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The Wyze Lock Bolt is a $70 smart lock with fingerprint and keypad access. | Image: Wyze Wyze’s latest product is something of a departure for the smart home company. The Wyze Lock Bolt is a smart lock that ditches cloud connectivity in favor of local control over Bluetooth. A rectangular matte black keypad with a fingerprint reader, the Wyze Lock Bolt replaces your entire deadbolt and costs $69.99 (plus $10 shipping), in keeping with Wyze’s reputation for high-level tech at rock bottom prices. The lack of an internet connection may be a wise move for Wyze right now, considering the recent controversy around the company’s failure to disclose a security flaw with its original cloud-connected Wyze Cam.Available starting today, the Wyze Lock Bolt is a motorized deadbolt that can be unlocked with your fingerprint or with a... Continue reading…

The OnePlus N20 5G offers an OLED panel and a 64-megapixel main rear camera. | Image: OnePlus OnePlus is bringing a new Nord device to the US: the N20 5G will arrive at T-Mobile starting April 28th for $282. It will be exclusively available through the carrier, at least at first. The N20 5G, like the N10 5G that preceded it, includes a Snapdragon 600-series chipset, 128GB of storage, 6GB of RAM, and — naturally — 5G connectivity. It’s a step up from the more basic N200 5G — also sold at T-Mobile — and it comes with a notable screen upgrade to an OLED rather than last year’s LCD panel.That 6.4-inch screen features 1080p resolution and a standard 60Hz refresh rate. That’s a slower rate than the N10 5G’s 90Hz panel, but that screen was an LCD — typically not as rich and contrast-y as an OLED. In that way, the N20 5G is an upgrade,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Melissa Mathieson / The Verge Alaina Wood discusses her content and how climate doom impacts mental health Continue reading…

Illustration by Melissa Mathieson / The Verge Habitat, the world’s first MMO developed for the Commodore 64 personal computer, went offline in 1992. It came back online in 2017 through the efforts of MADE, the Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment.Founded by Alex Handy in 2011, MADE “seeks to legitimize the preservation of video games as both a historic and artistic medium within the context of our time.” To that end, MADE amassed a collection of working video game consoles and a library of old games for patrons to play.“We do exhibits, we do preservation activities to preserve old systems, old code, and old games,” Alex Handy told The Verge via Zoom.But what’s exactly involved in bringing an MMO back from the dead? A generous donation, a lot of luck, and an absurd amount of... Continue reading…

Audi completed its luxury concept car triptych with the unveiling of the Urbansphere, a massive, fully autonomous people mover that somehow manages to be entirely too large for the streets it’s designed to travel.Audi says the Urbansphere was designed “for use in traffic-dense Chinese megacities, although the concept is also suitable for any other metropolitan center in the world.” And yet the vehicle’s staggering size — a whole two feet longer than the 2022 Cadillac Escalade — practically disqualify it from being driven on any city street, regardless of country of origin.Its minivan-esque appearance in the renderings is misleadingIts minivan-esque appearance in the renderings is misleading, based on the numbers provided by Audi.... Continue reading…

Photo by Natt Garun / The Verge Amazon has been ordered to reinstate an employee unlawfully fired by the company two years ago for his involvement in safety protests at a Staten Island warehouse.Gerald Bryson was protesting outside the Amazon facility known as JFK8 on April 6th 2020, when he got into an argument with an employee on a break. Court filings (which include transcripts of the incident taken from videos as appendixes B and C) show that both Bryson and the employee used profanities and insults against one another. Bryson said Amazon should shut down the warehouse for failing to adequately protect workers against COVID-19, while the employee replied “it’s the only fucking job open so appreciate it.”Amazon fired Bryson for abusive language, but not the other... Continue reading…

