The Verge

The 2022 Moto G Stylus 5G gets a spec and price bump this time around. | Image: Motorola Motorola is introducing a new version of its Moto G Stylus 5G with a couple of nice upgrades for 2022 — and, as a result, a higher $499 price tag. The 2022 edition of the G Stylus 5G includes a 6.8-inch screen with a super smooth 120Hz refresh rate, a more powerful 600-series Snapdragon processor, a stabilized main camera, and a bunch of built-in storage. The company is also debuting its $399, budget-oriented Moto G 5G in North America. (It was introduced in Europe earlier this year.)The most noticeable update on the 2022 G Stylus 5G — not to be confused with the 4G-only Moto G Stylus — is that 120Hz display for smooth animations and scrolling. It’s a 1080p LCD panel, and it houses a 16-megapixel front-facing camera. On the back,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Melissa Mathieson / The Verge Coming back to your hometown can be an alienating experience, especially when all you find is a dead link to a long-deserted website.For nearly a decade, that was the experience of Cytonians — members of an early virtual world called Cybertown, which operated between 1995 and 2012. But since 2019, a group of former citizens has dedicated itself to resurrecting their old home. Cybertown Revival, or CTR, successfully launched a pre-alpha version of a new Cybertown earlier this year. It’s the result of hundreds of former residents rallying to rebuild the digital city, drawing on everything from former users’ blog posts to the contents of their hard drives.The original Cybertown was launched during the early days of massively multiplayer... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge When you’re running a Windows system, sometimes things just go wrong. A couple of years ago, I made the mistake of not checking to make sure my laptop was securely plugged in while Windows was undergoing a major update. The battery ran out in the middle of the update and voila! I was stuck with what I was sure was now a very expensive brick. Another time, a Windows 10 system decided that it didn’t like the latest update and began misbehaving. (It would stop responding to input one minute after it booted.)In both cases, I was able to save an otherwise unusable PC by doing a reset, which removes all (or most) of the files and apps on the hard drive and reinstalls Windows.(By the way, you have backed up your computer, right?)Resets are... Continue reading…

Amazon’s Buy With Prime initiative lets merchants offer Prime shipping benefits on their own stores. | Image: Amazon Amazon has announced a new initiative named Buy With Prime that extends the purview of its Prime subscription service beyond the bounds of Amazon.com — a significant change to its business strategy that could help it compete with fast-growing rival Shopify.Merchants who ship products using Amazon’s warehouse and delivery services (known as Fulfillment by Amazon) will be able to add Buy With Prime buttons to their sites. This will let Prime subscribers buy from these stores directly while retaining the benefits of Amazon’s subscription service. Namely: free shipping, next-day delivery, and free returns.Buy With Prime will offer extra convenience and value to Prime subscribers, but its importance to Amazon is about more than bringing... Continue reading…

The Boring Company’s plan to revolutionize transport is best summarized as “Teslas in tunnels.” | Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images The Boring Company has raised a new round of funding worth $675 million, with Elon Musk’s grand plan to “solve traffic” with tunnels now valued at $5.675 billion.In a blog post announcing the news, the company reiterated its goals and achievements so far, drawing particular attention to its “next generation” of Prufrock tunnel-boring machines (TBMs).“Unlike traditional TBMs which require upwards of a dozen or more people to operate, Prufrock is designed to be capable of operating completely remotely and autonomously via computerized systems and requires zero people in the tunnel to operate,” said the company. “The current iteration of Prufrock, called Prufrock-2, is designed to mine at up to 1 mile/week, meaning a tunnel the length of... Continue reading…

Image: Sony Sony has pushed back the release date of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s sequel, the films’ official Twitter account has confirmed. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now scheduled for release on June 2nd, 2023, rather than October 7th this year. Sony originally said its Spider-Verse sequel would arrive on April 8th 2022.It’s not immediately clear what’s caused the most recent delay, but Across the Spider-Verse’s writer and producer Christopher Miller tweeted that it has offered the team “More time to make it great.”Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the first of two sequels Sony is planning in its animated Spider-Man film series, with the second part planned for release on March 29th, 2024. Additionally, Spider-Man... Continue reading…

