The Verge

Characters from the first season of Star Wars Visions. | Lucasfilm/Disney Plus In addition to being an anthology, Star Wars Visions was a brilliant testament to how refreshing and exhilarating the Star Wars franchise can still be when it dares to loosen up a bit and wander off the beaten path of its core saga. Though a second season of Visions is one of the big things fans have been hoping to hear about at this year’s Star Wars Celebration, it looks like there’s another anthology series to be on the watch for.Though we’re still a few weeks out from this year’s Celebration event, a listing of the convention’s panels went up earlier today, along with descriptions of what attendees can expect to see. In what may have been a mistake given how the page was initially pulled, one listing for a panel hosted by The... Continue reading…

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images It’s not your imagination: follower counts on Twitter really have been shifting wildly in response to news that Elon Musk had finalized a deal to acquire the platform.Data compiled by The Verge from social media statistics site Social Blade shows that in the two days since the deal was completed, influential conservative accounts have increased their follower counts at roughly ten times the average daily rate for the month leading up to the acquisition.Meanwhile, popular liberal accounts have suffered, collectively losing hundreds of thousands of followers on April 25th and 26th after a month of gains.The shifts are unlikely to be the result of changes within Twitter’s management of the platform, as the deal will not close for months... Continue reading…

Photography by Vjeran Pavic / Treatment by Alex Castro / The Verge Chinese drone maker DJI has confirmed to The Verge that it is halting all shipments of its products to both Russia and Ukraine and will no longer provide aftersales support because it’s worried about its products being used for combat purposes during Russia’s invasion.It’s the first concrete action China’s DJI has taken to address the war after Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Federov accused the company of helping Russia kill Ukrainian civilians in a roundabout fashion (by using DJI’s AeroScope drone detection system to target Ukrainian pilots on the ground, something DJI apparently never anticipated). Both countries are using DJI drones for reconnaissance, and we’ve seen reports of Ukraine turning some of them into makeshift... Continue reading…

Amazon’s Alexa can now tell you when your Ring, Google Nest, or Abode camera sees a person. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Alexa has always had aspirations to be a type of digital butler, and today, it’s getting closer to that goal. Amazon’s voice assistant can now announce when there’s a person or package at your video doorbell or security camera. If you have an Echo smart display or Fire TV, it can also show you who or what is there by automatically pulling up a live video feed. The new feature will work with video doorbells and security cameras from Ring, Google Nest, and Abode, with more brands potentially adding the ability thanks to a new API from Amazon.Amazon says that person detection announcements are rolling out now to all Ring video doorbells and cameras and will be coming soon to the Google Nest Cam Outdoor, Nest Cam Indoor, Nest Cam... Continue reading…

Image: YouTube YouTube is starting to test advertisements on Shorts, a short-form video feature the company introduced in 2020 that’s similar to what TikTok and Instagram offer.The company is specifically experimenting with app-install ads and other promotions, Google’s chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, told investors on Tuesday.“We are experiencing a slight headwind to revenue growth as Shorts viewership grows as a percentage of total YouTube time,” Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat said. “We are testing monetization on shorts, and early advertiser feedback and results are encouraging.”According to Google, YouTube’s Shorts is generating 30 billion daily views, which is four times that of last year’s.Meanwhile, YouTube’s ad-revenue growth went up,... Continue reading…

Photo by: Rosalind O’Connor/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images Saturday Night Live star and almost space tourist Pete Davidson will soon star in a Peacock series based on his own life. Called Bupkis, the half-hour comedy series is described as a “heightened, fictionalized version of Pete Davidson’s real life” that “will combine grounded storytelling with absurd elements from the unfiltered and completely original worldview for which Pete is well known.” Dave Sirus and Judah Miller, who previously worked with Davidson on The King of Staten Island, will join the star as writers on the show.There isn’t much other info about Bupkis, such as when it’ll debut or how many episodes to expect. But it looks to be a notable win for the streamer, which says that “the series was acquired in a highly competitive... Continue reading…

