by Alice Newcome-Beill on (#674Z4)
The Stream Deck Plus is a slick and well-built piece of hardware that can’t realize its full potential just yet. Continue reading…
The Verge
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| Updated | 2026-03-25 16:18 |
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by Mitchell Clark on (#674Z6)
A potential peek into what Google’s cooking up. | Illustration: The Verge Google’s plans for its Pixel phone lineup from 2023 to 2025 have been leaked, if Android Authority is to be believed. On Thursday the outlet published a timeline full of information from a source it called “anonymous but trustworthy,” saying that it’s vetted the plans and warning that some outcomes were more likely than others.The whole thing is worth a read, but here are the top line items: Android Authority says that there’s talk within Google about moving the less expensive A-series phones to a once-every-two-years schedule, and there are plans to design a Pro Pixel for those who don’t want a massive 6.7-inch screen. The outlet is also repeating rumors that we can expect Google to finally reveal its $1,799 folding phone next spring,... Continue reading…
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#674Z7)
“No AI Art” images posted by artists started to dominate the trending section of ArtStation following the platform's refusal to ban AI-generated artwork. | Image: @joysilvart Art platform ArtStation is removing images protesting AI-generated art from its homepage, claiming that the content violates its Terms of Service. Members of the ArtStation community have been protesting after AI-generated art began appearing on the platform in early December. Protestors are concerned that AI-generated art is derivative of the labor of human artists and often uses their work without attribution or compensation.In a statement about the removals posted to Twitter, ArtStation said: “For site usability, we are moderating posts that violate our Terms of Service. We understand concerns about AI and its impact on the industry. We will share more about improvements to give users more control over what they see and how they use... Continue reading…
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by James Vincent on (#674V4)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook’s parent company Meta has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a years-long class action lawsuit triggered by disclosures in 2018 that the company shared user data with consulting firm Cambridge Analytica that was used for political advertising.The settlement (which can be read in full here, via Reuters) does not include an admission of wrongdoing on Meta’s part, and will still have to be approved by federal judges in the Northern District of California, reports CNBC. The settlement document states that the $725 million fee is the largest ever in a data privacy class action case, as well as the most Facebook has ever paid to resolve a class action lawsuit.The lawsuit was originally prompted by the Cambridge Analytica scandal,... Continue reading…
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by James Vincent on (#674V5)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has updated its list of features for Twitter Blue, saying subscribers paying for the $8-a-month service will now get “prioritized rankings in conversations” and the ability to upload videos up to 60 minutes in length.Twitter owner Elon Musk has long promised to make Twitter Blue users more visible on the site. In November he said subscribers would get “Priority in replies, mentions & search, which is essential to defeat spam/scam,” and earlier this month the company repeated this promise, saying Twitter Blue will offer ”priority ranking in search, mentions, and replies.”“This feature prioritizes your replies on Tweets that you interact with.”An update to the company’s Twitter Blue support page (spotted by TechCrunch; compare... Continue reading…
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by Richard Lawler on (#674FF)
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves Manhattan Federal Court after his arraignment and bail hearings on December 22, 2022 in New York City. | Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images Now that Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is back in the US, he has been released from federal custody. The New York Times and CNBC report the co-founder of the failed and allegedly fraudulent cryptocurrency exchange FTX was released on $250 million bail, secured by his parent’s home, ahead of his trial on eight criminal charges he faces, in addition to civil suits filed by the SEC and CFTC.Prosecutors say billions in customer and investor funds are missing, accusing a small circle of insiders at FTX and Bankman-Fried’s crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research, of misusing the money for themselves from the very start of their operation. First page of Sam Bankman-Fried’s $250 million Appearance Bond, secured by his parent’s home in... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#674FG)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft has filed its response to the lawsuit filed by the US Federal Trade Commission to block the company’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In the 37-page document, which you can read in full below, Microsoft argues its case for why its $68.7 billion acquisition should go through — it also defends its acquisition of Bethesda owner ZeniMax, while admitting that it’s planning to make three future titles from the company exclusive to Xbox and PC.Those games aren’t named, though Microsoft has basically announced that The Elder Scrolls VI will only be available on its platforms, and confirmed Starfield will be exclusive.Microsoft’s filing pushes back against the FTC’s concerns in general, and also addresses the regulator’s... Continue reading…
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by Sean Hollister on (#674FH)
Image: Microsoft We knew Microsoft would make Bethesda’s Starfield exclusive to Xbox and PC, and it sure looked like The Elder Scrolls VI would skip PlayStation and Nintendo, too. But now, Microsoft’s lawyers are revealing that they’ve got eyes on at least one more exclusive title — there are three future Xbox exclusives from Bethesda, they revealed today, in a response to the FTC’s lawsuit against the Activision Blizzard deal.“Xbox anticipates that three future titles — REDACTED — all of which are designed to be played primarily alone or in small groups — will be exclusive to Xbox and PCs,” reads a passage in Microsoft’s response.Here’s the surrounding context, so you can see for yourself: What might that third game be? Well, B... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#673CJ)
Making it easier to quantify how much of a banger your tweet was. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter announced that view counts for tweets are now visible on iOS and Android and that they’ll be coming soon to the web (I’ve already started to see them there). The feature lets you see how many times someone has looked at your tweet, or anyone else’s, though there are a few exceptions that we’ll cover in just a moment.When you’re in the app, you now see view counters alongside the number of comments, retweets, and likes. According to a Twitter FAQ, not every tweet will have a visible view count. Community tweets, Twitter Circle tweets, and “older” tweets won’t have the data available.As for what counts as a view, it seems like basically any time your tweet shows up on someone’s screen (even if it's your own). Twitter says:
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by Mitchell Clark on (#674DQ)
Pictured: the encrypted vault with your passwords. | Illustration by Beatrice Sala LastPass has a doozy of an updated announcement about a recent data breach: the company — which promises to keep all your passwords in one, secure place — is now saying that hackers were able to “copy a backup of customer vault data,” meaning they theoretically now have access to all those passwords if they can crack the stolen vaults (via TechCrunch).If you have an account you use to store passwords and login information on LastPass, or you used to have one and hadn’t deleted it before this fall, your password vault may be in hackers’ hands. Still, the company claims you might be safe if you have a strong master password and its most recent default settings. However, if you have a weak master password or less security, the company... Continue reading…
by Umar Shakir on (#674DR)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A Tesla driver is blaming Full Self-Driving software for having caused an eight-car pileup in the Yerba Buena Tunnel in California last month, according to a police report obtained by CNN Business.According to the December 7th report obtained by CNN Business, California Highway Patrol (CHP) reviewed tunnel footage and found that a Tesla made an unsafe lane change before abruptly slowing down from 55 mph to 20 mph — causing vehicles behind it to crash into one another.In the report, the driver of the Tesla blamed the automaker’s Full Self-Driving software that allegedly malfunctioned and caused a sudden slowdown. The Thanksgiving incident left nine people with minor injuries, including one child that was hospitalized.
by Mitchell Clark on (#67461)
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge An internal investigation at TikTok parent company ByteDance found that several employees accessed the TikTok data of at least two US journalists and a “small number” of other people connected to them, according to internal emails obtained by The Verge that were first reported by The New York Times. The accessed data includes the reporters’ IP addresses, which were used to see if they had been physically near TikTok employees who were suspected of leaking information to the press.In an email to employees, the CEO of Beijing-based ByteDance, Rubo Liang, said he was “deeply disappointed” and that “the public trust that we have spent huge efforts building is going to be significantly undermined by the misconduct of a few individuals.” In... Continue reading…
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by Umar Shakir on (#674A9)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Are you annoyed by how quickly the macOS notification banners that appear in the upper-right corner of the screen disappear? Has it ever annoyed someone you know? Is that person so frustrated with macOS notifications and multitasking that they write an 826-word attack against the preferred platform of many of their Verge colleagues?Well, maybe I can help you make it a bit less annoying. All it takes is deciding which app notifications you’d like to keep on-screen, which you want to hide automatically, and which you’d prefer to only show up as a red badge on your dock.A note: for these directions, I used a Mac loaded with macOS Ventura. If you have macOS Monterey or older, your directions and screens may be slightly different.N... Continue reading…
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by Umar Shakir on (#67460)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Tesla’s Superchargers have been the most convenient charging network for owners of its electric cars, but this week, the automaker announced it will begin to better integrate other compatible fast charging networks as well.Non-Tesla fast charging stations that meet certain criteria over a 60-day period, like an excellent charge success rate, could be whitelisted as what the company calls a “Qualified Third-Party Charger.” Once designated by Tesla, the station would thereby be bestowed as such into Tesla’s built-in navigation system.
