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by Catie Keck on (#5VYAF)
Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images Disney Plus is experimenting with live streams, dedicating its first to Academy Award nominations.“We performed a test for live streaming capabilities on Disney+ in the U.S. with this morning’s Academy Award nominations,” the company told The Verge in a statement. “We are pleased with the results and will continue to test as part of our ongoing and iterative approach to deliver the best user experiences to consumers.”This was Disney’s first live test and was accessible by all Disney Plus subscribers in the US, company spokesperson Kristie Adler told The Verge. The company did not have any further details to share about livestreaming in the future. The news of Disney’s first livestreaming event was previously reported by TechCrunch.W... Continue reading…
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The Verge
| Link | https://www.theverge.com/ |
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| Updated | 2025-07-22 19:18 |
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by Victoria Song on (#5VYAG)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Things are a lot less rosy for Peloton these days. Once a pandemic darling, the connected fitness company has seen its stock price plunge in recent months. TV shows have turned its bike into a deadly punchline, and there’s been no shortage of rumors speculating which company should buy Peloton to save it from impending doom.Then today, Peloton kicked off its Q2 earnings call with a flurry of news: the company has a new CEO. It’s eliminating 2,800 jobs globally, scaling back marketing, and putting the kibosh on its North American manufacturing ambitions. Altogether, it’s a grim picture that raises questions about whether Peloton can find a way out of this mess.As a fitness tech reviewer, Peloton’s business woes are bewildering because... Continue reading…
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by Richard Lawler on (#5VXT6)
It’s always a flower shop - Nilay Patel | Image: Apple Apple just announced plans to roll out Tap to Pay on iPhone, allowing businesses to use mobile devices as a payment terminal for contactless payments. A Bloomberg report from 2020 noted Apple’s acquisition of a startup, Mobeewave, focused on building this technology, and a rumor from the same outlet in January revealed it was getting close to a rollout. Now, Apple has confirmed the feature, which will take payments from “contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets.”What does this mean for Square and its dongles?Tap to Pay on iPhone isn’t ready for you to use today but the supporting API has arrived today in the iOS 15.4 beta 2, potentially enabling the feature on iPhone XS and later models. There are older iPhones... Continue reading…
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by Mia Sato on (#5VY8H)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok is updating its community guidelines and rolling out new features that the company says will support the well-being of its users. Some of the policy changes crack down on content the company has previously come under fire for, including videos that critics say glorify eating disorders and dangerous viral challenges.The company announced today it would begin removing videos that promote disordered eating symptoms like short-term fasting and overexercising. Content promoting eating disorders is already banned on the platform, but news reports have repeatedly shown users are exposed to videos featuring unhealthy eating habits. During an October congressional hearing, senators pressed TikTok representatives on further protecting... Continue reading…
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by Allison Johnson on (#5VY6A)
The Pixel 3 and 3 XL offered great cameras and improved displays. | Photo by James Bareham / The Verge This month’s security update is the last for Google’s Pixel 3 and 3 XL, as noted by 9to5google. That’s actually one more update than the company promised — official support was only guaranteed through October last year. Yet with one last OS update to Android 12 and this final security patch, Google has finally retired the devices.The Pixel 3 marked a high point in the Pixel series’ early evolution. Google righted the wrongs of the Pixel 2’s display problems and continued to impress with its camera capabilities. Funny-looking notch on the XL aside, they were great-looking devices that did their class-leading cameras real justice.For a couple of generations after the 3, Google couldn’t quite keep the momentum going, as it missed on... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#5VY6B)
Heather Morgan, who was arrested along with her husband, performed under the name “Razzlekhan.” | Image: Razzlekhan The Department of Justice has finally found almost all of the billions worth of Bitcoin stolen during the 2016 hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex — in the hands of a published Forbes and Inc. writer and rapper, who calls herself the “Crocodile of Wall Street,” and her startup founder husband.The DOJ says it seized about $3.6 billion worth of the cryptocurrency, allegedly held by Heather Morgan and her husband, Ilya Lichtenstein. The couple is accused of trying to cover their tracks by laundering the stolen funds through “a labyrinth of cryptocurrency transactions.” It’s the department’s “largest financial seizure ever,” according to a Tuesday press release.The DOJ doesn’t explicitly say they stole the billions in cryptocurrency —... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#5VY6C)
