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Updated 2025-07-09 18:15
Why some tech CEOs are rooting for Elon Musk
Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images After a long weekend away, today let’s talk about the largely positive reception that Elon Musk’s radical remaking of Twitter is getting from tech CEOs — and whether those views are likely to change if the fight that Musk is picking with Apple erodes even more value from his $44 billion purchase.The CEO’s revengeLast week, Musk publicly mocked Twitter’s somewhat notorious “Stay Woke” T-shirts. The shirts, which the company produced in 2016 in response to the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, were considered suspect even at the time. In those days, it was the left rolling its eyes — particularly after then-CEO Jack Dorsey wore the shirt during a Code Conference interview, giving the impression that a phrase that had... Continue reading…
Italian car company Lancia is being reborn as an EV-only brand
Lancia’s new wordmark featuring its new brand font. | Image: Lancia Lancia, the Italian car company owned by Stellantis alongside Fiat, Chrysler, Citroën, Vauxhall, and Peugeot, is being revived as an electric car brand. The company announced plans to produce three electric vehicles between 2024 and 2028: a new Ypsilon, new Delta, and an unnamed “new flagship.” The brand is also getting a new logo, the eighth in its 116-year long history, which harks back to its 1957 design.By 2028, the plan is for Lancia to exclusively sell electric vehicles. But, as Electrek notes, the company only sells a single car (the Ypsilon) in a single market (Italy). So it shouldn’t be too hard to phase out sales of its combustion engine cars. Image: Lancia Lancia Brand CEO Luca Napolitano stands in... Continue reading…
The best Cyber Monday 2022 phone deals you can get now
Samsung’s foldable Galaxy Z Flip 4 is marked down to $799.99 ($200 off). | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge If you’ve been putting off replacing an old phone until the end of the year, then well done — there are plenty of Cyber Monday deals available to take the sting out of a new phone purchase. This year’s batch of deals features some healthy discounts on the latest flagships, including the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Google’s excellent Pixel 7, as well as some steep price cuts on already well-priced midrange models. If you’re shopping for a new phone, take a look at our picks for the best deals of the bunch.The best Cyber Monday phone accessory deals
Elon Musk says Apple has ‘threatened to withhold Twitter’ from the App Store
Elon Musk is speaking out against Apple. | Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Elon Musk claims that Apple has threatened to “withhold” Twitter from the iOS App Store for unknown reasons. The news follows a tweet where Musk said Apple had “mostly stopped advertising” on the platform and a poll asking whether Apple should “publish all censorship actions it has taken that affect its customers.” Apple did not immediately comment on Musk’s claim.The news follows much more subtle signs of mounting tension between Apple and Musk-owned Twitter. Musk has criticized Apple’s App Store fee for in-app purchases, dubbing it a “hidden 30% tax” on the internet. And Apple App Store boss Phil Schiller deleted his Twitter account following Musk’s takeover, shortly after Donald Trump’s account was reinstated.In a November 15th... Continue reading…
The best Cyber Monday deals that make for great gifts
The M2-powered MacBook Air is on sale. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Times are hard, and if you’ve been stressing about how you’re going to afford a good gift this holiday season, it’s understandable. Thankfully, Cyber Monday offers one of the best (and last) opportunities to save big before the holidays. As we highlighted in our guide to the best Cyber Monday deals, we’re seeing some steep discounts on some of the newest and most popular products, including the new AirPods Pro and LG’s latest C2 OLED. There are also deals still available that won’t absolutely destroy your budget — like those on the new fifth-gen Echo Dot and even a year of Hulu.Below, we’ve curated a guide to some of the best deals on presents you can still get. Many of these are taken right from our various holiday gift guides as... Continue reading…
The best Cyber Monday 2022 deals on headphones and earbuds
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Whether you’re shopping for yourself or trying to come through with an amazing gift for someone else, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are great opportunities to pick up the latest wireless earbuds and headphones. Some of this year’s best models from Apple, Samsung, Sony, Bose, Beats, and others have now been on the market for a few months and seeing their first big discounts. Meanwhile, old favorites are hitting all-time lows.You can expect most of the deals to continue through Cyber Monday; we’ll be keeping an eye on this list and updating it with notable new discounts as they pop up.The best Cyber Monday deals on Apple AirPods
