The Verge

Image: Valve Valve will finally start selling the $400 Steam Deck gaming handheld on February 25th, after a two-month delay — but you won’t have to wait another minute to see hardware in reviewers’ hands. GamersNexus, Linus Tech Tips, and The Phawx have now published extensive impressions to YouTube with the final version of the Steam Deck, giving us their thoughts on ergonomics, performance, battery life, and more.While you shouldn’t take these as final Steam Deck reviews — Valve only let them test specific games, and they had to stay away from the underlying OS — I’m pretty sure you’ll get useful info from each of them if you’re on the fence.For instance, none of them are seeing quite the battery life that Valve’s been promising, which is kind... Continue reading…

Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images Venture capitalist Peter Thiel is stepping down from his long-standing role on Meta’s (formerly Facebook’s) board of directors. The New York Times reported the news on Monday, and Meta confirmed it in a press release, saying Thiel would continue to serve until the company’s annual stockholder meeting.The Times cites an unnamed source who says Thiel is retiring in order to focus on November’s US midterm elections. Thiel didn’t elaborate on his reasons for leaving in an official statement, nor did Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “Peter has been a valuable member of our board and I’m deeply grateful for everything he has done for our company,” said Zuckerberg. “Peter is truly an original thinker who you can bring your hardest problems and get... Continue reading…

Hulu The Dropout, Hulu’s upcoming miniseries based on ABC’s podcast by the same name about disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, has the unenviable task of dramatizing an already out-there story revolving around a rather unbelievable person and getting audiences to take it seriously. But judging from the serious first trailer, The Dropout might just be able to pull it off.The trailer traces the by-now-familiar arc of Holmes’ (Amanda Seyfried) story that began with her dropping out of Stanford to start what would eventually become Theranos and more recently saw the disgraced inventor being found guilty for defrauding Theranos’ investors. Guided by ambition and a belief that she could will her visions into existence, Holmes crosses... Continue reading…

Warner Bros. Another major studio is facing a lawsuit over the day-and-date releases of a highly anticipated title. Village Roadshow Films, which co-produced The Matrix Resurrections with Warner Bros., is suing WarnerMedia for releasing the film on HBO Max the same day it debuted in theaters.The lawsuit, filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that WarnerMedia “rushed” the release of The Matrix Resurrections from 2022 to 2021 so that the film could debut as part of an internally coded initiative known as “Project Popcorn.” This release model would trade box office revenue for streaming subscriptions, depriving partners of revenue tied to the film’s performance.Throughout 2021, WarnerMedia opted to release its full slate of films s... Continue reading…

The Pixel 6 is getting a few tweaks, and earlier phones get one or two. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales Google is rolling out its February update for Pixel phones running Android 12, which is meant to fix a few camera, Bluetooth, and keyboard issues. The company says that some users will start getting the update today and that the “rollout will continue over the next week in phases depending on carrier and device.” Google’s previous update process was a bit of a fiasco for Pixel 6 owners, so hopefully, this one ends up being more routine.If you’ve got one of Google’s latest phones, the Pixel 6 or 6 Pro, this update contains:

Frontier and Spirit claim they will become “America’s most competitive ultra-low fare airline.” | Photo by Derek Davis/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images Frontier Airlines plans to acquire Spirit Airlines, both of which are known for offering cheaper flights than other airlines, in a deal worth $6.6 billion, the two companies announced Monday. While Frontier and Spirit claim they will become “America’s most competitive ultra-low fare airline,” the acquisition will ultimately remove one airline from the market and potentially create less competition for more affordable flights.That said, it’s not as if the new company will be small potatoes — the combined Frontier / Spirit airline will be the fifth-largest airline in the US, according to CNBC — so perhaps the new company will be able to better compete against bigger rivals with lower prices. But the wireless market hasn’t dramatically... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Internal Revenue Service has announced that it will transition away from the use of third-party facial recognition services for the verification of taxpayers’ identities, effectively ending a contract with facial recognition company ID.me that had received widespread criticism.The announcement was made in a press release published by the agency today. It follows weeks of intense public criticism after the agency announced in January that by summer 2022, ID.me would be the only way for taxpayers to log in when managing tax accounts online, requiring that all users upload a selfie to access their account at irs.gov.“The IRS takes taxpayer privacy and security seriously, and we understand the concerns that have been raised,” said IRS... Continue reading…

Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images The Joe Rogan situation at Spotify keeps getting more confused.As the situation has evolved, so has the company’s treatment of its star podcaster. One day, it says it’s a hands-off platform that treats all creators the same. The next, it admits to having backdoor discussions with Rogan and pulling episodes due to outrage over language used on the show. The whiplash undermines Spotify’s narrative about how it interacts with Rogan and other podcasters and offers a window into the delicate relationship between Rogan and the company that depends on him to stay differentiated. Let’s dive into where things aren’t lining up.Spotify has reiterated multiple times now that it considers itself merely a platform for podcasts — despite paying... Continue reading…

Image by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is finally planning to block Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros by default in a variety of Office apps. The change will apply to Office files that are downloaded from the internet and include macros, so Office users will no longer be able to enable certain content with a simple click of a button.“The default is more secure and is expected to keep more users safe including home users and information workers in managed organizations,” explains Kellie Eickmeyer, a principal PM at Microsoft.Macros can be a security headache for IT adminsHackers have been targeting Office documents with malicious macros for years, and while Office has long prompted users to click to enable macros running, this simple button could lead to... Continue reading…

Photo by Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via Getty Images Ethereum Name Service (ENS) fired its director of operations, Brantly Millegan, over derogatory comments he made about the LGBTQ community, according to CoinDesk. ENS founder Nick Johnson announced that True Names Limited, the nonprofit that backs the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), terminated Millegan’s contract.ENS is the blockchain protocol that converts wallet addresses into custom domain names. It provides nearly 300,000 cryptocurrency users with an easy way to create a kind of web3 username, and is formatted “username.eth.” Its widespread use was part of why Millegan’s years-old comments, made in a tweet, caused an uproar. Several members of the community expressed outrage about his comments and said they hope to keep... Continue reading…

Super Bowl LVI will be played at SoFi Stadium in LA — but it’ll take crucial seconds for the livestream to reach fans who are watching over the internet instead of traditional broadcast methods. | Photo by Jevone Moore / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images There’s a lot that can go wrong for cord-cutters, particularly when it comes to live sports: buffering, crashing, login issues, you name it. It’s almost certain that the next big US sporting event, Super Bowl LVI, will face many of the same hiccups — and that’s especially true for anyone hoping to place bets on the big game.As cord-cutting becomes more common in households, these problems have become entirely too frequent for anyone hoping to stream a live event. Take, for example, the recent 2020 Summer Olympics Games, where even finding specific coverage was needlessly complicated, and streaming didn’t work the way it was promised to.That’s a big problem for interactivity in sports streaming and bet-placing exploding with wider... Continue reading…

Image: Yeedi Another week, another chance to kick it off with some savings. Let’s start with an exceptional value on some robot vacuums. Robovacs get very expensive very quickly, though there are some lower-cost options worth your time. Today, and today only, you can get the Yeedi k650 vacuum for just $113.99 on Amazon’s deal of the day when you click the on-page coupon for an added $20 discount. This sale knocks $66 off the price of this robot vacuum that tackles pet hair and syncs with Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa to slot into your smart home life. It features an extra-large 800-milliliter dustbin, which is helpful because, in the end, you have to empty it yourself.If you prefer the convenience of a self-emptying robot vacuum, Yeedi’s Vac... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Blame out-of-date legislation and odd notions of public morality Continue reading…

