The Verge

A photo of a NASA ER-2 high-altitude aircraft with the AVIRIS instrument installed. | Image: NASA NASA and the US Geological Survey plan to deploy aircraft to spot critical minerals buried across the southwest US. They’ll take to the skies to map the minerals, which are crucial to the Biden administration’s plans to build up American clean energy industries.GEMx is the name of the joint research effort, which will launch with $16 million in funding made possible through the bipartisan infrastructure law, which passed last year. Over the next five years, NASA’s ER-2 and Gulfstream V aircraft will fly over parts of California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico to collect data that could point to where critical mineral resources are most abundant.Both aircraft will carry a powerful instrument, NASA’s Airborne Visible / Infrared Imaging... Continue reading…

Samar Haddad / The Verge Apple’s second-generation AirPods Pro have more powerful noise cancellation and better sound quality than the original pair, but the company has also made significant improvements to the charging case. Aside from the new lanyard loop, the case itself now contains a speaker that can emit sounds when you’re trying to track it down using Apple’s Find My app.By default, the case also plays sound effects when you plug it in for charging. Inevitably, some people won’t be a fan of that feature, but thankfully it’s fairly easy to turn off the extra sounds and use the speaker purely for location tracking purposes.How to disable charging sounds

Sony is likely not pleased. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge While it’s thankfully getting much easier to buy a PlayStation 5, the nearly two-year-old console has had enough time with modders to slowly (very slowly) get picked apart. Now, hackers have demonstrated how a recent IPV6 kernel exploit utilizing a Webkit vulnerability can allow users access to a Debug Settings Menu in the PS5’s dashboard. This menu allows a user to poke and prod around settings usually reserved for developers, including a package installer that can install PKG files for PS4 and PS5 games.While this may sound like the trappings of a bustling homebrew scene and fertile ground for pirates, the use cases are still fairly limited at this time. In addition to the usual risks of getting your PSN account banned, voiding your... Continue reading…

Gaggle monitors students’ work on school-owned accounts for potentially “harmful” keywords. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Trevor Project, a nonprofit that provides crisis support to LGBTQ-plus youth, will cut ties with student-focused monitoring software company Gaggle after the partnership sparked backlash from activists.The organization began listing Gaggle as a “corporate partner” on its website in May, according to a report from The 74, and took what it’s since confirmed to be a $25,000 donation. Gaggle still has The Trevor Project listed as a resource for LGBTQ students in multiple areas of its website.Gaggle makes and markets software products purporting to review students’ online behavior in school-issued accounts and, using machine learning technology, flag “concerning content” for their districts. Items that its products can monitor, per... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter’s Status feature seemed a bit strange at first. When it first came out that the company was testing a way to attach Status badges to your tweets, Twitter explained it as a way “to provide more context for your followers.”Context is all well and good, but Twitter’s uneditable list of choices didn’t make much sense. Adding a “Traveling” status might have made sense in the original what-you-had-for-lunch conception of Twitter, but no longer. And is there anything more cringe than tweeting your grumpiness with a “Case of the Mondays” badge?Now, it appears Twitter’s statuses are becoming much more... Twitter-y. Jane Manchun Wong, an engineer and a notable internet sleuth, recently found a bunch of new Status options that make a lot... Continue reading…

Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket has successfully reached orbit, achieving its objectives and deploying three satellite payloads on board. | Image: Everyday Astronaut Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket successfully reached orbit following its launch from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday. The launch was announced as a “100% Mission success” while deploying three satellite payloads on board, which according to Firefly, makes it “the first company to launch and reach orbit from US soil in only its second attempt.”Firefly Aerospace is a private spaceflight company that develops launch systems for commercial customers. The first unsuccessful Alpha test flight containing its own payload of teeny satellites exploded midflight back in September 2021. The string of bad luck for Firefly then persisted, with three previous launch attempts for Alpha 2 being aborted in September due to technical... Continue reading…

Jaeden Martell and Donald Sutherland in Mr. Harrigan’s Phone. | Image: Netflix Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is a thriller with an iPhone as the villain and the rare King adaptation that truly captures the entirety of the source material Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In California, DNA collected from sexual assault victims during an investigation can no longer be used for other purposes, including investigating other crimes. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law Friday.The bill was introduced in California after the district attorney’s office discovered that the San Francisco Police Department had used DNA collected from a victim during a sexual assault investigation to tie that victim to a property crime. In a sexual assault case, a victim’s DNA is collected in order to exclude their genes from an investigation, but the district said the police department was adding that information to its general genetic database.The victim whose arrest kicked off the revelations sued the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Supreme Court will take up two cases testing legal protections for apps and websites, according to a newly released list of orders. The first case is Gonzalez v. Google, a dispute over whether sites’ recommendation systems are covered by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The second is Twitter v. Taamneh, which covers the standard for finding a site illegally supporting terrorists.The cases will offer the Supreme Court a chance to dramatically reshape the online legal landscape — not only for huge companies like Twitter and Google but also smaller web services that are protected by laws like Section 230. They may soon be joined by a case covering sites’ right to moderate objectionable user posts. Petitioners will argue... Continue reading…

