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Valve has confirmed that The International will take place in Singapore this October. | Photo credit should read STR/AFP via Getty Images Dota 2’s annual tournament, The International, will take place in Singapore this October. While Valve has held The International in the US, Canada, China, Germany, and Romania in the past, this is the first time the global esports competition is heading to a country in Southeast Asia.Valve teased the upcoming event in a tweet but didn’t offer any additional details besides a location and date. The tournament is known for its very generous rewards, with last’s years winning team getting a piece of the $40 million prize pool. That large sum is crowdfunded by in-game purchases made by the Dota 2 community and has only continued to increase over the years. We don't know how much is up for grabs at this year’s competition, but we likely... Continue reading…

Ellison contributed $1 billion in support of Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter. | Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people and co-founder of the Oracle software company, was involved in a November 2020 call to develop plans to contest the results of the US presidential election, according to a report from The Washington Post. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Fox News host Sean Hannity, Donald Trump’s attorney Jay Sekulow, and True the Vote attorney James Bopp Jr., also participated in the call.As reported by the Post, details of the call surfaced in a court filing associated with a legal battle between True the Vote, a nonprofit organization that promotes baseless claims about election fraud, and Fair Fight, a voting rights organization led by Georgia politician Stacey Abrams. Last year, Fair Fight filed a... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon is piloting a program that has its contracted Flex drivers picking up and delivering packages from malls, as first reported by Bloomberg. The program, which Bloomberg says Amazon has been running since last year, could help Amazon fulfill orders for same-day or two-day deliveries.“This is just another way we are able to connect Amazon sellers with customers via convenient delivery options,” Amazon spokesperson Lauren Samaha said in an emailed statement to The Verge. Samaha added that only a handful of sellers are participating in the program, but didn’t specify which ones.It’s not entirely clear where Amazon is running the test, either. Drivers who spoke to Bloomberg about the program cite picking up packages from malls located... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Chinese display manufacturer Beijing Oriental Electronics (BOE) could lose out on 30 million display orders for the upcoming iPhone 14 after it reportedly altered the design of the iPhone 13’s display to increase yield rate, or the production of non-defective products, according to a report from The Elec (via 9to5Mac).Apple tasked BOE with making iPhone 13 displays last October, a short-lived deal that ended earlier this month when Apple reportedly caught BOE changing the circuit width of the iPhone 13’s display’s thin-film transistors without Apple’s knowledge. (Did they really think Apple wouldn’t notice?).This decision could continue to haunt BOE, however, as Apple may take the company off the job of making the OLED display for the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Cryptocurrency exchange FTX will soon allow for traditional stock trading alongside its crypto offerings, the company announced in a press release (via The Wall Street Journal). The functionality is currently available to a select number of users in the US, but it’s aiming to roll it out to more traders in the coming months.FTX says it will offer commission-free trading with access to “hundreds of US exchange-listed securities” including both common stocks and ETFs. It will let customers add money to their accounts through credit card deposits, ACH transfers, and wire transfers. FTX also says it’s the first exchange to let users fund their accounts with fiat-backed stablecoins, such as USDC. While the price of stablecoins isn’t... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google has reached an interim agreement with Match Group, the dating app provider behind Tinder, Hinge, and OkCupid, that will allow its apps to remain on the Google Play Store while offering alternate payment systems, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal.Earlier this month, Match Group filed a complaint against Google, alleging the company “illegally monopolized the market for distributing apps” by requiring app developers to use Google’s billing system and then taking up to a 30 percent cut on any in-app purchases. Match Group later sought a temporary restraining order against Google, but withdrew its request on Friday after Google made some concessions.Google must make a “good faith” effort to build “additional billing... Continue reading…

The Google Nest Wifi router works standalone, in pairs, or with added remote points. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge There are many ways to get your weekend started right and, unsurprisingly, one of our favorites here at Verge Deals is with some quality tech deals. Teeing off first is the Google Nest Wifi mesh router system. Wellbots has a few different configurations of the Nest Wifi available with special discounts, including the standalone router for just $119 ($50 off when you use code 50VERGE at checkout), the router and one additional Point to extend the mesh network for $189 ($80 off with code 80VERGE), and the router plus two Points for $249 ($100 off with code 100VERGE).The important thing here is to pick the right setup for your home depending on how much space you need to cover. The Nest Wifi router by itself is rated to cover up to 2,200... Continue reading…