Image: Google Anyone switching from an iPhone to an Android device has more to worry about than just green bubbles, they also want to bring along as much of the data from their phone as they can. While backing things up to Google Drive or plugging in a cable are solutions that Google can walk you through, now we know Google built an iOS app called Switch to Android to get the job done wirelessly.Switch to Android popped up in the App Store last week, but it’s unlisted so you’d need the link to dig it up. As TechCrunch reported, Google is starting to roll the app out to the public, but it may be a little while before you can actually use it. Google spokesperson Ivy Hunt confirmed to The Verge that the rollout should be complete in a few weeks. What... Continue reading…

Lincoln, Ford’s luxury brand, says it will release four new electric vehicles by 2026, by which point 50 percent of its global sales will be EVs. The company also revealed its Lincoln Star Concept as a way to introduce the new design language that will come to define its upcoming electrified lineup.And what a concept it is! Carriage doors, a frunk that extends out like a drawer for added storage, a full suite of sensory interior moods, and a sleek, aerodynamic profile that feels more Faraday Future than Ford. The Lincoln Star Concept is designed to be “the ultimate sanctuary” for wealthy elites who prefer to be chauffeured through the teeming megalopolises of the future.Lincoln has been mulling plans to electrify its portfolio for... Continue reading…

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images Barack and Michelle Obama won’t be signing a new podcast deal with Spotify, Bloomberg reports, marking a major departure for the Obamas’ production company, Higher Ground Productions. “The company is instead talking to other distributors about a deal worth tens of millions of dollars, among the most-lucrative in the podcasting business,” according to the report.Amazon’s Audible and iHeartMedia are among the “several” companies Higher Ground is in negotiations with for a new deal. Higher Ground had talked to Spotify as well, but it “declined to make an offer,” Bloomberg says. Higher Ground apparently wants to be able to make multiple shows and release them on platforms simultaneously, which would go against Spotify’s typical... Continue reading…

Dieter Bohn / The Verge My favorite kind of software update is the kind that unlocks secret hardware features, and the Apple MagSafe Battery Pack is the latest surprise — you’ll be able to cordlessly charge an iPhone at a faster 7.5 watts instead of the original 5 watts, once you apply firmware update 2.7 (via 9to5Mac).You can wait for an update over the air, or plug a Lightning to USB cable from the pack to a connected Mac or iPad to get the fix, and then you’re off to the races, as they say.But if I’m being honest, I wouldn’t install the update quite yet — I might wait until we hear back from Apple (or reviewers) on whether it’ll affect how warm the battery gets.You see, I bought a MagSafe Battery Pack myself last year for my iPhone mini, but I returned... Continue reading…

Lexus’ first ever electric vehicle is the RZ 450e SUV. | Image: Lexus Lexus gave us a glimpse at the 2023 RZ 450e today: an all-electric SUV with an estimated 225-mile range and a 71.4kWh battery. The company’s first-ever electric vehicle (EV) will also come with Direct4. That’s its new all-wheel-drive system that automatically calibrates weight distribution on all four wheels, leading to “improved start-up acceleration, handling stability and low power consumption.”On the inside of the vehicle is a sleek interior with a 14-inch touchscreen and a panoramic sunroof that extends from the front seats to the back. As for a steering yoke, which my colleague Andrew Hawkins lamented about in a previous post, that’s optional. Image: Lexus The steering yoke will be optional. Lexus... Continue reading…

Image: Coinbase Coinbase announced on Wednesday that its NFT marketplace is now in beta and accessible to “a small set of beta testers who’ll be invited based on their position” on its waitlist. The company is looking to take on established players in the space by adding social features, like a comment system (with upvotes and downvotes) and an algorithmic feed.Visually speaking, the screenshots Coinbase includes in its blog post look like a cross between Instagram and OpenSea, one of the largest NFT marketplaces. There are profiles where users can show off their collections (and which other people can follow) as well as a discover feed that Coinbase says will recommend NFTs to you “based on what you buy, what’s trending, who you follow, and more.” The... Continue reading…

The Google Play Store was a big reason why Samsung made the switch to Wear OS. | Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge There was one notable omission when the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 lineup launched last year: Google Assistant. As for when it would arrive, Google and Samsung have avoided giving firm dates, but there was reason to hope the digital assistant might arrive sooner than expected. Earlier today, Verizon update logs for both the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic indicated Google had arrived in an update. However, Google has told The Verge that this is not the case.“To confirm, Assistant is not rolling out to Galaxy Watch 4 and we don’t have an update on timing,” Google spokesperson Ivy Hunt told The Verge in an email.The Verizon update logs, which were first spotted by 9to5Google, refer to a software update released today. As for... Continue reading…

