The Verge

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The White House wants to accelerate the development of next-generation COVID-19 vaccines, Stat News reported Monday. Ideally, future vaccines would offer longer-lasting protection against infection with and transmission of the virus, not just serious illness and death.Federal officials, researchers, and representatives from pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna will meet Tuesday at a White House “summit” to discuss next steps. It’s unclear if President Biden — who currently has COVID-19 — will participate.The currently available COVID-19 vaccines still work well to keep most people from getting seriously ill or dying from COVID-19. But the churn of new variants of the virus — most recently with the various forms of the omicron... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Uber admitted to covering up a massive cybersecurity attack that took place in October 2016, exposing the confidential data of 57 million customers and drivers, as part of a settlement with the US Department of Justice to avoid criminal prosecution.In order to not be prosecuted for the cover-up, Uber “admits that its personnel failed to report the November 2016 data breach to the [Federal Trade Commission] despite a pending FTC investigation into data security at the company,” according to a press release from the DOJ.Hackers used stolen credentials to access a private source code repository and obtain a proprietary access keyHackers used stolen credentials to access a private source code repository and obtain a proprietary access... Continue reading…

As interest in electric vehicles continues to grow, consumers may find they have a lot of questions that they would like answered even before stepping inside a dealership or taking out a car loan. To that end, General Motors is launching a new online platform called EV Live designed to educate curious car buyers about the brand new world of battery-powered vehicles.Anyone with questions about EVs who owns a computer or smartphone can log into EV Live to chat in real time with one of GM’s EV experts, who can offer tutorials, vehicle walkarounds, and (perhaps unsubtly) help promote the automaker’s many EV related products.“We’re hoping to break the internet on Monday,” Hoss Hassani, GM vice president of EV ecosystem, said in a briefing... Continue reading…

John Wick surrounded by wicks in John Wick 4. | Image: Lionsgate Orcs, gelatinous cubes, and far too many zombies Continue reading…

Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Our fearless leader, Nilay Patel, sent me an article about Chipotle accepting cryptocurrency for payment earlier this year. I did think about writing something to troll my cryptocurrency-hating editor who loves Chipotle, but then Elon Musk did some manner of nonsense, and I forgot.Chipotle did pay $25 million for giving its customers norovirus, so I guess this is how they’re recruiting new onesUntil now. Chipotle made the mistake of tipping us to its new game for National Avocado Day. It’s called “Buy the Dip” because guac costs extra. The game will, according to its press release, “engage fans in a stock market simulation to ‘buy the dip’ at its lowest point and give away a total of $200,000 in crypto.” Chipotle did pay $25 million... Continue reading…

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Microsoft is speeding up the boot time of its Xbox Series X / S consoles. In the latest Xbox Insider test builds of the Xbox dashboard, the cold boot startup time has been reduced by around 5 seconds. Microsoft was able to speed up the boot sequence by creating a shorter bootup animation.Xbox testers noticed a faster bootup time recently, and Microsoft confirmed the changes on Friday. Josh Munsee, director of Xbox integrated marketing, says the company created “a shorter boot up animation (~4s) from the original boot up animation (~9s), helping to reduce the overall startup time.” Image: Tom Warren / The Verge The old and new Xbox Series X / S boot times. Xbox Series X / S owners will only benefit from the... Continue reading…

The game tasks players with managing immigration in the fictional Soviet state of Arstotzka. The self-described “dystopian document thriller” Papers, Please is getting a new mobile port for iOS and Android, out on August 5th as a paid, standalone app.The news was announced on Twitter by the game’s indie developer Lucas Pope. Papers, Please was originally released for PC in 2013, with an iPad-only version launched in 2014, and PlayStation Vita port in 2017.On Twitter, Pope joked that the game was now “On track for a console release in 2031.”

