The Verge

If you’re worried that John Wick will finally meet his demise in the upcoming John Wick: Chapter 4, the character has some reassuring words for you: “maybe not.”After making its debut with a brief teaser at San Diego Comic-Con, we now have the first proper look at the fourth John Wick film. And while it offers plenty of familiar faces and action, the focus of the clip is the new: most notably, the new management, played by Bill Skarsgård. Apparently, he and John (Keanu Reeves) will have to fight to the death in single combat. As the official description explains, John “uncovers a path to defeating the High Table, but before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro Meanwhile, Musk’s personal lawyer is telling people ‘Elon puts rockets into space, he’s not afraid of the FTC.’ Continue reading…

Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge Elon Musk has sent his first email to Twitter employees, warning them to prepare for a “dire” economy and putting an immediate end to remote work.In the email sent to Twitter staff late Wednesday evening and obtained by The Verge, Musk warned that a weaker economic environment in the US would mean difficulties for the company’s ads business. “Frankly, the economic picture ahead is dire, especially for a company like ours that is so dependent on advertising in a challenging economic climate,” he wrote. “Moreover, 70% of our advertising is brand, rather than specific performance, which makes us doubly vulnerable!”“Without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn.”... Continue reading…

AirDrop in China is now limited to just ten minutes of wireless file-sharing for “Everyone” following its use in protests against the Chinese government. | Image: Bloomberg Apple has placed time restrictions on AirDrop wireless file-sharing across iPhones in China after the feature was used by protesters to share images opposing the Chinese government, Bloomberg reports.The “Everyone” option in Airdrop is now limited to a ten-minute window for users in China. After the ten minutes have passed, AirDrop’s device-to-device sharing will switch back to “Contacts Only,” making it harder to distribute content to strangers en masse. These new time restrictions have been introduced by Apple just weeks after the service was used to spread posters opposing president Xi Jinping.iOS 16.1.1 release notes make no mention of the new limitationsThe AirDrop restriction was included in the public release of iOS 16.1.1 on... Continue reading…

Philips Hue’s new Festavia smart string lights cost $160. | Image: Signify With pumpkins being put out to pasture and turkeys starting to gobble, it's time to think about decorating your home for the winter holidays. Be it Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, or Solstice, any celebration can be glammed up with some smart lighting, and Philips Hue’s new Festavia string lights look like a good option for a little extra wow.The $159.99 string of smart lights features 250 mini color-changing smart LEDs along a 66-foot / 20-meter cord. These indoor lights are suitable for swirling around your Christmas tree, stringing up your staircase, or draping over your mantlepiece to bring a touch of holiday magic to your home. They’re available to order now at philips-hue.com. Image: Signify The Hue Festavia... Continue reading…

Calorie data can only ever be a very rough estimate. Like many other first-gen devices, the Google Pixel Watch has a lot of quirks. So far, early users have reported that the watch dramatically overreported calorie burn due to a bug. According to Android Police, the Pixel Watch team is aware of the issue and suggests rebooting the device could fix the problem. That said, it’s an apt reminder that calorie burn isn’t a reliable metric.In the Pixel Watch’s case, the bug appears to have impacted how a user’s basal metabolic rate was calculated. Basal metabolic rate, or BMR, is essentially the number of calories you burn every day simply existing. It’s calculated based on factors like your age, weight, sex, and height. If you put in the wrong data, you’re going to get the wrong calorie burn.... Continue reading…

Samar Haddad / The Verge There are a number of legitimate reasons that you’d want to record a phone call. For example, when you’re talking to a medical professional about, say, test results, you may want to make sure that you got all the information right. Or if you’re interviewing somebody for an article or for a job position, you may want to be able to make sure you remember the conversation accurately. Or if an older member of your family suddenly launches into a story about one of your grandparents, it might be nice to have a record of it.Unfortunately, though, it’s become nearly impossible to record a phone call. As I explained in a previous article, federal law in the US says that you can legally record a phone conversation but only if you are taking part... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro Twitter just rolled out the new Twitter Blue with verification, and one unsaid feature is that it will let you see who is paying the $7.99 per month fee for their blue check mark.For as long as I can remember, Twitter has offered additional context about verification check marks when you click on them on someone’s profile. The old context message stated that accounts were verified because they were “notable in government, news, entertainment, or another designated category,” with a link to Twitter’s support page about verification. Now, clicking someone’s blue check just says that “this account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue,” also with a link to the verification support page.

What’s next for the Pixel may already be leaking. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Pixel 7 and 7 Pro have barely been out for a month, and we’re already hearing rumors about Google’s next flagship phones. German mobile news site WinFuture reports two new Google devices with codenames “Husky” and “Shiba” have been referenced in publicly available source code. Both devices are apparently housing a new “Zuma” chip that could be a successor to the company’s Tensor G2 SoC (via XDA Developers).The code was analyzed by WinFuture writer Ronald Quandt, who found the doggy-nicknamed smartphones within and found that they run on Android 14. Google seems to have given it a new dessert name, too: “Upside Down Cake,” continuing the tradition of sweetly naming its Android OS versions, even though those have faded to the... Continue reading…

Image: Spotify In a blog post today, Spotify shared details of a revamped Apple Watch app that makes improvements to usability and offline playback. It also adds more visual polish with bigger album art and new animations. “You’ll be able to more easily browse and choose your favorite music and podcasts in Your Library, as well as more quickly download music to listen offline from the watch itself,” the post reads. “There’s also a new sleek design with larger artwork, animations, and added functionality—like swiping to like a song.”Unfortunately, Spotify doesn’t mention whether Apple Watch users can now download higher-quality music files; the wrist-worn version of the app has so far limited downloads to a fairly low bitrate.The post also... Continue reading…

The Ignite 3 is meant for casual users, an audience that isn’t too familiar with Polar. | Image: Polar Electro Folks who like to optimize their days might get a kick out of Polar’s latest fitness watch. The $329.95 Ignite 3 comes with a new feature that claims to predict when you’ll be at your most alert during the day based on your circadian rhythms.The new feature, dubbed SleepWise, is an extension of Polar’s existing sleep tracking. It purportedly analyzes your sleep quality, timing, and duration to determine your sleep-wake cycles. That, in turn, generates a daily report that predicts when you’ll be most alert during the day. The gist is to help users determine when’s the best time to plan a workout or block off time to focus on projects. Conversely, it’s also meant to help you visualize when might be a better window of time to take it... Continue reading…

Photo illustration by William Joel / The Verge We discuss some devices and strategies that can keep your turkey hot and your temper cool. Continue reading…