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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram has removed its standalone Boomerang and Hyperlapse apps from Apple’s App Store and Google Play, as reported by TechCrunch. The removal comes shortly after Instagram’s February 28th announcement that it would stop supporting the IGTV app, and the changes indicate that Instagram is opting to consolidate some of its separate offerings to focus on the main Instagram app.“We’ve removed support for the standalone Boomerang and Hyperlapse apps to better focus our efforts on the main app,” Instagram spokesperson Christine Pai said in a statement to The Verge. “Boomerang is still supported in-app in Stories, and Layout remains a standalone app in the Store. We’ll continue working on new ways for people to be creative and have fun on... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Ubisoft and Take-Two Interactive are suspending game sales in Russia in light of its invasion of Ukraine, joining a growing list of companies that have decided to cut ties with the country (via Engadget).In an updated post on its blog, Ubisoft announced its decision to pause sales in Russia, citing the “ongoing tragedy in Ukraine.” The blog post itself doesn’t go into detail about the ban, but a report from Bloomberg indicates it includes both physical and digital game sales.Take-Two’s ban includes new game sales and installationsTake-Two has also decided to temporarily block new game sales and installations in both Russia and Belarus. The ban applies to all of Take-Two’s subsidiaries, including 2K Games and Rockstar, the developer... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge If you’re interested in a Steam Deck but haven’t reserved one yet, you might want to make a reservation sometime soon. Valve has updated the Steam Deck page to show that any reservations placed now won’t be able to actually make an order until sometime “after Q3 2022,” which means you shouldn’t expect to get one of the handheld gaming PCs of your own until at least October.If you have any interest in a Steam Deck, I recommend putting down the $5 required to make a reservation and secure your spot in line. While my colleague Sean Hollister explains in his review that the Steam Deck, at least right now, is “basically an early access game console,” there was a lot about the device he really liked, and hopefully, many of the kinks will be... Continue reading…

They say recent updates have made a “substantial difference on Apple M1-based Macs.” | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google has said that the latest Chrome update, version M99, is setting records on Apple’s own Speedometer web benchmark and is even faster and more responsive on Macs than Safari. A post on the Chromium Blog breaks down the improvements made to Chrome’s speed over the past year or so when compiling JavaScript and rendering graphics.According to Google, this all adds up to its browser being the fastest on M1 Macs, benchmarking around 7 percent faster than Safari. Chrome M99 also apparently set a speed record with a score of 300 on a benchmark created by Apple’s WebKit team, according to the blog post. The Speedometer benchmark is meant to simulate what it’s like to use a web app running using various technologies to see how responsive... Continue reading…

Disney Though most of Disney’s recent success with The Muppets has come by way of movies like Muppets Haunted Mansion, the studio is gearing up to produce another series featuring the puppet performers as they team up with a human friend.Today, Disney announced its plans to produce The Muppets Mayhem, a new show from The Goldbergs creator Adam F. Goldberg, starring Canadian Lilly Singh alongside Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, the Muppets’ longtime house band.

Google Samsung, Lenovo, and Microsoft are the first device manufacturers to commit to shipping Android 12L, the new version of Android designed to be better optimized for tablets and foldable devices. Google’s VP of engineering for Android, Andrei Popescu, announced the news in a blog post, saying that 12L would ship to devices from the three companies later this year.Lenovo isn’t a surprise, since its P12 Pro tablet can already run a beta version of Android 12L. It’s not clear exactly which devices from the other two companies will get the update — presumably Microsoft’s Surface Duo 2 is one of them, while any number of Samsung Galaxy Tab tablets or Z Fold phones could potentially benefit from the new software. Google A... Continue reading…

You can type out a response, or choose from pre-written responses. | Image: Google Google’s latest feature drop for its Pixel phones supercharges its Live Caption feature for phone calls, allowing you to avoid having to speak entirely. There are also new custom sticker options, YouTube watch party support in Duo, and a night photography mode for Snapchat. Google says the features are rolling out starting today on the Pixel 3A to 5A and will be coming to the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro later this month.Google’s Live Caption feature could previously turn incoming phone call audio into text, but it’s now being updated to work the other way around, so you’ll be able to type text and have Google’s software read it out in the phone call. A short GIF released by the company shows how the feature can be accessed from the volume button... Continue reading…