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by Sean Hollister on (#67462)
JSAUX’s Steam Deck transparent backplate. | Image: JSAUX JSAUX might sound like just another alphabet soup electronics brand, but it’s quickly developed a reputation as the foremost accessory vendor for the Steam Deck — and today, it’s announced what (I’m fairly sure!) is the very first transparent shell for the system.And you know how we love our transparent gadgets here at The Verge.The $30 JSAUX PC0106 Transparent Back Plate for Steam Deck isn’t a full shell, as it just covers (slash exposes) the rear half of the PC gaming portable. But that’s not all you get for your 30 bucks. It also comes with three sets of back buttons, at least one of which is taller than the originals for a longer throw. (It’s not clear whether they’ll help with the stiff press, but the image below gives me hope.)... Continue reading…
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by Alice Newcome-Beill on (#67463)
Image: Shutterstock Yesterday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Warehouse Worker Protection Act (WWPA), which protects warehouse distribution workers from undisclosed or unlawful work speed quotas. In addition to protecting warehouse workers from unreasonably demanding work quotas, the law will require distribution centers to inform workers of their performance and rights in the workplace.While the law doesn’t target Amazon specifically, its authors say it was designed to address the management practices and quotas that the e-commerce giant places on its employees, which has often been criticized for the dehumanizing expectations placed on its warehouse workers.The WWPA follows a similar law that was passed in California last September (AB-701)... Continue reading…
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by Justine Calma on (#6743T)
Miguel Salazar clears sidewalks of Sherman St. in Denver, Colorado, on Thursday, December 22nd, 2022. | Photo by Hyoung Chang / The Denver Post Frigid temperatures are expected to sting two-thirds of the continental US this week as a powerful storm system races eastward. The timing couldn’t be worse, hitting right before the holidays, when many Americans are planning to travel. Those journeys — and even just being outside in some of the hardest-hit regions — may become treacherous as brutal cold blankets the country.“What better way to kick off the official start of astronomical winter than with numerous winter weather hazards impacting a majority of the Nation,” a National Weather Service (NWS) forecast said early Wednesday. This morning, the NWS updated its forecast to warn of “widespread disruptive and potentially crippling impacts across the central and eastern United... Continue reading…
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by Adi Robertson on (#6743V)
Himesh Patel in Yesterday | Image: Tribeca Film Festival A trailer for Danny Boyle’s film Yesterday might count as false advertising for including a character — played by Ana de Armas — who was cut from the film. As reported by Variety yesterday, a California court is allowing parts of a lawsuit against Universal City Studios to proceed over Universal’s objections. The ruling finds trailers are commercial speech advertising the content of a film and not, as Universal argued, artistic expression that receives full First Amendment protections.Ana de Armas was originally part of a love triangle in Yesterday, a romantic comedy about a man who wakes up in a world where The Beatles never existed, then shoots to superstardom by appropriating their songs. According to CinemaBlend, she was cut because... Continue reading…
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by Andrew Webster on (#6743W)
Topher Grace and Laura Prepon in That ‘90s Show. | Image: Netflix When Netflix first unveiled its sequel to That ‘70s Show, the focus was primarily on the new cast of kids hanging out in Red and Kitty’s basement. But in the first full trailer for That ‘90s Show, we also get a glimpse at some key returning faces: Topher Grace, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Laura Prepon, and Wilmer Valderrama, who will all be reprising their roles in guest appearances.The new show is set in 1995 and follows Leia Forman (Callie Haverda), Eric and Donna’s kid, as she spends a summer with her grandparents and meets a new crew of friends along the way. Naturally, Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp) is excited to have the house full of kids again, while Red (Kurtwood Smith) is less than enthused. Just as important, there appears to be an... Continue reading…
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by Chris Welch on (#6743X)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The “pick me! pick me!” bidding war for NFL Sunday Ticket has finally come to an end, and YouTube won big. The company announced a “multi-year” deal that will see it carry Sunday Ticket both standalone (as a YouTube Primetime Channel) and through YouTube TV. It’s a massive score for YouTube, which successfully fended off Big Tech rivals like Apple to land the deal, and a pivotal moment as live sports continue their transition away from traditional cable — DirecTV is the soon-to-be-former Sunday Ticket rights holder — in favor of major streaming platforms.In one fell swoop, Google has solidified YouTube as a vital destination for NFL fans. And it has resoundingly committed to a long-term future for YouTube TV, which has over 5 million... Continue reading…
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by Tauriq Moosa on (#6741Z)
Kratos and Atreus in God of War Ragnarök | Image: Sony A spoiler-filled look at the ending of one of the year’s biggest games. Continue reading…
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by Sheena Vasani on (#67420)
You can gift the fitness enthusiast in your life a Peloton subscription even if they don’t own a Peloton. | Image: Peloton Waited until the very last minute to start your holiday shopping? Hey, we get it. Life gets busy sometimes, and judging by how long lines at stores tend to be on Christmas Eve, you’ve got company. If you don’t want to waste precious time in one of those lines, there are thankfully a bunch of digital gifts you can purchase instead. To make your life easier, we’ve rounded up a bunch of options across categories ranging from travel and health to film so you can quickly find the perfect gift without leaving the comfort and warmth of your home.Best last-minute digital giftsFor TV and movie buffs
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by Sean Hollister on (#673WM)
Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Remember when Hasbro announced it’d let you put your 3D-printed face on a fully licensed Star Wars, Marvel, Ghostbusters, G.I. Joe, or Power Rangers action figure for $60 plus tax? Well, my Hasbro Selfie Series figure just arrived this week — and while it’s not a perfect resemblance, I’m still kind of blown away. This might be the perfect last-minute gift for a fan, for reasons I’ll soon explain.But first, let me show you Mini Mandalorian Sean so you can judge for yourself. Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Click here for a larger image. Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Click here for a larger image. Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Click here... Continue reading…
by Cameron Faulkner on (#673WP)
Online or in-store, you can get a black or white Symfonisk bookshelf speaker for $99.99, a $20 discount off its usual price. This is the second-gen model developed alongside Sonos, complete with Wi-Fi connectivity so you can use it to complete your Sonos surround sound setup. It supports Apple AirPlay 2 for easy audio streaming via Apple products and has Spotify Connect compatibility. This speaker can be slotted naturally onto a bookshelf or, like the image above suggests, mounted to your wall as a small shelf. This model released in early 2022 and has a faster processor and more memory than its predecessor, plus a more logical button layout. This deal lasts through January 22nd, 2023.If you’re curious what else is available in the... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#673WQ)
NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers will be watching their games in a new place. | Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images YouTube will be the new home of NFL Sunday Ticket, Google and the NFL announced, ending the months-long question of where the major broadcasting package would end up. NFL Sunday Ticket has been available in the US exclusively via DirecTV since 1994, but the satellite provider won’t have it starting with the 2023 NFL season.Now, it will be available either as an add-on for YouTube TV subscribers or à la carte via YouTube Primetime Channels, which launched last month to “bring shows and movies from more than 30 services directly into the YouTube interface.”No one has confirmed how much it will cost for viewers, but the Sunday Ticket package for this season costs $293.94 to purchase from DirecTV or nearly $400 if purchasing the Max... Continue reading…
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by Jackie Appel on (#673WR)
Illustration by Micha Huigen / The Verge There was a lot going on in the space industry this year — here are some of the highlights. Continue reading…
by Ash Parrish on (#673R0)
Illustration by Micha Huigen / The Verge Player-created stories, gigantic leaks, and a new force in mobile gaming. Continue reading…
by Allison Johnson on (#673QZ)
Self care doesn’t have to mean at-home spa treatments. | The Verge Was the term “self-care” invented by the beauty-industrial complex to sell more bath bombs? Probably, but that doesn’t mean that setting aside time to take care of yourself every once in a while is a bad idea. That goes for the technology in your life, too.Are you pretending not to see a rat’s nest of cables behind your desk? Does the triple-digit unread email notification make you cringe every time you look at your homescreen? Or has that once-clear phone case turned a dingy shade of yellow? Look, I’m not here to shame you. But maybe it’s time to take a look around at the tech you use every day to see where a little effort in tidying up can go a long way. If you’re looking for somewhere to start, you’ve come to the right place.... Continue reading…
by T.C. Sottek on (#673R1)
Illustration by Jason Allen Lee for The Verge Enjoy this enormous $900 PDF from the Delaware Court of Chancery Continue reading…
by Jess Weatherbed on (#673R2)
A new “early stable” release will be available to a small group of people one week earlier than the scheduled stable release date. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is changing the release cycle for its Chrome web browser, the company announced in a blog post, adding a new early preview of updates available via the Stable channel for a small set of users starting in February 2023. This early stable release will be available one week before the scheduled stable release date, allowing Google to address any reported issues before updates are rolled out to the wider public (via Android Police).Chrome’s release cycle currently pushes updates to the Google Chrome Canary channel first (an experimental version of the browser used for testing unstable code), then to the Dev, Beta, and Stable channels, in that order. The new early stable release sits between the Beta channel testing and the final... Continue reading…
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#673M1)