Image: Instagram Instagram is making a few new creator-focused changes to its platform, which Instagram head Adam Mosseri said are meant to “make sure that credit is going to those who deserve it.”The new stuff is made up of three changes: product tags are now available to everyone, so you can tag a product in your post; you can assign yourself to a category like “Photographer” or “Rapper” and have that category show up every time you’re tagged in a post; and Instagram is going to start more heavily promoting original content on the platform.“If you create something from scratch,” Mosseri said in a video explaining the new features, “you should get more credit than if you are re-sharing something that you found from someone else. We’re going to try... Continue reading…

Photo by Suzanne Cordeiro / AFP via Getty Images Amid supply chain constraints and production delays in China, Tesla reported that it earned a $3.3 billion profit in the first quarter of 2022. Tesla turned that profit on just over $18.7 billion in revenue, the company announced. That represents an 81 percent increase year over year, compared to $10.4 billion in revenue in Q1 2021.The company logged $679 million in emission credit sales to other automakers, compared to $314 million in credit sales in Q4 2021. The company generates this revenue by selling these credits to automakers that make fewer “clean” vehicles than are required by the US government and the European Union.The credit sales have come in handy in past years, helping Tesla eke out a profit while its car-making... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Three months after authentication platform Okta was breached by hacking group Lapsus$, the company has concluded its internal investigation after finding that the impact was less serious than initially believed.In a blog post published Tuesday, Okta’s chief security officer David Bradbury noted that the company had been transparent by sharing details of the hack soon after it was discovered but that further analysis had downgraded early assessments of the potential scope.“As a result of the thorough investigation of our internal security experts, as well as a globally recognized cybersecurity firm whom we engaged to produce a forensic report, we are now able to conclude that the impact of the incident was significantly less than the... Continue reading…

Illustrations by Alex Castro / The Verge Nintendo is the latest video game developer hit with allegations of union busting. In a report from Axios, a former employee alleges that Nintendo and its staffing and recruiting partner Aston Carter fired them after engaging in protected organizing activities.In a filing with the National Labor Relations Board, a summary of the charges against Nintendo include:

Brave’s “Discussions” shows results from Reddit and StackExchange with more forums to come in the future. | Image: Brave Brave Search has rolled out a new feature that makes it easier to find conversations from forums like Reddit in your search results. This means you’ll no longer have to add “Reddit” to your searches when you’re looking for thoughts from actual humans, not empty answers from websites just trying to get clicks.You don’t have to do anything in order to start getting these results. If your inquiry has sparked conversation on the web, you’ll see results underneath a new, more prominent “Discussions” section. Brave says it chooses posts to display based on their recency, popularity, relevancy, and how many likes or upvotes posts receive. Right now, Brave only displays results from Reddit and StackExchange but says it will add more sites “in... Continue reading…

Astrobotic CEO John Thornton unveiling the Peregrine lander | Image: Astrobotic This afternoon, commercial space company Astrobotic unveiled its nearly complete robotic lunar lander, designed to take payloads for paying customers like NASA to the surface of the Moon. It marks the first time the company has shown the mostly finished flight hardware for the lander ahead of its launch, tentatively scheduled for late this year.Called the Peregrine Lunar Lander, the spacecraft is roughly the size of a squat refrigerator, standing just over six feet tall. Five main engines mounted on the lander’s base will help navigate the vehicle through space and eventually allow the vehicle to touch down on the surface of the Moon. The vehicle has various locations it can store mounted payloads for experiments designed to take... Continue reading…

Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge An ebook subscription platform used by thousands of public libraries in the US and elsewhere is offering Holocaust denial, COVID disinformation, LGBTQ conversion therapy, and other conspiracy theory books, according to a report by Motherboard.Hoopla — a Netflix-like subscription service that libraries use for audiobooks, ebooks, and movies — serves more than 8,500 public libraries in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Titles on Hoopla included antisemitic books like Debating The Holocaust and A New Nobility of Blood and Soil. Unlike physical books, which libraries can order individually, Hoopla sells libraries a subscription to its service, meaning librarians don’t always have control over what is being offered. OverDrive,... Continue reading…

