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by Jay Peters on (#68R95)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Reddit doesn’t seem to be too worried about the AI-powered conversational chatbots like the ones Google and Microsoft revealed this week, based on a statement the company shared with The Verge. Shifting from traditional search to ChatGPT-like bots could erase the strategy of appending “reddit” to your searches to find human-sourced information instead of SEO-optimized garbage.But Reddit believes the chatbots won’t replace actual human connection.“AI chatbot technologies are still new and something we’re exploring and keeping our eyes on,” said Reddit spokesperson Nick Singer. “Though, there will always be a need for genuine community and human connection, which can be aided by tools like this. We see chatbots being used in fun and... Continue reading…
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The Verge
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
| Feed | http://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml |
| Updated | 2025-12-23 10:49 |
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by Sheena Vasani on (#68R96)
Sony’s WH-1000XM5 noise-canceling headphones are $50 off, which is amongst the better discounts we’ve seen on them. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge With more people working from home than they used to, owning a good pair of noise-canceling headphones has become more appealing than ever. However, they can be expensive and difficult to shop for due to the range of available models, many of which cater to different lifestyles and priorities. Some are better suited for long-haul flights, for instance, while others are ideal for multitasking and marathon listening sessions.That’s why we’ve curated this list of the best deals on noise-canceling headphones. Here, you’ll find sales on all kinds of on-ear and over-ear headphones, all of which are designed to eliminate outside noise but come with their own strengths and weaknesses. And if you want to do even more research before making a... Continue reading…
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by Allison Johnson on (#68R2Z)
A Coke-branded phone, because why not? | Image: Realme Realme knows how to lean hard into a co-branded, special edition phone, and it looks like that’s what’s happening in its latest collaboration: the Realme 10 Pro 5G Coca-Cola Edition. It’s launching in India today, and it’s exactly what it sounds like: a midrange phone with flashy Coke branding.Because Realme has no chill, the theme extends all the way from the packaging to the UI. Case in point: there’s a camera mode where the shutter makes the sound of a coke opening. See if your green iPhone can do that. The phone itself features a prominent Coke logo and a couple of design touches, like red rings around the camera lenses. The customized interface includes a specially designed lock screen, charging animation, and matching app icons.... Continue reading…
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by Alex Heath on (#68R30)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge A version of this story was first published in yesterday’s edition of my Command Line newsletter.A monthslong leak investigation by Meta has uncovered the source behind renders of the company’s unannounced VR headsets that were published last year by a YouTuber named Brad Lynch.Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth shared the news earlier this week with employees in an internal post seen by The Verge. He said Meta has cut ties with the leaker, who I’m told was a third-party contractor and asked Lynch for revenue share from the YouTube ads running against his videos. In his post to Meta employees, Bosworth confirmed that the unnamed leaker was paid a small sum for sharing the materials with Lynch.Creators like Lynch aren’t beholden to the rules of... Continue reading…
by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#68R31)
Philips Hue has stopped making its Lightguide triangle and globe bulbs. | Image: Signify Philips Hue’s glamorous, oversized dimmable smart bulbs designed as open lighting fixtures have hit a snag. “Aesthetic inconsistency” (i.e., they didn’t look good) discovered during consumer testing of the new Lightguide bulb line has caused the company to stop making the triangle- and globe-shaped bulbs. Kelly Hrank, public relations lead of Signify, which owns Philips Hue, confirmed the issue but said that the ellipse-shaped Lightguide bulb from the line that launched last year doesn’t suffer from the same problem and remains available.The news was first reported on HueBlog.de and confirmed to The Verge by Hrank. “After discussions with our suppliers, it came to light that there wasn’t a feasible solution to the aesthetic... Continue reading…
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by Justine Calma on (#68R32)
Aerial view on the White Lake in Tansen, Nepal, at sunrise. | Image: Frank Bienewald / LightRocket via Getty Images It might sound counterintuitive, but empowering locals to manage forests is an excellent way to preserve them. That strategy can even bring dwindling forests roaring back, NASA Earth Observatory’s recent “image of the day” shows us.NASA published a set of maps yesterday showing the incredible recovery Nepal’s forests have made over the past several decades thanks to a plan to put nearby communities in charge of conservation. You can see thin forest cover in the early 1990s, followed by a lush resurgence by the late 2010s. Forest cover almost doubled across the country between 1992 and 2016, the satellite imagery shows.“Once communities started actively managing the forests, they grew back mainly as a result of natural regeneration,” J... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#68QYJ)
Image: Sega Yoko Taro, known for offbeat RPGs like Nier: Automata and Nier: Replicant, is announcing his latest out-of-the-ordinary project: 404 Game Re:set, a free-to-play mobile game set in a universe where Sega runs the world. Seriously.Here’s the overview of the game from the Google Play listing:
