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Newell personally handing an early Steam Deck to a customer. | Screenshot: Valve One of my favorite things about famous game developers is how hyper-specific their fame is. So naturally I was delighted to see a promotional video put out by Valve showing its co-founder and president Gabe Newell — one of the most famous game developers in the world — confusing the heck out of some members of the public by hand-delivering Steam Decks in person.To be fair, a handful of recipients immediately recognize a face-masked Newell when he shows up at their doorstep with a Steam Deck in hand. But in a lot of other cases the deliveries are accepted on behalf of other members of the household. “What’s with the camera crew?” the confused wife of a man on a ski trip asks, while another politely checks whether they need to sign... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube has blocked Russian news channels RT and Sputnik across Europe in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Alphabet-owned company confirmed the news on Twitter, saying it would “take time for our systems to fully ramp up” and that it would continue to “monitor the situation around the clock to take swift action.”It’s the latest example of internet platforms blocking Russian media outlets in response to the war. Yesterday, Meta blocked RT and Sputnik on both Instagram and Facebook after receiving requests to do so from a number of governments in the EU. TikTok also banned the two channels. YouTube had already stopped these outlets from generating revenue on its platform via advertising and restricted access to these channels... Continue reading…

Dozens of cameras suspended from the store’s ceiling track customers and their purchases. | Image: Amazon Amazon has brought its cashierless Just Walk Out technology to a Whole Foods store for the first time, allowing customers to shop and leave the store with their items without having to interact with any kind of cashier. The revamped store opened on February 23rd in Washington, DC’s Glover Park neighborhood, where there’s been a Whole Foods store for over 20 years.Although Amazon has been operating cashierless grocery stores in increasingly large Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh-branded stores, this is the first time it’s bringing the technology to a Whole Foods store. Amazon bought the grocery chain for $13.7 billion in 2017, but until now the brand’s integration with Amazon has been more minimal, consisting of discounts and free delivery... Continue reading…

Image: Honor Along with its 100W charging-capable Magic 4 phone, Honor has announced new Earbuds 3 Pro that include built-in temperature monitoring technology. According to Honor, this technology is an industry first, that owners can experience once the €199 buds are released.Temperature monitoring, among other signals, has become especially important to tracking someone’s health during the pandemic, and checking your temperature at home using infrared ear thermometers is already widely available. Wearables incorporating temperature monitoring sounds like something that isn’t far off, and the idea even reportedly caught Apple’s eye while developing updates to its AirPods. Image: Honor Wearers can tap the buds three times to... Continue reading…

RIP, IGTV. | Image: Instagram Instagram has announced that it will no longer be supporting the separate IGTV app, saying in a blog post that it will instead focus on keeping all video in the main Instagram app (via TechCrunch). While the writing’s been on the wall for Instagram’s YouTube competitor for a while, the official shutdown announcement marks the end of an era for one of Instagram’s forays into video.In its post, Instagram says that it’s getting rid of the standalone IGTV app as “part of [its] efforts to make video as simple as possible to discover and create.” The post also says that any videos in the main app will have a full-screen viewer and tap-to-mute, and that Instagram is working on a consistent way to share the different types of videos (such as... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has blocked Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik across the European Union, the company said Monday. The change means that the RT and Sputnik pages aren’t visible in the EU on Facebook and Instagram, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone tells The Verge.“We have received requests from a number of Governments and the EU to take further steps in relation to Russian state controlled media,” Nick Clegg, the company’s newly-named president of global affairs, said Monday on Twitter. “Given the exceptional nature of the current situation, we will be restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU at this time.”

Poco’s M4 Pro has a 6.43-inch display with a 180Hz refresh rate. | Image by Xiaomi The Xiaomi-owned Poco debuted the X4 Pro 5G and M4 Pro at Europe’s MWC 2022, both of which offer fairly impressive specs for prices you’d typically find on mid-range phones. Image by Xiaomi The Poco X4 Pro 5G features a 6.67-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Poco describes its X4 Pro 5G as providing a “flagship-level experience,” but for a price of €299 (~$335) or €349 (~$391), depending on the storage level you choose. The cheaper model comes with 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage, with the more expensive model providing 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage.Poco’s X4 Pro 5G is the successor to the X3 GT Poco released last July, with similar specs for an affordable price tag. The X4 Pro features a 6.67-inch... Continue reading…

