The Verge

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge As it nears the launch of two new smart speakers, Sonos appears to be taking another look at pricing across the company’s product portfolio — and raising them in some cases. The second-generation Beam, which was $449 just a week ago, is now shown as $499 on Sonos’ website and retailers, including Best Buy.The already-pricey Sub has also been bumped by $50 and now costs $799. Ouch. The Wayback Machine shows that it was still listed at $749 from Sonos as recently as February 15th.Sonos increased the prices of numerous products back in 2021, citing supply chain issues and consumer demand as factors behind the decision. At that time, the company said it is “always assessing market dynamics including demand, supply chain, component costs,... Continue reading…

Demonstrators demand action from the Republican presidential candidates about the water crisis in Flint outside the historic Fox Theatre before the GOP presidential debate on March 3rd, 2016, in Detroit, Michigan. | Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images In the wake of disaster, maintaining close ties with friends and family is a crucial part of recovery. Those relationships might help keep people safe in the moment and even nurture better mental health long after the initial disaster, according to new research on the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, that started in 2014.Sure, that might seem like common sense. But paying attention to how folks come together when things go horribly wrong is one way to get communities better help in future times of crisis. And it’s not just maintaining a social circle that matters — who’s in it and how close you are to them made a difference in Flint, according to a study recently published in the journal International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is giving YouTube Music users the ability to create custom stations based on specific artists and to tune how the algorithm decides what songs it should play. The feature, which is called the “Radio Builder,” started rolling out on Tuesday and can be accessed by scrolling to the “Your music tuner” section of the YouTube Music homepage in the iOS or Android app.When building your custom station, you can select up to 30 artists and choose whether you want to only hear music from them or if you want it to pull in songs from similar musicians. You can also tell it to play songs that you’re familiar with, new-to-you songs, or a mix of the two and add filters, letting you tune the mix. For example, you could make a station that plays... Continue reading…

The Apple Watch is facing two potential import bans over its EKG and pulse oximetry features. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Medical device maker AliveCor announced today that President Biden has upheld an International Trade Commission ruling that could result in a potential import ban on the Apple Watch over its EKG feature.“We applaud President Biden for upholding the ITC’s ruling and holding Apple accountable for infringing the patents that underpin our industry-leading EKG technology,” AliveCor CEO Priya Abani said in a statement sent to The Verge.Back in December, the ITC issued a final determination that Apple had infringed on AliveCor’s wearable EKG tech. In the ruling, the ITC recommended a limited exclusion order and a cease-and-desist order for Apple Watch models with EKG features. If enforced, that would mean that Apple would no longer be able... Continue reading…

Image: Starry Starry, an ISP that launched in 2016 with a focus on delivering home internet with wireless antennas instead of cables, has declared bankruptcy. In a press release, the company says that it intends to quickly restructure and that it’ll continue providing internet service in its “five core operating markets.” Those are Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, Denver, and Washington, DC.The ISP has clearly been struggling over the past few months. In October 2022, it announced that it was laying off around 500 people, which amounted to about half of its staff. A few months later, Starry announced it was leaving Columbus, Ohio, in a bid to focus more on its five “core” markets. All the while, it was burning millions of dollars in cash, and its... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is hoping two gaming giants will help get its Activision Blizzard deal across the line with regulators in Europe. Continue reading…

Image: The Verge Microsoft is already loosening restrictions it recently placed on interactions with the Bing AI chatbot and said it’s going to start testing another option that lets users choose the tone of the chat, with options for Precise (shorter, more focused answers), Creative (longer and more chatty), or Balanced for a bit of both.After repeated reports of strange behavior (like the time it split into multiple personalities and one of them offered us furry porn) and jailbreaks that did things like expose its secret rules, Microsoft set new rules last Friday that limited the number of interactions testers could have and how long they last. The limits cut down testers to five turns per session and a max of 50 per day.According to Microsoft,... Continue reading…