by Victoria Song on (#68QYK)
Apple may not have added a camera to its Apple Watch yet, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t thought long and hard about it. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge While gadget patents don’t guarantee anything, they can offer a glimpse into areas a company is exploring. Earlier this week, Apple was granted a patent (US-11571048-B1) for an Apple Watch strap release mechanism that could potentially be used with a built-in camera. That, on its own, is a neat idea, but it’s also the third camera-related Apple Watch patent we’ve seen in recent years. The patent application was originally filed in 2019, so Apple engineers have clearly had wearable cameras on the brain for some time.First spotted by Patently Apple, the patent’s abstract and description section detail a strap with two segments and a “nest” portion. The concept was to create a quick and ergonomic way to pop the watch out of the strap.T... Continue reading…
by Ash Parrish on (#68QYM)
Universal Since Fast Five, each Fast & Furious movie has gotten more patently ridiculous than the last. The series has sent cars into space, returned two characters from the dead, and perhaps most incredulously, proposes that somehow John Cena and Vin Diesel are biological brothers. For the Fast X trailer, it feels like the series is taking a step back from its action movie power creep and returning to its roots as a good old-fashioned family drama with the occasional exploding car. After all, not too many places you can go once you’ve gone to space. Maybe underwater?Rita Moreno makes her Fast debut as Dominic Torretto’s (Vin Deisel) mother, and Jordana Brewster returns as his sister Mia. Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang,... Continue reading…
by Umar Shakir on (#68QYN)
Uber’s driver app with Apple CarPlay interface. | Image: Uber Uber’s driver app is getting Apple CarPlay support, which will enable drivers with iPhones to accept trip requests and navigate via their car’s infotainment screen. The feature is just now rolling out to Uber drivers and will be available to all drivers in the US by the end of the month.The Uber driver app running on CarPlay will let drivers view and accept trips, add more rides to their queue, and use Uber’s navigation to get to pickup and drop-off points. Additionally, drivers can view more route options, better see side streets, and look at heat maps to learn which areas are busy — all without needing to look at their phones. Image: Uber “Jenny?” Once available, the feature can be used by just opening the... Continue reading…
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by Sheena Vasani on (#68QYP)
The Beats Fit Pros are on sale for $149.95 and should arrive in time for Valentine’s Day. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Fret not! There’s no need to kick yourself if you’ve waited until the last minute to start shopping for a Valentine’s Day gift. As it turns out, there are still plenty of tech goodies you can pick up that’ll arrive in time for the holiday. And although Amazon Prime and Best Buy TotalTech subscribers can take advantage of free two-day shipping, non-members still have time to pick up a variety of gifts, from Amazon’s latest Kindle and the new Echo Dot to the third-gen AirPods and a smart mug that can keep your drink at the perfect temp.Below, we’ve rounded up an assortment of ideas, all of which should arrive before February 14th. And hey, if you’re a true procrastinator and stumble upon this article the night before V-Day, rest assured... Continue reading…
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#68QYQ)
Moon Girl and a pair of other kids dancing in a park. | Image: The Disney Channel Disney’s brilliant new Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur cartoon has smarts, style, substance, and one hell of a musical score. Continue reading…
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by Andrew Marino on (#68QHZ)
Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge It’s gotten a lot easier to buy an upgraded SSD for the Steam Deck, or to set up you own Mastodon instance. Continue reading…
by Sheena Vasani on (#68QSB)
The Echo Show 8 is on sale for its second-best price to date (with a free Echo Show 5 Kids). | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge It seems like whenever there’s a holiday approaching, discounts on Amazon’s popular smart displays pop up everywhere we look. Most of them are decent, but today’s bundle deal on the second-gen Echo Show 8 is great. Not only is the latest Echo Show 8 selling for $74.99 on Amazon — $50 off and its second-best price ever — but it comes with a free Echo Show 5 Kids. Given the latter smart display normally retails for $94.99, the current discount equates to a savings of $149.99.For the unfamiliar, the kid-friendly edition of the Echo Show 5 is nearly identical to the standard Echo Show 5. The only difference is that it comes with parental controls, a two-year warranty, and a vibrant, chameleon-like design. It’s also bundled with a year of... Continue reading…
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by Victoria Song on (#68QSC)
It’s an elegant device, but the ‘awareable’ may not appeal if cultivating mindfulness isn’t your main priority. Continue reading…
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#68QN9)
Illustration by Carlo Cadenas / The Verge Seven individuals connected to an infamous Russia-based cybercrime network that launched attacks against schools, hospitals, public utilities, and governments were exposed on Thursday after sanctions were imposed by US and UK authorities. The US Department of the Treasury and the UK Foreign Office released pictures of the seven individuals alongside their online aliases, full legal names, email addresses, and dates of birth.The accused cybercriminals had their assets frozen and face travel bans. The sanctions additionally prohibit companies and organizations in the US and UK from making funds available to the seven individuals, including extortion payments made in cryptocurrency.
