The Verge

Image: Amazon Amazon is the latest tech company to take a page out of TikTok’s playbook. The e-commerce giant announced it was launching a new feed in the Amazon app with photos and videos of items users can purchase, first reported by The Wall Street Journal.The feed, which Amazon is calling Inspire, is the company’s attempt at getting app users to make purchases as they’re seeing products in online content — something other tech companies are also attempting to do. TikTok has long been working on its own in-app shopping features, including livestream shopping, and YouTube added affiliate marketing and shopping to its TikTok copy, Shorts.Inspire will appear as a lightbulb icon in the Amazon app and will roll out to select US shoppers early this... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Here at The Verge, we are just as eager to take advantage of sales and other good deals as anyone else (more so, perhaps, since we do have a slight interest in cool new stuff). What with inflation and all, the name of the game this year has been how to pick up devices that you need (or just want) for less than it usually costs, whether it’s a special holiday sale like Black Friday or is part of a lightning deal or is just available for less than usual.At this time of the year, there are more of these special prices available than usual. So here, just in case you’re curious, are some of the deals that Verge staffers have picked up for themselves or as holiday gifts throughout the year. They include audio devices, a great camera, and a... Continue reading…

You’ve activated my... Reddit trading card! | Card images: Reddit It’s app recap season once again, and Reddit is getting in on the moment with its second annual personalized recap. This year, your recap will include an autogenerated trading card that represents you and your Reddit experience in 2022.Like other recaps, Reddit’s features a lot of personalized data to help you reflect on your year on the platform. You might see things like your most upvoted comment, how much you’ve scrolled as measured in bananas (well, what Reddit calls “Standard Banana Units”), and whether you’re on team cat or team dog.“Standard Banana Units”But at the end of your recap, you’ll also be given a “Superpower Reddit Ability” and assigned a rare, epic, or legendary rating based on how much Reddit karma you’ve earned,... Continue reading…

Starling Bank’s virtual debit cards. | Image: Starling Bank UK-based Starling Bank is introducing new virtual debit cards this week that will help customers manage spending, saving, and even security free of charge. These new virtual cards will be linked to a main Starling bank account and use your balance, but they’ll have a unique card number, CVV, and expiry date. That makes them perfect for bundling together payments and tracking how much you’re spending, or using separate cards for security purposes.Not a day seems to go by without a security breach somewhere, and the worst ones can expose your card numbers and details. While Starling Bank has introduced its virtual cards primarily for tracking spending, you could also use them to assign a virtual card to different utility providers or even... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge We finally have a final official deadline for when new phones sold in the European Union — including future iPhones — will have to use USB-C for wired charging: December 28th, 2024.That’s because the EU’s new USB-C legislation has just been published in the bloc’s Official Journal, making it formally binding. Now we know the rules will officially enter into force in 20 days’ time, and individual EU member states will then have a maximum of 24 months to apply them as national law.The date is more or less in line with previous forecasts from politicians, but until now, the exact date has remained vague given the number of stages each piece of EU legislation has to go through. When lawmakers reached an initial agreement on the... Continue reading…

The new Symfonisk floor lamp speaker will be available in January. | Image: Ikea Sonos and Ikea today announced the latest addition to their collaborative Symfonisk product lineup: it’s a new floor-standing lamp speaker. The $260 Symfonisk floor lamp speaker will be available from Ikea’s stores and website beginning in January.In terms of design, just picture the second-gen Symfonisk lamp speaker with long legs jutting out of the bottom and extending down to a circular base. There’s really not much to it. If you found the last lamp’s style to be tasteful, you’ll like this one. If you thought it was ugly as sin, the floor lamp version probably won’t change your mind. Right now, the standard Symfonisk lamp is selling for $179.99, so the floor lamp option comes at a premium.“Many people want to have several light... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Telegram released a new version of its encrypted messaging app today that allows for account signups using purchasable blockchain-based identities instead of real phone numbers. In addition, version 9.2 includes the ability to auto-delete messages on a timer for new chats, and there’s an upgrade to the forum-like Topics feature.Users had been required to use their mobile phone number to sign up for Telegram, similar to other end-to-end encrypted messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp. While Telegram maintains that your phone number is never visible to unknown people, it’s still an identifier that inherently stops you short of full anonymity.To get an anonymous number, you need to go purchase one through the Fragment blockchain, which... Continue reading…