I’m starting to think Apple doesn’t want us to repair them Continue reading…

One of the Steam Deck’s joysticks. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge The era of fixing your own gadgets has nearly arrived, and Valve’s Steam Deck handheld gaming PC may be setting the best example yet — not only does it offer a repair-friendly design, but it now looks like almost every part will be sold separately at iFixit.This evening, the company prematurely revealed a huge collection of its promised repair parts at its website, and we were surprised to see everything down to the motherboard with the AMD Aerith chip at the heart of the Steam Deck will soon be available, admittedly for a pricey $350. Image: iFixit The Steam Deck motherboard. In fact, iFixit will even sell parts that might be considered upgrades for an existing Steam Deck — if you decide you’d rather have... Continue reading…

Boeing’s Starliner coming in for docking, as seen from the International Space Station | Image: NASA TV This evening, Boeing’s new passenger spacecraft, the CST-100 Starliner, successfully docked itself to the International Space Station — demonstrating that the vehicle can potentially bring humans to the ISS in the future. It’s a crucial capability that Starliner has finally validated in space after years of delays and failures.Starliner is in the midst of a key test flight for NASA called OFT-2, for Orbital Flight Test-2. The capsule, developed by Boeing for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, was made to transport NASA’s astronauts to and from the space station. But before anyone climbs on board, NASA tasked Boeing with conducting an uncrewed flight demonstration of Starliner to show that the capsule can hit all of the major milestones... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple’s rumored mixed reality headset seems like the worst-kept secret in tech, and a new report about the device from The Information (its second this week) is chock full of details about the unannounced product’s turbulent development.One of the most notable parts of the story is about Apple’s decision to go with a standalone headset. At one point, Apple hadn’t yet decided whether to move forward with a more powerful VR headset that would be paired with a base station or a standalone one. While Apple’s AR / VR leader Mike Rockwell apparently preferred the version with the base station — which included a processor that eventually shipped as the M1 Ultra, according to The Information — Apple executives chose to go with the standalone... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter announced an update on Friday that should significantly improve the experience inside third-party Twitter apps: it’s giving developers far more access to its reverse chronological timeline. This update to Twitter’s recently launched API v2, the interface that developers use to get data from Twitter, is a new (and, in my opinion, encouraging) step in Twitter’s journey to better support developers.As Twitter notes in its announcement post, the new API v2 feature gives developers a way to “retrieve the most recent Tweets and Retweets posted by the authenticated user and the accounts they follow.” In other words, a developer can ask to see the data that Twitter shows you when you load up the first party app with the “Latest Tweets”... Continue reading…

Currently, the only official way to install Android apps on Windows is through Amazon’s store. It seems like Microsoft isn’t resting on its laurels when it comes to the system that lets Windows 11 run Android apps: on Friday, the company announced an update that upgrades the version of Android running on your computer and helps make the apps feel more at home running on a PC. The Windows Subsystem for Android update is currently only available to test for Windows Insiders, but that’s probably a good thing for reasons we’ll touch on in just a moment.The headlining improvement is an update to the version of Android that underpins Windows’ ability to run mobile apps. The current public release seems to be using Android 11 (based on some prodding I did using developer tools), but the version that Microsoft is testing is running... Continue reading…

Image: CBS / Paramount Plus The show’s reach exceeds its grasp Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google Chat has replaced Hangouts and will now display banners warning you against potential phishing and malware attacks coming from personal accounts, Google announced on Thursday. This tweak for Google Chat is the latest expansion of Google’s attempts to prevent phishing.During its 2022 I/O developer conference, Google discussed several security measures it has implemented to enhance user safety, including warnings against potential security issues and recommendations to fix them. Google also laid out other plans for security measures, like expanded two-step verification, ad customization, and more data security. Image: Google Warning labels about suspicious links in Google Chat. Google’s new warning... Continue reading…