Smart home company Insteon appears to have closed up shop with no warning to its customers. | Image: Insteon Revolv, Iris, Insignia, Staples Connect, Wink, and now Insteon and iHome: the graveyard of dead or dying smart home ecosystems that promised so much yet failed to deliver is getting crowded. Smart home company Insteon has turned off its cloud servers, as first reported by Stacey on IoT, and device maker iHome has also shut down its servers, confirming to The Verge that its iHome cloud services were terminated on April 2nd.This feels like a good time for a reflection on the state of the smart home. Is it all over? Or is this cloud carnage simply necessary to clear the way for a brave new world, one where the smart home is no longer a curiosity but something that actually matters?What those companies mentioned above have in common is a... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is trying to make it easier for Chrome users to install useful extensions without having to scrutinize where they come from. The company says it has begun applying two new badges to extensions. The first, Featured, looks like a prize ribbon and will be displayed on extensions that “follow our technical best practices and meet a high standard of user experience and design.”Google says this is a manual process that involves evaluating extensions for an “enjoyable and intuitive experience,” making sure developers use the latest APIs, and keeping an eye on each extension’s privacy practices and requested permissions. To receive the Featured label, extensions must also have a detailed store page that clearly outlines their purpose.... Continue reading…

Apple retail workers in Atlanta have voted to unionize. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge An Apple retail store in Atlanta has filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The workers at the Cumberland Mall store, which includes salespeople, technicians, creatives, and operations specialists, would be represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA). More than 70 percent of the group of about 100 eligible workers signed the union authorization cards, according to a news release — the minimum required is 30 percent.If a majority of the workers vote to unionize, the store would be the first unionized Apple store in the US. Their petition now goes for formal review by the NLRB.“Apple is a profoundly positive place to work, but we know that the company can better live up to their ideals... Continue reading…

Nintendo’s Switch OLED model in white with its updated dock and accompanying Joy-Cons. | Image: Nintendo The Nintendo Switch OLED model is on a special one-day deal from Woot today — the site has dropped the device’s price to the lowest you can find. Woot is selling the white version of the Switch OLED for $324.99 as opposed to its usual $349.99 price point. The deal is set to expire at 1AM ET / 10PM PT. While Nintendo Switch consoles have been readily available for a while now, it’s safe to wager this deal might sell out before time runs out.If you’re familiar with Nintendo prices, you’ll know that these kinds of discounts don’t come frequently, especially on the premium Switch. This sale puts it within $25 of the standard model, and if you haven’t already jumped into Nintendo’s popular console, the improvements on the OLED model are... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In an all-hands meeting with employees on Tuesday, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy addressed the mounting efforts to unionize the company’s fulfillment centers. The discussion was sparked by an employee who asked about the company’s position on unions, per a recording of the meeting obtained by The Verge.Jassy argued that unionization would make employees of the company feel less empowered. “One of the things that’s unique about Amazon is that we have unusual empowerment for our employees,” he said. “If they see something they can do better for customers — or just for themselves — to get together, get in a room, decide to change it, and change it, and do it quickly. We encourage that type of speed. You know, you’re part of the union it’s much... Continue reading…

The Sapphire Pulse RX 6400 is one of the first low-profile RDNA2 GPUs. If you’re looking for a serious gaming graphics card, look elsewhere — reviewers absolutely dragged the $199 AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT in January, and today’s GPU entry is even weaker. But if you absolutely, positively need to fit a miniature graphics card in a very small PC, the new RX 6400 might be worth a look.Today, AMD has quietly launched the Radeon RX 6400 with an array of partners including ASRock, Biostar, Gigabyte, MSI, PowerColor, Sapphire, and XFX, and we’re actually seeing a few of them retail for that price or close to it, GPU shortage be damned. There’s a $159.99 ASRock Challenger and a $169.99 XFX Speedster SWFT105 in stock at Newegg right now — with a $159.99 Sapphire Pulse card also on the way.Intriguingly, every one of... Continue reading…

Samsung was well-positioned to scoop up a big chunk of the market share LG left behind with its affordable A-series phones. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge The Galaxy got even bigger Continue reading…

