The Verge

Image: Capcom Capcom has finally shared details on a new expansion for last year’s excellent Resident Evil Village, including a story campaign, more content for the Mercenaries mode, and a third-person mode. The expansion, called the Winters’ Expansion, will be available on October 28th, the company announced at its Capcom Showcase on Monday.The new story campaign, Shadows of Rose, stars Rose, the daughter of Village protagonist Ethan Winters. “Rosemary Winters, Ethan’s beloved daughter, has grown up and is now struggling with terrifying powers,” Capcom’s Tsuyoshi Kanda wrote in a post on the PlayStation blog. “In search of a way to break free from her curse, Rose enters the consciousness of the Megamycete. Rose’s journey takes her to a mysterious... Continue reading…

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Some customers who recently ordered speakers from Sonos’ website received more than what they ordered, which normally wouldn’t be something to complain about — but Sonos charged extra for the devices sent in error and wants them back. While Sonos is providing users with a refund for the additional charges, some are still disappointed they weren’t offered a discount for the inconvenience of dealing with a problem they didn’t cause.Two separate users told The Verge they placed an order for a single Sonos Move and received three. Another user said they’ve been charged over $2,000 after ordering one Move speaker and receiving a total of seven. They say Sonos has given them a timeframe of up to 10 business days until they get their refund.T... Continue reading…

Another awesome discount on the LG C1 OLED TV. | Image: LG If you’re still struggling to find a gift for Father’s Day, you’re in luck. The 48-inch model of the LG C1 OLED is currently on sale for its lowest price ever at BuyDig. Normally $1,299.99, this model is currently discounted to $896.99. The C1 remains one of our favorite OLED TVs for gaming and is heartily endorsed by several members of The Verge staff. Oh, and if you purchase through BuyDig, you’ll even get a $50 Visa gift card to sweeten the deal.The display of the C1 not only has a 120Hz refresh rate but also is equipped with FreeSync and G-Sync adaptive sync technologies support that provides a much smoother image while gaming at higher frame rates on PC. In addition to helpful usability features like Apple AirPlay 2 and built-in... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The June 2022 edition of Valve’s Steam Next Fest kicked off Monday, and during the weeklong event, you’ll be able to check out hundreds of free demos, according to the company.There are seriously a lot of demos — as if there weren’t already a ton of games to play right now — but fortunately, Valve has a few tools to help you sort through what’s available. On the Next Fest page, you can look at different genre pages, and the company also highlights popular upcoming games, most wishlisted upcoming games, and games ranked by daily active demo players. One topping the charts that I have my eye on is Metal: Hellsinger, which is apparently a “rhythm FPS” that’s “brimming with diabolical enemies, powerful weapons, and metal music.” That... Continue reading…

A small but nice change in your inbox. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The next time a Google Calendar invitation lands in your inbox, you may notice that it looks a little different. Google announced on Monday that it is making updates to the emails it sends out for calendar events, tweaking them to look more modern and to surface important information quickly.Google says if an organizer updates an event, the new design will also show you the old information. For example, if an event changes from 1PM to 2PM, you’ll see the 1PM start time crossed out below the new information to give you a better idea of what exactly is happening to your schedule. Google will also tell you what’s changed about an event right up at the top, so you can immediately know what to look for.Google says this change should roll... Continue reading…

The Galaxy Watch 5 lineup can’t afford to have lackluster battery life without fast charging. | Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge While we still don’t know all the nitty-gritty details about Samsung’s next-gen smartwatches, recent FCC filings hint that you can expect at least one big update: faster charging.FCC filings don’t reveal too much in terms of features, but they are a good indicator that a product is getting close to launch. The filings were first spotted by 9to5Google and indicate there’ll be three models dubbed the SM-R900, the SM-R910, and the SM-R920. They also confirm basic connectivity specs, like the fact that the watches will support Bluetooth, 2.4 and 5Ghz Wi-Fi, and contactless payments. But as far as the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 lineup goes, the most eye-catching thing is that the watches can charge at 10W speeds. For context, the Galaxy Watch 4... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is shutting down Talk (also known as GChat) for good — its instant-messaging service you probably haven’t used much since 2007 (via Android Police). Although Google migrated Talk users over to Google Hangouts in 2017 — another one of its now-sidelined messaging platforms — it was still accessible by third-party XMPP clients like Pidgin and Gajim.But Google will cut these last lines of life support on June 16th — three days from now. In a message on Talk’s support page, Google says it’s “winding down Google Talk” and will no longer support third-party apps, citing its initial announcement in 2017. Users who try to sign into GChat after the 16th will see a sign-in error. If you still want to use Pidgin through Google services, P... Continue reading…