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge Luxury electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors is slashing its production forecast for 2022, citing supply chain constraints. The Newark, California-based company announced it was revising down its production expectations to 12,000 to 14,000 vehicles from the original prediction of 20,000 vehicles.“This reflects the extraordinary supply chain and logistics challenges we’ve encountered and our unrelenting focus on delivering the highest-quality products,” Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said in a statement. “We remain confident in our ability to capture the tremendous opportunities ahead given our technology leadership and strong demand for our cars.”“Supply chain and logistics challenges”Shares of the company fell 14 percent in after-hours... Continue reading…

Rockstar Games has released a major update for the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy that brings improved performance across all platforms, including graphics modes that are included with the likes of the PS5 and Xbox Series X.Generally, the update improves stability, fixes checkpoint issues and collision detection, along with touching up numerous textures and signage. It also addresses errors where achievements weren’t earned under specific circumstances. All of the fixes are listed on Rockstar’s support site (it’s an exhaustive list), with specific update notes listed under each game.These fixes seem minor, but they could make particularly difficult sections within each game a little easier to bear. The collection, which launched in November... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix will not distribute a number of state-run channels in Russia as mandated by a new law, the company says, following reports that it could soon be forced to carry the networks.Variety reported Monday that Netflix was among a number of services added to a register maintained by Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor of content distributors that reached over 100,000 subscribers. The new law, which Variety reports has not yet fully gone into effect, requires large streamers to carry 20 Russian broadcast channels, including state-funded Channel One.Channel One was among a number of channels The Associated Press cited last week as skewing the narrative to align with the Kremlin’s messaging around Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Other... Continue reading…

DisplayPort 2.0 is finally starting to make its way out into the world after months of delays, and the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) is working hard to make sure that customers will be able to actually tell whether cables or devices support the benefits of the standard with a new certification program, the group announced today.The new program is specifically aimed at clarifying when a device supports the DisplayPort UHBR (Ultra-high Bit Rate) data transfer rates supported by DisplayPort 2.0. To that end, VESA is introducing new DP40 and DP80 UHBR cables. DP40-marked cables will be guaranteed to support the UHBR10 standard of 10Gbps across four lanes for a total of 40Gbps, while DP80 cables will support the UHBR20... Continue reading…

Illustration by Carlo Cadenas / The Verge As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its fifth day, a coalition led by the US and Europe has mounted a coordinated response focused on financial sanctions and, increasingly, military aid. While the conflict grows in scale and intensity, organizations far beyond the apparatus of military and government are being drawn in — including ransomware groups active in Russia and Ukraine.That gravitational pull is particularly fraught in Russia, where the borders between hackers and the Russian intelligence services are sometimes porous, and one group in particular has been made to pay for its allegiance to the Putin regime.On Friday, the notorious ransomware gang Conti surprised many observers by explicitly casting its lot with Putin’s... Continue reading…

Privacy is probably one of the biggest buzzwords in tech these days, and even the data-loving Google is getting in on the action.The Android 12 update boasts a handful of privacy-related additions you’d be wise to explore. Some of them are under the hood and automatic — such as the new Private Compute Core that’ll allow certain types of sensitive computing to happen in an isolated environment, entirely on your device. But others are more on the surface. And that means it’s up to you to take advantage of them — or at least understand what they’re doing.Here are the three most significant privacy-related additions in Android 12 and what you need to know in order to take advantage of them. (Note that these directions are for Pixel phones;... Continue reading…

Leaked render of the Sony Xperia 1 IV | Image: OnLeaks / Giznext It looks like the new Sony Xperia 1 IV is coming soon, based on newly leaked renders coming from reliable leaker OnLeaks through Giznext (via Android Authority). The purported sequel to last summer’s Xperia 1 III looks to retain a very similar design, including a 6.5-inch OLED display on an elongated flat-edged slab.The leaked render looks like the Sony Xperia 1 IV will also have a headphone jack, side fingerprint sensor, and top / bottom bezels that house front-facing stereo speakers and a selfie camera. And there are three cameras shown on the rear of the Xperia 1 IV, each reportedly touting 12MP sensors, including one that seems to be telescopic. Image: OnLeaks / Giznext The leaked Xperia 1 IV has a shutter... Continue reading…