On Tuesday, Mercedes-Benz unveiled the EQS SUV, an all-electric seven-seater that shares a platform with the automaker’s recently released luxury EQS sedan. With an estimated range of 373 miles (600 km), the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV will go toe to toe with the Tesla Model X and BMW iX when it goes on sale in the US later this year.Mercedes isn’t releasing pricing information yet, but the SUV is expected to retail for $110,000 to $130,000, depending on the trim level. It will be the German automaker’s first electric SUV to reach the US after the EQC SUV’s release was delayed indefinitely.In many respects, the EQS SUV is simply a larger EQS: same 56-inch, pillar-to-pillar Hyperscreen (for the higher trim level), same 107.8kWh battery,... Continue reading…

Only the graphite-colored model pictured here is available in both left and right-handed options. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Logitech has announced Lift, a $69.99 wireless vertical mouse that’s launching today in multiple colorways, as well as with both right- and left-handed options. The Lift features a vertically oriented design that puts your hand at a 57-degree angle for better ergonomics. Compared to using a traditional mouse, using mice like the Lift may help to greatly reduce wrist strain since you’re holding your wrist at a similar angle to shaking someone’s hand. At least, that’s what I experienced. Last year, I made the shift to a split ergonomic keyboard, and a mouse like the Lift completes the setup.For those keeping track, the Lift isn’t quite as fully featured as the pricier $99.99 MX Vertical, but it could be a good starting option if you don’t... Continue reading…

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images As millions of Americans file their 2021 income taxes online today, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is demanding answers from Intuit about its popular TurboTax e-filing product.In a letter to Intuit CEO Sasan K. Goodarzi, Warren says the company has used “extensive lobbying and adroit influence peddling” to prevent Americans from filing their taxes for free online.The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed suit against Intuit in March for deceptive marketing, an action Warren calls “both welcome and long overdue.” Reps. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Katie Porter (D-CA) also signed onto the letter.“scamming taxpayers into paying for services that should be free”Many of Warren’s complaints center on the Free File program, an IRS partnership... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge This evening, Vice President Kamala Harris is announcing that the United States will no longer conduct anti-satellite, or ASAT, missile tests — the practice of using ground-based missiles to destroy satellites in orbit around Earth. Harris is challenging other countries to make the same commitment and establish this policy as a new “norm of responsible behavior in space.”Harris will speak more extensively on the new commitment during a speech at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California this evening. Harris currently serves as the chair of the White House’s National Space Council, an executive advisory group that helps to set the nation’s space agenda.This declaration comes five months after Russia conducted an ASAT test in November.... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales Odd issues have popped up following software updates Google’s released for its latest flagship phones frequently enough for us to look into why Android 12 has been so buggy for certain phones. Now some Pixel owners report that their phones are failing to complete a fairly basic task — ringing when there’s an incoming call.Unlike the issue with notification vibrations suddenly changing without explanation, this isn’t something we’ve been able to confirm. However, posts on Reddit (via Android Central and Phone Arena) and Google’s support forums describe issues where some incoming calls seem to be silently rejected, sending the caller directly to voicemail.

A movie based on the classic Streets of Rage game series is in the works, according to a report from Deadline. John Wick creator Derek Kolstad reportedly wrote the script on spec (without a studio deal), while the production company behind the Sonic the Hedgehog films will produce the adaption. Escape Artists, the studio behind The Equalizer franchise, is also on board to produce the film, Deadline reports.Streets of Rage was first released for the SEGA Genesis back in 1991, with Streets of Rage 2 and 3 launching on its heels in 1992 and 1994. In each game, you play as badass vigilantes punching the crap out of villains polluting the streets of the city. The fourth installment of the side-scrolling beat-’em-up came out in 2020, 26... Continue reading…