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple has settled its lawsuit with Chicago over the city’s so-called “Netflix tax,” according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter. The tax placed a 9 percent levy on “amusements that are delivered electronically” — essentially targeting streaming services.The exact terms of the settlement weren’t made public. Though, Bloomberg Tax last year reported that revenues from the tax — widely thought to be the first of its kind — grew to over $30 million in the year ending June 30th, 2021.The decision has been a long time coming. Chicago introduced the new tax in 2015 as it attempted to make up for the lost revenue from traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Apple filed its challenge in 2018, and was one of many groups and companies... Continue reading…

A stock photo of a chess-playing robot in Shanghai — unconnected to this incident. | Photo by Gao Yuwen/VCG via Getty Images A chess robot broke the finger of a seven-year-old boy playing in a tournament in Russia, according to reports from local news outlets (seen via The Guardian).The incident happened last week at the Moscow Chess Open, where the robot was hired to play competitors. Video of the incident (below) shows the machine is a standard industrial robot arm customized to move pieces on three chess boards simultaneously.“The robot broke the child’s finger. This, of course, is bad,” Sergey Lazarev, President of the Moscow Chess Federation, told Russian news agency TASS (translation via Google Translate).Said Lazarev: “The robot was rented by us, it has been exhibited in many places, for a long time, with specialists. Apparently, the operators... Continue reading…

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Elon Musk allegedly fractured an old friendship with Google co-founder Sergey Brin after having an affair with his wife, Nicole Shanahan, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Sources familiar with the situation told the WSJ that the couple filed for divorce earlier this year, citing “irreconcilable differences,” however, Musk has now denied both the alleged affair and said he is still friends with Brin, claiming the report is based only on “third-party random hearsay.”Musk and Shanahan’s affair allegedly occurred at the high-profile Art Basel event in Miami following Musk’s split with then-girlfriend Claire Boucher, also known as Grimes. Sources tell the WSJ that Brin and Shanahan were separated but still living together... Continue reading…

A Long March 5B rocket with the Wentian module takes off from Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site. | Photo by Hou Yu/China News Service via Getty Images China successfully launched its second module, called Wentian, to the Tiangong space station early Sunday morning (via SpaceNews). Wentian took off aboard a Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan, China at 2:22AM ET (2:22PM local), docking at the Tiangong space station about 13 hours later at 3:13PM ET (3:13AM local).The Wentian module contains equipment that allows the Chinese astronauts, also known as taikonauts, to perform various scientific experiments during their time on the station. As noted by The New York Times, the additional module will also provide three extra spaces to sleep, as well as another airlock that crewmembers can use to conduct spacewalks.

The OnePlus 10T in green. | Image: OnePlus The OnePlus 10T isn’t due to launch until August 3rd, but it wouldn’t be a OnePlus phone if the company didn’t reveal a few details early. Today, we’re getting a look at the device’s exterior design, which reveals a couple of interesting (and, depending on your viewpoint, potentially disappointing) changes compared to its predecessor. Although the 10T’s overall design is similar to that of the OnePlus 10 Pro, there’s no alert / mute slider this time, nor is there any sign of the Hasselblad branded-camera system found on recent OnePlus flagships.The alert slider has been a staple of OnePlus’ flagship phones for years, offering a quick and easy way to put its phones into silent and vibrate modes without having to tap through any onscreen... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Verizon Fios is the latest provider to drop One American News (OAN) network, a move that leaves the right-wing news channel without a major carrier, as reported earlier by The Daily Beast. In a notice on its website, Verizon explains viewers will no longer have access to OAN starting July 31st.“Our negotiation with OAN has been a typical, business-as-usual carriage negotiation like those that routinely happen between content distributors and content providers,” Verizon said in a statement to The Daily Beast. “These negotiations were focused on economics, as they always are, but OAN failed to agree to fair terms.” Verizon didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.OAN is left without a major broadcasting platformOAN,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge An FBI investigation into Huawei reveals the Chinese telecom company had a pattern of installing equipment on cell towers near military bases in rural America — even if it wasn’t profitable to do so, according to a report from CNN. The unearthed investigation sheds some light on the US government’s motive behind the stalled “rip and replace” program that pushes for the removal of Huawei’s tech throughout the country.According to CNN, the federal investigation centers around the potential for Huawei’s equipment to intercept military communications, including those transmitted by the US Strategic Command, the agency tasked with handling the US nuclear arsenal. It’s no secret that Huawei sold cheap equipment to smaller, regional telecom... Continue reading…