Prosecutors allege that the pair enabled up to 1,000 taxi trips to fraudulently bypass the computer-controlled JFK taxi dispatch system a day. | Image: Spencer Platt/Getty Images Two US citizens have been arrested and accused of conspiring with Russian nationals to hack the taxi dispatch system at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), charging cab drivers a $10 fee to access the front of the queue between September 2019 and September 2021.Daniel Abayev and Peter Leyman (both 48 and from Queens, New York) first successfully hacked the dispatch system in 2019 with the help of unnamed Russian nationals, according to a DOJ indictment filed in the Southern District of New York. Leyman and Abayev accessed the system to move specific taxis to the front of the line, says the DOJ, charging drivers a $10 fee for the privilege. Members of the hacking scheme also offered to waive the $10 fee in exchange for... Continue reading…
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by Richard Lawler on (#673AZ)
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images Caroline Ellison and Zixiao “Gary” Wang, two executives in Sam Bankman-Fried’s fallen crypto empire, have pleaded guilty to federal charges and are cooperating with prosecutors. The news was announced late Wednesday by Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.Williams didn’t specify the charges the two pled to but said the guilty pleas were related to their roles as insiders at FTX and its sister company Alameda Research. Wang was a co-founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and owned 10 percent of Alameda Research. (Bankman-Fried owned the other 90 percent.) Ellison served as CEO of Bankman-Fried’s trading company Alameda Research.Ellison pleaded guilty to seven counts, according to The Washington... Continue reading…
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by Richard Lawler on (#672EH)
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Elon is going to stay in control of Twitter, and the controversy around Anker’s security cameras rumbles on. Continue reading…
by Mitchell Clark on (#673A1)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Kelly Conlon, an attorney from New Jersey, says she wasn’t allowed to see a Rockettes show at Radio City Music Hall after she was identified by a facial recognition system, according to a report from NBC New York. Conlon told the outlet that guards approached her while she was in the building’s lobby and said she wasn’t allowed to be there because of her connection to a legal case against the company that owns the hall.“I believe they said that our recognition picked you up,” she told NBC, saying that she was asked to identify herself and that “they knew my name before I told them. They knew the firm I was associated with before I told them.” She says she ended up waiting outside while her daughter watched the show with other members... Continue reading…
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by Mary Beth Griggs on (#6736B)
The last image sent back from Mars by the InSight lander. | Image: NASA On Mars, another machine just bit the dust. The marsquake-detecting, photo-snapping InSight lander has now officially completed its mission and will now spend its retirement in the same place it spent its career — sitting on a flat plain on the Martian surface, as dust slowly accumulates on its solar panels and other instruments.We’ve known this was coming for a while. InSight’s solar panels, which generate electricity for the lander, have been getting covered with dust ever since they unfurled. The mission, officially known as the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight), was expected to run out of power this summer, but a spate of good weather bought it a few additional months of work on... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#6736C)
It will be a little clunky to activate at first, but a boost is a boost. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Meta is giving Quest 2 developers 7 percent more GPU compute power to work with, meaning apps and games on the headset you already own might look a little bit better sometime soon.For developers, the increased power should “improve your ability to leverage higher pixel density without substantially reducing the resolution in order to hit the target frame rate,” Meta wrote in a blog post. Phrased a different way, “this means your apps’ visuals will look even better—without sacrificing resolution quality,” Meta says.The change is possible thanks to the Quest using a new 525MHz GPU frequency, which is up from the previous 490MHz, and Meta’s “dynamic clocking system” will automatically up the frequency when it senses an app could use it.... Continue reading…
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by Victoria Song on (#67334)
Mobvoi is just the latest wearable company to start charging users for “premium” features. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge One thing that’s guaranteed to rile up consumers? Tacking on a monthly fee where there was once none. Mobvoi, which is known for making affordable Wear OS smartwatches, is the latest to join the subscription bandwagon. The company will start rolling out new sleep features to its TicWatch lineup this week, but if you want ‘em all, it’ll cost you $4.99 a month.In a tweet, Mobvoi announced the new features would include sleep aid songs, AI sleep insights like sleep cycle reminders, historical sleep data, and more sleep-related metrics like maximum and minimum heart rate and SpO2. Of these new features, in-depth data like SpO2, min / max heart rate, and sleep trends will be available to subscribers only. Members will also get 50 sleep aid... Continue reading…