Photo by David Livingston/FilmMagic The years-in-the-making Minecraft movie from Warner Bros. might be one step closer to becoming a reality, as Jason Momoa, who you might know as Aquaman, is in “final negotiations” to star, according to Substack publication The Ankler, The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety. However, it still seems the movie might be a long way from actually hitting theaters, though, as neither THR or Variety provided a projected release date. Warner Bros. didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.The Minecraft movie has hit a few blocks (buh-dum tish) over the past several years. The movie was first announced in 2014, and months later, Night at the Museum and Free Guy director Shawn Levy was reportedly set to direct. But in 2015, Rob McElhenney,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Today I learned (TIL) there’s an 83-page FBI “guide” to internet slang filled with abbreviations entered either by a complete troll or someone totally clueless, as recently reported by Input. And yes, TIL is actually included in the guide, but so are thousands of other abbreviations that I’m convinced someone just made up. Because no one actually uses BTDTGTTSAWIO (been there, done that, got the T-shirt and wore it out) ...right?As Input points out, the FBI’s guide was made available through a 2014 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. If you decide to check it out, you should know it’s in pretty crappy quality, but it’s still readable for the most part. The Verge actually reported on this back when it was first released; it... Continue reading…

Jane Foster gripping the hilt of Mjolnir. | Marvel Studios Though it’s very much felt as if Mjolnir’s days of being important in the Marvel Cinematic Universe were over, Thor: Love and Thunder is set to bring the magical weapon back and put it in the hands of Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster. In her brief appearance in the movie’s first trailer, Jane’s new armor and ability to call a reformed Mjolnir to her suggests that she, along with Chris Hemsworth’s Odinson, will bear “Thor” as a title, a concept explored in Marvel’s The Mighty Thor comics from writer Jason Aaron and artist Russell Dauterman.Thor: Love and Thunder tells the story of how the original Thor is pulled out of his adventurous but relatively chill retirement by the arrival of Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), a killer on an... Continue reading…

Image: DuckDuckGo.com Users of privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo have been unable to site search the domains of some well-known pirated media sites recently, as reported by TorrentFreak on Friday. DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg called it “completely made up,” tweeting over the weekend that this is the result of a site operator error. Weinberg insisted the company is not purging any results. “Anyone can verify this by searching for an outlet and see it come up in results,” Weinberg tweeted.To observers, it seemed as if DuckDuckGo had de-indexed searches for copyright-flouting media download sites like The Pirate Bay and Fmovies, and even a site search for the open-source tool youtube-dl came up empty. TorrentFreak later updated its report citing a... Continue reading…

Blizzard Entertainment At long last, I’ve finally uncovered the truth behind an Overwatch question that’s plagued me for six years: what the hell is going on with Lúcio’s hair?Last week, I talked with Overwatch 2 developers Geoff Goodman and Dion Rogers about Sojourn, the game’s first Black female hero. Since this was the rare chance to be alone with a couple of Overwatch developers, I took the opportunity to ask a burning question about another Black Overwatch hero: LúcioLúcio is my favorite pre-Sojourn Overwatch character both for his gameplay and his story. He’s a healer with unique movement and healing abilities. He was one of the first and only characters I devoted myself to mastering (with dubious, less-than-mastered results) despite not being big on... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon might be the next big tech company to get into augmented reality, as the company is hiring for a “new-to-world smart-home product” that uses “XR” technology in some fashion, according to job listings reported on by Protocol.There aren’t many specific details included in the listings, unfortunately. One for a “software engineer — XR/AR, XR/AR Devices” says the job will include “conceiving and developing key software and architecture for a new-to-world smart-home product.” The role is on a “new cross-functional team.” Another listing for a “Sr. Technical Program Manager, New Products — XR” describes how “you will develop an advanced XR research concept into a magical and useful new-to-world consumer product.” That listing and... Continue reading…

