The Verge

Meta's first look at the Quest 3 came back in June. | Image: Meta Meta Connect, the company's annual conference, is back for 2023. It's bringing a lot more details about the Meta Quest 3, the successor to Quest 2. Continue reading...

Meta Connect's shifting logo. | Image: Meta Meta Connect, the annual product summit from the company behind Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and the headsets formerly known as Oculus, will reveal its latest announcements in less than an hour.Meta Connect 2023 kicks off at 10AM PT / 1PM ET, and the company's pitching it as a two-day virtual event focused on AI and virtual, mixed and augmented realities." Which, we all know, means the company will fully reveal its Quest 3 headset, appeal to gamers, and attempt to wash the stink of Quest Pro away.If you're like me, you're probably wondering - how exactly do I watch it? Because Meta hasn't been 100 percent clear on that point.If you click the big Watch" button on the company's Meta Connect website right now, it'll simply take... Continue reading...

Young Portuguese citizens (C) arrive at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, France, for a hearing in a climate change case against 32 countries, on September 27th, 2023. | Photo by FREDERICK FLORIN / AFP via Getty Images A groundbreaking climate hearing went down today in the European Court of Human Rights. The youngest plaintiff in the case is 11 years old; the oldest is 24. They all survived wildfires that raged through Portugal in 2017. And they've filed suit against 33 governments in Europe, saying their planet-heating pollution violates their human rights.The case, Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and 32 Other States, was brought by a group of six young people from Portugal in 2020. If successful, they could get a legally binding decision that pushes countries - including the 27 EU member states - to act faster on climate change.As in many other places young people are leading the way and demonstrating that there are legal avenues through... Continue reading...

Image: Getty The Republican debate kicks off at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, tonight, where the potential candidates for the 2024 presidential election (with one predictable exception) will take the stage for a second time.Only seven of the Republican Party's candidates will appear onstage this time around, as not everyone we saw during the last debate made the cut. If you're interested in tuning in, here's what you need to know.What time does the Republican debate start?The second Republican debate takes place on Wednesday, September 27th, at 9PM ET / 6PM PT.How do I watch the second Republican debate?The two-hour debate will air live on the Fox News Channel and Fox Business, while a Spanish-language... Continue reading...

Jabra's latest flagships are also some of its toughest thanks to their IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. | Image: Jabra At this point, it would be an understatement to say there are a lot of wireless earbuds to choose from. There is something to be said about a competent platform-agnostic pair that takes a more targeted approach to features instead of relying on ecosystem tricks, which is precisely what Jabra aims to do with the Elite 8 Active.Right now, Jabra's latest pair of premium earbuds are on sale for the first time at Amazon, Best Buy, and Jabra's online storefront for $179.99 ($20 off).Like their lauded predecessor, Jabra's Elite 8 Active are designed with fitness buffs in mind. They boast adaptive ANC and eight hours of playback per charge, along with Jabra's ShakeGrip coating, which helps secure them during rigorous exercise without the... Continue reading...

The Yale Assure Lock 2 Plus works with HomeKey, so you can open it with your wrist instead of your hand if you have an Apple Watch. | Image: Yale Yale has expanded its Assure 2 lineup with two new smart locks: one with support for Apple's HomeKey and one with a fingerprint reader. Both are firsts for the company, but unfortunately, you have to pick one or the other - there's no model with a fingerprint reader and HomeKey. While the locks can work with all the major smart home platforms, neither works with Matter, and there's no ETA on its arrival. But it's not for lack of trying.The Yale Assure Lock 2 Touch ($199) adds a fingerprint reader but is otherwise identical to the existing Yale Assure Lock 2 - one of our favorite smart locks. It comes in keyed or key-free versions but is touchscreen only (the standard Assure 2 has the option of a physical keypad).Like the other Assure... Continue reading...

Why watch the road when you can watch Kylie Minogue's new video instead? | Image: Daniel Golson Drive Pilot is a Level 3 autonomous system, meaning you can take your hands off the wheel and - more notably - your eyes off the road during certain conditions. But are we ready to give up this much control? Continue reading...

Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images European Union regulators have reprimanded Elon Musk after X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, was found to contain a higher ratio of misinformation and disinformation in a new report. X, formerly Twitter ... is the platform with the largest ratio of mis/disinformation followed by Facebook," the European commissioner for values and transparency, Vra Jourova, said in comments reported by The Guardian.The comments coincided with the publication of a new series of reports as part of the EU's Code of Practice on Disinformation. These included a third-party analysis from TrustLab, which says that discoverability of posts containing misinformation and disinformation was highest on X, meaning that for a given search containing... Continue reading...

Altman recently called on former Apple designer Thomas Meyerhoffer - a Jony Ive hire - to create the retina-scanning Orb (pictured) for Altman's Worldcoin crypto project. | Image: Worldcoin Apple's former chief design officer, Jony Ive, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are allegedly exploring opportunities to collaborate on building an unspecified artificial intelligence hardware device," according to two sources speaking to The Information.There's currently no word on what the device will be, or what purpose it serves. The Information claims that Ive and Altman, who are friends, have been discussing what new hardware for the AI age could look like." It's currently unclear if the device will be created by OpenAI or a third-party manufacturer, or indeed if the duo will decide to build the device at all.This wouldn't be the first time that Altman has partnered with a former Apple designer on new hardware. Thomas Meyerhoffer -... Continue reading...

As of midnight, the Writers Guild of America will no longer be picketing. Instead, members of the union will be poring over new details on the contract negotiated with the AMPTP and deciding whether they will vote to ratify this new contract.(Disclosure: The Verge's editorial staff is also unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East.)The WGA dropped a summary of the contract tonight and it's historic. The flashiest wins for the WGA are around pay increases and artificial intelligence. The pay increases are significant across the board, with notable increases for "high budget subscription video on demand" (think Netflix) and streaming films.AI is the flashy thing... The data is the game changer."The WGA says writers of... Continue reading...

Photo by Mario Tama / Getty Images After a nearly five-month-long strike, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) is telling its members to lower their picket signs. In a post, the WGA said its Negotiating Committee, WGAW Board, and WGAE Council all voted unanimously to recommend the three-year agreement reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. They will end their strike at 12:01AM PM on Wednesday, sending writers back to work, with a ratification vote scheduled for between October 2nd and October 9th.A summary explaining terms of the deal has been posted so that we can see details of their agreement for the first time, as well as the 94-page deal (embedded below) which is scheduled to remain in effect from September 25th, 2023 through May 1st,... Continue reading...

The $219.99 Floodlight Cam E340 is one of four new Eufy security cameras equipped with a dual-camera system. | Image: Eufy Anker's smart home brand Eufy is revamping its camera lineup with a new SoloCam battery-powered outdoor camera ($199.99), Floodlight Cam E340 ($219.99), Video Doorbell E340 ($179.99), and Indoor Cam S350.The signature hardware feature of the new line is its dual lenses - with one camera that's wide angle and one telephoto for zooming in to better identify faces and license plates. But there's also a new standout ability: cross-camera tracking and video splicing. Source: Eufy, GIF by Umar Shakir / The Verge Multiple cameras tracked this Amazon delivery worker from the vehicle to the gate, and Eufy outputs a spliced video for you to watch. This technology is taken from the banking and traffic industry," Eufy... Continue reading...

Photo by Gary Miller / FilmMagic The 2023 League of Legends World Championship is taking place in Korea this year, and to celebrate, Riot has tapped one of the country's hottest bands to perform the annual anthem. Girl group NewJeans - best known for earworms like Super Shy" - will be behind the new song. It's called Gods" and is set to be released on the evening of October 3rd.Riot is no stranger to working with big artists for musical collaborations, having partnered with the likes of Imagine Dragons and Porter Robinson in the past; last year's Worlds anthem was courtesy of Lil Nas X, who also performed at the event's opening ceremony in San Francisco. The songs typically have an epic feel meant to hype up the event, making NewJeans - with their purposefully... Continue reading...