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony announced that it will begin rolling out its second PS5 software beta on Wednesday, bringing changes including party chat updates, new UI settings, and a preview of a voice command feature.According to Sony’s blog about the beta, your PS5 can listen for the “Hey PlayStation!” voice command to let you find and open games, apps, and settings as well as control playback during a show or a song. If you don’t want to use it, Sony says you can turn the feature off in settings. The voice command feature will be available first in English for beta users with accounts registered in the US and the UK. Image: Sony Here are the settings for the upcoming voice commands feature. Sony is also making some changes to... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#5VY6D)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Remember Fleets, Twitter’s disappearing tweets feature that was shut down just eight and a half months after it launched for everyone? No? Well, Twitter is pretending it doesn’t either — at least according to a tweet from the official @Twitter account on Tuesday:
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by Justine Calma on (#5VY6E)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Within a few days last week, the World Wildlife Fund hyped up and then quietly canceled plans to raise money for conservation efforts by minting its own NFTs. The UK chapter of WWF unleashed a firestorm on itself by releasing “Tokens for Nature depicting 13 endangered species. The tokens look like glass cubes encasing each animal: a giant panda, Javan rhino, and Galápagos penguin, to name a few. And they really pissed off other environmentalists.“My initial response [to World Wildlife Fund’s NFTs] was they must be joking … They’re supposed to be all for sustainable innovations, and they’re getting involved with one of the least sustainable things on the planet,” says digital currency economist Alex de Vries, who has been outspoken about... Continue reading…
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by Chaim Gartenberg on (#5VY47)
Qualcomm has announced its latest automotive partner: none other than Ferrari, with whom it’ll be entering into a “strategic technology collaboration” that will (eventually) see Qualcomm’s automative technology make its way into future Ferrari cars.As part of the deal, Ferarri plans to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Digital Chassis suite in the future, although there are frustratingly few specifics as to which Snapdragon technologies Ferrari plans to use or which vehicles they’ll be integrated into. The Snapdragon Digital Chassis branding serves as Qualcomm’s overarching brand for its automotive solutions, including Snapdragon Ride (for automated and assistive driver technologies), Snapdragon Cockpit (for in-car experiences and SoCs), and... Continue reading…
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by Chris Welch on (#5VY28)
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Google can’t seem to catch a break with software updates for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, the first phones that are powered by the company’s own Tensor chip. After having to pull an earlier update that caused a rash of bugs and connectivity issues for early buyers of the phones, Google tried to get back on track by taking its time with the January update. That seemed to go okay, and yesterday, the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro both received the February software release (with more bug fixes in tow) right alongside older models, and it looked like everything was getting back to normal.Not quite.Yet again, there are initial reports of problems with the February update that are specifically affecting the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro and leaving other Pixels... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#5VY29)
The new benefits go into place in April. | Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images Apple is increasing its time off benefits for full- and part-time retail employees, according to a new Bloomberg report and information separately shared by a source to The Verge.The company will introduce the following new benefits starting April 4th, Bloomberg reports:
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by Kim Lyons on (#5VXZX)
No cannabis ads in the Super Bowl | Photo by Peerapon Boonyakiat/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images If a brand wants to reach — or offend — a large swath of Americans all at once, there are few better venues than a Super Bowl ad. There are plenty of brands advertising this year that wouldn’t have been allowed in the big game just a few years ago, such as hard liquor or sports betting apps. This year’s ad lineup even includes ads for cryptocurrencies, a product still far from the American mainstream despite what your laser-eyed Twitter followers may tell you.But one so-called “lifestyle” product — cannabis — is once again shut out from the Super Bowl this year, even though it’s legal in a majority of US states, and public support for legal weed has never been higher. Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level in the US, however,... Continue reading…
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by Corin Faife on (#5VXZY)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Nudging users toward security works.That’s the top-line finding four months into Google’s initiative to enroll users in two-factor authentication by default, detailed in a blog post to coincide with Safer Internet Day on February 8th.In October 2021, the company announced plans to turn on two-factor authentication by default for 150 million Google users who were not currently using the service and to require 2 million YouTube creators to use it. In the latest post, Google says it observed a 50 percent decrease in accounts being compromised among that test user group.The strategy shows the power of a tech giant like Google to provide security by default and fits into a years-long project to move users toward a more robust security... Continue reading…
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by Kim Lyons on (#5VXXE)
Peloton laid off 2,800 people on February 8th. | Photo by Joe Raedle / Getty Images As Peloton announced it was firing 2,800 people Tuesday morning, its outgoing CEO outlined in a memo the “meaningful” severance package those who are losing their jobs will receive, and great news: it includes a complimentary Peloton membership for the next year. Because really, getting a shoutout from an instructor or showing up on the leaderboard during that brutal HIIT class provided by your former employer is sure to take the sting out of losing your job.The memo from John Foley (who is losing the CEO job but will stay on as executive chairman) said Peloton saw “unprecedented demand” during the pandemic, but the company’s “post-COVID demand picture looks different than anticipated,” so it is slashing thousands of jobs (which r... Continue reading…
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by Emma Roth on (#5VXXF)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google Chrome is rolling out Journeys, a feature that lets you revisit your old browsing sessions based on the subject matter you were searching for. If you type a word in the address bar that’s related to some convoluted rabbit hole you’ve been down in the past, you’ll see a “Resume your research” option that links you to the related sites you’ve visited before. Image by Google Journeys clumps together related searches from past browsing sessions. So far, it sounds like it could be a much more viable solution than digging through your search history for that one site you kind of remember visiting three weeks ago. If you were knee-deep in research about axolotls, you should see all the related pages you... Continue reading…
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by Ashley Carman on (#5VXXG)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge This story originally ran in Hot Pod, The Verge’s preeminent audio industry newsletter. You can subscribe here for more scoops, analysis, and reporting.Let’s pick up with the news last week that Spotify hosted an internal town hall during which CEO Daniel Ek addressed his staff around the world. I obtained the audio from that meeting, and you can read the transcript in full here. (Over the weekend, there was also a second twist in the Rogan story involving a viral video of the comedian using the n-word many times. You can read all about that here and Spotify’s response here. And then my take here. Links, we got ‘em.)Today, though, I want to focus on Ek’s message to his employees, some of whom have concerns about Spotify’s choice to... Continue reading…
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by Chaim Gartenberg on (#5VXXH)
CalDigit makes the biggest, best Thunderbolt docks around, and it’s finally getting on the Thunderbolt 4 train with its new TS4 dock — a $359.95 dock that offers a whopping 18 total ports to handle any accessory you can throw at it, along with 98W of passthrough power for keeping your laptop charged.Let’s just jump right into the most important thing here: the ports, which CalDigit boasts are “the most featured on any Thunderbolt dock ever.” Thunderbolt 4 support is the big headliner here, but the TS4 should work with Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3, USB4, and USB-C devices, so it’ll be handy even if you have an older device, too.While the company’s old flagship TS3 Plus dock only had two Thunderbolt ports (one for connecting to your... Continue reading…
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by Andrew Webster on (#5VXT7)
Image: Pixar Pixar provided a fresh look at its Buzz Lightyear origin story with a trailer that introduces the rest of the cast — including a robot cat. Lightyear is a sci-fi action movie about the character Buzz Lightyear, not the toy, this time voiced by Chris Evans. The new trailer features some of his space ranger compatriots — voiced by Keke Palmer, Dale Soules, and Taika Waititi — along with Sox, a creepy robotic feline played by Peter Sohn.Now, the entire premise of Lightyear is a little confusing, and in a statement, director Angus MacLane tried to clear things up. “In Toy Story there seemed to be this incredible backstory to him being a Space Ranger that’s only touched upon, and I always wanted to explore that world further,” he explains.... Continue reading…
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by Loren Grush on (#5VXT8)
An artistic rendering of what the MAV could look like launching from Mars | Image: NASA NASA has picked space and defense contractor Lockheed Martin to build a small rocket capable of lifting off from the surface of Mars carrying samples of the Red Planet’s rocks and other materials. The decision is a big step in a long journey to eventually bring pristine pieces of Mars back to Earth so that scientists can study them in greater detail. If successful, Lockheed Martin’s rocket could become the first to launch from another planet.The rocket that Lockheed Martin is charged with building is known as the “Mars Ascent Vehicle,” or the MAV. It’s a key part of NASA’s plan to retrieve samples of Martian dirt that are currently being gathered by the space agency’s Mars rover, Perseverance. Last year, NASA successfully landed... Continue reading…