Image: Mykhailo Fedorov SpaceX sent a truck full of Starlink user terminals to Ukraine, according to an image tweeted by the country’s vice prime minister, who had asked CEO Elon Musk for assistance during Russia’s invasion. Over the weekend, Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted at Musk, asking him to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations. In response, Musk said that the satellite internet service had been activated for the country and that more terminals were on their way. Today, it seems that promise has been fulfilled, with Musk responding to Fedorov’s latest tweet, “You are most welcome.”As fighting continues in Ukrainian cities, there have been concerns that there could be cyberattacks on critical internet infrastructure, which could make it harder for news to leave... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri once again shot down the possibility of an iPad app (because who cares about the millions of iPad users out there, right?). It’s been 12 years since Instagram’s release — over a decade without an accompanying iPad app — and we’re tired.Just think about it for a second: how absurd is it that iPad users either have to settle for an iPhone-sized Instagram app experience on their tablet or must succumb to browsing the platform on a web browser — as Marques Brownlee points out — in the year 2022?

A view of the Kizelovskaya State District Power Plant at the Gubakhinsky Coke and Chemical Works. Russian businessman Alexei Kolesnik bought the Kizelovskaya State District Power Plant to create a data center and a bitcoin mining farm. | Photo by Maxim Kimerling / TASS via Getty Images Bitcoin’s carbon dioxide pollution has gotten even worse since China ousted Bitcoin miners last year, according to a new analysis. It’s likely the result of Bitcoin miners substituting China’s abundant hydropower with coal and gas, experts say.“We actually see Bitcoin becoming less green than ever before,” says Alex de Vries, lead author of the analysis published last week in the journal Joule. That directly counters continued claims by industry groups that renewable energy would clean up Bitcoin’s operations.The new report shows that the Bitcoin boom is becoming a bigger problem for the world’s efforts to eliminate fossil fuel pollution. Mining bans, like the one China put in place last year, don’t seem to be very effective in curbing... Continue reading…

An artistic rendering of the Rosalind Franklin rover on Mars. | Image: ESA A joint Russian-European mission to Mars will likely be delayed in light of new sanctions against Russia and the country’s ongoing assault of Ukraine. The delay is the latest space partnership to feel the side effects of Russia’s invasion here on Earth.Known as ExoMars, the mission entails sending a series of robotic spacecraft to Mars, culminating in the launch of a robotic rover to explore the Red Planet’s surface. The European Space Agency and Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos have been working together on the program for the last decade. As part of the initiative, ESA and Roscosmos launched the first phase of the mission in 2016, sending a spacecraft to orbit Mars and sniff out its atmosphere, as well as a test lander to... Continue reading…

Needles Kane was the terrifying face of the Twisted Metal games. | Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment via Peacock Sony’s Twisted Metal TV show, an adaptation of the video game series starring Falcon actor Anthony Mackie, will debut on the Peacock streaming service and is officially labeled as a comedy. Early last year, we heard the vehicular combat-themed show was in the works and being produced by Will Arnett and helmed by Michael Jonathan Smith. On Monday, we learned that each episode of the PlayStation Productions show will be 30 minutes and will attempt to make audiences laugh.It’s understandable if your memory of the Twisted Metal video games is a bit hazy — the first one was released in 1995, and we haven't gotten a new one since 2012. As a refresher, they mainly center on driving around a heavily armored car and trying to defeat others who... Continue reading…

PC or console? Mouse and keyboard, or controller? It’s a debate that’s raged for nearly as long as video games themselves. So in 2013, Valve — creator of games like Half-Life and Portal, and the founder of Steam, the beating heart of PC gaming — attempted to fuse the two camps together.The Steam Controller was originally introduced as part of Valve’s Steam Machine push. The initiative attempted to convince partners to build gaming PCs that would sit in a living room like an Xbox or a PlayStation, but run the massive library of PC games already available on Steam. Plenty of PC owners have hooked up their computer to their television, but the Steam Machine project had bigger ambitions to turn living room PC gaming into a platform.The... Continue reading…

Image: Bandai Namco It seems like everyone, even people who don’t usually partake in FromSoftware games, is playing Elden Ring. It’s currently the seventh most played game on Steam based on number of concurrent players and has a score of 97 on Metacritic, putting it on track to be this year’s highest rated game.And while I have enjoyed the bits of Elden Ring I’ve played, I’m not too keen on joining the rest of my Tarnished colleagues in the Lands Between just yet. I’m gonna wait for the guide writers, speedrunners, and wiki editors to catch up, because from my dabblings in FromSoftware games, I know that in order to truly enjoy Elden Ring, I’m gonna need a lot of help that just doesn’t exist yet.Elden Ring is a game that’s meant to be mysterious. The... Continue reading…