This character’s name is Jay. That’s my name! | Image: INTERIOR/NIGHT As my wife and I played through As Dusk Falls, a tense new interactive thriller that recently launched on Xbox Game Pass, we would regularly turn to each other on the couch and say, “Coin flip.”In As Dusk Falls, up to eight people playing together in local co-op can simultaneously vote on what the game’s characters should do next. Think Black Mirror: Bandersnatch mixed with Jackbox’s many-player multiplayer brand of trivia. Similar to Jackbox games, you don’t even need a controller — you can just use your phone (though you’ll have to download a companion app).Think Bandersnatch mixed with JackboxMuch of As Dusk Falls’ story revolves around a hostage situation at a motel, and as you might expect, decisions can be pretty tough. In one... Continue reading…

Marvel is looking far into its future at San Diego Comic-Con. The company confirmed that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (which just got its first trailer) will end phase four of its cinematic universe on November 11th, and outlined what to expect for phase five. But Marvel also took things one step farther and detailed phase six of the MCU with a trio of movie announcements.Things will kick off with Fantastic Four on November 28th, 2024; followed by Avengers: The Kang Dynasty on May 2nd, 2025; before wrapping up with Avengers: Secret Wars on November 7th, 2025. Marvel is calling this period of the MCU — phases four through six — the “Multiverse saga,” which will come to a close with Secret Wars. The... Continue reading…

Concept art for Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. | Marvel Studios Though the titles for a number of Marvel Studios’ upcoming films like Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania are a little cumbersome, fairly soon, we’re all going to know them as the projects that marked the ending the the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 4 and the beginning of Phase 5 — two chapters in the Multiverse Saga.Kevin Feige and the rest of Marvel Studios’ braintrust took to Hall H at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con to discuss details about how Phase 4 is set to come to an end later this year with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Phase 5 will kick off with the third Ant-Man film. While we knew that movies like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the fourth Captain America, and Blade were on the... Continue reading…

Winston Duke as M’Baku in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. | Marvel Studios More so than any of Marvel’s other big reveals at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s first trailer’s something to legitimately get hyped about.During Marvel’s big Hall H showcase today, actress Letitia Wright said that her and the rest of the cast and crew’s goal with Wakanda Forever was to honor the legacy that Chadwick Boseman left following his passing. Wakanda Forever’s trailer doesn’t directly acknowledge what’s become of T’Challa in the MCU, but his absence and the recent discovery of a new underwater nation once again have the world — Wakanda in particular — on edge. While Wakandans like Shuri (Wright), Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), and Okoye (Danai Gurira) are seen mourning and seemingly trying... Continue reading…

Now it’s official: a new live-action Daredevil series is coming to Disney Plus. The news was first reported earlier this year, but at Comic-Con this evening Marvel confirmed the series’ existence. It will be called Daredevil: Born Again, and will once again star Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio as Daredevil and the Kingpin. The show is expected to hit Disney Plus in the spring of 2024.Cox and D’Onofrio will be reprising their roles from the original series which debuted as part of partnership with Netflix; earlier this year, however, all of Netflix’s Marvel series — including Jessica Jones and Luke Cage — left the streamer in order to move to Disney Plus. D’Onofrio’s Kingpin has already made an appearance on Disney’s streaming platform... Continue reading…

The next big Marvel series on Disney Plus is She-Hulk — and at Comic-Con this evening, Marvel Studios provided a fresh look at the show. The new trailer has a decidedly more lighthearted tone than the first, with Bruce Banner explaining just how important both spandex and yoga are when you’re a gigantic superhero. But it also gets into some legal drama and, of course, includes some cameos from elsewhere in the Marvel cinematic universe.The trailer was released during a SDCC panel that also detailed the future of the fifth phase of the MCU, which includes films like Blade, Captain America: New World Order, and Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, alongside Disney Plus series like the second season of Loki. Elsewhere at SDCC, Marvel also... Continue reading…