Netflix Whatever plans you had for this year’s 4/20 are now probably going to involve the return of Netflix’s Russian Doll for its second season.There’s a lot going on in the teaser trailer / announcement video for Russian Doll’s second season Netflix dropped this afternoon, but it’s difficult to tease out what’s going on aside from the fact that the universe is apparently back to fucking with Natasha Lyonne’s Nadia Vulvokov.Though it seemed as if Nadia broke free from her Groundhog Day-style hell by the previous season’s finale, the new teaser strongly suggests that there’s more metaphysical mishigas afoot for her and Charlie Barnett’s Alan Zaveri. Mysterious and light on details as the new teaser is, it makes two things pretty clear about R... Continue reading…

Illustration by James Bareham / The Verge Coinbase says it’s currently blocking 25,000 cryptocurrency addresses linked to Russian people or entities, defending itself against claims that Russia could evade sanctions with crypto. In a blog post published yesterday, chief legal officer Paul Grewal outlined how the financial exchange is complying with new rules imposed amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. That includes using “sophisticated blockchain analytics” to identify accounts that are indirectly linked to banned users.Coinbase indicated that the 25,000 blocked accounts were “related to Russian individuals or entities we believe to be engaging in illicit activity.” It didn’t specify when precisely they’d been blocked or how many of the restrictions were related to the... Continue reading…

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You can command your robot underlings with just your voice. | Image: iRobot Connecting your robot vacuum to Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant levels up your hands-free cleaning experience. Once set up, you won’t need to open an app on your smartphone or push a button on the bot to get the cleaning party started. With a voice assistant on tap, just say a command, and your bot will do.Most robot vacuum manufacturers work with Alexa for voice control, although some have more features than others. The basics generally include start, stop, pause, and dock (or go home). But the premium experience includes specific room cleaning commands — so, for example, you can ask Alexa to tell your robot to clean the kitchen and the living room. This is only available on vacuums with the ability to map your home, such as the R... Continue reading…

MIAMI, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 05: Smoke pours from the exhaust pipes on a truck on November 05, 2019 in Miami, Florida. | Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images The Biden administration today announced plans to drastically cut down truck pollution in the US. The Environmental Protection Agency proposed a new rule that would require new trucks to reduce harmful nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 percent from current standards by 2031. Biden is also taking aim at greenhouse gas pollution by boosting efforts to switch out diesel-burning vehicles with electric or hydrogen-powered trucks and buses.The moves reflect fast-moving technological advancements in zero-emissions heavy-duty vehicles, according to a White House fact sheet released today. It also follows an infusion of cash for cleaner-burning vehicles laid out in the bipartisan infrastructure law passed last year. The actions align with two... Continue reading…

Apple TV Plus app on X1 | Image: Comcast Last fall, Comcast announced Apple’s streaming TV network would appear on its X1 platform along with Netflix, Amazon, Disney Plus, Hulu, Spotify, and all the other services it already offers, and now the day is here. According to a press release, the Apple TV Plus rollout on Xfinity X1, Xfinity Flex, and XClass TV starts today and should appear on eligible devices “in the coming days.”More importantly, for anyone who has the eligible hardware connected, you can try Apple TV Plus for free. From March 15th through March 21st, Xfinity users can expect an “unprecedented preview” of Apple TV Plus’ original series and films available with no sign-up or sign-in necessary. If you’re not sure if it’s worth it after that (or just haven’t finished... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge, Images: 100rabbits Come sail away with Hundred Rabbits Continue reading…