An array of electricity producing wind turbines (aka the San Gorgonio Pass wind farm) are viewed along Interstate 10 on May 11, 2022, near Palm Springs, California. | Photo by George Rose/Getty Images Better wind forecasting can save American consumers millions of dollars a year on their collective utility bills, a new study finds. Wind energy costs have already plummeted thanks to more efficient turbines, but there’s still a major hurdle to overcome when it comes to renewable energy: intermittency. Unlike coal and gas-fired power plants, wind and solar farms can only churn out as much electricity as the weather will allow.So, accurate weather forecasts are crucial for utilities to be able to plan how much wind energy they’ll have on hand on any given day. Wind energy has grown quickly to power nearly 10 percent of the US electricity mix today. The Biden administration has a goal of reaching a carbon pollution-free energy grid by... Continue reading…

MGM In George Miller’s upcoming Three Thousand Years of Longing, the key to getting the most out of magical wishes without suffering repercussions isn’t being clever or trying to outsmart the ancient djinn that’s been trapped in a bottle for countless lifetimes. It’s stalling.Three Thousand Years of Longing — an epic fantasy based on novelist A.S. Byatt’s short story “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye” — tells the story of Dr. Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton), a solitary mythography scholar who’s almost entirely thrown herself into her work. The movie’s new trailer finds Alithea on her way to Istanbul both for a conference and a bit of shopping at a bazaar where she just so happens to purchase the bottle containing a djinn (Idris Elba).... Continue reading…

“Exit Strategies.” | Image: Netflix Over its first two seasons, Love, Death and Robots has made good on its name by offering myriad animated shorts spanning sci-fi and horror — and occasionally both at the same time. It’s been bloody and visceral but also frequently uneven. For every smart treatise about the nature of humanity, there was a gorefest that was bloody and shocking and little else. But with volume 3, we get arguably the strongest collection yet: nine genre shorts without a weak link among them.Perhaps the most impressive thing about the third season is how varied the shorts are, which range from seven to 21 minutes long. My personal favorite is “The Very Pulse of the Machine,” directed by Emily Dean, which follows an astronaut stranded on Jupiter’s moon Io. As... Continue reading…

Image: Spotify After introducing its Blend playlists last year, Spotify announced Friday that it’s expanding the feature to include K-pop artists — and yes, that includes the mega-popular boyband BTS.Spotify’s Blend playlists are an easy way for users to create shared playlists based on each user’s listening preferences. In March, the company released updates for the music discovery feature that include the ability to “blend” with up to 10 people or with musical artists. This new K-pop expansion is an example of the latter.The K-pop Blend artists include BTS, Stray Kids, ENHYPEN, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, Nmixx, and AB6IX. The feature will mix your favorite tracks with those of the aforementioned bands. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Spotify feature if it... Continue reading…

How I look at my tablet when it gets support for the latest API. | Image: Amazon Amazon’s next Fire 7 tablet will come with a new version of the company’s Fire OS operating system, called Fire OS 8 (h/t to Liliputing and AFTVNews). It’s based on Android 11, which is a pretty significant upgrade to the foundational tech currently powering Amazon’s tablets; the previous version, Fire OS 7, is based on Android 9, which was released in 2018.According to Amazon’s developer documentation, the update could bring a few new user features. For one, it brings a system-wide dark mode to the OS that developers can make their app follow. Mostly, though, it’s good for privacy and security. Along with various updates to the permissions system, the upgrade should also make it easier for Amazon to push security patches. Google isn’t... Continue reading…

The engineering team operating the Voyager 1 spacecraft — NASA’s robotic planetary explorer currently zooming through interstellar space — is trying to figure out why the spacecraft is sending back data readouts that don’t match what the vehicle is actually doing. It’s a mystery that does not seem to be putting the Voyager 1 spacecraft in any immediate jeopardy, but NASA is trying to figure it out nonetheless.Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 has been exploring the cosmos for nearly half a century. It has a twin, Voyager 2, that was launched 16 days prior in the same year. Both spacecraft did tours of the outer Solar System, flying by planets and photographing moons before eventually traveling outside the boundary of our cosmic neighborhood.... Continue reading…

Employees at Apple’s Towson Town Center may soon be voting on whether to unionize. | Image: Apple Employees at Apple’s Towson Town Center store in Maryland will begin their union election on June 15th, after filing a request with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) earlier this month. The store is the second to schedule an election. In April, employees from an Apple Store in Atlanta filed their own petition to hold a union election, which Apple recently agreed to. That vote is set to start on June 2nd.The election in Maryland will take place over four days, and voting will be in-person.On May 3rd, organizers at the store announced their intentions to unionize with the IAMAW. The group of employees calls itself AppleCORE, with CORE standing for Coalition of Organized Retail Employees. According to a report from The Washington... Continue reading…

Image: Audi Audi is adding Apple Music into its cars’ infotainment systems, giving drivers the ability to listen to their playlists and catch up on podcasts without the need for any additional device. This marks the second Volkswagen group automaker to get the integrated streaming music service, as Porsche had already added the feature into its all-electric Taycan.“Integrating Apple Music into the Audio infotainment system marks the next step in the collaboration between Audi and Apple,” said Audi’s head of product marketing Christiane Zorn. It shows that Apple is more willing to hand automakers the keys to its music streaming platform, giving drivers more choices on using the service instead of being locked into using Apple CarPlay or resorting to... Continue reading…

Apple Arcade as well as Apple News Plus and Apple TV Plus are all discounted at Costco. | Image: Apple If you’re a Costco member, you can currently cash in on sales for a variety of Apple online services. The big-box retailer has discounted subscriptions for Apple Arcade, Apple News Plus, and Apple TV Plus (via MacRumors). The going rate for a year of Apple TV Plus or Apple Arcade is usually $49.99, but either one is currently available through Costco for $44.99. A year of Apple News Plus would usually cost $119.99 when purchased on a month-to-month basis directly from Apple, but Costco has discounted that same subscription to just $89.99.As the name suggests, Apple Arcade grants access to a number of exclusive mobile games that are unavailable on other devices. Just note that you’ll have to pay a fee to purchase games in addition to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If Do Kwon didn’t exist, someone would have had to invent him. For instance, there’s the bets he made — worth $11 million in total and held in escrow by Crypto Twitter influencer Cobie — that his token Luna would be worth more in a year than it was in March 2022. Fond of insults such as “continue in poverty ser,” “u still poor?,” and “I don’t debate the poor on Twitter,” Kwon is the boisterous, combative co-founder of Terraform Labs, best known for the ongoing disaster that is Terra / Luna.As of this writing, Luna is worth less than a cent, and its sister token Terra, which was meant to be pegged to a dollar as a stablecoin, is worth 6 cents. An investor, who told reporters from Yonhap News Agency he’d lost 2 to 3 billion won (about... Continue reading…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel and editor-at-large David Pierce discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.This week on the show, Nilay and David along with Verge managing editor Alex Cranz discuss the most interesting laptops announced this week at Computex 2022: a new OLED laptop under $1,000, an LTE Chromebook to take calls with, a gaming laptop with stereoscopic 3D content, and more.In the second segment of the show, Verge senior reporter Liz Lopatto returns for her segment, “This Week In Elon,” to update us on the billionaire’s deal to buy Twitter and why he may be stalling the acquisition.In segment... Continue reading…

This behemoth of a GPS watch has a few things to iron out Continue reading…

Hulu is “celebrating” National Streaming Day. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Did you know that today is National Streaming Day? Don’t worry if you forgot to get your significant other a gift or a card, we all forget these made-up-sounding days. What actually matters for these superfluous holidays is when there’s a tangible benefit, like a good deal. Thankfully, Hulu is offering a special promotion for this occasion, allowing both new and returning subscribers to get an ad-supported plan for $1 per month for the first three months — a savings of about $18.This deal will sound familiar to some prior ones from Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and you may be eligible even if you’ve taken advantage of previous promos from Hulu. You have until May 27th at 11:59PM PT to claim it, and it’s available to entirely new... Continue reading…

Now that Obi-Wan has his own show, there’s only one logical next step: an appearance in Fortnite.Epic announced that Mr. Kenobi will be the latest Star Wars character in the battle royale when he hits the game’s item shop on May 26th. That’s the day before the new show Obi-Wan Kenobi debuts on Disney Plus. In addition to the Jedi Knight himself, players can also snap up a bundle that includes a Jedi Interceptor glider and a pickaxe blade that is sadly not a lightsaber.Of course, this is far from the crossover between Fortnite and Star Wars. Just this month, Epic temporarily added lightsabers back into the game, and prior to that, characters like the Mandalorian have been notable additions to new Fortnite seasons. In 2019, J.J. Abrams... Continue reading…

It isn’t the game-changer that last year’s model was Continue reading…

Kit Connor as Nick Nelson and Joe Locke as Charlie Spring. | Image: Netflix Though it’s only been a few weeks since Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper graphic novel began airing, the streaming platform’s already made the move to renew the show for two more seasons.Variety reports that Netflix has greenlit Heartstopper for two more installments with Oseman slated to return as writer and executive producer. Like the graphic novel, Heartstopper tells the story of how Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) and Nick Nelson (Kit Connor) fall in love while attending an all-boys grammar school. Heartstopper’s first season focuses on the beginning of Charlie and Joe’s romance with plot points pulled from the graphic novel’s first and second volumes. There’s currently no word on when production on H... Continue reading…

You might not know it from glancing at a Chromebook, but Google’s Chrome OS is in a constant state of evolution.The operating system receives minor updates every two to three weeks and major releases every six weeks. And, at any given moment, Google’s staff is working on features and software enhancements that most people won’t see for a matter of weeks — or months.Here’s a little secret, though: if you’re feeling adventurous, you can gain access to those unreleased enhancements. All it takes is the flip of a virtual switch in your Chromebook’s settings, and you’ll have all sorts of interesting new options at your fingertips.First, it’s important to understand exactly what’s involved so you can make an educated decision about which... Continue reading…

The Ring Alarm Pro eight-piece starter kit is selling for $239.99 today at Amazon, which is a $60 discount. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge If you’d like to bolster your home security while making it a little smarter in the process, some of Ring’s best security devices are selling at new all-time low prices. Starting us off, Ring’s excellent Floodlight Cam Pro costs $199.99 instead of $249.99 at Amazon and Best Buy. We consider this the best floodlight camera for people who are heavily invested in the Amazon Alexa ecosystem. It has similar guts to the Ring Pro 2 video doorbell camera, providing 1080p resolution footage but with exceptionally bright 2000-lumen lights. It also has a loud 110dB siren to keep would-be intruders away.We were impressed with its crisp video quality, excellent digital zoom capability, and adjustable motion detection features. Keep note, though,... Continue reading…

You can use your iPhone to drown out distractions with peaceful white noise by following a few steps. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge There’s nothing quite like settling into a hotel room bed and dozing off to sleep — only to be woken up by the sound of your neighbor in the room next door trimming their nails at a hundred decibels or doing some late-night furniture rearranging.For just these kinds of occasions, seasoned travelers will sometimes pack a travel white noise machine or use an app to help get a little peace. But if you’re carrying an iPhone running iOS 15, you’ve already got a white noise feature built right into your phone’s operating system. Here’s how to set it up. (For this article, I used an iPhone 11 running iOS 15.4.1.)

Qualcomm Qualcomm is introducing a wireless version of its augmented reality Smart Viewer, a reference design that manufacturers could adapt into commercial headsets. The Wireless AR Smart Viewer updates Qualcomm’s earlier smart glasses design with a higher-powered chipset, plus a tethering system that uses Wi-Fi 6 / 6E and Bluetooth instead of a USB-C cable. That comes with the tradeoff of a potentially very short battery life — although Qualcomm says consumer-ready versions might be designed differently.The new Smart Viewer was developed by Goertek. It’s currently available to a few manufacturing partners with plans to expand access in the coming months. Like its predecessor, it connects to a phone or computer and delivers mixed reality... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Canada has banned the use of Huawei and fellow Chinese tech giant ZTE’s equipment in its 5G networks, its government has announced. In a statement, it cited national security concerns for the move, saying that the suppliers could be forced to comply with “extrajudicial directions from foreign governments” in ways that could “conflict with Canadian laws or would be detrimental to Canadian interests.”Telcos will be prevented from procuring new 4G or 5G equipment from the companies by September this year, and must remove all ZTE- and Huawei-branded 5G equipment from their networks by June 28th, 2024. Equipment must also be removed from 4G networks by the end of 2027. “The Government is committed to maximizing the social and economic... Continue reading…

The LG CineBeam HU915QE has an excellent excellent 0.19 throw ratio. | Image: LG LG just took the wraps off a new flagship CineBeam ultra-short throw (UST) projector, model HU915QE. The 4K three-channel laser projector blasts a super bright 3,700 ANSI lumen image that measures 100 inches when placed just 9.8cm (3.9 inches) from a wall, thanks to an excellent 0.19 throw ratio.Other UST projectors like the AWOL LTV-3500 require a distance of 24.9cm (9.8 inches) to achieve that same 100-inch diagonal picture size. And while that might not sound like a large span, it can easily exceed the width of common sideboards where the projector will live.Better yet, you can place the new LG CineBeam 18.3cm (7.2 inches) from an Ambient Light Rejection (ALR) screen for a giant 120-inch picture with improved contrast (to make the... Continue reading…

The ball is designed for you to put the entire charging case in it. | Image: Samsung Samsung has released a Pokémon-themed poké ball case for its Galaxy Buds true wireless earbuds in South Korea. It’s the perfect accessory for anyone who’d prefer their charging case to look dope as hell rather than to be able to easily fit in their pocket. Gizmodo reports that the case is a limited edition, and it also appears to be exclusive to South Korea where it costs 134,000 won (around $105).Unlike a very similar wireless earbud charging case that Razer released in 2020, Samsung’s poké ball doesn’t appear to be charging its earbuds directly. Instead, the idea is that you put the regular charging case for your Galaxy Buds 2, Galaxy Buds Pro, or Galaxy Buds Live (aka the Galaxy Beans) inside the poké ball, where it’s presumably... Continue reading…

“We wanna enhance the here and now.” | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg can’t catch a break — everyone just keeps saying that they don't want to live in the metaverse. This week, it’s Amazon’s head of devices David Limp, who said that he doesn’t want to live in a virtual world 24/7, or even a few hours a day.Limp expressed similar views when interviewed last month by the Financial Times, where he spent most of his time espousing his vision of ambient computing — the idea that the computer is everywhere — as he’s been keen to do over the last year and change.While speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival, Limp was asked what he was thinking about the metaverse. He said that while he does believe that there’ll be “some form of place-shifting” in... Continue reading…

The Meta sign outside the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge A Meta executive told employees on Thursday that they are prohibited from talking about abortion on Workplace, an internal version of Facebook, citing “an increased risk” that the company is seen as a “hostile work environment.”The policy, which Meta put in place in 2019 but hasn’t been reported until now, prohibits employees from discussing “opinions or debates about abortion being right or wrong, availability or rights of abortion, and political, religious, and humanitarian views on the topic,” according to a section of the company’s internal “Respectful Communication Policy” seen by The Verge. Some employees have called on management to do away with the policy in the aftermath of a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would... Continue reading…

Photo by PATRICK PLEUL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images SpaceX reportedly paid a flight attendant $250,000 to ensure she didn’t speak out or sue the company after Elon Musk allegedly exposed himself and propositioned her for sex, according to a report from Business Insider. In response, Musk took to Twitter to call the accusations “utterly untrue.”Content warning: The following story contains descriptions of sexual misconduct. If you need immediate support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline by going to online.rainn.org or by calling 1-800-656-4673.According to one of the flight attendant’s friends, the alleged victim worked as a crew member on a SpaceX corporate flight. During one of the flights, the attendant told her friend, Musk asked her for a full body massage in his... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / Th Google has released its annual diversity report, and the company says it made some positive progress over the past year. The company saw its “largest increases in representation of Black and Latinx Googlers in the US ever” at 20 percent and 8 percent respectively year over year, according to chief diversity officer Melonie Parker. Google also reported improved leadership representation of Black, Latinx and Native American employees by 27 percent, Parker says.But some data shows there is still more work to be done. The company’s US workforce is 33.5 percent women and 66.5 percent men, numbers that are only slightly different than the 32.2 percent women and 67.8 percent men reported in 2021. And in its 2022 report, Google said 48.3... Continue reading…

Boeing’s Starliner capsule launches on May 19, 2022 | NASA Nearly two and a half years after its first launch didn’t go to plan, Boeing’s new passenger spacecraft, the CST-100 Starliner, successfully launched to space this afternoon, reaching the right orbit it needed to achieve to rendezvous with the International Space Station tomorrow evening. The successful launch marks the beginning of a crucial test flight for Starliner that will play out over the next week in space, one that will help demonstrate if the capsule is capable of carrying humans to space one day.Starliner is a private spacecraft that Boeing developed in partnership with NASA, primarily to help transport the agency’s astronauts to and from the International Space Station in low Earth orbit. The capsule is one of two vehicles,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Reuters reports TikTok is testing games for the app in Vietnam ahead of a “major push” into the space. A company representative confirmed tests of HTML5 mini-games, saying, “We’re always looking at ways to enrich our platform and regularly test new features and integrations that bring value to our community.”The outlet’s sources indicate the plan is for ad-supported games that draw from the library of its parent company, ByteDance, which could boost revenue and increase the amount of time people spend on the TikTok app — if that’s even possible. Image: Zynga Disco Loco 3D TikTok has already tried at least one in-app mini-game, as it teamed up with Feeding America to make Garden of Good, a FarmVille-like... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In the coming weeks, Google will begin beta testing a feature for Android 13 that makes it easier for users of braille displays to get up and running. Google announced in a blog post on Thursday that the next Android 13 beta will include “out-of-the-box support” for braille displays. Braille displays are used to create pin patterns to touch-read on-screen text and also type in braille. The display allows people with deafblindness to use smartphones and people who are blind to silently use mobile phones without screen readers or voice commands.Braille display support was already available on Android with Google’s screen reader Talkback, but now you won’t have to install another app first to access the feature. Braille display users will... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The Steam Deck just spent five weeks at number one on Valve’s top seller list — on top of the five weeks it spent at number two. As one of the most affordable gaming PCs ever made, the $400-plus machine has clearly captured the attention of those who’d been waiting for a Switch-like portable gaming PC. But what of the companies that were already making Switch-like portable gaming PCs? They now have their chance at revenge.That’s because all of the Steam Deck’s chief rivals — GPD, Aya, and OneXPlayer — have now confirmed they’re building handhelds around AMD’s Ryzen 6000U chips. And the 6800U, with its integrated Radeon 680M graphics, reportedly has the potential to squash the semi-custom Aerith SoC at the heart of the Steam Deck. ... Continue reading…

Intake fans on collector containers at the ‘Orca’ direct air capture and storage facility, operated by Climeworks AG, in Hellisheidi, Iceland, on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021. | Arnaldur Halldorsson/Bloomberg via Getty Images The Department of Energy (DOE) just launched a new $3.5 billion program to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and store it away. The program focuses on developing four “hubs” across the country focused on direct air capture, the technology that draws CO2 out of the air.Each of the hubs is ultimately supposed to be able to capture and store at least a million metric tons of CO2. That’s a massive endeavor. Currently, all the direct air capture facilities in the world only have the capacity to capture about 0.01 million metric tons of CO2.Today, the DOE filed a Notice of Intent — a kind of official “heads-up” — that says that they’ll be making a funding announcement related to those hubs “in the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year... Continue reading…