The N64 controller for Switch is back in stock at the Nintendo store
Finally play StarFox64 the way Nintendo intended | Image: Nintendo Call it a Cyber Monday miracle if you will, but the official N64 controller for the Nintendo Switch has just been restocked at the Nintendo eShop. This $49.99 controller allows you to experience N64 games the way they were meant to be played — with a big gray controller that has an awkwardly placed central analog stick. This offer is exclusive to the Nintendo store and is only available to purchase if you’re a current Nintendo Switch Online subscriber. (Note: you can only access the N64 games with the purchase of the Switch Online Expansion Pack.)Unlike some restocks for the Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5, the method for purchasing this controller is very straightforward. Just sign in to your Nintendo account, click “add to cart,” and... Continue reading…
Tesla is reportedly working on a redesigned Model 3
A preproduction Tesla Model 3 as revealed in 2016. | Photo by Chris Ziegler Tesla reportedly has a new Model 3 design in the works, according to four sources speaking to Reuters with knowledge on the matter. The new model, going by the codename “Highland,” will have fewer interior components and a slightly redesigned exterior, with the goal of both cutting production costs and increasing the appeal of the now five-year-old midsize electric sedan.The redesigned Model 3 may also have some powertrain performance adjustments, although it’s unclear if this means we will see a faster or more tame vehicle. The sources say that the production of the new model will begin at Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory in the third quarter of 2023. It’s planned for Tesla’s Fremont, California, plant as well, though no timeline was... Continue reading…
The best Cyber Monday deals on smartwatches and fitness trackers
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Picking a smartwatch or fitness tracker can be daunting. There are dozens of factors to consider, such as style, durability, connectivity options, battery life, and the types of metrics tracked. Plus, there are enough models to make your head spin. With all the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, it can be hard to know what’s worth it and what isn’t.No worries. We’ve picked out the best deals so you don’t have to. They’re separated into three categories: smartwatches, multisport watches (for your hardcore athletes), and fitness trackers.The best Cyber Monday smartwatch deals
The best Cyber Monday deals at Amazon you can get now
The latest Echo Dot with clock is available with a big discount and two free Philips Hue smart bulbs. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Black Friday is a not-so-distant memory, but Amazon still has some excellent Cyber Monday deals on a variety of tech devices. We’ve rounded up a collection of all the best discounts you can still get on wireless headphones, 4K TVs, tablets, and more.If you’re looking for discounts at other retailers, we’ve also put together roundups of the best deals you can still find at Target, Best Buy, and Walmart. To stay up to speed with everything happening today and through this week, make sure to bookmark our Cyber Monday hub and check back for regular updates.The best Cyber Monday deals you can get at AmazonThe best Amazon Cyber Monday deals on Echo devices
How a tiny briefcase-sized spacecraft will prospect for water on the Moon
An artist’s illustration of the Lunar Flashlight mission. | Image: NASA The Artemis I mission isn’t the only lunar mission happening this month. On Wednesday, November 30th, a SpaceX Falcon 9 is expected to launch a commercial Japanese lander called Hakuto-R to the Moon, carrying the United Arab Emirates Rashid rover. And there will also be an extra payload tucked inside the rocket: a tiny orbiter called Lunar Flashlight.As part of a wave of increased commercial interest in the Moon, the lander could be among the first private missions to land on the Moon — although, as the Israeli lander Beresheet demonstrated when it crashed into the Moon in 2019, touching down safely on the Moon’s surface still remains a challenge that a private mission has yet to overcome. As for the small Rashid rover, this is the... Continue reading…
Now the Apple Watch Ultra can actually be your diving computer
The Oceanic Plus app turns the Apple Watch into a dive computer. | Image: Apple Divers no longer have to wait to use the Apple Watch Ultra as a dive computer. Starting today, you can download the Oceanic Plus app to plan, track, and review dives.While the Ultra has a native Depth app, it’s not meant to be used as a dive computer. It’s more for activities like underwater pool swims and snorkeling. It mostly tells you the water temperature and time as well as current and maximum depth. Conversely, the Oceanic Plus app was designed by Huish Outdoors to be used as a wrist-worn dive computer for depths up to 40 meters (130 feet). Before dives, users can set their surface time, depth, and gas, which the app will then use to calculate a no-decompression time, which is how long a diver can stay at a given depth. Divers can... Continue reading…