Apple’s upcoming iOS 15.4 software update appears to have quietly added a massive quality of life change for its Shortcuts app: the ability to disable the incredibly annoying notifications for personal automations that users have set up on their devices, as spotted by Fjorden developer Florian Bürger on Twitter.For those who don’t use Shortcuts regularly, the automations feature is one of the most useful and powerful tools that Apple gives its users access to. At its heart, it lets users set up basic “if / then” triggers for a variety of conditions on an iPhone, be it a specific time of day, arriving at a location, getting an email or text from a specific contact, joining a Wi-Fi network, tapping an NFC tag, opening an app, or when... Continue reading…

Photo by Patrick Pleul - Pool/Getty Images The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a subpoena to Tesla over Elon Musk’s 2018 tweet about taking the company private, according to Bloomberg.The news of the subpoena, which was issued November 16th, 2021, reignites a feud between Musk and the SEC that has been simmering for over four years. Musk sent the notorious tweet on August 7th, 2018, in which he claimed to have the funding to take Tesla private at $420 a share. (Tesla has been a publicly traded company since 2010.)Musk said on Twitter that he had “funding secured” to pull off the deal and buy out any shareholders who didn’t want to stick with the company. He published these tweets during the afternoon while trading was still happening, and the company’s stock price... Continue reading…

If you’re looking to upgrade your current webcam or you’re buying your very first one, prepare to be overwhelmed by options. Webcams come in all shapes, sizes, and prices, but not many of them are worth your money. If you just want a few pointers to get better video quality than your average plug-and-play webcam can likely provide, we’ve got you covered.In this video, we dig into exactly why the Opal C1 is a great webcam if you’re someone who values good video quality. What sets it apart from other webcams is its reliance on software and machine learning — not just hardware — to provide a good picture. It’s close to being the ideal gadget for those who can’t put down several hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on a high-end... Continue reading…

Sloclap’s love letter to kung fu won’t be received by everyone Continue reading…

Illustration by Claudia Chinyere Akole In our third installment of Making It Work, The Verge takes a look at how creators and small businesses are dealing with familiar issues: imitations, copycats, and ripoffs. It’s an age-old challenge that has only gotten bigger as artists rely on online platforms to promote and distribute their work.From fashion giants stealing from an independent designer to illustrators finding their work for sale on an unknown marketplace, here are the many ways creators are contending with a problem that keeps popping up in unexpected places. Continue reading…

Illustration by Claudia Chinyere Akole Online sales gave Gee’s Bend quilters control over their work Continue reading…

Illustration by Claudia Chinyere Akole Keycap clones are readily available, affordable, and shameless Continue reading…

Microsoft appears to be working on several new Windows 11 features that the company has not yet publicly announced. References to stickers for desktop wallpapers, the ability to hide the taskbar for tablets, and a sustainability section in Settings have all been discovered in the latest test version of Windows 11. The new features have been uncovered just days after Microsoft announced it would test more experimental Windows 11 features.The new customization feature to bring stickers to desktop wallpapers in Windows 11 has been shared by Windows enthusiast Albacore on Twitter. Screenshots show you’ll be able to pick stickers, commonly found in messaging apps, for a wallpaper and edit them from the desktop. Currently, widgets exist in... Continue reading…

Image: Dr. Dre / Rockstar Games Six Dr. Dre tracks that made their first appearance in GTA Online’s The Contract update from last year are now available on music streaming services including Apple Music and Spotify, Rockstar Games has announced. As well as Dre himself, the tracks include appearances from guest artists like Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Anderson .Paak, Busta Rhymes, Nipsey Hussle, and Ty Dolla $ign.GTA is part of a growing list of games that have debuted new music. Guns n’ Roses premiered the song “Shackler’s Revenge” in Rock Band 2 in 2008, and Weezer included four unreleased songs from its Black Album in a custom map in Fortnite in 2019. But Dre’s collaboration with GTA Online was a little more interesting. The rapper actually appeared in the game itself,... Continue reading…