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by Emme Hall on (#68QNA)
GM resurrected the Hummer as a luxury electric truck with off-road aspirations. But the end result is too big for the trail — too big for anywhere, really. The fact of the matter is the Hummer EV is too extra for its own good. Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#68QNB)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is getting ready to demonstrate how its new ChatGPT-like AI will transform its Office productivity apps. After announcing and demonstrating its Prometheus Model in its new Bing search engine earlier this week, Microsoft is gearing up to show how it will expand to its core productivity apps like Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the company is preparing to detail its productivity plans for integrating OpenAI’s language AI technology and its Prometheus Model in the coming weeks. The software giant is tentatively planning an announcement in March, highlighting how quickly Microsoft wants to reinvent search and its productivity apps through its OpenAI investments. ... Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#68QJ0)
Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is working to bring native support for RGB PC gaming accessories to Windows 11. The Windows lighting experience will include the ability for PC gamers to configure accessories with RGB lighting without having to install third-party software.Twitter user Albacore has spotted early work for integrating this new lighting experience into Windows 11 in the latest public test builds of the operating system. Options for controlling brightness, lighting effects, speed, and colors can all be found in the settings interface of Windows 11. There’s even a feature that will match your accessories to the Windows accent color.
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by Jon Porter on (#68QFB)
A promotional image for the Wildebeest project. | Image: Cloudflare Wildebeest is a new project from Cloudflare that’s designed to make it easier for individuals to set up and run their own Mastodon-compatible servers. It highlights one of the key strengths of Mastodon over centralized competitors like Twitter, which is that anyone can host an instance of the microblogging service that’s connected it to the wider network (aka Fediverse).“You can quickly deploy your Mastodon-compatible server on top of Cloudflare and connect it to the Fediverse in minutes,” Cloudflare’s Celso Martinho and Sven Sauleau write in a co-authored blog post. “You don’t need to worry about maintaining or protecting it from abuse or attacks; Cloudflare will do it for you automatically.”Cloudflare’s Wildebeest helps configure... Continue reading…
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by Umar Shakir on (#68QFC)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) has exonerated Tesla’s Autopilot system as the cause of a fatal and fiery Texas crash involving a Tesla Model S in 2021. Investigators for the NTSB issued their final report this week that determined the driver was operating the vehicle up until it impacted the tree and that they had been under the influence of alcohol and drugs (via Ars Technica).Here’s the probable cause as written in the NTSB’s final conclusion:
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by Mitchell Clark on (#68Q6T)
The Verge The latest Chrome beta, version 111, includes a trial for a feature that could make the browser’s picture-in-picture feature significantly more useful. Instead of being only for playing videos, Google’s looking into letting it display basically any web content in a floating window that stays on top of all your other windows.There are quite a few ways this feature, which is called Document Picture-in-Picture, could be useful. Some of Google’s examples are mostly just spins on how picture-in-picture already works, such as video players but with custom UI (such as buttons to like or dislike a video, a timeline, or captions), or a miniplayer for video conferences that let you see a grid of people and access controls to mute yourself or... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#68Q3Z)
Image: Google Google wants to make it easier for others to make powerful mixed reality experiences with the official release of a new Google Cloud tool, Immersive Stream for XR. The tool lets you scan a QR code or click a link to access a mixed reality experience, and behind the scenes, Google Cloud GPUs will host, render, and stream those experiences to your device, according to a blog post.Google says it’s already using the technology for its new immersive view in Google Maps, which lets you look at a 3D model of certain cities overlaid with details like traffic and nearby restaurants. But the company is also highlighting other ways to use Immersive Stream for XR, like for placing virtual furniture in augmented reality (not exactly a new idea) or... Continue reading…
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by Sean Hollister on (#68Q40)
Ready to open up my Steam Deck. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Game recognizes game. Framework, maker of the modular Framework Laptop, is now stocking a part for the other easily repairable portable PC that’s been making headlines — Valve’s Steam Deck. You can now buy a 2TB SSD upgrade from the company, and it might be the easiest way to do so yet.See, while it’s fairly easy to replace the Steam Deck’s SSD, it’s not quite as easy to buy the right parts. The Steam Deck uses the smallest kind of modular SSD — the M.2 2230, which measures just 30mm long — and it’s only designed to fit a single-sided one, which has flash memory chips on one side. Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Two M.2 2230 drives, one with an EMI shield. More importantly, M.2 2230 drives are generally... Continue reading…