Vroom vroom in VR. | Image: Sony We’re just a day away from the Wednesday launch of Sony’s PlayStation VR2 headset, and ahead of its release, the company is sharing details on Gran Turismo 7’s VR mode and on 10 new games that will be available within the device’s “launch window.”Let’s start first with Gran Turismo 7. As part of the game’s free 1.29 update, which is available now, the entire game except for two-player splitscreen will be supported by PSVR 2. “GT7 takes full advantage of PS VR2’s next-gen features — utilizing specially optimized HDR tone mapping, as well as foveated rendering from the eye-tracking feature (a technology that renders areas of the screen that the player is directly looking at in high definition), and dynamic 3D audio support, players will... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is bringing its Xbox PC games to Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service. Speaking at a press conference in Brussels today, Microsoft president Brad Smith announced the news as it seeks to convince EU regulators to approve its proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition.“Microsoft will be bringing its Xbox games that play on PCs to Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service,” said Smith in a press conference attended by The Verge. “We will also bring all of Activision Blizzard’s titles including Call of Duty to GeForce Now.”You’ll still have to buy games individually before you can play them on GeForce Now; the deal is simply a 10-year agreement for the streaming rights. Microsoft is committing to make its games available to... Continue reading…

The Xbox Series S console is still on sale for $223.99 ($76 off) at eBay via Antonline. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Presidents Day is one of the smaller holidays inexplicably linked to major sales promotions, and while it may be over, the sales sure aren’t. There are still some worthwhile deals you can take advantage of if you missed out over the weekend — and not just on mattresses or whatever your local small businesses are hawking.We’re currently seeing a variety of deals, like $20 off The Last of Us Part I for the PlayStation 5 and $65 off of Ikea’s Symfonisk picture frame speaker. Samsung’s 65-inch S95B OLED TV, meanwhile, is also discounted to half off its original MSRP. There are even some fun, extra-geeky deals to take advantage of, including a Best Buy deal that takes $38 off Nerf’s replica blaster from The Mandalorian. So let’s dive in and... Continue reading…

Illustration: Samar Haddad / The Verge If you constantly find yourself drowning in piles of tabs, apps, and windows while using your Mac computer, Stage Manager might be able to help. Also available on iPads, Stage Manager organizes your apps as thumbnails on the side of the screen and puts whatever you’re working on front and center. You can have a maximum of one window (or one group of windows) open at a time. The idea is that you can work without distractions while still having access to an easy at a glance view of your other software.When you’ve got Stage Manager open, you can click one of the thumbnails on the side to open that app or group. (This will close the one you already have open.) If you frequently need to use multiple windows at once, you can group them... Continue reading…

Image: Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard has allegedly suffered from a hacking attempt that has potentially exposed sensitive employee information as well as content timelines for Call of Duty.According to a report from TechCrunch, the data was accessed via a phishing attempt on December 4th. A collective of malware and cybersecurity experts known as vx-underground obtained screenshots of the allegedly stolen data that included a Call of Duty content schedule. Another website, Insider Gaming, reportedly confirmed the breach, stating that additional information such as employees’ “full names, emails, phone numbers, salaries, places of work, and more” were also accessed.In an email to The Verge, Activision Blizzard spokesperson Joe Christinat wrote, “On... Continue reading…

Day 588 and the other wall art still hasn’t noticed I am a speaker. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Presidents Day is over, but there are some excellent deals still lingering as well as some fresh ones to accompany them. The Ikea Symfonisk picture frame speaker, which can disguise itself as wall art, is one of the most unusual smart speakers on the market, and it’s on sale for its lowest price of $194.99 ($65 off) direct from Ikea. This 16 x 22-inch speaker is part of Ikea’s partnership with Sonos, so it works natively with Sonos’ Wi-Fi-connected ecosystem. It has good sound quality for the money, about on par with the $219 Sonos One, but no Sonos speaker allows you to free up space on your furniture quite like the Symfonisk picture frame.It may not be everyone’s style, especially if you’re not fond of the cable hanging from it, but... Continue reading…

Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) threw his support behind striking YouTube Music workers in a letter addressed to Google CEO Sundar Pichai Tuesday, as first reported by the Austin Chronicle.Sanders’ support comes amid growing tensions between workers on YouTube Music’s Content Operations team and its parent company, Google. The nearly 60 workers are formally employed by Cognizant, a third-party contractor to Google. Last October, they filed for a union election with the 1,300-member Alphabet Workers Union (AWU). But shortly after that request was filed with the National Labor and Relations Board, Cognizant issued a new return-to-office mandate that organizers — and Sanders — argue amounts to an illegal union-busting strategy.“Our request to... Continue reading…

