The Verge

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube has been having a tough time with spammers lately. Earlier this year, a bunch of big creators like MKBHD and Jacksepticeye made videos highlighting the seemingly endless hordes of bad actors swarming their channels who reply to other commenters with fake giveaways and other scams. YouTube has been responding to these complaints and, today, announced a few new changes to try and stem the tide.There are three new policies. First, channels will no longer be able to hide their subscriber count — a move often used by spammers to help camouflage themselves. This is because checking a channel’s subscriber count is a quick way to verify that they are who they say they are (aka Big Name Content Creator X).Second, YouTube is limiting... Continue reading…

Don’t like the strike call? Take it up with the robot. | Photo by Stephen Maturen / Getty Images Two years from now, in baseball stadiums around the US, the umpire behind home plate might be little more than a mouthpiece for a robot. Major League Baseball plans to introduce robot umpires in the 2024 season, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told ESPN this week. He framed the change as a way to speed up games, but anyone who’s watched baseball the last few years will tell you that a machine would almost certainly call balls and strikes better than the humans do.There are two ways the “Automated Ball-Strike System,” which is the technical term for these robot umpires, might be implemented. One is the fully automated version, in which the AI-powered system calls every pitch a ball or a strike and relays the call to the umpire. Or the MLB... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you’re looking for a way to keep your conversations over text private, it’s crucial to choose your messaging app carefully. Not all of them are end-to-end encrypted (E2EE), and others might have security holes that compromise your privacy.Simply put, E2EE means that only you (the sender) and your recipient can see the contents of your messages. This — most importantly — excludes any third parties, like your mobile carrier, internet service provider (ISP), and phone manufacturer. Some users may want this extra layer of protection to help prevent any outside snooping from the government and other organizations that may try to use your private conversations against you.All of the apps listed here are free and offer E2EE, so you can... Continue reading…

Inscryption. The slow-burn rise of the roguelike deckbuilder Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Steam Deck has a lot of buttons. There’s a D-pad, all the typical face buttons, two control sticks that also respond to capacitive touch and can be pushed down like buttons, two trackpads with haptic feedback that are also pressure-sensitive buttons, two shoulder bumpers, two analog shoulder triggers, and four buttons on the back of the device behind the grips.Somehow, they all feel like they’re exactly in the right place while you’re holding the device, and in writing the latest in our long-running Button of the Month series, you might think that I’d wax poetic about just one of them. But for me, the true magic of the Steam Deck is that any button can be the awesome button, thanks to the device’s excellent software. ... Continue reading…

Illustration by Jarett Sitter / The Verge The team at indie games studio RNG Party has always loved handheld gaming, particularly Nintendo’s quirky portable devices. So when they noticed a new handheld making waves on Twitter, one that looked a lot like a tiny yellow Game Boy, they knew they had to be a part of it. “With pretty much every major console maker now gone from this space, unless you count the Nintendo Switch, this kind of thing might only ever be possible for us once,” explains RNG’s Ben Busche. “And we didn’t want to miss out.”That device was the Playdate, a handheld from longtime Mac software developer Panic, which is defined both by its miniature stature and the crank sticking out of its side. It finally released earlier this year, and those who purchased one... Continue reading…

Illustration by Jarett Sitter / The Verge Annemarie Rose is bent over a sheet of glass, hair tucked into a messy half ponytail, tracing the outline of a heart into its glossy surface. She breaks it apart, sands the edges, and etches a simple message across its smooth surface: spit in my mouth. “Something hot for Valentine’s Day,” the description reads on her TikTok video.Commenters go wild, a chorus of desire filling the section. “WHERE CAN I BUY,” writes one enthusiastic viewer with a grip on their caps lock. Another helpfully adds a backstory: “I NEED THIS because I got blocked for telling my crush to spit in my mouth and pull my hair so sad.” Back in the real world, a dumbfounded Annemarie watches as the numbers on her video skyrocket. Refresh. 100 new followers. Refresh.... Continue reading…