Ikea’s new Dirigera hub is coming soon. | Image: Ikea It looks like Ikea’s new Dirigera smart home hub is coming this November for €59.99 (around $59), twice as much as the existing Trådfri gateway sells for in Europe and a month later than promised.Tech Gaming Report spotted a sales page for the Dirigera hub, which replaces the gateway for Ikea’s smart home ecosystem, on the German Ikea site. We then found pages for the hub on Spanish and Norwegian Ikea websites, too. A note on the Norwegian site that it’s a “new and better replacement for TRÅDFRI gateway. Sales start in November.”When The Verge spoke to Ikea about the new hub earlier this summer, pricing was still TBD, but we knew it would cost more than the Trådfri gateway, which currently sells for €29 (about $29). “It is a little... Continue reading…

Death is a part of life at Return Home, where families grieve and bodies become soil Continue reading…

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever poster | Image: Marvel The latest trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever shows a kingdom in mourning with the passing of King T’Challa (played by the late Chadwick Boseman) and opens with Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) holding the Black Panther’s helmet.It also gives us a closer glimpse at a new underwater nation, called Talokan, led by Namor (Tenoch Huerta), a “feather serpent god,” along with a look at Dominique Thorne in Iron Man-style armor that suggests a major role for Ironheart in this flick.

The Pixel 6A comes in three colors: chalk, sage, and charcoal. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Later this week, Google will reveal the full details, including price, specs, and a release date for its Pixel 7 phones and the Pixel Watch. You better believe we’ll have the event covered from every angle. But if you’re looking for a deal on an existing model, Google’s Pixel 6A is $100 off its usual $449 price, beating the lowest price by a fairly wide margin. You can pick up the Pixel 6A in a variety of colors for $349 unlocked at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target.There are a few reasons why the Pixel 6A may be the ideal choice for some people — even compared to the newer Pixel 7 phones once they release. Price, for one, is key. Next, it has a smaller 6.1-inch 1080p OLED that’s easier to hold in the hand or more easily slipped into a... Continue reading…

Kim Kardashian asked her followers, “Are you guys into crypto???” | Photo by Gotham/GC IMages Kim Kardashian has paid $1.26 million after being charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with unlawfully promoting a crypto investment scheme on Instagram.The SEC says Kardashian failed to disclose the fact that she was paid $250,000 to promote EthereumMax tokens last June. In a series of posts to her Instagram story, Kardashian asked her followers, “Are you guys into crypto??? This is not financial advice but sharing what my friends just told me about the ethereum max token!” Her followers were then encouraged to head to the EthereumMax website and “join the E-Max community.”Kardashian included a number of hashtags in the posts, including “#ad,” suggesting that the stories were a paid promotion. But the SEC says this... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Sensitive information about students from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) began to appear online on Saturday after a cybercriminal gang posted data obtained in a ransomware attack.The publication of the data was confirmed by LAUSD superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho in a statement released by tweet on Sunday.“Unfortunately, as expected, data was recently released by a criminal organization,” the statement said. “In partnership with law enforcement, our experts are analyzing the full extent of this data release.”The ransomware attack that targeted LAUSD — the second-largest school district in the US — occurred four weeks ago over Labor Day weekend. Although it was not immediately attributed by official sources, many... Continue reading…

Support for new cellular plan activation using Apple’s own SIM was removed on October 1st. | Image: MacRumors Apple SIM technology is no longer available to activate new cellular data plans on iPads. The Apple SIM, first introduced by Apple in 2014, is a programmable SIM card that could be configured with different operator profiles, eliminating the need to buy a physical SIM from the carrier itself. The change was first spotted by MacRumors.Apple quietly made the announcement via its cellular data support page, which says that support for new activations using both the standard Apple SIM and embedded Apple SIM would stop from October 1st, 2022. Apple recommends that anyone affected by the change should contact their carrier for details on how to activate a cellular data plan on their iPad.The Apple SIM always seemed like a temporary solution... Continue reading…