Satellite imagery of Lipetsk Air Base from Google Maps. Google says it hasn’t made changes to how it censors satellite imagery of Russia, contrary to widely circulated claims on Twitter that it “opened access to Russia’s military and strategic facilities.”Early Monday morning, Twitter account @ArmedForcesUkr (which is unverified but has been cited several times by the official Ukrainian Ministry of Defence account) tweeted a set of images that appear to show military equipment. The tweeted message translates roughly to: “now everyone can see a variety of Russian launchers, intercontinental ballistic missile mines, command posts and secret landfills with a resolution of about 0.5 meters per pixel.”The post has been cited by news organizations like The Moscow Times, and an English... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On Sunday, an attacker managed to drain around $182 million of cryptocurrency from Beanstalk Farms, a decentralized finance (DeFi) project aimed at balancing the supply and demand of different cryptocurrency assets. Notably, the attack exploited Beanstalk’s majority vote governance system, a core feature of many DeFi protocols.The attack was spotted on Sunday morning by blockchain analytics company PeckShield, which estimated the net profit for the hacker was around $80 million of the total funds stolen, minus some of the borrowed funds that were required to perform the attack.Beanstalk admitted to the attack in a tweet shortly afterward, saying they were “investigating the attack and will make an announcement to the community as soon... Continue reading…

Image: Mishaal Rahman Google seems to be working on bringing Wallet back in some form after it made the app part of Google Pay (via Android Police). According to Mishaal Rahman, the company is creating a Wallet interface for Google Play Services that will act as a way to access and manage your payment and transit cards, passes, rewards memberships, and more.Currently, you manage most of these in Google Pay, and it seems likely that you’ll be able to get to the new Wallet UI from within that app, which Rahman says will still be used for contactless payments. It also appears that the cards you put into your Wallet will be accessible from elsewhere, as the screenshots show a link saying “learn how passes in your Wallet will appear across Google.”

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A federal judge said Monday that the Biden administration could not require masks be worn on airplanes and public transportation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not have the authority to introduce a mask mandate and did not follow the proper rules to implement a mandate, US District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle wrote in the ruling.The mask mandate has been in place since January 2021. The CDC had just last week extended it through May 3rd. It had been set to expire on April 18th, the same day the judge made the ruling.Public transit was one of the last places masks were reliably required in the United StatesPublic transit was one of the last places masks were reliably required in the United States — most states... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In a new update, Telegram announced it’s letting users set any sound as their notification tone. You can use short audio files uploaded from your phone and save voice messages as notification tones from a chat.Telegram says it currently supports audio files and voice messages under 300KB and less than five seconds long. You can assign a sound to specific chats or whole groups of chats from the Settings > Notifications and Sounds menu. If you don’t have a sound you want to use right away, you can choose from an array of options, ranging from a bell to Merlin the cat, available from Telegram’s Notification Sounds channel.There’s new animated food emoji, tooAside from custom notification tones, Telegram has also rolled out custom mute... Continue reading…

Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images American Bridge, a Democratic super PAC, is jumping into the 2022 midterm elections with an eight-figure paid media program that includes big investments in podcast and influencer media to brandish support for President Joe Biden’s economic agenda.American Bridge’s six-figure influencer program runs paid digital ads behind content that it’s worked to make with creators on platforms like TikTok and Instagram and falls under the PAC’s total media investment. Most of these influencers have anywhere between 20,000 to 100,000 followers — making them microinfluencers — and have increasingly been called on by both Republican and Democratic campaigns and nonprofits over the last few years. The creators tout strong followings in hotbed states... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Panic’s Playdate, its quirky Game Boy-like handheld with a crank, will finally begin shipping today, April 18th, the company announced.“The first Playdate systems for customers in Group One will be shipped out gradually today and in the coming weeks,” Panic said in a press release. “Panic will be reaching out to customers in Group One when their units are shipping, and will also be in communication with any updates on when pre-order holders in other Groups can expect their Playdate systems to ship.”It’s unclear when the orders in Group One will be fulfilledIt’s unclear exactly how many Playdates will ship in the first round, but spokesperson Jurge Cruz-Alvarez did confirm to The Verge that shipments will start more slowly and then... Continue reading…