Is that... Nothing’s debut smartphone? | Image: @Evleaks Last week, when TechCrunch reported that OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei’s new startup, Nothing, could be on the verge of announcing its first smartphone, it said it had seen a picture of Pei showing off a prototype of the unannounced device to Qualcomm’s CEO Cristiano Amon. Now, a very similar, if not the very same image, has been publicly posted to Twitter by prolific and reliable leaker Evan Blass.Everything about this photo screams “tech trade show.” There’s the slick modern decoration, the pristine carpets, the reusable water bottle kept close at hand, and, of course, the unmistakable sign of pristine white sneakers worn with skinny jeans and a jacket. TechCrunch reported that the photo it saw was taken at Mobile World Congress in... Continue reading…

Last weekend, I was scrolling through my email, listening to the rain and wondering whether I was feeling too lazy to vacuum the rug, when I came across one with the subject line “Turn on Facebook Protect.”“Your account requires advanced security from Facebook Protect,” it said and proceeded to tell me that if I didn’t enable Facebook Protect by a certain date, I would be locked out of my account until I enabled it. I was instructed to click on the big blue button labeled “Turn on Facebook Protect” to get started. I was sure it was a phishing email. Until I found out it wasn’t.It turned out that Facebook is pushing higher security for “certain people in the public eye,” and so is encouraging those on its list to... Continue reading…

Apple is widely expected to release a new iPhone SE model this week, the company’s third — and its quickest update yet for its cheapest line of smartphones.Apple’s release cycle for the SE line is accelerating: the original iPhone SE was released in 2016 as an entry-level option for the iPhone lineup, priced at just $399 — compared to the $649 iPhone 6s model that preceded it a few months before. The second-generation model followed four years later, in 2020.Now, just two years later, Apple is preparing to release its third-generation iPhone SE, one that’s rumored to offer broadly the same design as the 2020 SE, but with an upgraded processor and camera from the 2020 model, along with 5G.And it’s that final detail — the addition of... Continue reading…

The all new Ampler Axel. | Image: Ampler Ampler is back with two all-new pedal-assisted electric bikes — the Juna and Axel — that join updated versions of the company’s Curt, Stout, and Stellar. The five-strong lineup of relatively lightweight e-bikes offers something for everyone in a bid to appeal to all types of riders, of varying sizes and tastes, with designs that look like regular bicycles thanks to batteries integrated neatly into the downtubes.I saw each of the new Amplers at a private event in the company’s new Amsterdam showroom and service center. Each e-bike — from the sporty Curt and Axel to the relaxed Juna and Stellar step-throughs to the sturdy Stout — expresses a maturity in form and function that you’d expect from a company that helped pioneer the... Continue reading…

Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge HyperX’s best gaming gadgets don’t see discounts all that often, but there are some sizeable price cuts happening today at Amazon. Of the bunch, HyperX’s Cloud II Wireless is the one that I can easily recommend for people looking for a great wireless gaming headset that’s compatible with PC, PlayStation consoles, as well as the Nintendo Switch dock. You can get $20 off this model, which now costs $129.99.Within the past year, the Cloud II Wireless has gotten pushed out of our buying guide of the best gaming headsets, but not because it’s a bad product. It’s because other models offer a bit more in terms of functionality at a lower cost. This one doesn’t have a game / chat audio dial, nor does it include the ability to connect over... Continue reading…

Matt Burnett and Ben Levin. | Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge, Photo courtesy of Cartoon Network What happens when DIY and imagination collide Continue reading…

Illustration by Álvaro Bernis / The Verge Alongside digital DIY tools like Twine, Bitsy has made game-making genuinely approachable Continue reading…

The keyboard has a compact layout that even omits dedicated arrow keys. | Image: Razer If you were tempted by Razer’s analog keyboard last year but want something a little more compact, then the Huntsman Mini Analog might be worth a look. Razer says this is the first time it’s brought its Analog Optical Switches to a keyboard with a 60 percent layout, which means it doesn’t have a function row, numpad, or even arrow keys. The result is a very diminutive accessory, ideal for anyone with limited desk space.Having analog switches means the keyboard can register a range of inputs beyond its keys being simply pressed or not-pressed. For example, Razer’s software lets you assign two commands to one key (one for a half press, or another for a full press), and you can also change each switch’s actuation point (aka how much you... Continue reading…