More firms are making cuts. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge BlockFi, a platform for trading and lending cryptocurrency, announced via a blog post on Monday that it’s laying off 20 percent of its 850 employees — around 170 to 200 people. CEO Zac Prince said in a Twitter thread that the layoffs can be traced to a “dramatic shift in macroeconomic conditions” and BlockFi’s push to become profitable.It’s not the only crypto company letting workers go. On Friday, Crypto.com (the company with the Super Bowl ad featuring LeBron James) announced that it’s laying off around 260 workers, or around 5 percent of its workforce, according to a Twitter thread from its CEO, Kris Marszalek.It could be a “crypto winter”

New File Explorer tabs are coming soon. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft has started beta testing its new File Explorer tabs for Windows 11. The tabs feature for File Explorer is now rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel and appears to be very close to release for everyone running Windows 11.The tabs feature includes a refreshed design that makes it easier to quickly access folders or find favorite files. The updated File Explorer design includes tabs to navigate multiple folders in a single window and the ability to move tabs around freely. Microsoft originally tested tabs in Windows 10 apps four years ago in a feature named Sets. This included support for tabs inside File Explorer, but Microsoft eventually canceled the project and never shipped it to Windows 10 users.Microsoft... Continue reading…

Patients can use the Apple Watch to track symptoms. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Software that helps people with Parkinson’s disease track symptoms through their Apple Watch received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration, the company behind the tool announced today. It automatically tracks things like tremors, and it lets patients report symptoms and medication usage.Neurology company Rune Labs built the software, called StrivePD. It lets clinicians track their patients’ progress and any changes in symptoms from the neurological disorder, which causes involuntary movements and difficulty with coordination. The passive data collection means patients’ don’t have to try and remember those fluctuations. It’s also a rich source of data on how Parkinson’s disease patients respond to various medications.“With... Continue reading…

Image: Sony Sony’s revamped PlayStation Plus tiers are now live in the US, offering benefits like access to select PS4 and PS5 games, cloud-streamed games, and a collection of retro titles, depending on which tier you subscribe to.

Image: Amazon.com For one reason or another, the internet’s biggest retailer has a website that’s not working correctly for some people. Many Amazon.com pages are either not loading at all, displaying error messages, or loading slowly with missing information. Checking with other Verge staffers, some people are getting error messages or partially loading pages, while others report no issues, and sometimes different pages have different results. Reports about the issue started at around 1:40PM ET, and some people have been experiencing the problem ever since.While it’s not ideal to get a message saying “We’re sorry, an error has occurred. Please reload this page and try again.” when you’re trying to order some cat food or a Fire HD tablet, the good news... Continue reading…

SpaceX’s Starship prototypes at the company’s Starbase launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas. | Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has determined that SpaceX’s plans for the company’s massive Starbase launch site in South Texas will have some environmental impact on the surrounding land and area — but not enough to require a full environmental impact statement. Now, SpaceX will need to make more than 75 changes to its proposal for the Starbase facility if the company wants to avoid additional review and eventually receive a license from the FAA to launch its new Starship rocket to orbit from the site.SpaceX’s Starbase facility is located in a small town called Boca Chica, Texas, right on the southern tip of Texas along the Rio Grande river and the US-Mexico border. For the last few years, SpaceX has used the site to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On Sunday night, the Celsius Network, one of the largest crypto lending platforms, abruptly announced a “pause” on withdrawals and transfers, citing “extreme market conditions.” Celsius announced its halt as markets in Asia opened on Monday morning, and the price of its CEL token — worth nearly $7 a year ago — lost a third of its remaining value, falling to just 21 cents.In the hours that followed the pause, prices of other cryptocurrencies have also tumbled. CoinMarketCap’s global cryptocurrency tracker showed the total market cap of crypto assets (including stablecoins and tokens) below $1 trillion as of 8:53AM ET, falling from its peak of $3 trillion last November. Image: Coinbase The price of Bitcoin on... Continue reading…