The Xbox Series X is selling for $499.99 at Walmart, but you’ll have to act quickly if you want one. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Update 12:50PM ET, February 28th: Walmart has sold out of the Xbox Series X for now, however, the Xbox Series S is available today at Woot for $249.99. The disc-less console features less storage and isn’t as powerful as the Series X, but it can handle the same games.Good news for those who have yet to nab the Xbox Series X: right now, Walmart is selling Microsoft’s next-gen console for its usual price of $499. Even better, unlike previous restocks, this one is open to all and not just those who subscribe to the retailer’s premium subscription service, Walmart Plus. This restock came up very suddenly out of the blue, and it isn’t utilizing Walmart’s typical queue system, so be sure to keep trying to add the console to your cart, even if... Continue reading…

Robert Pattinson in The Batman. | Photo: Jonathan Olley / Warner Bros. The Batman franchise has seen better days Continue reading…

Image: Bungie I’m obsessed with a stick in Destiny 2: The Witch Queen. That’s a sentence I never thought I’d utter before the new glaive weapon arrived in the game last week. Released as part of The Witch Queen expansion, the glaive is a powerful and versatile... stick. Or “stabby stabby murder sticks,” as Bungie described the glaives last week. You can melee with it and slay enemies at close range, shoot a projectile from afar, or block an attack.I’ve been hooked on the glaive ever since it dropped at the beginning of The Witch Queen campaign. I feel truly invincible with the glaive in Destiny 2, and it’s the first new weapon type in years that has made such an immediate impact on the way I play the game.When I first started using the glaive, it... Continue reading…

The Xbox Series S is a deceptively small console. It’s about the size of two controllers side-by-side. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge It seems like every time we mention the Xbox Series S, it gets a little cheaper. The entry-level Xbox has slowly gone from dropping $10 to $30 off its regular $299.99 price, and now to a full $50 off. Woot has the Xbox Series S for $249.99 today only, or until inventory runs out. And unlike some previous Woot deals, this one’s not limited to Amazon Prime subscribers. To put it in perspective, that is half the cost of its bigger sibling, the still-elusive Xbox Series X — but to say this is half the console would not do the little white Xbox enough justice.Microsoft’s cheaper Xbox Series S does not feature a disc drive, but it plays the same games as the Xbox Series X at a more modest QHD (2560 x 1440) resolution and up to 120fps in... Continue reading…

The weird world of Fortnite is adding another celebrity to its ranks.Tennis star and noted Overwatch fan Naomi Osaka will be joining the battle royale with two different character skins that go on sale starting March 3rd. One outfit has some clear tennis influences, while the other is called the “dark priestess” outfit, and both come with an assortment of matching accessories. Osaka will be showing off her in-game character a bit early when she streams with Twitch star Berleezy on March 1st at 7PM ET.Real-world stars have steadily been creeping their way into Fortnite, most recently with the addition of Silk Sonic duo Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, along with multiple versions of Tom Holland. When it comes to athletes, Osaka joins some... Continue reading…

MSCHF calls it the MSAT. | Image: MSCHF It’ll cost $52 for you to enter, but you could take home thousands — at least. This is the latest project from art collective MSCHF: a one-off, winner-takes-all, massively multiplayer version of the SATs named the MSAT.The SAT — for non-US readers — is a multiple-choice test taken across the United States for college admissions. Because it’s so widely taken, it’s something of an object of cultural horror. “I actually took the ACT, but as 95 percent of my friends took the SAT, I remember them being out of their minds stressed and spending almost a full 12 months preparing with private tutors and study classes,” MSCHF founder Daniel Greenberg tells The Verge.So, Greenberg and his colleagues made the MSAT. Registration is open for the... Continue reading…

