The Verge

Image: Airbnb In 2020, Airbnb introduced a temporary ban on house parties and events to better follow social distancing restrictions with the pandemic. Now, the company says it’s been so pleased by the outcome of the ban that it’s making it permanent and codifying its rules.“Over time, the party ban became much more than a public health measure,” said the company in a blog post. “It developed into a bedrock community policy to support our Hosts and their neighbors.”The ban prohibits “all disruptive parties and events,” with a particular focus on open-invite gatherings (those advertised on social media) and “party house” properties. Disruptive parties and events are essentially defined as those that attract complaints from neighbors. Airbnb says it... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Uber’s plan to electrify its driver fleet by 2030 seems to be off to a good start. The ride-hailing company announced today that over 15,000 Uber drivers have signed on to rent Tesla vehicles through its partnership with car rental company Hertz. Uber claims the deal is its “largest-ever expansion” of EVs on a mobility platform in North America and that there have already been more than 5 million Tesla rides driving over 40 million miles since the program started last year.The popularity and demand for electric vehicles are at an all-time high for consumers, especially with the increased cost of gas. The same is true for Uber drivers, who are responsible for the costs associated with refueling the vehicles no matter what it runs on.... Continue reading…

The HTC Desire 22 Pro. | Image: HTC It hasn’t released a competitive flagship device in years, but HTC’s smartphone division isn’t throwing in the towel just yet. Today it announced the HTC Desire 22 Pro, a follow-up to last year’s HTC Desire 21 Pro, and the company’s big attempt at capitalizing on the so-called metaverse. In the UK, it’s listed at £399 and will ship on August 1st.There are a couple of different aspects to the phone’s metaverse functionality. To start with, it’s designed to be the “perfect companion” to HTC’s recently announced Vive Flow VR headset and used to access Viverse, HTC’s take on the metaverse. The headset is designed to work with any Android phone, though, so it’s not entirely clear what the Desire 22 Pro offers that isn’t available elsewhere.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Cryptocurrency exchange FTX is reportedly considering an acquisition of the trading platform Robinhood, according to a report from Bloomberg. Sources close to the situation told Bloomberg that FTX is still weighing the possibility and hasn’t yet made an offer.When asked about the possible buyout, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried stated that the company currently isn’t in the process of trying to acquire Robinhood. “We are excited about Robinhood’s business prospects and potential ways we could partner with them,” Bankman-Fried said in a statement to Bloomberg. “That being said, there are no active M&A [mergers and acquisitions] conversations with Robinhood.” The Verge reached out to FTX with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear... Continue reading…

Blizzard Entertainment The original Overwatch’s days are numbered. Last week, Blizzard revealed in a Reddit AMA that when Overwatch 2 launches on October 4th, it will overwrite Overwatch prime, effectively ending the six-year-old game.“When OW2 launches on October 4th it will be a replacement for the current live service,” wrote game director Aaron Keller.While the changeover will add a wealth of new content — new heroes, new maps, and more — classic Overwatch will cease to be, ending the 6v6 format and banishing the assault game type to the relative obscurity of the custom game corner. The news came as a bit of a surprise since, originally, Overwatch prime and Overwatch 2 were supposed to coexist. During the Overwatch 2 panel at BlizzCon 2019, Aaron Keller,... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Our best advice for staying safe while you’re seeking abortion care Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon may have just revealed the July dates for its Prime Day shopping bonanza, but the company is already prepping a second shopping event for Amazon Prime subscribers for later this year, Business Insider and CNBC report. Information sent to sellers that has been seen by the publications calls it the “Prime Fall Deal Event,” though exactly when in the fall is unclear — CNBC quotes a notice saying it will happen in Q4, while Business Insider reports that “invited sellers say it appears to be scheduled for October.”Last year, Amazon hosted a beauty products event in October, so another sales moment in that timeframe isn’t completely unprecedented. But this year’s fall event sounds like it could be more akin to a Prime Day 2.0, as both... Continue reading…