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by Russell Brandom on (#5VXT9)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In an opinion issued on Tuesday, the Oversight Board called on Facebook and Instagram to place tighter restrictions on sharing the addresses of private homes, intended as a protection against doxxing and targeted harassment.The opinion comes in response to a request issued by Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) in April 2021. Currently, Facebook prohibits the sharing of private information broadly but makes a general exception for information that is “publicly available” — defined as having been published in five separate news outlets.The board recommends crafting a tighter policy specifically for information on private residences. It urges removing the exception for publicly available information and creating a... Continue reading…
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by Andrew J. Hawkins on (#5VXTA)
Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Uber has no qualms about annoying its customers to pressure them to do something. The latest example is a new feature that will emit a series of chimes until passengers buckle their seatbelts.Previously, Uber drivers would rely on signage to encourage passengers to secure their seatbelts. (Google “Uber seatbelt sign,” and you’ll see plenty of examples.) Now the company wants to cut out the middle man and just use a beeping noise to get the job done.It’s a fairly simple approach: the driver’s app will issue a series of beeps, while the rider’s app will send push notifications reminding them to buckle up. Most vehicles in the US have seatbelt reminders built-in, but that does not typically cover rear-seat passengers. The app... Continue reading…
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by Charles Pulliam-Moore on (#5VXTB)
Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides. | Warner Bros. Looking at the nominations for this year’s Academy Awards, one might say that Timothée Chalamet saw this coming.With Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog being nominated for 12 Oscars and Dennis Villeneuve’s Dune snagging noms for 10, this year’s Academy Awards are shaping up to be an interesting battle between quiet, intimate prestige and big studio spectacle. Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story are both up for seven statues each, and while there are certainly some odd-on favorites in each category, there are also some genuine wildcards in the mix, like Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman’s performances in Being the Ricardos, that are an important reminder of how the Academy can and will surprise you in ways you... Continue reading…
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by Antonio G. Di Benedetto on (#5VNDD)
Save on Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV 4K, and other streaming devices for Super Bowl LVI. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge An annual February tradition is once again fast approaching. We want to be sure you’re prepared and help you spend your money wisely. Is it Valentine’s Day, you ask? No, but we’ve got you covered there, too. It’s the day before that, the Super Bowl — also known as the “big game” if you’re an American or an advertiser legally barred from using the trademarked term. Whether you’re into the actual game of football and rooting for the Los Angeles Rams or Cincinnati Bengals — or you’re just there for the commercials, snacks, and halftime show — you want to ensure the stream you’re watching looks good.The Super Bowl may not be broadcast natively in 4K, but you want to have a streaming device that stacks up to whatever performance your TV is... Continue reading…
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by Nilay Patel on (#5VXTC)
Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge How a Black news startup was born from a racial justice reckoning Continue reading…
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by Shubham Agarwal on (#5VXPV)
Animation by Alex Castro India’s instant delivery apps are pushing drivers into accidents Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#5VXPT)
One of Destiny’s biggest seasons is about to begin Continue reading…
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by Jon Porter on (#5VXPS)
Image: Samsung The company promises to ‘break the rules’ at its February 9th event Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#5VXPR)
The openings feature looks to avoid the back-and-forth that often comes with setting up a meeting. | Image: Flexibits There’s a new update to Fantastical, the popular calendar app for Apple devices, which brings along a new “Openings” feature that lets people easily book a meeting with you, as well as an overhaul of the app’s Proposals feature. The update is meant to keep you from having to spend “large amounts of time messaging multiple people to try and find a time that syncs up with multiple invitees and schedules,” according to Michael Simmons, CEO and co-founder of Flexibits, the company behind Fantastical. The new scheduling features are included in Flexibits Premium, the $5 a month ($40 a year) subscription that unlocks some of Fantastical’s most useful features.The headlining feature, Openings, has a similar function to other scheduling tools... Continue reading…
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by Nicole Wetsman on (#5VXPW)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon’s virtual healthcare program, Amazon Care, is now available nationwide, the company announced today. The hybrid service, which pairs virtual care with the option for an in-home nurse’s visit, will be available in 20 additional cities in 2022, according to a blog post. That in-person component is already up and running in eight cities, including Seattle and Los Angeles.Amazon first launched its healthcare service for Amazon employees living in Seattle in the fall of 2019. It made the program available to other companies in Washington state in March 2021 and, at that point, announced plans to expand to all 50 states.Companies like technology group Silicon Labs and Whole Foods Market (which is owned by Amazon) offer Amazon Care... Continue reading…
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by Allison Johnson on (#5VXM2)
The Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra will likely be the last proper Note devices that Samsung releases. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Samsung’s first 2022 Galaxy Unpacked event hasn’t started yet, but we’ve already got a strong notion that the event spells the end of the Note series. We know this because Samsung has done everything except shout from the rooftops that the next S-series Ultra will absorb the Note and its built-in stylus. You can even go ahead and preorder it if you want because, truly, what is a phone launch these days? In any case, Samsung is making the right call for its business and its brand, even if it stings a little for the Note faithful.The future of the Note looked dubious last year when rumors of its demise circulated, and Samsung said that the S21 series would offer S pen support. Early in 2021, a Samsung exec expressed doubts about shipping... Continue reading…
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by Barbara Krasnoff on (#5VXM1)
If you’ve been following The Verge’s coverage of the Spotify / Joe Rogan / Neil Young / Joni Mitchell stories, you may have decided to change from Spotify to another music service — or maybe you want to move from one service to another for another reason. At any rate, you will find that none of the services offer a built-in way to move your playlists — the ones that you’ve spent months or years building up — to a different music app.There are, however, at least four apps that will help you move your playlists if you want: FreeYourMusic, SongShift, Soundiiz, and Tune My Music.I tried out all four with my own not-very-impressive Spotify playlists to see how well they worked. I have six personal playlists (including one starred and one... Continue reading…
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by Sheena Vasani on (#5VXM3)
Several retailers are selling the Chromecast with Google TV for $39.99 instead of $49.99. | Image: The Verge The Super Bowl is less than a week away, which means you only have a few more days to take advantage of the streaming device deals currently available (and receive your purchase on time). Right now, you can pick up what we consider to be the best streaming device on the market, the Chromecast with Google TV, at a discount. Normally $49.99, it’s on sale at Best Buy, Target, Adorama, and Walmart for $39.99, matching its lowest price to date.Google’s latest Chromecast offers support for 4K content, Dolby Atmos sound with compatible content, and Dolby Vision HDR, as well as access to all the major streaming services. The streamer also makes it easy to find something to watch, with software that brings together recommendations from a variety... Continue reading…
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by Tom Warren on (#5VXM4)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft will soon allow Xbox Series X / S owners to fully customize the Share button on their controllers. While you’ve been able to use the Xbox Share button to create screenshots or game clips, you’ll soon be able to map it to lots of Xbox features including controlling the TV volume, accessing search, or switching on Night Mode.Xbox Insider testers in the Alpha and Skip-Ahead Alpha rings can now access a new controller firmware update that enables the new customization for the Xbox Share button. You can then remap the button for hold, press, and double tap to the following options:
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by Harrison Jacobs on (#5VXHG)
Illustration by Claudia Chinyere Akole So artists are joining together to fight back Continue reading…
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by James Vincent on (#5VXHH)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The world of online creators is increasingly divided on the subject of NFTs, but indie game store Itch.io has taken a firm and clear stance on the topic.“A few have asked about our stance on NFTs,” the company tweeted this week. “NFTs are a scam. If you think they are legitimately useful for anything other than the exploitation of creators, financial scams, and the destruction of the planet [then] we ask that [you] please reevaluate your life choices.”Itch.io’s strong stance is notable at a time when many organizations — from gaming companies to digital storefronts like Itch.io itself — are at least toying with the idea of integrating NFTs. GameStop recently announced plans to launch its own NFT marketplace while games giant Ubisoft... Continue reading…
