The Verge

The Roborock S7 may be a last-gen model, but it's still a great hybrid robovac that's now more affordable. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Even with last week's Amazon Prime Day behind us, it remains a pretty good time to buy a robot vacuum - especially if you'd like one that can mop your floors. The last-gen Roborock S7 hybrid robovac is currently selling for $359.99 ($290 off) at Amazon and direct from Roborock. This matches last week's Prime Day price and the bot's all-time low. The S7 may have been outdated by the newer S8 model, but it's still a formidable vacuum that maps your home using lidar and automatically switches between vacuuming and mopping.However, if you want the latest and greatest, the Roborock S8 is also on sale for $599.99 ($150 off) at Roborock and Best Buy (when added to your cart). The newer S8 gets an upgrade in the brush department and now has... Continue reading...

Photo by Christian Petersen / Getty Images Pete Hines, the head of publishing at Bethesda, is retiring after 24 years at the gaming company. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Hines announced that his time at Bethesda has come to an end." Hines first joined Bethesda in 1999 as the senior vice president of global marketing and communications, becoming a well-known figure at the company and the face of Fallout. Last year, Hines became Bethesda's head of publishing.Bethesda has seen some major shifts over the past couple of years. Microsoft completed its acquisition of the Skyrim developer in 2021. In August, Bethesda released the space exploration RPG Starfield following the rocky launch of Redfall in May.

Apple CEO Tim Cook talks to an employee at a solar farm in Hanstholm, Denmark. | Photo by Christoph Dernbach / picture alliance via Getty Images A new report compares climate initiatives by Apple, Dell, Google, HP, Microsoft, and Nvidia. Apple's far from perfect, but so far, it's ahead of the pack, according to today's report.It's the only company among the six tech giants that has set targets for its suppliers to switch to renewable energy. Other brands need to send similarly clear signals to their suppliers," Gary Cook, global climate policy director for the nonprofit Stand.earth that published the report, said in a press release.To be sure, a completely separate report published by a different environmental group last week casts some doubt on Apple's recent carbon neutral claims. Stand.earth's new report, however, puts Apple's broader climate initiatives in perspective by... Continue reading...

Laker legend-turned-actor Rick Fox has a new passion: sustainable concrete. | Image: Partanna A new house in the Bahamas is built with an alternative concrete that sucks CO2 out of the air. It's a home that's supposed to help in the fight against climate change, and the plan is to build 999 more like it.That's the slam dunk NBA Lakers legend-turned-actor Rick Fox is working toward now on the small island nation where he grew up. Fox is the CEO and co-founder of the sustainable building materials startup Partanna that unveiled its first home today. If they're successful in the Bahamas, the goal is to make its alternative concrete an everyday building material that could cut down pollution from construction.I shut down my entire career that was in Hollywood to pursue and create [climate] solutions," Fox tells The Verge. I had... Continue reading...

Image: Mojang Minecraft already has the distinction of being the bestselling video game of all time. Today, it adds more down to that particular feather in its cap with the announcement that it has sold a staggering 300 million copies.As we approach the 15th anniversary, Minecraft remains one of the best-selling games of all time, with over 300 million copies sold, a milestone no one could have dreamed of when we were all placing our first blocks," Helen Chiang, head of Mojang Studios, said in a statement.The new milestone was announced during Minecraft Live 2023, a Minecraft livestream event that shares news and community updates and features a neat voting event in which players can vote on which new creature should be added to the game. This... Continue reading...

Image: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Mark Gurman writes in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today that the more affordable follow-up to the Apple Vision Pro will likely" ditch the external display to help it reach an internally-discussed price point between $1,500 and $2.500. Gurman also reiterates what he wrote in June - that the more affordable version will probably run on an iPhone-grade chip, have fewer cameras, and get lower-resolution screens inside.Ditching the external display means Apple would lock one of the Vision Pro's marquee features - EyeSight - behind the paywall of the more expensive versions. EyeSight is the thing that lets you see an on-the-fly render of the wearer's eyes so they can look" at you when you're talking to them, and so you can tell,... Continue reading...

