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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#686DJ)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Rad Power Bikes’ new CEO, Phil Molyneux, said the company has “made mistakes” surrounding safety and reliability but vows to do better in the future.In a letter to customers, Molyneux said the e-bike company will have “a laser focus on safety and reliability” going forward in order to ensure its bikes are the best on the market. The letter appears to be a response to a recent recall of over 30,000 electric cargo bikes for misaligned tires, as well as several lawsuits related to the safety of its products.“Since its inception, Rad Power Bikes has set both the pace and the standard for the ebike revolution. This road hasn’t always been easy and we’ve faced numerous challenges,” Molyneux writes. “As a young company, we recognize that we... 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 17:48 |
by Ash Parrish on (#686DK)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Twitch is sharing a road map for features it’s working on for 2023. Among them are changes to the way ads are run, new first-party tools to help with chat engagement, and tools to help streamers manage their brand deals. But the biggest is making pre-roll ads less annoying.For 2023, Twitch is working on changing how ads are displayed during a stream. As described in an open letter from chief product officer Tom Verrilli and chief monetization officer Mike Minton:
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by Emma Roth on (#686DM)
Illustration: The Verge Google will let Android users in India use third-party billing options starting next month as part of its compliance with a ruling from the country’s antitrust authority, the company announced in a blog post on Wednesday. The search giant will also give users the ability to choose their default search engine “via a choice screen” whenever they start setting up a new Android phone or tablet.In October of last year, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) hit Google with a $162 million fine for “abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in the Android Mobile device ecosystem.” The CCI also imposed a series of directives, forcing Google to allow users to pick their own search engine as well as let users uninstall the Google-owned... Continue reading…
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by Verge Staff on (#686DN)
Image: Jay Peters / The Verge Most of us keep more on our desks than our laptops, monitors, and keyboards. Gamers will have a high-end microphone and / or camera, not to mention their various consoles and keyboards; tech enthusiasts will have video setups, Stream Decks, and multiple monitors; and many of our desktops are covered with a variety of stuff, anything from a bullet journal and a favorite mug to a cool windup toy.We asked the staff of The Verge what they keep on their desks. Here are some of the answers we got.Pen holder Photo by Barbara Krasnoff / The Verge Levenger pen holder Years ago (more than I care to remember), a freelance writer who was both excellent at her craft and one of the nicest people I’ve known gave me a... Continue reading…
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#686DP)
You could save $206 if you’re up for a dual DualUp setup and get two of them. | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Feeling up for a deal on a strange gadget? The LG DualUp monitor is currently on sale for $596.99 at Amazon and B&H Photo or $599.99 at Best Buy. That’s a little over $100 off this 27.6-inch monitor that’s particularly good at helping you get work done. It has an almost square vertical aspect ratio of 16:18 and QHD resolution of 2560 x 2880, letting you view and stack multiple windows with ease. It also supports USB-C video with 90W of charging support to keep your laptop battery full while plugged in.Computer monitors have been getting more interesting recently, especially in the gaming space with OLEDs. But I’d argue there isn’t a monitor more unique and interesting in the productivity or creative space than the DualUp. It comes with... Continue reading…
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#6868Y)
A.J. Lister as Lila in Birth/Rebirth. | Image: Shudder There are multiple moments throughout director Laura Moss’ brilliant new psychological horror drama Birth/Rebirth that are so abjectly brutal that the festival goers who reportedly fell ill while watching the movie at this year’s Sundance could almost be forgiven for their theatrics. Birth/Rebirth’s story of two unlikely kindred spirits finding one another in the midst of tragedy is both disturbing and moving as it reworks pieces of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein into a modern-day myth about motherhood and mortality.Between its unflinching focus on the dangers of pregnancy and its depiction of the violence hidden throughout the US healthcare system, Birth/Rebirth might leave you feeling deeply unsettled. But as macabre as the movie gets,... Continue reading…
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by Jacob Kastrenakes on (#6868Z)