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by Justine Calma on (#68Q41)
A monkey with a Neuralink implanted in its brain. | The Verge Elon Musk’s brain implant company is under investigation by the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) after allegations surfaced today that it may have illegally transported pathogen-laced devices removed from monkeys.An animal welfare group raised concerns in a letter sent to the USDOT today asking it to investigate Musk’s company Neuralink “for violations of the federal hazardous material transportation law and fine it accordingly.”Neuralink aims to develop a device capable of controlling a computer when implanted in the brain. But Neuralink already faces a federal probe following previous allegations of animal abuse and rushed experiments leading to unnecessary deaths.“We take these allegations very seriously”The letter was... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#68Q42)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Kraken will end its crypto staking program in the US and pay $30 million in penalties as part of a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The regulator charged the company with selling unregistered securities through its “crypto asset staking-as-a-service program.” It’s been clear for a while now that the SEC was planning to clamp down on crypto yield programs. In 2021, it got into a spat with Coinbase over the exchange’s plans to launch a lending feature in the US, and last year, it (and several states) settled with BlockFi for $100 million over the company’s interest accounts.Kraken will continue to offer staking outside the US via a separate subsidiaryCoinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted concern about “rumors” the... Continue reading…
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by Zoe Schiffer on (#68Q13)
Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge The chaos continues inside Twitter 2.0 as employees worry about what will break, what will get them fired, and what will get them busted by the FTC. Continue reading…
by Jay Peters on (#68Q14)
Land an awesome jump? Clip it. | Image: Epic Games Epic Games has just released Postparty, a new iOS and Android app to help you share clips from your Fortnite games on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC. You can already capture gameplay on your own on those platforms, but Postparty is designed to make it easier to save, edit, and share your clips. Postparty also works with Rocket League, though only on PlayStation and Xbox for now.To make clips using Postparty, download it from the mobile store of your choice and log in with your Epic Games account. Make sure the Fortnite or Rocket League account you want to make clips with is tied to your account, then jump into a game to start clipping.I tried Postparty in a round of Fortnite, and as soon as I landed on the island, I started... Continue reading…
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#68Q15)
Image: 1password 1Password is announcing today that, one day soon, it will support the option to create and unlock 1Password accounts using biometric-based passkey technology, ditching the feature that is the name of its entire product.“For passkeys to be the way forward, it’s not enough for them to replace some of your passwords,” said 1Password chief product officer Steve Won. “They have to be able to replace all passwords – including the one you use to unlock 1Password.”This follows the password manager’s announcement in November last year, where it revealed customers will be able to securely log in to apps and websites through its platform using passkeys sometime in “early 2023.” 1Password has since confirmed to The Verge that users can expect... Continue reading…
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by Richard Lawler on (#68P7A)
Samus from Metroid Prime Remastered. | Image: Nintendo And a chaotic day for Twitter. Continue reading…
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#68PXD)
Spider-Man Noir holding on to a lit match. | Image: Sony / Marvel Studios Spider-Man Noir might not be returning in Sony’s upcoming Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequels, but apparently the hardboiled, black-and-white Marvel hero is about to make his live-action debut in a new Amazon series.Variety reports that Sony and Amazon are developing a currently untitled Spider-Man series that “will follow an older, grizzled superhero in 1930s New York City.” The new show — which is being executive produced by Oren Uziel, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal — will be set in its own universe and will not focus on Peter Parker. Word of the new series comes just a few weeks after Nicolas Cage — who voiced a version of Spider-Man Noir in Into the Spider-Verse — told Screen Rant that he hadn’t been asked to... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#68PXE)