The app’s iOS version. | Image: Nintendo Nintendo has updated its Switch Online mobile apps for iOS and Android to version 2.0, which brings a tweaked design as well as some minor quality-of-life improvements. The app launched shortly after the Nintendo Switch in 2017. It’s designed to work in tandem with the console, offering features like online voice chat that aren’t available on the Switch itself.For my money, the 2.0 update’s most interesting improvement is that it offers an easier way to find and share your friend code, the cumbersome 12-digit identifier that’s the primary way of adding friends on Nintendo’s online service. Instead of having to manually copy out the code from your Switch console itself before sharing it with a friend, the update lets you easily copy it... Continue reading…

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Hackers have successfully stolen internal company data and source code for Galaxy devices from Samsung, the South Korean tech giant confirmed today.News of the breach was first reported earlier this month, with a hacking outfit named Lapsus$ claiming responsibility. The group, which recently hacked Nvidia, shared screenshots purportedly showing roughly 200GB of stolen data, including source code used by Samsung for encryption and biometric unlocking functions on Galaxy hardware.In a statement today, Samsung did not confirm or deny the identity of the hackers, nor whether or not they had stolen data related to encryption and biometrics. But, the company said that no personal data, belonging either to employees or customers, had been... Continue reading…

A screenshot of Halo Infinite’s campaign. | Image: 343 Industries Halo Infinite’s second season won’t ship with online campaign co-op when it launches on May 3rd, 343 Industries announced. It’s set to launch “later” during season two, with no word on an exact release date.“It’s going to take more time to land a high-quality, full-featured 4-player network co-op experience”Joseph Staten, the head of creative on Halo Infinite says 343 is “aiming to deliver Campaign network co-op later in Season 2,” but won’t be bundling it at launch. It’s unclear whether split-screen and online campaign co-op will release simultaneously, though, as Staten only mentions network co-op as slated for release during season 2.“It’s going to take more time to land a high-quality, full-featured 4-player network co-op... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix is suspending its services in Russia over the country’s invasion of Ukraine, as first reported by Variety.“Given the circumstances on the ground, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia”“Given the circumstances on the ground, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia,” Netflix spokesperson Emily Feingold said in a statement to The Verge.Last week, Netflix said it wouldn’t comply with a new Russian law that requires large streamers to host 20 Russian propaganda channels, such as NTV and the state-backed Channel One. The streaming giant later announced that it’s halting all productions and acquisitions in Russia — Netflix had been working on four Russian originals at the time. According to Bloomberg, Netflix... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok is suspending new video uploads and livestreams on its app in Russia, citing the country’s newly-passed “fake news” law as the reason for the change.

Activision Blizzard faces a wrongful death lawsuit. | Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The parents of an Activision Blizzard employee who died by suicide during a company retreat in 2017 are suing the company for wrongful death, according to a report by The Washington Post. Paul and Janet Moynihan, the parents of Kerri Moynihan, a 32-year-old finance manager at Activision Blizzard, allege sexual harassment was a “significant factor” contributing to her death. Investigators ruled Moynihan’s death a suicide after she was found dead in a hotel room at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa in April 2017.The suit claims Activision Blizzard “permitted a work environment in which sexual harassment was pervasive”As noted by The Post, Moynihan was anonymously referenced in the lawsuit filed by California’s Department of Fair... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is reportedly offering money to podcasters in a bid to get them to create video versions of their shows, according to a report from Bloomberg. People close to the situation told Bloomberg that YouTube is offering individual shows $50,000 and up to $300,000 for podcast networks, potentially to fund filmed episodes and other video-based content.YouTube has been making small advances towards pleasing listeners on the platformDespite being a platform for video, the Google-owned YouTube hosts a number of popular podcasts, including the H3 Podcast, Full Send Podcast, and the Logan Paul-led Impaulsive. It even helped foster the growth of the controversial Joe Rogan Experience, which Spotify purchased the exclusive rights to in 2020.Y... Continue reading…