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by James Vincent on (#5VXFR)
Spin free little GPU. If you can’t get your hands on a new GPU right now, you could at least have a miniature version sitting at your fingertips. As seen via Tom’s Hardware, a new custom keycap in the form of an Asus ROG Strix brand GPU is now on sale in China. It replaces the right-shift key on your keyboard and comes with three miniature spinning cooling fans (though, sadly, there are no tiny customizable LED lights).It’s not the first novelty GPU keycap we’ve seen. Last year, a custom keycap resembling an NVIDIA RTX 3080 started doing the rounds, and became something of a talisman for gamers struggling to buy the real thing due to the ongoing chip shortage. (And which is now available to buy from places like AliExpress for around $40.)These keycaps are... Continue reading…
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by Thomas Ricker on (#5VXFS)
Training on the Peloton Tread. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Peloton is replacing its CEO and losing about 2,800 jobs among other cost-cutting measures, according to a press release issued by the company. The job cuts amount to around 20 percent of the former pandemic darling’s corporate workforce, but will not affect the company’s lauded roster of instructors or fitness content. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.Peloton hopes the changes will boost profitability after waning demand for its connected fitness equipment have made it an acquisition target, with Amazon, Nike, and even Apple named as possible suitors. The company, once valued at $50 billion, plunged to around $8 billion last week before takeover rumors began to swirl.Once valued at $50 billion, it plunged to... Continue reading…
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by James Vincent on (#5VXE3)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The UK government has revived plans for porn sites to verify users’ ages — an initiative that was scrapped in 2019 due to technical challenges and criticism from privacy campaigners.The new rules will be part of the UK’s Online Safety Bill, a mammoth piece of legislation intended to reset how digital platforms are governed in the country. The bill originally stipulated that only porn sites that allowed user-generated content (like OnlyFans) would have to verify users’ ages, but this has now been updated to cover all pornography sites.“Parents deserve peace of mind that their children are protected online from seeing things no child should see,” said digital minister Chris Philp in a statement. “We are now strengthening the online... Continue reading…
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by Jon Porter on (#5VEW8)
A leaked image, apparently of Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra. | Image: evleaks (Twitter) The Galaxy S22 will likely be the main event, but what else could there be? Continue reading…
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by Sam Byford on (#5VXB2)
Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Epic Games doesn’t plan to update Fortnite so that it runs on SteamOS, according to CEO Tim Sweeney, meaning owners of the upcoming Valve Steam Deck will likely have to install Windows to play the popular battle-royale game.In a series of tweets, Sweeney said that the company doesn’t feel confident about its ability to combat cheating in Fortnite when running on custom kernel configurations. Fortnite isn’t on the Steam store in any case, but Sweeney’s comments rule out a Linux version that could run on the Steam Deck.The Steam Deck uses Valve’s SteamOS, which is based on Linux, and makes use of a compatibility layer called Proton so that Steam games compiled for Windows can run on it. Epic has made its anti-cheat software, Easy... Continue reading…
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by Mitchell Clark on (#5VX2R)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Neil Young has told Spotify workers that the company’s CEO — not Joe Rogan — is the real problem, and is urging them to “get out of that place before it eats up your soul” (via Variety). This comes after Young pulled his music from Spotify, claiming the company was “spreading fake information about vaccines” through Joe Rogan’s podcast.Young’s recent fight against Spotify initially targeted Rogan’s podcast, but now he seems to be blaming Spotify’s leadership instead. In an open letter posted to his website on Monday, Young says that CEO Daniel Ek is all about “numbers - not art, not creativity.”Neil urges people to “ditch the misinformers” in his letter.Young ended Monday’s letter by urging Spotify employees to “be free and take the... Continue reading…
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by Jay Peters on (#5VX2S)
Samsung is expected to announce three new tablet models soon, and leaker Evan Blass has shared a lot of information about them. | Image: Evan Blass via his Substack We’re less than two days out from Samsung’s next Unpacked event. Ahead of the big show, leaked renders, pictures, and even a press release have revealed just about everything regarding the unannounced Galaxy Tab S8 lineup, which is the first to include a high-end “Ultra” model. Not only that, that Tab S8 Ultra has already been photographed in the wild.Let’s start first with that press release. Serial leaker Evan Blass shared images of what looks to be Samsung’s entire press release about the Tab S8 lineup from his Leakland Substack, and the release corroborates other rumors about Samsung’s expected three new tablet models: the Galaxy Tab S8, S8 Plus, and S8 Ultra. Just a few highlights from the release: the tablets will apparently... Continue reading…