Air taxi startup Wisk Aero unveiled its sixth-generation aircraft, an all-electric four-seater that can fly without a human pilot. The Boeing-backed company said it will seek approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to carry passengers as part of a commercial air taxi service.Wisk, which was formed in 2019 as a joint venture between Boeing and Kitty Hawk, the flying taxi company bankrolled by Google co-founder Larry Page that recently shut down, is in a race to become the first so-called advanced air mobility company to get the green light from the FAA for passenger testing. Wisk claims that its sixth-generation aircraft is the first electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) candidate for type certification.Under FAA... Continue reading…

Tim Cook at the recent iPhone 14 launch. | Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images While Meta funnels billions into CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s pitch for the metaverse, Apple CEO Tim Cook thinks most people couldn’t even define the metaverse, let alone spend long periods of time living their lives inside of it.“I always think it’s important that people understand what something is,” Cook told Dutch publication Bright (via Google Translate). “And I’m really not sure the average person can tell you what the metaverse is.” In other words, despite persistent reports of Apple’s interest in building all manner of AR and VR hardware, Cook isn’t ready to claim that the company is working towards any so-called “metaverse.”Mark Zuckerberg has a different view. Earlier this year, the Meta CEO told his employees that the company is... Continue reading…

Disney’s networks are back for Dish satellite and Sling TV customers. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Dish and Disney have reached a “handshake deal” to immediately bring Disney’s collection of cable networks back to Dish satellite and Sling TV customers. The two companies confirmed the agreement late on Sunday night. “We are pleased to restore our portfolio of networks on a temporary basis while both parties work to finalize a new deal,” Disney said in a statement.Dish and Sling TV subscribers have now regained access to ESPN (and its related networks), along with other channels such as The Disney Channel, FX, National Geographic, local ABC programming in select markets, and more. The blackout lasted two days, and although it included college football on Saturday, the two companies have resolved the situation in time for ESPN’s next... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla delivered a record 343,830 vehicles in the third quarter of 2022, a sign that the Elon Musk-owned company has bounced back from a slower second quarter related to COVID-related factory shutdowns.In a report on the automaker’s site, Tesla says the Model S and X made up 18,672 of its quarterly deliveries, while the Model 3 and Y accounted for 325,158. Tesla made a total of 365,923 cars during the quarter, leaving about 20,000 cars in its inventory.The automaker clarifies that some of these electric vehicles (EVs) were “in transit at the end of the quarter,” adding that they “have been ordered and will be delivered to customers upon arrival at their destination.” Tesla also notes that it had been difficult to “secure vehicle... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Coinbase temporarily stopped transactions for users in the US due to an issue preventing the company from processing withdrawals or deposits involving bank accounts. Problems started around 7AM ET, but the company didn’t resolve the issue until around 12:40PM ET.“We are currently unable to take payments or make withdrawals involving US bank accounts. Our team is aware of this issue and is working on getting everything back to normal as soon as possible,” Coinbase explained on its status page, adding that users could still use a debit card or PayPal account to buy crypto.

A Mobileye self-driving vehicle. | Image: Mobileye, an Intel company Intel’s self-driving technology firm Mobileye has filed for an initial public offering (IPO), according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (via CNBC). The Israel-based company, which Intel acquired for $15.3 billion in 2017, specializes in making the chips and software that powers autonomous vehicles.According to Bloomberg, Intel initially expected the IPO to value Mobileye at $50 billion, but later lowered its expectations to around $30 billion. Mobileye’s SEC filing indicates steady revenue growth over the past few years, jumping from $879 million in 2019 to $967 million in 2020, and topping out at $1.4 billion in 2021. The filing doesn’t provide any information on how much a share could cost.Founded in 1999 by... Continue reading…

NASA called off last week’s Artemis I launch due to Hurricane Ian. | Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images The long-anticipated launch of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket has been pushed back to mid-November after NASA waved off its September 27th launch plans in the wake of Hurricane Ian (via Space.com). The space agency announced on Friday that it’s aiming to squeeze in the Artemis I launch between November 12th and November 27th.While there was initially a slight chance that NASA’s next launch attempt could take place in October, that was ultimately scrapped after NASA decided to roll the rocket back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to shield it from the storm. NASA successfully secured the rocket on Tuesday after an hours-long trek to the VAB.Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, but weakened... Continue reading…

Alex Castro / The Verge Dish and its Sling TV streaming service lost Disney’s package of channels after the companies couldn’t come to a contract agreement (via Deadline). In an announcement on its site, Dish says the Disney Channel, ESPN, FX, Freeform, National Geographic, and some local ABC networks are no longer available on its services after its contract expired early this morning.Dish blames the dispute on Disney, claiming the company demanded a $1 billion fee increase and “walked away from the negotiation table.” The satellite provider adds that Disney wanted Dish to include ESPN, ESPN2, and local ABC channels at an added cost in packages that don’t carry them.