Visa and Mastercard are suspending operations in Russia in light of its invasion of Ukraine. | Photo Illustration by Karol Serewis/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Visa and Mastercard are suspending operations in Russia in another major blow to the country’s financial system, according to a report from the Associated Press.In an announcement on Visa’s website, the company says it’s working with partners in Russia to “cease all transactions over the coming days.” A separate press release from Mastercard contains a similar message, noting that it’s suspending services in Russia and that its decision wasn’t taken “lightly.” Both companies explain that any transactions made with Mastercard or Visa cards issued by banks in Russia won’t work outside of Russia, while any cards issued by banks outside of the country won’t work at Russian merchants or ATMs.“We regret the impact this will have”“We regret... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Activision Blizzard is suspending new sales “of and in” its games in Russia, the game company’s president Daniel Alegre announced in a publicly-shared letter to employees (via Eurogamer). The move bars Russians from any new transactions with the company, which includes both the sales of its games and in-game purchases.The press release doesn’t specify whether the ban includes both digital and physical games. It does, however, highlight some of the contributions the company and its employees made to Ukraine, and also offers resources to workers affected by the war. The crisis in Ukraine comes at a sensitive time in Activision Blizzard’s history — the company continues to face criticism after it was sued for allegedly fostering a toxic... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge PayPal is suspending its services in Russia in response to the country’s “violent military aggression in Ukraine,” according to a report from Reuters. Ukraine’s vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted out a letter from PayPal CEO Dan Schulman, confirming the company’s decision to shut down its operations in Russia.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Cogent Communications, an internet backbone provider that routes data across intercontinental connections, has cut ties with Russian customers over its invasion of Ukraine, as first reported by The Washington Post. The US-based company is one of the world’s largest internet backbone providers and serves customers in 50 countries, including a number of high-profile Russian companies.The shutdown won’t disconnect Russians completelyIn a letter to Russian customers obtained by The Post, Cogent cited “economic sanctions” and “the increasingly uncertain security situation” as the motives behind its total shutdown in the country. Cogent similarly told The Verge that it “terminated its contracts” with Russian customers in compliance with the E... Continue reading…

The Vampire Survivors start screen, now in its true colors. | Photo illustration by Antonio G. Di Benedetto I was floored as soon as I got to the main menu of Vampire Survivors. I knew this hot indie darling sounded up my alley when I heard it described as a reverse-bullet hell blended with a roguelike, but I was not prepared for it to hit so close to home. While the main menu looks low-rent and the Castlevania-inspired aesthetics seems at first like a poor imitation, what stopped me in my tracks was the starting character. Antonio Belpaese: the first in a lineup of four Belpaese family members and a menagerie of other characters with incredibly Italian-sounding names. Even before playing a minute of the game, I was enthralled by my namesake taking the lead. As I struggled through the first few runs and slowly unlocked more characters, I felt... Continue reading…

Photo by Jay Peters / The Verge The days are starting to get longer as we creep ever closer to springtime in the US. And coincidentally, the deals are getting better. Is there a correlation? Let’s go with yes and not think about it too much. The Verge Deals team has been playing the hits this week, with deals so good that they bear repeating for the weekend crowd. Check out some of the best deals below.And if you’re looking slightly toward the future, stay tuned from whatever comes from next Tuesday’s Apple event. We expect the company to announce a new iPhone SE, among other exciting products. If you’re ready to upgrade your phone, there will probably be some good carrier deals and trade-in promos in store.Fully Jarvis standing desks are 15 percent off through March... Continue reading…

Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images Paramount Plus celebrated its first birthday yesterday. During its first year, the service debuted a SpongeBob movie, added original shows like 1883, and occasionally surprised us with exclusives like the second season of Evil, which was originally a CBS exclusive show. Plus, Paramount Plus managed to swipe the highly anticipated live-action Halo series — set to debut this month — from sister service Showtime.But a year after its launch, Paramount Plus is still suffering an identity crisis: the streaming service has yet to prove why we should care about Paramount Plus beyond its big Star Trek catalog and obsession with Yellowstone. So far, it’s seemed as though Paramount has struggled to find the sweet spot between propping up its... Continue reading…

The heatmap shows how many people are submitting snaps in an area. Snap has announced that it’s temporarily turning off Snapchat’s “heatmap” feature for Ukraine, making it so the app no longer shows how many snaps are being taken in particular locations. The company says that the move is “a safety precaution” and that there will still be a curated public feed of snaps submitted by Ukrainians.Normally, the Snap Map displays a color code to show how many people are posting public images in an area. In practice, that means you can get a good idea of where Snapchat users are concentrated. While this publicly available data isn’t usually meaningful (it’s not a surprise that more people are posting from downtown Seattle than the nearby national forest), in a wartime scenario where Russia may want to track... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook is cutting off ads in Russia. It’s pausing ads that target people in the country and is no longer letting advertisers in Russia “create or run ads anywhere in the world, including within Russia,” the company announced on Friday. The moves mark a big escalation of its actions against the country and could help prevent Russian misinformation tied to its invasion of Ukraine from appearing in Facebook ads.Russia earlier on Friday began blocking Meta-owned Facebook entirely in the country, preventing many Russians from posting to social media amid the crisis. “As a result of the Russian government’s decision to block access to Facebook in the Russian Federation, soon millions of ordinary Russians will find themselves cut off from... Continue reading…

Elon Musk — the man whose Tesla and Tesla Solar have basically devoted their existence to competing with gas-guzzling cars, oil, and coal, and which briefly reached a market cap of $1 trillion and delivered nearly 1 million EVs last year — is now publicly in favor of increasing oil and gas production.He tweeted late Friday:

It’s piloting a state media policy. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok has announced that it’ll start putting labels on videos from “some” state-controlled media outlets as it starts rolling out its new state media policy. According to a news post from the company, it is “expediting” its plans for piloting the policy due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The company says it started working on the policy last year. Users can expect the labels to start appearing within the next few days, according to the post.A TikTok spokesperson told The Verge via email that the labels would be applied to at least some Russian state media accounts but didn’t specify which ones or how many. The Verge confirmed that at least one Russian state-controlled outlet, RT, has a verified account on TikTok. The spokesperson... Continue reading…

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Samsung is suspending shipments of all of its products to Russia, the company announced Friday. “Due to the current geopolitical developments, shipments to Russia have been suspended,” reads a statement from an unnamed Samsung representative, via Samsung’s generic PR email address. “We continue to actively monitor this complex situation to determine our next steps.”It’s not just smartphones — Samsung’s suspension includes products ranging from “chips to smartphones and consumer electronics,” a source informed Bloomberg — meaning the move cuts off Russia from a huge range of products from one of the largest electronics vendors in the world.Samsung is also making donations to humanitarian effortsSamsung is also making donations to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge At Apple’s annual shareholder meeting, investors in the company had more to consider than just how much money CEO Tim Cook and other executives stand to make — last year, the compensation for running a $2 trillion company added up to nearly $99 million for Cook. Instead, certain shareholder proposals brought up issues with social and cultural impact, like addressing forced labor, pay equity, and employee NDAs. On Friday, for the first time in years, two proposals actually passed (via CNET).Bloomberg reports shareholders (unsurprisingly) opted to re-elect the same board of directors and approved the executive pay package outlined in the 2022 proxy statement. They also followed Apple’s recommendation in voting on eight of the ten... Continue reading…

Nvidia never denied that it got hacked. The GPU giant just didn’t say all that much about what happened, either.But now — as we wait to see whether the hackers make good on their threat to dump hundreds of gigabytes of proprietary Nvidia data on the web, including details about future graphics chips, by an unspecified Friday deadline — the compromised email alert website Have I Been Pwned suggests that the scope of the hack includes a staggering 71,000 employee emails and hashes that may have allowed the hackers to crack their passwords (via TechCrunch).It’s not clear how Have I Been Pwned obtained this info, and Nvidia won’t say. Nvidia would not confirm or deny to The Verge whether 71,000 employee credentials have been compromised,... Continue reading…