Sony has invite-only restocks more frequently but every once in a while has a public queue. It’s that time again for another chance to buy a PlayStation 5 directly from Sony. While the console maker often sends out emails for invite-only restocks, this one’s for everyone, and it’s starting now. If you’re lucky, you’ll get through the queue and have the chance to buy a standard disc-equipped $499 PS5 or a $399 PS5 Digital Edition, and if Sony’s last console selling events are anything to go by, there should be bundles of both with Horizon Forbidden West included for a total savings of $20 off the cost of the game.Remember that when buying a PS5 from Sony, you must log in to your PlayStation Network account, and each account can only buy one console. These queues can last up to an hour or more, and the estimated time remaining... Continue reading…

An excellent budget phone without the hassle of buying from a carrier | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge One of the year’s best budget phones is finally available unlocked in the US. The OnePlus Nord N20 5G launched as a T-Mobile exclusive in April, and that was the only way to get ahold of one — until now. The N20 5G is now up for sale from Amazon, Best Buy, or directly from OnePlus for $299 with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.Take note that the unlocked N20 won’t work on Verizon — not on 5G or 4G. AT&T customers will be able to connect to 4G only, which isn’t too bad of a deal given that the carrier is taking a slower approach to expanding its more meaningful mid-band 5G coverage. T-Mobile subscribers will, of course, get 5G and 4G coverage.This makes the unlocked N20 best suited to AT&T customers who don’t need 5G or someone on a... Continue reading…

The Supreme Court declined Apple’s bid (pdf) for a hearing over two Qualcomm patents (US Patent No. 7,844,037 and US Patent No. 8,683,362) that were part of lawsuits filed in 2017, claiming infringement by Apple’s iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches.Reuters points out that Apple and Qualcomm’s 2019 settlement of a worldwide legal battle over patents largely ended the squabbling in favor of a six-year licensing agreement but allowed a case in front of the Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board to continue. There, Apple argued the two patents should be invalid, but the board ruled in Qualcomm’s favor.Last April, the Federal Circuit court rejected Apple’s request for an appeal based on the 2019 settlement covering... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Valve is doubling the number of Steam Decks it ships to customers, the company announced Monday. “Production has picked up, and after today we’ll be shipping more than double the number of Steam Decks every week!” Valve said in a tweet from the official Steam Deck account. And in response to a question from my colleague Sean Hollister, Valve designer Lawrence Yang spelled out the change more clearly: “in previous weeks we were shipping x units / week to customers, starting this week we’ll be shipping 2x units / week.”If you’ve been eagerly refreshing your inbox every Monday and Thursday for the chance to order your Steam Deck reservation, the increased production could be a sign that you might be able to buy your device sooner than you... Continue reading…

The larger Pixel 6 Pro has a 6.7-inch screen and additional rear telephoto camera. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales Google’s top-tier flagship phone, the Pixel 6 Pro, is on sale for its lowest price yet. Woot is selling new unlocked Pixel 6 Pro phones for $779.99 for today only. You can choose from all three colors (including Sorta Sunny, the best one) until the end of the day or while supplies last. The only storage capacity on offer is the base 128GB amount, which is a fair amount, especially when you consider that total savings of $120 off the regular $899 asking price from Google and other retailers. We saw the Pixel 6 Pro previously drop by $100 for Father’s Day, but as the saying goes, the late dad gets the deal worm and saves... or something about bad jokes. Whatever, dad, it’s a good deal!If you’ve been waiting on the Pixel 6 Pro, you’re in... Continue reading…

Image: Google After sunsetting Google Hangouts for Workspace users in February, Google’s now beginning the process of migrating free, personal Hangouts users to Chat. In an announcement posted to its blog, Google says people who still use the Hangouts mobile app will see a prompt to move to Chat.As for users who use Hangouts in Gmail on the web, Google says it won’t start prompting users to make the switch to Chat until July. Hangouts will remain usable on its desktop site until November, and Google says it will warn users “at least one month” in advance before it starts pointing the Hangouts site to Chat. Image: Google Confusingly, Google Chat isn’t the same thing as GChat (or Google Talk), which Google discontinued for good... Continue reading…