Image: Apple This is Hot Pod, The Verge's newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more.Hello Hot Podders, Amrita and Ariel here! Today we're bringing you a co-bylined issue of the newsletter, mostly out of necessity. We've got a whole mess of news to dive into: Apple takes a big(ish) step toward integrating its audio apps, Google Podcasts is defeated by YouTube Music, and Spotify launches a new AI tool for podcasters.Google Podcasts is dead, long live YouTube MusicWell, this was predictable. Tuesday morning, YouTube announced that it will be sunsetting Google Podcasts as it increases its focus on making YouTube Music a podcast destination. The app will be discontinued next year.As part of this process, we'll be... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tom Cortese, Peloton co-founder and chief product officer, is stepping down from his role. In a press release shared on Tuesday, Peloton says it will replace Cortese with former Twitter executive Nick Caldwell.After nearly 12 years of pouring myself into Peloton and serving our Members, I have decided it is time to move on and create space for new perspectives," Cortese says. I'm eager for new growth for Peloton and for me personally, but I'm also excited to support and watch this next phase of Peloton's evolution."Cortese isn't leaving the company completely. Peloton says he'll enter an advisory role on November 1st to support its vision and growth." Cortese has held a pivotal role at Peloton, where he led the company's development... Continue reading...

Image: CMF CMF, the affordability-focused brand owned by Nothing, has launched its first line of products: the Buds Pro, Watch Pro, and a 65W GaN fast charger.The Buds Pro are a pair of wireless earbuds that offer a solid set of features at a 49 / $49 price tag. The buds come with hybrid active noise cancellation (ANC) that uses microphones on the inside and outside of the bud to detect and cancel out noise with a depth of up to 45dB. Image: CMF The earbuds also feature transparency mode, which lets you hear the sounds around you in case you want to stay aware of your environment. With noise cancellation switched off, the Buds Pro should offer up to 11 hours of playback on a single charge (or up to 39 hours with the case).... Continue reading...

Newegg's caption for this photo was Joseph Olmedo of Newegg examines a graphics card to determine its condition." Joseph, you're doing great, man. | Image: Newegg Newegg will now take your old GPU off your hands in exchange for a trade-in credit on a new one. The Newegg Trade-In Program, which soft-launched earlier this month but was officially announced today, gives you a modest bit of cash back on your new GPU and Newegg a steady stream of cards to refurbish and resell.Estimated trade-in values range from $30 for a 4GB AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT all the way up to $561 for an Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti 24GB. You check your trade-in value by clicking the big ol' Check Your Trade-In Value" button on the product page for a GPU and selecting your card from a drop-down menu. Despite the GeForce GTX" card in the photo above, Newegg won't take cards older than the AMD RX 5000 series (launched in July 2019) or... Continue reading...

Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images Eddy Cue, in a dark suit, peered down at the monitor in front of him. The screens in the Washington, DC, courtroom had briefly malfunctioned and left witnesses with only binders, but now the tech was up and running - showing an image of three iPhones, each demonstrating a part of the phone's setup process. Cue squinted down at the screen.The resolution on this is terrible," he said. You should get a Mac." That got some laughs in an otherwise staid and quiet courtroom. Judge Amit Mehta, presiding over the case, leaned into his microphone and responded, If Apple would like to make a donation..." That got even bigger laughs. Then everybody got back down to business.Cue was on the stand as a witness in US v. Google, the landmark antitrust... Continue reading...

Photo by Steven Ferdman / Getty Images The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced plans to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules meant to guarantee fair access to the internet and its information, five years after they were repealed by then-president Donald Trump in 2018.Previous net neutrality rules adopted in 2015 classified broadband service under public utility rules and prevented internet service providers from blocking websites, throttling traffic, or charging more for faster access to certain services. According to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, the commission is expected to conduct an initial vote on reinstating these rules next month during an October 19th meeting.Net neutrality is one of the most widely discussed issues in telecommunications... Continue reading...