Amazon sponsors LGBTQ issues in the US, including this Pride float from NYC in 2018. | Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images Amazon has restricted search results and inventory related to LGBTQ topics in the United Arab Emirates after being pressured to do so by the government, reports The New York Times. Same-sex relationships and sex acts are illegal in the UAE, and are punishable by fines and imprisonment.A number of books related to LGBTQ topics were removed from sale in the UAE (including Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist and Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer: A Memoir), and search results have been hidden for more than 150 keywords. These include broad search terms like “lgbtq” and “pride,” as well as targeted queries like “transgender flag” and “chest binder for lesbians.”The Times notes that it’s not clear what penalties Amazon was threatened with by the UAE... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Developers of apps released in Apple’s South Korean App Store no longer have to use the company’s own in-app payment system, the iPhone maker has announced in a developer update. Instead, developers will be able to take payments using the third-party service providers pre-approved by Apple.The change comes in response to an amendment to South Korea’s Telecommunications Business Act passed last year, which prevents large platform holders like Apple and Google from forcing developers to use their first-party in-app payment systems. Both Apple and Google opposed the legislation, with Apple arguing that it would make it harder for its users to manage their purchases, undermine their privacy protections, and put them at risk of fraud.D... Continue reading…

I-81 in Syracuse was responsible for the displacement of hundreds of Black residents when it was built in the 1960s. | Image: Getty Images The Biden administration announced a $1 billion effort to rectify racist infrastructure decisions of the past, such as highways that were built by bulldozing Black communities.The program, which the Department of Transportation is calling “Reconnecting Communities,” will in some cases tear down highways that were built with the expressed purpose of creating physical barriers between mostly Black and minority communities. Other projects will focus on building new infrastructure, like greenways to promote cycling and walking or transit programs, like rapid bus lines to reconnect communities to urban cores.“Our focus isn’t about assigning blame. It isn’t about getting caught up in guilt or regret. It is about fixing a problem,” said... Continue reading…

Samsung employees hold up 3nm wafers at the company’s production line. | Image: Samsung Samsung has started producing 3nm chips, beating rival chip manufacturer TSMC to the more power efficient fabrication process, Bloomberg reports. TSMC’s 3nm process isn’t expected to go into mass production until the second half of 2022.Samsung says the new fabrication process is 45 percent more power efficient than its previous 5nm process, has 23 percent higher performance, and 16 percent smaller surface area. In the future, it hopes its second generation 3nm process can reduce power consumption and size by 50 percent and 35 percent respectively, and increase performance by 30 percent.The announcement is a key milestone in Samsung’s efforts to compete with TSMC, which dominates the market for contract chip production and is the... Continue reading…

Image: Substack Substack is the latest tech company to announce layoffs, with the company’s CEO Chris Best tweeting on Wednesday that he’s letting 13 workers go. According to Axios, that’s around 14 percent of Substack’s workforce. In his letter and follow-up tweets, Best cites “market conditions” as the reason behind the layoffs.He also admits that the move may be a surprise to some employees. “Not so long ago, I told you all that our plan was to grow the team and not do layoffs,” he says, also noting that the company is “still hiring for specific key roles” and has money saved. However, Best says that the company needs to change tactics, as it could be facing “an extended period” where the economy goes from bad to worse. He says that the layoffs are... Continue reading…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge In April, Google announced plans to join the expanding list of tech companies that work with iFixit. The repair mavens distribute parts and tools for people interested in performing DIY electronics repairs, and starting today, iFixit’s store offers genuine Google parts for a number of Pixel phones.You can order what you need to repair everything from the Pixel 2 to the latest Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, as well as the tools to install them and step-by-step guides to walk you through the process. (Aftermarket parts are also available if you’re looking to fix an OG Pixel or Nexus device.)

Illustration by James Bareham / The Verge One thing I have come to appreciate is that cryptocurrency isn’t really very good at its killer use case: crime. Today’s example comes from North Korea, where the regime’s war chest of stolen cryptocurrency is suddenly worth a lot less than it used to be.Here’s an exceptionally funny sentence from Reuters:

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge Niantic, which has been trying to replicate the massive success of Pokémon Go with other mobile AR games, is laying off 8 percent of its workforce and canceling four projects, as reported by Bloomberg.“We recently decided to stop production on some projects and reduce our workforce by about eight percent to focus on our key priorities,” Niantic VP of communications Jonny Thaw said in a statement to The Verge. “We are grateful for the contributions of those leaving Niantic and we are supporting them through this difficult transition.“This means we can focus on our most important priorities, including Pokémon Go and a select set of new experiences, as well as the Lightship platform. This increased focus, as well our strong core... Continue reading…

Image: Netflix Cameron Diaz is set to star alongside Jamie Foxx in a new Netflix original film, officially ending Diaz’s retirement (which some of us at The Verge apparently never got the memo on). Foxx teased the new film, titled Back in Action, in a tweet containing an audio call between him, Diaz, and Tom Brady, whose retirement from football notably lasted a whole 40 days.In a press release, Netflix doesn’t reveal much about the upcoming film other than that it’s an action-comedy directed, produced, and written by Seth Gordon, the director behind Horrible Bosses. Beau Bauman of Central Intelligence will serve as a producer, and Neighbors’ Brendan O’Brien is helping out with the script. Netflix says the premise of the film will remain “under wraps”... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you’re an Instagram user, there’s a good chance it isn’t the only social network that you post to. The app makes it very easy to send your post to a few other social networks — including Facebook (which owns Instagram).Here’s how you do it through the iPhone app (the Android app is very similar):Connect your social networksTo share Instagram photos to other social networks, you’ll need to link those accounts.