Illustration: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 10, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, hooray! I'm so happy you're here, and also, you can catch up on all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) We made it through 10 weeks! It's been so fun to make this every week and to talk to you all about the cool stuff you're into. Thanks for being part of the Installerverse (we're gonna make that a thing, it's gonna happen), and as always, tell me everything you think we can do to make it better!This week, I've been reading about Marvel's plan to fix its TV shows and all the wild testimony from the Sam Bankman-Fried trial, making lots of deranged art in the improved Bing Chat, watching the David Beckham... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Caltech has had some ups (winning $1.1 billion) and some downs (losing the $1.1 billion award and being ordered to a trial on damages) since suing Apple and Broadcom in 2016 over Wi-Fi patents. Reuters reported this week that Caltech is dropping its yearslong lawsuit against Apple and Broadcom, about two months after the companies came to a potential settlement."Caltech wrote in a filing with a US District Court in California that it would drop its claims with prejudice," meaning it can't refile its case, and asked that Broadcom do so as well, stating later that Broadcom does not oppose this request." Caltech also writes that it will dismiss its claims against Apple - again, with prejudice."The filing then says that Caltech... Continue reading...

Counter-Strike 2 players could get unceremoniously banned for using Anti-Lag Plus. | Image: Valve Counter-Strike 2 developers strongly warned players in a post that they'll be banned if they turn on AMD's Anti-Lag feature for CS2. According to the post, the features from the most recent driver updates are implemented by detouring engine dll functions," adding that when AMD updates the drivers, the team will work on identifying affected users and reversing their ban."AMD added support for Anti-Lag Plus in CS2 in the Adrenaline Edition version 23.30.1 driver. The feature is exclusive to Radeon RX 7000-series GPUs, so older hardware shouldn't be affected. We emailed AMD for a statement on the issue. Engadget notes that you can disable the feature by pressing Alt+L, and points out that you can verify the hotkey assignment in AMD... Continue reading...

The Verge CNBC reports that the National Labor Relations Board alleged, in a complaint filed Friday, that X violated labor law when it fired an employee who criticized the company. Elon Musk bought the company, then known as Twitter, in October and threatened to fire workers who didn't return to in-person office work. After Yao Yue encouraged others in the company's Slack to let the company fire them instead of quitting, she was fired for breaking an unspecified company policy.CNBC writes that in the complaint, the NLRB accuses X of keeping workers at the company from exercising their legal labor rights. Yue alleges the company laid her off in retaliation for her attempt to organize her co-workers not to resign, so they would have better legal... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Now that X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has managed to repeatedly send out its ad revenue sharing payments on time without any last-minute delays, engineer Eric Farraro is answering questions from users who still aren't getting the payments they expect. Reasons include: 1) X users only earn ad revenue from other paying X users, 2) advertisers aren't paying much to reach the demographic that the creator attracts, 3) the posts didn't get a lot of replies, or 4) their content is not suitable for ads.That first reason is one that X hasn't exactly hidden. Here's how Farraro puts it in his new explanation:

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge European Commissioner Thierry Breton sent a letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai reminding him of the company's obligations under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) as a large online platform to keep illegal content and disinformation from being shared on YouTube surrounding Israel's war with Hamas.Following the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel, we are seeing a surge of illegal content and disinformation being disseminated in the EU via certain platforms," Breton wrote. He added that YouTube has an obligation to protect children and teens in the EU from violent content on the platform, must promptly take action in response to notices from the EU, and have proportionate and effective mitigation measures in place"... Continue reading...

Photo by Smith Collection / Gado / Getty Images Comcast is about to roll out gigabit-plus internet speeds for both upload and download without needing fiber upgrades that run all the way to the house. The company will offer a new X-Class" service upgrade that supports up to 2 Gbps downloads and uploads starting in Colorado Springs, Colorado, next week. The city was one of the first places that Comcast launched its 2 Gbps internet service last year, although at that time, it still only supported 200Mbps uploads.Comcast started testing symmetrical multi-gigabit DOCSIS 4.0 technology in 2022 using multiple cable modems and a 10-gig node (which is used for the Xfinity 10G brand name to highlight what's theoretically possible, even if it's not happening any time soon).Comcast says... Continue reading...

Image: Nvidia Enjoying Starfield on GeForce Now, where the cloud gaming service is one of the best ways to play? Starting November 1st, it'll cost you $6 more in Canada, 2 more in the UK, or an additional 2 in Europe per month for the must-have Ultimate plan. Six-month plans are going up by $20 CAD, 10, and 10, respectively.Nvidia spokesperson Jordan Dodge tells me the United States is currently exempt from the price changes. No price change happening in the US," he says.The company says the hikes account for increased operational costs" in the specific countries where they're rolling out, according to a customer help page, and that GeForce Now founders can still pay grandfathered pricing as originally promised. GeForce Now... Continue reading...

Image: Nintendo We take a break from the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard news cycle to bring you this important announcement: 11 years after its arrival, six years after Nintendo ceased its production, and just a few months after it also shut down its online store, someone just bought a brand-new Wii U.The news comes to us via Mat Piscatella, video game industry analyst at Circana (formerly NPD), a company that regularly publishes video game retail data.

