The Verge

Lille Allen / The Verge How Discord helped me learn some parts of ourselves are a feature — not a bug Continue reading…

You know what? Fair play for dropping an F-bomb in a scene like this. | Screenshot: Fall Without enough production budget for reshoots, the director of upcoming action-thriller Fall says the team turned to AI technology to remove over thirty F-bombs to turn its R-rating into a much more box office friendly PG-13, Variety reports.The problem — which has now turned into a handy little marketing hook — apparently emerged when the indie film was picked up by Lionsgate for a cinematic release, where an R-rating (meaning children under the age of 17 cannot see the film without an adult present) would limit its box office potential when it releases in the US on August 12th.“When we were filming the movie, we didn’t know if we were R or if we were PG-13, so I said the F-word so many times,” one of the film’s stars Virginia... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge When I came home from my freshman year of college in March 2020, it was as if I had never experienced spring in Seattle before, even though it was the only place I’d ever called home. I watched the orange bellies of robins I had never stopped to notice. I watched the rhododendron outside my window blush before fading to white. But it’s 2022 now, and there is no longer one pandemic spring — there have been three. Was it last year that we spent Mother’s Day on our patio in the sun, eating and reading and laughing? When did we return to the Great Sedro-Woolley Footrace? And the afternoon we found baby rabbits in our window well? Time has jumbled for everyone, and I am lucky for the slowness I have found at times, especially with my family.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A 17-year-old from Nebraska and her mother are facing criminal charges including performing an illegal abortion and concealing a dead body after police obtained the pair’s private chat history from Facebook, court documents published by Motherboard show.Although the charges against the two women are based on established abortion law (Nebraska outlaws abortions 20 weeks post-fertilization unless the mother’s life is in danger), women’s health campaigners and digital privacy advocates say the case illustrates the dangers of ubiquitous digital surveillance in a post-Roe America.“hypocritical surveillance practices make [Big Tech] complicit in the criminalization of people seeking, facilitating, and providing abortions”“Since the... Continue reading…

He is Groot. | Image: Disney The big streaming series from Marvel and Star Wars take all the headlines, but since its debut, Disney Plus has also slowly become a service stuffed with animated shorts. They… vary in quality. Some are shameless examples of brand synergy, like when Loki or Billie Eilish hang out with the Simpsons for a few painful minutes at a time. But if you dig a little deeper, there’s some great stuff, including some classic-style Mickey Mouse shorts, a refreshing take on Star Wars, and a surprisingly sweet series about Baymax from Big Hero 6. Now, you can add I Am Groot to that short list of shorts.The series seems inevitable in retrospect. Ever since Groot (voiced, as always, by Vin Diesel) was turned into a baby, he’s been the Minion-style comic... Continue reading…

Image: Takara Tomy Don’t you just hate it when you pick up your trusty Canon EOS R5, only to discover it’s actually a sneaky Transformer? Well bad news, because this nightmarish future spotted by TFormers is actually becoming a reality next year thanks to a collaboration between Takara Tomy (the Japanese company behind the Transformers toys) and Canon (the Japanese company behind… well you get the idea).The collaboration has resulted in a pair of Transformers figurines that are able to fold away into surprisingly realistic looking Canon mirrorless cameras. I say “surprisingly realistic” because at first glance I somehow mistook these for functioning cameras. But in case it wasn’t obvious from their ¥ 19,800 (around $147) pricing, they’re non-functional... Continue reading…

Image by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is reportedly laying off its team focused on winning back consumers. In 2018 the software giant originally detailed its efforts to win back the non-enterprise customers it let down, forming a Modern Life Experiences team to focus on professional consumers (prosumers). Business Insider now reports that Microsoft is laying off that team, and telling the roughly 200 affected employees to find another position at the company or take severance pay.While Microsoft isn’t officially commenting on the end of its Modern Life initiative, a Microsoft senior designer revealed there was “hard news” for the Modern Life Experiences team this week in a LinkedIn post. The news comes weeks after Microsoft cut less than 1 percent of its... Continue reading…

Exeger’s Powerfoyle solar panels are included on the charging case. | Image: Urbanista Urbanista is following up its solar-powered over-ear headphones from last year with a pair of solar-powered true wireless earbuds called the Phoenix, the company officially announced today. Like the headphones, Phoenix uses Powerfoyle solar panels produced by Exeger to extend their battery life with power from the sun’s rays. But unlike the Los Angeles headphones that have solar panels built into the headband, the panels aren’t included on the Phoenix earbuds themselves. Instead, they’re built into the Phoenix charging case.The decision to shift the solar-charging tech to the charging case makes sense given the small size of the earbuds. But it’s likely to mean that users will have to make an effort to keep the solar panels directed at... Continue reading…

Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images With so much of the world’s richest man’s wealth tied up in shares of his electric car company, Tesla is a part of the deal Elon doesn’t want to do anymore for more reasons than just a few subpoenas. Six SEC filings (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) revealed Elon Musk sold more Tesla shares over the last few days, which is surprising given Musk’s tweet saying, “No further TSLA sales planned after today,” after he sold off $8.4 billion worth in April.Tesla investor Sawyer Merritt tweeted a count of Musk’s activity between August 5th and August 9th, showing he sold 7,924,107 shares worth about $6.9 billion. Just before 11PM ET, Elon responded on Twitter, citing the looming trial against Twitter as an explanation for the new plan.

Apple There’s no doubt that Severance is a hit — the show’s first season made our best entertainment of 2022 list even as it “paints the darkest possible portrait of how megacorporations think about and treat their employees.” For a real-life example of that treatment, all you have to ask is what happens when the people who make Severance ask Apple how big of a hit it really is.In a bit of frustration that will feel familiar to anyone who has tried to figure out what Apple means when touting the performance of its custom ARM processors, it turns out that even Ben Stiller, the executive producer and director of Severance, couldn’t get hold of detailed data on how many people are watching. Here’s what he said in an interview with Decider:“They... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft’s marking OneDrive’s 15th anniversary with a new landing page, called OneDrive Home, and it should make it easier to keep tabs on your work. Instead of arriving on the My files tab when you first open OneDrive, you’ll find yourself on the new Home page that resembles that dashboard in the online version of Office.Like the Office web app, OneDrive Home contains a list of your files, organized by how recently you accessed them. Above the list are filters that let you sort your documents by Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF file types. Image: Microsoft It’s easier to understand the new changes once you see them. There’s also a new “Activity” column to the right of the “Owner” file field that tells you... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro Former Twitter employee Ahmad Abouammo was found guilty of spying for the government of Saudi Arabia, according to a report from Bloomberg. The jury handed down its judgment in a San Francisco federal court on Tuesday, where Abouammo was also convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and falsifying records.Abouammo previously worked at Twitter as a media partnerships manager and helped prominent figures in the Middle East and North Africa promote their accounts. However, he leveraged his position to access the email addresses, phone numbers, and birth dates of users who were critical of the Saudi government. Abouammo then transmitted that information to Saudi officials between November 2014 and May 2015 and... Continue reading…

There’s a new indicator in the latest iOS 16 beta, but it’s not great. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple finally added the battery percent indicator back to the status bar in the latest iOS 16 beta, and as my colleague Victoria Song wrote, it’s hideous. I’m normally somebody who keeps battery percentages off anyway, but the new one seems like it’s just bad. As Victoria pointed out, one particularly egregious issue is that the icon’s “battery” is full no matter what the percentage says, which makes the icon harder to parse.That said, I’ve seen one mockup that’s in line with the new style for the battery percentage indicator but is far more glanceable. Check it out, from Brian Michel, engineering manager at The Browser Company:

Summoning signs work in distant areas now. | Bandai Namco Elden Ring just got a bit easier for single-player purists. Patch 1.06, released today, adds a new way to advance the quest of White Mask Varré — something that previously involved using the multiplayer system to invade other players’ worlds. Now, Varré will let you defeat a new character in order to join his assassins’ order, something that grants early access to a major area of the game. This comes alongside a variety of other changes, including the option to invade or help players across a much larger distance.Varré’s multiplayer demand was a rare sore point for people — including me — who either weren’t interested in player-versus-player dueling or played in offline mode. Avoiding his quest didn’t completely lock you out of any... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Waymo is introducing a raft of new features designed to make its fleet of autonomous taxis more accessible to passengers with visual impairments and other disabilities.The new features are sure to draw attention when they start hitting the streets. They include displaying the rider’s initials on the rooftop dome as a visual way to identify their assigned vehicle at a near-to-medium distance. The display shows the user’s customizable “Car ID,” which consists of two colored letters that can be configured via the Waymo app.Another feature offers turn-by-turn navigation to guide the rider on the most appropriate path to their awaiting robotaxi, utilizing data on sidewalks, crosswalks, and other terrain features to provide the most... Continue reading…

Spotify’s new Home screen, which includes filters for music and podcasts. | Image: Spotify Spotify has been working on a new design for its home tab that will create separate feeds for your music and your podcasts. The company says it’s part of an effort to give you more and better recommendations, but it also addresses a common criticism of the Spotify experience: with every kind of audio smushed together in the app, it can sometimes be hard to figure out.The new home feed, which is rolling out now for Android users and is coming to iOS “in the near future,” actually doesn’t look that different at first glance. But up at the top of the screen are two new buttons: one for Music and one for Podcasts & Shows. Tapping one of those will take you into separate feeds. Music will show you suggestions based on what you’ve been... Continue reading…

Walmart has tried streaming before but may be back in the race. | Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Walmart is investigating building its own streaming service, The New York Times reported, and is talking to some big-name content players about which shows and movies it can offer to Walmart Plus subscribers. The company has apparently held discussions with Paramount, Disney, and Comcast about the service, though it’s not clear whether those discussions came to anything. (Walmart declined to comment.)Over the last few years, Walmart has tried a number of ways to get deeper into the entertainment business. It acquired Vudu all the way back in 2010, then mostly neglected the service for a decade before selling it to Fandango in 2020. Meanwhile, as far back as 2018, Walmart was rumored to be developing its own streaming service before d... Continue reading…

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge You can create a great TikTok video by doing nothing more than simply talking to the camera. However, if you want to do something a little fancier or you’re still unsure of your own ability to spruce up your video, you can start with some of the predesigned templates that come with the app.Templates make it easy to create a lively, complex video. You just have to drop your own photos and / or videos into the template, and you’re done. (You can, of course, add your own text, sounds, effects, and more as well.)Here’s how to start using a template:

Photo by BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Unauthorized mole and skin tag removers sold on Amazon put the company in the crosshairs of the Food and Drug Administration, which sent a warning letter to the retail giant this month asking that it remove the products from its website.There are no authorized over-the-counter drugs that remove moles or skin tags, the FDA said in its warning letter, which was addressed to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. As part of its research, the agency says it bought two of the offending products on Amazon: the “Deisana Skin Tag Remover, Mole Remover and Repair Gel Set” and the “Skincell Mole Skin Tag Corrector Serum.”The “FDA has safety concerns about drugs marketed OTC directly to consumers for these uses,” the agency said in its letter. Moles should be... Continue reading…

You can’t tell from this screenshot, but I’m controlling Gabby Jay. | Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge Super Punch-Out!! has a hidden two-player mode that was just discovered nearly three decades after the game’s original 1994 release (via Kotaku). If you want to mess around with it but don’t have an SNES hooked up, you can actually give the secret mode a shot on the version of the game currently available to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers.The new two-player mode — and a fight select screen — were revealed by the Twitter account Unlisted Cheats in a thread on Monday. To activate them, you’ll need to have two controllers hooked up to your console of choice. (On Switch, I got them to work with a Pro Controller as player one and two Joy-Cons acting as one controller as player two.)First, on the title screen, hold down Y and R with the p... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter had some issues for some on Tuesday. I personally didn’t experience any problems, but a colleague says that things loaded very slowly, specifically when it comes to new tweets and replies. They were also logged out on the web and weren’t able to sign back in.In a tweet from its support account, Twitter said it had “made an internal systems change that didn’t go as planned and have rolled it back.”

We put these two self-sufficient smart home security cameras to the test Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok videos aren’t what you would call long, but sometimes you might want to skip a few seconds ahead — especially now that the videos can be up to 10 minutes long. Or you may have a favorite moment that you want to replay over and over and over. Either way, TikTok has a way to go forward and back on its videos.When you’re playing a TikTok video, look at the bottom of the video for a faint white line. You will probably not see it in all videos; after some experimenting, I found that I was mainly finding it in the longer videos. If you do see it, then you can use it to go forward and back:

Photo by Pierre Vauthey/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images I had never held a piece by Issey Miyake before the tail end of a trip back home to Japan in 2019, when I wandered into the Pleats Please boutique in the Narita International Airport before my flight.Candy-colored clothes hung like streaks of paint against the perfectly white laminated walls. Store attendees patiently strolled about as travelers with luggage fumbled with scarves, jostled hangers, and cocked their heads sideways, assessing how to wear the seemingly shapeless garments.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge For those who may not yet be familiar with it, TikTok is a different type of social media platform. Unlike more traditional platforms like Instagram or Twitter where you manually curate your feeds by choosing to follow others — most likely, people you know — TikTok uses an algorithm to curate a highly personalized feed of videos. This algorithm can get shockingly specific as it gathers the videos it thinks you’ll like.TikTok’s main page is named the For You page — and that really means for you. For instance, after I’d been on TikTok for a while, the algorithm figured out that I’m a grown-up emo kid (it was never a phase, Mom) who is trying to learn French, spends too much time playing The Sims 4, and is also queer. But TikTok’s... Continue reading…

Capcom Here come some new challengers. At the end of EVO 2022’s Street Fighter V tournament, Capcom revealed two more characters coming to the roster of Street Fighter 6: Juri, the “I can fix her” returning fighter, and newcomer Kimberly, an ‘80s-obsessed teen.

You might be able to view Wear OS or Fitbit data on the Google TV during a workout starting next year. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Google has yet to launch its first smartwatch, but the company may already be working on the next steps for its wearable plans. According to a Protocol report, Google is planning to integrate fitness trackers into Google TV and Android TV as part of a broader push to strengthen its product ecosystem. The question is whether the historically fragmented Wear OS platform is up for the challenge.The company purportedly laid out the plans at a closed-door event with its TV partners, Protocol reports. The idea is to let Wear OS and Fitbit users broadcast real-time metrics like heart rate and calories burned on the screen. Better smart home controls are also part of the plan. That said, these efforts may take a while. Google’s fitness plans... Continue reading…

Goh, Ash, and Dawn hanging out in Canalave City with their Pokémon. | The Pokémon Company Following the debut of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, it was only a matter of (apologies) time before the Pokémon anime started focusing on stories about the Sinnoh region’s distant past when it was first settled by humans. While animated shorts like Hisuian Snow have delved a bit into the Sinnoh region’s history by introducing new characters, the mainline anime’s about to give Ash Ketchum yet another crash course in dealing with the legendary pokémon whose power shaped the land.Today, The Pokémon Company announced that the English dub of Pokémon: The Arceus Chronicles, a new animated special, is making its way to Netflix this September after first premiering at the 2022 Pokémon World Championships in London this August. Originally released... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Live updates and other announcements Continue reading…

Riveting illustrated stories. Google has released a browser version of its “Read Along” Android app. The website, while still in beta, is up and running now.The site includes hundreds of illustrated stories at a few different reading levels. Once kids select a story, they start reading into their device’s microphone. Words are highlighted in blue after they’ve read them, and mispronounced words are underlined in red; click an underlined word, and a virtual assistant, Diya, will pronounce it for you. There may be math involved in some of these stories, just as a warning. Supported browsers include Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, while others (including Safari) are coming soon, Google says. Stories are available in English, Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Cryptocurrency lender Hodlnaut is the latest firm to respond to tumultuous market conditions by halting withdrawals (via Coindesk). In a post on its website, the Singapore-based company announced that it’s freezing withdrawals, token swaps, and deposits due to an uncertain economy that some say triggered a “crypto winter.”Hodlnaut is also rescinding its application to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for a regulatory license that would allow the company to offer digital payment token services in the city-state. As pointed out by Coindesk, the firm already received in-principle approval for the license in March, and its withdrawal means it can no longer offer token swaps. Hodlnaut says it’s also suspending its borrowing and... Continue reading…

The white version of the Arlo wire-free video doorbell is currently selling for less than the black model, which is also discounted. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Smart home brand Arlo is running a wide array of discounts that just kicked off recently, with a bunch of its products discounted on its site — ranging from security systems to indoor and outdoor cameras. Our picks for what’s most worth your time and hard-earned dollars are the Arlo Essential video doorbells (wire-free or wired) and the Pro 3 Floodlight Cam.First off, the best deal outright is on the wire-free Arlo video doorbell, which is currently on sale in white for $149 at Amazon. This discount of about $51 actually undercuts the deal price on Arlo’s site and at other retailers like Best Buy, where it’s on sale for $179.99. This video doorbell, along with its wired counterpart, were among our picks for the best video doorbells you... Continue reading…