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by Sean Hollister on (#5VX1S)
Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Graphics giant Nvidia will no longer be spending $40 billion to acquire Arm, parent company SoftBank has announced, citing “significant regulatory challenges.” The news was first reported by the Financial Times.Nvidia will be paying $1.25 billion to SoftBank for failing to go through with the transaction, while Arm CEO Simon Segars is stepping down to be replaced by Arm’s head of IP Rene Haas, who coincidentally used to run Nvidia’s own Arm business many years ago.“[Segars] has decided that at this stage of his career, the time and energy required to take the company public and everything around that was not something he wanted to sign up to,” Haas tells TechCrunch. “So he’s going to step down. I’m going to take over for him.”Arm... Continue reading…
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by Umar Shakir on (#5VX1T)
Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost surprised by Alexa’s response in Amazon’s 2022 Super Bowl ad | Image: Amazon Amazon’s Super Bowl LVI ad features real-life celebrity couple Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost, imagining how a mind-reading Alexa could wreck their relationship by revealing unfiltered thoughts to each other.The ad starts at the couple’s home with Jost calling Johansson over to check out a cool smart home command for the big game. “Alexa, it’s game day,” Jost confidently calls out, and the home assistant turns on the TV with football playing on Amazon’s Prime video service, closes the blinds, and, to their surprise, specifically chills the rosé bottles in a smart wine cooler. “It’s like she can read your mind,” they say together.This last action of cooling the bottles is based on a real feature of Alexa called Hunches, where Amazon... Continue reading…
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by Emma Roth on (#5VX0G)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge CoinDesk has fixed an exploit that allowed anyone to view unpublished headlines, create drafts, and edit articles on the website. In a post on its site, CoinDesk says the vulnerability could’ve let “unidentified actors” view non-public information, allowing them to make trading decisions they could profit from.“The issue is now fixed and added safeguards have been put in place”“The exploit, which was brought to CoinDesk’s attention by a white-hat hacker, may have allowed unidentified actors to profit from nonpublic information by making trades ahead of the publication of at least one article,” Kevin Worth, CoinDesk’s chief content officer writes in the post. “The issue is now fixed and added safeguards have been put in place.”While... Continue reading…
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by Victoria Song on (#5VWYS)
Tag yourself, I’m nervous penguin. | Image: Samsung Samsung isn’t expected to launch a new smartwatch at its Unpacked event this week, but it hasn’t forgotten the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. Starting February 9th, both smartwatches will support new health and fitness features like custom interval training, sleep coaching, and the ability to set body composition goals. Oh, and it’s also promising better app compatibility for the new Wear OS platform — but you’re still going to have to wait a bit for Google Assistant.Sleep tracking has been an area where Samsung’s lagged a bit compared to more fitness-oriented trackers. On that front, Samsung is adding a sleep coaching program that seems to take some inspiration from chronotypes — in a nutshell, it’s basically what your... Continue reading…
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by Chaim Gartenberg on (#5VWYT)
Signal is rolling out a new feature that allows users to switch phone numbers on their account without losing all their existing chats, groups, and messages within the secure messaging app.In order to add a new number, you’ll still need to be able to get Signal messages sent to your old number. Then, head over to the new “Change Phone Number” option under Signal’s account settings, where you’ll be asked to enter in both the old and new numbers. Lastly, Signal will guide you through the usual registration process for setting up a phone number with one of its accounts. Once you’ve successfully updated your number, contacts you’ve been chatting with in Signal will see a new message inline in your thread that notes that... Continue reading…
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by Catie Keck on (#5VWYV)
Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images FuboTV is temporarily testing a new quarterly format that lumps together three months at once rather than the monthly subscriptions it usually offers. The change conveniently arrives just in time for two of the biggest sports events of the year: Super Bowl LVI and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.The company told The Verge that the temporary pricing, earlier spotted by The TV Answer Man, launched a few days ago and is expected to conclude on February 17th. The test does not affect existing subscribers and isn’t available on every platform, but FuboTV spokesperson Jennifer Press says most of FuboTV’s new subscribers will be prompted to subscribe to the quarterly plans.Most of FuboTV’s platforms are offering the new plans during the... Continue reading…
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