Image: evleaks (Twitter) The Galaxy S22 has leaked extensively, but there’s only so much you can tell from renders. For example, it turns out that Samsung has created a “new material” to use in the product — one made from the plastic in discarded fishing nets.Samsung says it’ll soon “incorporate repurposed ocean-bound plastics” across its whole product lineup, and the first example will be the Galaxy devices introduced at the Unpacked event this Wednesday, February 9th. It’s not yet clear to what extent the material will be used or in which parts of the products; Samsung isn’t explicit about how it fits into any of the devices’ construction.Citing a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations that says 640,000 tons of fishing nets... Continue reading…

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images Spotify CEO Daniel Ek addressed staff in a late night memo addressing Joe Rogan’s use of the n-word and the mysterious removal of 70 podcast episodes earlier this week. The total number of deleted Joe Rogan Experience episodes is now 113, according to the website jremissing.com.“Not only are some of Joe Rogan’s comments incredibly hurtful — I want to make clear that they do not represent the values of this company,” Ek writes in the memo, which The Verge obtained. “I know this situation leaves many of you feeling drained, frustrated and unheard.”He goes on to say Spotify spoke with Rogan and his team about “some of the content in his show, including his history of using some racially insensitive language.” Following these chats “and... Continue reading…

Sifu was released today for anyone who preordered the deluxe edition of the kung-fu action-adventure, but those who bought it on PlayStation experienced some trouble downloading it (via TheGamer). While PlayStation says it has since resolved the issue, it looks like there are still some players having problems accessing the game.

Image by WinFuture After getting a glimpse at Oppo’s upcoming flagship phone in January (which is said to be called the Find X5 Pro), a new leak from WinFuture gives us a pretty solid picture of what to expect, both in terms of design and technical specifications.As mentioned by the previous leak, WinFuture indicates the Find X5 Pro comes with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. Alongside the top-of-the-line CPU could be a Qualcomm Adreno 730 graphics chip, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of internal storage. The device is also rumored to have a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 3216 x 1440px and a refresh rate of 120Hz. WinFuture also found that the phone may come with a 5,000mAH battery pack, in addition to having 80W fast-charging capabilities. ... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter is exploring a new way to send DMs on iOS, and it involves letting users slide into your inbox through a link on your tweets, bypassing the DM button on your profile. The platform says this will make it easier to “start a conversation” from your timeline — but you can probably see how this can go very, very wrong.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you’re looking to buy a new phone at Verizon, you now only have two options: buy the device outright, or pay monthly installments for three years. As reported by Droid Life (via Android Police), Verizon appears to have gotten rid of its 24- and 30-month contracts for all devices — including phones, hot spots, and smartwatches — and has instead extended it to 36 months.Unless you can pay off the entire device, you’re locked into the three-year planVerizon’s payment program FAQ page explains that there isn’t any interest attached to the 36-month plan, and you can choose to pay off the phone in full whenever you want. What you can’t do, however, is pay more than your set monthly installment — so unless you can pay off the entire... Continue reading…

Photo by Michele Doying / The Verge Just after Spotify removed around 70 episodes of Joe Rogan’s podcast without offering an explanation, Rogan posted a video on Instagram apologizing for saying the N-word on his show in the past (via New York Times). In his apology, Rogan specifically addresses a clip compilation, which was shared by singer India Arie, that shows Rogan saying the N-word repeatedly during podcast episodes over several years.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The makers behind the Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC) are no longer a mystery — a BuzzFeed News report reveals them as Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow, two men from Florida. Solano is a 32-year-old writer and editor behind the pseudonym Gargamel, while the 35-year-old Aronow goes by Gordon Goner.

The new Chrome logo side-by-side with previous variations. | Image by Elvin Hu via Twitter Chrome is changing its logo for the first time since 2014, and if you squint really hard, you might actually be able to see what’s different. Elvin Hu, a designer for Google Chrome, offers a first look at the logo’s redesign in a thread on Twitter, as well as some of the thinking behind the ever-so-subtle changes.