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by Victoria Song on (#67335)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix is taking a page from Peloton’s playbook. Starting December 30th, you’ll be able to stream classes from Nike Training Club on the platform. In total, Netflix subscribers will have access to 30 hours of content in multiple languages and exercises.For the uninitiated, Nike Training Club is a popular fitness app where users can take strength, yoga, and high-intensity interval training led by Nike trainers. It’s geared toward improving your strength, endurance, and mobility across all fitness levels. While some classes require equipment, many don’t. It’s very much in the vein of Apple Fitness Plus or Peloton, albeit without any Nike-branded hardware.According to Netflix, the episodes will be released in two batches. While the... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#67336)
The fine would be the FCC’s largest ever. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing a $299,997,000 fine against a massive auto warranty scam robocall campaign, the agency announced on Wednesday. The fine, which would be the FCC’s largest ever, targets a huge operation; in just three months in 2021, it made more than 5 billion calls to more than a half-billion phone numbers using just over 1 million caller ID numbers. As the FCC put it, that’s “enough calls to have called each person in the United States 15 times during just those three months.”According to the FCC, the operation is run by Roy Cox Jr. and Michael Aaron Jones via “their Sumco Panama company, other domestic and foreign entities, and a host of international cohorts located in Panama and Hungary... Continue reading…
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by Alice Newcome-Beill on (#67337)
Samsung used nostalgia trip. It’s super effective. | Image: Samsung Samsung is launching a new line of Pokémon-themed accessories on December 26th for its Galaxy Buds, Z Flip 4, as well as the Galaxy Watch 4 & 5. The collection is mostly what you would expect, with a new strap for the Galaxy Watch and a themed case for the Z Flip 4, but the real star of the show, however, is the case for the Galaxy Buds, which just looks like a poké ball.This case was initially made available in limited quantities for South Korean markets and was priced around $105 USD. This new lineup, though, will be available globally and won’t cost nearly as much. Image: Samsung The poké ball case also comes with a small lanyard The case is perfectly round, save for a small flat edge on the bottom that... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#67338)
And they come in 27 and 31.5-inch varieties. | Image: Lenovo Lenovo has announced two 4K monitors using Mini LED tech, and they seem like very interesting choices for someone who wants a nice display but won’t be doing any hardcore gaming. The 27-inch ThinkVision P27pz-30 and 31.5-inch P32pz-30 come packed with 1,152 dimming zones, a bevy of ports, and even the potentially unprecedented ability to send 140W of power to a laptop — and despite the high price points of many Mini LED monitors, they’re both expected to cost well under $2,000 when they arrive in August 2023.You can connect to the monitors with a single USB-C cable, which Lenovo’s press release says can handle “40Gbps of data and video transfer.” That’s plenty for a 4K monitor running at 60Hz — in fact, Lenovo says you can even... Continue reading…
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by Alice Newcome-Beill on (#66VF6)
You can still gift the Apple Watch Series 8 in time for Christmas. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The holiday shopping window is closing fast, but there’s still time to pick up a few things that will arrive in time for your favorite nondenominational gift exchange. Whether you’re looking for stocking stuffers or still have a few names on your list you need to cross off, we’ve rounded up our favorite fire-and-forget gift ideas for all the procrastinators out there.The collection we’ve put together here includes small-ish gifts that will travel well, like the Apple Watch Series 8, as well as presents that don’t even need to be gift-wrapped, such as a subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. If you’re looking for more gift suggestions, our deals team has also put together a vast selection of thoughtful ideas for everyone on your... Continue reading…
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by Andrew Webster on (#672Z2)
Image: Netflix Current AI concerns revolve mostly around art and chatbots, but in the future of Jung_E, things are a little more intense. The first teaser for the sci-fi film features a company called Kronoid Lab introducing what it describes as the “most advanced AI combat warrior.” We don’t actually get to see it in action — it’s just a brief teaser, after all — but it seems pretty clear that things aren’t going to go as planned. I mean, this is the premise:
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by Adi Robertson on (#672TP)
Twitter has gotten just a little chaotic lately, and several of us here at The Verge are exploring the alternatives. One of the more popular options so far is Mastodon, a decentralized microblogging (yes, I will call the Twitter format “microblogging” till my dying day) network that’s exploded since November. It’s a service with lots of rough edges, but it’s gotten more useful as some of my favorite Twitter accounts have jumped ship.The Verge doesn’t have an official Mastodon presence right now, but we’ve gotten requests for a list of individual members to follow on the platform. So here’s a collection of Verge staff active to varying degrees on Mastodon; we’ll update it periodically as people join.
