The Verge

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google announced Wednesday that employees at its Bay Area offices and several other US locations will officially return to the office on April 4th. Starting that date, the company will kick off its previously announced hybrid work approach, where it expects most staffers to be in the office approximately three days per week.In December, Google delayed a planned January 10th return to office until sometime in 2022, and now we know when that return will be. The company will use the month of March to help transition to the new hybrid model, according to Google spokesperson Lora Lee Erickson.Depending on their job, some employees may need to be onsite more than three days a week. Workers who want more time before they return to the office... Continue reading…

Facebook is shutting down Campus | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Less than two years after its launch, Facebook is shutting down Campus, a section of its app designed for college students, the latest blow to the company’s efforts to retain younger users. Campus users could access a special news feed and join groups, events, and chat rooms focused on college life. It also included a directory where users could find and friend other students on the app.“We’ve decided to end our pilot of Facebook Campus,” Facebook spokesperson Leah Luchetti said in a statement emailed to The Verge. “We learned a lot about the best ways to support college students, and one of the most effective tools to help bring them together is Facebook Groups. We’ve notified students in the test schools that Campus will no longer be... Continue reading…

A single household can now order a total of two sets of COVID-19 tests from the US government. | Photo Illustration by Toby Scott/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Starting next week, you’ll be able to order four more free COVID-19 tests from the US government. A notice on the USPS COVID test kit order page states US households “will be able to place a total of 2 separate orders for free at-home COVID-19 rapid tests (4 tests per order)” sometime next week. If you’ve already ordered your first round of tests from the government, you’ll be eligible to order to place a second order as well.To order a second set of tests (or place an order for the first time), simply head to the USPS website, fill out your name and address, and hit “Check Out Now.” Your tests will ship for free. If you’ve never placed an order before, note that you can only place two “separate” orders, meaning you won’t be able to get... Continue reading…

Elden Ring developers, FromSoftware, have rolled out a fix for the bug that caused the loss of game save data on PS5 (via Polygon). In a tweet, developers confirmed that they’ve made “changes to save progression even when the game is not terminated” on PS5, in addition to issuing a few other patches on PC.

Image: Spin Ford is selling its electric scooter operation Spin to one of Europe’s top shared mobility companies. Tier Mobility will take over all of Spin’s operations, marking the first time the Berlin-based scooter company will have a foothold in North America. The companies declined to disclose the sale price, though the CEO of Tier said it was an all-stock deal.Spin first launched in March 2017 in Seattle after working with the city to create a policy framework for regulating dockless bikes. The founder, Euwyn Poon, was inspired to create a dockless bike company after visiting Beijing and seeing the growing interest in micromobility services in that city. The company soon pivoted to electric scooters after Bird’s success in Southern California.... Continue reading…

Six reactors generate 40-42 billion kWh of electricity, making the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant the largest in Ukraine. Russian officials told the IAEA that it has “taken control of the territory around” Zaporizhzhia. | Photo credit should read Dmytro Smolyenko / Barcroft Media via Getty Images Nuclear experts are increasingly worried about the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants as Russia’s invasion of the country continues. The conflict has the grim distinction of being the first time warfare has exploded in a region so heavily reliant on nuclear energy.“The situation in Ukraine is unprecedented and I continue to be gravely concerned,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in an introductory statement to the agency’s Board of Governors meeting today and shared with the press. “I have called for restraint from all measures or actions that could jeopardize the security of nuclear and other radioactive material, and the safe operation of any nuclear facilities in Ukraine,... Continue reading…

That $30 monthly subscription is hard to swallow Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Epic Games is acquiring independent music storefront Bandcamp. The companies announced the news today, saying that Bandcamp would “keep operating as a standalone marketplace and music community” but use Epic’s resources to expand internationally and continue adding new features.An Epic blog post says Bandcamp will play “an important role in Epic’s vision to build out a creator marketplace ecosystem for content, technology, games, art, music and more.” An announcement from Bandcamp co-founder and CEO Ethan Diamond, meanwhile, emphasized that the core deal for artists won’t change in the near future. “The products and services you depend on aren’t going anywhere, we’ll continue to build Bandcamp around our artists-first revenue model,”... Continue reading…

Nothing’s first product was a pair of true wireless earbuds. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Nothing, the consumer tech brand led by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, is planning to launch its debut smartphone by next month, according to a report from TechCrunch. The company has reportedly been working on the phone for over a year, and Pei is said to have shown off a prototype to executives from companies including Qualcomm at this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.An April launch would come a little under a year after the company released its debut product, a pair of wireless earbuds called the Ear 1. The phone will reportedly contain similar design elements to the earbuds, such as using transparent components, although other details on the new device are limited. TechCrunch cites a source with direct knowledge of the... Continue reading…