There’s a lot going on at the music streaming service. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Update February 5th, 1PM ET: Spotify has not addressed the missing episodes, but since this story was published, Joe Rogan posted a five-minute apology video to Instagram addressing his use of the n-word and a story from a past podcast that called “a racist thing to say.”Around 70 episodes of Joe Rogan’s podcast mysteriously disappeared from Spotify on Friday, as spotted by JREMissing.com, a web tool that tracks missing episodes. The show (and Spotify’s relationship to it) have faced heavy criticism over the past few weeks, but there’s no clear connection between that and the missing episodes, nor is there any immediately apparent link between the episodes that were removed.For anyone who’s taken the sanity-preserving step of muting... Continue reading…

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Fujifilm says it’s working on a patch to fix an incompatibility issue preventing the owners of certain X series and GFX series cameras from accessing some of their files on macOS, as stated in a notice on Fujifilm’s site. According to the post, the issue only occurs when users have over 4,000 files written in-camera to a single folder on their SDXC card and then try to access these files using an internal or external card reader connected to their Mac.The issue has been around since at least May 2021Although Fujifilm says the problem occurs when “more than 4,000” files are stored in a single folder on the memory card, the exact amount seems to be 4,096, as indicated by user reports that reach as far back as at least May 2021. In each... Continue reading…

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge For the few who don’t already know, every variety of Nintendo’s popular Switch console can get a storage upgrade by installing a microSD card. And while you’re most likely to stumble upon deals for microSD cards with 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB of storage, there’s a must-see deal happening at Amazon on the SanDisk 400GB variant. Normally $69.99 (but usually between $45 and $50), you can snag one now for just $39.99. It’s just a couple dollars shy of the best-ever price.If you’ve arrived at the opportunity to get a microSD card, I think you should get the biggest one that you can afford, as you’ll have more space for games, screenshots, and game saves well into the future. Games for the Nintendo Switch range from just a few gigabytes to in the... Continue reading…

A solid keyboard, but not quite $349 solid Continue reading…

Image: Peloton Peloton’s no-good-very-bad downfall from its pandemic peak — losing over $20 billion in value since November and becoming a dangerous subplot in prime time TV — has attracted speculation that the connected fitness company is a target to be acquired, but by whom? A Friday evening report from the Wall Street Journal tosses out Amazon as one of the “potential suitors” that may be considering a deal — just as markets closed for the weekend and only a few days before Peloton issues its Q2 2022 earnings report on February 8th. Just the suggestion caused a spike in Peloton’s stock price, sending it up 20–30 percent in after-hours trading.Peloton’s yo-yoing fortunes over the last two years have been well documented, but combine the... Continue reading…

The original estimate was $1.8 billion. The FCC received applications for $5.6 billion in reimbursements. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The estimated cost of replacing Huawei and ZTE equipment in US networks has increased substantially. On Friday, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told Congress that providers had applied to be reimbursed $5.6 billion for “ripping and replacing” equipment deemed insecure by the US government (via Light Reading). In September, 2020, the FCC estimated that the effort would cost $1.8 billion, and in December, 2020 Congress earmarked around $1.9 billion for the effort.But Rosenworcel said Friday in a statement that the FCC had received “over 181 applications from carriers who have developed plans to remove and replace equipment in their networks that pose a national security threat.” She went on to say... Continue reading…

Alex Castro / The Verge All right, listen. This is not for those of you with Dewey Decimal mental filing systems or expertly curated music playlists that easily identify the music contained therein. But hear me out: we need music browser tabs in our music player apps.I can’t, unfortunately, take credit for this proposed — and tremendously useful! — addition to our music player interfaces. It was actually The Verge’s deputy editor Dan Seifert who first tweeted the idea, which I enthusiastically threw my support behind. We’re not the only two nerds who think this would be a handy feature, either. Wearables reviewer Victoria Song chimed in that she, too, would like a tabs-like feature in her music players. (A good and correct opinion.)