Samus is back on Nintendo Switch. | Image: Nintendo Metroid Prime is my favorite game of all time. It was the Super Mario 64 of Metroid, brilliantly ushering the sci-fi platformer series from 2D to 3D. Obviously, I was thrilled to hear about Nintendo’s surprise release of Metroid Prime Remastered, which you can play right now. But I’ll admit that I was a touch nervous to return to the game, which I hadn’t played in years. Would it hold up? In my first hour with Remastered, the answer so far is definitely yes.I was overcome by waves of nostalgia from the moment I booted up the game. The glitchy, electronic, and somewhat spooky theme song is just as effective at setting the tone of the game as it was when I first played Metroid Prime in 2002 on the GameCube. So is the legendary main menu... Continue reading…
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by James Vincent on (#68PRH)
Image: The Verge Microsoft and Google say a new era of AI-assisted search is coming. But as with any new era in tech, it comes with plenty of problems, from bullshit generation to culture wars and the end of ad revenue. Continue reading…
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by Andrew Webster on (#68PRJ)
Image: Netflix Things aren’t looking so great for John Luther in the first trailer for Luther: The Fallen Sun. The upcoming Netflix film sees Idris Elba return as the beleaguered detective, and the new clip shows him breaking out of prison in order to solve a crime that continues to haunt him before going up against a menacing new villain played by Andy Serkis.The movie itself is a continuation of Luther the TV series, which ended in 2019 after five seasons. In addition to Elba and Serkis, it also stars Cynthia Erivo and Dermot Crowley, who reprises his role as detective superintendent Martin Schenk. It’s directed by Jamie Payne, who directed several episodes of the show, with a screenplay from series creator Neil Cross. With all of these familiar... Continue reading…
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#68PRK)
Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, two of Zootpia’s anthropomorphic animal cops. | Image: Disney Following last month’s rumblings that Disney might be gearing up for a massive round of layoffs, CEO Bob Iger confirmed during this week’s earning call that the company plans to let go of 7,000 employees in an effort to deal with our current “challenging economic environment.” Firing off swaths of workers is one way to cut costs in the short term, but as Iger looks to the future, he also sees doubling down on the studio’s massive movie franchises with sequels as its key to continued growth.Iger insisted on Wednesday that this newest chapter of Disney’s story will be defined by structural transformation meant to “improve margins and returns and better [position’] us to weather future disruption.” But the newly returned CEO also made... Continue reading…
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by Andrew Webster on (#68PRM)
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening on Nintendo Switch Online. | Image: Nintendo With the way Nintendo tends to drip-feed retro releases, it’s easy to forget that it operates an excellent subscription service for fans of classic games. It’s one that showed a lot of promise at launch, and since then, it has steadily grown into something that largely fulfills that promise. There are still some issues, but it’s affordable and convenient — and with the recent addition of Game Boy games, it now has a very impressive library with plenty of room to grow.In case you missed it, Nintendo both announced and launched Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games as part of its NSO subscription during its first Nintendo Direct of the year last night. Right now, there are nine original Game Boy titles available — including classics like M... Continue reading…
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by Victoria Song on (#68PRP)
The CSA announced it’s putting together a Health and Wellness Working Group. | Image: Connectivity Standards Alliance The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), the group behind Matter, announced today that it’s putting together a working group to build a standards and certification program for health and wellness technology — basically, a specialized “Matter” that zeroes in on how Internet of Things devices can work together with wearables and other future forms of health tech.Matter is a new smart home standard that allows IoT devices to communicate with each other regardless of which company made them. So long as you know a smart home device supports Matter, you know they’ll play nicely together. The CSA’s new Health and Wellness Working Group aims to apply the same concept to health and wellness tech. The ultimate goal is to help people age... Continue reading…
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#68PRN)
Image: Getty Redwood Materials, the electric vehicle battery recycling venture founded by the former chief technologist at Tesla, has secured a $2 billion green energy loan from the Biden administration in what clearly is a major win for the nascent operation.The loan originates from the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, which famously helped put Tesla on the map and more recently provided a boost for a joint venture of General Motors and LG Energy Solution to help fund the construction of a new lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility. US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is scheduled to tour Redwood’s facility in Nevada on Thursday to announce the loan.Redwood recently announced plans to build a... Continue reading…
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by Umar Shakir on (#68PRQ)
Image: Tim Stevens for The Verge Lucid is giving buyers a $7,500 credit when purchasing some models of its luxury Air electric sedans. The company is the latest EV maker to offer a discount in what some auto industry experts see as a slowly developing price war for plug-in models.The credit applies to select Air configurations for the Touring and Grand Touring models — but does not include the Stealth model, PurLuxe interior, or metal roof trims. The discount offer starts today and applies to US customers who order their vehicles by March 31st and take delivery by April 30th of this year.Lucid is matching the federal EV tax creditThe amount of the credit offered by Lucid matches the federal EV tax credit that applies to sedans that cost less than $55,000 and SUVs... Continue reading…
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by Nathan Edwards on (#68PP6)
Don’t tell me where the Command key is. It’s wherever I want it to be. | Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Say you’re a Mac user who just got a fancy new keyboard, but it has a Windows layout. Or you want to use the same keyboard with both Windows and Mac machines. Or you’ve gotten used to a specific layout, and now your muscle memory is all wrong.The biggest differences between Macs and Windows PCs are in the bottom row modifier keys. Windows computers have Ctrl, Win, and Alt, whereas Macs have Control, Option, and Command. macOS automatically maps the Alt to Option and Win to Command. But Windows uses the Control key for most of the shortcuts that Macs use the Command key for, which means you have to remember to copy / paste using your pinkie on one computer and using your index finger on another. Who wants that?You could try to rewire... Continue reading…
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by Sheena Vasani on (#68PP7)
Amazon’s Halo Rise smart lamp has returned to its lowest price to date. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Buying Amazon’s Halo Rise is kind of like purchasing a smart alarm clock, a sunrise lamp, and a contactless sleep tracker at the same time. The versatile gadget can function as all three and offers great value for your money, especially since it’s available at an all-time low of $109.99 ($40 off) at Amazon and Best Buy right now.For those unfamiliar with Amazon’s newest wellness gadget, here’s the rundown: the Rise acts as a good smart lamp that’s compatible with Echo devices but can also mimic natural morning light, helping you to wake up during your lightest sleep stage. It also doubles as a decent sleep tracker that produces daily reports — so long as you position it correctly on your bedside table — and it can monitor your bedroom’s... Continue reading…
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by Patrick George on (#68PH4)
Image: Nilay Patel / The Verge At this point, just about every car company has committed to spending the next few years adding electric and hybrid vehicles to their fleets or eventually phasing out internal combustion engines entirely.But in a new climate study released this week, EV startups Rivian and Polestar have a more dire message: electrification alone will not be enough.A new climate report from global management consulting firm Kearney commissioned by the two automakers indicates that, despite a massive rollout of new EVs and hybrids in the coming years, the global automotive industry is still “far off track” on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in a way that can meet targets set by the Paris agreement. And that does not even account for emissions from the... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#68PEP)
Regulators believe that Stadia’s comparatively limited game library contributed to its demise and fear Microsoft could similarly limit cloud gaming competitors by purchasing Activision Blizzard. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge When Google announced last year that it was closing down Stadia because the cloud gaming service hadn’t “gained enough traction,” it wasn’t abundantly clear exactly how the platform stacked up against competitors like Nvidia’s GeForce Now and Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming. Now, statistics shared by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) show that Stadia had a significantly smaller presence than rival services, with an estimated zero to 5 percent share of the cloud gaming market in 2022 (via 9to5Google).The CMA said that its findings are based on global information provided directly by each company. The charts don’t include actual figures, and Google has remained tight-lipped regarding how many subscribers Stadia actually had.... Continue reading…
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by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy on (#68PEQ)
TP-Link launches its Tapo robot vacuum line this week. | Image: TP-Link If you don’t like emptying your robot vacuum but also don’t like the idea of shelling out over $500 for an auto-empty model, TP-Link’s new budget robot vac might be for you. It doesn’t empty itself, but thanks to a large 800ml bin, the company says you only have to deal with that dusty mess twice a month.The Tapo RV10 Lite is one of the first robot vacs from the brand known for its Wi-Fi routers. And in line with TP-Link’s reputation for high-tech at low prices, it’s a seriously budget bot. The Lite features the big bin and costs $229.99, while its mopping-capable sibling, the Tapo RV10, has a smaller bin but room for a 300ml mopping reservoir on board. It costs $249.99.There’s no lidar navigation, obstacle avoidance, or mapping at... Continue reading…