Braided, silicone, and leather Pixel Watch band styles. | Image: Slashleaks via OnLeaks As if the launch of the Pixel Watch hasn’t been spoiled by enough leaks already, a new set of images shared with Slashleaks by reliable leaker OnLeaks (via 9to5Google), show the smartwatch in even more detail just days ahead of Google’s launch event. This expands on what we’ve already seen in a brief ad from Google released last week, revealing an array of band styles, more watch faces, as well as some other features the watch could come with.For starters, the Pixel Watch could offer silicone band styles in black, eggshell, dark gray, and silver, as well as three braided options in orange, green, and black. It also looks like Google’s planning to offer two different leather band styles, including a sleek set in orange, black, and... Continue reading…

The Eufy Dual utilizes a second lens, aimed downward, for watching over packages. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge It’s the first of October, which means it’s officially Spooky Season. And while I’m sure all of us are excited to put up our fearsome 12-foot skeletons, there’s nothing fun about the fear of having a package stolen off your porch. A video doorbell is a good way to keep a watchful eye over your front stoop.The wired version of the Eufy Dual video doorbell is on sale at Amazon or direct from Eufy for $149.99 ($50 off). Amazon requires you to click the $50 on-page coupon, while Eufy has a coupon code of WSCP856PGC to use at checkout for the discounted price. The appeal of the Eufy is that it has two separate lenses, one for seeing who is at your door and one focused on the doorstep clearly showing any packages left there.However, the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla's Optimus robot prototype was not the only thing the company shared on Friday evening during its AI Day presentation. Autopilot director Ashok Elluswamy took the stage during Tesla's AI day to talk about how the company's Full Self Driving software has improved. He revealed that there are now 160,000 customers running the beta software, compared to 2,000 from this time last year.In total, Tesla says there have been 35 software releases of FSD. In a Q&A at the end of the presentation, Musk made another prediction — he's made a few before — that the technology would be ready for a worldwide rollout by the end of this year but acknowledged the regulatory and testing hurdles that remained before that happens. Image:... Continue reading…

Elon Musk said he expects to show off a prototype of the Tesla Bot. | Image: Tesla Update: Tesla’s Optimus robot prototype kicked off the event, check out the details we’ve heard so far.Tesla’s AI Day kicks off today, September 30th, at which Elon Musk has said he hopes to show off a working prototype of the company’s humanoid robot, Optimus. The event, which will be held at Tesla’s headquarters in Palo Alto, California, will be livestreamed for the public and will start at 9:15PM ET / 6:15PM PT — a bit later in the evening than last year’s AI Day.AI Day will be livestreamed on Tesla’s website: click here to watch, or you can see the stream on YouTube.We don’t have a lot of details about what will be announced, but based on the invitation, we’re likely to hear about the “latest developments in artificial... Continue reading…

My “We Are Not For Sale” shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO David Zaslav seems to be trying to squash rumors that he wants to sell the company to the likes of Comcast. According to a report from Deadline, he told employees that “we are not for sale, absolutely, not for sale,” during a Zoom call on Wednesday attended by staff from all over the company.While he reportedly didn’t address any specific rumors, a recent report from The Hollywood Reporter seems to be the likely target of his comments. Earlier this month, the outlet suggested that “top industry execs” were “convinced” that Warner Bros. was on the brink of merging with Comcast, owners of NBCUniversal and the Peacock streaming service (and, disclosure, an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company). One... Continue reading…

Google announced the shutdown of Stadia with little warning. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge News that Google would be closing down Stadia was a big surprise for everyone, including the developers making games for the platform Continue reading…

Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25211 went live on September 29th. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft has finally returned the Task Manager back to its rightful home on the Windows Taskbar. Users that subscribe to the Dev Channel of Windows Insider updates will find a new option when they right-click the Taskbar after updating to Preview Build 25211, allowing them to quickly summon the Task Manager. This isn’t the only feature rolling out with the latest update, but it's definitely the most impressive. Bug fixes come with this build too, but there are some rougher spots users should be aware of. This particular update has only rolled out in the Dev Channel and shouldn’t affect Windows Insider subscribers who use the Beta Channel, or Release Preview builds of Windows.Here are the more substantial updates rolled out in Preview... Continue reading…