Meta hosted its 2022 games showcase, which was filled with games that you can expect to play on your Quest 2 virtual reality headset at some point this year. Last year’s surprise announcement was the VR port of Resident Evil 4 (which turned out to be far better than expected), but several standout titles seem like they’ll be must-play experiences when they launch. In case you missed out on the showcase, we’ve rounded up the biggest announcements below.Ghostbusters is coming to VRThe showcase ended with Mark Zuckerberg revealing that a Ghostbusters VR game is in the works for the Quest 2. There aren’t many details (and it’s still in development under a working title) but the game will have players running their own Ghostbusters... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge First, a necessary disclaimer: don’t use artificial intelligence language generators to solve your ethical quandaries. Second: definitely go tell those quandaries to this AI-powered simulation of Reddit because the results are fascinating.Are You The Asshole (AYTA) is, as its name suggests, built to mimic Reddit’s r/AmITheAsshole (AITA) crowdsourced advice forum. Created by internet artists Morris Kolman and Alex Petros with funding from Digital Void, the site lets you enter a scenario and ask for advice about it — and then generates a series of feedback posts responding to your situation. The feedback does a remarkably good job of capturing the style of real human-generated responses, but with the weird, slightly alien skew that many... Continue reading…

Photo illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge; Getty Images Benny Johnson berated staff, who were often paid late Continue reading…

Two people were killed in an Easter weekend shooting at this Pittsburgh Airbnb rental. | Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images After a shooting at an Easter weekend house party at an Airbnb in Pittsburgh left two teenagers dead and another eight people with gunshot wounds, Airbnb says it plans to pursue legal action against the person who booked the party.“Airbnb strictly bans parties, and we condemn the behavior that is alleged to have prompted this criminal gun violence and the tragic loss of life,” spokesperson Ben Breit said in a statement emailed to The Verge. The booking guest has been permanently banned from the platform, he said. The party was “unauthorized,” Breit added, and was held without the knowledge or consent of the property host.The shooting happened on Easter Sunday just after 12:30AM, according to Pittsburgh police. Some 200 people were at... Continue reading…

The Xbox Series X console is available to buy for its usual price of $499.99. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge If you’ve been trying to land an Xbox Series X for a while now, today may be your lucky day. Right now, Best Buy is selling the elusive next-gen console for its usual price of $499.99. Even better, anybody can queue up for the Xbox Series X – not just Totaltech subscribers. However, supply is limited to what your local stores have on hand, so results may vary.To enter the digital line, make sure you click the “Add to Cart” and be prepared for Best Buy’s site to ask you to verify your details. To give yourself the best chance possible, sign in to your account while in the queue and double-check your shipping and payment details are accurate. Also, keep in mind that if it looks like the console appears to be sold out, don’t give up. Best... Continue reading…

Best Buy will take away anything from TVs to old laptops. | Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images Best Buy’s offering to take away and recycle your unwanted tech and appliances for a $199 fee. The standalone haul-away service includes the pickup of two large items, like a TV or washing machine, as well as an unlimited number of smaller products, from laptops to printers. Best Buy will then send your products off to a “trusted recycling partner,” where they will be repurposed, repaired, or recycled.You can view the entire list of products Best Buy will pick up and recycle on its haul-away service page, separated by what it considers large and small items. Best Buy says you’ll have to do all the disconnecting and disassembling yourself, so technicians can actually move it out of your home.Best Buy’s existing recycling program accepts... Continue reading…

An artistic impression of a micronova explosion on a white dwarf. | Image: Mark Garlick Star explosions can happen on very different scales, from massive supernovae to plain old novae. Now, scientists think they’ve identified an even smaller way for a star’s surface to explode — dubbed the “micronova.” It’s a type of explosion that occurs in just one region on the surface of some stars, lasting for hours at a time but still packing quite a punch.Specifically, micronovae occur on a type of zombie star known as a white dwarf. These odd objects are actually the leftover cores of dead stars, remnants of celestial bodies like our Sun that have used up all their fuel and blown most of their materials out into space. White dwarfs are quite small but incredibly dense, sometimes the size of Earth but with the same mass as the Sun.... Continue reading…