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by Jon Porter on (#68PAJ)
The Realme GT Neo 5 in black, purple, and white. | Image: Realme This is getting ridiculous. Realme has just announced a new smartphone, the Realme GT Neo 5, that supports up to 240W fast charging. According to GSMArena, that will make it the fastest charging smartphone on the market, faster than the 210W offered by the Redmi Note 12 Discovery Edition, and almost 100W faster than the 150W charging offered by OnePlus devices like the 10T. 240W is in line with the latest USB power spec announced by the USB-IF in 2021.In practical terms, we’re really hitting the point of diminishing returns with fast charging wattage this high on smartphones. Realme advertises that the GT Neo 5’s 4,600mAh battery can be charged to 100 percent in nine and a half minutes thanks to its 240W charging. That’s super fast, but... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#68NW2)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter appears to be recovering from having technical issues that prevented people from tweeting, though problems with DMs, and accessing TweetDeck are still seemingly persisting. Downdetector reports that the problems started around 4:30PM ET, and the unfettered ability to tweet came back around an hour and a half later.The company has said it’s aware of the existing issues, and is working on fixing them.Tweets were visible during the partial outage, but several Verge staff members got a message saying that they were “over the daily limit for sending Tweets” when trying to post or retweet someone else’s post. Some Twitter users said were able to work around the error by scheduling tweets in the future.
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by Chris Welch on (#68NZ3)
The Verge During Sonos’ Q1 2023 earnings call, CEO Patrick Spence expressed the usual optimism about his company’s financial performance, sales momentum, and upcoming product roadmap. This man really loves the word “flywheel,” folks. But he also took clear jabs at Big Tech competitors, including Amazon, Google, and Apple, for barely putting up a fight in recent months.With Amazon rumored to be taking a hard look at its ambitions surrounding Alexa and Echo products and Google largely focused on all things Pixel, Spence said that Sonos faced no serious competition during the crucial holiday quarter. “We’ve gone through fiscal Q1, which is the height of the consumer electronics and audio season and, you know, it was... we’ve seen some of the... Continue reading…
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by Andrew Webster on (#68NW3)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The latest Nintendo Direct had all the big names — well, aside from Mario. But we got a fresh trailer for the next Zelda game, a surprise launch of the original Metroid Prime, a release date for Pikmin 4, and the addition of Game Boy games to the Switch Online subscription service. Plus, there were some excellent announcements for RPG nerds. Here’s everything you might have missed.A new look at The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the KingdomThe wait for the sequel to Breath of the Wild has been tough, but at least we have a new trailer to make things a little easier. The latest is very dramatic.Metroid Prime gets a remasterThe long-awaited remaster of the original Metroid Prime is making its way to the Switch, and it’s happening very... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#68NW4)
Image: Nintendo Following in the footsteps of Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo is venturing into the world of $70 games with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, according to the game’s eShop page.Sony made the jump with the release of the PS5 in 2020, meaning PS5 exclusives like Demon’s Souls and Returnal cost that higher price. Microsoft said in December that its “new, built for next-gen, full-priced games” be more expensive moving forward as well, so if you want to buy games like Forza Motorsport, Redfall, and Starfield outright, you’re going to put aside a little more cash. And the era of the $70 game arguably arrived last fall, with third-party games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and The Callisto Protocol carrying that higher pricetag.To... Continue reading…
by Jay Peters on (#68NW5)
Image: Nintendo Nintendo released a new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom at its Nintendo Direct showcase on Wednesday. The trailer gave us our best look at the new game yet, though is light on specific details; seems like Nintendo doesn’t want to spoil too much about the game even though we are just a few months away from release.At the beginning, a mysterious, foreboding voice (Ganondorf?) demands that his “servants” eliminate the kingdom of Hyrule and its allies. Seems bad, especially when coupled with shots of the blood moon looming over the land — the forces of evil appear to be back in force.But there is also a lot of joy in the trailer. Link soars through the skies, skates on a rail, and drives a car and some sort of... Continue reading…