Little, yellow, different Continue reading…

Parcast Union Unionized workers at Parcast, a podcast production company owned by Spotify, shared details of their new three-year employment contract today. The contract covers workplace issues like pay, diversity, healthcare, severance, and more. It’s rare for a tech company to have one union, let alone three, as is the case with Spotify. The Parcast unionization follows successful drives at Gimlet Media and The Ringer, which ratified contracts with Spotify last year.The Parcast union announced in early April that it had reached a deal. The union, like Gimlet and The Ringer, is represented by the Writers Guild of America, East. (Disclosure: WGAE represents Vox Media’s editorial staff, which includes The Verge.)The lowest-paid employees will receive... Continue reading…

The game will be included with a Netflix subscription. | Image: Netflix Netflix is expanding its work in gaming by partnering with the makers of the silly card game Exploding Kittens on a mobile title and a TV series based on the popular franchise. Exploding Kittens — The Game, described as “an exclusive version of the beloved mobile game,” will launch in May, while the TV show, “an adult animated comedy series,” will launch in 2023. The new game will be the latest in an ever-growing series of mobile titles available to play for free with a Netflix subscription.There’s already a version of Exploding Kittens available on the App Store and Google Play, but with Netflix’s version, there will be two exclusive cards at launch. Down the line, there will be new cards and game mechanics “themed around the animated... Continue reading…

The HP Chromebook x2 11 tablet comes with its keyboard and pen in the box. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Almost anything becomes a little more appealing once the price goes down. Take HP’s Chromebook x2 11 tablet, for example. It’s currently selling for $299.99 at Best Buy, a price cut that’s mighty enough to outweigh its flaws. This one-day deal on the 11-inch tablet with Chrome OS makes for a much more compelling argument compared to its $599.99 regular price. When our own Dan Seifert reviewed the Chromebook x2 in December 2021, he scored it a 5.5 out of 10 due to its occasionally choppy performance. But for half price, it seems like a good deal.What you’re getting today for $299.99 is a modestly sized tablet with a convenient 3:2 aspect ratio screen, making it taller than 16:9 alternatives, which is better for note-taking and web... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple’s AirDrop is a hugely convenient feature for transferring photos, videos, documents, and other files between the company’s devices, including iPhones, iPads, and Macs. You can easily send something to a friend — or use AirDrop as a handy way of transferring files between your own products.What’s great about AirDrop is its simplicity. Instead of trying to clumsily share files using Dropbox, Google Drive, or some other cloud storage, it’s an immediate transfer from one device to another that (in most cases) takes only seconds.With AirDrop, Apple creates a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection between the two devices in an AirDrop exchange. These devices communicate directly and aren’t required to be using the same internet connection.TO... Continue reading…

Image: Marvel.com Jane Foster has always been more than the Odinson’s love interest, but you might not know that just from watching any of Marvel’s Thor movies so far — the last of which she simply wasn’t in. Thor: Love & Thunder wants to fix that and then some, judging from its first trailer.For the most part, Love and Thunder’s first trailer does its best to catch you up with what all Thor Odinson’s (Chris Hemsworth) been up to in the time since he and the rest of the Avengers managed to defeat Thanos in Endgame. With the Mad Titan gone and peace mostly restored, Thor’s been off gallivanting with the Guardians of the Galaxy, working off his depression weight, and making the best of his life as one of the last living Asgardians. It’s unclear how much... Continue reading…

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge When you upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11, one of the first things you may do is wonder: where the heck is my Start menu? Traditionally, the Windows Start menu has been in the lower-left corner of the screen, but when your new version of Windows appears, you’ll find the Start icon among a group of icons in the center of your taskbar at the bottom of the screen. The Windows 11 Start menu is now a small icon in the center of the taskbar. Click on the Start menu icon, and things will look very different as well. Instead of the large square Live Tiles that used to pop up, you have a much more modest set of app icons, mostly showing Microsoft-related apps pinned to the main page. Click on “All apps” on the top right... Continue reading…

Illustration by Melissa Mathieson / The Verge Tree-planting efforts get a boost from drones Continue reading…

Illustration by Melissa Mathieson / The Verge When everything else decays, those little plastic stickers remain Continue reading…