Image: Zoom Zoom’s reaction emoji are one of the platform’s handiest features, letting you quickly applaud a co-worker or send a heart to a friend. With the latest update to its desktop apps, Zoom is making a couple of those reactions easier to find. Its gesture recognition feature will show a thumbs-up emoji in the meeting when you give one to your webcam, or flag a raised-hand emoji when you raise your hand.Gesture recognition won’t be news to those who use Zoom’s iPad and iPhone apps, which have supported the same two gestures since last summer. And those who have used it know that it can be as frustrating as it is helpful. Zoom has a tendency to read “I’m scratching my face” as “I’m raising my hand,” and at least in my experience only responds... Continue reading…

The 2021 iPad Pro and 2020 iPad are discounted to their lowest price ever. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge You came to the wrong house if you’re shopping for weed jokes — we only distribute good wholesome content here on Verge Deals. For instance, both the 2020 version of the iPad Air and the 2021 model of the 11-inch iPad Pro are discounted to their lowest prices ever.The 2020 iPad Air normally costs $749 but is discounted to $599.99 at Amazon. The price will appear to be $649.99, but if you add one to your cart, an extra $50 will get knocked off the final price of this lightweight 256GB tablet.Alternatively, the 11-inch model of the 2021 iPad Pro usually goes for $800 in its 128GB configuration but can currently be found at Amazon and Best Buy for just $699.99. This is the lowest price we’ve seen for this tablet since Black Friday.Both... Continue reading…

DuckDuckGo says it’s now preventing AMP tracking. | Image: DuckDuckGo Privacy-oriented search engine DuckDuckGo says it will “protect” against tracking by web pages with Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages framework (or AMP) enabled. “When you load or share a Google AMP page anywhere from DuckDuckGo apps (iOS/Android/Mac) or extensions (Firefox/Chrome), the original publisher’s webpage will be used in place of the Google AMP version,” the company said on Twitter. The technology allows Google to track users, DuckDuckGo notes, and forces publishers to use AMP by prioritizing those links in its search results.

Sega In the lead-up to Sonic’s 31st birthday (feel old yet?), Sega has finally revealed the details behind Sonic Origins, a remastered collection of Sonic The Hedgehog 1, 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD. Don’t expect straight ports of these Sega classics, though. In addition to remastered visuals updated for today’s consoles, Sonic Origins includes new achievements, collectibles, animated shorts, and game modes, putting a fresh pair of sneakers on these old classics.In Sonic Origins, players will be able to choose between playing in classic mode or anniversary mode. In classic mode, players will experience the games in all their original glory and original aspect ratios. Anniversary mode offers a full-screen experience along with... Continue reading…

No battery, no screen, no GPS, no fan, and no metal housing? There’s a lot of stuff missing from the new GoPro Hero10 Black Bones. But then again, a normal GoPro isn’t well-suited for the acrobatics of an FPV drone. So when GoPro sent us a review unit of its new stripped-down Hero10 Black designed for drone pilots, we recruited FPV drone pilot Reza Kurniawan to see if it’s up to snuff — and you can see his flying skills on full display in our video review above.Kurniawan is the kind of drone enthusiast who inspired the Bones to begin with. He’s been de-casing Hero10 GoPros to decrease their weight from 154 grams all the way down to about 33 grams. The demand for so-called “naked GoPros” has been high enough that it has become a service... Continue reading…

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge If you mainly use your Windows 11 computer at home, and you don’t have curious children or roommates who might mess with it, then having to sign in with a password can be a pain in the neck — especially if you have a long, secure, and complicated password.Thankfully, you have alternatives. If you do take your Windows laptop out occasionally, there are several other ways you can sign in to your laptop that are a little simpler. We’ll also show you how to remove your password altogether (although, to keep your device secure, we recommend that you go with one of the options above rather than eliminating any kind of sign-in).You also have the option to use a physical security key (usually a USB key) to sign in, but you’ll have to purchase... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony has released an app for Windows 11 and 64-bit Windows 10 computers that lets you update the firmware of its DualSense PS5 controllers. Previously, the update process required you to connect a controller to a PS5 console, which many people don’t yet have the luxury of owning due to the ongoing chip shortage and intense demand. This new app is particularly helpful for PC gamers who want to buy a DualSense to use as a Bluetooth controller.The app, suitably called “Firmware updater for DualSense wireless controller,” can be downloaded here. And, just like the process on the console, you’ll need to connect the DualSense to your PC with a USB cable. What you’ll see when you plug in a DualSense that isn’t in need of an... Continue reading…

