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Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images As concerns mount about the future of Elon Musk’s buyout agreement, Twitter’s board of directors has seen an unexpected shake-up.On Wednesday, Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban failed to win support from a majority of Twitter shareholders to remain on the board for another term after two investor groups raised concerns that Durban sits on the board of too many public companies. Durban offered his resignation in the wake of the vote, but on Friday, the other board members declined to accept it, instead forging an agreement for Durban to resign from two other board seats over the course of the next year.“accepting Mr. Durban’s tendered resignation at this time is not in the best interests of the Company”In the filing, the board takes note... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony will broadcast almost half an hour of PlayStation trailers and announcements during its State of Play livestream next Thursday at 3PM PT (6PM ET), the company announced today. It’s yet to announce any specific games that are set to appear at the event but says it’ll include “exciting reveals from our third-party partners” as well as a look at “several” games in development for its upcoming virtual reality headset, the PlayStation VR2.News of the livestream follows an announcement at Sony’s investor day that it plans to have over 20 “major” titles available for the VR headset at launch (the date of which is yet to be announced). There’s currently just one confirmed game for Sony’s upcoming headset, a spinoff of the Horizon... Continue reading…

Concept art from Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Dune bible. Spice DAO, the cryptocurrency collective that bought a script bible for Alejandro Jodorowsky’s never-made Dune adaptation, is apparently still figuring out what to make of its success. Earlier this week, the collective stopped working with a core member who posted virulently hateful messages as part of a self-described internet art project. Now, the project’s originator has suggested Spice DAO will back off its quixotic goal of creating a community-owned media powerhouse — but it’s not clear the group is actually changing any plans.Towards the end of 2021, the decentralized autonomous organization (or DAO) raised millions of dollars to purchase a rare copy of Jodorowsky’s Dune bible, then found itself with a sizable leftover treasury... Continue reading…

Chrome OS isn’t the most option-packed operating system around, but there are some things you can do to make your Chromebook’s desktop look and work the way you want.Ready?Customize your Chromebook’s wallpaperFirst, let’s tackle your desktop’s basic appearance:

The Retro 35 charger. | Image: Shargeek / Indiegogo Accessory-maker Shargeek has launched an Indiegogo to fund a 35W USB-C charger shaped like a tiny Apple Macintosh computer. The page for the Retro 35’s crowdfunding campaign is very careful not to mention the name of Apple’s classic computer, but it’s drawn some very obvious inspiration, from the beige color scheme down to the placement of the disk drive. The device is eventually set to retail for $49, with Indiegogo “early bird” pricing starting at $25.As increasing numbers of phone manufacturers have stopped shipping charging bricks with their devices, aftermarket chargers are becoming more popular. Often, these bricks offer additional ports or higher charging speeds compared to their first-party equivalents, but it’s fun to see... Continue reading…

Gucci is making its presence inside of Roblox a little more permanent. The fashion brand previously collaborated with the virtual world for more short-lived experiences, like the surreal Gucci Garden from last year, and is now releasing a more persistent space called Gucci Town. The space features a central garden that links together various areas, including a space for mini-games, a cafe, and a virtual store where players can, of course, purchase virtual Gucci gear for their Roblox avatar. (The company says the virtual outfits make use of Roblox’s new “layered clothing” tech.)Gucci says that more than 20 million players visited the garden last year, despite it only being available for two weeks, and it expects the new space to steadily... Continue reading…

Pyro and Scout face off. | Image: Valve Valve has responded to a campaign from Team Fortress 2 players who want it to fix the game’s bot infestation that has made it almost unplayable in recent years. “TF2 community, we hear you!” the company tweeted from the official Team Fortress 2 Twitter account. “We love this game and know you do, too. We see how large this issue has become and are working to improve things.”Currently, Team Fortress 2 is suffering from huge numbers of automated players on its public servers that are ruining the game for legitimate users. According to IGN, bots will post endless spam in chat, snipe other players with unflinching accuracy, and even crash servers entirely. Last year, the podcast Reply All dedicated an entire episode to the issues plaguing... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you’re having trouble accessing Instagram right now, you are not the only one. Reports across the internet (Downdetector, Reddit) note issues with Meta’s more-than-just-pictures app, with many people seeing screens saying they’re not logged in, blank image posts, “Welcome to Instagram” messages like they have a brand new account, or feeds that stop loading after the first few pictures. Many Verge staffers are seeing similar issues while trying to access Instagram.Just before 9PM ET, Instagram said the problems have been resolved, so the apps should be working for you again. In a statement given to The Verge, Instagram communications lead Seine Kim said “Earlier today some people were having trouble accessing Instagram. We resolved... Continue reading…

