hired dozens" of ex-Twitter employees to develop Threads, which wouldn't be all that surprising given just how many people were fired following Musk's takeover.But according to Twitter, many of these former workers still have access to Twitter's trade secrets and other confidential information. Twitter alleges that Meta took advantage... Continue reading...
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by Alex Heath on (#6CRWB)
Threads compose window and photo picker on iOS. | Image: Meta Instagram's new Threads app seems like it could be a hit. Mark Zuckerberg said that the app has more than 30 million sign-ups as of Thursday morning, and people who are checking it out are posting... er, threading... a lot, too. According to internal data I've seen, there have already been more than 95 million posts and 190 million likes shared.All that has happened in less than 24 hours. The app launched Wednesday evening on iOS and Android (significantly earlier than the original Thursday launch time), and a lot of people are checking it out; it's currently the top free app on the App Store.There's still a lot missing from Threads. You can't delete your Threads account without deleting your Instagram account, for example, and the... Continue reading...
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by Jay Peters on (#6CRWC)
Image: Meta If you're already tired of Threads and want to delete your account, you can't do that right now unless you delete your entire Instagram account. However, Meta is looking into" a way for that not to be the case, according to a post from Instagram chief Adam Mosseri on Thursday.Threads, Meta's just-launched Twitter competitor, uses Instagram's account system. That has the benefit of letting you bring over your Instagram username when you join the app. But it also ties the apps together in such a way that means you can't delete your Threads account without deleting your Instagram one, which people may not want to do if they've been posting on Instagram proper for years. Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge Here's M... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6CRS2)
Image: Nothing The launch of the Nothing Phone 2 on July 11th is less than a week away, but a new leak spoils some of the device's potential specs. In a thread on Twitter spotted by 9to5Google, leaker Kamila Wojciechowska shares that the Nothing Phone 2 could feature some improvements to its camera system.According to Wojciechowska, the upcoming device could feature a 50MP Sony IMX890 main camera sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS) and in-sensor zoom. That's the same primary sensor used by the OnePlus 11, which my colleague Allison Johnson listed as one of the positive aspects of the device in her review. It's not clear how much this will actually affect the camera quality, though, as the Phone 1 already comes with a 50MP main sensor.
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6CRS3)
After months of leaving us in suspense with little idea about how Pokemon Sleep would work, exactly, The Pokemon Company's released a charming introduction video explaining more about the game and its creative, rest-focused take on filling out the pokedex.Rather than sending you out into the world to search for monsters for your personal collection, Pokemon Sleep switches up the formula of the classic games by pairing players with a different Snorlax every week in order to conduct research with Professor Neroli, a new character who specializes in pokemon sleep research.The new video explains how, after raising their Snorlaxes throughout the day by feeding them various kinds of berries, Pokemon Sleep players can then help their... Continue reading...
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by Andrew Webster on (#6CRP1)
The Witcher season 3. | Photo by Susie Allnutt / Netflix As The Witcher has grown beyond its first season and expanded with not only multiple seasons but prequels, too, the team behind its visual design has had to expand its ambitions as well. In particular, it's had to think a lot about the history of the world and how it influenced the way things like fashion and architecture evolved on the Continent. That could be as simple as the material utilized to make swords in one time period or as large as a ruin in the main timeline that was once a beautiful structure in the past.For Andrew Laws, a production and concept designer on the series, all of those details are vital for making The Witcher universe feel like a real, lived-in place. A lot of the time, you don't get to see all of [the... Continue reading...
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by Jon Porter on (#6CRP2)
Image: Honor A little over a month after its debut in China, former Huawei subbrand Honor is launching its Honor 90 internationally. Although this is a midrange smartphone at its core, powered by a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1-based processor and priced starting from 549 (449.99, around $573), it's notable for having a 200-megapixel main camera, the same resolution as what you'll find in the flagship Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.Of course, more megapixels don't necessarily mean better camera performance. But in the right scenarios, it offers the possibility of more detailed photographs. The Honor 90's camera software can also bin as many as 16 pixels together to create pixels that are effectively 2.24m in size in order to collect more light and produce... Continue reading...
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by Monica Chin on (#5CV78)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Twitter was once a convenient way to get your memes, world news, and pop culture hot takes all in one place. However, being an active Twitter user also required sifting through a daily deluge of toxic characters, including QAnon, white supremacists, bots, and deepfakes. The Elon Musk circus that has been steadily crushing the formerly popular social network may have you strongly considering the advantages of bailing. And there are a bunch of new social networks vying for the role of Twitter substitute, such as Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon. (More on that later.)Hear me out on this: you don't actually have to use Twitter. You can just delete your account.Don't worry: it doesn't have to be permanent. If you find yourself feeling empty... Continue reading...
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by Emma Roth on (#6CRP3)
Screenshot by Emma Roth / The Verge If you created an account when Instagram's Threads app launched last night, one of the first things you might've noticed was the sheer number of celebrities, brands, and influencers populating your feed. From Gordon Ramsay to Michael Strahan and Jennifer Lopez, Meta pre-filled its new Twitter competitor with a boatload of well-known users to make the app feel less empty at launch.While Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri got spots on the app ahead of time, so did big names such as Mark Cuban, Shakira, and Seth Curry. Meta also got influencers like MKBHD, Lauren Godwin, Alan Chikin Chow, and Michael Le on board early, along with brands like Netflix, as well as Warner Bros. Discovery's Shark Week, Animal Planet, and... Continue reading...
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