The Verge is excited to announce that Hot Pod Summit — our invite-only event for creators, decision-makers, and trendsetters in the audio industry — is returning to Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn. On February 23rd, we’ll be holding a day-long summit of panels, conversations, and interactive programming exploring the latest developments in podcasting, audiobooks, and more. The event will be led by Ariel Shapiro, Hot Pod’s lead writer, and feature appearances from Nicholas Quah, author of Vulture’s 1.5x Speed newsletter and the founder of Hot Pod, and Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge.We’re thrilled to once again be partnering with the incredible team at work x work to produce the event. Hot Pod Summit is part of work x work’s On Air... Continue reading…
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by Casey Newton on (#68690)
Illustration: The Verge Today let’s talk about a major new antitrust case against Google, and the increasing likelihood that something at the company is going to have to give.I.I’ll dive into some of the specifics of the case shortly. But the first thing to note is the growing consensus around the world that Google is too dominant, which has put more pressure on the United States to act.Since 2017, when the European Commission fined Google a then-record $2.73 billion for self-preferencing with its comparison shopping service, the company has faced a steady drumbeat of regulators accusing it of antitrust violations.In 2018, EU antitrust regulators fined Google $4.3 billion for requiring smartphone makers to bundle and include the company’s apps with Android.... Continue reading…
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by Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz on (#68693)
Illustration by Tony Johnson / The Verge Asking a dating exec how their matchmaking algorithm works is like asking Coca-Cola for its top-secret formula: they’ll tell you it’s a mystery, that it’s too hard to explain, that they simply cannot talk about it, Fight Club style.Tinder says that it looks at things like app usage, profile details, and swipe history to find your matches. Bumble also says it looks at your swipe history, while Hinge didn’t say much, except that its “proprietary algorithm” was based on work done by two Nobel Prize-winning mathematicians.But there’s a reason why these companies are so cagey about their code. Mathematician Cathy O’Neil says she thinks that if daters really knew how basic the algorithms are, they might not put so much blind faith into... Continue reading…
by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#68692)
The electric Acura ZDX, due out in 2024 and seen here in camouflage, will be the automaker’s first EV sold exclusively online. | Image: Acura Honda is restructuring its business as it looks ahead to achieving 100 percent electric vehicle sales by 2040. As such, the company announced that all of its Acura-branded EVs will be sold exclusively online, starting with the ZDX SUV, due out next year.The company is shaking up its leadership roster and creating a new division to handle sales, marketing, and communications for its budding EV business. And it is positioning its luxury and performance brand Acura as the “tip of the spear” in its shift to EVs, which includes improved software services and, most notably, e-commerce.That’s all starting with the RDX and RDX Type S, presales of which begin later this year, with customer deliveries expected in 2024. The Acura ZDX, a luxury... Continue reading…
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by Ash Parrish on (#68643)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Today, Xbox and Bethesda are giving fans the first developer showcase of 2023.Tune in to either Xbox’s (or Bethesda’s) Twitch or YouTube channels at 12PM PT / 3PM ET for news covering Redfall, Forza Motorsport, and more.If you’re anxious to get another glimpse at Starfield, which Xbox has stated is due to release in the first half of 2023, you’re going to have to wait. Xbox included in its livestream announcement that it’s planning for Starfield to have its own showcase at a later date.During the presentation, Redfall will reportedly get several minutes of gameplay in hopes of drumming up hype for its intended release, which is slated for sometime in the first half of 2023. It also looks like we’ll get the first look at the latest F... Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#68644)
Image: Bungie Destiny 2 has been forced offline for more than 17 hours, after Bungie issued a faulty patch that caused issues for players. Bungie issued a regular game patch to tweak Destiny 2’s sandbox on Tuesday, but many players quickly realized the game had deleted triumphs, seals, and catalysts. Bungie’s fix will involved rolling back its servers.Bungie brought Destiny 2 offline to investigate the issue at 2PM ET on Tuesday, two hours after the patch was first released. After hours of testing and investigation, Bungie confirmed it will be “rolling back all player accounts to their state as of 8:20AM PST.”
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by Tom Warren on (#68645)
Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is reportedly working on a big update to the File Explorer in Windows 11 that will improve its UI and features. Windows Central reports that the overhaul will include modern designs to match the rest of Windows 11, and features to more deeply integrate Microsoft 365 and OneDrive.Internal mockups show a redesigned header in the File Explorer, alongside an updated search box and new home button. The home page of File Explorer also includes deeper Microsoft 365 integration, listing large thumbnails of documents that include items related to meetings, downloads, and comments from colleagues. Image: Windows Central A mockup of Microsoft’s rumored Windows 11 File Explorer changes. The UI changes are subtle... Continue reading…
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by Jon Porter on (#68646)
ASML CEO Peter Wennink. | Image: Getty A key supplier of chip manufacturing tools believes that demand for semiconductors could pick back up in the second half of this year, CNBC and the Financial Times report. “Most of our customers tell us that they expect a recovery in the second half of this year,” ASML CEO Peter Wennink tells CNBC. The prediction comes after a difficult few months for the tech industry that has been marked by layoffs and a slump in demand for consumer tech following a pandemic boom.ASML is a lesser known, but critical player in the global semiconductor supply chain. The FT notes it’s the only company in the world that produces the extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines needed to produce today’s most advanced chips. ASML’s customers include TSMC,... Continue reading…
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6860G)
As Stadia players mourn the loss of their cloud gaming platform, alternative services are offering free trials to tempt new users. | Image: The Verge Free trials are being issued for alternative cloud gaming services like Nvidia’s GeForce Now and Amazon Luna following the shutdown of Google Stadia on January 18th. As reported by 9to5Google, Game publisher Ubisoft has emailed a one-month trial for a GeForce Now Priority membership to Ubisoft account holders today, offering Nvidia’s game streaming service as a way to play Ubisoft games now that Stadia is no longer available.The Priority tier for GeForce Now typically costs $10 a month and includes streaming up to 1080p / 60fps, raytracing where available, and access to six-hour sessions with no cap (unlike the base tier which is limited to one-hour sessions). GeForce Now is one of the better streaming services available, and the... Continue reading…
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by Jon Porter on (#685X9)
The Bowers and Wilkins PI7 S2. | Image: Bowers and Wilkins Two years after releasing its first pair of true wireless earbuds, Bowers and Wilkins is here with two updated models. The $399 (£349 / €399) PI7 S2 are the higher end of the two, with dual drivers, more microphones, and the ability to use their charging case to transmit audio from a wired source (like an in-flight entertainment system) when Bluetooth isn’t an option. There’s also the step-down $299 (£249 / €299) PI5 S2.Both earbuds now offer five hours of listening on a single charge. That’s up from four hours for the original PI7 earbuds, and 4.5 hours for the original PI5s, though it falls short of our current top wireless earbud picks, the Sony WF-1000XM4, which offer eight hours of playback, as well as the six-hour AirPods Pro 2.... Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#685XA)
The Verge Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and other Microsoft 365 services are currently down for thousands of users worldwide due to a networking issue. The software maker says it has “identified a potential networking issue” and is troubleshooting a fix to bring services back online.Microsoft is now rolling back a network change and is monitoring its services to make sure they’re back online. That means Microsoft Teams and Outlook users should start to see the service coming back to life soon.Thousands of users reported issues early this morning at around 2:30AM ET, with services like Microsoft Teams and Outlook email not loading for many across Europe and Asia. Microsoft lists the following Microsoft 365 services as affected:
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#684NT)
The Lightyear 0 at its unveiling last year. | Image: Lightyear Plus more details about Apple’s long-rumored VR / AR headset. Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#685N6)
The Gigafactory. | Image: Tesla Tesla is investing more than $3.6 billion into its Reno, Nevada Gigafactory, and with part of the cash, it plans to build its “first high-volume Semi factory,” according to a blog post published Tuesday.The company officially delivered the first of its long-delayed electric Semi trucks to PepsiCo in December, but it appears Tesla is ready to significantly expand its production of the new vehicle. However, Tesla’s blog post doesn’t specify how many trucks the factory might make on a regular basis or when it’s expected to open, so it might be awhile before that high volume kicks in.
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by Mitchell Clark on (#685N7)
A previous-generation 14-inch MacBook Pro with a potentially faster SSD than the the latest models. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The base level 14-inch M2 MacBook Pro reportedly has a slower SSD than its predecessor, according to tests done by 9to5Mac. In BlackMagic’s Disk Speed Test, the 512GB SSD in Apple’s latest flagship achieved read speed scores of around 2,970 MB/s and write speed scores of around 3,150 MB/s, compared to 4,900 MB/s reads and 3,950 MB/s writes that the M1 Pro with a 512GB SSD was capable of.That means the 2023 base model has around 39 percent slower reads and 20 percent slower writes than the one released in 2021.The reason for the difference is likely down to chips. According to 9to5Mac, the 512GB SSD in the previous-gen 14-inch had four NAND storage chips, whereas the one on the M2 Pro seems to have two. Those are obviously... Continue reading…
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by Emma Roth on (#685KK)
Lyft’s policy arrives a whole seven years after Uber implemented the same one. | Photo by Smith Collection / Gado / Getty Images Lyft is cracking down on late passengers. The ridesharing company quietly updated its support page with new wait time fees that it’ll charge at a per-minute rate, a policy that’s been around since December 2022, according to Lyft spokesperson Katie Kim (via TechCrunch).The wait time fees start two minutes after a driver arrives at your location or five minutes for Lux Black and Lux Black XL rides. If a driver reaches your location ahead of time, the wait time fees won’t kick in until two minutes after your scheduled pickup.Lyft doesn’t specify how much it’ll charge per minute and doesn’t outline any possible fees on its website. It only says that fees “vary by location” and that “additional wait time charges may apply to your trip... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#685KM)
I, too, am throwing my hands in the air for this change. | Image: Meta Meta is making a big improvement to controls in its social VR platform Horizon Worlds: jump is being remapped to the A button, according to a blog post about the app’s new v94 update.You might be surprised to hear that wasn’t the case before, especially given that the A button has been widely used for jumping in video games for decades. But before now, you jumped in Horizon Worlds by pressing the right thumbstick as if it was a button. If you ask me, that wasn’t ideal; not only is jump not where you might expect it to be but the right thumbstick is already used to rotate your character, so pushing down the stick to jump could also lead to accidental turns.The A button as the default will be in effect for “all players and worlds” with... Continue reading…
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by Ariel Shapiro on (#685J5)
Nick Barclay / The Verge Another week, another round of layoffs. This time, it is Spotify. CEO Daniel Ek informed employees yesterday morning that the company would be cutting 6 percent of its workforce and said he took “full accountability for the moves that got us here today.” The most high-profile change is the departure of chief content and advertising officer Dawn Ostroff. And while no additional shows have been cut, advertising and business employees, particularly under Podsights and Chartable, were laid off nearly a year after Spotify acquired both companies.Plus (and I am fully aware of how incongruous this is, apologies), we have some more announcements for Hot Pod Summit.After years of podcast acquisitions, Spotify goes leanSpotify built itself into... Continue reading…
by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#685J6)
Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge In testimony that was at times fiery and combative, Elon Musk came extremely close to expressing regret that Tesla investors lost money as a result of his tweets.Musk took the stand for a third day of testimony in a lawsuit brought by a class of Tesla investors who claim that Musk cost them millions of dollars with his tweets about taking the electric car company private in 2018.The jury will need to decide whether Musk is liable for potentially billions of dollars in damages to Tesla investors. Musk has already agreed to a $40 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the tweets that required him to relinquish his position as chair of the company but not admit to any wrongdoing. (Musk has since argued that... Continue reading…
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by Sean Hollister on (#685J7)
A see-through Steam Deck, with JSAUX’s backplate. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Silly me.I thought I was buying JSAUX’s transparent backplate for the Steam Deck for the bragging rights. Transparent gadgets are fun! But you know what’s cooler than seeing inside your Steam Deck? Having a Deck that runs cooler, too.I’m happy to report that after spending $30 on my very own JSAUX PC0106 Transparent Back Plate for Steam Deck, my original skepticism didn’t pan out. Not only does it look great, its built-in aluminum heatsink actually does help manage the $400 handheld gaming PC’s heat. And at just eight Phillips-head screws and a little prying to pop off your original backplate, it’s an easy mod to do. Comparing an original Steam Deck to one with the JSAUX backplate. Originally, I figured a sheet... Continue reading…
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by Barbara Krasnoff on (#685DW)
Samar Haddad / The Verge It’s a new year, and while we may have a variety of hopes for the coming year — a cessation or at least a lessening of disease and war might top some lists — one of the things that you can be sure you’ll have to deal with are your annual taxes. (The usual quote about death and taxes goes here.)While tax day traditionally has been set for April 15th, this year, we have until Tuesday, April 18th. (April 15th is a Saturday, while the following Monday is Emancipation Day, which is an official holiday in Washington, DC.)One thing to be aware of is that, while there were a number of changes that were in force during the pandemic, the IRS is slowly pulling back on them. They are listed on this page; in short, these changes include: no... Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#685DY)
Illustration: The Verge Microsoft has just posted the second quarter of its 2023 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $52.7 billion in revenue and a net income of $16.4 billion during Q2. Revenue is up 2 percent, but net income has dropped by 12 percent. The results come just days after Microsoft announced 10,000 layoffs.Microsoft previously forecast a tough quarter for Windows OEM revenue and hardware, and the results are clear on the state of the PC industry right now. PC shipments fell by 16 percent in 2022, according to analysis by Canalys, and Gartner reported a nearly 29 percent year-over-year drop in Q4 — the largest quarterly shipment decline since it began tracking the PC market in the mid-1990s. Microsoft’s Windows-related revenue has... Continue reading…
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by Umar Shakir on (#685DZ)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge GoTo, the remote collaboration and IT software company that owns LastPass, has confirmed that, along with LastPass’ password vaults, it had customer data taken by attackers during a November 2022 security breach (via TechCrunch).The company, which was formerly known as LogMeIn, is updating its blog post about the breach for the first time since November 30th, when GoTo confirmed “unusual activity” within its development environment and cloud storage service.Many of GoTo’s enterprise products were affected, including Central, Pro, join.me, Hamachi, and RemotelyAnywhere. GoTo CEO Paddy Srinivasan writes that a hacker “exfiltrated encrypted backups from a third-party cloud storage service” and acquired the encryption key for a portion of... Continue reading…
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by Makena Kelly on (#685E0)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google plans to end a controversial pilot program that allows political groups to bypass Gmail’s spam filters later this month, as first reported by The Washington Post Tuesday.Google launched the program last September in response to Republican accusations that the company’s algorithms disproportionately flag conservative fundraising emails as spam. The program allowed candidates, political party committees, and leadership political action committees to sign up with Google to make their messages exempt from the company’s spam detection systems.“We will keep investing in spam-filtering technologies that protect people from unwanted messages while still allowing senders to reach the inboxes of users who want to see those messages,”... Continue reading…
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by Emma Roth on (#6858B)
Illustration: The Verge Google’s facing a lawsuit from the US Department of Justice and eight states over its alleged monopoly on the digital advertising market. The agency accuses the company of abusing “monopoly power” at the disadvantage of websites and advertisers who use other advertising tools, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday (PDF).“Google’s anticompetitive behavior has raised barriers to entry to artificially high levels, forced key competitors to abandon the market for ad tech tools, dissuaded potential competitors from joining the market, and left Google’s few remaining competitors marginalized and unfairly disadvantaged,” the lawsuit reads.
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by Makena Kelly on (#685AH)
Taylor Swift fans demonstrate outside US Capitol as ticket industry executives testify to congress. | Photo by Drew Angerer / Getty Images Months after Ticketmaster botched sales for Taylor Swift’s most recent tour, a top executive from its parent company, Live Nation, faced scrutiny over its market dominance on Capitol Hill from senators and Swifties alike.Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee grilled Live Nation president and CFO Joe Berchtold throughout the hearing on Tuesday, arguing that the company’s control over the concert and events industry has harmed consumers. In her opening statement, antitrust committee chair Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) called Live Nation’s business model the “definition of monopoly.”“As millions of Taylor Swift fans found out last fall, there are few consequences for failing to deliver the service,” Klobuchar said Tuesday. “But whether... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#6858A)
Like most Mastodon clients, Ivory also has a cute elephant mascot — strange that no one ever does anything inspired by the band. | Image: Tapbots Ivory, a Mastodon client from the company behind the beloved and departed Tweetbot, has just launched on the iOS App Store. While it’s still in early access, many people (myself included) have been impressed with the alpha version that had a very limited number of slots; now, anyone on iOS can use it to cruise the fediverse, aka Mastodon’s network.The app comes from Tapbots, a company that recently had the rug pulled out from under it when Twitter banned third-party clients. Because Tapbots basically had to ship Ivory with very little warning, there are still a lot of missing features that may be available in more mature Mastodon clients or on the web. According to the company’s road map, it still has to add the ability to edit your... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#6841T)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Apple has released iOS 16.3, which adds the ability to use a security key to lock down your Apple ID and appears to bring the company’s Advanced Data Protection for iCloud feature to countries outside of the US. It also tweaks the Emergency SOS call system, includes a new “Unity” wallpaper, and adds new features for the existing HomePod Mini (as well as support for the second-gen HomePod).Last year, Apple announced the hardware key feature, which lets you use something like a Yubikey as a second factor to log in to your Apple account, as part of a push to help people lock down their iCloud accounts. Also included in that announcement was Advanced Data Protection, which expands the types of data that are end-to-end-encrypted in your... Continue reading…
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by Ash Parrish on (#6858C)
Image: Proletariat In a surprising and deeply ironic twist, the workers at Activision Blizzard-owned Proletariat have canceled their union election. A statement from the Communication Workers of America confirmed the news saying that Proletariat CEO Seth Sivak is to blame.“Like many founders, he took the workers’ concerns as a personal attack and held a series of meetings that demoralized and disempowered the group, making a free and fair election impossible,” read the CWA’s statement.Proletariat would have been Activision Blizzard’s third union after the success of QA-initiated unions at Raven Studios and, most recently, Blizzard Albany. Proletariat’s union bid was of particular interest as it would have been the first “wall-to-wall” unionization... Continue reading…
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#6858D)
Riot doesn’t believe that user data was compromised during the cyberattack but warns of wider consequences as a result of leaked source codes. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Riot Games has revealed that the source codes for its popular League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics, or TFT, video games were stolen in a recent security breach, alongside the code for one of its anti-cheat platforms. Riot disclosed the breach earlier this week on Twitter as a “social engineering attack” and reassured players that it would provide an update on the situation following an investigation.Now, in a statement posted on Twitter, the California-based video game developer says that the source code for League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, and a legacy version of the company’s anti-cheat platform were exposed in a cyberattack conducted by an unnamed group. Riot says that it also received a ransom email earlier today, which the... Continue reading…
by Victoria Song on (#6853D)
This is what Fatmap’s 3D outdoor maps on Strava could look like. | Image: Strava Strava routes are about to get three-dimensional. The popular fitness social network announced today that it’s acquired Fatmap, a mobile app known for its 3D maps for outdoor sports like hiking, trail running, skiing, and mountain biking.“Fatmap tech will power Strava maps for both free members and subscribers,” Strava spokesperson Janette Artea told The Verge, noting that subscribers will get more maps, discovery, and route planning features. It’s likely that’s to provide extra value to premium membership, especially since several Strava users were put off by a recent price hike. As for when the Fatmap integration will go live, Artea says that the company is aiming for the middle of the year. Image: Strava A... Continue reading…
by Andrew Webster on (#6853E)
Jacob Buster and Emma Tremblay in Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out. | Image: Sundance Institute It’s pretty easy to look at a film title like Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out — which, from now on, I’m just calling Aliens Abducted My Parents — and roll your eyes. It’s just so goofy. (And admittedly makes it really hard to write a headline for.) But it’s also incredibly fitting and does a great job of selling what this movie is all about. Director Jake Van Wagoner’s Aliens Abducted My Parents, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, is a lighthearted mashup of a family-friendly caper and coming-of-age tale, one that does just enough weird sci-fi stuff to help it get away with an otherwise formulaic story.Ten years ago, a young Calvin (Jacob Buster) was waiting on his roof with his dad (Will... Continue reading…
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by Richard Lawler on (#6602R)
It’s me, hi. I’m the problem, it’s me. After Ticketmaster’s site crumbled under the load of Taylor Swift fans trying to get concert tickets, the DOJ is reportedly investigating whether it’s part of an entertainment monopoly. Continue reading…
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by Andrew Webster on (#684Y3)