The 2024 Chevy Blazer EV will get a proper reveal on July 18th, General Motors announced Monday. The all-electric mid-sized SUV is expected to go on sale next year, along with the electric version of the Chevy Equinox compact SUV.GM first teased electric versions of its Blazer and Equinox SUVs last year. But while the automaker has said it aims for the Equinox EV to start at $30,000, it has yet to set similar pricing expectations for the Blazer.The Equinox and Blazer are Chevy’s compact and mid-sized SUVs, respectively. The Blazer EV is also expected to make its official debut later this year, along with an SS performance model. Both vehicles will be built on GM’s Ultium battery and powertrain platform, which will serve as the... Continue reading…

The new movie will be out later this year. | Image: Lionsgate Netflix’s Knives Out sequel now has an official title and release window: you’ll be able to watch Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery this holiday season, the company announced Monday.The upcoming Knives Out installment will be directed by Rian Johnson, who helmed the first movie, and will again star Daniel Craig as detective Benoit Blanc. The rest of the cast is shaping up to be truly awesome — it includes Dave Bautista, Madelyn Cline, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Jessica Henwick, Kate Hudson, Edward Norton, and Leslie Odom Jr., according to a short trailer released by Netflix.

Mining units at the Cormint Data Systems Bitcoin mining facility while under construction in Fort Stockton, Texas, U.S., on Friday, April 29, 2022. | Bloomberg via Getty Images Bitcoin’s value has nosedived enough to curb the cryptocurrency’s enormous energy use — and associated greenhouse gas emissions — but only if prices stay low. The price of a single Bitcoin plummeted below $24,000 today, about half of what it was worth in March. While it’s been steadily losing value for months, the sudden tumble in value over the past 24 hours brings the price below a key threshold when it comes to Bitcoin’s impact on the environment.Since Bitcoin’s price peaked at around $69,000 in November, the network’s annual electricity consumption has been estimated to be between roughly 180 and 200 terawatt-hours (TWh). That’s about the same amount of electricity used by all the data centers in the world every year.Higher prices... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Years ago, John Oliver galvanized his Last Week Tonight viewers to join in the fight for net neutrality — instigating a flood of comments that broke down the Federal Communications Commission’s website in 2014. Last night, he turned his attention to a pair of upcoming tech antitrust bills.During his Sunday night show, Oliver explained the ways large tech companies rule the internet. From Apple and Google taking huge cuts from app store sales to Amazon’s stranglehold on the online sellers’ market, Oliver outlined how the power these companies hold could stifle innovation and how lawmakers could shake up the industry.“The problem with letting a few companies control whole sectors of our economy is that it limits what is possible by... Continue reading…

Exhibition And Experience Zones at The Paris NFT Day Conference The Celsius Network, which is one of the largest crypto lenders, announced Sunday night that it was “pausing all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts.” It has 1.7 million customers.The company’s token, CEL, is trading at 23 cents as of this writing, according to CoinMarketCap. That’s a 92 percent decrease from April 8th, when CEL was worth $3. The token was worth nearly $7 a year ago.There have been questions about Celsius Networks’ high yields, its connections to failed stablecoin Terra, and its reserves. The value of assets on its platform dropped by half to $12 billion in May, from $24 billion in December 2021. Between March and May, a billion dollars flowed out of the system, The Financial Times reported.In a June... Continue reading…

The 4K Apple TV gives you more ways to enjoy Apple services in your living room. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Even though Apple completely overlooked tvOS during its WWDC announcements last week, there’s a very good reason why you should think about getting an Apple TV 4K today. The 32 and 64GB configurations of the Apple TV 4K are discounted to $129.99 and $149.99, respectively — their best price ever at Amazon and Best Buy.In addition to providing access to Apple services like Apple Arcade and Apple Music on your TV, this compact streaming box also provides you with a way to enjoy other streaming services, like Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus, HBO Max, and more. The 4K model of the Apple TV is also equipped with an HDMI 2.1 port, along with features like HDR, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos for an improved audio / visual experience. The included... Continue reading…