The three taikonauts spent 183 days on the Tiangong space station. | Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images Three Chinese astronauts, also known as taikonauts, safely returned to Earth yesterday after spending six months aboard China’s unfinished Tiangong space station, according to a report from Space.com. This is China’s second crewed mission to Tiangong and its longest so far.The Shenzhou 13 spacecraft landed in the Inner Mongolia desert at 9:56AM local time on Saturday morning after departing from the space station’s core Tianhe module about nine hours prior. The crew took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi desert last October and spent a total of 183 days on the space station.Wang Yaping made history as the first Chinese woman to conduct a spacewalkThis mission is China’s longest. In addition, taikonaut Wang... Continue reading…

Image: JK Brickworks via YouTube This LEGO flip-walking vehicle looks like it has a mind of its own, but it’s really just powered by gravity and a tiny motor. Custom LEGO builder JK Brickworks walks us through the build in a video on YouTube, which was actually inspired by the old-school Bear Mobill toy made by Bandai in 1987. It looks like the original toy is supposed to be some kind of sci-fi military vehicle, but JK Brickworks gives it a flashy new look.The hypnotic flipping motion is triggered by a forward-moving trolley in the center. It weighs down the machine just enough at the end of its track, causing the build to flip over on two legs, resetting the entire process. As shown in JK Brickworks’ video, the toy’s unique flipping motion lets it climb up small steps... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla has stopped including its mobile connector with new car purchases and will instead sell its Gen 2 (Level 1) bundle separately for a lower $200 price, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed in a series of tweets. The mobile connector bundle comes with an adapter that allows drivers to charge their cars from a standard 110v household outlet, with other adapters available for purchase separately.

Organizers need approval from at least 30 percent of workers to hold a union election. | Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images Retail Apple employees at a New York City store in Grand Central Terminal have started collecting signatures to form a union, according to a report from The Washington Post.The organizers, who go by Fruit Stand Workers United, announced in an update on its website that they voted to affiliate themselves with the Workers United labor union on February 21st, 2022. Workers United is the same group backing recent unionization efforts at Starbucks stores across the country.At least three other stores are reportedly working towards organizingAs noted by The Post, organizers at the Grand Central location are currently handing out signature cards so employees can express interest in forming a union. If at least 30 percent of workers sign off... Continue reading…

The UCF Knights will have QR codes on the back of their jerseys. | Photo by Roy K. Miller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images This spring, the University of Central Florida’s (UCF) football team will don QR codes instead of numbers on the back of their jerseys (via SportsLogos.net). The team showed off their new garb on Twitter, sporting large custom QR codes beneath their last names that you can scan to access players’ biographies on UCF’s website.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is reportedly working on a program that will let brands showcase advertisements within free-to-play Xbox games, according to a report from Insider. Sources familiar with the situation told Insider that the ads wouldn’t disrupt gameplay and may appear on a billboard in a racing game, for example.It’s not immediately clear how else Microsoft plans on implementing ads, such as having them show up as avatar skins or as videos inside game lobbies. But as Insider notes, Microsoft is reportedly concerned that the ads could “irritate” players, and is planning on building a “private marketplace” to let only select brands into the program.Microsoft reportedly doesn’t intend to take a cut of the ad revenueSources also told Insider that... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Editing a tweet using Twitter’s upcoming edit button could leave a digital trace of your tweet’s history, according to reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong. In a tweet, Manchun Wong explains that the edit function appears to have an “immutable” quality, which means Twitter may create an entirely new tweet when one is edited, all while preserving the previous versions of that tweet.“Looks like Twitter’s approach to Edit Tweet is immutable, as in, instead of mutating the Tweet text within the same Tweet (same ID), it re-creates a new Tweet with the amended content, along with the list of the old Tweets prior of that edit,” Manchun Wong says.