Illustration by Grayson Blackmon A rebate for e-bike purchases was left out of the big climate deal, but it may yet live on Continue reading…

And why it’s 40 percent cheaper to run Continue reading…

The infamous green messaging bubbles. | Image: Google Google is kicking off a new publicity campaign today to pressure Apple into adopting RCS, the cross-platform messaging protocol that’s meant to be a successor to the aging SMS and MMS standards.The search giant has a new “Get The Message” website that lays out a familiar set of arguments for why Apple should support the standard, revolving around smoother messaging between iPhone and Android devices. Naturally, there’s also a #GetTheMessage hashtag to really get those viral juices flowing.For most people, the problems Google describes are most familiar in the form of the green bubbles that signify messages to Android users in Apple’s Messages app. While the iPhone app uses Apple’s own iMessage service to send texts between iPhones... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act on Tuesday, writing into law the $280 billion package that includes $52 billion in funding to boost US domestic semiconductor manufacturing.“Today is a day for builders. Today, America’s delivering,” Biden said during the White House signing ceremony on Tuesday. “The CHIPS and Science Act is a once in a generation investment in America itself.”The bipartisan deal to revive American innovation in opposition to growing Chinese technological dominance comes amid an ongoing global semiconductor shortage. The shortage has become an incentive for manufacturers like Intel to invest in new plants to meet the growing demand for tech products like laptops and smartphones worldwide. But US... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge AirPods could come with a charging case that supports USB-C in 2023, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. It doesn’t look like we should expect USB-C on the AirPods Pro 2 that Apple’s expected to launch later this year, though, as Kuo still believes the case may still feature a Lightning port.Adding a USB-C port to the AirPods case would be less convenient if you like to swap charging cables with a current iPhone, but would make them more compatible with everything else. It also saves you from going through the trouble of sawing into your existing case and then replacing the Lightning port with USB-C, like this modder did.

Samsung’s early head start on foldables is paying off. | Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge Four years into folding phones and Samsung is the king of the party Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Hello again everyone — it’s been a while! Ariel’s on vacation for the next week-plus, which means I get to tap in again and do my best impression of your usual host. Today, I chat about Clubhouse’s big revamp, Panera adding a branded sound, and PRX Productions boosting its output through a new partnership.Clubhouse splits upOn Monday, I opened up Clubhouse to see if I could find any rooms worth tuning into. Right up top, the app suggested a room called “Tech News around the World,” which seemed relevant enough to me, a technology reporter. But after that, things broke down right away. “Quick tip for getting more SAVES on your Pinterest pins!” didn’t seem to be playing well with anyone. (It had only 17 listeners.) “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Samsung Galaxy Unpacked is set to begin on Wednesday, August 10th.Leading up to the event, Samsung has left us with breadcrumbs about what they’re going to announce at their Galaxy Unpacked event. Leaks and other clues have revealed that Samsung may be announcing an updated foldable to match last year’s announcement and release.We also have a guess that there might be some new Galaxy Watches to announce as Samsung released a reservation for a trade-in for the Galaxy smartphone, smartwatch, and earbuds.When does the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event take place? The Samsung Galaxy event is set to take place on Wednesday, August 10th, 2022, at 6:00AM PT / 9:00AM ET.Where can I watch the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event? We will have the... Continue reading…

With less than 100 days until the midterm elections, the Democrats are equipping influencers and TikTok creators with digital tools to reach voters across the internet with party-sponsored content.In the run-up to election season, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) built an online organizing hub to drive the party’s messaging beyond its own social channels. The hub creates a central online destination for influencers, surrogates, and supporters to receive party-sponsored talking points, messaging, and a wide variety of digital content to post on their own social media feeds.“Our goal is to equip grassroots supporters and volunteers with the tools to share our message with their own networks and to be trusted messengers.”“Our... Continue reading…