iPhone SE (2020) | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman is typically a reliable source for Apple rumors, so we’re listening when he says the company is targeting March 8th for a spring event to show off a new low-cost iPhone SE with 5G, as well as a refreshed iPad Air that adds a new CPU and 5G for cellular-equipped models.Rumors of an update for the iPhone SE have been around since before the iPhone 13 launched, and now Bloomberg says we should expect to see a faster chip and improved cameras inside a shell that’s similar to the existing model that has a 4.7-inch screen. The current iPhone SE was introduced in 2020, and its $399 price is the same now as it was on launch day, so an A15 CPU and 5G could make it a much better value. There’s no word on the fate of... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On Thursday evening, blockchain platform OpenSea launched a new system that will help users clear out unclaimed sale offers, set to roll out over the next two weeks. In an announcement post, CEO Devin Finzer described the changes as made to “ensure old, inactive listings expire.”The move comes after a bug that allowed attackers to exploit old contracts to buy tokens for hundreds of thousands of dollars below market price. In one particularly attention-getting case in January, a Bored Ape Yacht Club token was purchased for less than $2,000 and resold immediately for over $192,000.The bug was a result of how OpenSea’s platform interacts with the Ethereum blockchain, often saving gas fees by listing offers locally rather than coding them... Continue reading…

Alexa in the Jaguar I-Pace. | Image: Jaguar Land Rover Jaguar Land Rover announced a software update this week that offers deep Alexa integration for newer vehicle models (via Bloomberg).The update is available to over 200,000 Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles outfitted with the company’s Pivi Pro 3.0 or later infotainment system via an over-the-air update. This comes after Amazon’s efforts early last year to open up some of Alexa’s AI to allow car manufacturers to better integrate Alexa into their vehicles.Competition is already hot for Amazon in the automotive spaceAlexa in Jaguars and Land Rovers will be usable without the need of a smartphone and will be able to assist drivers hands-free with playing music, navigating to various points of interest, and everything else Alexa is capable... Continue reading…

A screengrab of the livestream during the Crew-2 landing, showing the one lagging parachute | Image: NASA NASA and SpaceX say they are looking into a recurring issue with lagging parachutes on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule — critical features the spacecraft needs to land when it returns from orbit. However, the two spaceflight partners are downplaying the seriousness of the problem, claiming that the parachutes are still behaving safely despite the behavior.The parachute issue cropped up during the two most recent landings of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. During each of those descents to Earth, one of the four main parachutes on the spacecraft was slower to fully inflate than the other three. The lagging parachute was clearly visible during a livestream of a November landing, in which the Crew Dragon carried four astronauts home from the... Continue reading…

Photo by Genna Martin/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images On Thursday, after a month of confusion, delays, and canceled flights related to Verizon and AT&T’s rollout of 5G C-Band networks, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing to “discuss the impact that deployment of 5G technologies has on the aviation industry.”Anyone tuning in hoping for bombshell revelations would’ve been disappointed. While some of the testimony was enlightening, giving insight into how certain segments of the industry viewed the events, the main takeaway was that we have a long way to go before C-Band and aviation will be able to co-exist happily.“We recognize that the existing process for spectrum allocation didn’t serve anyone well”“The process” that led to this situation, where... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Since the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, sewage systems in cities around the United States have helped track the spread of the coronavirus in real time. Now, those tracking projects will have public visibility through a tool on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s COVID-19 data tracking website, the agency announced Friday.The tool pulls in data from National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS), which the CDC launched in September 2020. That network includes data from more than 400 sites in the US.Wastewater gives officials a way to track the spread of the coronavirus because the virus can be detected in the feces of residents before they are prompted to get tested. But, unlike testing data, wastewater... Continue reading…

