The Verge

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images From birth to the year 2006 in her first day of testimony Continue reading…

Elizabeth Holmes testified in the Theranos trial Friday | Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/The Mercury News via Getty Images Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and CEO of disgraced blood-testing company Theranos, took the stand in her own defense late Friday, in a surprise move by the defense team. Holmes is being tried on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, for allegedly misleading investors and patients about Theranos’ blood testing device.Holmes took the stand just after 6PM ET on Friday, to the surprise of most in the courtroom. Verge editor Liz Lopatto, who has been covering the trial, said Holmes seemed relaxed as she answered questions about her background and the company.

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images Google sent a letter to the Department of Justice Friday requesting that the department examine whether newly confirmed antitrust division head Jonathan Kanter, who has been a vocal critic of the search giant, should be recused from federal antitrust investigations into Google. In his new role, Kanter will lead the department’s lawsuit against Google alleging it has a monopoly in the search and advertising markets.Kanter has represented a number of companies in motions against Google, which the search giant argues should disqualify him. Most notably, Kanter represented Microsoft in a motion arguing against Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick, which was eventually approved by regulators and was closed in 2008.“Mr. Kanter’s past... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Hulu with Live TV is getting another price hike, but the subscription will now include Disney Plus and ESPN Plus at no additional cost.Beginning December 21st, Hulu with Live TV’s monthly subscription cost will jump from its current price of $65 per month to $70 per month for its ad-supported tier. Its ad-free live TV package, meanwhile, will jump from $71 per month to $76 per month when the change goes into effect. The new pricing will apply to both new subscribers and those already paying for the service.With the change, both of Hulu’s live TV packages will include ESPN Plus as well as Disney Plus, which cost $7 and $8 per month, respectively. That’s a major benefit to anyone currently paying for one or either of those services in... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge You pissed off people by somewhat breaking your app, and they’re leaving angry reviews. How can you salvage your reputation? Apple just found one incredibly effective way — get listeners to submit better reviews by interrupting their podcast experience with an in-app prompt to submit a rating.That’s how the Apple Podcasts app went from a publicly embarrassing 1.8-star score all the way to 4.6 stars in a little over a month without any actual fixes, as developer and App Store watchdog Kosta Eleftheriou points out. And it’s still going up: according to AppFigures data, the app has been getting thousands of ratings every day since November 9th, with the vast, overwhelming majority of them issuing a 5-star score.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A new investigation from Wired describes a shocking lack of concern for customer data at e-commerce giant Amazon, where employees took advantage of the faulty system to look up celebrities’ purchases, among other breaches. It seems that despite Amazon’s professed customer-first mentality, company officials failed to prioritize securing its customers’ most personal information. Customer purchase histories were available to Amazon’s global customer service team, with little security or supervision to prevent the employees’ snooping.

Image: NZXT NZXT has introduced an interesting pre-built PC for the age of the graphics card shortage — one that’s powered by a Ryzen 5600G, a CPU with a built-in GPU that can reasonably be used for gaming. While, in normal circumstances, NZXT’s $800 Foundation PC might not be the first pick for those looking to get into PC gaming, the low availability and inflated prices of dedicated GPUs (and machines that include them) make it an interesting option for budget-minded buyers.The AMD processor / graphics card combo is the centerpiece of the build, but its other specs are also respectable: it comes with a 500GB NVMe SSD and 16GB of RAM. And while its 650W Bronze power supply won’t be winning any efficiency awards, it should be able to power... Continue reading…