A new update introduces a new fan curve. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Valve’s latest SteamOS update is a big one for Steam Deck fans — and I am literally talking about the fan in the handheld gaming PC. One frequent complaint about the Steam Deck is its at-times loud and high-pitched fan whine even while playing lightweight games. Some, including my colleague Sean Hollister, have tried a DIY solution to fix the whine, and iFixit’s replacement Steam Deck fans are already sold out despite being on sale for less than a week.With SteamOS 3.2, though, Valve introduced a new OS-controlled fan curve that’s intended to make things better. “This means that overall it’s smarter, more responsive to what’s happening on and inside Steam Deck, and quieter — especially in low usage situations,” the company said in a... Continue reading…

It’s the standard Control / Command + C, X, and V. | Image: Google Google has announced that it’s adding the ability to use keyboard shortcuts to cut, copy, and paste files in Drive, as long as you’re using Chrome. The feature will use th— okay, hold on just a minute here. Are you really trying to tell me that we couldn’t already do this?Sure enough, when I went to Google Drive on the web and pressed Command + C on a file, then went into a folder and pressed Command + V, nothing happened. And this December 2021 archive of Drive’s list of keyboard shortcuts doesn’t say anything about the functions. Which is fine, really — it’s not like keyboard shortcuts for copy, cut, and paste have been around since the functions’ invention in the 1970s.The feature’s rolling out now, though, and Google’s post says... Continue reading…

Jodie Foster at the 74th Annual Cannes Film Festival. | Toni Anne Barson/FilmMagic Though Jodie Foster has built a name for herself leading thrillers on the silver screen, her next big project’s going to be something a bit different. Deadline reports that Foster has signed on to True Detective’s fourth season to portray Liz Danvers, a detective tasked with investigating the mysterious disappearances of six people from a research station in Ennis, Alaska. While Danvers is up for the task of figuring out where went wrong near the Tsalal Arctic Research Station, she and her partner arrive in Ennis just as the region’s long winter night and its all-encompassing darkness begin to set in.In addition to starring as Danvers, Foster will also executive produce this chapter of True Detective alongside Barry Jenkins, and the... Continue reading…

Aloy could be on her way to Netflix. Sony is continuing to go all in on turning its flagship video games into TV shows and movies — according to Variety, the company announced that it’s making a show based on Horizon Zero Dawn with Netflix at an event for investors. Sony is also working on a movie based on the Gran Turismo series, according to Deadline, but hasn’t found a distributor for it yet, and could feature Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Chappie) as its director. (I’m very curious as to what the plan for this series is — Variety just says it’ll be about “racing.”)Both projects are reported to be in “early development,” so we likely won’t be streaming them for quite a while. However, the fact that Sony’s continuing to introduce new TV and movie projects shows that the... Continue reading…

OpenSea’s new profile page. | Image: OpenSea OpenSea, one of the largest NFT marketplaces, has redesigned its profile and collections pages with the goal of making the site easier to navigate and making the actual NFTs themselves the center of attention. In an announcement post on Thursday, the company says these redesigns are “just the start” of the company’s work to refine how its site works.In my opinion, OpenSea’s refreshed profile pages look a bit like Twitter and Etsy’s. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. The old version could be a bit tricky to navigate at times, and it seems like the marketplace has smoothed out some of the edges.