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge Nearly nine months after it stopped taking reservations, Ford is ready to reopen the order banks for the F-150 Lightning. But buyers beware: the price for the electric truck has gone up by around $7,000 across all trim levels.Ford is citing “significant material cost increases and other factors” as the primary reason for raising the price. Indeed, the F-150 Lightning is only the latest electric vehicle to see its price go up as a result of supply chain constraints, inflation, and greater demand for batteries and other components.“Significant material cost increases and other factors”Ford said it will honor the original manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) for all current reservation holders. But anyone plunking down the $100... Continue reading…

With a little effort, the Steam Deck can run more than just Steam. Steam may certainly have the lion’s share when it comes to building a library of PC games, but why would you leave yourself stranded in Valve’s ecosystem when there are mountains of free games and sales on the Epic Games Store and other platforms? For instance, in 2021, the Epic Games Store gave away 89 free games, and GOG is adding new games to its free library all the time. If you had EGS and GOG on your Steam Deck, you could also cash in on all the extra sales that you’d otherwise be missing.Integrating these stores requires a bit of upfront leg work, but it’s totally possible and can pay big dividends if you’re looking to expand the library of your new handheld. Besides, everyone knows that paying full price for games is for... Continue reading…

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is exposing a lesser-known unexpected link between Russia and the United States: the nuclear fuel supply chain. Back in March 2022, President Biden announced sanctions on Russia’s energy exports, specifically oil and gas. But one notable export was left off of that list: uranium.In 2021, the US relied on Russia for 14 percent of its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. The process of enriching uranium is highly complicated and can only be done in certain countries — including Russia.Uranium fuel starts as uranium ore, a naturally occurring radioactive material. Only very little of this ore is useful for fuel. Once mined, the ore is converted into yellowcake, which is just concentrated uranium. That... Continue reading…

The new 1Password 8 design on mobile. | Image: 1Password 1Password is launching a big update to its Android and iOS apps today. 1Password 8 overhauls the design of the mobile password management apps in many of the same ways the 1Password 8 apps for Windows and Mac were redesigned in recent months. The new mobile interface includes a personalized home tab, which should make it easier to find logins, pin favorites, and organize your passwords.The new personalized homescreen also lets you easily see logins you’ve recently created and even pin individual fields from a login. You can also reorder sections and add quick actions to the home tab, and the navigation bar now provides quick access to search, home, and settings.Search isn’t super obvious in the current 1Password mobile app, and the... Continue reading…

Haeun Jang / The Verge The 21st century is a wild time to be a young person. The old systems are crumbling, new ideas are bubbling up, and people are more restless than ever. At the center of it all is the greatest communication system the world has ever known, reflecting every frustration and desire through a maze of mirrors. Everything is falling apart — and anything is possible.We wanted to know firsthand what it’s like to be a young person in the present moment, so we went straight to the source. In June, we put out a call for pitches from young writers, asking for personal essays about their experiences with technology. Now, we’re ready to share what came back: 11 pieces exploring how technology is helping young people navigate our strange new world,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Lyssa Park for The Verge In May 2020, I was searching for something — anything — to bring me joy. The world had become a dark place, and I just wanted to feel hopeful. And so, rationally, I went looking in the most obvious place: Twitch. And what I found was the Twitch stream of music producer Kenny Beats.Kenny Beats, born Kenneth Blume III, is best known for his work with artists like Denzel Curry and Vince Staples. On his YouTube series, The Cave, he’ll produce a beat for artists in just 10 minutes. I’d been a fan of his music for some time, but like most producers, I knew very little about Kenny: he was just a name in a list of song credits who happened to have a YouTube show I enjoyed.Prior to 2020, I was not a regular Twitch user. But as I worked a job I... Continue reading…

Sonic in the initial live-action film. | Image: Paramount A third live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie is on the way, and it’s set for release on December 20th, 2024, the film’s official Twitter account has confirmed.There’s no word yet on whether Ben Schwartz will return in the titular role, or whether director Jeff Fowler, or writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller will be back either. This release date, though, puts it directly up against James Cameron’s second Avatar sequel, currently being produced under the working title Avatar 3. It’s the blue CGI character showdown we’ve all been waiting for.Development on the third Sonic film was first announced in February, alongside the news that Paramount and Sega were also working on a live-action series featuring Idris Elba’s Knuckles for streaming... Continue reading…