Xiaomi says it split the $15 million development cost of the new smartphone camera sensor with Sony. | Image: Xiaomi Big-sensor cameras are a bit of a white whale for smartphone imaging engineers. Even the most capable smartphone cameras use relatively puny sensors, and efforts to bring bigger sensors to the mobile form factor have been impractical, niche, or never really materialized. Xiaomi appears to be the latest company to attempt to capture the elusive concept with its upcoming 12S Ultra flagship.According to a post on Weibo spotted by Android Authority, the phone will include a 1-inch-type sensor co-developed with Sony. That’s about 1.7 times more surface area than the 1/1.33-inch-type sensor in the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s main camera module. It’s also the same size sensor that’s in Sony’s $1300 Cyber-shot RX100 VII that’s more or less the... Continue reading…

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge The chip shortage and supply chain crisis are doing more than just driving up vehicle prices — they’re also affecting quality.JD Power published its Initial Quality Study for 2022 model-year cars this week, in which it found that new vehicle quality has declined 11 percent year over year, the steepest drop ever recorded by the group.Electric vehicle manufacturers in particular are showing big drops in quality, with Polestar ranking dead last. Tesla, meanwhile, ranks seventh from the bottom, continuing its trend of shoddy manufacturing.In this year’s survey, JD Power recorded 226 problems per 100 Tesla vehicles. Combining all non-Tesla EVs, the survey says that 240 problems were reported per 100 EVs, a slight drop from 251 last year... Continue reading…

Apple and other retailers are offering awesome promotions to kick off the summer. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Celebrate our nation’s birthday the Verge Deals way, by saving on some fun tech in time for the summer instead of, you know, doomscrolling about the state of everything. The Fourth of July holiday means different things to different people, but regardless, we’re about to take you on a journey to see all the best July Fourth deals on a variety of tech from across the internet.Several retailers are celebrating the summer holiday by offering excellent discounts and promotions on their products. For instance, Belkin is offering a sitewide discount on its charging peripherals, and Apple is already offering a pair of promotions for anyone in the market for a new tablet or laptop. There’s a little something for everyone. It’s also worth noting... Continue reading…

Google’s Switch to Android app now supports all Android 12 phones. The free iOS app is designed to make it easy to switch to Android, transferring important data like your iPhone contacts and calendar entries. Google released the app earlier this year, but it was limited to its Pixel devices initially. Support for all Android 12 phones makes this a key app if you’re moving from an iPhone to a new Android device.The Switch to Android app initiates a transfer process by displaying a QR code on the iPhone, which you then scan to start transferring photos, videos, contacts, and calendar events. Data can be transferred wirelessly instead of having to connect two phones with a cable, but the cable option is faster and better suited to... Continue reading…

Climeworks announced the groundbreaking of its new Direct Air Capture plant in Iceland, called Mammoth. | Image: Climeworks Swiss climate tech company Climeworks announced yesterday that it has broken ground on its biggest facility yet for capturing carbon dioxide from the air. The new Direct Air Capture (DAC) plant, named Mammoth, will significantly scale up the company’s operations in Hellisheiði, Iceland.That’s where Climeworks built Orca, which was the largest DAC plant in the world when it came online last September. Orca can capture up to 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year, roughly equivalent to how much climate pollution 790 gas-guzzling passenger vehicles release annually. Mammoth, in comparison, can capture about nine times as much CO2 as Orca.Mammoth, in comparison, can capture about nine times as much CO2There are fewer than 20 such plants in... Continue reading…

Illustration by Ana Kova The end of federal abortion rights quickly made a common, safe medical procedure illegal in many parts of the United States and turned routine medical data into something that can be used against people suspected of having an abortion.Despite being highly sensitive, health data often isn’t as private as people might assume. There isn’t much preventing medical records from being weaponized against people seeking abortions in states where it is illegal. Even though medical records contain sensitive, personal information, most people don’t have much control over the information in them or how they are shared.Medical privacy laws like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), don’t stop subpoenas or warrants for... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple is rewarding the most active and helpful members of its support forums with its new Community Plus program (via iClarified). The invite-only program gives these “high-level” Support Community members access to exclusive perks and experiences.Apple’s Support Community members can already earn points based on their activity, granting them access to rewards as they level up. This includes the ability to upload a custom avatar as well as participate in conference calls with the Apple Support Community team and even in-person meetups with other members. But the Community Plus program appears to take things a bit further. It applies to the “shining stars” of Apple support forums who provide the most detailed and helpful answers. Apple... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TweetDeck for Mac will shut down in just two days on July 1st. I rely on the TweetDeck app for my job as a news writer here at The Verge — I live for my alerts about big news and like being able to scroll the infinity of my Twitter columns — and I was disappointed to hear TweetDeck was going away. But if you’re looking for a replacement, you should seriously check out Tweeten. I downloaded it up a day or two after Twitter announced TweetDeck was going away, and I haven’t looked back.Tweeten is basically TweetDeck. Like Twitter’s official power user app, Tweeten lets you do things like tweet right from the client and make columns of all different kinds so that you can plug into the matrix. Seriously, just look at this Tweeten screenshot... Continue reading…

Jason Momoa as Baba Voss in the third season of See. | Apple TV Plus Just as sight is beginning to return to the world of Apple TV Plus’ See, the series is coming to an end with its upcoming third and final season.Though Baba Voss (Jason Momoa) and Queen Maghra (Hera Hilmar) were able to triumph over Baba’s brother Edo (Dave Bautista) in See’s second season finale, the war between the Trivantians and the monarchy ended with an ideological divide threatening to upend the new balance of power. After years of operating as witch hunters — killers of people like Baba and Maghra’s twin daughter Haniwa (Nesta Cooper) and son Kofun (Archie Madekwe) born with the ability to see — many of those loyal to the throne balk at Maghra’s decision to eradicate the practice.Though some of the Queen’s new Royal Guard see... Continue reading…

California is at risk of losing its “competitive edge” if it doesn’t lift a ban on the operation of autonomous semitrailer trucks on public roads, a group of 35 industry leaders said in an open letter to Governor Gavin Newsom.The letter is signed by a cross section of autonomous vehicle companies, delivery and logistics firms, and automakers, including Waymo, Aurora, TuSimple, Embark, UPS, Volvo, and Uber Freight. The group urges Newsom to revisit rules prohibiting heavy-duty self-driving trucks from public testing.Vehicles that weigh more than 10,001 pounds are bannedCalifornia has permitted public testing of light-duty autonomous trucks since 2019. But vehicles that weigh more than 10,001 pounds — which include walk-in delivery... Continue reading…

Image: 1Password 1Password is trying to solve the situation where you go to log on to a website and wonder something like “did I sign in with Google, Apple, or an actual email and password combo” or “which of my five Google accounts did I use for this?” The company has announced that its password manager will let you save which single sign-on (SSO) service you used on a site, so it can automatically log you in with that same account when you return. This feature comes as big companies are gearing up a campaign against passwords as a concept.According to a blog post, the feature is currently available in the beta version of 1Password for the browser and currently supports logging in with Facebook, Google, and Apple. 1Password says it’ll add more... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Every Wednesday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where editor-at-large David Pierce is joined by The Verge’s expert staffers in a deep exploration of how gadgets and software affect our lives.On today’s episode, we have a variety of stories from across The Verge. At the top of the show, David and managing editor Alex Cranz chat with health technology reporter Nicole Wetsman and senior privacy and cybersecurity reporter Corin Faife about the privacy vulnerabilities for people seeking abortions in a post-Roe United States and how people can protect their information.Later in the episode, David reports on why the internet is so bad at recommendations, with insights from executives at Yelp, Pocket, Pinterest,... Continue reading…

The NuraTrue Pro true wireless earbuds. | Image: Nura The new Bluetooth streaming codec that promises to stream CD-quality audio without any loss of audio detail, aptX Lossless, is coming to its first pair of earbuds. The NuraTrue Pro true wireless earbuds are the work of Australian audio company Nura and are currently being funded on Kickstarter with early bird prices starting at $199 and a regular retail price of $329.“These are the first earbuds to be announced with Snapdragon Sound and aptX Lossless. We’re excited to say that there will be many more Snapdragon Sound powered devices with support for aptX Lossless launching soon,” Qualcomm spokesperson Lauren Miller said in a statement. Snapdragon Sound is the name of Qualcomm’s overall audio platform, of which aptX Lossless is one... Continue reading…