Image: Google Google is shutting down Stadia, its polarizing cloud gaming service, only four weeks after the company’s target audience of me, Makena Kelly, actually started using it.When Stadia was announced in 2019, Google pitched it as the future of gaming, providing a more accessible alternative to expensive PC rigs or whatever $500 next-gen console iteration was on the horizon. And when Stadia finally launched, it worked. Sure, features were missing, and connections were shaky, but suddenly I had access to a handful of games that would have previously cost me hundreds of dollars in hardware and controllers to play — a steep investment I wasn’t willing to make for games I may have only thrown on for a few hours.Despite Stadia’s obvious benefits,... Continue reading…

Anker’s Soundcore VR P10 earbuds are designed to provide lag-free audio for gaming. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Anker announced its latest wave of wireless earbuds yesterday, and the products indicate that Anker is expanding its focus beyond the usual sound quality upgrades. The company announced three pairs in all: the Soundcore Liberty 4, Soundcore Sleep A10, and Soundcore VR P10 earbuds.The new Liberty 4 earbuds do offer better sound; they’re Anker’s first “stick”-style buds to include dual drivers in each earbud. But they can also read your heart rate for fitness and wellness purposes. This functionality has been rumored for Apple’s AirPods lineup but has yet to materialize.Things didn’t end there. Anker also introduced its first-ever set of sleep earbuds, which are clearly meant to challenge Bose’s $249 Sleepbuds II and other products in... Continue reading…

In this Handout Photo provided by Swedish Coast Guard, the release of gas emanating from a leak on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea on September 28th, 2022, in At Sea. | Photo by Swedish Coast Guard via Getty Images This week, the world watched what’s likely to be the fossil fuel industry’s single largest methane release ever. An astonishing amount of methane is floating up from the now-notorious Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines and rising above the surface of the Baltic Sea. It’s a pollution nightmare. It also pales in comparison to the vast amount of methane that oil and gas operations constantly release.Up to 778 million standard cubic meters of methane gas could spew from the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in a worst-case scenario, according to the Danish Energy Agency. That’s equivalent to nearly a third of Denmark’s greenhouse gas emissions for the entire year of 2020.The Nord Stream disaster “is an extraordinarily huge one-time event,” says... Continue reading…

USB-C, the cable that (sometimes) does it all. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The SuperSpeed USB branding is no more thanks to a new set of guidelines currently being rolled out by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), the body that manages and maintains the USB standard.It’s part of a rebranding initiative that the organization kicked off last year with the introduction of a new series of packaging, port, and cable logos. But with its latest set of branding and logo guidelines it’s going even further, simplifying its legacy branding and signaling the end of the decade-old SuperSpeed branding. If the name doesn’t ring any bells, then that’s probably because you (like most other people) simply referred to it by its USB 3 version number. Alongside it, the USB-IF is also ditching USB4 as a consumer-facing brand... Continue reading…

A bipedal robot named Cassie has set a new Guinness World Record for the 100 meter dash, clocking in a time of 24.73 seconds and an average speed of 4m/s (9mph).That’s much slower than a human, for whom record times stand at 9.58 seconds for men (set by Usain Bolt) and 10.49 seconds for women (set by Florence Griffith-Joyner). However, it’s still extremely impressive for a robot of Cassie’s design.“This may be the first bipedal robot to learn to run, but it won’t be the last,” said OSU robotics professor Jonathan Hurst in a press statement. “I think progress is going to accelerate from here.”Cassie was created by engineers at Oregon State University (OSU) and is manufactured by OSU-spinout Agility Robotics. Agility uses the bipedal... Continue reading…

Image: Zendure Zendure’s SuperBase V is the largest and most powerful portable battery yet. Not only can the 6.4kWh battery-on-wheels be expanded to 64kWh via stackable modules, it stores electrons in what the company calls the “first home energy system with semi-solid state batteries.” It can accept up to 3,000W of solar input, can be charged at a level 2 EV station, and includes external running lights, voice control, and powered wheels (because of course it does).According to Zendure, semi-solid state batteries offer 42 percent higher energy density and improved safety compared to lithium-ion phosphate (aka, LFP or LiFePO4) batteries — the current gold standard. As Professor Hobo explains it on YouTube, Zendure’s semi-solid state batteries are... Continue reading…

Image: Google I’ve had a love-hate relationship with Google Stadia, but I’m certainly going to miss it now it’s shutting down. While the writing has been on the wall for Stadia pretty much since it launched, I was one of the many (or the few as the joke goes) to be intrigued by this cloud-powered future of gaming. I paid the entry fee for a (mostly) empty stadium, but I enjoyed it anyway.It hasn’t been easy to like Stadia. The first few months of the service felt like a beta I was paying Google to test. I couldn’t initially connect the Stadia controller wirelessly to a PC or phone; the browser streaming wasn’t as high quality as the Chromecast output; and Google Assistant integration was useless.Google had also promised neat YouTube integration and... Continue reading…