Alexander Skarsgård and Mia Goth (wearing masks, obviously) in Infinity Pool. | Image: Sundance Institute Even the worst vacation you’ve ever had — screaming kids, delayed flights, cruise ship food poisoning — has nothing on Infinity Pool, the latest from director Brandon Cronenberg (son of body horror master David Cronenberg). What starts as an escape to a picturesque resort swiftly turns into a bizarre and gruesome game of violence and brutality, with a little existential horror thrown in for good measure. Infinity Pool doesn’t fully explore the elements that kick off its high-concept premise, but it’s worth it to watch two talented actors absolutely lose their shit.The film takes place in the fictional country of Li Tolqa, where James (Alexander Skarsgård) and his wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman) are taking an all-inclusive vacation at a... Continue reading…
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by Chris Person on (#684Y4)
A little “industrial for some people’s tastes”, but to me these German Maestros are perfect. | Photo by Christopher Person / The Verge I hate buying something cheap. There is nothing worse than that sinking sensation when you open something up and know it’s not long for this world. I am also hard on my gear, which led me to buy these bulletproof headphones from an obscure company called German Maestro.But in order to talk about these headphones, I need to talk about a different pair of headphones first: the Sony MDR-7506 (and its discontinued brother, the Sony MDR-V6).I edit a lot of videos and do voiceover work. And if you have done any video work, you have almost certainly used a pair of Sony MDRs. They are iconic. You can spot the blue or red stripe and coiled cable from across a set. When you go to film school, you are basically issued a pair of MDRs like a... Continue reading…
by Allison Johnson on (#684Y5)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge When Google announced its new Pixel 7 and 7 Pro smartphones, it promoted a feature called Clear Calling that would improve audio on hard-to-hear phone calls. The feature wasn’t ready when the phones went on sale, but in December 2022, Google made it available for its two latest devices via feature drop.Here’s what Clear Calling does and how to enable it — which you should definitely do because it’s very good!Clear Calling is designed to reduce loud noises coming through from the other end of the line when you’re on a phone call. It only kicks in if the person you’re talking to is in a noisy environment, like a busy street or a cafe. When that happens, clear calling acts as a kind of noise cancellation to minimize the background... Continue reading…
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by Andrew Webster on (#684Y6)
Stephanie Hsu in Everything Everywhere All At Once. | Image: A24 Just a few weeks after the Golden Globes wrapped up, here we are talking about awards again thanks to the nominations for the 2023 Oscars.As expected, Everything Everywhere All At Once got a lot of love, nominated for best picture as well as directing (the Daniels), lead actress (Michelle Yeoh), supporting actress (Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu), and supporting actor (Ke Huy Quan). Elsewhere, there weren’t too many surprises, with the likes of The Banshees of Inisherin, The Fabelmans, and Tár getting plenty of nominations.On the blockbuster front, Avatar: The Way of Water got lots of technical award nominations — visual effects, sound, and production design — in addition to a best picture nod, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever... Continue reading…
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by Cameron Faulkner on (#684Y7)
The iPad Pro has a wide range of accessories, including the pricey Magic Keyboard shown here. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge B&H Photo has a great deal on the 11-inch iPad Pro that has the new M2 processor. The 128GB Wi-Fi version of the tablet in space gray costs $729 (originally $799), which matches the lowest price that we’ve seen so far. We last saw this price cut in mid-December right before the holidays, and B&H Photo is currently the only place you can get it (unless you ask, say, Best Buy to price match).We’ve hosted several iPad deals recently because they’ve been very good, even though some of the lower-cost options have caveats. This deal, however, is mostly caveat-free. The iPad Pro is for people who want The Best iPad in terms of performance, design, and features. It has the same M2 chip that’s found in Apple’s latest range of computers, though m... Continue reading…
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#684ST)
The flat monthly $5 fee for RxPass doesn’t increase even if users need multiple prescription medications each month. | Image: Amazon Amazon is launching RxPass in the US, a new drug subscription exclusive to Prime members that charges users a $5 monthly fee to ship eligible prescription medications to their doorstep. Announced on Tuesday in a press release, the Amazon RxPass subscription program provides generic medications to treat over 80 common health conditions, including high blood pressure, hair loss, anxiety, and acid reflux.The $5 charge includes the cost of delivery and is added to Prime customers’ existing monthly subscription fee. The RxPass fee is a flat rate and doesn’t increase even if users require multiple prescriptions each month. Medications can be delivered on either a monthly or quarterly basis depending on the prescription requirements.... Continue reading…
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by Umar Shakir on (#684SW)
Polestar 2 is looking like a new car in the front, but the rest remains familiar. | Image: Polestar Polestar has given its Polestar 2 EV a facelift, plus some other improvements for model year 2024. The maker of the fastback electric sedan has improved its drivable range (up to 300 miles on a single charge), and added more powerful motors. It’s also introducing a rear-wheel drive model alongside several smaller changes like wireless phone charging and driver awareness features now included as standard.The new Polestar 2’s most visible change comes in the form of a new flat front grille design, one that matches the looks of the automaker’s latest Polestar 3 SUV. Polestar calls this new grille the “SmartZone,” which houses components and sensors that are used for the car’s advanced safety and driver assistant features. SmartZone... Continue reading…
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by Victoria Song on (#684SV)
The Venu 2 Plus is getting an FDA-cleared EKG app. | Image: Garmin While smartwatch makers like Apple and Samsung are delving into rugged fitness, Garmin is shoring up its advanced health features. Today, the company announced that it’s adding FDA-cleared EKGs to its Venu 2 Plus smartwatch.The EKG app will allow Venu 2 Plus owners to record a 30-second electrocardiogram to screen for abnormal heart rhythms, which may be an indicator of atrial fibrillation. The results will be available immediately on the watch or can be viewed later in the Garmin Connect app. Venu 2 Plus owners will also be able to create historical EKG reports that can be shared with their doctor. To get the EKG feature, you’ll need to make sure the Venu 2 Plus and Garmin Connect app are updated to versions 10.06 and 4.56,... Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#684NS)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft has started testing a new split-screen feature for Edge that lets you compare two tabs side-by-side. The feature was first discovered by Leopeva64-2 on Reddit, and it’s available in an experimental flag in the beta, dev, and canary versions of Microsoft Edge. Once enabled, a new button appears alongside the address bar that lets you split an Edge window into two separate tabs side-by-side.While you can already compare tabs next to each other in Windows by dragging a tab and then using built-in Windows split views to place them side-by-side, it can be fiddly to achieve this unless you drag the tab all the way to the right- or left-hand side of your monitor. This built-in split view in Edge makes it easier in a single click,... Continue reading…
by Jess Weatherbed on (#684NV)
Webcams and other home office equipment were in short supply during global Covid lockdowns due to the shift towards working from home. Now, it seems the market is stabilizing, with Logitech sales falling by 22 percent YoY. | Image: Logitech Logitech published its quarterly financial results today, revealing that the company’s third-quarter sales fell 22 percent compared to Q3 last year. The decline confirms most of the preliminary results announced by the computer peripherals maker on January 11th, indicating a slowdown in customers buying home office and business equipment amid growing global inflation and the lifting of covid restrictions.Logitech’s revenue for the third quarter ending December 31st, 2022 fell to $1.27 billion, compared to the company’s preliminary figures showing that sales had fallen to between $1.26 and $1.27 billion. The company noted a decline in sales across all categories, with gaming falling 16 percent, video collaboration (conferencing... Continue reading…
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by Jon Porter on (#684NW)
Illustration: The Verge WhatsApp’s new macOS app is now widely available for download, WABetaInfo reports, and can be grabbed from the official WhatsApp website.The messaging service has previously offered a web wrapped version of its web app as a macOS app, but the new version is a native app that makes more efficient use of system resources. It also features a tweaked three-panel interface that offers easier access to archived chats, starred messages, and calls. Although it’s now widely available, the new app is still in beta for the time being.WABetaInfo reports that the new Mac app is built using Catalyst, Apple’s cross-platform development framework that’s mainly talked about as a way of easily bringing iPad apps to the Mac. But despite an official... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#684CW)
Remember this logo? I bet you don’t. | Image: ZenKey Do you remember ZenKey, the app that AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint (gone, but not forgotten) pushed as the future of logging in to services without a password? If you do, you may be one of the only ones — as LightReading points out, it appears as though the joint venture quietly crumbled after the service started rolling out in 2019.Originally announced as “Project Verify” in 2018, ZenKey was meant to be a single sign-on system, similar to the sign in with Google or Apple buttons that you see on various websites. The idea was that each carrier would offer an app that could verify your identity, then act as a pass whenever you went to log into a supported website or carry out something like a bank transfer. In theory, it could be... Continue reading…