The PS5 offers easy installation of an add-on SSD to expand the 1TB it has built in. | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge It’s the hump day before a holiday weekend, which means it officially feels like time is moving the slowest it possibly can. There is one solution to speed things up, though: get a fast SSD for your PC or PlayStation 5.I know that sounds ridiculous, but hear me out. You don’t want to spend your precious hours waiting on slow load times for applications and games. Thankfully, the 1TB Samsung 980 Pro NVMe SSD with a heatsink will help you do just that, and it’s currently on sale for $169.99 at GameStop and Amazon. What’s more, if you’re a GameStop Pro member (which costs $14.99 per year), you get an additional discount that drops it down to $134.99 — which is the outright best price around. That extra “pro” sale is a savings of $95 off... Continue reading…

There’s more content than ever out there — and it’s harder than ever to know what to watch. | Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge Why can’t the internet tell you what to read, watch, and eat? Because you’re complicated Continue reading…

Atari is 50 years old, and to celebrate, the company has partnered with the retro game experts at Digital Eclipse on a new anniversary collection that covers five decades of gaming history. It has the somewhat unwieldy title Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration, but it also sounds much more involved than a typical classic game bundle. Atari 50 will feature more than 90 games — including six new titles “inspired by the classics” — from consoles like the 2600, Jaguar, and Lynx, along with archival photos, images, and even interviews.If the name Digital Eclipse sounds familiar, it’s probably because the studio has made a name for itself with thoughtful, well-executed classic game collections like the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary... Continue reading…

The SiriusXM app. | Image: Comcast Comcast subscribers can now access the SiriusXM app from their Xfinity Flex streaming device and XClass TV as well as through the Xfinity X1 hub for live TV. You can call up the app by saying “SiriusXM” to your voice remote or by searching for it within your device’s list of apps.Although Comcast gives users free access to the NBC Peacock app on X1 and Flex devices, you’ll either need to sign up for a paid SiriusXM subscription or use your existing one to use the app. SiriusXM is offering new subscribers a free three-month trial for its most expensive Streaming Platinum tier, but after that, you’ll have to pay the $10.99 / month price.The Platinum tier includes over 425 channels, with 330 for ad-free music, two exclusive Howard Stern... Continue reading…

Image: Proletariat Blizzard Entertainment has acquired its first studio in more than 15 years. In a report from VentureBeat, the company has acquired the Boston-based studio Proletariat. As a result, Proletariat’s Spellbreak, a battle royale in which you fling spells at your enemies instead of bullets, will shut down.“After more than four years of elemental magic and spell combinations, we’ve made the decision to end development of Spellbreak,” the company wrote on its website. “The servers will be shut down as of early 2023.”Proletariat was founded in 2012 and launched its first game, World Zombination, on mobile in 2015. In addition to developing traditional games, Proletariat also worked on creating Twitch-integrated games that allowed viewers to... Continue reading…

Kirstjen Nielsen’s tenure as the head of the Department of Homeland Security was perhaps best known for the family separation policy at the border. The recordings of crying toddlers, the children wrapped in silver foil blankets, the detention conditions likened to “cages” — this was her legacy. Nielsen was reviled by almost everyone from the center and leftwards. Ironically, President Trump himself disliked her, in part for not being tough enough on immigration, and would eventually force her out.Nielsen would be the last legal secretary of homeland security in the Trump administration. What would follow would be a chaotic parade involving governance by tweet, a thicket of laws and regulations, incorrectly amended paperwork, and a... Continue reading…

When former President George W. Bush outlined his national strategy for homeland security, the pitch was simple: America was under attack by a “terrorist threat,” and the country needed to protect itself from an enemy that “takes many forms, has many places to hide, and is often invisible.”It was in direct response to the 9/11 attack, and yet, the specifics of that terrorist threat were surprisingly vague. The imprecision could be read as paranoia. Or, more insidiously, you could see it as a way to broaden the definition of enemy to include any and all foreigners. Suddenly, immigrants were a threat to the “homeland.” And anyone else who would voice a dissenting opinion was a danger to national security. Rereading the strategic... Continue reading…