Photo by Rolf Vennenbernd / picture alliance via Getty Images Microsoft's giant Activision Blizzard deal is complete, and it means Ubisoft has now obtained cloud streaming rights for Call of Duty, all other current Activision Blizzard games, and any coming over the next 15 years. It was a key concession from Microsoft that helped get the deal over the line with UK regulators. But what does it all mean?Ubisoft will now control where Call of Duty and other Activision Blizzard games show up on cloud gaming services, with the exception of EU countries and the various cloud gaming deals Microsoft signed previously. If you live in a country that's part of the European Economic Area (EEA) - which includes EU countries and also Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway - then you'll get a free license to stream... Continue reading...

Shoutout to Best Buy store No. 265, the movies were always well organized. (I would know.) | Photo by Umar Shakir It's hard to imagine walking into a Best Buy with no library of movies and music that once dominated the center of most stores. If you walked into Best Buy in the late '90s to early 2010s, you were always greeted by a curated selection of the latest releases of movies and CD albums right at the entrance. The sections shrunk down over the years into just a few aisles, and now The Digital Bits reports the company is about to remove physical media altogether, and Best Buy later confirmed the report to Variety.No more physical media means Best Buy will stop carrying DVDs and Blu-rays, bringing an end to maybe the last enjoyable place you could go to browse around, and a place I would always have nostalgia for after working there in my... Continue reading...

The Victrola Stream Onyx turntable wirelessly transmits audio to Sonos speakers. | Image by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Yes, it's sad that Amazon's fall Prime Day event is over, but the future - and even the present - still looks bright for deal hunters. Black Friday is just over a month away, after all, and some of the best Prime Day deals are still hanging around. Right now, for example, you can pick up the Victrola Stream Onyx turntable from Amazon, Best Buy, and direct from Victrola for a record low of $399.99 ($200 off).Save for a few differences when it comes to materials and color, the Stream Onyx is similar to the $800 Stream Carbon we tested last year. Like the Carbon, the belt-driven turntable can wirelessly transmit audio to Sonos speakers, which gives users the unique ability to stream vinyl straight to their entire Sonos system without the... Continue reading...

Even toddlers are no match for Google's new camera features. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Until August 2021, my Google Photos library was basically a wall of cat photos. Then, a small human entered the picture, and you can see a distinct dividing line in my photographic priorities: one day it was Cat, the next day, Baby.Many of the other parents I know have experienced the same phenomenon. And while cats aren't the most willing photo subjects on earth, well, have you met a toddler? They are agents of chaos. This makes for a special kind of dilemma: you must photograph Baby because they are the cutest being to ever grace the planet, but they also refuse to sit still or stop moving for even one goddamn second while you take a picture.Have you met a toddler? They are agents of chaosThis spurs you to take even more photos in... Continue reading...

The last annular eclipse in 2021 as viewed in Toronto. | Photo by Mark Blinch / Getty Images Many eyes will turn to the sky on Saturday to catch a glimpse of an extremely rare ring of fire" solar eclipse. But experts are cautioning against looking directly at the eclipse to avoid serious eye damage.An annular eclipse occurs while the Moon is near or at the farthest point in its orbit around the Earth. The Moon, which appears smaller in the sky because of this distance, passes directly in front of the Sun, creating this ring of fire" effect.People across the contiguous United States and part of Alaska should be able to see the eclipse. Most regions will only see a partial eclipse, in which only a part of the Sun is covered up by the Moon.A fuller eclipse will be viewable in parts of Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah,... Continue reading...

The discontinued Nest Secure hub (left) and the new ADT security system hub (right) show some indications of Google's influence on the design. | Images: Google / ADT It appears security company ADT is about to launch a more fitting successor to Nest Secure than the half-baked ADT Self Setup system it rolled out last year. The new system, called ADT Smart Home Security, features more polished sensor hardware, a sleeker base station with a backlit keypad (like the Nest Guard), and door window sensors that can be disarmed using an on-device button (like the Nest Detects). This was a handy feature of Nest's system for easily disarming it when your dog needed to pee at 2AM.The company hasn't announced this system, so there are no pricing details or a release date, but The Verge received a tip linking to hidden support pages on its website containing all the hardware details. Based on these, we can glean... Continue reading...

A screenshot from Call of Duty: Warzone, Activision Blizzard's free-to-play FPS game. | Image: Activision Everything you need to know about gaming's biggest acquisition yet. Continue reading...