The Supreme Court has turned down a request to revisit a decades-old libel ruling, despite a dissent from Justice Clarence Thomas. This morning, the court denied a petition to hear Coral Ridge Ministries Media v. Southern Poverty Law Center, in which an evangelical Christian ministry accused the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) of falsely designating it as an anti-LGBTQ hate group.If it had overturned the ruling, the Supreme Court would have greatly increased the odds of public figures winning libel cases in the future. Instead, the decision delays (but likely won’t end) a long-running push to expand the scope of defamation law.Coral Ridge Ministries Media v. SPLC hinges on the “actual malice” standard — a protection that means... Continue reading…

The Roku Streambar is a competent audio platform with built-in streaming services. | Image: Roku Both the Roku Streambar and Streambar Pro soundbars are matching their lowest prices ever. The 14-inch Roku Streambar (perfect for smaller entertainment setups) usually sells for $129.99 but is on sale right now at Amazon and Best Buy for $99.99. The larger 32-inch Streambar Pro with more powerful sound is down to $149.99 from its usual $179.99 at both Amazon and Best Buy.While these soundbars have some differences, each comes with the Roku OS baked in and 4K HDR playback, meaning they function as competent streaming devices, not just soundbars, and are an excellent way to consolidate devices in your living room. They certainly aren’t the largest or most powerful soundbars on the market, but considering that a Roku Streaming Stick... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitch’s concurrent viewership record has been broken again. Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos Garatea (who goes by “Ibai” on the platform) hit a peak of more than 3.3 million concurrent viewers during a boxing event he hosted over the weekend, according to Twitch (via Eurogamer), crushing the previous record of nearly 2.5 million held by Spanish streamer TheGrefg.

Say this for Starbucks: its coffee may mostly just taste like burning, but its merch tends to be on point. The latest example, as spotted by 9to5Google, is a collaboration with Samsung (in South Korea only, unfortunately) that created branded cases for the Galaxy S22 lineup and the Galaxy Buds 2.One of the Buds 2 case options is a dark green case with a Starbucks logo. (Boring.) The other is a small white mug with a handle and fake latte art whose top swivels away to reveal your earbuds. (Less boring!) Thanks to the giant mermaid logo on the side, it won’t appeal to anyone other than the most diehard of Starbucks javaheads, and I suppose I should point out that I’ve never had a Starbucks barista draw a perfect foam leaf on top of my... Continue reading…

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images After Tesla CEO Elon Musk commanded remote employees to return to work or else lose their jobs, the company was reportedly ill-prepared to welcome back its workers. According to a report from The Information, employees arrived at Tesla’s Fremont, California facility only to find a lack of parking spots, no desk to sit at, and crappy Wi-Fi (where’s Starlink when you need it?).Musk clearly didn’t think this one through.Tesla’s headcount has doubled since 2019, The Information notes, now sitting at 99,210 people. Earlier this month, Musk cited excess hiring and a “super bad feeling” about the economy as reasons for a hiring freeze and company-wide layoffs that reportedly includes both salaried and hourly workers.Salaried workers make up... Continue reading…

Fall Guys has had some technical hurdles to overcome in its free-to-play debut. | Image: Mediatonic After going free-to-play less than a week ago, Fall Guys is getting its first major update to fix several technical and visual issues across all platforms. Developer Mediatonic issued the update early this morning, which corrects some glaring issues — including that players using the PlayStation 5 version were not able to send or receive party invites from friends on other platforms like Xbox, PC, or Nintendo Switch. (Previously, they were told to mitigate the issue by redownloading the PS4 version of Fall Guys.)In addition to overcoming that hurdle — a significant one for a game that’s best played with some bean buddies — the Nintendo Switch version’s update fixes buggy character animations. Now, other characters no longer look like... Continue reading…

