The Verge

Welcome to the weekend. Whether you’re working today, or you’re off, we have a range of deals that you might be interested in. Most of these were big hits throughout the week that we’re resurfacing for your perusal, though we’ve packed in a few deals that popped up more recently. In terms of what to look forward to on The Verge, this week will be Samsung’s Unpacked event. That’s all happening on Wednesday, August 10th, and based on rumors, we expect to see new foldable phones and other gadgets, and plenty of preorder deals. See you then.At the Epic Games Store on PC, you can play as much Far Cry 6 as you can fit into this weekend. The storefront is offering an extended free trial of Ubisoft’s latest open-world first-person shooter.... Continue reading…

The Go 2 is the rare, premium sub-compact laptop left Continue reading…

The Stealth line has outgrown its name Continue reading…

Alex Jones speaks to supporters of President Donald Trump during a protest on December 12th, 2020 | Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images A Texas jury has ordered Alex Jones to pay around $45.2 million for spreading a false conspiracy theory about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The punitive damages come on top of a $4.1 million verdict from yesterday, potentially marking a major blow to Jones’s Infowars media empire. But the number could be vastly reduced by limits built into the Texas legal code, which caps damages on defamation punishments.The jury handed back its verdict on Friday after hearing testimony about Jones’s finances — something he’s allegedly taken significant steps to obscure. It included an assessment that Jones’ company Free Speech Systems was worth at least $130 million; previous testimony indicated its annual revenue in recent years has been... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A Forbes report raises questions about how TikTok’s moderation team handles child sexual abuse material — alleging it granted broad, insecure access to illegal photos and videos.Employees of a third-party moderation outfit called Teleperformance, which works with TikTok among other companies, claim it asked them to review a disturbing spreadsheet dubbed DRR or Daily Required Reading on TikTok moderation standards. The spreadsheet allegedly contained content that violated TikTok’s guidelines, including “hundreds of images” of children who were nude or being abused. The employees say hundreds of people at TikTok and Teleperformance could access the content from both inside and outside the office — opening the door to a broader leak.T... Continue reading…

Wouldn’t it be neat if you could get free streaming TV channels without downloading an app or signing up for a new service? Well, you just might be getting that soon if you’re Google TV user, 9to5Google has decompiled the latest version of the software and reports the company’s TV streaming platform (formally Android TV) contains text that hints at 50 included live TV channels.The purported new feature seems to be called “Google TV Channels” based on text found in the launcher app. And there’s also an image in the software that hints at what channels will be included in the new service. It’s the usual lineup of internet-streamed free channels like ABC News Live, NBC News Now, and USA Today. There’s also a bunch of background noise... Continue reading…

Intel had an incredibly rough quarter, unexpectedly losing half a billion dollars due to a PC purchasing slump, and yesterday seemed like more bad news — a report from TrendForce about manufacturing delays sparked rumors that Intel’s next big flagship processor Meteor Lake would be delayed until 2024, which would put it as much as a year behind schedule. (In a February investor meeting, Intel said that Meteor Lake would be “powering on” this summer before shipping in 2023.)However, Intel is flatly denying those rumors today, with spokesperson Thomas Hannaford clarifying to The Verge that not only are they untrue, but that Meteor Lake will actually ship, launch, and be available to consumers in 2023. Image: Intel ... Continue reading…

Illustration by Maria Chimishkyan When Apple introduced passkeys, its implementation of FIDO Alliance’s password-less secure authentication technology, the company did it in the most Apple way possible. It made an icon and printed a very on Apple brand-looking “Passkeys” next to it, complete in the San Francisco font. And if you’ve watched only part of the WWDC presentation on Apple’s passkeys, it’s possible to assume passkeys are an exclusive feature of Apple’s iCloud Keychain. Just a reminder: it’s not.The term “passkey” will also be used by major players Microsoft and Google. It’s used as a common noun and can be pluralized or singular, for instance: “you should set a passkey for your banking app.” In other words, treat the word “passkey” as you would treat the word... Continue reading…