Meta fined $276 million over Facebook data leak involving more than 533 million users
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Ireland’s Data Protection Commission hit Meta with a €265 million fine (about $276 million USD) after an April 2021 data leak exposed the information of more than 533 million users. The DPC started the investigation shortly after news of the leak broke and involved an examination into whether Facebook complied with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws.The leaked information, spotted by Insider, was posted to an online hacking forum and included the full names, phone numbers, locations, and birthdates of users on the platform from 2018 to 2019. At the time, Meta said the bad actor obtained the information through a vulnerability that the company fixed in 2019 and that this was the same information involved in a prior... Continue reading…
The Best Cyber Monday deals available now
The Noc Design / The Verge Black Friday may be in the past, but many of the best deals remain. If you’ve been following our Black Friday coverage, none of the best Cyber Monday deals should come as a surprise. While this may not be particularly exciting, it does provide you with a final opportunity to snag some of our favorite tech ranging from noise-canceling headphones to video games and TVs that are still available for their lowest price ever.The following is an updated list of all the best deals that are still available on Cyber Monday, along with a table of contents breaking everything down by category.The best Cyber Monday dealsHere are the all-stars
Cyber Monday 2022: deals, news, and more
We’re rounding up all of the best deals from across the internet to help you cross some names off your holiday shopping list. Continue reading…
Nearly a thousand Vietnamese EVs are on their way to the US
VinFast sent a batch of 999 electric vehicles to the US. | Image: VinFast VinFast, the Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer, is shipping its first batch of EVs to the US, capping a five-year effort to develop a Southeast Asian hub for the North American and European markets.The shipment includes 999 VF 8s, an all-electric crossover with 402 horsepower, 472 pound-feet of torque, around 290 miles of range, and a starting price of $40,700. The first cars are expected to be handed over to preorder customers by the end of December, the company said. Some of the vehicles will end up with Autonomy, a car subscription service, but the majority will go to retail customers.“A proud historical milestone for the Vietnamese automotive industry”“The export of the first 999 VF 8s is a significant event for VinFast... Continue reading…
The Verge’s Guide to Cyber Monday 2022
The Noc Design / The Verge Black Friday has come and gone. The annual deals extravaganza that closes out the year is over, yet many retailers — including Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy — are still offering some of their best savings of the year now that we’re in the midst of Cyber Monday. This means it’s still a great time to score a steep discount on a wide range of tech, including noise-canceling headphones, smart displays, OLED TVs, robot vacuums, gaming laptops, and a bevy of other popular gadgets from the likes of Apple, Amazon, and Google.Today is a great opportunity to gift stuff to yourself, but it’s also your best chance to do a bunch of gift shopping for others. If you’re unsure where you should shop, keep in mind that many retailers offer... Continue reading…
The creator of the future is smart, attractive, and... animated
Jarett Sitter / The Verge There’s a decent chance you’ve come across Shudu on Instagram. She’s constantly having cool adventures in New York and Paris, she models for some of the biggest fashion brands on the planet, and she has a huge following on Instagram. Oh, and she’s not real. Or at least, she’s not human: Shudu is one of the Diigitals, “the world’s first all digital modeling agency.” And she’s a big part of the future of the creator economy.For the next three weeks on The Vergecast, we’re going to be exploring new parts of the business of being a creator. We’re going to dig deep on creator funds and how giant pools of platform money change the way those platforms operate. We’re going to look into livestreaming and why everything from shopping to sleeping... Continue reading…
Our lunar ambitions depend on this fake Moon dirt