Image: Microsoft The Windows XP startup sound is forever engrained in my mind, those tinkling chimes bringing back memories of AIM, Civilization III, and endless hours spent trying to download music through Napster and Kazaa followed by endless hours spent trying to remove the viruses I accidentally downloaded through Napster and Kazaa.The sounds of Windows are as much a part of computing history as anything else you’ll find, and the Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast is doing a two-part series on the history of the startup jingle. It begins before computers were even able to have startup sounds, and it traces their evolution through composers like Brian Eno and musicians like Robert Fripp and the Seattle Symphony. The first episode is out now, and it’s... Continue reading…

A 5K iMac’s panel, six speakers, three mics, and one terrible camera Continue reading…

The ultrawide lens on the Studio Display might be the limiting factor in the end. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Apple’s $1,599 Studio Display arrived last month with big promises about its webcam, which features a 12-megapixel sensor, an f2.4 ultra-wide lens, and the same A13 chip running the whole thing as found in the iPhone 11. Unfortunately, it shipped with buggy software that made everything look bad. Apple told us that it wasn’t “behaving as expected” and promised us a software update.That update is now here, sort of. You have to update your Mac to the public beta of macOS Monterey 12.4, which comes with a further update to the Studio Display. (Once the Studio Display is updated, the improvements are available when connected to any other Mac, though.)I updated my review unit last night, and, basically, the changes are what Apple said we’d... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony announced Monday that the PS5’s Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) feature would begin rolling out this week, and it’s already begun to show up for some people (via HDTVTest on YouTube). If your TV supports the feature, VRR can dynamically adjust the refresh rate of the screen, which can make games feel smoother to play with less tearing and hitching. While some games will be updated to support the feature, Sony also has a toggle that will apply VRR to unsupported games.If the VRR feature is available for you, you’ll be able to see it in the PS5’s Settings menu. Go to Screen and Video, Video Output, and then scroll down to the VRR section. Despite Sony saying Monday the feature would arrive with an update, there’s no update to download.... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Hollywood’s depiction of dissociative disorders may be doing more harm than good Continue reading…

Part of Amazon’s facility collapsed when it was hit by a tornado. | Photo by Jason Tan/Xinhua via Getty Images Amazon won’t be fined or cited by US safety officials after a tornado caused one of its Illinois warehouses to collapse, killing six workers, according to a letter sent to Amazon on Tuesday from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (or OSHA). The regulator says that it has a few recommendations for the company after its investigation, where it interviewed workers and reviewed records and the facility’s emergency action plan.OSHA’s letter still flags a number of concerns with Amazon’s handling of the incident, including an unnecessarily convoluted process for raising the alarm. When the order to shelter in place first came through, managers had to yell to employees instead of using a megaphone since the megaphone was “locked... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter’s policy and legal head Vijaya Gadde is facing criticism from new owner Elon Musk and harassment from Twitter users while trying to shepherd Twitter’s moderation team into a new era. Politico reported yesterday on a team meeting where Gadde acknowledged (in the article’s words) “significant uncertainties” about the future of Twitter under Musk.Musk then replied to a tweet from conservative journalist Saagar Enjeti criticizing Gadde. Enjeti had linked to a screenshot of the story, calling Gadde Twitter’s “top censorship advocate” and claiming she “censored the Hunter Biden laptop story” by temporarily and confusingly banning links to a New York Post story about President Joe Biden’s son. “Suspending the Twitter account of a major... Continue reading…

After stints at Engadget, Gizmodo, and CNET, Sean Hollister became part of the small group that co-founded The Verge back in 2011. He has worn a lot of hats in the past decade: reviewing products, running the newsroom, training and editing new writers, putting spicy editorials on the site, starring in a few videos, liveblogging, and shaping coverage where he can. He’s currently a Senior Editor.Tell us a little about yourself. What do you like doing at The Verge?My favorite part of the job is blogging about gadgets! I try to do it every day no matter what else The Verge needs from me because I love them to death.Where did you get your desk and where in your home have you placed it?It’s in the corner of my home office, right... Continue reading…

Nintendo Your kids will love this — your arms will not Continue reading…

A Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) pictured in its enclosure at Faunia zoo park. | Photo by Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket via Getty Images More than one in five of the world’s reptile species are threatened with extinction, researchers have determined in a new paper that marks the culmination of more than 20 years of slow-going research. On top of facing human-caused threats to their survival, the scaled creatures have fallen victim to bias in conservation priorities.Conservationists with limited resources have had to play catch-up in their efforts to assess threats to turtles, crocodiles, lizards, snakes, and tuatara (the last in an ancient lineage of reptiles that roamed the Earth with dinosaurs). Similar comprehensive assessments for birds, mammals, and amphibians (all categorized as tetrapods, or four-limbed vertebrates) were completed over a decade ago.Why has there... Continue reading…

The Gray Man. | Image: Netflix If Netflix’s slate of summer 2022 movies is anything to go by, the streamer is continuing its trend of relying on big-name stars to push its film ambitions. Today, the company released a schedule of movies due to release between May and August, and there’s plenty of star power to be found. The list includes the likes of The Gray Man, a thriller directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, which stars Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans; Spiderhead, a sci-fi film led by Chris Hemsworth; Day Shift, where Jamie Foxx plays a vampire hunter; and a new basketball drama called Hustle, starring Adam Sandler and Queen Latifah.This list doesn’t include some of the other big-name movies coming to the service later this year, like Knives Out 2, Enola Holmes 2, and... Continue reading…

Apple is now selling replacement iPhone parts directly to customers, allowing them to repair their own devices rather than paying a professional. But if you were expecting a DIY repair to be a way of saving money, then you might be a little disappointed. Apple’s pricing for some of the most common replacement parts is very similar to what it’ll charge you to do the repairs at an Apple Store, even when you’re the one delicately taking your phone apart to swap out a broken part. Only once you factor in the credit you get for sending in a replaced part do you stand to see a more significant saving.Take battery replacements. Apple is charging $69 for a Battery & Screw Kit for iPhone 12 or 13 models and $49 for the same kit for the... Continue reading…

Image: Comcast As the old saying goes, if you can’t beat ‘em, partner up with another overly powerful cable giant to give yourself a better shot. This morning, Comcast and Charter announced a new joint venture that will see the two companies teaming up to develop “a next-generation streaming platform on a variety of branded 4K streaming devices and smart TVs.” This new platform and the devices that run it will square off against Amazon, Roku, Google, Apple, and other established streaming hardware players.The new venture is evenly divided between the two companies and is exclusively focused on streaming; it “does not involve the broadband or cable video businesses of either Comcast or Charter, which will remain independent.”Comcast says its Flex... Continue reading…

The screens on some 40mm Series 6 models may go permanently blank. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge A small number of Apple Watch Series 6 models may have an issue that causes their display to go permanently blank. The good news is Apple now says you can get it fixed for free.The program (as spotted by 9to5Mac) was quietly launched late last week. According to Apple, the issue only affects 40mm models of the Series 6 manufactured between April and September 2021. If you’ve been experiencing this problem and have an eligible Watch, Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider will fix the issue free of charge.To check for eligibility, you’ll need to know your device’s serial number. If your Series 6 display is blanked out, then it’s best to head to the Watch app on your phone. From there, head to the My Watch tab, select General, tap... Continue reading…

Justin Lin attends the Universal Pictures F9 world premiere at TCL Chinese Theatre on June 18, 2021, in Hollywood, California. | Image: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Though principal photography on Universal’s 10th Fast & Furious movie just recently began, Justin Lin announced this week that he will no longer be directing the project, a surprising turn of events that’s bound to bring production to a halt.On Tuesday, Lin broke the news in a public statement explaining that he ultimately settled on the decision to leave Fast X with Universal’s support and that he plans to stay on the film, which he co-wrote along with Dan Mazeau, as a producer.“Over 10 years and five films, we have been able to shoot the best actors, the best stunts, and the best damn car chases,” Lin said. “On a personal note, as the child of Asian immigrants, I am proud of helping to build the most diverse franchise in movie... Continue reading…

Rivian R1S with new sand mode. | Image: Rivian Rivian is experiencing a production issue with an interior trim option for its electric vehicles. Some reservation holders of the company’s R1T electric truck and R1S SUV received emails this week saying that the Ocean Coast trim is “more challenging to produce” and will be delayed to later this fall (via Electrek).It’s not the best look given the email came the same day as rival Ford’s launch event of its electric Lightning truck, but Rivian does have some cool new software updates to share as well. The company announced that it’s working on OTA updates that will enable a dashcam feature, which will go nicely with its Gear Guard video security feature. There’s also an upcoming “pet mode” that keeps HVAC running for your dog while you... Continue reading…

If you’ve seen The Witcher on Netflix and have been curious about giving the games a shot, you can get all three games in The Witcher series at Steam for an incredibly low price. The Witcher Trilogy costs just $11.22 right now. Outside of a sale, getting all three titles would cost you $69.97. Needless to say, this is a great deal for anyone who has a modestly powerful gaming PC (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt released in 2015, but it’s still graphically demanding, even to today’s standards). If you have a Steam Deck, you should know that only The Witcher 3 is verified to work on the portable console.It’s not always easy to find high-quality true wireless earbuds under $100 — never mind ones that are actually on sale — but every now and... Continue reading…

The iPhone 13 Mini and iPhone 13. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple is launching its DIY phone repair service in the US today, making spare parts available for the iPhone 12, iPhone 13, and third-generation iPhone SE. When the company announced its “Self Service Repair” initiative last year, Apple said it planned to sell over 200 “individual parts and tools” to customers. They’re only available in the US for now, but Apple plans to expand the program to other countries as well as additional devices, like Macs equipped with M1 chips, later this year.Parts are available through Apple’s Self Service Repair Store. Tool rental kits will also be available to rent for seven days at a cost of $49 for customers who don’t want to buy tools outright, the company said in its press release.The program marks... Continue reading…

The iPhone 13 Mini and iPhone 13. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple is launching its DIY phone repair service in the US today, making spare parts available for the iPhone 12, iPhone 13, and third-generation iPhone SE. When the company announced its “Self Service Repair” initiative last year, Apple said it planned to sell over 200 “individual parts and tools” to customers. They’re only available in the US for now, but Apple plans to expand the program to other countries, as well as addition devices like Macs equipped with M1 chips, later this year.Parts are available through Apple’s Self Service Repair Store. Tool rental kits will also be available for $49, the company said in its press release, for customers who don’t want to buy tools outright.The program marks a significant shift for Apple,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Spotify’s latest earnings release suggests that the audio streaming service’s subscriber numbers haven’t seen much, if any, impact from the controversies that surrounded its Joe Rogan podcast just a few short months ago.In the quarter ending March 31st, Spotify says its premium subscribers rose 15 percent on a year-on-year basis to 182 million, up from 180 million the previous quarter. Monthly active users rose 19 percent year on year to 422 million, up from 406 million at the end of last year. For context, in the previous quarter, premium subscribers rose 16 percent year on year, while monthly active users were up 18 percent.Spotify had previously expected to hit 183 million premium subscribers this quarter but slightly missed this... Continue reading…

The new movie was just announced. | Image: Warner Bros. Robert Pattinson’s Batman will make a return, as Warner Bros. is making a sequel to Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Deadline reports Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group exec Toby Emmerich announced the new film at CinemaCon on Tuesday.While my colleague Charles Pulliam-Moore felt that the film was “one of the lesser entries, substance-wise, in the grand Batman cinematic canon,” it has proven to be a hit. The movie earned $760 million at the global box office and was watched by 4.1 million households on HBO Max the first week it was available, according to Deadline. (The movie came to the streaming service earlier this month.)Both Reeves and Pattinson will be back for the new movie, though there aren’t many other details known just yet. But the... Continue reading…