Image: Waymo For years, developers have been working on ways for driverless cars to communicate intent to other road users, either through audio recordings or visual cues. Today, Waymo says it wants to be one of the first companies to put some of these methods into practice.The Alphabet-owned company's driverless Jaguar I-Pace vehicles will use their roof domes, which are wrapped in LED displays, to communicate messages to other road users. For now, the company is going with just two messages: for pedestrians in front of the vehicle, shifting grey and white rectangles meant to communicate that the vehicle is yielding to them, and for drivers behind the vehicle, a yellow pedestrian symbol to let them know there's a pedestrian crossing.The symbols... Continue reading...

Now that the Microsoft acquisition is complete, Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision Blizzard, is set to leave the company after the end of this year.In an email sent to employees and published on Activision Blizzard King's website, Kotick wrote that he's excited about the future of the company under the bright green Xbox umbrella. He also wrote that in order to facilitate a smooth transition, he intends to stay on temporarily as CEO of ABK, reporting to the CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer.Phil has asked me to stay on as CEO of Activision Blizzard King, reporting to him, and we have agreed that I will do that through the end of 2023," Kotick wrote. Kotick, who became CEO of Activision in 1991, stands to receive upward of $375... Continue reading...

Joe Biden visits the Cummins Power Generation Facility in Fridley, Minnesota, on Monday, April 3rd, 2023. Last year, Cummins announced Fridley would be the site of its first electrolyzer manufacturing facility in the US. | Photo by Elizabeth Flores / Star Tribune via Getty Images The Biden administration will funnel $7 billion into seven different hubs" for hydrogen production across the US. It's part of President Joe Biden's plan to transition the nation to clean energy, even though the environmental benefits of hydrogen still hinge on overhauling the way the fuel is traditionally made.Hydrogen combustion creates water vapor, unlike fossil fuels that release greenhouse gas emissions when burned. That's seen as especially valuable for cleaning up aviation, maritime shipping, and heavy industries like steel that are more difficult to run on renewable energy and batteries. The tricky part with hydrogen is cleaning up pollution from the process of making it. Most hydrogen today is made using fossil fuels, and a... Continue reading...

US President Joe Biden arrives for a ceremony at the groundbreaking of the new Intel semiconductor manufacturing facility near New Albany, Ohio, on Friday, September 9th, 2022. | Image: Gaelen Morse / Bloomberg via Getty Images Lawmakers' push to revive US chip manufacturing has triggered new concerns about pollution regulation, inadvertently subjecting semiconductor factories to federal environmental review for the first time. But while a bipartisan bill would exempt the factories to support a still-struggling American industry, some environmental advocates worry it could weaken the nation's bedrock environmental law.Since the 1990s, semiconductor manufacturing has shifted from the US to Asia. Around that time, it was becoming cheaper to build fabs and hire workers in Asia. Studies into hazardous chemicals at fabs and lawsuits over worker exposure to them in the US were also emerging.Now, a global chip shortage - and a desire to counter China's manufacturing... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Google is experimenting with the inclusion of a Discover Feed on its desktop homepage that shows recommended content alongside the company's traditional search box. A screenshot from MSPowerUser, which spotted the change, shows a feed that includes news headlines, a weather forecast, sports scores, and stock information for a trio of companies. The search giant previously added the Discover Feed to its US homepage on mobile devices in 2018,Google spokesperson Lara Levin confirmed the change in a statement given to The Verge, noting that it's an experiment that's currently being run in India. Any change to google.com is significant as it continues to be the world's most visited website. Image: MSPowerUser A... Continue reading...

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge Microsoft's $68.7 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard has been approved by UK regulators. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has concluded that the deal can proceed after Microsoft recently restructured the deal to transfer cloud gaming rights for current and new Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft. The decision clears the way for the deal to close now that the UK regulator has given the green light.The CMA has decided to give Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft) consent to acquire Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Activision) (the Parties) excluding Activision's cloud streaming rights outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) (the Merger) subject to the condition that the sale of Activision's cloud streaming rights... Continue reading...

Shadow, which offers services that let you stream a Windows PC, has disclosed a security breach that led an attacker taking some private customer data. The company is sending emails to customers notifying them that a bad actor was able to extract their first and last name, email address, date of birth, billing address, and credit card expiration date.Shadow's CEO confirmed the breach in a statement to The Verge. We were recently the victim of a highly sophisticated social engineering attack which led to the exfiltration of the database of one of our service providers, resulting in the unauthorized exposure of certain customer data," Eric Sele says. We have since then taken immediate steps to secure our systems, including reinforcing... Continue reading...