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Apple just released macOS Sonoma, and along with the new 14.0 version of its operating system, there's an update for its standalone Studio Display monitor that addresses some of our issues with its much-derided webcam (via MacRumors). Now, the Studio Display's camera offers manual control over framing and zoom, which you can adjust by moving the image back and forth or in and out within the video preview window.From Apple's update notes:

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Getting around Windows 11 is a lot easier if you know a keyboard shortcut or five. You can then speed through tasks and across apps without having to fumble around for the mouse and trackpad (or even take your eyes off the screen).These are some of my favorites that I turn to again and again on a daily basis. From helping you go between apps more quickly to navigating your system, there should be at least something here for everyone.Get a closer lookNeed to see something on-screen at a larger scale? Hold down the Win key and then tap + (the plus key) to launch the Magnifier utility. You can then tap the same shortcut again to carry on zooming in or use Win and - (the minus key) to zoom out.See apps across desktopsWindows 11 lets you... Continue reading...

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Microsoft is releasing one of its biggest updates to Windows 11 today. It includes access to the new Windows Copilot, AI-powered updates to Paint, Snipping Tool, and Photos, RGB lighting support, a modernized File Explorer, and much more.Windows Copilot is the big new feature for this Windows 11 update, bringing the same Bing Chat feature straight to the Windows 11 desktop. It appears as a sidebar in Windows 11, allowing you to control settings on a PC, launch apps, or simply answer queries. Microsoft is integrating Copilot into many parts of Windows, too. Image: Microsoft The Copilot feature in Windows 11. Copilot will essentially exist as an AI-powered digital assistant, much like Microsoft's vision for... Continue reading...

Image: Apple Just yesterday, I included Fingernails in a list of movies from the Toronto International Film Festival that would be streaming very soon. And now, we have our very first trailer for the sci-fi romcom, which is coming to Apple TV Plus.Directed by Christos Nikou, Fingernails is set in a sort of retrofuturistic world where scientists have developed a test that can prove that two people are (or aren't) in love. It then uses this oddball premise to set up a love triangle between its trio of stars - Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, and Jeremy Allen White - as they attempt to navigate a world where a machine can determine whether a relationship lives or dies. It's a quiet, dark comedy with a touch of body horror - the test itself involves yanking... Continue reading...

Most of these streaming services are in the Streaming Innovation Alliance. | Image: Wes Davis / The Verge Streaming companies have formed the Streaming Innovation Alliance (SIA), reported Axios. The new trade group should give companies like Netflix and Disney a solid foundation from which to deal with current and future regulation by the federal government related specifically to streaming. The SIA formed as regulators look for ways to deal with a changing entertainment landscape that increasingly includes content creators on social platforms, which these companies don't necessarily want to be lumped in with.In addition to Netflix and Disney, Axios lists SIA members Paramount Plus, Warner Bros. Discovery's Max, Peacock, TelevisaUnivision, and some small streamers like For Us By Us Network, Vault, and AfroLandTV. Other streaming services... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple just made its biggest push in decades to boost original content on its podcast app, which has been refreshed with the recent update to iOS 17. It's also casting a wider net for its audience by allowing users to connect through third-party apps.Following up on Apple's WWDC announcements in June, more than 60 original podcasts are now available to Apple Music, Apple News Plus, Calm, and Lingokids subscribers. There are more than 100 new podcasts on Apple Podcasts, and new shows will launch every week this fall, the company says.Apple launched Apple News+ Narrated yesterday, for example, which features articles narrated by professional voice actors. There are four shows on Apple News now and another 42 on Apple Music, including... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Federal Trade Commission and more than a dozen state attorneys general have filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the e-commerce giant has unlawfully leveraged its market dominance to stamp out would-be competitors.Our complaint lays out how Amazon has used a set of punitive and coercive tactics to unlawfully maintain its monopolies," FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement Tuesday. The complaint sets forth detailed allegations noting how Amazon is now exploiting its monopoly power to enrich itself while raising prices and degrading service for the tens of millions of American families who shop on its platform and the hundreds of thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon to reach them."Amazon did not... Continue reading...

John David Washington as Joshua in The Creator. | Image: Oren Soffer Gareth Edwards' new dystopian sci-fi epic is a gorgeous morass of AI doomerism that's lacking in the way of novel ideas. Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Threads, Instagram's X (formerly Twitter) competitor, is struggling to keep users around following its blockbuster launch, according to data from Insider Intelligence. The data, which was first reported on by CNBC, suggests that Threads will have far fewer monthly active users than Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok by the end of this year, but it may still have a chance to close the gap with X.Insider Intelligence indicates that Threads will have 23.7 million active monthly users in the US by the end of 2023. That's far fewer than what's expected for Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, which Insider Intelligence says could have 177.9 million, 135.2 million, and 102.3 million respective US active monthly users by the end of 2023.S... Continue reading...

Bowers & Wilkins' PX7 S2 offer phenomenal sound and are among our favorite noise-canceling headphones. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Sony's WH-1000XM5 and Apple's AirPods Max have attracted so much attention that it's easy to forget other noise-canceling headphones exist. But they do, and a few are actually better in some respects than their mainstream rivals. Bowers & Wilkins' PX7 S2 are a good case in point. Right now, you can buy them at a new all-time low price of $249 ($150 off) from Amazon and Crutchfield.If you prioritize sound quality above all else, we think Bowers & Wilkins' PX7 S2 are the best noise-canceling headphones money can buy. The headphones deliver a powerful yet warm sound that rivals the AirPods Max. They offer other impressive features, too, including an elegant design and 30-hour battery life. The over-ears don't drown out noise as well as... Continue reading...

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, speaks during an interview in Redmond, Washington, on Wednesday, March 15th, 2023. | Image: Chona Kasinger / Bloomberg via Getty Images Microsoft thinks next-generation nuclear reactors can power its data centers and AI ambitions, according to a job listing for a principal program manager who'll lead the company's nuclear energy strategy.Data centers already use a hell of a lot of electricity, which could thwart the company's climate goals unless it can find clean sources of energy. Energy-hungry AI makes that an even bigger challenge for the company to overcome. AI dominated Microsoft's Surface event last week.Nuclear energy doesn't create greenhouse gas emissions. Even so, it could also open up a whole new can of worms when it comes to handling radioactive waste and building up a uranium supply chain. The role nuclear energy ought to play in combatting climate change... Continue reading...

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Google Podcasts is going away. Starting next year, Google will focus on offering podcast access within YouTube Music instead.This change doesn't come as a complete surprise. In April, Google launched the ability for users in the US to listen to podcasts in YouTube Music without a paid membership. It also lets users listen to podcasts offline and in the background while also switching between the audio and video versions on YouTube Music. As part of its podcasts push, YouTube also announced it will make podcasts available within YouTube Music globally before the end of 2023.First launched on Android in 2018, Google Podcasts offered a way for users to listen to a library of podcasts for free while also receiving personalized... Continue reading...

The Xiaomi Watch 2 Pro makes the leap from a proprietary OS to Wear OS. | Image: Xiaomi Xiaomi announced it's making the jump to Wear OS for its new Watch 2 Pro. And in true Xiaomi fashion, it's offering a surprisingly stacked set of features, including body composition analysis and dual-frequency GPS, for an attractive price: 229.99 (roughly $280) or 279.99 ($340) for the LTE version.The big benefit of Wear OS is access to third-party apps via the Google Play Store as well as Google's own suite of services like Wallet, Maps, and notably, Google Assistant. Previously, non-Samsung or Google smartwatches had to plod along without Assistant for months, so it's nice to see a Wear OS watch finally launch with it. Xiaomi didn't specify which version of Wear OS it was launching with. However, the fact that it's powered by the... Continue reading...

Whoop Coach runs on ChatGPT-4. | Image: Whoop Whoop announced it's adding generative AI to its platform with a new feature called Whoop Coach. Powered by ChatGPT, it's meant to deliver more personalized recommendations and data insights.Using AI in fitness tech for the sake of personalization isn't new - though Whoop Coach is an admittedly novel take. Like ChatGPT, Whoop Coach functions as a health and fitness-focused chatbot that pulls from your Whoop data. One potential use case is asking it to design custom plans, routines, and recipes depending on your goals. For example, if you wanted to run a half-marathon in two hours, you could ask it to make you a training plan with context from your actual metrics.Whoop says the feature can comb through your data to draw conclusions... Continue reading...