Mando and Grogu. | Image: Lucasfilm Ltd. There’s a lot on the way Continue reading…

Disney Once upon a time, Ron Howard and George Lucas wanted to try and replicate the success of Star Wars by creating a whole new fantasy, Willow. The film came out in 1988, and while I personally have very important and fond memories of the movie, I am a rarity. The film only did okay at the box office, and any nascent plans for a sequel were put on ice.Now, 34 years later, we’re getting an entire series dedicated to Warwick Davis’ titular wizard. No longer a wizard in training, Willow now has a staff — and can apparently do magic beyond poorly turning people into a wide variety of animals. The trailer for the new show features a few returning characters, including Joanne Whalley’s Sorsha and at least one of the brownies (played by Kevin... Continue reading…

The Star Wars universe on Disney Plus continues to expand with the official reveal of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, which stars Jude Law and is coming to the streaming service in 2023.Announced during Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, the series is a coming-of-age tale set in the sci-fi universe. In addition to Law, it will also star “kids,” though we don’t know who they will be just yet. It’s led by director Jon Watts and writer Chris Ford, who previously collaborated on Spider-Man: Homecoming, and produced by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. The series was teased in a Vanity Fair article last week. During today’s event, Filoni said that the show is “as much for kids as The Clone Wars.”Earlier in the event, Lucasfilm released the first... Continue reading…

Excited to see more Grogu? | Image: Lucasfilm Disney announced at Star Wars Celebration that The Mandalorian’s third season will debut in February 2023 on Disney Plus.The third season of The Mandalorian has been a long time coming — season two debuted all the way back in October 2020. Thankfully, we’ve seen Mando and Grogu a bit more recently than that, as they starred in some of the later episodes of The Book of Boba Fett, but it still feels like it’s been quite a while since the last dedicated season of The Mandalorian.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft’s long-in-the-works xCloud streaming device is going through some changes, as reported by Windows Central. The company first announced the dedicated streaming dongle in June 2021, but in a statement given to Windows Central, the company said it has pivoted from the “current iteration” of the device, which it says is codenamed Keystone.Here is Microsoft’s full statement shared with Windows Central:

Art from Star Wars: Andor shared by Disney in a trailer. | Image: Disney Disney kicked off its Star Wars Celebration event with the first look at Andor. The upcoming Disney Plus series stars Diego Luna, who is reprising his role as Cassian Andor from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The show will hit the streaming platform on August 31st.Details about the show have been relatively light, though Disney’s website describes the show as a “tense nail-biting spy thriller.” At today’s panel, it was confirmed the season will be 12 episodes long — much longer than a typical Star Wars show — and will take place five years before the events of Rogue One. “You’re not going to recognize Cassian Andor in the beginning,” Luna said during the panel. Here’s the official description:

Apple’s reportedly predicting flat demand for the iPhone 13 and 14. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple, one of the biggest tech companies on the planet, reportedly doesn’t think it’ll sell any more iPhones this year than it did last year, despite rumors that the iPhone 14 will come with some major improvements (via MacRumors). While it’s not necessarily a canary in the coal mine (or a Waffle House being closed) that the world will keep getting worse, Apple predicting that sales of its most popular product won’t grow could be a sign that the company’s relatively pessimistic about the state of things in the near future.According to Bloomberg, the company is asking its suppliers to make around 220 million iPhones, which is similar to how many it requested in 2021. This runs contrary to some analysts’ predictions, which forecasted that... Continue reading…

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images A new lawsuit on behalf of Twitter shareholders was filed against Elon Musk in federal district court in San Francisco on Wednesday night, alleging that the Tesla CEO has actively manipulated the company’s stock for personal gain.The complaint focuses on Musk’s conduct since signing the purchase agreement with Twitter’s board on April 25th, particularly his recent statement that the deal “cannot move forward” without more information about automated accounts on the platform.After signing the agreement, the complaint alleges, “Musk proceeded to make statements, send tweets, and engage in conduct designed to create doubt about the deal and drive Twitter’s stock down substantially in order to create leverage that Musk hoped to use to... Continue reading…