The Huawei MatePad Paper. | Image: Huawei Huawei has announced its first ever e-reader, the MatePad Paper. But this is a little different from a typical Kindle. For starters, it’s compatible with Huawei’s M-Pencil stylus, so it can be used for taking notes in addition to just reading like the reMarkable 2 or Onyx Boox Note Air 2, and there’s also a built-in microphone for voice recording. It also has a larger 10.3-inch E Ink display compared to the roughly 7-inch screens found on most Kindles.These specs mean that the MatePad Paper has the potential to be a productivity device, in addition to a device aimed purely at consumption. It’s almost more like an Android tablet that happens to be equipped with an E Ink screen, right down to the fact that it’s running Huawei’s HarmonyOS... Continue reading…

Toyota will idle lines in several factories, producing about 13,000 fewer vehicles than expected. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge A cyberattack has forced Toyota to shut down its factories in Japan, forcing the automaker to lose about 13,000 cars of output, Reuters reports. The attack was directed at a key supplier of plastic and electronic components to the company.There was no immediate information as to who was behind the cyberattack, with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida telling reporters that his government would investigate whether Russia was involved. “It is difficult to say whether this has anything to do with Russia before making thorough checks,” he said, according to Reuters.“It is difficult to say whether this has anything to do with Russia before making thorough checks”Japan is backing the US and other Western allies that are seeking to impose... Continue reading…

Samsung’s Note brand will be replaced by the new Ultra line of devices. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Samsung is officially killing off the Galaxy Note... brand name. The news was confirmed by Samsung’s smartphone chief Roh Tae-moon, who told reporters at Mobile World Congress 2022 that “Galaxy Note will come out as Ultra” going forward, referring to Samsung’s recently released Galaxy S22 Ultra, via Dailian.The news isn’t exactly a surprise. Samsung hasn’t released a Galaxy Note device since the Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra were released in 2020. And this year’s Galaxy S22 Ultra, which featured the return of an integrated stylus, is a Galaxy Note device in everything but name.The convergence of the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lines of products has been fated for years. When Samsung first launched the Galaxy Note over a decade ago —... Continue reading…

Early access memories Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Three weeks ago, I opened up a cardboard box containing the Steam Deck, Valve’s incredible new gadget that attempts to make PC gaming portable — and sometimes wildly succeeds. Today, you no longer need to read a 4,000-word review or listen to me explain my giant cartoon heart eyes for 30 minutes on The Vergecast to understand my very big feelings: we’ve got a video that shows you the Deck’s biggest wins and its biggest failings.And it starts with an original Nintendo Game Boy.OG Game Boy alertThat’s right: not a Nintendo Switch. My family’s carefully preserved 1989-era Game Boy, previously featured here. You’ll understand why long before you finish.Plus, you’ll see and hear a few things that didn’t fit into my text review. How does... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Is TikTok still a short-form video platform? It seems less and less so, after the company announced today that it’s expanding the maximum length for uploads to 10 minutes. TikTok has been testing ever-longer uploads for years, recently introducing three-minute videos last July, but this latest update is the largest increase yet, and will now roll out globally.“We’re always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience,” said a company spokesperson in a statement given to The Verge. “Last year, we introduced longer videos, giving our community more time to create and be entertained on TikTok. Today, we’re excited to start rolling out the ability to upload videos that are up to 10 minutes, which... Continue reading…

The 11-inch Duet 3’s taller aspect ratio should make it more natural to use in portrait mode. | Image: Lenovo Lenovo has announced a new Chrome OS tablet at Mobile World Congress 2022 that seems like a stellar value, along with a wave of other promising Chromebooks in its IdeaPad productivity lineup. The IdeaPad Duet 3 tablet seems to deliver more of what we liked about the 13-inch Duet 5 tablet, but smaller. It’s an 11-inch tablet, which should make it easier to lug around, and to hold in your hands. Lenovo says it’s the successor to the well-liked 10.1-inch Duet from 2020.Compared to the larger Duet 5, the Duet 3 bumps the screen’s resolution from 1080p to 2K, while providing a slightly taller aspect ratio at 5:3 compared to 16:9 in the Duet 5. This should make the Duet 3 feel a little more natural to hold and view in portrait mode. The most... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Spice DAO’s quest to honor a nonexistent film Continue reading…

Oppo has announced a new 150W SuperVOOC fast-charging standard today which it claims will be able to charge a 4,500mAh battery from 1 percent to 50 percent charge in just five minutes, and to 100 percent in just 15. It’s going to appear first in an unnamed smartphone from sub-brand OnePlus in the second quarter of this year. OnePlus has also offered an update on the global launch of the OnePlus 10 Pro, which came to China earlier this year.OnePlus didn’t offer any more details on the first phone to feature this technology, such as whether it will be a flagship phone or a part of the company’s midrange Nord lineup, but it said the technology will be on display at its booth during this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.Realme is... Continue reading…

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Amazon customers can now connect with healthcare providers through Echo devices, the companies announced today. The service is provided by telemedicine company Teladoc, one of the largest telemedicine companies in the United States.Customers can connect with Teladoc by saying “Alexa, I want to talk to a doctor.” They’ll get a call back on their device from a Teladoc doctor. The service is only for non-emergency visits, like allergies or flu symptoms. At this point, visits are audio-only, but video visits are “coming soon,” according to a press release.“Whether they’re taking care of their sick child in the middle of the night or wanting to ask a doctor about allergy symptoms in between meetings during the day, we hope this... Continue reading…

Qualcomm’s new modem-RF system is the first of its kind to use AI to maximize 5G coverage and speed. | Image: Qualcomm Qualcomm is using Mobile World Congress to show off some new technology that should improve 5G connectivity and wireless audio. These new capabilities — and the chips that make them possible — are likely to land in the next generation of earbuds and high-end Android phones starting in the second half of this year.The Snapdragon X70 5G modem-RF system attempts to improve your phone’s 5G connection with the help of an AI processor. This helps it maximize 5G signal for better coverage — particularly important for mmWave signals, which are short-range compared to the broader coverage of low and mid-band frequencies. Qualcomm says this improvement is limited to situations like stadiums and city blocks, and that it doesn’t address one of... Continue reading…

The Honor Magic 4 Pro. | Image: Honor Honor’s latest flagship smartphone, the Magic 4 Pro, can be fast-charged wirelessly at 100W, allowing it to be charged to 50 percent in just 15 minutes, the former Huawei sub-brand announced today. As well as 100W wireless charging, the phone is also equipped with 100W wired charging, which Honor says can fully charge the device’s 4,600mAh battery in 30 minutes.The Magic 4 Pro has been announced alongside the lower-specced Magic 4, which tops out at 66W wired fast charging and doesn’t support 100W wireless charging. The Magic 4 Pro will start at €1099, while the Magic 4 will start at €899. Both will be available in the coming months, though Honor is yet to share exact release dates or markets.As you’d expect from a modern flagship... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook says it’s dismantled a misinformation network comprised of individuals and sites pushing fake news about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.The social network’s parent company Meta said the network was “relatively small,” consisting of about 40 accounts, Pages, and Groups on Facebook and Instagram. It’s not clear how recently the group had started operating, but Meta says it had attracted fewer than 4,000 followers on Facebook and fewer than 500 followers on Instagram.“It’s a sign that while these actors are trying to run these types of influence operations, they’re getting caught sooner and they’re not reaching the audiences that they would have reached even a few years ago,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Meta’s head of security policy,... Continue reading…

6: A general view of Dauan Island on March 26, 2021 in Dauan Island, Australia. As sea levels continue to rise, tides have become more destructive and coastal erosion is occurring at a faster rate. New seawalls are being built in different projects around the islands in an effort to hold back rising sea levels. | Photo by Brook Mitchell/Getty Images Relying solely on seawalls and other engineering fixes won’t be enough to keep communities safe from rising sea levels or other consequences of climate change, a major new United Nations report warns. Seawalls might be able to temporarily fend off rising tides and storm surges, but the report’s authors say more “transformative changes in our behaviour and infrastructure” are needed as the climate crisis worsens.Greener cities and healthy ecosystems are just as important as built infrastructure for keeping people safe, the report emphasized. And urban planners might need to give up developing some of the most vulnerable coastal areas, or risk building in places that’ll be inundated with water in the future.Greener cities and healthy... Continue reading…

Realme has announced the GT2 Pro, its latest flagship phone and the followup to last year’s impressive GT. The former Oppo sub-brand describes it as “the most premium flagship ever by Realme,” and it’s difficult to disagree with that assessment.The headline feature of the GT2 Pro is how it looks and feels. Continuing the company’s materials collaboration with legendary Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa, the GT2 Pro is the first phone to be made with a “bio-based polymer,” which Realme claims reduces carbon emissions by 35.5 percent during manufacturing.The “paper green” model I’ve been using has a unique matte finish that feels coarse to the touch and doesn’t pick up fingerprints. I can’t speak to Realme’s environmental claims, but... Continue reading…