Over the month of June, the Congressional committee tasked with investigating the Capitol riot will hold a series of public hearings meant to bring public attention to the committee’s findings. The first hearing, held on the evening of June 9th, focused on police officers and participants present inside the Capitol. Subsequent hearings are expected to bring out more evidence of former President Donald Trump’s role in inciting and extending the violence.Initially organized as a protest and rally for President Trump, the “Save America” rally on January 6th, 2021, escalated into a full-scale attack on the Capitol building over the course of hours. More than 130 US Capitol police were injured in the ensuing chaos, and four responding... Continue reading…

Amazon is taking steps to get its long-delayed drone delivery project off the ground. The company announced that it would launch its inaugural drone delivery service in the town of Lockeford, California, later this year after it receives the green light from the Federal Aviation Administration.If the regulatory approval goes through, it will be a major milestone for Amazon, which has been promising some version of aerial package delivery for almost a decade. The company has had some major setbacks, including a handful of crashes, reports of alleged safety lapses, and high turnover. But today’s announcement indicates that Amazon is confident that it’s ready for primetime (no pun intended).Amazon says that later this year, Lockeford... Continue reading…

A rocket belonging to the up-and-coming Astra space company failed to deliver two of NASA’s weather-tracking satellites to space after its second stage engine shut down prematurely. Both satellites were lost as a result of the failure.Astra’s Launch Vehicle 0010 (LV0010) successfully took off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 1:43PM ET, but suffered an upper stage failure about 10 minutes into its flight. The launch was part of NASA’s mission to send six TROPICS satellites into space — these small, foot-long CubeSats are supposed to help NASA keep better track of developing tropical storms. CubeSats are low-cost satellites frequently built by researchers at colleges and universities.

Image: Microsoft Microsoft has spent the past two years adding flashy new productivity features to Teams, and now the company is overhauling how the fundamentals work thanks to AI. We’ve all been on a call where someone has poor room acoustics making it hard to hear them, or seen two people try to talk at the same time creating an awkward “no, you go ahead” moment. Microsoft’s new AI-powered voice quality improvements should improve or even eliminate these day-to-day annoyances.Microsoft is now using a machine learning models to improve room acoustics so you’ll no longer sound like you’re hiding in a cave. “While we have been trying our best with digital signal processing to do a really good job in Teams, we have now started using machine learning for... Continue reading…

TP-Link’s Kasa mini smart plug just got better. TP-Link has finally added HomeKit to one of its products, and it's a serious bargain. The new version of its very good mini smart plug has Apple HomeKit support and energy monitoring all for just $12.50 per plug. The Kasa Smart WiFi Plug Mini with Energy Monitoring and Apple HomeKit, EP25 is available on Amazon for $49.99 for a four-pack (a two-pack at $29.99 is coming in Q4).There are a lot of smart plugs out there but very few with energy monitoring and HomeKit compatibility, and none as cheap as $12.50 that offer both. TP-Link’s Kasa line also works with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, but this is the first device with HomeKit. The company had originally promised the mini plug would get HomeKit in January 2019 but then changed its... Continue reading…

For All Mankind’s third season just started. | Image: Apple The first season of For All Mankind, the science fiction alternate history show from Battlestar Galactica creator Ron D. Moore, is now available to stream free of charge — no Apple TV Plus subscription required. The limited time promotion coincides with the release of the show’s third season, which premiered on June 10th on Apple’s video streaming service.While Ted Lasso and Severance have arguably been the biggest breakout TV show hits from Apple TV Plus, my colleague Alex Cranz would have everyone believe that For All Mankind is better than both. Here’s how she recently described it:[Warning: Season 1 spoilers ahead]

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Wikimedia Foundation is challenging a Russian court’s ruling that it violated disinformation laws in articles about the invasion of Ukraine. The organization filed its appeal last week, arguing that the articles contained “well-sourced, verified knowledge” and that Russia did not have jurisdiction over the globally operating Wikimedia Foundation.The Moscow court fined Wikimedia 5 million rubles (around $65,000) after an April ruling that covered seven Russian-language articles, including Russian Invasions of Ukraine (2022), War Crimes during the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Shelling of Hospital in Mariupol, and Massacre in Bucha. The decision followed an order from Russia’s tech and communications agency Roskomnadzor, as well as the... Continue reading…