A charging cable is pictured plugged into a Volvo electric vehicle (EV), parked in a parking bay reserved for electric vehicles, in London on November 18, 2020. | Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images Electric and hybrid vehicles drove emissions from new cars in the UK down to a record low in 2021, according to new data from a local industry group. But more investments in charging stations and public transport are needed for the UK to meet its goal of cutting emissions by 78 percent by 2035.Average emissions for new cars fell by more than 11 percent to about 120 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer driven last year, according to UK trade association Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). That means drivers turning to EVs are helping to shrink emissions from the UK’s biggest source of pollution. Transportation — mostly on roads — pumps out more than a quarter of the UK’s annual greenhouse gas emissions.The UK’s biggest... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge One year after Google revealed it now saw Google Stadia cloud gaming idea as a mere “technology platform for industry partners” rather than a true rival to Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft, Business Insider is reporting that some Stadia gamers’ fears have come true: the entire Stadia project has been demoted within Google, and its new priority is to power experiences from companies including Peloton, Bungie, and Capcom rather than attracting more games to Stadia itself.In fact, Peloton bike owners might have already experienced the fruits of those labors — BI reports that Peloton’s very first video game, Lanebreak, was actually powered by Google’s cloud gaming technology, now dubbed Google Stream. (That’s one way to put a game inside your... Continue reading…

US Capitol 5 (Verge Stock) In a Friday session, the US House of Representatives passed the America COMPETES Act on a 222-210 vote. Colloquially described as a “China competition” bill, the COMPETES Act would provide new subsidies to the US semiconductor manufacturing industry, along with other measures aimed at stimulating the economy.Votes fell roughly along party lines, with only a single House Democrat opposing the measure and only a single Republican voting in support.$39 billion in direct subsidies for new fabrication facilitiesThe COMPETES Act provides $52 billion of federal money to boost US semiconductor manufacturing, with $39 billion going to direct subsidies for new fabrication facilities. Many facilities eligible for this funding are already under... Continue reading…

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge The way we talk about cars and driving is changing — faster than most people can really keep up. Which is why we need to be periodically reminded that just because a car brakes by itself, makes automatic lane changes, or even lets you take your hands off the wheel doesn’t make it an autonomous vehicle.Case in point: New York Times columnist Farhad Manjoo recently wrote about his experiences driving the 2021 Cadillac Escalade with Super Cruise. And while Manjoo has done a lot to advance ideas around car-free living and public transportation, he, unfortunately, fell into the common trap of conflating advanced driver-assist features with autonomous vehicles.He’s not alone, either. YouTube’s favorite auto reviewer Doug DeMuro has... Continue reading…

Microsoft’s Alex Kipman with the HoloLens 2. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Microsoft claims “HoloLens is doing great” after a report earlier this week revealed HoloLens 3 may have been canceled. Business Insider reported on Wednesday that Microsoft has scrapped plans for HoloLens 3 in recent months and that it could be “the end of the road” for the headset. Microsoft has reportedly agreed to partner with Samsung on a new mixed reality device, a move that has apparently “inflamed divisions” that exist in Microsoft’s mixed reality teams.The software giant has been working on a custom HoloLens headset for the US Army in a contract that could be worth up to $21.88 billion over 10 years. The headset is supposed to use augmented reality and machine learning to enable a “life-like mixed reality training environment,”... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The US Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday the creation of a new body, the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB), to investigate major cybersecurity events.The 15-person board will be comprised of a mixture of senior officials from agencies like the NSA, FBI and CISA, and governmental departments including the Department of Defense and Department of Justice, along with private sector executives from companies including Google, Microsoft, and Verizon.“The Biden-Harris administration has taken bold steps to meaningfully improve our cybersecurity resilience,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “At the president’s direction, DHS is establishing the Cyber Safety Review Board to thoroughly assess past... Continue reading…