Circular. | Image: u/tagtech414 We’re now getting a look at what the leaked Pixel Watch looks like strapped to somebody’s wrist, courtesy of Reddit user tagtech414, who’s previously shared alleged images of Google’s as-yet-unannounced wearable (via 9to5Google). In the previous pictures, we could only see the little computer puck itself, not attached to a strap. While tagtech414 doesn’t seem to have successfully booted the device yet, they’ve given us a better idea of what it might be like to actually wear it.According to tagtech’s Reddit post, the strap is “kind of a pain to attach the first time,” but the connection feels solid when it's on there. Based on the images and tagtech’s description of a strap that’s “a soft silicone with good flex and doesn’t seem to show... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Fidelity will soon start allowing eligible individuals to save a portion of their 401(k) in Bitcoin, the company announced Tuesday. Employees will only gain access to the option if their employer signs off the option, which Fidelity says will start rolling out in mid-2022.While Fidelity doesn’t specify how much employees can dedicate to cryptocurrency in its release, the Wall Street Journal reports that employees can elect to save up to 20 percent of their retirement fund in Bitcoin. Dave Gray, Fidelity’s head of workplace retirement offerings and platforms, also told the WSJ that Fidelity plans on adding support for other cryptocurrencies at some point in the future.MicroStrategy is the first to announce that it has adopted the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge More than 10 million people have streamed games over Xbox Cloud Gaming, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Tuesday during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. Cloud gaming is a feature that’s only available as part of the $14.99 per month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tier, so the figure shared Tuesday indicates that a lot of people are checking it out. It’s also a concrete stat in a field where there have been few — Google doesn’t break out numbers for Stadia, and any numbers shared by Nvidia for GeForce Now include people who have used a no-strings-attached free trial.Game Pass has proven to be popular, as Microsoft said in January that the service grew to have 25 million subscribers, which was up from 18 million the year before. That... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge After a record-breaking 2021 with annual revenue of $257 billion — the first time it has gone over $200 billion for a year — Google’s parent company reports in a filing (pdf) that it has started off 2022 with Q1 revenue that’s up 23 percent from the same period last year, reaching $68 billion.However, with expenses up compared to 2021, its net profit actually dropped to $16.4 billion compared to last year’s $17.9 billion. Research and development costs for the quarter rose by over $1 billion compared to Q1 2021, going from $7.485 billion to $9.1 billion. As the New York Times notes, last year the company had a $4.8 billion gain in its stock holdings, and in Q1 2022 it recorded a $1.07 billion loss.Google’s search business brought in... Continue reading…

Sonic 3 & Knuckles will be among the games dropped from stores. | Image: Steam Sega is going to “delist the digital versions of” Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD starting on May 20th, according to a press release posted to multiple sites (via The Gamer). The announcement is extremely light on details. (You could read it faster than a speedrunner could do Green Hill Zone 1), but it does mention that the games being pulled will be featured in the upcoming Sonic Origins collection.Currently, this mostly seems like an issue for PC players. The games aren’t available individually on the PlayStation Store, and only 2 and CD are available to purchase separately on the Xbox. All the games, however, are available on Steam. Sega says you’ll be able to buy the Sega Ages versions of Sonic 1 and 2 on... Continue reading…

Update April 27th, 4:18AM ET: SpaceX successfully launched the crew from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 3:52AM ET. The astronauts will now spend roughly 17 hours en route to the ISS, and are due to dock with the space station at around 8:15PM ET, reports Reuters.Original Story: In the early morning hours, SpaceX is set to launch its seventh crewed mission to orbit, this time sending three NASA astronauts and an Italian astronaut to the International Space Station. Their launch will spark the beginning of a six-month stay on board the ISS, part of SpaceX’s commitment to NASA to periodically fly astronauts to and from the orbiting lab.The mission, called Crew-4, is SpaceX’s fourth operational human spaceflight mission to the ISS for... Continue reading…

Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge Here’s the situation: you’re typing a report for work, and you suddenly have to write the phrase “Jones née Berkowitz.” Or you are adding a phrase in Spanish and need to use the word “años.” How do you add the special characters to the letters with your Windows 11 PC?Special characters (also known as diacritical marks) may be more common in certain languages, but there are plenty of circumstances in which English speakers may need to use them. But because they are so rare in English, native English speakers may not have learned how to add those marks to documents, emails, or other writings. It’s not difficult to add them to your Windows document, although it’s not quite as smooth an operation as on a Mac, where all you have to do is... Continue reading…

Microsoft’s third quarter 2022 financial results are here, and the company’s posting double-digit growth yet again: revenue of $49.4 billion and net income of $16.7 billion. Revenue is up 18 percent, and the profit represents an 8 percent jump year over year. Microsoft is crediting a chunk of this quarter’s growth to the cloud, with server and cloud services revenue up 29 percent specifically, and Microsoft Cloud up 32 percent to $23.4 billion.There was plenty of reason to suspect Microsoft would still sport a smile this quarter. While the PC industry has started to decline from its pandemic highs, it was flagging Chromebook sales — not Microsoft Windows machines — that were responsible for the entirety of the recent dip. Meanwhile, the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Most people who use smartwatches and other wearable devices that can track health are white, well-educated, and wealthy. That’s not because other groups aren’t interested in using the devices to keep tabs on their fitness, heart rate, or other metrics, according to a new study. It’s just that the cost of these devices is too high. That leaves lower-income groups and racial minority groups excluded from research studies that use wearable data.The study was conducted by researchers at the All of Us Research Program, an initiative at the National Institutes of Health aiming to build a health database that’s representative of the United States. The team is purposefully seeking to include groups historically underrepresented in medical... Continue reading…

Subaru is sticking to its outdoorsy roots when marketing the Solterra. | Image: Subaru Subaru has announced the pricing of its first all-electric vehicle, the Solterra SUV. The vehicle, which comes standard with all-wheel drive like most Subarus, will start at $44,995, with the “Limited” and “Touring” trims starting at $48,495 and $51,995, respectively. All models will have an extra $1,225 destination and delivery charge, bumping their cost out the door up a bit more.The Solterra will have an “up to a 228-mile” range, according to Subaru, and will be able to charge 80 percent of its battery in under an hour. While the Limited and Touring models add features like roof rails, wireless charging, and a glass roof, there’s currently not an option to add more range to the vehicle — something that many other manufacturers offer.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If combining NFTs with the medical industry doesn’t sound the most logical, this report from BuzzFeed News will likely confirm your skepticism. An NFT project called MetaDocs assigns doctors / influencers, like Dr. Pimple Popper, to (somewhat unsightly) cartoon personifications of themselves, which users can then purchase to gain access to one-on-one conversations, question-and-answer sessions, or DMs.But despite MetaDocs’ goal of cutting the “red tape” that comes with gaining access to doctors, the MetaDocs themselves aren’t legally able to give medical advice to NFT holders. As BuzzFeed points out, MetaDocs doesn’t have a license to practice telemedicine, barring its doctors from giving medical advice, writing prescriptions, or... Continue reading…

HUNGA TONGA-HUNGA HA’APAI, TONGA – DECEMBER 24, 2021: In this image 2. of a series created on January 19, 2022, Maxar overview satellite imagery shows the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano on December 24, 2021, | Photo by Maxar via Getty Images Catastrophe has become more commonplace, according to data from a new United Nations report. Not only that, but humans are largely responsible for the increasing number of disasters, which are only going to become even more frequent, the report warns.Looking back, from 1970 to 2000, the world averaged between 90 and 100 disasters reported per year, according to the report published today by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). That grew tremendously from 2001 to 2020, to between 350 to 500 disasters a year.That includes disasters caused by hazards like earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, extreme weather, crop plagues, epidemics, and more (the UN counted biological, geophysical, and weather... Continue reading…

Blizzard Entertainment Happy Overwatch 2 Beta Day! As many players awake to find the golden beta ticket in their inboxes, there will inevitably be those who are left without one. But take heart, heroes, for Blizzard has designed a way by which you can earn an invite to what is, essentially, Overwatch 2’s soft-launch day.Starting tomorrow and lasting for a few hours, anyone who connects their Battle.net account to their Twitch profile and watches at least four hours of Overwatch 2 from a list of streamers can earn access to the OW2 beta. You can find the list of approved streamers here.In the beta, players will be able to check out the 33rd hero Sojourn, all the new hero updates, the brand-new Push game mode, and the five vs. five rework. Unfortunately, the... Continue reading…

The Studio Display’s camera quality was a mess upon release. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge When we reviewed Apple’s $1,599 Studio Display one thing immediately jumped out: its built-in webcam is bad. At the time, Apple told us that an update to improve the camera would be forthcoming, and now it appears to be here. Apple spokesperson Jennie Orphanopoulos tells The Verge that “an update to the Studio Display firmware is now available with today’s beta release of macOS Monterey 12.4. This beta update has refinements to the Studio Display camera tuning, including improved noise reduction, contrast, and framing.”Developers are able to install the Monterey 12.4 beta now; everyone else will be able to install it from Apple’s public beta program later today.Will the improvements to the camera be enough to make your average Zoom... Continue reading…