Ukrainian Territorial Defence fighters patrol the streets after the fight in Kharkiv on February 27, 2022 | Photo by SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty Images Google has temporarily disabled live traffic features offered by Google Maps in Ukraine to protect users’ safety as the country is invaded by neighboring Russia.The features use anonymous location data collected from Android smartphones to show where there are traffic delays on roads and which businesses and stores are busy. Experts say such data could offer insight into the progress of the invasion. One open source intelligence (OSINT) expert said he saw signs of the Russian invasion early last Thursday after spotting unusual “traffic jams” at the Ukrainian border on Google Maps.“I think we were the first people to see the invasion,” OSINT expert, Professor Jerry Lewis of the Middlebury Institute, told Motherboard last week. “And we... Continue reading…

Here’s the new ThinkPad X1 Extreme. | Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge Lenovo has dumped a whole bunch of new ThinkPads into the world, and there’s some exciting stuff in there. We’re getting a brand-new ThinkPad X13s powered by Snapdragon chips, a fifth-generation ThinkPad X1 Extreme with a WQXGA 165Hz screen option, and new additions to the P-series and T-series as well.The news I’m personally most excited about is the screen shape. A few months ago, Lenovo told me that much of its portfolio would be moving to the 16:10 aspect ratio this year. They appear to be keeping their word. Across the board, the new models are 16:10 — taller and roomier than they were in their 16:9 eras.Some news that’s a bit more... intriguing is the all-new ThinkPad X13s, which is the first laptop to feature the Snapdragon 8cx... Continue reading…

Later this year, you can snag the 16-inch model with either AMD or Intel processors. | Lenovo Lenovo has made some hefty updates to its mid-range IdeaPad Gaming 3 lineup for 2022, which includes two Intel 12th Gen- and two AMD Ryzen 6000-series-equipped models, each with a 15.6-inch and 16-inch option. Notably, the 16-inch option for either CPU you opt for has a 16:10 aspect ratio display with the option to go up to 2560 x 1600, like the Legion 5 Pro, which is more desirable because it offers more vertical space for browsing, gaming, or anything else you want to do on a PC. The only thing they’re not particularly great for is watching movies or TV shows, which are traditionally presented in 16:9 aspect ratio.Despite each of these IdeaPad Gaming 3 laptops looking the same across CPU options, the specs differ in some ways... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook has blocked access to a number of accounts in Ukraine, some of which are associated with Russian state-backed media outlets. It’s also reviewing other governments’ requests to restrict access to these accounts in their countries.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple may be working on a device with a 20-inch foldable display, which Apple tracker Mark Gurman describes as an “iPad / MacBook hybrid” in Bloomberg’s Power On newsletter.It’s not expected until 2026Gurman says that Apple is, indeed, exploring the possibility of a folding device of the sort, backing up the claims of Ross Young, the CEO and analyst at Display Supply Chain Consultants. Last week, Young brought attention to Apple’s supposed plans to develop a device with a large, folding screen, and Gurman has added some more depth to this rumor.Gurman claims the device will feature a dual-screen display that omits a physical keyboard and trackpad — navigating and typing on the device will be entirely touchscreen-based. In terms of a... Continue reading…

Von der Leyen announced a ban on the state-backed RT and Sputnik networks in the EU. | Photo by STEPHANIE LECOCQ/POOL/AFP via Getty Images European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Twitter that the European Union will ban Russian state-run media outlets from airing in the EU, as well as bar Russian aircraft from flying in EU airspace.

Here’s the Galaxy Book 2 Pro. Samsung has announced two updates to its premium Galaxy Book line: the Galaxy Book 2 Pro and Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360. The devices will start at $1,049.99 and $1,249.99 respectively; they hit shelves on April 1st with preorders beginning on March 18th. A budget-oriented Galaxy Book 2 360, a convertible version of the regular Galaxy Book, will also ship April 1st with a starting price of $899.99.Both Pro models come in 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch sizes, while the regular Book 2 360 is only a 13.3. As you can probably guess from the names, the Galaxy Book 2 Pro is a clamshell while the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 is a 2-in-1 convertible with a touchscreen and S Pen support. Here’s the Galaxy Book 2 Pro’s keyboard, which is backlit... Continue reading…