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by The Verge Staff on (#672TQ)
Micha Huigen / The Verge Nobody can say that 2022 was an uneventful year. But if you wanted to escape reality occasionally by playing a really great game, enjoying a fantastic movie, or marathoning an exciting series, there were plenty of options to be found.Now that the end of the year is approaching, we thought we’d share our recommendations and thoughts from 2022. We’ve got roundups of our favorite movies and series from Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, and a variety of other streaming services, along with our best-loved games for the Switch, Xbox, PC, and other devices. We also offer our thoughts on some of the best and worst tech that the year brought — including that strange phenomenon known as crypto — and an account of some of the most exciting space... Continue reading…
by Victoria Song on (#672TS)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge We may have reviewed the Apple Watch Ultra back in September, but you didn’t think we were done, did you? The $799 Ultra was billed as the Apple Watch for outdoor adventurers and triathletes. So we spent the last three months devising a series of mini-reviews targeting several of the Ultra’s marquee features.For starters, we wanted to see how well the Ultra’s revamped Compass app and 86db emergency siren worked on an off-the-grid hike. So, my colleagues Becca Farsace and Vjeran Pavic got lost with the Ultra in Yosemite National Park to test the limits of the Ultra’s navigational capabilities and its Backtrack feature. Plus, we pitted the Ultra’s Siren against a $4 safety whistle to see which had the wider range.While I got to splash... Continue reading…
by Monica Chin on (#672TR)
Illustration by Micha Huigen / The Verge It has been difficult to find great laptops this year. That’s partially because 2022 has been a bit of a building year for some companies, especially on the consumer side. It’s also because of the Intel P-series.I reviewed a number of laptops in 2022 across consumer, workstation, gaming, business, Chromebook, and everywhere else. I touched all of the major brands. But I had a particular focus on ultraportables this year — that is, thin and light devices that people buy to use, say, on their couch at home — because, with Apple’s MacBooks in such a dominant position, many eyes have been on their competitors on the Windows side.For many of these models, I found myself writing the same review over and over and over. They were generally... Continue reading…
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by Sheena Vasani on (#672RB)
LG’s brilliant C2 OLED is on sale in the 42-inch configuration for just $796.99 right now. | Image: LG We may be only a few days out from Christmas, but you still have time to save on popular presents without paying extra for expedited shipping. Right now, for example, you can buy LG’s 42-inch C2 OLED at Amazon, Best Buy, B&H Photo, and Target for around $797 ($500 off), which eclipses the TV’s previous low.The C2 is a terrific 4K TV that touts many of its predecessor’s impressive specs, like a speedy 120Hz refresh rate, Dolby Vision support, and variable refresh rate with AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync. At the same time, it boasts better performance and a brighter display than the prior C1 model, not to mention great contrast and the kind of black levels for which OLED is known. It even touts a few new features, including the... Continue reading…
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by Justine Calma on (#672RC)
Illustration by Micha Huigen / The Verge Lawmakers cracked down on the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions, and one major cryptocurrency cleaned up its emissions big time. Continue reading…
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by Jess Weatherbed on (#672MA)
Users will need to unlock the ability to write notes by increasing their “Rating Impact,” a ranking system that indicates how often a contributor has rated other notes on the platform. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has announced that its recently released Community Notes feature will now require all contributors to rate a sufficient number of notes before they can unlock the ability to write notes themselves.Rating notes on the platform will increase a user’s “Rating Impact,” a ranking system that reflects how often a contributor’s ratings have helped notes to be identified as “Helpful” or “Not Helpful” by the Twitter community. The ability to write Community Notes will be unlocked when a contributor has achieved a Rating Impact of at least five. Notes in need of ratings can be found under the “Needs your help” section of Community Notes in order to boost your Rating Impact.
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