You can save on everything from wireless chargers to Bluetooth keyboards at Satechi this weekend. | Image: Satechi The Easter holiday is bringing some unusual — yet welcome — deals into the spotlight this weekend, including a sitewide sale at Satechi that’s knocking a considerable amount off on everything under the Satechi umbrella. The current promotion, which runs through April 17th and requires you to use one of two promo codes, covers a wide variety of peripherals and accessories, ranging from Mac-inspired keyboards to 3-in-1 chargers. Using coupon code EASTER15 at checkout will take 15 percent off your cart total, but if you purchase $100 or more, you can take 20 percent off with the code EASTER20.If you’re not familiar with Satechi, just know that it offers plenty of functional basics, including charging cables and a number of sleek,... Continue reading…

Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge Windows 11 updates, which Microsoft sends to your system regularly, are meant to keep your operating system current. They are, for the most part, a good thing. But as long-time Windows users know, occasionally, an update can go wrong, and so some prefer to postpone updates for a week or two to make sure that there aren’t any problems being delivered with the update. In addition, sometimes updates come at an inconvenient time — for example, when you’re in the middle of a project with a tight deadline.You can’t stop updates altogether, but you can pause them. There is also a way to disable updates, but it, too, is not permanent. If you want to hold off in case of any potential glitches or would rather put them off as long as possible,... Continue reading…

Cresting a new wave of inexpensive gaming handhelds Continue reading…

When I finished Friday’s Wordle, I saw an add for the Spelling Bee. | Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge I just finished Friday’s Wordle — which I am reminding you now is owned by The New York Times for reasons you’ll understand shortly — and when I did, I was surprised to see an addition to the results screen. Under the usual stats, the “next Wordle” countdown, and the share button, there was something new: a small banner advertising another puzzle, the NYT’s Spelling Bee.For fans who appreciate Wordle’s simplicity, the ad may come as a rude surprise. Part of the appeal of Wordle is that simplicity: you take your shot at the day’s puzzle, decide whether or not your journey is worth sharing on Twitter, then close the tab and move on.And that was by design, as noted in the NYT’s profile of Wordle creator Josh Wardle:

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Scam app hunter / developer Kosta Eleftheriou, known for catching egregious scams that make it past Apple’s review process, has once again brought attention to a new crop of shady apps being peddled through the App Store. This time they’re on the Mac, and they’re using pop-ups that make it extremely difficult to quit an app without agreeing to outrageous subscription prices — all without Apple noticing, despite its argument that its App Review process keeps devices and users safe.The app that started the hunt, which seems to have been discovered by Edoardo Vacchi, is called My Metronome. According to Vacchi, Eleftheriou, and user reviews, the app locks up and won’t let you quit it using keyboard shortcuts or the menu bar until you agree... Continue reading…

The alarm clock looks cool, but it’s missing a very important button. | Image: Square Enix (with minor edits by Mitchell Clark / The Verge) Are a Final Fantasy VII fan? Tired of oversleeping? Don’t want to use your phone as an alarm lest you get sucked into doomscrolling? Well, do I ever have the solution for you: a standalone digital clock fashioned after Final Fantasy VII’s iconic Buster Sword.The miniature replica of Cloud Strife’s ridiculously large sword — specifically, the version in Final Fantasy VII Remake — is set at an angle reminiscent of how you see it on the game’s main menu screen. The time is illuminated prominently thanks to a display on the sword’s blade, and the materia near the hilt light up, too. Image: Square Enix A closer look at the clock. Wonder what materia those are. If you like Final Fantasy VII Remake’s music — like me... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Valve’s Steam Deck handheld gaming PC has been the #2 top grossing product on Steam for five weeks in a row, according to SteamDB.I am vindicated — because that means it’s not a flop.Early estimates suggested over 110,000 people put down a $5 deposit for the unproven Linux handheld in the first 90 minutes after it went on sale last July, but there was always a chance they’d change their mind. I figured many would after reading critical reviews like mine! And while I have seen a handful of people in r/SteamDeck reclaim their five bucks... almost every other sign suggests to me that it’s selling well.While we don’t have official sales numbers for the Steam Deck, here is some context that might put things in perspective: ... Continue reading…