Photo by Sylvain CORDIER/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images Monarch butterflies might be tougher than we give them credit for. The orange beauties made a surprising comeback in Mexico this winter, environmental organizations and Mexico’s commission for natural protected areas announced this week.To avoid frigid temperatures further north, the butterflies flutter thousands of miles south from Canada and the US to spend the winter months in Mexico. This December, authorities there recorded a 35 percent rise in the monarch butterfly’s presence in Mexican forests.They face serious threatsIt’s a show of resilience for a species whose numbers have dwindled to worrying lows in the region over the past decade. They face serious threats from habitat destruction and climate change, so much so that the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla, along with other electric vehicle companies and environmental groups, asked the Biden administration to invest in charging infrastructure for electric buses, trucks, and other medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.The groups want the administration to allocate 10 percent of the money for electric vehicle charging in the bipartisan infrastructure bill signed last November — a pot that includes $7.5 billion — to go toward infrastructure for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, they said in a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg this week.“Most public EV charging infrastructure has been designed and built with passenger vehicles in mind,” the letter, also signed by the Environmental Law... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is highlighting how Chromebooks can work in “zero trust” corporate environments with its new Chrome Enterprise Connectors Framework. The new integration system is designed to make the Chrome browser and Chrome OS devices easier for IT departments to implement with existing security, endpoint, and authentication solutions as well as bother management solutions.Google Chrome OS exec John Solomon describes the new tools as a “plug and play” solution that lets other companies helm Chrome OS management functions like remote-wiping a Chromebook using BlackBerry Unified Endpoint Management or flagging malware downloads with Splunk. These types of management functions previously worked through the Google Admin console.Managing and... Continue reading…

The HP Envy x360 is one of our favorite 2-in-1 laptops. | Photography by Monica Chin / The Verge With Memorial Day right around the corner, many retailers are putting some awesome deals into effect early. For instance, the HP Envy x360 13 convertible laptop is currently available for $854.99 at HP instead of its usual $1,099.99 when you check out with the code 5MDSHP. This well-built 13-inch convertible laptop offers excellent productivity performance thanks to its Ryzen 7 5800U processor and even managed to surprise us with its capability in handling games with its integrated AMD Radeon graphics.The multitouch-enabled IPS display features a resolution of 1920 x 1080, and while a screen with 400 nits of brightness is far from the brightest screen available, it's more than sufficient for combating glare in brighter environments. In... Continue reading…

The flagship Xbox console occasionally dabbles in easy availability. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you’re on the hunt for the Xbox Series X, we may currently have a brief respite from some of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it console restocks. The flagship Xbox has never been quite as difficult to get as a PlayStation 5, but at times, it flirted with being readily available. Right now, we have one of those lulls where a couple retailers have the Xbox Series X available to order without much fuss. Costco members can get it in a bundle with an additional controller for $549.99, and anyone can freely order the standalone console for $499.99 direct from Microsoft.Like other retailers, both Microsoft and Costco have had many moments where the consoles popped up with limited availability and instantly sold out, but right now, these listings... Continue reading…

The cells were placed in a replica shoulder joint that was moved around to stimulate growth. | Image: Fisher Studios The science of tissue engineering — or growing human cells for use in medicine — is very much in its infancy, with only the simplest lab-grown cells able to be used in experimental treatments today. But researchers say a new method of tissue engineering could potentially improve the quality of this work: growing the cells on a moving robot skeleton.Typically, cells used in this sort of regenerative medicine are grown in static environments. Think: petri dishes and miniature 3D scaffolds. A few experiments in the past have shown that cells can be grown on moving structures like hinges, but these have only stretched or bent the tissue in a single direction. But researchers from the University of Oxford and robotics firm Devanthro thought... Continue reading…

You can present your card from your Apple Watch as well. | Image: MVA / Apple Apple’s Wallet app now supports Maryland state IDs and driver licenses, marking it as the second state after Arizona to gain the digital identification feature (via MacRumors). Residents of the Free State can now use their iPhone or Apple Watch at certain TSA checkpoints at participating airports, including Baltimore / Washington International and Reagan National. The iPhone won’t carry a “picture” of the card, only a means to transmit info to a receiving device — and you use biometrics to confirm the information being sent to the device.The digital IDs aren’t a replacement for physical ones, though. Maryland’s Motor Vehicle Administration (essentially, the DMV) website states that law enforcement does not accept Maryland Mobile ID,... Continue reading…