I’m old enough to remember what it was like to fly before 9/11 — there were no TSA lines, there was no PreCheck, and there certainly wasn’t any requirement to take off your shoes. In fact, there wasn’t any TSA at all.But 9/11 radically changed the way we move through an airport. The formation of the new Department of Homeland Security and the new Transportation Security Administration led to much more rigorous and invasive security measures for travelers trying to catch their flight.This year is the 20th anniversary of the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA, and I think it’s safe to say that nobody enjoys waiting in the airport security line. And in the post-9/11 world, things like PreCheck are the great innovation of the... Continue reading…

Marissa Leshnov The Abdils decided Afghanistan was no longer safe after their 14-year-old son, Abdul-Azim, was kidnapped on his way home from school. For years, the Taliban abducted children for ransom or used them as leverage in negotiating with the Afghan police. As much as it pained them to abandon their son, Fazela and Hakeem Abdil had other children — two teenage daughters — to think about. They were faced with a difficult choice: stay in an increasingly dangerous Afghanistan or leave their home forever.Up until then, things had been peaceful for the Abdils. “We had a well-arranged life. We had work, a house. Life was pretty comfortable,” Hakeem says. But conditions in Kabul had grown worse when many assumed they’d get better. In February 2020,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Jarett Sitter / The Verge Software like Aim Lab and KovaaK’s are key parts of the esports ecosystem Continue reading…

Snapchat Plus will let subscribers customize the Snapchat icon. | Snap Starting this week, Snap will begin offering an optional subscription called Snapchat Plus that unlocks exclusive and early access features.Priced at $3.99 a month, the subscription is geared toward “the people who spend most of their time communicating with their closest friends on Snap,” the company’s SVP of Product, Jacob Andreou, tells The Verge. Dubbed Snapchat Plus, it’s Snap’s first real attempt at making money outside of advertising, though Andreou says there aren’t expectations for Plus to become a “material new revenue source.”At least initially, Snapchat Plus is mostly a cosmetic upgrade. The most notable features include the ability to change the style of the app’s icon, see who rewatched a story, and pin one of your... Continue reading…

Illustration by Jarett Sitter / The Verge Once a means of supplementing an income, making assets and tools can now be a full-time gig Continue reading…

Millie Bobby Brown at the Stranger Things season 4 premiere. | Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown will star in a new Netflix film from the Russo brothers, directors of Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War. The Electric State is a retro-futuristic sci-fi movie that follows Brown, a robotic companion, and an “eccentric drifter” as she travels through the American West in search of her brother, Netflix said in its casting announcement.Away from the involvement of Brown and the Russo brothers, the most interesting aspect of The Electric State is that it’s based on an illustrated book by Simon Stålenhag. Stålenhag is the artist behind some incredible retro futuristic illustrations, and his other books include Tales from the Loop, which Amazon recently adapted into a TV series of its own.

The audio brand’s new noise-canceling headphones can hang with the very best Continue reading…

Photo by Mohssen Assanimoghaddam/picture alliance via Getty Images Brazil’s telecoms regulator Anatel has launched a public consultation on a proposal to make USB-C chargers mandatory for all smartphones sold in the country.It’s the latest example of lawmakers and regulators turning to USB-C as a common charging standard for phones. The EU passed a law on the matter earlier this month, making USB-C mandatory for a range of electronic gadgets (including smartphones) by the end of 2024, and in the US some Democrat politicians are pushing for similar legislation.“Aware of the aforementioned movements in the international market, Anatel’s technical area evaluated the topic and presented a proposal with a similar approach for application in the Brazilian market,” said Anatel in a blog post (English... Continue reading…

1Password will now let you securely share files and documents with anyone using just a link. The password manager previously started supporting secure password sharing with links last year, and this feature is now being expanded to include documents and files that are stored in 1Password.Sharing a document or file is as easy as sharing a password from 1Password, and the recipient doesn’t need to even use 1Password to access files. You can share a file with anyone through a link, and you can set an expiry date on the link or even restrict it so people have to verify their email address with a one-time code to view the file. Image: 1Password 1Password users can share files, documents, passwords, or just sensitive... Continue reading…

Tesla has laid off nearly 200 workers, most of them tasked with labeling data to help train the company’s Autopilot AI system. The layoffs — first reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by TechCrunch — are the latest job losses at Tesla after CEO Elon Musk told company execs that the firm needed to reduce its headcount by about 10 percent.The layoffs centered on Tesla’s offices in San Mateo, California, where employees were working on the company’s driver-assistance feature Autopilot. Many of those affected were reportedly hourly workers tasked with labeling training data. Such work is essential for developing AI systems but often low-skilled and low-paid. In recent years, many companies have turned to cheaper sources of labor in... Continue reading…