Tesla is planning a Gigafactory in Germany | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla’s Gigafactory in Germany won approval from local officials on Friday, but the company still has to meet several requirements before the plant can begin production of vehicles, Reuters reported, including concerns about the plant’s water use.Construction on the factory, which is nearly complete, was delayed several times by complaints from environmental groups in the area who protested the factory’s water use and potential disruption to wildlife. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the Gigafactory will use “relatively little” water and has argued that the forest that was cleared before the plant’s construction was “not a natural forest” since it had only been planted to make cardboard.Musk first announced in 2019 that Tesla would locate... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge iFixit plans to start offering Steam Deck replacement parts this summer, iFixit’s Kevin Purdy tells The Verge. Valve first announced in February that the repair experts at iFixit would be one of the authorized sellers of replacement parts but did not give a specific timeline as to when they would be available. The vast majority of consoles aren’t easily user repairable, so making official Steam Deck replacement parts available, even if they aren’t out just yet, is a good thing for consumers. And hopefully, it will push other hardware makers to do the same in the future.We’ve asked iFixit if it can share information about which parts you’ll be able to get and how much they’ll cost. In Valve’s official Steam Deck teardown video from... Continue reading…

Google Fiber workers voting whether to unionize | Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Voting is open for workers for a Google Fiber subcontractor in Missouri, who are deciding whether to unionize as part of the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU), a division of the Communication Workers of America. If successful, the 12 workers, who are employed by staffing agency BDS Connected Solutions as workers at Google Fiber stores, would be the AWU’s first bargaining unit to be recognized by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).The workers have to mail their ballots back to the NLRB by March 24th, when they’ll be counted by the agency’s regional office.Google spokesperson Jennifer Rodstrom noted in an email to The Verge that the AWU petition filed with the NLRB mentions BDS, but not Google. “We have many contracts with both... Continue reading…

Russian technology company Yandex said that it was “pausing” its autonomous vehicle and sidewalk robot testing in the US. The news was first reported by Automotive News.The company said it was idling its robotaxi fleet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as well as a delivery service with Grubhub powered by its six-wheeled sidewalk robots. “We hope to resume the operations in the future,” a spokesperson said.The news comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued to send shockwaves around the world. The conflict has sparked a fierce outcry among Western nations, leading many to cut business ties with Russian companies. On Friday, Russia announced it was blocking access to Facebook.The news comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Some of the most popular programming on Hulu will now head to Peacock. A contract between the streaming services’ parent companies Disney and Comcast to stream NBCUniversal shows to Hulu has been terminated.“The Hulu agreement was terminated,” NBCUniversal spokesperson Lisa Scalzo confirmed to The Verge.The partnership will see episodes of NBCUniversal-owned shows like Saturday Night Live and The Voice debut on Peacock, rather than Hulu, after airing on pay-TV. Because Hulu will no longer be paying for some of NBC’s biggest titles, the deal could give Hulu the financial freedom to pursue more originals.The change will likely go into effect next broadcast season, possibly around September and October. The termination will not wipe all... Continue reading…

Illustrations by Alex Castro / The Verge Nintendo has temporarily put its Russian eShop into maintenance mode, the company said in a notice on its Russian website, which appears to mean that players in the country can’t buy digital games from the store.“Due to the fact that the payment service used in Nintendo eShop has suspended the processing of payments in rubles, Nintendo eShop in Russia is temporarily placed into maintenance mode,” according to a Google-translated version of the message. “We apologize for any inconvenience caused.” It’s unclear what payment service Nintendo uses. The Verge has reached out for more information.Many gaming companies have taken action in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. EA and CD Projekt Red have halted sales of their games in... Continue reading…