it’s $950. But at least you get a lifetime membership? | Image: Oura The Oura Ring was one of the buzziest gadgets during the pandemic. Not only did it spark a weird sleep competition between Gwyneth Paltrow and Kim Kardashian, but it was also featured in the NBA’s COVID prevention plans, and there were several studies to see whether wearables could predict COVID-19. And now, there’s a Gucci version that costs an eye-watering $950.The Gucci x Oura Ring is made out of “black synthetic corundum” detailed with a braided border and an 18-karat gold Gucci G. It weighs four grams, and the band measures 0.3 inches thick. Other than the luxe design, this is basically the same as the “regular” $299 Oura Ring Generation 3. The main benefit of the Gucci version is that it comes with a lifetime membership. Starting... Continue reading…

A minor update to one of the best productivity mice on the market Continue reading…

Logitech’s new mechanical keyboard is all substance Continue reading…

If you’re on an iPhone, Apple Pay is the easiest way to get started with contactless payments. Not only is the digital wallet service free to use but it’s also already built into your phone.Apple Pay works by letting you add a digital version of a debit or credit card to the Wallet app. Once you’re set up, you can use Apple Pay to buy things online, in apps, and in person without having to carry your physical credit cards, cash, or a separate wallet. You can also use Apple Pay to send money to friends and family through the Messages app. In some cities, you can even use Apple Pay to replace a transit pass for public transportation.Generally, Apple will walk you through setting up Apple Pay when you first boot up a new gadget. But, if... Continue reading…

Sonic Prime. | Image: Netflix We’re still a few weeks out from Netflix’s second annual Geeked Week event, which kicks off on June 6th through the 10th. The company already did some teasing via a trailer earlier this month, but a new poster and blog post give some more detail on what will be on display over the five-day-long event. Netflix says more than 60 projects will be featured.Each day will have a specific theme, starting with a Monday centered around various TV shows. Expect to get early looks at the live-action adaptations of The Sandman and One Piece, as well as news about series like The Umbrella Academy (which is speeding towards its third season), a new take on Resident Evil, as well as ongoing favorites like All of Us Are Dead, Locke and Key, and Sweet... Continue reading…

We’re approaching the end of Fortnite’s latest season, and developer Epic is teasing the game’s next live event that will bring it to a close. It’s called “Collision,” and it will kick off on June 4th at 4PM ET; as with past live events, it’ll be a be there or miss it kind of experience. Epic says that players will be able to queue up for the event 30 minutes before it begins.As for what will actually happen, that’s still a bit of a mystery, but it will clearly involve the giant pink mech that long-time players will remember from 2019. In the lead-up to the event, the mech can be seen in the game’s lobby screen, while a giant tower has been erected at the center of the map. In addition to witnessing the mayhem live, attending players... Continue reading…

Pony.ai, an autonomous vehicle startup based in Silicon Valley and Guangzhou, China, is no longer able to test its vehicles in California after the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company’s license for “numerous” safety violations. The news was first reported by TechCrunch.The issue is that the company’s workforce of safety drivers are not very safe drivers. The DMV said that, while reviewing Pony.ai’s testing license, it found “numerous violations” on the driving records of the company’s safety drivers. Pony.ai currently has 41 autonomous vehicles and 71 safety drivers registered on its permit in California.“Because of the critical role of safety drivers to facilitate the safe testing of autonomous technology and... Continue reading…