Its LaMDA system is built to make AI more conversational. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Google has placed one of its engineers on paid administrative leave for allegedly breaking its confidentiality policies after he grew concerned that an AI chatbot system had achieved sentience, the Washington Post reports. The engineer, Blake Lemoine, works for Google’s Responsible AI organization, and was testing whether its LaMDA model generates discriminatory language or hate speech.The engineer’s concerns reportedly grew out of convincing responses he saw the AI system generating about its rights and the ethics of robotics. In April he shared a document with executives titled “Is LaMDA Sentient?” containing a transcript of his conversations with the AI (after being placed on leave, Lemoine published the transcript via his Medium... Continue reading…

After an early glimpse of Starfield at Microsoft’s Xbox & Bethesda showcase last year and a delay to 2023, we’re now getting a much closer look at Bethesda’s first new IP in 25 years thanks to 15 minutes of gameplay. Starfield is, naturally, set in space where players will take on the role of a last group of explorers. Described as “Skyrim in space,” by game director Todd Howard, the RPG will be playable in both first- and third-person, but primarily it’s first-person.During the early stages of the gameplay, we arrive on the moon of Kreet, just one of more than 1,000 planets that players will be able to fly to and explore freely. Powered by Bethesda’s new Creation Engine 2, the first Starfield gameplay shows a player freely roaming... Continue reading…

Xbox revealed a ton of exciting news at the Xbox & Bethesda Game Showcase, ranging from a longer look at Starfield to news about Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV.For this event, Xbox only focused on games available to play within the next 12 months. So at least you won’t have to wait too long. In case you missed it, here’s a roundup of the biggest announcements and trailers.Hollow Knight: Silksong is poised to arrive within the yearHollow Knight: Silk Song, the highly-anticipated sequel to the popular Hollow Knight indie title, is set to launch on day one for Xbox Game Pass subscribers. The trailer shows off the platformer’s beautiful artwork and gameplay, but there isn’t an official release date just yet.Overwatch 2 will be free to play... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge There’s more than just Starfield Continue reading…

Joker and his friends from Persona 5. | Image: Sega Three beloved JRPGs in the Persona franchise — Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, Persona 5 Royal — are coming to Xbox and PC, Microsoft announced at its Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase 2022.The first will be Persona 5 Royal, which will be available on October 21st. Currently, that game is only available on PlayStation platforms, so the upcoming Xbox and PC release marks a notable expansion for the game. If you haven’t played it before, I cannot recommend the game enough — it absolutely oozes style, and by the end of the game, you’ll really feel like you connect with the many characters you meet.Person 3 Portable originally appeared on the PSP back in 2006. Persona 4 Golden was a port of Persona 4 that originally appeared on the PS... Continue reading…

Image: Activision Blizzard Diablo IV, the next major release in Activision Blizzard’s popular dungeon-crawling series, will be available in 2023, the company announced Sunday. When it launches, it’ll be available on PC, Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, PS5, and PS4, and the game will have crossplay and cross-progression across all platforms. And as with previous Diablo games there will be blood — a lot of it. Whole actual waves of blood.In addition to previously announced classes like the sorceress, barbarian, druid, and rogue, Activision Blizzard revealed the fifth playable class: Necromancer. “Fight with aggressive skeleton Warriors, fast-attacking Skirmishers, sword and board Defenders, or scythe-wielding Reapers,” the company said in a press release. “Unleash a... Continue reading…

Image: Activision Blizzard Overwatch 2 will be launching “in early access” on October 4th, Activision Blizzard announced Sunday. At least the PVP parts of it will be. And in a major change, it will be free to play — the original Overwatch was a paid title. It will be releasing on PC, Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and Nintendo Switch.“We can’t wait to roll out the beginning of the Overwatch 2 experience on October 4 and introduce an exciting new competitive vision, featuring amazing new content and a reimagining of the iconic heroes, maps, and gameplay that made the original game so compelling,” Mike Ybarra, president of Blizzard, said in a press release. “This is the beginning of an always-on and always-evolving era for the franchise, and a recommitment... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is set to pay $118 million to settle a class-action gender discrimination lawsuit that includes around 15,500 women (via Bloomberg). As noted in the settlement’s press release, Google is also required to have an independent labor economist evaluate its hiring practices and pay equity studies.The lawsuit first emerged in 2017 after three women filed a complaint accusing the company of underpaying female workers in violation of California’s Equal Pay Act, citing a wage gap of around $17,000. The complaint also alleges Google locks women into lower career tracks, leading to less pay and lower bonuses when compared to their male counterparts. The plaintiffs won class-action status last year.Google’s treatment of workers has been the... Continue reading…