Netflix Though the first glimpses of Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman were already plenty promising, it was difficult to get a sense of how much the show would lean into the graphic novel’s focus on the macabre. Along with teasing out some of the more eye-popping moments that’ll shape The Sandman’s first season, a new trailer from San Diego Comic-Con also makes clear just how dark the series is going to get.The Sandman’s latest trailer once again finds Morpheus / Dream of the Endless (Tom Sturridge) newly-freed from his imprisonment by mortals, and in need of retrieving restoring himself to his former power. Some of The Sandman will seemingly follow as Dream tracks down a number of sacred magical items and returns to... Continue reading…

Photo by Loren Grush / The Verge Omead Afshar, the Tesla executive tasked with overseeing operations at the company’s Texas factory, is reportedly the subject of an internal investigation over a glass purchase deemed “suspicious,” according to a report from Bloomberg. Sources close to the situation told Bloomberg that Afshar will likely go on a leave of absence before Tesla cuts him from the company completely.Afshar reportedly placed an order for a “special” type of glass that isn’t all that easy to procure amid supply chain constraints, and told staff it was for a “secret project.” According to Bloomberg, Tesla’s finance department flagged the glass purchase earlier this year, sparking the internal probe led by David Searle, Tesla’s acting head of legal.Afshar has... Continue reading…

Image: Paramount The new Star Trek: Picard trailer gives us a first look at the stars set to reprise their roles in the series’ third and final season. Paramount Plus debuted the one-minute trailer at San Diego Comic-Con, which features most of the main cast from Star Trek: The Next Generation, including Patrick Stewart, LeVar Burton, Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Jonathan Frakes, and Gates McFadden.The teaser gives us brief glimpses at each character, along with short, but profound quotes. Notably absent from the trailer is Brent Spiner, although Paramount Plus hinted at his appearance in a trailer back in April. Season 3 reunites Jean-Luc Picard with his old crewmates, and is set to debut on Paramount Plus in 2023.But... Continue reading…

Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam. | Warner Bros. During the Black Adam panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, star Dwayne Johnson emphasized that even though his character has no problem killing or maiming people who get in his way, he’s really more of an antihero than a proper villain. Watching Black Adam’s latest trailer, though, and the way the movie’s titular character bashes a number of DC’s classic superheroes, it’s hard not to see Teth-Adam as a clear and present danger.Black Adam’s latest trailer once again gives you the briefest of glimpses of the tragedy in Teth-Adam’s (Johnson) past that ultimately leads to his becoming a magically empowered superhuman somewhat similar (at least in power set and costume) to Shazam. Though Adam’s unable to save his family from a cruel... Continue reading…

Shazam! brought a lighthearted tone to DC’s theatrical run when it debuted in 2019, and the sequel looks to do much the same later this year — at least if the debut trailer is anything to go by. It’s called Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, DC revealed a first look at the superhero adventure. It starts off with the titular star (Zachary Levi) having some confidence issues (seriously, who can compete with Aquaman?) and espousing his love for the Fast and the Furious, before revealing a new villain played by none other than Helen Mirren. Other new cast members include Rachel Zegler and Lucy Liu. Also, there’s a very big dragon creature.Fury of the Gods has had a few different premiere dates, but — along... Continue reading…

A dose of monkeypox vaccine is prepared on July 23, 2022 | Photo by Hollie Adams/Getty Images Monkeypox is now a global public health emergency, the head of the World Health Organization decided on Saturday. The viral disease is officially a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, putting it in the same league as polio and COVID-19.In May, clusters of monkeypox cases were detected in the UK and Europe. Since then, 16,836 cases of monkeypox have emerged in 74 countries, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Monkeypox outbreaks have historically been much smaller, and occurred in central and western Africa.“The cases we are seeing are just the tip of the iceberg,” Albert Ko told the Associated Press. Ko is a professor of public health and epidemiology at Yale University. “The window has... Continue reading…

Photo by Alex Chan Tsz Yuk/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Dough is fantastic. You can make bread with it! Not to mention biscuits, cookies, pies, pizzas, pasta, and pastry. But — to the best of our knowledge — you cannot make a PC monitor with the stuff.Perhaps that’s why I can’t stop giggling at this message (via Liliputing): Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge The “Learn more!” has me in stitches every time. Eve is the company that makes the remarkably well-reviewed but pricey Spectrum monitor — and before that, the disastrously crowdfunded Eve V tablet.Now, the company’s name is Dough.Which, grammatically speaking, means its flagship monitor is now the Dough Spectrum. It rolls right off the tongue.Dough explains (lol) that it chose the name because it... Continue reading…