Clearing notifications is like playing red dot whack-a-mole. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge It starts innocently enough. You download an app, and the app asks for your permission to send you push notifications. Sure, you think. What harm could come of it? I’d like to know when my package arrives or my burrito is ready. But then you download more apps, and they all need your permission to send you notifications, and before you know it your lock screen is awash with apps clamoring for your attention.The apps never shut up. They’re hungry for engagement. They want you to know that your favorite items are on sale, that you haven’t practiced your Spanish today, that your delivery driver is five stops away, that your child at daycare just had a blowout – all day, all at once. Welcome to a place we all live, a place called... Continue reading…

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge Valve is working to add support for the Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Con controllers in Steam. As part of the the newest Steam beta, Joy-Cons will be supported either individually or as a matched pair, similar to how you can use them either way for Switch games. If you want to try the feature out, you can opt into the Steam beta — Valve has helpful instructions on the Steam website — though fingers crossed that your Joy-Cons aren’t experiencing any drift.Valve is also improving its support for Nintendo’s classic controllers it sells for Switch Online subscribers, though in the beta patch notes, the company didn’t specify exactly how. That feature was introduced to the public version of the Steam client just last week, letting you use the... Continue reading…

Evolution Championship Series Nature may not be fully healed from the pandemic yet, but EVO is live in Las Vegas again so hopefully that means it’s getting better. For the first time since 2019 and after Sony became part-owner in 2021, the Evolution Championship Series — one of, if not the, biggest fighting game tournament in the world — is streaming live from the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Starting today until Sunday August 8th, some of the best fighting game players in the world will compete in nine different games including Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate, The King of Fighters XV, and Tekken 7.EVO 2022 will be streaming on Twitch across seven different channels to ensure you don’t miss any of the nine different tournaments taking place. Most of time will... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram might have halted its controversial redesign, but that doesn’t mean the company plans to stop focusing on full-screen content. During his weekly Ask Me Anything today, CEO Adam Mosseri confirmed that Instagram will begin testing ultra-tall 9:16 photos “in a week or two.”“You can have tall videos, but you cannot have tall photos on Instagram,” Mosseri said. “So we thought maybe we should make sure that we treat both equally.” Currently, Instagram tops out around 4:5 when displaying vertical images that’ve been cropped accordingly. But introducing support for slimmer, taller 9:16 photos will help them fill the entire screen as you scroll through the app’s feed.Instagram’s TikTok-like redesign was criticized by some... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google’s newest update for ChromeOS is rolling out to users this week, and one of its new features is support for switching to a dark theme, as 9to5Google reported. Previously hidden behind developer flags while in testing, it finally made an official debut on ChromeOS 104, following dark mode settings popping up more in other Google products.In a Google blog post mentioning the incoming feature, the company says that the new dark theme would make it easier to “read at night or in low light, and to conserve power,” which switching to a light theme changes the entire UI and wallpaper to make things “bright and airy.” Until now, ChromeOS only included a “Night Light” setting in its software to help you look at your screen in dim light by... Continue reading…

The LinkBuds S and their USB-C charging case in white. Sony’s LinkBuds S are some of the comfiest true wireless earbuds around. A big part of this is owed to their lightweight build of just 4.8 grams per bud, though that light and airy feel normally comes at a hefty price tag of $199.99. However, the LinkBuds S are currently on sale for $148 at Amazon and B&H Photo, while Best Buy also has them discounted to a close $149.99.Those discounts of around $50 are the best we’ve seen yet on these great buds, which offer active noise cancellation and LDAC support. If you’re in the market for earbuds that may offer you a comfier fit for longer listening sessions, you can have your pick of these in black or white at those multiple retailers. (Best Buy also carries an exclusive desert sand color.)W... Continue reading…

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images Facing pressure from progressives and tech hawks on both sides of the aisle, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to hold a vote on the bipartisan antitrust bill targeting tech giants as early as this fall, according to a new report from the New York Post on Thursday.The bill — the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICO) — would restrict dominant tech platforms, like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook’s parent company Meta, from favoring their own products and services on their platforms over those of their competitors.Earlier this year, Schumer vowed to hold a vote on the legislation this summer so long as there were 60 senators who would approve it. But as Congress’ August recess approached, at least a dozen... Continue reading…

Its purchase of iRobot brings Amazon much-needed context for its ambient smart home ambitions. | Image: iRobot When I spoke to iRobot’s Colin Angle earlier this summer, he said iRobot OS — the latest software operating system for its robot vacuums and mops — would provide its household bots with a deeper understanding of your home and your habits. This takes on a whole new meaning with the news today that Amazon has bought iRobot for $1.7 billion.From a smart home perspective, it seems clear Amazon wants iRobot for the maps it generates to give it that deep understanding of our homes. The vacuum company has detailed knowledge of our floor plans and, crucially, how they change. It knows where your kitchen is, which your kids’ rooms are, where your sofa is (and how new it is), and if you recently turned the guest room into a nursery.Knowing... Continue reading…

Bibi gave birth to a baby hippo at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden in August 2022. | Image: Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden This column is part of a series where Verge staffers post highly subjective reviews of animals. Up until now, we’ve written about animals without telling you whether they suck or rule. We are now rectifying this oversight.There’s nothing like a baby hippo to remind me there are still good things in this world, and we have Bibi the hippo to thank for a brand-new 60-pound social media star.Bibi, a hippo at the Cincinnati Zoo, gave birth to her latest little one this week. To commemorate her achievement, the zoo has gifted us with a Twitter feed filled with little ear wiggles.

Streamer Iateyourpie’s Blissey was a beast. For the past two weeks, every time I hop onto Twitch, I’ve found myself browsing through Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen streams so I can watch people play the classic games in perhaps the most difficult ways possible.If you’ve played through a mainline Pokémon title before, you’ve probably been able to get through the game without too much trouble. I’m pretty sure all of my friends growing up experienced some variation of just letting their starter carry them to becoming the Pokémon champion. But there’s a community of players making the games dramatically more challenging by applying some form of what the community calls “IronMon” rulesets.The IronMon challengeThe gist of IronMon is that it’s a really hard randomizer. The pokémon you... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Every Wednesday and Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where our editors make sense of the week’s most important technology news. On Fridays, Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel, editor-at-large David Pierce, and managing editor Alex Cranz discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.Today’s episode raises some questions about the future of HBO Max, the next generation of the iPad, handheld gaming systems, and electric vehicles.We saw a lot happen with Warner Bros. Discovery this past week: the shelving of the Batgirl movie; numerous Warner TV shows on the chopping block; and a not-so-impressive earnings report. So what’s next for the HBO Max and Discover Plus... Continue reading…

Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Now, you can read the entire argument Elon Musk’s lawyers are making that his latest change of heart is actually all Twitter’s fault, laid out in this 165-page document just made public by the Delaware Court of Chancery.You know the basics of the story. Musk bought a bunch of Twitter shares. Musk agreed to take a seat on the company’s board and promised not to try to buy Twitter. Then, he changed his mind, lined up the necessary financing using some of his shares in Tesla, and eventually agreed to a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter. Then he changed his mind again and tried to exit the deal, resulting in Twitter suing the world’s richest man to force him to buy the company like he said he would.Twitter’s lawyers are already poking... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta’s AI research labs have created a new state-of-the-art chatbot and are letting members of the public talk to the system in order to collect feedback on its capabilities.The bot is called BlenderBot 3 and can be accessed on the web. (Though, right now, it seems only residents in the US can do so.) BlenderBot 3 is able to engage in general chitchat, says Meta, but also answer the sort of queries you might ask a digital assistant, “from talking about healthy food recipes to finding child-friendly amenities in the city.”BlenderBot 3 is designed to both shoot the breeze and answer questions like GoogleThe bot is a prototype and built on Meta’s previous work with what are known as large language models or LLMS — powerful but flawed... Continue reading…

Tesla’s Cybertruck, that object of intense fascination and ridicule that may or may not go into production next year, was supposed to start at the extremely attractive price of $39,900. But that was back in 2019 when the Cybertruck was first announced, and as Tesla CEO Elon Musk put it recently, “a lot has changed” since then.Speaking at his company’s annual shareholder meeting, Musk said that the Cybertruck’s specs and price “will be different,” citing inflation and other “various issues” that have cropped up in the three years since the electric truck was first unveiled.“I hate to give a little bit of bad news”“I hate to give a little bit of bad news,” he added, before going on to hype the Cybertruck as “one hell of a product” and... Continue reading…

The 2021 iPad is the last model of the Apple tablet to be equipped with a headphone jack. | Image: Apple Originally priced at $479, the 256GB version of the ninth-generation iPad is currently discounted to $399 at Walmart, the best price yet. While this iPad uses the A13 Bionic CPU instead of the faster M1 found in other models, it still has more than enough power for any app. And its 10.2-inch 2160 x 1620 resolution display looks great. A key selling point may be its 3.5mm audio jack, depending on the person. Rumor has it that Apple’s next entry-level iPad may be getting rid of the headphone jack altogether, though we won’t know that for certain until Apple shows it off.Even without a beefy graphics card, the Asus ROG Flow X13 makes for a pretty decent laptop for gaming and other tasks. Regularly priced at $1,599.99, Best Buy has... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge This Week In Elon, we’re talking about M&A again — but this time, we mean mergers and acquisitions — not marriages and affairs.The Delaware Court of Chancery handed Elon Musk an unfavorably speedy schedule last month in his ongoing fight to not buy Twitter, and now we’ve got specific dates for the trial: Elon and Twitter will square off from October 17th to October 21st. That leaves two and a half months for both parties to fight over what evidence they’ll get to introduce, and Twitter has already started digging — while Musk has been preparing a counterstrike with whatever dirt he’s already got.As The Washington Post and the newsletter The Chancery Daily reported earlier this week, Twitter has cast a broad net of subpoenas over... Continue reading…

Joo Won in Carter. | Image: Netflix Joo Won stars in the streamer’s new action showpiece Continue reading…

Smart lighting company LIFX has been bought by Feit Electric. A few years back, there were two big names in the high-end smart bulb game — Philips Hue, which worked with a proprietary Zigbee bridge, and LIFX, which worked over Wi-Fi, no extra white plastic box required. (We all know how much people hate hubs and bridges cluttering up their smart homes.) Yet, the Zigbee-based Hue went on to become the Kleenex of smart lighting, whereas LIFX went into receivership earlier this year.However, there’s good news for LIFX customers and for the smart home in general. California-based Feit Electric has stepped in and snapped up LIFX from its bankrupt Australian owner Buddy Technologies and says it will keep LIFX alive.“Feit Electric will offer the current suite of LIFX products and plans to expand the... Continue reading…

Tom Sturridge in Neflix’s The Sandman. | Image: Netflix Neil Gaiman’s beloved story comes to life on the screen Continue reading…

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge | Photography by Halfpoint Images / Getty Images Working from home can be a balancing act between your business and personal life — especially if you’ve got kids. If your children are toddlers, then you must depend on partners, family, or childcare providers to keep them away from your Zoom sessions. If they are school age, you may have some time for yourself and your job during school hours — until the school day is done.Below are some toys, videos, and ideas that some of our staffers with kids have come up with to help keep things a little saner while you’re finishing up your work day.Keep the kids busyMarbrasse Acrylic Pen Holder Image: Marbrasse Marbrasse Acrylic Pen Holder. Esther Cohen, associate director of audience development for The Verge, says,... Continue reading…

Image: iRobot Amazon has signed an agreement to acquire iRobot, makers of Roomba robot vacuums. The deal is valued at approximately $1.7 billion, and Amazon will acquire iRobot for $61 per share in an all-cash transaction.“Customers love iRobot products — and I’m excited to work with the iRobot team to invent in ways that make customers’ lives easier and more enjoyable,” says Dave Limp, SVP of Amazon Devices. It’s not immediately clear how iRobot will be integrated into Amazon once the deal is finalized and cleared by regulators, but Amazon intends to keep Colin Angle as the CEO of iRobot.iRobot has been designing robot vacuums since 2002, and it has sold millions of its popular Roomba vacuums. Earlier this year iRobot launched its latest iRobot OS,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge For a long time, Adobe’s PDF file format has been the format for legal and business documents, largely because they most closely resemble their hardcopy versions — and because they can be locked down relatively easily so that no changes can be made. But while PDFs are great for producing accurate digital versions of paper documents, you can also very easily create a PDF out of an ordinary Word document as well.Save a Word file to a PDF from Microsoft WordAs you might imagine, creating a PDF from a Word document is very easy when you do it using Microsoft Word.On a desktop / laptop

Image by DuckDuckGo After a revelation in May that DuckDuckGo’s (DDG) privacy-focused web browser allows Microsoft tracking scripts on third-party websites, the company now says it will start blocking those too. DuckDuckGo’s browser had third-party tracker loading protection by default that already blocked scripts embedded on websites from Facebook, Google, and others, but until now Microsoft’s scripts from the Bing and LinkedIn domains (but not its third-party cookies) had a pass.A security researcher named Zach Edwards pointed out the exclusion that he apparently uncovered while auditing the browser’s privacy claims, and noted it is especially curious because Microsoft is the partner that delivers ads in DDG’s search engine (while promising not to use... Continue reading…

A teaser for Samsung’s August 10th event. | Image: Samsung Samsung’s annual summer launch event is almost here. The company will hold its August Galaxy Unpacked event on August 10th at 9AM ET, one year and one day after last year’s foldable-focused event. And, if rumors are to be believed, we’re set for a very similar lots of announcements consisting of a pair of foldables — the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 — a new lineup of smartwatches with the Galaxy Watch 5, and most likely some new earbuds.We know there are foldables on the way because Samsung’s basically showed them to us in its promotional images and official trailer for its August 10th launch, and Samsung’s smartphone boss teased “new Samsung Galaxy foldables” in a blog post about the launch. The sheer quantity of Watch 5 leaks... Continue reading…

Vampire Survivors. | Image: Poncle Vampire Survivors’ new 0.10.0 update adds a cheats menu, and after using it to unlock some things I had been stuck on, I dearly wish that more games included one.Vampire Survivors, if you haven’t heard of it, is a delightful game about leveling up and destroying literally thousands of monsters in a single run. I’d describe it as roguelike-ish; you pick a starting character with certain attributes and a specific weapon, and you’ll level up that weapon, other weapons, and other items as you collect gems by defeating enemies. Your weapons fire automatically, so you mostly just have to worry about picking up experience and items while avoiding baddies.The game launched in Early Access on Steam late last year, and has received regular... Continue reading…

Photo by Zach Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty Images A jury has ordered conspiracy broadcaster Alex Jones to pay $4.1 million to the parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The decision followed a trial that saw Jones and his counsel break courtroom protocol and — at one point — accidentally send copies of Jones’ phone records to the opposing legal team. The fine marks one of the first concrete legal consequences for Jones’ false claims that the shooting was a staged “false flag,” which led to years of harassment for parents. But it represents only a fraction of the money Jones has made in the years since.Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, whose son Jesse Lewis was one of the 20 children killed at Sandy Hook, had requested $150 million in compensation for... Continue reading…

Image: Mark Zuckerberg (Instagram) Other than “turning up the heat a little bit” on Meta employees who shouldn’t be there and hitting the metaverse runway, Mark Zuckerberg is highlighting Instagram’s expanded NFT support. The founder and CEO took the opportunity of announcing expanded NFT support on Instagram to tell everyone his custom-made 1992 Little League baseball card is going on sale soon, with an NFT included as part of the deal.I thought he was minting it himself, but as the Metropolis Comic Collect profile linked in his post explains, that is not the case. This card is one Zuckerberg custom-made for a camp counselor who kept it, and now it has been authenticated and put up for sale as an actual collectible, in addition to the digital blockchain receipt. If you... Continue reading…

Twitter admits that Musk is a Twitter user | Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images So I don’t know entirely what’s in Elon Musk’s counterclaims against Twitter — they are still under seal — but I did get an inkling today, when Twitter dropped its response. It’s spicy! Rather than let Musk get his complaints out first, Twitter went ahead and released a blow-by-blow response, the better with which to dunk on Elon along the way.I do love this:

You can currently buy the AirPods Max for around $449 instead of $549. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge With more people working from home than they used to, owning a good pair of noise-canceling headphones has become more appealing than ever. However, they can be expensive and difficult to shop for due to the range of available models, many of which cater to different lifestyles and priorities. Some are better suited for long-haul flights, for instance, while others are ideal for multitasking and marathon listening sessions.That’s why we’ve curated this list of the best deals on noise-canceling headphones. Here, you’ll find sales on all kinds of on-ear and over-ear headphones, all of which are designed to eliminate outside noise but come with their own strengths and weaknesses. And if you want to do even more research before making a... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge HBO Max isn’t dead...yet. But come the summer of 2023 it will be, and there will be a new service replacing both HBO Max and Discovery Plus, Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav said on an earnings call today.“HBO Max has a competitive feature set, but it has had performance and customer issues,” Zaslav said, being much more polite than I would be about the app, which regularly struggles to stream when people tune in for big appointment shows like Euphoria and Succession. He went on to claim Discovery Plus has a better tech stack and would become the core of the new service which will combine the content of HBO Max with the content and tech of Discovery Plus.“We think that product is going to be superb,” Zaslav said later in the... Continue reading…

APE not pictured | Image: The Verge You may remember our friends at AMC, the theater chain with the pantless CEO, who’ve leaned all the way in on the meme stock thing. Hordes of enthusiastic retail investors maybe rescued AMC from crushing debt. Now AMC is hoping to tap them again to create more shares of the company.This quarter, AMC announced a dividend for shareholders: AMC Preferred Equity units, which will trade as APE on the New York Stock Exchange. One of these babies will exist for every common share, and can be converted to common stock if the company and investors vote for that to happen.That “if” is kind of sticky though. See, AMC wanted to sell more shares and was shot down by investors. Maybe those investors didn’t want to be further diluted — AMC sold a lot... Continue reading…

SoundCloud’s CEO sent out a memo on Wednesday | Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Streaming company SoundCloud is cutting about 20 percent of its global workforce. Billboard reported on August 3rd that SoundCloud CEO Michael Weissman told the staff in a company memo that the change is mostly due to the current economic climate. Employees affected would be notified over the next several days.“Today’s change positions SoundCloud for the long run and puts us on a path to sustained profitability,” Weissman wrote in the memo. “We have already begun to make prudent financial decisions across the company and that now extends to a reduction to our team.” In a statement to Billboard, a SoundCloud representative confirmed the news, and said: “During this difficult time, we are focused on providing the support and resources to... Continue reading…

A Ford Argo AI test vehicle, being tested, drives through the downtown area in Detroit, Michigan on July 12, 2019 | Photo credit should read JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images As autonomous vehicle testing ramps up, Argo AI announced the formation of a panel of outside experts to oversee the safe deployment of its technology.The startup, which is backed by Ford and Volkswagen, will “provide feedback on Argo’s safety and security practices and policies, including maintaining a world-class safety culture, scaling safely across multiple cities and countries, and responsibly launching and operating commercial driverless services,” the company said.The announcement comes as public opinion seems to be turning on autonomous vehicles (AVs), with recent surveys suggesting nearly half of Americans think that AVs would be a “bad idea” for society. And it comes as the Biden administration continues to scrutinize... Continue reading…

VoiceOver has been part of every Mac since macOS X | Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge Starting with macOS X, Apple has included a native screen reader called VoiceOver on its Macs and MacBooks. The feature is designed to help low-vision or blind users navigate their computers — and the internet — more easily. It works by reading aloud text descriptions of everything that appears on the screen, as well as reading any displayed text. The technology also allows users to interact with elements on the screen.While VoiceOver is primarily meant for those with visual impairments, it can be helpful in many different scenarios — for example, if you’re someone who has a learning disability and prefers to listen to text rather than read it.Apple has a whole user guide that gets into the nitty-gritty of how to use VoiceOver with... Continue reading…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Apple has released a new software update for the Studio Display following reports of audio problems like sound dropouts and choppy playback (via MacRumors). The new update, which Apple only says “resolves an audio issue”, is a revised version of update 15.5, and to download and install it, your Mac will need to be on macOS Monterey 12.4 or later.MacRumors reported this week on a memo indicating that Apple was aware something was going on. In the memo, Apple apparently said that the audio problems were not due to the Studio Display’s hardware, and to fix the issues, the company recommended that customers unplug the display from power, disconnect any accessories or devices, and then plug it back in after waiting 10 seconds.It’s not clear... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is testing a new mobile app feature with its premium subscribers that allows them to zoom in on any video. As noted by 9to5Google, the latest opt-in experimental feature enables a pinch-to-zoom gesture for videos — and it works both in portrait and full-screen landscape view.According to the company, the zoom feature will remain in testing until September 1st, giving YouTube about a month to gather user feedback and refine things before potentially rolling it out more widely. Screenshot: Richard Lawler / The Verge You can opt in through the “try new features” section of YouTube’s settings. To enable pinch to zoom, open YouTube’s settings menu either on your phone or from the website. As long as... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Microsoft is giving Xbox Series S game developers more control over memory on the console. A new Xbox software development kit has been released to developers recently, and it frees up more memory for developers to access for Xbox Series S games and boosts performance in certain titles.“Hundreds of additional megabytes of memory are now available to Xbox Series S developers,” says Microsoft’s Game Dev team in a video detailing the updates. “This gives developers more control over memory, which can improve graphics performance in memory-constrained conditions.”The $299 Xbox Series S launched as a console capable of 1440p gaming at up to 120fps, but many games have only hit 1080p and without the higher frame rates of the more powerful... Continue reading…

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images The monkeypox outbreak is a public health emergency in the United States, Xavier Becerra, the secretary of health and human services, said today. The disease has been spreading in the US since May, and cases have been rising around the world.“We urge every American to take monkeypox seriously,” he said in a press briefing today.The decision to declare a public health emergency follows the World Health Organization’s declaration in late July that monkeypox is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. A number of states, including New York and California, have also declared health emergencies.A public health emergency opens up funding for disease response and could help accelerate access to existing treatments for the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is starting to test an Xbox Game Pass family plan that will allow subscribers to share their benefits with other people. A preview of this Xbox Game Pass family plan is available in Colombia and Ireland today, and testers will be able to add up to four people to their subscription as long as they’re in the same country.“Starting today in Colombia and Ireland, Xbox Insiders can begin to preview a plan that allows multiple people to share Game Pass Ultimate benefits,” explains Tyler Mittleider, a senior technical program manager at Microsoft. “This makes it even easier to play the best Game Pass games with friends and family across console, PC, and cloud by enabling you to add up to four people to your subscription, all with... Continue reading…

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images After two years of COVID-19, the conversation around monkeypox testing gives off an unnerving sense of deja-vu. The similarities are right there: painful swabs, the struggle to even find a test, bottlenecks, and a long wait for results. But the diseases are different enough that experience with COVID-19 didn’t give researchers much of a leg up in their efforts to improve the monkeypox testing process.In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts bemoaned the lack of investment in rapid, at-home testing for various diseases in the United States. The thought was that if the infrastructure had been in place before the coronavirus emerged, it would have been easier to scale up testing — and maybe help control the pandemic.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Did you know you can search for an exact word or phrase on Google by putting quotation marks around it? It’s a great way to get specific about something you’re looking for. And on Thursday, Google announced what I think will be a nice improvement: the small snippets underneath a search result link will now be created based on where the quoted term appears on the page.Google’s blog post about the change has a good image that illustrates how this will work in practice, which I’ve included below. Google googled “google search,” and the two snippets shown in the example both include the bolded phrase “Google Search.” Image: Google The Google search results for “google search.” Previously, Google would show you... Continue reading…

Player First Games Player First Games, developer of MultiVersus, the arena brawler that pits Warner Bros. and DC Comics characters against each other in battles to the death, has announced it’s delaying the start of season 1 and the release of the Morty character.