Image: Netflix Squid Game is officially coming back to Netflix for season two. According to a message from director Hwang Dong-hyuk, the second season will see the return of Gi-hun and the mysterious Front Man. The note also states “the man in the suit with ddakji might be back,” and that we’ll also get introduced to Cheol-su, Young-hee’s boyfriend.“It took 12 years to bring the first season of ‘Squid Game’ to life last year. But it took 12 days for ‘Squid Game’ to become the most popular Netflix series ever,” Hwang writes. “As the writer, director, and producer of ‘Squid Game,’ a huge shout out to fans around the world. Thank you for watching and loving our show... Join us once more for a whole new round.”The renewal occurs despite the shift in... Continue reading…

Image: Microsoft Team Xbox is holding its Xbox & Bethesda Game Showcase today. The 95-minute event will feature the latest on games from Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda, and other third-party studios. Naturally, it will also include a lineup of games that are coming to Xbox, PC, and Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription.Microsoft is calling it the “biggest moment of 2022” for Xbox so far, so it’s one worth tuning in to.Here’s how you can watch it:WHEN DOES THE XBOX AND BETHESDA GAMES SHOWCASE BEGIN?It’ll start at 1PM ET / 10AM PT on Sunday, June 12th.HOW CAN I WATCH THE XBOX EVENT?You can watch it at Xbox’s Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and even TikTok pages. It’s also available on Steam, China’s Bilibli, and other media outlets. The show will... Continue reading…

Do I need this data? No, but it’s nice to have Continue reading…

Photo: Columbia Pictures Spider-Man: No Way Home is making its way back to theaters on September 2nd after it broke box office records and became one of the highest-grossing films. This time around, Marvel is sprinkling in some new and extended scenes to keep things fresh.Marvel calls the revamped film “The More Fun Stuff Version,” and says it’s releasing it in celebration of Spider-Man’s 60th anniversary in comics. Oh yeah, and it’s the 20th anniversary of Toby Maguire’s debut in the very first Spider-Man movie (feel old yet?).

The Galaxy Z Flip 3. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge We got a look at what the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 could look like in a set of unofficial renders last month, but now we have leaked images of what appears to be the physical device shared by YouTuber TechTalkTV (via 9to5Google). The images match up with the earlier renders and give us a closer look at the device’s display crease, which looks almost nonexistent.One image shows the device’s display when it’s flipped open, and you can see a slight glare where the crease would typically appear. It looks hardly noticeable, but then again, it is a bit difficult to tell what the crease will look like when viewed from just one angle.You can pretty clearly see the Galaxy Z Flip 3’s crease when you tilt the phone the right way. As The Verge’s... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, is getting serious about entering the virtual reality (VR) space, according to a report from Protocol. A source close to the situation told the outlet that the company plans on investing “tons of money” to develop VR-related content.It looks like a large portion of ByteDance’s investment is going into hiring. As noted by Protocol, over 40 job listings have popped up for Pico, the Chinese VR headset maker ByteDance acquired last year. Most openings are for Pico Studios’ west coast-based branches in California and Washington, ranging from a head of VR game strategy to a game operation manager. Other open positions suggest an increased focus on Pico’s VR hardware, including an optical engineer and a... Continue reading…