Sifu, the tough martial arts game released earlier this year, will be getting difficulty modes on May 3rd as part of a major content update, developer Sloclap announced Tuesday. The game had received some criticism for its challenging difficulty, so, hopefully, the new modes will make the game more approachable.As part of the May 3rd update, the game will get “student,” “disciple,” and “master” difficulties, though it’s unclear exactly how the modes will be tuned in comparison to one another. If I had to guess, though, they translate to “easy,” “medium,” and “hard” modes.I was a big fan of the game’s difficulty at launch. It was hard, but I loved going through the game’s levels multiple times to improve. When I defeated the game’s... Continue reading…

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge The first public beta of Android 13 is now available for anyone with a compatible Pixel device to download and try out, the search giant announced today. Its release comes ahead of Google’s annual developer conference next month when the company is expected to fully detail its plans for the update — due for release later this year.For end users, the most interesting features are those that have already appeared in Android 13’s initial two developer previews. There’s support for Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) Audio, a new photo picker that lets you restrict which of your photos an app is able to access, new app icon theming options, and a new permission that could cut down on notification spam. Image: Google Apps will... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram is testing a feature that would let users pin posts to their profile grid, according to TechCrunch.The feature, which is currently live only for some as part of the test, allows users to highlight specific posts at the top of their profile grid. Similar to pinned tweets on Twitter or pinned videos on TikTok, highlighting individual Instagram posts at the top of a profile would allow creators to draw attention to content without asking followers to scroll down through past posts to look for it.Meta confirmed to TechCrunch that it’s testing a new feature that lets users “feature posts on their profile.” It appears the feature has been in the works for a few months, having been spotted in January by reverse engineer Alessandro... Continue reading…

Every color and configuration of Samsung’s S22 is currently on sale. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge If you’re looking to upgrade your smartphone, you’re in luck. Both Best Buy and Amazon have discounted the entire Samsung Galaxy S22 lineup, with some models getting up to $200 knocked off their original price. This offer applies to all unlocked models of Samsung’s latest smartphone, regardless of the configuration. This either matches or beats the best prices we’ve seen for the S22 line, and we consider this an excellent deal on what we consider the default Android phones to buy. Read our reviews of the S22 and S22 Plus.Kicking things off with the standard model of the S22, the 128GB model is currently available at Amazon and Best Buy for $699.99, as opposed to its usual retail price of $799.99. The base model of this 6.1-inch phone... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Let’s break it down Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge If you’ve managed to get your hands on a Playdate or have one on the way, you’re guaranteed a full “season” of 24 games delivered to your device over the span of 12 weeks. And there are some great ones included — check out my full Playdate review for a round-up of my favorites. But there’s also more to the device than just those games, thanks to sideloading. Playdate maker Panic has made it very easy to get games onto your device. You can check out the process here, but essentially, you just need to download a file — usually from somewhere like Itch.io — and then either load it onto your device via USB or load them wirelessly by adding them to your account on the Playdate website.It’s a pretty painless process, and there are already... Continue reading…

Drop’s new white-on-black DCX keycaps. | Image: Drop There’s a new keycap style in town: DCX Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is expanding its Super Thanks tipping program, giving more creators another way to monetize their presence on the platform.Super Thanks, which allows fans to send creators tips directly on videos, was previously in beta since being announced last year. Tip amounts vary between $2 and $50, and fans can include a custom comment when they send creators money. The program is now open to all eligible YouTube Partner creators in 68 countries, the company announced in a blog post.YouTube has introduced a variety of ways creators can monetize interactions with fans and viewers. In addition to Super Thanks, a feature called Super Chat allows livestream audience members to pay to have their comment pinned in the accompanying chat. With... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Reddit is expanding its Community Funds program, the company announced this week, and it plans to spend $1 million funding various projects across the platform. “We will invite communities to submit ideas for projects, events, contests, giving, almost anything you can think of to bring people together for inspiration and delight,” the company said in its announcement. Projects can ask for between $1,000 and $50,000, and Reddit will start issuing grants in June.In a way, this is Reddit’s version of the creator funds that Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Spotify, and, well, pretty much everybody has been offering to people using their platforms. And, in that sense, Reddit’s commitment here is pretty small: Facebook pledged to spend... Continue reading…