It turns out the way to beat the collective will of the internet’s cryptocurrency fans is to have way, way more money than them. Ken Griffin, the CEO and founder of Citadel, has revealed himself as the winner of last night’s $43.2 million auction for a rare copy of the US Constitution. A collective of crypto enthusiasts, calling themselves ConstitutionDAO, managed to raise $47 million in about a week’s time in a quixotic attempt to win the document themselves and put it on display to the public for free.While the DAO didn’t win, they did manage to push the price up on Griffin, with the two parties slowly going back and forth million by million during the auction last night, each seemingly uncertain if they would be able to go a million... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A year ago, the next generation of console gaming was supposed to have arrived. The Xbox Series X (and Series S) and PlayStation 5 strode boldly onto the scene, with massive chassis and even bigger promises of games with better graphics, shorter loading times, and revolutionary new breakthroughs.But a year in, and that next generation of gaming has yet to arrive. There are still too few consoles, and more importantly, too few games that truly take advantage of them, leaving the first year of the PS5 and Xbox Series X more of a beta test for the lucky few who have been able to get ahold of one, rather than the proper start of a new era of gaming.A complicated mess of factors have led to the next-gen bottleneck. The physical consoles... Continue reading…

Photo by Mitchell Clark / The Verge Ford no longer plans to make an electric vehicle with EV startup Rivian, CEO Jim Farley tells Automotive News. The Detroit automaker originally announced it wanted to make a Rivian-powered EV in 2019 when it made its first investment of $500 million into the startup. Ford and Rivian already canceled a vehicle they planned to make for the Lincoln luxury brand in 2020.One reason Farley gave for canceling the EV collaboration was the complexity of combining Rivian’s electric architecture with Ford’s own software.“When you compare today with when we originally made that investment, so much has changed: about our ability, about the brand’s direction in both cases, and now it’s more certain to us what we have to do,” Farley said. “We want to... Continue reading…

Tools included | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple’s newly announced Self Service Repair program, set to launch in early 2022, will finally provide individual customers access to genuine Apple OEM parts and manuals for DIY iPhone (and eventually Mac) repairs. Although this program has limitations, and there are many lingering questions about how it will be implemented, it is an opportunity for Apple to improve relationships with its customers by making repairs easier. If Apple prices the parts right, the program could also be a way for motivated customers to save money on repairs by going DIY while allowing independent repair shops to remain competitive.Until now, access to factory OEM parts for iPhones and Macs has been restricted to several Apple-blessed places, including Apple... Continue reading…

A screenshot from Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — Definitive Edition. | Image: Rockstar Rockstar has published a blog post apologizing for the rocky launch of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — Definitive Edition, which packages together remastered versions GTA III, GTA: Vice City, and GTA: San Andreas. The company is promising a “Title Update” in the coming days that will “address a number of issues” and plans to make the original PC versions of the three games available as a bundle “shortly.”“Firstly, we want to sincerely apologize to everyone who has encountered issues playing these games,” the company wrote in a post attributed only to Rockstar Games. “The Grand Theft Auto series — and the games that make up this iconic trilogy — are as special to us as we know they are to fans around the world. The updated versions of... Continue reading…

The new Kindle Paperwhite Kids edition matches the base model but with extras added in. | Photo by Chaim Gartenberg We are seven days away from the actual Black Friday, but if you have been paying any mind to our ongoing coverage for this shopping season, you know there are excellent deals happening every dang day. We have all kinds of excellent early Black Friday deals, including some retailer and brand-specific roundups, and there’s still a whole lot more to come. For now, let’s take a quick peek at some select deals that just popped up today.First off, Amazon’s latest version of its acclaimed Kindle Paperwhite — released just last month — is $45 off for the Kids version at Amazon and Best Buy. This is a killer deal on the new Paperwhite, complete with its better screen that adjusts color temperature and USB-C port.Since it is the kids version,... Continue reading…

Tesla is being sued for sexual harassment | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A worker at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, is accusing the automaker of creating a hostile work environment where sexual harassment was “rampant.” As first reported by The Washington Post, Jessica Barraza, who was hired as a production associate in 2018, said in a lawsuit filed this week that she was subjected to constant harassment at the factory, including catcalling and inappropriate physical touching.“Nearly every day for three years, my female coworkers and I were objectified, threatened, touched, and propositioned on the factory floor,” Barraza said in a statement emailed to The Verge. “I wanted to come to work, do my job, and support my family without having to endure constant sexual harassment. I felt degraded,... Continue reading…