The Sonos Roam is selling for $143.20 instead of $179.99 for a limited time. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Welcome to the weekend! We’re kicking things off today with a rare deal on the superb Sonos Roam, which remains one of the best Bluetooth speakers we’ve ever tested. Regularly $179.99, you can currently buy it from Best Buy, B&H Photo, and Sonos for just $143.20, the speaker’s best price to date. That’s less than the typical cost of the cheaper Sonos Roam SL, which is essentially the same speaker but without the built-in microphone.The pint-sized, portable speaker sounds great and comes equipped with a number of useful features, including support for Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Apple’s AirPlay 2. The Sonos speaker also integrates with the rest of the company’s ecosystem and comes with an IP67 dust and water resistance rating,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Telegram will soon start putting some features behind a paywall (via TechCrunch). In a post on the platform, founder Pavel Durov announced that the messaging service is launching a paid Telegram Premium subscription later this month, giving users “additional features, speed and resources.”Durov hints at some of the features coming with the subscription, including early access to new features, the ability to upload larger files, and Premium-only stickers and reactions (which were recently previewed in a beta version of the app).But Durov also makes it clear that Telegram’s existing features will stay free, and that the paid features won’t affect the experience for free users on the app. Non-subscribers will still get to look at the... Continue reading…

Drop’s black-on-white DCX keycaps installed on a Filco Majestouch 2. Earlier this year, keyboard specialist Drop announced its new lineup of DCX keycaps. But rather than focusing on making flashy, colorful designs like most aftermarket keycaps, the first three sets to use the new DCX profile are relatively understated, with simple black-and-white designs or a small selection of primary colors.That’s because the focus here is on getting the tiniest details right in the hopes that Drop’s sets might be able to compete directly with GMK’s — a German manufacturer commonly seen as the producer of some of the best-quality keycaps around. GMK produces keycaps in the “Cherry” profile (which refers to the overall shape of the keycaps) while “DCX” refers to the profile of Drop’s keycaps. I’ve had the chance to... Continue reading…

It’s changed the language users will see when they go to pay. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple announced on Friday that it once again updated its rules about how Dutch dating apps can use third-party payment systems, after the company had “productive conversations with the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM).”The updated rules give developers more flexibility about which payment systems they use, change the language users see when they go to pay, and remove other restrictions that the previous rules put in place. The ACM has expressed approval of these changes, noting Apple “will meet the requirements... set under European and Dutch competition rules.”While the rules aren’t wide-reaching (again, they only apply to Dutch dating apps), they do show what Apple’s willing to do to comply with government... Continue reading…

Entergalactic. | Image: Netflix Sandman, Umbrella Academy, Resident Evil, and much more Continue reading…

The one true Duke. I wouldn’t be surprised if you have no idea who Duke Nukem even is — that’s how hard the classic video game franchise cratered a decade ago. Today, the character is mostly known as a punchline for video game vaporware jokes, about how Duke Nukem Forever spent 14 years in development hell only to become a huge flop.And yet for years now, Duke’s corporate owners have been whispering that a movie is coming, culminating in The Hollywood Reporter’s story today: Legendary Entertainment has tapped Cobra Kai creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg to actually produce a feature film.I don’t quite know how to react! As a gamer who actually quite liked Duke Nukem, Duke Nukem II and Duke Nukem 3D, I absolutely agree that this... Continue reading…

“Instantly” is only a slight exaggeration. Capcom has launched a demo of Resident Evil Village that’s powered by Google’s Stadia cloud gaming tech, letting people test out the horror game in a browser. In a press release, Google says that the idea is to let people try out the game, no matter what device they own. The game and its demo were already available for Stadia subscribers, but now anyone can try it out for free, provided they have a supported web browser and an internet connection faster than 10 megabits a second. You don’t even need a Google account; you just navigate to the website, enter your birthday (the game’s rated M), and click the play button.As for how the demo looks... you certainly get what you pay for with the browser version. Here are a few comparison shots... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge One perk most wireless carriers offer to pull you to their side is a free streaming video-on-demand subscription, but now AT&T won’t be giving HBO Max to new customers, and hasn’t replaced it with a different service either. The carrier stealthily discontinued its top-tier Unlimited Elite plan for new subscribers this week, and added a new one that doesn’t include HBO Max anymore, as reported by Next TV (via FierceWireless).The new top plan is called Unlimited Premium, which comes in at the same $85 a month for a single line. Just like with the now-grandfathered Elite plan, Premium subscribers get unlimited talk / text / data, 4K video streaming, and no slowdowns even if they use a lot of data (a promise AT&T introduced for its priciest... Continue reading…