Fun fact from the files of “there’s a job for that”: there are multiple companies that specialize in making fake Moon dirt. Technically, it’s called lunar regolith to help differentiate it from “soil,” which implies the presence of organic material, or from “dirt,” which, for this story, I learned literally just means “anything that makes you dirty.” Whatever you call it, it is nothing like our friendly terrestrial soils: it’s sharp, dusty, and jagged; it’s full of glassy globs from meteorite impacts; and its chemical composition has been altered by constant bombardment from solar wind. In short, lunar regolith is strange and alien stuff.So why would multiple companies go out of their way to simulate it? Because as more governments and... Continue reading…
Check out this library of obsolete sounds, including plenty of clips of old tech
Obsolete Sounds is a new project that its creator Cities and Memory claims is “the world’s biggest collection of obsolete and disappearing sounds.” It consists of over 150 sounds that are increasingly rare, ranging from sounds used in retro video games, recordings of old-fashioned transport, and plenty of mechanical sounds from outdated hardware.Of course, the first sound clip I searched for was the sound of an old 56K modem connecting to the internet, which is thankfully present and accounted for. “In the 90’s, computers would scream every time you went online. That was foreshadowing,” was how one tweet recently described the piercing screech.“Obsolete Sounds is designed... to highlight those sounds that are worth preserving”Other... Continue reading…
Twitter hit with wave of porn and spam obscuring tweets about China protests
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter search results for major Chinese cities have become filled with tweets about escort services, porn, and gambling that are obscuring legitimate reports about a wave of protests that have gripped the country, Washington Post and TechCrunch are reporting. Searches for “北京” (Beijing) or “上海” (Shanghai) are filled with such spam which, as of this writing, vastly outnumber any tweets about the protests.One analysis highlighted by Stanford Internet Observatory’s Alex Stamos estimates that over 95 percent of tweets under the Beijing search term are from spam accounts, with over 70 percent of the accounts only having started tweeting in such volumes recently. New spam tweets are appearing every few seconds from accounts that are tweeting... Continue reading…
Inflight 5G calls and data could become a reality in Europe with new decision
Photo by Soeren Stache/picture alliance via Getty Images The European Commission is opening the door for European airlines to begin offering inflight 5G connectivity, the organization has announced, by allocating certain spectrum for inflight 5G as well as “previous mobile technology generations.” Passengers will connect to an on-board pico-cell base station, which then connects to ground-based networks via satellite. Calls, texts, and data are all expected to be supported.“5G will enable innovative services for people and growth opportunities for European companies,” said EU commissioner Thierry Breton. “The sky is no longer a limit when it comes to possibilities offered by super-fast, high-capacity connectivity.” The Commission’s announcement does not offer details on exactly when 5G... Continue reading…
The best early Cyber Monday deals under $50 you can still get
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge With all the deals, discounts, and promotions running around, it can be awfully tempting to spend a mint over Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But for those trying to stay thrifty and keep their spending in check, we’ve gathered some of the best early Cyber Monday deals you can currently find for less than $50. There are plenty of deals on wireless earbuds, smart home devices, and Bluetooth speakers that fall below the $50 mark, many of which we’d normally recommend picking up at full price.If you’re planning to do some spending on bigger ticket items, we’ve also rounded up all the noteworthy discounts that are currently live at retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy, as well as the best early Cyber Monday deals overall.T... Continue reading…
The best early Cyber Monday deals under $25 you can get now
Apple’s AirTag tracker is down to just $25. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verg While much of our Cyber Monday coverage spans a wide range of prices, it’s no secret that the biggest savings are usually on the expensive, showy stuff like TVs. But if you’ve got a lengthy list for your upcoming holiday gift exchange, or you just need to stretch your budget a little more this year, look no further than these early Cyber Monday deals under $25 you can grab now.While anyone can find cheap crap on sale during Black Friday and Cyber Monday (just open up Amazon’s page and count all the items from brands you’ve never heard of), we’re compiling the best budget-friendly deals we know won’t steer you wrong. These are items we’ve tried or even tested ourselves — which is why we can say an Apple AirTag tracker for $24.98 is... Continue reading…
The best early Cyber Monday deals you can get now
The Noc Design / The Verge You know how most streets in US towns look exactly the same, barring a few differences? That’s kind of how Cyber Monday is to Black Friday. Many of its deals should be familiar if you’ve been paying attention throughout the Thanksgiving weekend, even though it’s taking on another name. If you haven’t been tuned in, well, you’re in for a treat. There are so many best-ever deals on tech like noise-canceling headphones and earbuds, iPads, video games, budget-friendly gadgets, and a lot more (pour one out for the $569 48-inch LG A2 OLED TV at Best Buy, which is no longer available).We’re serving you the best-of-the-best deals right up top, just below a handy table of contents that’ll help you zip around to your preferred product category.... Continue reading…
The best early Black Friday deals you can already get
The Noc Design / The Verge Happy Thanksgiving, folks! Want to get a head start on your holiday shopping before the Black Friday madness officially begins tomorrow? Despite the fact the annual shopping holiday is another day away, many major retailers are already offering a number of early Black Friday sales. So if you need a distraction from the Thanksgiving dinner table, you have a smorgasbord of quality deals you can already binge before the more hectic rush tomorrow.While it’s possible prices will dip even lower once the big day arrives, the discounts we’re currently seeing are nothing to scoff at. Target, Best Buy, and Walmart are offering some seriously steep discounts on a number of popular tech and gadgets, ranging from Apple devices to TVs, tablets,... Continue reading…
Andor’s season finale solidifies it as one of Star Wars’ greatest stories
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor. | Image: Lucasfilm / Disney Plus The final episode of Andor’s first season brought everything full circle, and was a powerful reminder of what Star Wars has always been about. Continue reading…
Why the worst recipes imaginable are blowing up on TikTok
Jackson Gibbs / The Verge Eli Betchik has always had a stomach of steel, but it wasn’t until they went to art school that they realized it could make them famous.“I was perfectly willing to eat random things for the entertainment of my friends. I would take a ketchup packet from the diner and suck it up or eat an entire block of Parmesan cheese,” remembers Betchik, now 23, who makes and sells jewelry from their basement in Ohio. “The more I did that, the more I started realizing I could do this on the internet. I thought that I would be able to entertain people.”In November 2020, the nonbinary jewelry maker was at art school in Cleveland, where they’d made friends with a group of performance artists. Soon, Betchik’s food performances became their own kind of... Continue reading…
I went to the Genesis point of Dish’s 5G network, and all I got was disappointment
Photo by Mitchell Clark / The Verge Project Genesis launched in Las Vegas first, so I figured the experience of using it there would be much better than in Spokane. I was wrong. Continue reading…
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are Nintendo’s fastest selling games of all time
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the latest entries in Nintendo’s long-running franchise. | Image: Nintendo Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, the first new mainline entries into the Pokémon series since 2019, have become the fastest selling games in Nintendo’s history, the company has announced. The two games sold 10 million units between them globally in their first three days on sale, including both physical and downloadable versions. “This is the highest global sales level for any software on any Nintendo platform within the first three days,” the company’s press release reads.Although it’s not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, Nintendo previously said Animal Crossing: New Horizons had the “best start ever for a Nintendo Switch title” after it sold 17.37 million units in the 11 days after its March 20th, 2020 release. The latest... Continue reading…
Foxconn offers workers $1,400 to stop protesting and leave ‘iPhone City’
Protest erupted in Zhengzhou on Tuesday when Foxconn workers were told that promised bonus payments would be delayed. | Image: @StephenMcDonell Foxconn has offered workers a 10,000 yuan ($1,400) settlement in an attempt to end protests at the facility, encouraging newly recruited staff to quit and subsequently leave its iPhone assembly factory in Zhengzhou, central China. CNN reports that the payout, equivalent to one or two months of wages, comes after violent protests erupted Tuesday over withheld pay and working conditions suffered during a strict covid lockdown.The Apple manufacturing partner reportedly made the offer Wednesday via a text message sent from its human resources department, requesting that workers “please return to your dormitories,” alongside a vow to honor pay agreements. The company offered 8,000 yuan (around $1,120) to workers who agreed to quit their... Continue reading…
Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ Beta is now available to everyone in North America
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” Beta, which has been gradually rolling out over the past couple of years, is now available to anyone who’s paid for the feature in North America, CEO Elon Musk has announced. “Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta is now available to anyone in North America who requests it from the car screen,” Musk tweeted, “assuming you have bought this option.”The rollout of the beta software kicked off in 2020 with a small number of customers and has since gradually expanded to be available to around 160,000 drivers as of October this year. Getting access to the beta has typically required that drivers hit a minimum safety threshold with Tesla’s built-in Safety Score feature as well as logging 100 miles using the company’s... Continue reading…
The best Black Friday deals on gaming laptops
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge You’re not just looking for a workhorse. You want a laptop that’s got game. Maybe that means frame rates, maybe even a high-refresh-rate screen for enhanced responsiveness in less demanding games. But above all, you want bang for the buck. That’s why you’re buying right now, during Black Friday week, when some of the best deals (and a bunch of predatory fake ones) show up.These are the deals that caught my eye — the ones I might consider myself or recommend to a friend, depending on their needs and budget. Let’s start with the least expensive and go from there!The best Black Friday gaming laptop deals
HBO Max is working on a fix for playback errors on Apple TV 4K
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you’ve been running into abrupt “can’t play title” errors when trying to stream HBO Max content on your Apple TV 4K, you're not alone. I ran into the issue last week, and found that others are also dealing with it.The issue seems to specifically occur on Apple TV 4K devices (all generations) running tvOS 16.1, and is happening on the latest HBO Max app version 52.50.1 (released Nov 16, 2022). For some, the issue is intermittent, and can be dodged through simple troubleshooting steps like force quitting the app, logging out of the app, reinstalling it, or restarting the Apple TV.HBO’s SVP of Communications Chris Willard tells The Verge they’re “aware and working on a fix.” The company’s specialized support team followed up with my... Continue reading…
The FTC could challenge Microsoft’s Activision purchase by December
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Federal Trade Commission is preparing a potential legal challenge to Microsoft’s plan to buy Activision for $68.7 billion, and it could file the lawsuit by next month, according to Politico. The outlet’s sources say both CEOs — Satya Nadella and Bobby Kotick — have already been deposed, and yet the FTC remains skeptical.The report notes that there are still a few steps to go before the regulator is ready to act, including a vote from its commissioners. If it does end up happening, it’d mean the deal would face antitrust challenges in the US, UK and the EU. This is despite Microsoft’s repeated attempts to assure regulators that its purchase of Activision — the company in charge of Candy Crush, Call of Duty, and all of Blizzard —... Continue reading…
Wednesday’s top tech news: Hurray for foldable competition
The newly announced Honor Magic VS. | Image: Honor Honor’s second foldable will eventually release outside of China, and people are getting confused about a new car logo. Continue reading…
Google Messages has started letting some users react with any emoji
And just like that, Messages are now way more fun. Google has started letting some users of its Messages app react to text messages with any emoji, instead of limiting them to the standard set of seven that have been available in the app for a while now (via 9to5Google). The feature’s similar to what other messaging platforms like Slack, WhatsApp, and paid versions of Telegram have — pressing and holding on a message gives you the standard emoji reactions, but you can then access the picker to react with whatever you want.The expanded emoji reactions appear to be a limited test at this point — 9to5Google says it’s heard two reports of it being rolled out, and while one person on The Verge’s staff has access to it, two other people who checked do not. Google didn’t immediately respond to... Continue reading…
It’s easier to change Alexa’s accent now if you’re into that
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge If you’ve been dreaming of the day you can make Alexa sound like your very own British butler, well then, you’re in luck: Amazon is now making Alexa’s English vocals region-free.“We’ve added more voice options for English-speaking customers in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia by giving them the ability to select from Alexa’s American, Australian, British, Canadian, or Indian voice options,” PR representative for Amazon Kaley Heuschkel tells The Verge in an email.Previously, if you attempted to switch up Alexa’s voice, Amazon would force you to make a region change as well, which would disrupt products and services that are only available in the country you live in. In comparison, Apple already lets US customers switch Siri’s accent to... Continue reading…
An alleged crypto scam involving a bank called Polybius is headed to court
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Two Estonians have been arrested and are facing extradition to the US after being accused of defrauding thousands of people out of around $575 million with a crypto Ponzi scheme, according to the US Department of Justice. Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin, along with four unnamed co-conspirators, were allegedly behind a scam crypto mining company called HashFlare and a fake crypto bank project called Polybius.The scheme began in 2013 when Potapenko, Turõgin, and the others started a company called HashCoins, according to an indictment, which you can read in full below. HashCoins said it built cryptocurrency mining equipment, though the DOJ says it actually only “sometimes” resold equipment and components that it bought off the shelf. By... Continue reading…
Elon Musk proposes letting nearly everyone Twitter banned back on the site
Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Now that Elon Musk has let us know that he’s totally done with his moderation council myth, he’s put up a new poll asking users if he should let most suspended accounts back onto the site. On Wednesday, he asked: “Should Twitter offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam?” He gave users 24 hours to vote, and so far, “yes” is ahead by a wide margin.Musk previously ran a poll asking whether he should allow former president Donald Trump back onto the site, with the “yes” responses winning out by a relatively narrow margin. The general amnesty poll has been up for less than an hour, so it’s too soon to tell how it’ll shake out.
The best Black Friday deals under $50
Black Friday has plenty of worthy deals that don’t cost a grip. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge With all the deals, discounts, and promotions running around, it can be awfully tempting to spend a mint over Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But for those trying to stay thrifty and keep their spending in check, we’ve gathered some of the Best Black Friday deals you can currently find for less than $50. There are plenty of worthwhile deals on wireless earbuds, smart home devices, and Bluetooth speakers that fall below the $50 mark, many of which we’d normally recommend picking up at full price.If you’re planning to do some spending on bigger ticket items, we’ve also rounded up all the noteworthy discounts that are currently live at retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy, as well as the best early Black Friday deals overall.... Continue reading…
New York pauses permits for the most polluting crypto mining
Governor Kathy Hochul greets the crowd at Election Night Watch Party at Capitale in New York City on November 9th, 2022. | Photo by Lev Radin / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Efforts to crack down on crypto’s pollution notched a big win yesterday when New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law that presses pause on a particularly dirty form of crypto mining. The law imposes a two-year moratorium on any new permits for certain fossil fuel power plants seeking to mine crypto.In one high-profile case, a struggling gas plant in New York’s Finger Lakes region overcame economic headwinds by mining Bitcoin. Environmental advocates hoped the moratorium would prevent any other gas or coal plants, which might have otherwise shuttered, from turning into crypto mines.The moratorium is limited to crypto mining that uses the enormously energy-hungry process for validating transactions that Bitcoin employs,... Continue reading…
Keychron’s new keyboard pairs a low-profile design with premium construction
Keychron’s S1 keyboard. | Image: Keychron People like to make fun of the sheer number of keyboards that Keychron releases, and the company is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. It’s just put on open sale the first entry in a whole new lineup, the $109 Keychron S1, which combines the low-profile laptop-style form factor of K-series boards like the $84 Keychron K3 with the more premium build quality of a Q-series keyboard like the $170.10 Keychron Q1.That means the Keychron S1 is more focused on being high-quality than feature-rich. It’s not wireless, and it’s not hot-swappable as standard, meaning you can’t change the switches on its entry-level model without a soldering iron. But what you do get is an aluminum construction, double-shot PBT keycaps, a 1,000Hz... Continue reading…
Twitch says it’s getting better at detecting and blocking young users
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Twitch is cracking down on accounts belonging to users under the age of 13 as part of its efforts to protect children on the platform. In a post on Twitch’s safety center, the Amazon-owned company announced that it’s improving its methods for detecting and terminating the accounts belonging to young users and is also working on ways to block users who were previously suspended for being under 13.These changes come after a report from Bloomberg revealed rampant child predation on the platform. The report, first published in September, analyzed 1,976 accounts on Twitch with follower lists made up of 70 percent or more users who are kids or young teenagers. According to Bloomberg, a total of 279,016 children were targeted by these alleged... Continue reading…
Amazon is selling last year’s Apple TV 4K for $80, and that’s practically a steal
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge There aren’t a ton of differences between the third-generation Apple TV 4K and last year’s model. The new one’s faster (but good luck telling the difference), supports HDR10 Plus, and has a smaller, lighter design. But unless you’ve got a recent Samsung TV, those aren’t good enough reasons to skip this great deal at Amazon that’s coming ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2022.The company has slashed $100 off the price of both the 32GB and 64GB 2021 Apple TV 4K units. That brings them down to just $79.99 and $99.99, respectively. At that point, you’re barely paying more than the cost of the redesigned Siri Remote, which sells for $59.99. And even if you opt for 32GB — I’ve never managed to exceed any Apple TV’s storage — you’re... Continue reading…
The best Black Friday deals on Apple devices
The Apple Watch Series 8 is $50 off in time for Black Friday. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Plenty of tech is on sale for Black Friday and Cyber Monday including Apple products. Below, we’ve compiled the best Black Friday deals on Apple devices that we could find, including laptops, iPads, Apple Watches, AirPods, and more. We’ll be keeping an eye out for iPhone deals as well, though we’ll likely see carrier discounts on Black Friday and not actual price cuts on hardware.The best Black Friday iPad dealsIt’s a great time to buy an iPad. The base iPad from 2021 with a Lightning connector is a good value for $269.99. The $100 discount that brings the 2021 iPad Mini with a USB-C connector down to $399.99 is good, too, even though that deal isn’t new. If you’re looking for a high-end option, the 2021 12.9-inch iPad Pro with the M1... Continue reading…
Gatorade Smart Gx review: hydration isn’t rocket science
There’s some merit to the idea behind this smart bottle and sweat patch combo, but the execution is sorely lacking. Continue reading…
A very smart Vergecast Thanksgiving
Illustration: The Verge Twice a week, The Verge publishes The Vergecast, our flagship podcast about technology and emotions. On Wednesdays, editor-at-large David Pierce leads a selection of The Verge’s expert staffers in an exploration of how gadgets and software affect our lives — and which ones you should bring into your home.It’s Thanksgiving week. So on today’s show, we cover the gadgets involved in your Thanksgiving dinner. The kitchen may be the room in your home with the most technology, and the gadgets we use there are getting smarter — with Wi-Fi connections, touchscreens, and voice assistants. Smart home reviewer and reporter Jennifer Pattison Tuohy joins the show to demo making a Thanksgiving meal with her kitchen gadgets and chats with David about... Continue reading…
Netflix is hiring for a ‘brand-new AAA PC game’
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Netflix wants to make more than just mobile games. As spotted by Mobilegamer.biz, the company recently put up job listings for a game director, art director, and technical director at its newly announced Los Angeles games studio, alongside roles like producer and engineer, for a project described as “a brand-new AAA PC game.” Since it’s an unannounced project, there aren’t many details beyond that. But in the listing for game director, Netflix says that it’s looking for a “creative leader of one of Netflix’s first generation of internally developed original games.”Netflix’s desire to expand into games isn’t new, but the company’s efforts have thus far been largely focused on the mobile space. Games were added to the Netflix mobile app l... Continue reading…
This credit card-sized Continuity Camera mount is clever and affordable
The Elephant Card supports your iPhone for use as a full-featured Mac webcam. It costs less than $10 and folds up flat to easily fit into a pocket or wallet. Continue reading…
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