Photo: Getty Images Ramesh Balwani has been sentenced to 155 months, or just under 13 years, in prison, according to The New York Times. Like his former business partner, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, he’s due another three years of supervised release after he gets out. Balwani will have to surrender to custody on March 15th.In July, Balwani, also known as Sunny, was convicted on 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his actions while he was president and COO of Theranos. Unlike Holmes, who was found guilty of only defrauding investors, Balwani was found guilty of deceiving both investors and patients.Part of Balwani’s role at Theranos was overseeing the labs at the blood testing company. Theranos once claimed... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Dish has launched the beta for its Boost Infinite postpaid cell plan, which promises “Unlimited data, talk, and text” for $25 a month. When Boost Infinite was announced in May, Boost Mobile CEO Stephen Stokols pitched the plan as a way to embrace “web 3.0 trends” that would pay its users back and let them convert unused data into “a real digital currency.” Its website currently doesn’t mention any of that, instead mainly focusing on the appealing price.For the $25 a month, a price point that isn’t dependent on having multiple lines, you’ll get 30GB a month of unthrottled data, as well as mobile hotspotting, calling and texting to 80 and 200 countries, respectively, and 1GB of data while traveling in Canada or Mexico. To sign up, you... Continue reading…

A screenshot from Fortnite. | Image: Epic Games Epic Games is introducing a new type of account for kids playing its online multiplayer games. The new accounts, called Cabined Accounts, have some restrictions until a parent or guardian gives their approval for certain features. They’ll start rolling out in Fortnite, Rocket League, and Fall Guys, Epic said in a blog post on Wednesday.If someone tries to make an account and says they are under 13 years old (or below the age of digital consent for their country), that account will be a Cabined Account. Kids using a Cabined Account will be able to play Fortnite, Rocket League, or Fall Guys, but some key features will be disabled, including text and voice chat, buying items with money, and downloading titles from developers that aren’t... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine has sued Amazon for using drivers’ tips to pay their standard wages, attempting to exact a punishment that federal consumer protection agencies couldn’t.Amazon settled with the Federal Trade Commission last year after a lawsuit asserted it had withheld more than $60 million (or about one-third of total customer tips) from Amazon Flex drivers over the course of two and a half years. But while the FTC took that money to distribute back to drivers, it had no mechanism to issue greater penalties. “Amazon has thus far escaped any other consequences,” Racine’s complaint says. The new suit asks for a DC court to assess further financial damages, aiming to “hold Amazon to full account for its... Continue reading…

Apple ‘s plan to scan iOS devices for CSAM imagery has proven controversial | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Why privacy experts are concerned Continue reading…

The 2022 ROG Zephyrus G14 is a bit of a looker, not to mention an excellent value. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The days for holiday shopping are slowly ticking away, but thankfully there are still plenty of great deals to take advantage of — including a few Verge faves. First off, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop is on sale at Best Buy for $1,199.99. This is the latest entry-level model of Asus’ 14-inch laptop — which normally runs $1,649.99 — and Best Buy is currently offering a $450 discount until December 9th.We’ve espoused much praise over the years for the Zephyrus G14, and rightfully so, as it’s a great laptop with solid gaming specs that doesn’t forget about all the other stuff a laptop should do. This entry-level configuration of the latest G14 incarnation packs an AMD Ryzen 9 CPU, Radeon RX 6700S GPU, 1TB SSD, and 16GB of RAM to... Continue reading…

Apple announced some big new security features on Wednesday. | Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Apple will finally be adding end-to-end encryption to iCloud backups, the company said as part of a major set of security announcements on Wednesday. Under what it calls Advanced Data Protection, Apple will expand the number of “data categories” protected by end-to-end encryption from 14 to 23, with backups, Notes, and Photos now covered.Based on a screenshot from Apple, these categories are covered when you flip on Advanced Data Protection: device backups, messages backups, iCloud Drive, Notes, Photos, Reminders, Safari bookmarks, Siri Shortcuts, Voice Memos, and Wallet Passes. Apple says the only “major” categories not covered by Advanced Data Protection are iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendar because “of the need to interoperate with... Continue reading…

Dwarf Fortress got a new look for its debut on Steam and Itch. | Image: Kitfox Games The subterranean settlement sim has been a cult favorite since it was first released in 2006. Now, a graphically updated version of the game is hitting Steam and Itch, the perfect entry point for the ‘Dwarf Fortress curious.’ Continue reading…

Little remains but stumps and puddles in what was once a bottomland hardwood forest on the banks of the Roanoke River in northeastern North Carolina. The trees were turned into wood pellets for burning in power plants in Europe. | Photo by Joby Warrick / The Washington Post via Getty Images Forests are more valuable alive than dead, at least according to the more than 670 scientists who signed a letter urging world leaders to quit burning trees for energy. The plea comes as delegates gather for the United Nations Biodiversity Conference that begins today in Montreal.The scientists want to stop to the industrial burning of wood for electricity and heat, referred to as forest bioenergy. The practice needs to be replaced by wind and solar energy, they write, to protect forests and creatures that make a home there.“The goal to halt and reverse the global loss of nature could fail due to the growing pressure on forests from this industry,” the letter says. It’s addressed to the heads of government of China, the US, Canada,... Continue reading…

Soundscapes based on the Sea of Thieves and Halo Infinite video games are now available for Calm premium subscribers. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft has announced a partnership between Xbox and Calm, a popular sleep, meditation, and relaxation app, that will bring video game-themed soundscapes to the Calm app for the first time. Available from today, Calm Premium users can access two new soundscapes based on Sea of Thieves and Halo Infinite which can be used as background audio for sleeping, or general relaxation.According to a press release for the collaboration, Calm premium users can “enjoy the meditative sounds of whirling waves and chattering birds from the ocean expanse of Sea of Thieves and the ambient alien sounds of Zeta Halo from Halo Infinite.”A Calm Premium subscription typically costs $69.99 per year (or a one-time lifetime membership fee of $399.99), but... Continue reading…

Google’s Threat Analysis Group discovered that an Internet Explorer zero-day vulnerability was used to lure victims using Microsoft Office documents referencing the Itaewon Halloween crowd crush tragedy. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge A new blog post from Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) reveals that an Internet Explorer zero-day vulnerability was actively exploited by North Korea in October 2022. The attack targeted South Korean users by embedding malicious malware into documents that reference the recent Itaewon crowd crush tragedy in Seoul.The Internet Explorer web browser was officially retired back in June earlier this year and has since been replaced by Microsoft Edge. However, as TAG’s technical analysis explains, Office is still using the IE engine to execute the JavaScript that enables the attack, which is why it worked on Windows 7 through 11 and Windows Server 2008 through 2022 machines that haven’t installed new November 2022 security updates.TAG... Continue reading…

Google will show the top searches from your part of the US. | Image: Google Let’s jump straight to the chase: “Wordle” was Google’s most searched term globally in 2022. The stat was revealed as part of Google’s annual Year in Search report, which highlights the top trending search terms in both individual countries as well as globally. This year, Google is offering an even more granular look at searches in the USA with a new hub that lets you type in your city or ZIP code and see what people in your area specifically are searching for.As you might expect, the year’s top searches were dominated by terms relating to 2022’s big news events, with “Ukraine” and “Queen Elizabeth” both featuring in the top five. But there were also a surprising amount of searches for specifically Indian (and presumably cricket)... Continue reading…

An upgraded version of ElliQ — a robot designed to act as a companion for older adults — is now available for anyone to buy. The bot has been under development by Israeli startup Intuition Robotics for years, but a first version (launched in March) was only built in limited capacity. The new ElliQ 2.0 comes with upgraded features including new conversation prompts, virtual experiences, and an app for family members and carers.ElliQ consists of a digital display and a light-up “bobble head” that moves and reacts to users’ conversation. Intuition Robotics describes the bot as a way to combat many nations’ “loneliness epidemic,” or the increasing number of older adults living alone. The company says ElliQ can act as a proactive tool to... Continue reading…

Communities inside Microsoft Teams. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft is launching a new communities feature for Microsoft Teams today, designed for consumers to use the best parts of Teams free of charge to create and organize groups. The new community feature will allow groups to use the calendar, meeting, and chat features of Teams.Features like group chat, calling, and file / photo sharing are all supported, and groups will also be able to use a shared calendar (which includes Google Calendar integration) to organize community events.This new community integration is really aimed at groups like sports clubs or even virtual community groups for small businesses and simple groups like a carpool for co-workers to organize transportation. Facebook, Reddit, Discord, WhatsApp, Twitter, and many... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Augmented reality isn’t really a thing yet. But you know what is? Face lenses. Millions of users across Snapchat, Instagram, Zoom, TikTok, and countless other apps are already used to tapping a button and having dog ears suddenly attached to their skull, rainbows fired out of their mouth, or their makeup subtly — or not so subtly — transformed into a new style. Most users don’t think of this as AR or view these features as evidence of some revolutionary new technology. But whether you call it lenses, filters, or something else, it’s all augmented reality.At its Lensfest developer event this week, Snap announced that it now has more than 300,000 developers building AR products for its platform and that together, they’ve built more than 3... Continue reading…

Photo by Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images A new patent from BMW may unlock the energy-generating potential of one of America’s most defining modern features: a woefully inadequate and underfunded road infrastructure.Car enthusiast news site CarBuzz unearthed a document from the German national patent office that reveals a new suspension design, which, if developed and put into production, would allow a car to gather electricity generated from bumps in the road.The patent, which was independently located and verified by The Verge, could represent a new way to charge an electric vehicle’s battery through normal, everyday driving whenever things get bumpy — which, for a lot of us, is basically all of the time. Image: Audi Audi had a similar idea that it... Continue reading…

Image: GM General Motors is working with its dealers to install Level 2 electric vehicle charging stations that have “triple the power” of typical L2 stations, the company said today.Last year, the automaker announced a new program to help fund the installation of Level 2 chargers in collaboration with Chevy, Cadillac, and GMC dealers. The chargers would be built in the communities in which the dealers operate, casting a positive sheen on both GM’s brands and its dealer network that it needs in order to facilitate the transition to electric vehicles. Image: GM Now the company has selected Flo, a Quebec-based EV charging company, as one of its partners in the effort to install 40,000 chargers across the country. Flo will... Continue reading…

Proton Drive is an end-to-end encrypted cloud storage service that can be used to access files and securely share them with others — even if they’re not a Proton customer. | Image: Proton Proton, a privacy startup best known for its Proton Mail encrypted email service, has just announced that its end-to-end encrypted cloud storage service is available starting today as an Android and iOS app. Proton Drive is available in both free and paid tiers, offering users a way to securely upload, store, and share files directly from their mobile devices.Proton Drive’s end-to-end encryption ensures that only the user and the people they share with can access files — not even Proton itself can access the data without your permission. Users can send folders and files to anyone via sharing links (including non-Proton users) with options for passwords and expiration dates. Access can be revoked at any time, and metadata is encrypted,... Continue reading…

The policy allowed the SFPD to arm bomb disposal robots similar to the one seen here with explosives to incapacitate and even kill suspects. | Photo by Peerapon Boonyakiat/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images San Francisco officials have voted against allowing the police to kill suspects with remote-controlled robots. The city’s board of supervisors reversed the policy it approved last week, following outcry and protests from citizens and civil rights groups. However, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, the new ban is not necessarily permanent, and the issue has been sent “back to a committee for further discussion.”The board originally approved the policy to let the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) use remote-controlled robots “as a deadly force option when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force option available.”A spokesperson for the SFPD said that the... Continue reading…

Uber now has robotaxis available for its customers to hail in Las Vegas.The vehicles are operated by Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, and will feature safety drivers behind the steering wheel, though the vehicles will be operated by Motional’s autonomous driving system. Motional says it intends on launching a public fully driverless service without safety drivers in 2023.It’s the first time that autonomous vehicles have been made available to customers on Uber’s app. The company signed a 10-year deal with Motional to deploy AVs on its ride-hailing and delivery platforms earlier this year.It’s the first time that autonomous vehicles have been made available to customers on Uber’s appThe deal isn’t exclusive:... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft says it has reached a 10-year agreement with Nintendo to make Call of Duty available on Nintendo consoles if the Activision Blizzard acquisition closes. The deal is similar in length to what Microsoft has offered Sony, and the Xbox maker has also committed to continue to offer new versions of Call of Duty on Steam at the same time they launch on Xbox.The deal is clearly designed to put pressure on Sony to accept a similar offer, just days after Microsoft president Brad Smith said “Sony has emerged as the loudest objector” to Microsoft’s proposed $68.7 billion acquisition and that “it’s as excited about this deal as Blockbuster was about the rise of Netflix.”

The 3D characters can be sent as one of 36 stickers. | Image: Meta Avatars, the customizable characters that are already available across Meta services like Facebook and Instagram, are officially launching on WhatsApp. Meta has announced that they can be used as a profile picture on the messaging service or sent in the form of one of 36 custom stickers. The feature “will be rolling out to users everywhere from today,” according to Meta’s press release.WhatsApp’s avatars feature has been steadily rolling out to beta testers for a couple of months now. They’ve been available to some (but not all) beta users on both Android and iOS since at least October, according to WABetaInfo, but they’re expected to become available for all users on mobile over the coming weeks.Meta’s avatars are one of a number of... Continue reading…

Image: Google Chrome tab jockeys and bookmark hoarders, rejoice: you can now quickly swift through your whole browser mess with a new simple “@” shortcut in the address bar. Available on the latest Chrome version 108 for desktops, the feature will help simplify tasks like getting to that article tab you know you left open somewhere without needing to conduct another web search.If you’re like me, you might have a whole lot of troubleshooting articles saved as bookmarks, but when someone needs help with some specific problem, you just Google it again instead of looking for what you’ve saved. Now, you can type “@bookmarks” or just “@,” then hit the space bar and click “Search Bookmarks,” and start typing some key terms. Screenshot: The... Continue reading…

A new Alexa Shopping List widget could make those trips to the grocery store run more smoothly. | Screenshot by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Adding an item to your shopping list with just your voice is a modern convenience you quickly get used to. But the pain of wrangling the app you added it to on your smartphone while wheeling a shopping cart through a crowded store can have you yearning for simpler days — and paper.A new homescreen widget for Amazon’s Alexa’s shopping list feature makes it easier to keep an eye on your items while making a beeline for the produce aisle. The widget is available on iPhone and Android and shows your list right on your homescreen. Now the convenience of adding items to your shopping list using Alexa smart speakers doesn’t have to end when you leave the house.To install the widget, you need to have the latest Alexa app on your phone, then... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Just days ago, Elon Musk took aim at Apple’s App Store policies while dragging it into the political and culture war crosshairs, highlighting how important the storefront is to so many developers and services. Today, Apple announced it’s changing long-standing App Store policies that put tight restrictions on what developers are allowed to charge their customers, following up on a pledge made last year while settling a class-action lawsuit.At the time, developers were restricted to fewer than 100 possible price points in the App Store, which Bloomberg reports previously started at a minimum of 49 cents for subscriptions and 99 cents for apps, with a max price of $999.99. Image: Apple App Store price flexibility... Continue reading…

Photo by Eric Thayer / Getty Images Many barriers are holding up the automotive industry’s wide-scale transition to electric vehicles. Getting battery costs down, getting range up, and convincing car buyers to break up with gasoline for good are just some of the more commonly known ones. But there’s also one very powerful group that hasn’t been much help so far: the car dealers.Increasingly, car companies are giving their dealership partners an ultimatum: get on board or get out. And at least some of Ford’s dealers seem to be taking the message.At the Automotive News Congress this week, an event put on by the eponymous industry publication, Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley said that 1,920 of America’s roughly 3,000 Ford retailers have agreed to sign up for the company’s EV... Continue reading…