The cockpit comes with a lightweight carbon steel frame and a seat made out of Actifit material. | Image: Logitech Logitech G’s first racing cockpit costs $599 and is designed to fit its even costlier premium gaming wheels and pedals. The company teamed up with gaming chair maker Playseat to create the Playseat Trophy - Logitech G Edition — a rebadged version of Playseat’s fully adjustable Trophy cockpit.Its seat is made with the same Actifit material, which is supposed to conform to your body and keep you cool while you’re on the virtual racetrack. You can also make adjustments to the seat hardness, the position of the backrest, the pedal, and the steering plates. The main difference between this cockpit and the one created by Playseat is that it features Logitech branding and a 37-pound dark gray carbon steel frame instead of black.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The first shots have been fired in a Supreme Court showdown over web platforms, terrorism, and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Gonzales v. Google — one of two lawsuits that are likely to shape the future of the internet.Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh are a pair of lawsuits blaming platforms for facilitating Islamic State attacks. The court’s final ruling on these cases will determine web services’ liability for hosting illegal activity, particularly if they promote it with algorithmic recommendations.The Supreme Court took up both cases in October: one at the request of a family that’s suing Google and the other as a preemptive defense filed by Twitter.... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge Microsoft and Sony’s gaming chiefs are both preparing to meet with EU regulators today in a showdown over Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The closed-door hearing in Brussels will see Xbox chief Phil Spencer and other senior Microsoft executives argue the case for the $68.7 billion deal to proceed, with PlayStation chief Jim Ryan attending to voice Sony’s concerns over the deal.It’s a pivotal moment for Microsoft’s proposed acquisition, which has already seen opposition from regulators in the UK and US. The FTC is suing Microsoft to block its Activision Blizzard purchase, while the CMA published its provisional findings of its investigation earlier this month, warning that the deal could harm UK gamers. The CMA... Continue reading…

The Sonos Era 300. Plus an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto and more lobbying from Microsoft. Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Call of Duty will be available to Nintendo players on the same day as Xbox with “full feature and content parity” under a 10-year agreement between the two platforms, Microsoft’s Brad Smith announced. The deal was announced in early December, but Smith is offering more details today ahead of a hearing in which Microsoft will argue its case with EU regulators to allow its $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard to proceed, Reuters reports.As my colleague Tom Warren wrote back in December, the Nintendo deal is almost certainly part of Microsoft’s attempt to pressure Sony into accepting a similar offer and allay regulatory competition concerns. The PlayStation maker has emerged as one of the chief opponents of... Continue reading…

This was a great moment adapted from a cutscene from the video game — and I didn’t have to fight a single zombie to see it. | Image: HBO Sometimes you don’t need violence and zombies. Sometimes you just need human beings hanging out at the end of the world. Continue reading…

“Brain stimulation system to provide a sense of wellbeing.” | Embraer Commercial air travel is a largely terrible experience, and aviation companies patent a lot of ways to make it either slightly less miserable or an even more dystopian hell. Where does reading passengers’ emotions to offer them transcranial stimulation therapy fall? I’ll leave that up to you.Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer filed a patent application for a “brain stimulation system to provide a sense of wellbeing” back in 2016, and it was granted last year. But I only discovered it thanks to a more recent Mastodon post by attorney Jeff Steck, and I am fascinated. Embraer’s reasonable starting premise is that lots of people become anxious on long car, train, and airplane rides, “turning a short trip into a long one.” From there,... Continue reading…

The Era 300 has a unique design and six drivers for immersive spatial audio. Sonos is continuing to finalize details for a pair of new smart speakers set to launch in the coming weeks, and The Verge has now obtained marketing images of the products and learned roughly how much they will cost. The spatial audio-focused Era 300 is expected to be priced in the ballpark of $450, making it less expensive than the company’s flagship Sonos Five. As such, the Five will likely remain part of Sonos’ lineup after the pending hardware announcements.But the same cannot be said for the Sonos One, which is all but certain to be replaced by the upcoming Era 100. Sonos has discussed pricing that speaker around $250, a slight price increase compared to the $219 One. But customers should be gaining several improvements for the... Continue reading…

Google Chrome’s Memory Saver and Energy Saver modes can extend battery when a device is low on power and reduce memory being hogged by tabs. | Image: Google Google has released optimization features designed to improve battery life and memory usage on machines running the latest version of its Chrome desktop web browser. Chrome’s new Energy Saver and Memory Saver modes were first announced in December last year alongside the release of Chrome 108, and now as noted by Android Police, the two optimization utilities are starting to roll out globally onto Chrome 110 desktops for Mac, Windows, and Chromebooks.Memory Saver mode essentially snoozes Chrome tabs that aren’t currently in use to free up RAM for more intensive tasks and create a smoother browsing experience. Don’t worry if you’re a tab hoarder though, as these inactive tabs are still visible and can be reloaded at any time to pick up... Continue reading…

Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge As Super Nintendo World opens up in Los Angeles, the creator of Mario talks about getting back to his roots, and exploring new creative fields. Continue reading…

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge If you’ve been on Twitter lately, you might’ve seen a message prompting you to switch away from text message two-factor authentication (2FA). That’s because Twitter’s putting the feature behind a paywall, which means you either have to pay $8 per month for Blue or switch to another authentication method — and I think most of us would choose the latter.Fortunately, SMS 2FA isn’t the only way to secure your Twitter account, with other methods still available for free. The platform’s shutdown of the feature — at least for non-Blue subscribers — is actually a good reminder that we shouldn’t be using it in the first place.SMS 2FA leaves you vulnerable to SIM-swapping attacks, which usually happen when a bad actor uses social engineering or... Continue reading…

How did Mate Rimac build a company like Rimac Automobili in a place like Croatia? It has meant redefining the country’s dated concepts of power and success and a willingness to take on inconceivable projects, like taking over Bugatti. Continue reading…

Photo by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images Microsoft’s Outlook spam filters appear to be broken for many users today. I woke up to more than 20 junk messages in my Focused Inbox in Outlook this morning, and spam emails have kept breaking through on an hourly basis today. Many Outlook users in Europe have also spotted the same thing, with some heading to Twitter to complain about waking up to an inbox full of spam messages.Most of the messages that are making it into Outlook users’ inboxes are very clearly spam. Today’s issues are particularly bad, after weeks of the Outlook spam filter progressively deteriorating for me personally.

Pierce agreed to pay the settlement “without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings.” | Image: Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images Former NBA champion Paul Pierce has agreed to pay over $1.4 million in penalties after unlawfully promoting the EthereumMax (EMAX) cryptocurrency to his Twitter audience. In a statement published on Friday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against the former Boston Celtics player — nicknamed ‘The Truth’ — for making “false and misleading” statements about EMAX and failing to disclose that he was paid more than $244,000 worth of EMAX tokens to promote the cryptocurrency to his social media following.In one example of his illicit activity, the commission claims that Pierce tweeted a misleading screenshot of an account displaying significant EMAX holdings and profits without disclosing that the image did not... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge Google Meet’s launching new 360-degree virtual backgrounds for video calls on mobile. While Google first announced the new feature last month, now it’s rolling out on both iOS and Android and uses your device’s gyroscope to move with you.As you can see in the embedded GIF, the 360-degree background will change depending on where your phone or tablet’s positioned. So, if you move your phone left or right, your background will adjust to show different scenery. Google says users can apply “several” new 360-degree backgrounds during video calls, including one that shows a beach and another with a temple. Image: Google While the feature does look pretty cool, I can see how these backgrounds might get distracting if... Continue reading…

Get ready to slay some demons. | Image: Blizzard The open beta for Diablo IV is just weeks away. At IGN’s Fan Fest on Saturday, Blizzard announced that the open beta will kick off on March 24th and last until the 26th, while those who pre-ordered the game will get early access to the game from March 17th to 19th.During the beta, you’ll get to “intimately explore” the early game of Diablo IV, including the game’s prologue and all of Act 1, which takes place in the Fractured Peaks. As you traverse the snowy landscape, you’ll get to complete quests and slay demons for as long as you want, but you can only reach up to level 25.Blizzard also showed off Diablo IV’s opening cinematic, giving us a closer look at the game’s first zone, as well as its robust character customization options.... Continue reading…

Photo by Nilay Patel / The Verge Starlink’s testing a new satellite internet service it says will let you “connect from almost anywhere on land in the world,” according to a message some Starlink users have received. The SpaceX-owned company calls it “Global Roaming Service” and says it’ll cost $200 per month in addition to the base $599 Starlink Kit.The service, which uses “Starlink’s inter-satellite links (aka space lasers) to provide connectivity around the globe,” comes with a pretty big caveat. In its message to users, Starlink notes that you should expect “Starlink’s typical high speed, low-latency service intermixed with brief periods of poor connectivity, or none at all” but that this will “improve dramatically over time.”