There’s me, virtually hiking the AT. Walk The Distance is the type of app that’ll motivate a very specific type of person to get off the couch and get some exercise. Instead of having you walk to escape zombies or catch Pokémon, it lets you virtually walk long-distance routes like the Appalachian Trail (AT) and Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) — perfect for those of us who don’t mind our local walking paths but wish for something a little more scenic.For every mile you walk at home, you get to see a little icon with your picture move along a map, making its way between famous landmarks like Springer Mountain in Georgia or Kennedy Meadows at the base of the Sierra Nevada. And as you reach certain points, Walk The Distance will give you pictures and facts about them. It is, in a... Continue reading…

Here’s what you’ll see when trying to sign up for Netflix on the iPhone or iPad app. Netflix has started directing users on iPhone and iPad to an external webpage where they can sign up for the service, as first reported by 9to5Mac. The change comes just months after Apple started letting “reader” apps that provide access to digital content, like Netflix and Spotify, link out to account sign-up pages on their own websites.For as far back as 2018, Netflix didn’t provide an external signup link — or even tell users where they could sign up — in its iPhone and iPad apps. Users had to instead navigate to Netflix’s website from their web or mobile browser to sign up for the service before accessing the app. This was done to comply with Apple’s rules, which made it difficult for apps to get around its up to 30 percent... Continue reading…

After a trilogy’s worth of exhausting fights, John Wick is returning — but it’s not clear how much more fight he has left in him.The first trailer for John Wick 4, which was a surprise reveal during San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, features all the highlights you’d expect from a Wick movie, including Keanu Reeves looking very cool while training and new villains like a menacing Donnie Yen and a cold-blooded Bill Skarsgård. There are car chases, sword fights, and Laurence Fishburne calling out “You ready, John?” while holding up his iconic black suit.But it also raises an important question: where does all of this finally end? Mr. Wick clearly needs a break, but there’s no indication yet of how or when that might happen. I’m not... Continue reading…

Images: Prime Video/Netflix/Disney/HBO, GIF: Chris Welch / The Verge Earlier this week, Amazon announced a major redesign of Prime Video, and the overwhelming response was “finally.” Prime Video had become a relic frozen in time, with an ugly, laggy interface that seemed stuck in 2010. Amazon’s streaming competitors, meanwhile, have routinely switched up and refined the user experience.And it seems like Prime Video’s designers noticed. Because another thing that stuck out about the app’s makeover is just how closely Amazon’s video service now resembles Netflix. Column of navigation icons on the left side? Check. Top 10 list with big numbers? Yep, it’s there on the home screen. And Prime Video has even added “super carousels” of poster-style artwork that expand to landscape and start auto-playing a... Continue reading…

Camouflage debuts with the Pixel 6A when it goes on sale on July 28th. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Google’s clever Magic Eraser tool debuted on the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. It’s an editing feature that’s designed to remove people or objects you don’t want in the background of your photos. Considering that it’s dead simple to use, the results are okay, but it’s definitely not putting Adobe out of business anytime soon. But with the Pixel 6A — and coming soon to the 6 and 6 Pro — Google has added a new Magic Eraser function that I like a lot more than the standard erase tool: Camouflage. It’s just as easy to use, and the results are a lot more consistent.Magic Eraser works a bit like Photoshop’s content-aware fill. You make a selection, then it uses information from the surrounding image to remove the unwanted subject and fill in the area.... Continue reading…

Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Mifepristone’s contraceptive possibilities have been known for decades Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Welcome to the weekend. This week was a deal drought relative to last week’s Prime Day-filled coverage, but there are still some cool, limited-time offers that are worth highlighting. For one, Google flipped on preorders for the Pixel 6A phone and the Pixel Buds Pro after a long wait since their announcement at Google I/O 2022. And for people who want the Pixel 6A, placing a preorder at Amazon or Best Buy will get you a complementary set of Pixel Buds A-Series wireless earbuds that normally cost $100 alone.Allison Johnson published a review of the Pixel 6A on Thursday, and it seems like it was worth the wait. While it has a 6.1-inch OLED screen that’s both smaller (some may prefer this) and slower in terms of refresh rate (60Hz vs.... Continue reading…

This diminuative gaming keyboard ticks a lot of boxes Continue reading…

The company reportedly says he violated confidentiality policies. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Blake Lemoine, the Google engineer who publicly claimed that the company’s LaMDA conversational artificial intelligence is sentient, has been fired, according to the Big Technology newsletter, which spoke to Lemoine. In June, Google placed Lemoine on paid administrative leave for breaching its confidentiality agreement after he contacted members of the government about his concerns and hired a lawyer to represent LaMDA.A statement emailed to The Verge on Friday by Google spokesperson Brian Gabriel appeared to confirm the firing, saying, “we wish Blake well.” The company also says: “LaMDA has been through 11 distinct reviews, and we published a research paper earlier this year detailing the work that goes into its responsible... Continue reading…

Image by Alex Castro / The Verge There’s been a bit of back and forth since the change was originally announced, but this week Microsoft started rolling out an update to Microsoft Office that blocks the use of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros on downloaded documents.Last month, Microsft was testing the new default setting when it suddenly rolled back the update, “temporarily while we make some additional changes to enhance usability.” Despite saying it was temporary, many experts worried that Microsoft might not go through with changing the default setting, leaving systems vulnerable to attacks. Google Threat Analysis Group leader Shane Huntley tweeted, “Blocking Office macros would do infinitely more to actually defend against real threats than all the... Continue reading…

The hack is costing the company big. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge T-Mobile has agreed to pay $500 million to settle a class-action lawsuit stemming from the 2021 hack that it says exposed around 76.6 million US residents’ data. According to the proposed agreement filled on Friday, which you can read in full below, T-Mobile will put $350 million into a settlement fund to go to lawyers, fees, and, of course, to people who file claims. It’ll also be obligated to spend $150 million on “data security and related technology” during 2022 and 2023, in addition to what it had already budgeted for.In August, the company announced that its systems had been breached, following reports that Social Security numbers, names, addresses, and driver’s license information for over 100 million of its customers was for... Continue reading…

An image of a Horizon Worlds location made to look like a club | Image: Meta Meta is expanding what type of content is allowed in the virtual worlds that people make for Horizon Worlds, its platform that lets people create VR spaces for shared experiences. The company has added an 18 and up tag for user-created worlds and updated its policy to allow creators to include “mature” content that was previously banned altogether. According to UploadVR, creators who have published worlds received an email saying they have to manually mark whether their world is mature or safe for all audiences — if they don’t, it will be restricted to 18 and up by default.Based on a Wayback Machine archive of Meta’s Horizon Mature Worlds Policy page from April, this means Meta is now allowing content that was previously banned. The... Continue reading…

Though Marvel’s live-action projects are a big part of what’s got people hyped for this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, the studio’s Hall H showcase today made clear that animation’s going to be a big part of the MCU’s future.In addition to announcing its I Am Groot series, Marvel Studios head of streaming, TV, and animation Brad Winderbaum and head of visual development Ryan Meinerding took the stage in Hall H to discuss new details about Spider-Man: Freshman Year, X-Men ’97, Marvel Zombies, and upcoming seasons of What If...?Like its first season, What If...?’s second and newly announced third seasons will once again focus on the Watcher (Geoffrey Wright) as he gazes across the multiverse upon the many different realities that now make... Continue reading…

Image: Warner Bros. Games MultiVersus, Warner Bros. Games’ Super Smash Bros.-like fighting video game, is adding real-life NBA player LeBron James and Rick and Morty from the cartoon Rick and Morty to its already crossover-laden roster. (This actually isn’t the first time LeBron and Rick and Morty have shown up in a big crossover game — they’ve also appeared in Fortnite.)LeBron James will be playable in MultiVersus beginning July 26th, the same day the game will be available in open beta, and you can see him in action in his debut trailer. If you listen closely, you might be able to tell that LeBron isn’t actually voiced by LeBron — instead, he’s played by John Bentley, who also voices Barrett Wallace in Final Fantasy VII Remake. Rick and Morty will be added... Continue reading…