EcoFlow makes it easy — but not cheap — to get away from it all. | Photo: EcoFlow The ability to move off-grid just got a little bit easier with these new modular and expandable Power Kits from EcoFlow. These all-in-one Power Kits are turnkey solutions that take the guesswork and complexity out of implementing a battery-based power system inside an adventure van or cabin in the woods. As such, it should take up less room and require less wiring to free up much-needed space for things like food, water, and mountain bikes.Imagine it: take a plug-and-play power system like this and combine it with Starlink RV space internet and your company’s new flexible office policy to live and work from just about anywhere.“The EcoFlow Power Kits are designed to make creating custom power solutions easier than ever,” said EcoFlow... Continue reading…

Volkswagen announced a stylish new electric sedan concept, the ID Aero, which it plans on putting into production in China in 2023. The EV’s aerodynamic shape and 16-foot length will help enable up to 385 miles of range based on Europe’s WLTP.The ID Aero will be built on VW’s flexible MEB platform, which is also being used to power the automaker’s other electric models. The automaker also claims an ultra-low drag coefficient of 0.23, which puts it on par with other luxury electric German autos in its class, like the BMW i4 and Mercedes-Benz EQS.Otherwise, there’s not much to distinguish the ID Aero from its competitors. There are full-width LED lightbars in the front and rear of the vehicle, which is a common feature among EVs... Continue reading…

Rug collector, dealer, and owner of WarRug.com, Kevin Sudeith in his New York City home. War rugs are a traditional Afghan art — how’d a guy in Brooklyn end up with their copyright? Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge The Nexus Q had a standout design, but everything else about it was a miss Continue reading…

Apple has put a 2022 CPU in a 2016 computer Continue reading…

It’s not one of the prettier benchmarks to be sure. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been showing you how you can run some of the benchmarks that we run in our laptop reviews to see how well your PC stacks up to others on the market. Today, we’re looking at PugetBench for After Effects, created by the PC manufacturer Puget Systems, which will measure how well your computer can handle VFX and graphics work.It’s important to note that this benchmark is still in beta. It is a bit more glitchy than some of the other Puget benchmarks (including the one for Photoshop, which we talked about earlier). If you’re running into problems, Puget Systems has a long list of troubleshooting steps to try. It’s doubly important that you don’t use the system (even bump the mouse) while PugetBench for After... Continue reading…

Illustration by Jarett Sitter / The Verge Last year, Fortnite developer Epic Games launched a big partnership with high fashion house Balenciaga. In addition to a collection of skins decked out in Balenciaga gear available to purchase, Epic also promoted a Balenciaga-themed zone players could visit. It looked like a virtual city square dropped into Fortnite, but at the heart was a recreation of a Balenciaga retail store.It’s an impressive world, and feels almost like something plucked from the Fortnite battle royale island. But it was actually made by just three creators who are full-time Fortnite Creative experts that have formed their own company to build in-game worlds for brands.“I don’t think my parents would ever think that would be a thing.”“The fact that I can build... Continue reading…

Illustration by Jarett Sitter / The Verge Traditional techniques meet the modern web Continue reading…

Image: Google Despite being a more affordable counterpart to last year’s flagship, it’s starting to look like the upcoming Pixel 6A might offer a key improvement over the Pixel 6 series: a faster fingerprint sensor. That’s according to Fazli Halim, a Malaysian YouTuber who appears to have gotten his hands on Google’s upcoming device a month ahead of its official launch on July 28th. We spotted the video via 9to5Google.It’s potentially good news after the Pixel 6 series’ fingerprint sensors ended up being a surprising weak point for the devices, and were noticeably slower to authenticate than other phones. “The fingerprint scanner is the only biometric authentication available, and it’s just not very good,” Dan Seifert wrote in our review. A Google... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple’s new 13-inch MacBook Pro M2 base model appears to have slower SSD speeds than its M1 predecessor. MacRumors reports that YouTubers Max Tech and Created Tech have both tested the 256GB base M2 model and discovered the SSD’s read speeds are around 50 precent slower than the M1 MacBook Pro with 256GB of storage. Write speeds are reportedly around 30 percent slower.Testing was completed using Blackmagic’s Disk Speed Test app, and Max Tech even disassembled the 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro and found that Apple is only using a single NAND flash storage chip. The M1 MacBook Pro uses two 128GB NAND chips, and multiple chips can enable faster SSD speeds in parallel.Other 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro models with larger SSD storage don’t appear to... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Facebook’s app for smart TVs, which lets users tune into various videos, shows, and livestreams on the platform, may no longer be available on Apple TV, as first reported by 9to5Mac. Some users say they’re no longer able to access the app after its most recent update.In a thread on MacRumors, one user shares an image of the notice they received after attempting to open Facebook Watch on their Apple TV 4K: “The Facebook Watch TV app is no longer available, but you can still find lots of videos on Facebook at www.facebook.com/watch.” Several other users report having the same experience.Facebook rolled out its Watch app on Apple TV in 2017 after first launching it on Samsung smart TVs. The app is also available on various other smart TVs... Continue reading…

Image: Riot Games Riot Games, the developer behind the free first-person shooter (FPS) Valorant, will start monitoring players’ voice communications on July 13th (via PCGamer). The game company says it’s to help train the language models that it will eventually use when evaluating player reports across all its games.Riot initially announced this change in April 2021 after making an update to its privacy policy. The new terms give Riot permission to “record and potentially evaluate voice data when using Riot-owned voice comms channels” with the purpose of combatting hate speech and harassment over voice chat. Riot says it will analyze recordings when a player reports someone for abusive or offensive comments. In turn, this should help the company... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple’s poised to release a slew of new devices between this fall and the beginning of 2023, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. What Gurman describes as a “deluge” of products will reportedly include four iPhone 14 devices, a set of new iPads, three Apple Watches, several M2 / M3-upgraded Macs, a pair of refreshed AirPods Pro buds, a new HomePod, and a spec-boosted Apple TV model.Let’s break down these predictions.Although Apple announced two new Macs with its flagship M2 processor at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) earlier this month, Gurman expects to find the chip — and its variations — in several other devices. This includes an M2 Mac mini, M2 Pro Mac mini, M2 Pro / M2 Max 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple’s mixed reality headset has been shrouded in rumors for months now, and a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman indicates that it could come with Apple’s flagship M2 processor. According to Gurman, Apple’s most recent version of the device, which is reportedly capable of delivering augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences, includes a base M2 chip and 16GB of RAM.This deviates from supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s previous prediction that Apple’s headset will have one processor with the capabilities of an M1 chip and an additional lower-end processor dedicated to handling data from the device’s sensors. While Gurman doesn’t mention the purported secondary chip in this report, a multiple chip setup has also... Continue reading…

Check out that wear and tear. | Image: Andrew Webster Back in November 2009, I was getting ready to attend the Montreal International Games Summit, and I panicked — it was my first major event as a member of the press, and I had no way to record an interview. This was a problem because I was scheduled to talk with Yoichi Wada, then president of Square Enix, along with several other notable industry people. So I rushed to Radio Shack and picked the cheapest voice recorder I could find, a little grey rectangle made by RCA that was locked up in a glass display case. I have no idea what model it is, but it went on to follow me through my entire professional career to date — now, nearly 13 years later, it’s finally being retired.I hung on to that gadget for one main reason: I trusted it. The... Continue reading…

Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Spritz Society Spotify has a brand new original topping its podcast chart, but it would probably prefer if you didn’t know about it.Last week, Spotify launched a new pop culture show, Breaking Bread, on Spotify Live. Breaking Bread’s recordings now rank at number 11 on Spotify’s top podcast chart after holding the number two spot for most of the week, putting it just behind Joe Rogan. The show’s popularity — and the reason the company might be staying quiet about its new hit — is due to its two hosts: Jackie Oshry Weinreb and Claudia Oshry (aka Instagram’s girlwithnojob), who come with a huge built-in audience. While the sisters have delivered their massive fanbase to the app, they have a controversial history that could be problematic for Spotify at... Continue reading…

It isn’t a fantastic TV or monitor, but it’s a good compromise for people who want both in the same package Continue reading…

It took a while. My review of the M2 MacBook Pro went up last Wednesday. But as soon as I got my hands on the device on the prior Thursday, it was clear that running down the battery — one of the most important things a laptop reviewer needs to do — was going to be a Whole Thing.Reader, I tried. I would use the device all evening and leave it running all night, but it would still have plenty of charge left in the morning, and I’d have to plug it in for testing, abandon it to film, or give it to our video and photo teams for shooting before I could fully drain it down. I did not have a long enough interrupted span of time to continuously use the device. That’s how absurdly long this laptop lasts.But, with the written review and the video review both... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A sophisticated spyware campaign is getting the help of internet service providers (ISPs) to trick users into downloading malicious apps, according to research published by Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) (via TechCrunch). This corroborates earlier findings from security research group Lookout, which has linked the spyware, dubbed Hermit, to Italian spyware vendor RCS Labs.Lookout says RCS Labs is in the same line of work as NSO Group — the infamous surveillance-for-hire company behind the Pegasus spyware — and peddles commercial spyware to various government agencies. Researchers at Lookout believe Hermit has already been deployed by the government of Kazakhstan and Italian authorities. In line with these findings, Google has... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, Google’s chief people officer Fiona Cicconi sent a staff-wide email to employees informing them of Google’s response to the ruling. Among other things, the email highlights that Googlers can “apply for relocation without justification” and that people in charge of the relocation process “will be aware of the situation” in assessing their requests. In an email last August reported by Bloomberg, Google told employees that of 10,000 requests over the prior few months to work remotely or relocate, 85 percent were approved.The Supreme Court’s ruling does not make abortion illegal throughout the US — instead, it leaves the decision to individual state governments.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple Music has raised the subscription price of its student plan in the US, UK, and Canada, as first reported by 9to5Mac (via TechCrunch). While it’s increasing the price from $4.99 to $5.99 / month in the US and Canada, student users in the UK can expect a similar jump from £4.99 to £5.99 / month.Apple hasn’t acknowledged the changes yet, but the new pricing information is currently available on Apple Music’s webpage. Students subscribed to Apple Music have also started seeing the price increase on their iPhones and iPads’ subscription pages. It’s unclear when exactly Apple implemented these changes, but, as 9to5Mac points out, it was likely rolled out sometime between June 21st and the 23rd — an archived Apple Music webpage shows the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Intel is postponing the groundbreaking ceremony for its planned chip-making facilities in Ohio because the US government hasn’t yet provided it with funding, the company confirmed to The Verge (via The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal). The ceremony, which was originally set to take place on July 22nd, has been delayed indefinitely in a likely bid to push the US government towards passing the CHIPS Act.Intel announced its $20 billion plan to build two semiconductor plants in New Albany, Ohio earlier this year, noting that its expansion to potentially include up to eight plants will “depend heavily on funding from the CHIPS Act.” The CHIPS Act reserves $52 billion in funding for semiconductor companies, including Intel, to... Continue reading…

Illustration by William Joel Yesterday, the Supreme Court voted to uphold a Mississippi abortion ban and overturn Roe v. Wade, ending abortion access in some states and triggering impending bans in others. The decision won’t end abortion in America, but in many places it will move the procedure underground and, based on recent history, online.Understandably, abortion advocates have focused on surveillance issues in the immediate aftermath of the ruling, concerned about states using online records for criminal prosecutions. But there’s also a fight brewing over how and where advocates will be able to share abortion information online. If a procedure is illegal, then states could claim content enabling that procedure is illegal too — raising thorny questions for... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge From time to time, I’ll grab a random device out of the Verge reviews closet and spend a week or two with it. It’s mostly out of random curiosity and for the sake of comparing “old” products against the latest and greatest. Most recently, I was drawn to Google’s Pixel 5. So I gave it a factory reset, updated the phone to Android 12, and have been using it as my daily driver for the past several days.The experience has been fantastic. I’ve got very large hands — an iPhone 13 Pro Max doesn’t look out of place in them — and I prefer large screens, so I don’t think I could fully switch over to the Pixel 5. But it’s such a good “small” phone (by 2022 standards) that I’ve certainly been tempted. The Pixel 5 makes it easy to do anything I... Continue reading…

Stay connected while disconnecting Continue reading…

The company says it could suffer “irreparable harm” if it can’t sell its products while the court considers its case. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Juul can continue selling its e-cigarettes despite the Food and Drug Administration ordering a ban Thursday, according to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (via TechCrunch). In its order, the court says it’s issuing the temporary stay to give Juul time to file an emergency motion, which it can then consider along with a response from the FDA.The FDA says the reason for the ban is that there’s “insufficient evidence to assess the potential toxicological risks of using the Juul products.” Juul had petitioned for clearance to sell its tobacco and menthol-flavored vape products, but the FDA turned down the application. The regulator notes that it’s only illegal to sell the Juul device and Juul pods, not to own or use... Continue reading…

Image: Marshall B. Mathers III The last couple of weeks have had a lot of bad news for some in the “web3” space, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at announcements in and around the recently-ended NFT.NYC and ApeFest 2022 events. The Bored Ape Yacht Club’s (BAYC) annual event in particular brought in musicians like The Roots, LCD Soundsystem, Haim, Lil Baby, Lil Wayne, and others to perform for its members. On the final day of the event, guests saw the premiere of this video from two of the celebrities who’ve purchased tokens, Eminem and Snoop Dogg.The video is for a new song, From The D 2 The LBC, that isn’t the most memorable of collaborations and is mostly about smoking weed, but it constantly splices in images of the cartoon apes. Many BAYC members were... Continue reading…

T-Mobile knows what apps you’re using. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge T-Mobile’s advertising business is offering a new way for marketers to pry into your app-using habits. Ad Exchanger reports that the un-carrier’s new program is called App Insights, and it’s now fully operational after spending a year in beta. The program allows third-party marketers to buy T-Mobile customer data and centers around a key piece of information that it has unique access to: what apps you use.Customer data is anonymized, and it’s pooled together with others of similar interests and behaviors, so companies can’t buy a specific user’s app history. Still, it’s creepy. The company’s advertising segment touts this offering loud and clear on its website, with the phrase “Apps speak louder than words” splashed across the top of... Continue reading…

We’re gonna need a bigger desk. | Image: Samsung Samsung is getting ready to release its massive 55-inch curved Odyssey Ark monitor in August, according to a report from Korean outlet ETNews (via SamMobile). The monitor, which was announced in January at CES, has reportedly gone through a few certification programs that have to be done before it can go on sale.Details about this monitor are still scant. The company has said that it’ll have a 16:9 4K panel and that the stand will support pivot, tilt, and rotation. It also announced that it would come out in the second half of 2022 (which the reported August window falls squarely in). But let’s be honest, when you show up with a monitor that promises to physically tower over you while you’re using it, people will pay attention even if... Continue reading…

Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City is a competitive game for up to four players Cyberpunk 2077 is getting a board game courtesy of a Kickstarter campaign. Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City is a strange twist on the high-tech, low-life underbelly of the world brought to life by CD Projekt Red and Mike Pondsmith. The game is being published by CMON Games, which have put together board game adaptations of God of War and Bloodborne in addition to other existing IPs.If the slang-ridden synopsis of the game provided on its Kickstarter page is any indicator, it’s clear that its creators have some serious reverence for the source material: “Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City is a competitive game in which 1 to 4 players take on the role of ruthless gangs vying for control of the underground in the glittering hellhole... Continue reading…

Earth.fm homepage For people who love discovering new sounds, there’s an intriguing new site that collects soundscapes from around the world.The site, Earth.fm, bills itself as “Like Spotify, but for natural soundscapes.” You can listen to bird species in Malaysia or India or forest sounds in Ghana. The sounds are gathered from numerous contributors who have experience recording the natural world in places including Brazil, Spain, Norway, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The website features sounds from locations like national parks and the everglades.Users can create their own specialized playlists of sounds available on Earth.fm, zipping from Brazil to Egypt in a matter of minutes. You can compile a list of different... Continue reading…