FIFA 22. Electronic Arts has announced that it’s in the process of removing both Russian national teams and the country’s professional clubs from some of its biggest sports games.That will include NHL 22, FIFA 22, FIFA Online, and FIFA Mobile; it’s not clear when the teams will be pulled from the game, but the publisher says that it has “initiated processes” for their removal. EA says that the decision was made “in line with our partners at FIFA and UEFA,” as well as the IIHF. Those governing bodies — which manage global and European soccer and international hockey, respectively — recently banned Russian teams from all competitions “until further notice.” In addition to the Russian teams, NHL 22 will also be removing Belarusian clubs as well.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The world’s biggest chipmakers are coming together to create a new Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe) system for integrating chiplets together in future semiconductor designs.Virtually every major name in processor technology is onboard with the standardization effort, including foundry owners like Intel, TSMC, and Samsung and major players in semiconductor-adjacent spaces, like AMD, Arm, Qualcomm, Meta, Google Cloud, and Microsoft. As the name alludes, UCIe is aiming to take the same broad ecosystem model PCIe (peripheral component interconnect express) has used for years, expanded over to chiplets— tiny, more specialized chips that only do a few specific functions.The goal with UCIe is to create a standard... Continue reading…

Apple will be holding its next event online on March 8th, the company announced today with an invite featuring the “peek performance” tagline, and multicolored Apple logo that could hint at the colors of new devices.The company didn’t disclose further details about what the virtual event will entail, beyond the timing set for 1PM ET / 10AM PT.

Capcom Later in 2022, Capcom will release free graphical updates for its remakes of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3, along with Resident Evil 7, that introduce ray tracing, a high frame rate mode, and 3D audio on the PS5, Xbox Series X / S, and PC.If you own copies of these games already on the PS4 or Xbox One, you’ll be able to get these updates for free. On PS5, there will be a digital upgrade option, whereas Xbox offers its Smart Delivery feature that will automatically play the current-gen version of each game once it’s available. On PC, these upgrades will simply come in an update.For PS5, Capcom is implementing DualSense support for all three games, complete with haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. Capcom ... Continue reading…

There are few things quite as relaxing as settling into the comfortable soundlessness of a high-speed train’s quiet car, but silence is a luxury none of the assassins at the center of Sony’s Bullet Train from Atomic Blonde director David Leitch can afford. Based on Kotaro Isaka’s novel Maria Beetle, Bullet Train follows as five hired killers unknowingly board the same high-speed train where they’ve been sent to carry out different assignments. In the novel, it isn’t long before the assassins’ respective jobs expose the killers to one another, and the trailer makes it seem like the movie’s story will follow a similar arc.As soon as Ladybug (Brad Pitt) gets his hands on the briefcase, he’s been sent by Maria Beetle (Sandra Bullock) to... Continue reading…

The best work from home companion besides your cat | Photo by Jay Peters / The Verge If you’ve been working from home, but haven't invested in a standing desk yet, you’re in luck. Right now, Fully is running a promotion until March 21st that knocks 15 percent off the price of many of its popular standing desks. The Jarvis bamboo-topped standing desk, its most popular model and a favorite among several staffers here at The Verge, is currently discounted to $509.15, compared to its typical starting price of $599.99.Fully’s Jarvis whiteboard standing desk is also discounted to the same $509.15 price, replacing the bamboo desktop with an erasable whiteboard for jotting down notes or just doodling. At the prices mentioned above, both models measure 24 inches deep and 30 inches wide, and both can be adjusted to be as low as... Continue reading…

The Russian Soyuz rocket slated to launch OneWeb’s satellites on March 5th from Kazakhstan | Photo by Roscosmos press office/TASS via Getty Images In its latest response to international sanctions and growing geopolitical tensions, Russia’s state space corporation, Roscosmos, is making a list of demands of its customer OneWeb before it agrees to launch the company’s upcoming mission this week. OneWeb’s satellites were scheduled to take off on top of a Russian Soyuz rocket on March 5th in Kazakhstan, but in light of these new demands, it seems likely that launch will not take place.In a video posted to Twitter, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, outlined in an interview that he wants assurances from OneWeb that the company’s satellites will not be used for military purposes. Roscosmos also demanded that the British government, which is a primary shareholder in OneWeb, divest... Continue reading…

Photo by JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images From face swaps to information drops Continue reading…

The handheld-only Nintendo Switch Lite in its yellow, gray, and turquoise colorways. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Nintendo Switch Lite is seeing a very rare discount today. The handheld-only variant of the popular Switch normally sells for $199.99, but Woot is offering it today for $189.99 if you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber. That $10 discount may not sound like much, but Nintendo hardware sales are quite uncommon, with sales on the Switch Lite being even rarer. This deal is only for today or until it sells out.What’s even sweeter with this deal is that all five colors are on offer: turquoise, yellow, coral, blue, and gray. So you can pick whatever vibrant Switch Lite fits your fancy and kick back with some excellent portable games.While sales of the Nintendo Switch have continued skyrocketing during the pandemic, it may be easy to overlook... Continue reading…

The Ionic is being recalled as its battery may overheat and cause burns. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Fitbit announced today that it’s working with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to voluntarily recall its Ionic smartwatch. The company says it’s received over 100 reports of the watch’s lithium-ion battery overheating, as well as 78 reports of burn injuries to customers.“Customer safety is always Fitbit’s top priority and out of an abundance of caution, we are conducting a voluntary recall of Fitbit Ionic smartwatches,” Fitbit said in a statement. It went on to say that the reported cases represent less than 0.01 percent of units sold. Roughly 1 million Ionic smartwatches were sold in the US, with an additional 693,000 sold internationally.If you have an Ionic smartwatch, Fitbit recommends you stop using it immediately. The... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Confirming rumors that have swirled for months, Ford announced that it was splitting into “two distinct, but strategically interdependent, auto businesses” called Ford Blue and Ford Model E. While Ford Blue will manage all of the legacy internal combustion engine vehicles, Ford Model E represents its push into electric vehicles, with products like the Mustang Mach-E and Ford F-150 Lightning.Ford Model E is trying to match Tesla with transparent pricing and online orderingThe company’s executives described the split as “how we’re going to win as a company” while executing Ford’s plans for its EV push that were originally unveiled last May. The automaker decided against trying to spin off the new EV-only unit as a special acquisitions... Continue reading…

Next Games is a developer based in Finland. | Image: Netflix Netflix has made an offer to acquire Next Games, the Finland-based developer behind mobile puzzle RPG Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales. In a blog post, Netflix’s VP of games Mike Verdu said that the acquisition was to help the company “build a library of great games for our members to enjoy.” Next Games has also developed a pair of Walking Dead-themed mobile games.The acquisition comes as Netflix is building a mobile gaming service into its regular subscription service. Netflix Games launched on iOS and Android last year, and consists of a handful of mobile games that are available free to download from app stores for Netflix subscribers, with no ads or in-app purchases.“We will be able to build a portfolio of world class games that will... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge There’s no reason to settle for built-in TV speakers Continue reading…

An Aether diamond | Aether Aether’s diamonds are pulled from the air, literally Continue reading…

Image: Warner Bros AMC is experimenting with charging more for tickets to The Batman compared to other films showing at its cinemas, Deadline reports. The move appears to be an attempt to capitalize on the heightened anticipation for the new superhero movie, which sees Robert Pattinson take on the role of the caped crusader for the first time. Deadline reports that tickets to see The Batman currently cost a dollar more than other films like Uncharted and Dog at the AMC Empire 25 in Times Square.“Currently, our prices for The Batman are slightly higher than the prices we are charging for other movies playing in the same theaters at the same time,” AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron said during an earnings call. “This is all quite novel in the United States,... Continue reading…

DiMaggio with his character Bender. | Image: Getty John DiMaggio is officially set to return to voice Bender in Hulu’s revival of Futurama, meaning all key cast members will reprise their roles in the sci-fi cartoon. The show’s return was announced early last month, with Billy West (Fry), Katey Sagal (Leela), Tress MacNeille (Mom, many others), Maurice LaMarche (Kif), Lauren Tom (Amy), Phil LaMarr (Hermes), and David Herman (Scruffy) all set to come back in their original roles.At the time, Deadline reported that DiMaggio’s role was in the process of being recast. The actor had reportedly turned down the initial offer, which he felt “was not competitive based on the success and name recognition of the original series.” Fans were outraged (obviously), and a #Bendergate hashtag emerged... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tim Cook sent out an email to employees this morning addressing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and explaining the actions Apple has taken in reaction to the events of the past two weeks. The email also tells employees that Apple will be matching donations they make to certain humanitarian relief funds two to one, and will do so retroactively for donations made since February 25th.A copy of this email was obtained by The Verge, and you can read it below in full (with the exception of an internal Apple email address being redacted):

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass new rules to enhance child safety on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram in his first State of the Union address on Tuesday. It’s the first time Biden has called for these rules, and the White House plans to make specific funding requests to study and improve children’s online safety.Specifically, Biden requested that Congress institute stronger children’s privacy rules, ban targeted advertising to children, and pressure social media companies to design their products from the ground up with child safety in mind. In a fact sheet provided by the White House earlier on Tuesday, the administration is also expected to target social media algorithms that discriminatorily target... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge After initially dropping the Russia-backed news channel RT in Europe, Roku says it is now dropping the channel from its Roku Channel Store everywhere — including in its US market.The company confirmed the carriage change to The Verge late Tuesday. Roku spokesperson Kimberly Sampson said in a statement: “We are removing RT from the Roku Channel Store everywhere, including the US.” The company had earlier confirmed the channel was being yanked from its European market.The streamer’s decision follows a similar move from DirecTV. Company spokesperson Nicholas Ammazzalorso told The Verge in a statement on Tuesday that DirecTV is “accelerating this year’s contract expiration timeline and will no longer offer their programming effective... Continue reading…

The company confirms it was hacked. | Photo credit should read Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty Images Nvidia has confirmed that it was hacked — and that the actor behind last week’s “incident” is leaking employee credentials and proprietary information onto the internet. In a statement to PCMag, Bloomberg, and VideoCardz, the company says it became aware of the breach on February 23rd, and that it does “not anticipate any disruption to [its] business or our ability to serve our customers as a result of the incident.”Hacking group Lapsus$ has claimed responsibility for the attack, and has demanded that Nvidia make its drivers open-source if it doesn’t want more data leaked. Nvidia hasn’t necessarily agreed to those demands; the company says it’s made improvements to its security, notified law enforcement, and is working with... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The first batch of Steam Decks is starting to arrive to the lucky few who could order them on Friday, and a handful of owners have reported stick drift on their devices. But Valve now tells us that what’s going on is a “deadzone calibration issue” — which indicates this is a software problem, not a hardware one — and that the team has already shipped a fix for it.Joystick drift is an issue that causes your character or cursor in a game to continue moving even when you aren’t actually pushing the joystick in a direction. It’s a problem many have experienced with the Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Con controllers. While Nintendo itself has suggested the issue will never be fully addressed because Joy-Cons will wear down over time, it does repair... Continue reading…

Image: Bungie When will Bungie let Destiny 2 come to Valve’s Steam Deck handheld gaming PC? It’s looking like the answer is never — because the soon-to-be Sony subsidiary has published an help page that not only says the game’s unsupported, but outright threatens to ban prospective Steam Deck players (via Wario64).The help page has a new section titled “Steam Deck and Destiny 2,” which reads:

Image: Portuguese Navy A cargo ship carrying thousands of vehicles across the Atlantic Ocean has sunk, according to the company that operated the ship (via Insider). A fire broke out on the ship, Felicity Ace, on February 16th as it was traveling from Germany to the USA.Nearly 4,000 cars from the Volkswagen Group were being transported to the USA, the company confirmed to Insider. Felicity Ace was carrying both electric and non-electric vehicles, according to the Associated Press, and reports from February indicated Porsches, Bentleys, Lamborghinis, and other luxury cars were among those on board. While it’s unclear exactly what started the blaze, captain Joao Mendes Cabecas of the port of Hortas said lithium-ion batteries in EVs aboard the ship caught fire, R... Continue reading…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Google has begun rolling out a new fast emergency dialer (FED) feature designed to help users traveling internationally quickly access police, fire, and medical services, 9to5Google reported. The dialer was reportedly first seen last year through the Pixel’s emergency app, but Google confirmed to Android Police that FED is currently rolling out to a wider release.Accessing the Fast Emergency Dialer when your phone is unlocked will vary by deviceThough it’s designed for international traveling, anyone can use it at any location. According to the Google Support page, the emergency dialer will show options relevant to your location:

Kodi Adam Lackman, the self-described “former pirate” behind the Kodi add-on repository TVAddons, has agreed to pay $19.5 million ($25 million CAD) to a group of Canadian telecom giants over copyright infringement, according to a report from TorrentFreak.As noted by TorrentFreak, TVAddons was still accessible up until last week before going offline (seemingly) for good. In its heyday, TVAddons was a site that allowed users to upload unofficial add-ons for Kodi, the open-source media library you can install on streaming devices like the Amazon Fire TV Stick and Google Chromecast. While Kodi itself is legal software, third-party apps, like TVAddons, can direct people to pirated content.Canadian telecom giants filed the lawsuit in 2017A copy... Continue reading…

General Motors is selling its stake in Lordstown Motors, an electric vehicle startup that has struggled to produce its first vehicle. GM owned 7.5 million shares, or less than 5 percent of the company, with an initial equity value of $75 million. The news was first reported by the Detroit Free Press.The sale was made during the fourth quarter of 2021 following an undisclosed lock-up period. James Cain, a spokesperson for GM, confirmed the sale, while a spokesperson for Lordstown declined to comment.The stock sale signals the beginning of the end of GM’s relationship with Lordstown. The company traces its origins to GM’s announcement in 2018 that it would be closing down its Lordstown factory. Then-President Donald Trump assailed GM... Continue reading…

UFA Just in time for the US copyright on Fritz Lang’s Metropolis to expire this December, Apple’s gearing up to produce a new streaming series inspired by the original 1927 classic.Today, Apple announced that it’s brought on Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail to write, direct, executive produce, and showrun a new Metropolis show for Apple TV plus as part of Esmail’s overall deal with Universal Content Productions. Word of a new Metropolis first broke back in 2016 when it was not yet clear which network or streamer might want to move ahead with the adaptation.In Lang’s original Metropolis — adapted from author Thea von Harbou’s novel of the same name — a futuristic and highly stratified megacity becomes the epicenter of a revolution when Freder,... Continue reading…

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge If you’ve had an Android phone for any length of time, it’s easy to get used to living with, well, chaos. If you’re anything like me, you’re constantly adding new apps, deciding they’re okay but not great, adding another, and so on. Then, a few months later, as you’re scrolling through your app drawer, you’re surprised to see several apps that you forgot about and perhaps don’t even remember what they’re used for.In a very short time, it can become a mess. And if you’re really an app enthusiast, it can start taking up more space than you can spare. (Here, we can take as written the obligatory KonMari reference.)There are essentially two steps to making sense of all of those Android apps: find a way to organize them (and there are a... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple has paused sales of its physical products in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, according to a statement from the company. This is Apple’s latest step after it imposed limitations for Apple Pay in Russia in accordance with sanctions, and it pulled some Russian news apps from the App Store outside of the country.In its statement, which you can read in full below, Apple says that it “stopped all exports into our sales channel in the country” last week in response to the violence. The company says that it will “continue to evaluate the situation” and that it’s communicating with the governments of affected countries.A Ukrainian official called on Tim Cook to cut Russia off last weekLast week, Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister... Continue reading…

HP’s Chromebook x2 11 supported wireless charging of its stylus in a similar way to how USI 2.0 stylii will work. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge The Universal Stylus Initiative (USI) announced this week that it’s established a new USI 2.0 open stylus standard, which includes new features that will make way for better writing experiences on Chromebooks.A big new feature for USI 2.0 is wireless charging that’s compatible with the newest NFC spec, capable of 1-watt charging from compatible smartphones and other devices. “The simplicity and ease of use of wireless charging means that consumer adoption will be rapid,” said Mike McCamon, executive director of NFC Forum. NFC charging within the USI 2.0 standard means more devices can host wireless charging for attached styli, like how the Apple Pencil 2 charges against an iPad.USI technology is available on many Chromebook devices... Continue reading…

Amanda’s Umma coming back to haunt her. | Sony In Sony’s upcoming supernatural horror thriller Umma from director Iris K. Shim, the simple, quiet lives of a beekeeper and her teenage daughter are upended by the unexpected arrival of the woman’s mother — not as a living, breathing person, but as an urn full of remains following her cremation.Though Amanda (Sandra Oh) is clearly shaken by the news of her mother’s death in Umma’s first trailer, her daughter (Fivel Stewart) can’t help but wonder why she’d never been properly introduced to her maternal grandmother. Amanda’s loath to tell her why, specifically, she’s worked so hard to keep her daughter seemingly cut off from other people out in the wilderness and somewhat in the dark about their family in South Korea. But after Amanda... Continue reading…

Did Valve just gift us a new Portal game? Not exactly. But I can confirm that Aperture Desk Job, a free gamelet designed to show off the Steam Deck’s controls, is worth checking out if you’re a huge Portal fan like me. It’s quick, cute, reveals the answer to one of Portal 2’s biggest unanswered questions, and you can download and play it right now for free even if you never plan to touch a Steam Deck.Not only does the 30-minute, 3.1GB experience work on a standard Windows PC (as long as you’ve got a gamepad; almost any gamepad will do), but you won’t have to jump through hoops to make it run properly. It supports desktop resolutions, high refresh rate monitors, windowed modes, and comes with a readymade control scheme for gamepads like... Continue reading…

Jeep, the iconic American brand owned by Stellantis, revealed the first images of its upcoming electric SUV. The company isn’t sharing any other details or even the vehicle’s name, but it did confirm that the new EV will launch in 2023.Jeep has been slower to embrace electrification as compared to many of its rivals. The automaker has released plug-in hybrid versions of its Wrangler and Grand Cherokee SUVs and plans an off-roading version of the Grand Cherokee, the Trailhawk, which also comes with a hybrid motor.But the unnamed SUV coming out next year will be Jeep’s first purely battery-electric vehicle. The automaker recently announced that it would release “zero-emission” versions of all of its vehicles by 2025, along with... Continue reading…

Frances Haugen will join the first lady at Tuesday’s State of the Union address | Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images The White House announced Tuesday that Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen will be among the guests of first lady Jill Biden at President Biden’s first official State of the Union address.Haugen, a former product manager in Facebook’s civic integrity group, leaked a trove of internal Facebook documents to The Wall Street Journal last year that showed widespread problems within the company. She testified before Congress that Facebook “repeatedly” misled the public about “what its own research reveals about the safety of children and the efficacy of its artificial intelligence systems as a role in spreading divisive and extreme messages.”The White House release calls Haugen a “specialist in algorithmic product management” and an... Continue reading…

Good news: in a rare discount, Paramount Plus is celebrating its first birthday by offering an 80 percent discount to new and returning customers.Through March 7th, eligible subscribers can use the code BIRTHDAY to receive three months of the Essential Plan for $1 instead of $4.99 per month when they purchase their subscription from the company’s site. These customers can also get three months of the Premium Plan for $2 instead of $9.99 per month as well.Both plans offer access to thousands of episodes and films from Paramount Pictures, CBS, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, and more, as well as previous and new originals like Star Trek: Discovery and PAW Patrol: The Movie. However, unlike the cheaper subscription, the Premium Plan... Continue reading…

MediaTek might have just beaten out Qualcomm to claim the biggest market share of any chipmaker for Android phones in the United States — at least, according to one analyst group.According to IDC’s quarterly mobile phone sales tracker, as Q4 2021 MediaTek chips account for 51 percent of all Android phones in the United States, compared to 47 percent for Qualcomm, as spotted by PCMag. Those numbers are a stark inversion from the previous quarter, where MediaTek had a 41 percent market share to Qualcomm’s 56 percent.There are conflicting reports, however: Counterpoint Research’s own report puts the Q4 2021 split at 55 percent for Qualcomm, and 37 percent for MediaTek, so it’s possible that Qualcomm is still holding on to its crown for... Continue reading…

The Stealth 600 Gen 2 Max will arrive in black, white camo, or red. | Turtle Beach Turtle Beach has announced the Stealth 600 Gen 2 Max, a new $129.99 wireless headset that’s one of a few models out there that can work with Xbox and a myriad of other platforms. Typically, you get compatibility with Xbox or with other platforms like PlayStation, PC, and the Nintendo Switch’s dock, but not both. This headset’s included USB-A audio transmitter has a switch that can toggle wireless modes, ensuring compatibility no matter which system you’re on. It’s worth noting that SteelSeries offered a similar feature with its Arctis 1 Wireless headset back in early 2020 (albeit with a fancier USB-C dongle), but it’s still generally difficult to find a headset that can accomplish this feat.Outside of this functionality, the ins and... Continue reading…

The much-anticipated feature is rolling out to TVs like the X90J. | Image: Sony Sony reportedly started rolling out an update to enable variable refresh rate on its 2021 TVs with the Bravia XR processor almost a year after promising that the feature was coming, according to HDTVTest’s Vincent Teoh and posts on an owners’ forum. Variable refresh rate, or VRR, essentially lets your TV smooth out any stutters or frame rate drops that may happen while gaming, without the annoying screen artifacts or slight input lag that can come with other solutions.Somewhat ironically, Sony’s own PlayStation 5 doesn’t support VRR yet — the company promised it would add the feature via a software update, but so far there haven’t been any signs of it. The Xbox Series X and S, however, do support it, as will any gaming PC with a... Continue reading…