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Broadcom is acquiring VMware in a $61 billion cash-and-stock deal. It’s one of the biggest tech acquisitions ever, behind Dell’s $67 billion EMC deal and Microsoft’s pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. Broadcom is known for its chip business, designing and manufacturing semiconductors for modems, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth chips across multiple devices.This giant acquisition for VMware is designed to boost Broadcom’s software business. VMware, which was owned by Dell until it was spun off last year, focuses on cloud computing and virtualization technology. If you’ve used a virtual machine at work over the past decade, the chances are it was powered by VMware or its competitor Citrix. Devices from Apple, Google, and... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple is increasing the amount it pays its retail and corporate employees as it contends with a tight labor market, unionization pushes, and high inflation levels, CNBC and the Wall Street Journal are reporting. The starting hourly rate for retail workers is increasing from $20 to $22 per hour — though some regions will start higher — and starting salaries are also reportedly increasing.“Supporting and retaining the best team members in the world enables us to deliver the best, most innovative, products and services for our customers,” an Apple spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal in a statement. “This year as part of our annual performance review process, we’re increasing our overall compensation budget.”“As part of our annual... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a new investigation into Google’s advertising business over fears the company is unfairly freezing out competitors. It’s the second open probe the CMA has on Google, following the announcement in March of a joint investigation with the EU over alleged collusion between Google and Facebook-owner Meta.The new investigation will dive deep into the “ad tech stack” — the collection of tools that make up the complex online ad market. The CMA notes that Google has “strong positions at various levels of the ad tech stack,” and is examining three key elements where the US company is the largest player. These include the market used by companies to advertise their ad space; the ad... Continue reading…

Joby Aviation, a leading electric aviation company based in Northern California, announced that it has received its first certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The agency awarded the company with a Part 135 Air Carrier Certification, which Joby will need to operate an on-demand air taxi service.The certification was awarded ahead of schedule, with Joby initially targeting the second half of 2022 for its receipt. Under Part 135, Joby can officially conduct commercial air taxi services — though it still needs two more certifications, alongside type certification and production certification, before its aircraft can legally carry passengers. Type certification means the aircraft meets all the FAA’s design and... Continue reading…

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge What if your cable could magnetically stick to itself, forming a neat coil that doesn’t get all floppy and tangled in your drawers and bags? What if they were good cables, too, capable of charging and syncing all the things over USB-C, Lightning, and more?Well... you can now buy USB cables that do the first part! And they’re cool enough that I really wish cable manufacturers would figure the rest of that shit out.For the past few weeks, I’ve been testing some seriously nifty USB cables that can actually do the magnetic coiling snake trick. Originally brought to the English-speaking world’s attention by a brand called SuperCalla, they’re now sold by a whole bunch of no-name brands at the likes of Amazon and Alibaba. And they are... Continue reading…

The Top Gun Flight Simulator expansion is available now. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft’s long-awaited Top Gun: Maverick expansion for Microsoft Flight Simulator is now available free for all players. After being delayed to match the movie’s shifted release date, the Top Gun expansion arrived on Wednesday to test players piloting skills.The free update includes a Top Gun: Maverick Edition livery for the F/A-18E Super Hornet, three training missions for the Super Hornet, and even a particularly demanding aircraft carrier landing challenge. The training missions are designed to train Microsoft Flight Simulator players to learn unrestricted take-offs, high-speed maneuvering, and the low altitude stunts that are found in Top Gun: Maverick.Once training is over there are five challenges that will test traversing... Continue reading…

The previously-revealed design of the PlayStation VR2. | Image: Sony Sony expects to have over 20 “major” titles available for its PlayStation VR2 headset at launch, according to a company investor presentation. While it didn’t confirm the names or developers of all the games, a slide confirmed that the list will be made up of a combination of first- and third-party titles, and suggested it’d include the previously announced Horizon spinoff — Horizon Call of the Mountain.“There is a considerable amount of money being spent on partnerships with independent and other third-party developers to secure a considerable pipeline of attractive VR content at the launch of PlayStation VR2,” said Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan, in comments reported by Video Games Chronicle. I... Continue reading…

Image: Sony Sony plans for roughly half of its game releases to be on PC or mobile by 2025, according to a presentation given during the company’s annual investor day. A chart shown during the presentation suggests this would be a major increase from its releases this year, when around a quarter of the company’s releases will be on PC and mobile, with the remainder split between its PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles.“By expanding to PC and mobile, and it must be said… also to live services, we have the opportunity to move from a situation of being present in a very narrow segment of the overall gaming software market, to being present pretty much everywhere,” said Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan in comments reported by V... Continue reading…

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft landing under parachutes in the New Mexico desert | Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls After spending a little less than a week at the space station, Boeing’s new passenger spacecraft, the CST-100 Starliner, returned to Earth this afternoon, landing intact with the help of parachutes and airbags in the New Mexico desert. The successful touchdown brings an end to a crucial test flight for Starliner, one that showcased the vehicle’s ability to launch to space, dock with the station, and then return home safely.Shaped like a gumdrop, Boeing’s Starliner capsule was built in partnership with NASA in order to launch the agency’s astronauts to and from the International Space Station, or ISS. The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which challenged private companies with creating space taxis to carry people to low... Continue reading…

Sony’s annual Days of Play usually brings sizable discounts. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony’s annual Days of Play promotion has kicked off once again, offering many quality discounts on PlayStation games and accessories. In the past, this event has even seen the launch of limited edition consoles, but that feels like a distant memory now — much like easily buying a console without an online queue.The good news is that you can save on some recent releases, like Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, as well as Sony’s first discount across the full line of colorful DualSense controllers. These deals run through June 8th, with some accessory discounts lasting through June 11th or once they sell out. Here are some notable ones most worthy of your money.AccessoriesFirst up, a product we don’t often see on sale is the Sony... Continue reading…

Much easier than the format painter. | Image: Google Google Docs is getting an absolutely lovely feature that could cut down a lot of busywork when it comes to properly formatting your document: the ability to select multiple sections of text at once. If you’ve got two sentences separated by a heading, or want to apply the same effect to three different words throughout a paragraph, you can now do so by simply selecting the text all at once, and applying your changes.Selecting multiple text sections is extremely simple: select the first bit of text however you would normally, then press either the Command (⌘) or Control key, depending on whether you’re using a Mac or Windows machine. Keep holding it down, and select the other bits of text you want. After you’ve got everything selected,... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Twitter will pay $150 million to settle a privacy lawsuit with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The settlement, announced today, covers a complaint that Twitter deceptively used members’ email addresses and phone numbers for targeted advertising. On top of the fine, Twitter must also accept audits of its data privacy program among other restrictions.The legal filing claims that Twitter misrepresented its policies to users between 2013 and 2019, violating both the FTC Act and an order from a previous settlement in 2011. The company encouraged users to add a phone number or email address to enable security measures like two-factor authentication. In reality, however, Twitter also incorporated that... Continue reading…

Image: Sony Sony’s correcting what it says was a “technical error” that resulted in users being charged a higher than expected price to upgrade to one of the new PlayStation Plus tiers.As the revamped subscription service went live in Asia on May 23rd, some users were reporting anyone trying to upgrade from a subscription they’d purchased at a discount was faced with paying back what they’d saved initially, plus the upgrade price for a new tier.Essentially, in order for consumers to take advantage of the shiny new PlayStation Plus, Sony was gonna get all their money.There was also a similar situation happening for people who “stacked” PS Now subscriptions. PS Now, which allows streaming of older PlayStation games, currently costs $59.99 per... Continue reading…

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images After a brutal month for Tesla stock, Elon Musk will no longer fund his Twitter buyout by borrowing against his Tesla ownership stake.In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk announced the expiration of a series of margin loans against Tesla stock, which had been included as part of his original financing plan to acquire Twitter. As part of the announcement, Musk committed to providing an additional $6.25 billion in equity financing, bringing his total commitment to $33.5 billion.Tesla has shed more than 30 percent of its value since the Twitter deal was signedMusk’s initial plan to acquire Twitter involved a combination of $21 billion in personal equity and $25.5 billion in loans. $12.5 billion of those loans... Continue reading…

Amazon Style in-store shopping app experience | Image: Amazon Amazon’s brick-and-mortar clothing store, Amazon Style, is now open in the Los Angeles, California-area at The Americana at Brand mall, the company announced today along with a video profiling some of its employees.It’s a new addition to Amazon’s lineup of physical locations, along with Whole Foods and its cashier-less Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh grocery stores. Amazon Style will feature clothing from brands like Levi’s, Tommy Hilfiger, Champion, and more, and though it does not feature Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, it will have regular employees present to help you from start to finish.Rumors of Amazon’s “department store” plan surfaced in September, with a Wall Street Journal report suggesting that the store would use tech... Continue reading…