The iPhone 13 Mini and iPhone 13. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge When will we see a new iPhone with a totally unimpeded display? In 2024, according to a prediction from well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. By then, says Kuo, Apple could be happy to move both its front-facing camera and Face ID under the screen for its high-end devices, which would make the iPhone 16 Pro the likely first candidate for such an upgrade.Kuo made this prediction in a pair of tweets, linking back to comments he’d made last month saying Apple was unlikely to release any new iPhones with under-display fingerprint readers in the next two years. (Kuo previously predicted this could happen sometime in 2023 at the earliest.) The reason? Well, Kuo’s framing is that demand for the return of Touch ID was mostly a response to the... Continue reading…

If you set out to design the most deluxe version of The Lord of the Rings books imaginable, I think you might end up close to The Folio Society’s latest edition. They’re hardback, obviously, and quarter bound in burgundy leather with silver page tops — the perfect accompaniment for an apartment that smells of rich mahogany.Most importantly, however, they feature illustrations by Alan Lee, whose conceptual design work on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films helped establish the visual style of J.R.R. Tolkien’s world on the big screen. His work on The Return of the King won him an Oscar in 2004 for Best Art Direction. Lee has contributed a preface to The Folio Society’s edition of these books and has hand-signed each of the 1,000... Continue reading…

Illustration by Melissa Mathieson / The Verge Computers can see details that humans can’t Continue reading…

The Garmin Vivosmart 5 adds a practical button to the tracker line. | Image: Garmin If there’s one thing that Garmin seems to understand better than other wearables companies, it’s that athletes like buttons. And, it looks like the company’s finally added a practical button to its latest fitness tracker, the $149.99 Vivosmart 5.The Vivosmart 5 is a refreshed version of the Vivosmart 4 that was first launched in 2018. It keeps much of the same design as Vivosmart 4, but instead of an elegant vibe, it opts for a more practical, sportier look. The band itself has a rounded edge, and there’s no more metal border surrounding the display. In its press release, Garmin also emphasized that the display is 66 percent bigger and has larger text so that it’s easier to read. But the biggest difference is that the Vivosmart 5 has a... Continue reading…

Tesla’s Shanghai factory previously produced about 2,100 cars a day. | Xinhua/Ding Ting via Getty Images Tesla is restarting production at its massive Shanghai factory as the city of 25 million begins to ease lockdown restrictions following a substantial COVID outbreak.According to a report from Bloomberg News that cites internal company memos, the factory will re-open in what’s being called a “closed-loop system” — an approach encouraged by Shanghai authorities to get people back into the workplace while maintaining the country’s zero-covid strategies. Essentially, this means nobody goes in or out: employees will live and work at the factory, with the first “shift” entering earlier this week and expected to stay until May 1st under the city’s current COVID policies.The Shanghai factory is Tesla’s largestAccording to the Telsa memo... Continue reading…

The latest Pixel Watch render leak looks familiar. | Image: Evan Blass / 91Mobiles We’ve been hearing rumors about Google’s Pixel Watch for years now, but it does finally seem like pieces for the project are finally falling into place. A purported render of the device shared by Evan Blass over at 91Mobiles lines up with past leaks and rumors, showing a device with a familiar circular design, physical crown, and Fitbit integration.Of course, there’s also a lot missing from the render. The image doesn’t include the watch’s lugs (which would show how the strap will connect to the face) or give any idea of its overall build. If the image looks a bit funny, though, it’s perhaps because of the watch’s rumored bezel-less design (also seen in mock-up renders shared last year by Jon Prosser).Interestingly, though, we have... Continue reading…

Image: Disney Over the last day or so, Disney Plus subscribers may have noticed that certain episodes of their favorite shows are missing. The folks at What’s on Disney Plus collected a list of some of the shows with known missing episodes early Tuesday, and it’s a long one, including favorites like Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place, Once Upon a Time, and many others.Disney commented to Deadline that the “purge” is an accidental glitch it’s working to fix, and we’ve noticed that episodes have been restored for some series, like season one of Agent Carter. Meanwhile, others like DuckTales, or Rocket & Groot, are still incomplete. Image: Richard Lawler via DisneyPlus.com An occasional hiccup on a streaming platform is to be... Continue reading…