The rumored Fitbit Sense 2’s new bezel | Image: 9to5Google Buttons are a touchy subject among smartwatch owners, but new leaked Fitbit Sense 2 and Versa 4 photos from 9to5Google indicate the company is ditching capacitive buttons for both of its next-gen smartwatches.We got a hint that Fitbit may be bringing back physical buttons on the Versa 4 a few months ago, but it wasn’t clear at the time if that would extend to the Sense 2. The decision isn’t surprising. Fitbit introduced the capacitive button as a way to create a slimmer profile and prevent accidental presses, but in reality, it made for a finicky user experience. Many Versa and Sense users found the button to be unresponsive or just plain unreliable. (Ironically, when I reviewed the original Sense, it was way too easy to accidentally... Continue reading…

I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT I AM GROOT.**I Am Groot is a series of five animated shorts coming to Disney Plus on August 10th.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Ford is eyeing major cuts to its workforce in the midst of a shift to electric vehicles. According to a recent report in Bloomberg, the Blue Oval is gearing up to lay off 8,000 salaried workers — about a quarter of its workforce in the US — as it aims to reduce $3 billion in operational costs by 2026.The cuts will be coming from Ford Blue, the company’s legacy internal combustion engine business. Earlier this year, Ford split itself into two entities, with Ford Blue covering ICE vehicles and Ford Model E focused on electric vehicles and software projects. At the time, Ford said that Ford Blue would generate the revenue that would help power Ford Model E to develop new and innovative products.Ford Blue will have to generate those... Continue reading…

As Twitter user SwiftOnSecurity once quipped: “Nobody has fun in the deposition room fam.” | Photo by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge Several top Meta executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, COO Sheryl Sandberg, and the person set to replace Sandberg as COO when she leaves the company later this year, are set to give depositions in a lawsuit about the Cambridge Analytica scandal (via Bloomberg). According to a court document filed earlier this week, Zuckerberg will have to answer questions for up to six hours, while Sandberg could face up to five hours of deposition.You can read the full filing below if you want to see the plaintiffs and Meta argue about what the company has and has not provided during the discovery period.Zuckerberg and Sandberg have already faced tons of questions about Cambridge AnalyticaThe lawsuit, which could wind up as a class action case... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge More than two years into the pandemic, as video calls have taken over workspaces, Google Meet is now rolling out the ability to livestream meetings on YouTube, which could open them up to viewers more easily than the old way of livestreaming events through Meet itself. Google Workplace admins can opt in to public streaming for the business accounts they manage, which also includes a few guardrails to make sure your weekly standup doesn’t turn into an open mic.The feature is available to most paid Workplace accounts: Enterprise tiers (starter, standard, and plus), Education Plus, Teaching and Learning upgrade, and Workplace individual subscribers, as well as Google One Premium plan members in certain countries. People on most starter,... Continue reading…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge If you’re interested in one of Apple’s new M2 MacBooks but you’re confused about which one you should buy, don’t worry — it’s confusing. The two devices are very similar, but they do have a few important differences.To get one big group of folks out of the way: if you’re using this device for work on a consistent basis and your work primarily involves anything more intense than Chrome (for example, any program with Adobe in its name), you should buy a 14-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro or M1 Max instead of one of these computers. Those laptops are much faster, with bigger screens and a much more useful port selection, and those upgrades are going to be worth the extra money.But if you’re not in that category and you’ve got your heart... Continue reading…

Amazon’s very big and very expensive take on Lord of the Rings has yet another trailer. At San Diego Comic-Con, the company revealed the latest look at The Rings of Power, a new series for Prime Video that takes place thousands of years before the events of Lord of the Rings, during the “Second Age” of the history of Middle-earth. The three-minute-long clip features more stunning vistas along with some fantasy warfare.Here’s the official premise: