The Verge

It looks like another week of jaw-dropping runs. | Image: Games Done Quick Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ), the annual weeklong summer speedrunning marathon for charity, kicks off on Sunday, and the schedule is chock full of potentially jaw-dropping runs.The very first event? A Shadow of the Colossus randomized boss rush that will somehow be completed in 47 minutes. On Monday, there’s a The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Switch version) race that’s estimated to take just under two hours. If you’ve been meaning to check out the indie hit Tunic, one runner plans to blast through the game in 40 minutes. The final day of the marathon, July 2nd, is packed with hit after hit, with an Elden Ring run set to conclude the show.You can peruse the full SGDQ 2022 schedule right here. The first run starts on Sunday,... Continue reading…

Image: SpaceX It’s always fun to check in with SpaceX, Elon Musk’s least dysfunctional company — oh wait, what’s this? The workers at SpaceX are upset?Last week, as first reported by The Verge, a group of SpaceX workers wrote a letter to Musk about his tweets. “Elon’s behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks,” the letter states. “As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX — every Tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company. It is critical to make clear to our teams and to our potential talent pool that his messaging does not reflect our work, our mission, or our values.”The plan was to hand-deliver signatures of... Continue reading…

The Liv system from Thermacell is like a force field for mosquitoes. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge The mercury is rising, which means most of us are spending more time outside. So, our deals post today is all about tech that lets you bring the luxury of your living room to the great outdoors — or just to the backyard. For instance, if you’re sick of mosquitoes ruining your otherwise leisurely time in your backyard, Thermacell is currently discounting its Liv Smart Mosquito Repellent System by 25 percent; just use the code FREEDOM25 at checkout.The base model of the Liv system comes with three repeller stations priced at $699.00 (around $525 with the coupon) and can accommodate up to 945 square feet. The innocuous repeller stations can be controlled with Alexa or Google Assistant and can also be programmed using your phone to operate... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where 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.On today’s episode, Nilay and Alex chat with Verge senior reviewer Monica Chin about her review of Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Pro with the M2 chip. Though the chassis is still the same as the previous model, the changes that come with the new M2 processor are significant. Apple has yet to release their redesigned M2 MacBook Air, so should you wait before buying the Pro? Monica shares her thoughts.For the rest of the show, we change up the crew. Alex and David lead the... Continue reading…

Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images Today, the Supreme Court effectively overturned the right to a legal abortion established by Roe v. Wade in 1973. In a 6-3 ruling, the court voted to reverse a lower court’s decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, upholding a Mississippi law that banned abortion procedures after 15 weeks of gestation. More significantly, the ruling removed any constitutional restriction on laws banning abortion procedures.Authored by Justice Alito, the majority decision is direct about the implications of the ruling. “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion,” it reads. “Roe and Casey are overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.”“The... Continue reading…

We haven’t seen the 2024 Cadillac Celestiq yet, but a report from The Wall Street Journal says that while the flagship Ultium-powered electric sedan will be more than just a show car, it will have about equal amounts of vapor and vehicle. Based on people familiar with the matter, the paper reports fewer than 500 built each year and a price starting at around $300,000.Production is apparently on track to begin in late 2023, featuring a massive pillar-to-pillar touchscreen that will outdo the 33-inch one seen in Cadillac’s Lyriq based on both its size and pixel density. Otherwise, we know the Celestiq is bringing all-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, and a full-glass roof that allows each passenger to set their own level of... Continue reading…

Pretty soon, you’ll be able to own digital collectibles of your favorite hockey moments. | Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images Hockey-loving HODLers, rejoice: the NHL is launching an NFT program. The league is partnering with Sweet to build a marketplace of digital collectibles including everything from iconic moments in hockey history to “3D interactive trophy rooms where users can display their collections.” The league made the announcement during NFT.NYC (and also during the Stanley Cup Finals) but plans to launch the marketplace before next season.Sweet is a much smaller platform than OpenSea or SuperRare, but it’s among the more user-friendly of NFT marketplaces, allowing users to buy stuff with crypto or just with a credit card. It already has a lot of sports content, too, including collectibles from a number of Formula 1 and NBA teams.The only... Continue reading…

A launcher and search bar for power users. | Image: Raycast Most Mac users find Spotlight, Apple’s built-in tool for searching through apps and files, to suit their needs just fine. But power users who want to have near total control over their computer (as well as access to shortcuts and tools) have often looked for other alternatives. Lately, an app called Raycast has been gaining attention as one of those options, competing with one of the community’s long-standing favorites, Alfred.After trying out Raycast for a few weeks, I’ve found it to be extremely useful. Here are some tips if you want to try it out for yourself.Getting startedWhen you first open Raycast after downloading it from the company’s website, it’ll walk you through a brief overview, which prompts you to assign it a keyboard... Continue reading…

Yoo Ji-tae in Money Heist: Korea. | Image: Jung Jaegu / Netflix Part 1 offers more questions than answers Continue reading…

Polestar is the latest electric vehicle company to go public, listing its stock on the Nasdaq exchange Friday after successfully merging with a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The company plans on using the $850 million in fresh capital to fund its three-year plan to make several new electric models and become profitable.The Swedish company, which is a joint venture between Volvo and its parent company Geely, is going public amid broader uncertainty around EV stocks. Several EV startups have gone the SPAC route to becoming publicly traded only to see their stock price tank after early stumbles.Polestar is slightly different, having been selling and delivering its Polestar 2 electric fastback sedan to customers in the... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge; Photos by DankPods DankPods has turned finding old MP3 players into a hit YouTube show Continue reading…

The bZ4X’s gobbledygook name is the least of its problems. Toyota’s first all-electric crossover could have been so much more Continue reading…

Photo by Mitchell Clark / The Verge Hey — remember last year when we published a bunch of essays and called it Next Gen? Well, we’re doing it again.In early August, The Verge will be running another special issue focused on young people and technology — and if you’re a young or unpublished writer, then we want you to be a part of it.In particular, we want to hear about the piece of tech that’s meant the most to you: it could be an online community, a little-known tool, or a particular piece of media that’s been a positive presence in your life. To be clear, we’re looking for stuff you like, but the tech itself is just a starting point. We want to hear what it means to you and why. Be creative; surprise us!To give you an idea of what we’re looking for, here are the four... Continue reading…

There’s a lot going on in Air Twister. The arcade-style shooter from legendary designer Yu Suzuki is out today on Apple Arcade, and it pushes players through a strange fantasy world full of armored birds, flying squids, skeletal dragons, floating cities, and evil clocks. For Suzuki, who is best known for his work at Sega on games like Space Harrier, Shenmue, and Virtua Fighter, it was a chance to build a fantasy universe full of things he loved. “It’s an amalgamation of all of the different things that I would like to see in a fantasy world,” he tells The Verge.Air Twister is a classic rail shooter — think Space Harrier or Panzer Dragoon — where players take on the role of a sci-fi princess fighting to save her home world. It has 12... Continue reading…

Sarandos onstage at the Cannes Lions advertising festival. | Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images for Cannes Lions Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos has confirmed that the company plans to introduce an ad-supported tier to its streaming service in an interview at the Cannes Lions advertising festival, reports The Hollywood Reporter. The New York Times reported last month that the company is aiming to roll out the new tier by the end of 2022.“We’ve left a big customer segment off the table, which is people who say: ‘Hey, Netflix is too expensive for me and I don’t mind advertising,’” Sarandos said. “We [are] adding an ad tier; we’re not adding ads to Netflix as you know it today. We’re adding an ad tier for folks who say, ‘Hey, I want a lower price and I’ll watch ads.’”The streaming service has been widely expected to launch an ad-supported subscription... Continue reading…

Photo by Paul Faith/PA Images via Getty Images Microsoft is preparing to send reminders to Windows 8.1 users that support will end on January 10th 2023. The software giant will start sending notifications to existing Windows 8.1 devices next month, as a first reminder leading up to the January 2023 support cutoff.The notifications will be similar to ones Microsoft has used in the past to remind Windows 7 users about end of support dates. Microsoft originally sunset Windows 8 support in 2016, but the Windows 8.1 update will cease support fully in January 2023. Microsoft will not be offering an Extended Security Update (ESU) program for Windows 8.1, so businesses won’t be able to pay for additional security patches and will have to upgrade or accept the risk of running software... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple’s long-rumored mixed reality headset, which will reportedly offer a combination of augmented and virtual reality experiences, will “likely release” in January 2023, according to respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In a new analyst note seen by 9to5Mac, Kuo notes that the headset is “the most complicated product Apple has ever designed” but that its release could help fuel “rapid growth” in the market for head-mounted displays.This is far from the first time Kuo has predicted when Apple’s headset could release, but previous predictions have had far wider release windows. Last year he said we might see the headset released at some point in 2022 (which now seems unlikely), and just this month he predicted that a release could come... Continue reading…

Decide whether you want to see captions or not. Twitter has announced that a button to toggle captions for its video player is now available for everyone on iOS and Android. The button, which shows up in the top-right corner of the video if it has captions available, lets you choose whether you want to see written descriptions. Twitter started testing this feature in April, but it was only available to a limited number of iPhone users.For years, whether subtitles show up or not on your mobile device has been determined by a variety of factors, like if you’ve turned closed captions on in your phone’s accessibility settings, or if you’re watching the video with your sound off. While those are still taken into account, now you can easily turn them on or off whenever you want, just like... Continue reading…

Chris Pratt, the voice of Mario. And Garfield. | Image: Nintendo I know it’s been nine months, but I’m honestly still reeling from the announcement that Chris Pratt will be voicing Mario in the upcoming Mario movie. What on earth is that going to sound like???Pratt, at least, seems to think it’s going to be something special. “I worked really closely with the directors and trying out a few things and landed on something that I’m really proud of and can’t wait for people to see and hear,” Pratt said in an interview with Variety. “It’s an animated voiceover narrative. It’s not a live-action movie. I’m not gonna be wearing a plumber suit running all over. I’m providing a voice for an animated character, and it is updated and unlike anything you’ve heard in the Mario world before.”Nintendo, please,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge One thing researchers have used to track the spread of viral stories on Facebook — including ones that spread misinformation — is a tool that Meta owns called CrowdTangle. Based on anonymous sources, Bloomberg reports what many have suspected — that Facebook has largely removed development support from CrowdTangle and is making plans to shut the tool down.Removing CrowdTangle would pull access that people like Kevin Roose have used to surface data showing high engagement with right-wing news sources on Facebook, listing results that sometimes appear to be at odds with Facebook’s curated official reports. In an article last July for The New York Times, Roose described internal “data wars” about how much information the company should... Continue reading…

On Wednesday, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) found a surprising way to develop her upcoming cryptocurrency regulation bill: she put it on GitHub.“As promised, you can now contribute comments on my bill establishing a framework for digital assets with [Sen. Gillibrand],” Lummis wrote in a tweet sharing the news. “Civil comments and criticisms welcome. Please share widely. We want to get this right. Help us iterate publicly on policy.”Best known as a repository for open-source code, GitHub includes a number of tools for that could be useful in developing public proposals — particularly the ability to publicly comment on, revise, and fork the text into different versions.As of press time, Github users have commented on 24 issues in the bill... Continue reading…

Image: Square Enix Ifrit, Shiva, and Pheonix, oh my! Continue reading…

The beloved indie game is headed to Netflix. | Image: Subset Games Into the Breach, the sci-fi turn-based strategy game from the makers of FTL: Faster Than Light, will be available on iOS and Android as part of a Netflix subscription beginning July 19th, developer Subset Games announced Thursday.Since late last year, Netflix has offered a selection of mobile games that subscribers can play for free. The company has been steadily adding titles in the months since launch, and although much of what’s available is generic-looking casual fare, Netflix seems committed to adding more notable games like Into the Breach. Earlier this month at its Geeked Week event, for example, Netflix revealed that a bunch of indie titles, including Spiritfarer and a new entry in the Reigns series, would be added to its... Continue reading…

A contractor installs hardware for a Tesla Powerwall battery unit at a home in San Jose, California. | Photo by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Tesla and California utility PG&E launched a new program that will pay eligible Powerwall owners to send extra electricity to the grid when it’s vulnerable to blackouts. Working together, the Powerwalls create a “virtual power plant” that can help keep the lights on during emergencies or energy shortages.By signing up, Powerwall owners will receive $2 for every additional kilowatt-hour they feed to the grid during designated “events” when the grid is under a lot of stress. That includes any time the California grid operator, CAISO, issues an energy alert, warning or emergency.Tesla started a similar beta program with PG&E and a couple of other utilities last July, but that was a voluntary program with no payouts. Now, with a monetary... Continue reading…

He’s not laughing at them anymore. | Image: Fluf It seems like Keanu Reeves may have had a change of heart around NFTs. In December, the actor was sent into peels of laughter after my colleague Alex Heath asked him about the idea of digital scarcity and digital collectibles. Reeves commented that digital items are easily reproduced.Now, though, he’s joined a project from Non-Fungible Labs, acting as an advisor for a program called the Futureverse Foundation, which aims to improve “the digital and physical worlds through the support of diverse artists and creative communities.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, that involves introducing traditional artists to NFTs and funding their efforts. Reeves, reacting to a question about NFTs. The art connection here... Continue reading…

Solana CEO Anatoly Yakovenko with the Saga smartphone | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge The phone previously known as the Osom OV1, built by a team consisting of former engineers and designers from Essential, is being renamed and repurposed today, and it’s all in the name of crypto. This afternoon in New York City, blockchain company Solana announced its own mobile phone, called the Saga, made in collaboration with Osom. It’s priced at $1,000, and preorders open today. A $100 deposit is required, and Solana says the Saga will ship in the first quarter of 2023.The phone will have a 6.67-inch 120Hz OLED display, 512GB of storage, and 12GB of RAM. It’ll be powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chip and is outfitted with a 50-megapixel primary camera, plus a 12-megapixel ultra-wide shooter. But more than the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix is cutting around 300 jobs today as part of a second round of layoffs. The company previously laid off around 150 employees and dozens of contractors in May.The layoffs impact “many different teams” and mostly workers in the US, though international roles are being cut as well, Netflix spokesperson Bao Nguyen said in a statement to The Verge. Variety first reported on the job cuts.“Today we sadly let go of around 300 employees,” Nguyen said. “While we continue to invest significantly in the business, we made these adjustments so that our costs are growing in line with our slower revenue growth.”It’s the latest round of job cuts after Netflix’s rough Q1 earnings report, where it announced that revenue growth was slowing and... Continue reading…

Two consoles, both out to ruin your wallet | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge It seems that both Nintendo and Valve are determined to keep me indoors all summer, and that’s fine by me. Both the Nintendo eShop and Steam have kicked off their seasonal sales, discounting a number of excellent titles. While these sales tend to roll around several times a year, this is an ideal time to round out your library with some titles you may have overlooked. The Steam summer sale starts today and runs until July 7th, while the Nintendo eShop Big Ol’ Super Sale lasts until July 6th.To help you find the best deals for both of these platforms, The Verge Deals team has selected some highlights for the Nintendo Switch and PC that you might consider adding to your collection at a discounted price. Continue reading…

Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge Omicron boosters might be around the corner Continue reading…

Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield. | Netflix Thanks to the popularity of Stranger Things’ music-heavy fourth season and social media, Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” has climbed up to the very top of music charts around the world 37 years after the song initially released. A number of Bush’s longtime (and generally older) fans have felt a type of way about younger people discovering her music for themselves by way of a sci-fi love letter to the ’80s. But Bush — herself a longtime Stranger Things fan — sees the sudden resurgence of interest in “Running Up That Hill” as an exciting and touching testament to the power of art.In a recent interview with BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Bush — who generally doesn’t speak to the public — opened up about what it’s been like to watch a new... Continue reading…

Image: Bungie Bungie has sued a Destiny player who allegedly filed dozens of fake copyright strikes in its name. The lawsuit, covered by TheGamePost, says California YouTube creator Nick Minor turned a single Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice into 96 fraudulent claims against other YouTubers.The complaint claims Bungie “brand protection” contractor CSC Global sent Minor a legitimate copyright notice in December 2021, asking him to remove music from the soundtrack of Destiny expansion The Taken King. Minor allegedly responded by creating a Gmail account that mimicked the CSC one and then filing similar requests with a bevy of other YouTube accounts — even hitting an official Bungie account. He identified himself as a CSC... Continue reading…

Photo by Rosdiana Ciaravolo/Getty Images TikTok has a new reigning champion. Khaby Lame, a 22-year-old Senegalese-born creator, became the most-followed person on TikTok last night, surpassing American TikTok star Charli D’Amelio, who formerly had the distinction. Lame now has more than 142.7 million followers compared to D’Amelio’s 142.3 million.Lame, who’s based in Italy, initially rose to fame through his use of TikTok’s duet and stitch features, reacting wordlessly to complicated and absurd “life hacks.” He now primarily posts silent comedy skits, racking up millions of views and likes. His following began exploding last year, and in recent weeks, fans have launched efforts to push him to the top.Lame’s ascent and unseating of D’Amelio is significant. D’Amelio and her... Continue reading…

Deepwater Wind installing the first offshore wind farm in Block Island, Rhode Island, on August 14th, 2016. | Photo by Mark Harrington/Newsday RM via Getty Images The White House and 11 governors from East Coast states forged a new partnership on Thursday to build up domestic supply chains for offshore wind farms and related infrastructure. The new Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership includes governors from Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.As part of the announcement, the Biden administration committed to the facilitation of “timely and effective permitting and environmental reviews” for offshore wind projects and lease sales. In the past, permitting has been a significant bottleneck for advancing offshore wind projects.Crucially, President Joe Biden also moved to ease... Continue reading…

Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company backed by General Motors, is now officially a commercial service. The company began charging for rides in its self-driving taxis in San Francisco this week, marking an important milestone for the company’s plans to expand its service.The company said that fared driverless rides are currently taking place with “most riders” in the Northwest section of San Francisco. Cruise will continue “expanding our paid service in alignment with the smoothest customer experience possible,” a spokesperson said.Cruise currently offers a range of services, from daytime rides in its autonomous vehicles with safety drivers behind the wheel to nighttime trips in its fully driverless cars. (The company is currently... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge A government watchdog has warned that private insurance companies are increasingly backing out of covering damages from major cyberattacks — leaving American businesses facing “catastrophic financial loss” unless another insurance model can be found.The growing challenge of covering cyber risk is outlined in a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which calls for a government assessment of whether a federal cyber insurance option is needed.The report draws on threat assessments from the National Security Agency (NSA), Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Department of Justice to quantify the risk of cyberattacks on critical... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is making its Edge browser a little more gamer-friendly today thanks to some Xbox and PC gaming improvements. Alongside a new gaming-focused homepage and casual games integration, Edge is also getting a Clarity Boost to improve Xbox Cloud Gaming streams and an efficiency mode to prevent Edge from taking PC resources when a game is being played.The new efficiency mode is the most interesting addition for PC gamers. Both Windows 10 and Windows 11 users will be able to benefit from enabling this efficiency mode in Edge, and it will stop the browser from taking resources when a game is opened. “With this feature, you do not need to close the browser to play and reopen it when you are done. As soon as you close the game, Microsoft... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twenty-five Black Snapchat creators will receive funding, mentorship, and other resources through a one-year accelerator program, the company announced today. The program follows similar efforts at other major platforms to provide support to emerging creators from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds.“Black creators face unique systemic barriers across the creator industry — from disparities in compensation and attribution, to toxic experiences and more,” Snap says. “We believe one of the ways we can help remove some of those barriers is to provide mentorship and financial resources to emerging Black creators in the early stages of their professional career.”The resources Snap says it will offer selected applicants range from... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Enhanced Safe Browsing, the Chrome feature that offers to share website URLs with Google to help it maintain a database of potentially dangerous sites, is coming to the browser’s iOS app, Google announced today as part of a collection of browser updates. The feature has previously been available on Android and desktop versions of Chrome, but now Google says it’ll be coming to iPhone and iPad with its next iOS release.Alongside the security upgrade, Google says it’s also improving the browser’s built-in translation feature on iOS. An updated language identification model will more accurately recognize when visiting a site in a different language that needs to be automatically translated for you to understand it. Image:... Continue reading…

Image: Google Google has been working on new Android and Chromebook features that better bridge the gap between phones and laptops over the past year. Today, ChromeOS version 103 arrives with some features to improve how Chromebooks connect to Android phones.The Phone Hub feature of ChromeOS, announced last year, is getting a new recent photos addition. With the 103 ChromeOS update, you’ll be able to quickly access the latest photos you’ve taken on your phone inside the Phone Hub. It’s an easy way to avoid emailing yourself a photo or having to dig into Google Photos to find your recent photos. It even works if you’re offline. Image: Google Recent photos in the Phone Hub on ChromeOS. Google is also improving its Nearby... Continue reading…

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images The US Federal Trade Commission has ordered Harley-Davidson and generator company MWE Investments to stop voiding customer warranties over repairs, marking a new step in the FTC’s fight over right-to-repair issues.The order covers Harley-Davidson’s motorcycles and Westinghouse outdoor generators and related equipment, which is manufactured by MWE. Both companies must remove illegal terms in their warranties that discouraged customers from using third-party parts and repair services, and the warranties must inform consumers that they can make third-party repairs without affecting their coverage. They also have to proactively inform buyers of their rights and order officially authorized dealers to avoid deceiving customers about the... Continue reading…

Pools and phones don’t play well together. | Image: Australia Competition and Consumer Commission / Samsung Australia Samsung Australia has been ordered by the Federal Court to pay a $14 million (about $9.7 million USD) fine for a misleading marketing campaign, as spotted by PhoneArena. The ads in question suggested that some of its water-resistant phones could be used in pools and at beaches, which Samsung’s own website advises against.The ads ran between March 2016 and October 2018, depicting Galaxy A-series, S7-series, and S8-series phones. They’re all rated IP68, which means you can fully submerge them in water for an extended amount of time — in this case, up to 30 minutes to a depth of 1.5 meters (about five feet). But that protection only extends to freshwater — saltwater and chlorinated pool water are a different matter. I... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Juul has to remove its e-cigarettes from the market in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration announced today. The agency rejected the company’s application to sell tobacco- and menthol-flavored e-cigarettes.“We recognize these make up a significant part of the available products and many have played a disproportionate role in the rise in youth vaping,” said FDA Commissioner Robert Califf in a statement.The FDA said that it rejected Juul’s application because there wasn’t enough evidence to evaluate any potential toxicological risks of Juul’s products.E-cigarette and vaping companies have to get clearance from the FDA in order for their products to be marketed and sold. The agency deferred enforcing the policy, in place... Continue reading…

Toyota issued a global recall of its 2023 bZ4X electric crossover SUV less than two months after the vehicle was released. The automaker said the hub bolts on the wheel can become loose while driving, which could cause the entire wheel to detach. Naturally, Toyota is warning owners not to drive their vehicles until the problem is fixed.The recall represents a setback for the world’s largest automaker, which has pledged to spend $17.6 billion to roll out 30 battery-electric models by 2030. The bZ4X, which began customer deliveries less than two months ago, is seen as the tip of the spear in Toyota’s belated attempt to shift to electric vehicles.Toyota says the cause of the loose hub bolts is still being investigatedToyota says the... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge The theme of today’s Verge Deals roundup is that, well, there is no theme. We’re just a few weeks out from Amazon’s Prime Day extravaganza, happening on July 12th and 13th, and it’s typical to see a relative calm before the storm of deals arrives. Why not kick things off today with a stellar deal on some already inexpensive true wireless earbuds? Anker’s Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro (in black) are just $99.99 at Best Buy as part of the retailer’s deal of the day. They normally cost $169.99, and normal sale prices typically sit around $130.These $100 earbuds might be exactly what you’re after if you need active noise cancellation (ANC), several ear and wing tips included in the box for a cozy custom fit, and Bluetooth multipoint support,... Continue reading…

Look, you should really just play Inscryption. | Image: Inscryption One of the best games of last year, Inscryption, has been released on Mac and Linux after previously being exclusively available for Windows PCs, its director Daniel Mullins has announced. Inscryption is a deck-building card-battling roguelike but with a fantastically dark and mysterious metanarrative that elevates it from “interesting” to “utterly engrossing.” Both my colleague Ash Parrish as well as our friends over at Polygon picked it as their game of the year for 2021.Inscryption isn’t a particularly graphically intensive game, and the system requirements listed on its Steam page aren’t very arduous. This means you shouldn’t have any issues running it on any relatively recent MacBooks, though be sure to check the specifics of your... Continue reading…

Street Fighter has been around since 1987, starting life as an arcade phenomenon before eventually selling an estimated 47 million copies across various iterations and platforms. Even still, Takayuki Nakayama believes it can reach a much larger audience. “I want to make a Street Fighter game that everyone can play, not just core fans,” he says. “I want to share the love that I have for Street Fighter with as wide of an audience as possible.”Nakayama is the game director on Street Fighter 6, which is due to launch next year. It’s a game that looks incredible in motion but also one that makes some key changes to the series’ formula in an attempt to broaden the audience, not just for Street Fighter but for fighting games in general.“I see... Continue reading…

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images At the start of the pandemic, demand for talk therapy apps skyrocketed. Prominent players, like BetterHelp and Talkspace, saw their downloads nearly double throughout the first few months of lockdown in 2020. Now, lawmakers like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) are demanding details on how these companies protect the privacy of their users.In letters to BetterHelp and Talkspace executives on Thursday, Warren — along with Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) — called on the mental health companies to explain how their apps collect and use data obtained from their patients. Specifically, lawmakers requested information on the apps’ relationships with online advertisers, data brokers, and social media platforms like Facebook as well... Continue reading…

The game is coming to Switch in just a few months. | Image: Hello Games The huge space exploration game No Man’s Sky will be available on the Nintendo Switch on October 7th, developer Hello Games revealed Thursday. That’s a bit later than the summer timeline announced in February, but it’s good to have a concrete date to look forward to. Physical and digital editions will be released on launch day.In No Man’s Sky, you explore a universe that’s largely procedurally generated, and the game has so far been available on more powerful platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, and PC. We’ll have to wait and see exactly how well the game performs on Nintendo’s comparatively less powerful console, but Hello Games’ years-long commitment to improving the game (one update hit just last month) indicates the... Continue reading…

The Poco F4 (left) and X4 GT (right) feature rapid charging and screens with fast refresh rates. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Xiaomi has announced the Poco F4 and Poco X4 GT, offering global versions of budget-oriented devices previously released in China. The €399 (about $418) Poco F4 is mostly a rebranding of the Redmi K40S, with a Snapdragon 870 processor, an OLED screen with fast refresh rate, stabilized main camera, and fast wired charging. The performance-focused Poco X4 GT will cost €379 (about $398) includes a MediaTek Dimensity 8100 chipset, 6.6-inch 144Hz LCD, and high-capacity battery, also with fast wired charging. Simply put, they offer specs that put our current crop of midrange phones to shame — if they ever made it to the US.The Poco F4’s 870 processor is carried over from the Poco F3, and it’s a capable flagship-ish chipset with 5G support.... Continue reading…

Urban Sky, a Colorado-based company focused on collecting images and data of the Earth using small stratospheric balloons, says it is officially entering commercial operations after three years of operating partly in stealth and raising funding. The company says it is ready to start serving customers with its balloons, which can be deployed from the back of a pickup truck and ascend into the sky in just minutes.Specifically, the company offers what it calls “microballoons,” high-altitude balloons that can float to the stratosphere carrying a small payload and maintain a constant position over an area. About the size of a Volkswagen bus at launch, these balloons ultimately inflate to be the size of a small car garage in the air. That’s... Continue reading…