Image: Google On November 19th, 2019, Google launched its Stadia cloud gaming service as a work in progress, and it’s arguably still one today. But one thing that’s consistently improved is the price of entry, and Google’s bringing it down even further to celebrate Stadia’s second birthday.You should now be able to purchase a Stadia Premiere Edition hardware kit with the Chromecast Ultra and Stadia Controller for just $22.22 or €22.22 in fourteen countries including the US and UK “while supplies last.” In the US, you’ll also be able to get one for free when you purchase any $30 or higher game in the Stadia store until November 29th, though it now appears you’ll get that via a redemption code after your purchase and you may also need to pay shipping... Continue reading…

A screengrab of a visualization, created by Hugh Lewis Satellite trackers have been working overtime to figure out just how much dangerous debris Russia created when it destroyed one of its own satellites early Monday — and the picture they’ve painted looks bleak. Multiple visual simulations of Russia’s anti-satellite, or ASAT, test show a widespread cloud of debris that will likely menace other objects in orbit for years.Early this week, Russia launched a missile that destroyed the country’s Kosmos 1408 satellite, a large spacecraft that orbited the Earth roughly 300 miles up. The breakup of the satellite created at least 1,500 pieces of trackable fragments, according to the US State Department, as well as thousands of smaller pieces that cannot be tracked. All of those pieces are still in... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where co-hosts Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.We’ve got a well-rounded episode of The Vergecast today with everything from policy to space to consumer tech.In the first segment, Nilay and Dieter bring in Verge policy reporter Makena Kelly to talk about President Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure package and what it can do to improve broadband access in the US.In segment two, Verge senior science reporter Loren Grush joins the show to explain why Russia destroyed one of their own satellites with a ground-based missile and how it’s causing concern in the space community.Verge M... Continue reading…

What does Google’s parent company Alphabet want with robots? Well, it would like them to clean up around the office, for a start.The company announced today that its Everyday Robots Project — a team within its experimental X labs dedicated to creating “a general-purpose learning robot” — has moved some of its prototype machines out of the lab and into Google’s Bay Area campuses to carry out some light custodial tasks.“We are now operating a fleet of more than 100 robot prototypes that are autonomously performing a range of useful tasks around our offices,” said Everyday Robot’s chief robot officer Hans Peter Brøndmo in a blog post. “The same robot that sorts trash can now be equipped with a squeegee to wipe tables and use the same... Continue reading…

Image: Sunrise Entertainment From the original anime to the new live-action series on Netflix Continue reading…

Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images The Miami City Commission has voted to end its multiyear experiment with shared electric scooters. In a four to five vote, the commission approved a “pocket item” (a last-minute legislative maneuver) to end the Miami scooter pilot. The ordinance went into effect at midnight November 18th.Since 2018, Miami residents and tourists have been able to use mobile apps to rent dockless electric scooters. Companies have until 5PM on Friday, November 19th, to retrieve their scooters from the streets or the city will impound them.“We’re shutting it down,” said Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla, according to Mass Transit magazine. “That’s it.”Scooters typically draw some controversy wherever they’re deployed, but the electric two-wheelers... Continue reading…

The Yubico x Keyport Pivot 2.0 key organizer. | Image: Yubico Yubico has teamed up with Keyport on a new key organizer that’s designed to safely stash your YubiKey security key (a small dongle that can act as an extra layer of security for your logins) alongside your house keys in one compact little enclosure.It’s a neat idea. My house keys have to put up with a lot of abuse from being carried around in my pockets and stuffed in the bottom of backpacks. And while I’m not too worried about a set of metal keys surviving this kind of treatment, I wouldn’t say not to a little more protection for a USB dongle that I need to access my most secure accounts. YubiKeys are built like tanks, but nothing’s invincible.The $25 Yubico x Keyport Pivot 2.0 key organizer appears to have been released earlier this... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge It’s still difficult to find a PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch OLED, or practically any desktop graphics card made in the last three years. So difficult that many people resort to paying scalpers far more than it should cost to get one. This trend has stuck around since the early days of the pandemic, and it might not change any time soon.This year, the likes of Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart signaled that they, too, would like to become console and GPU scalpers, in a sense. Each began hosting some restock events you couldn’t access unless you had a paid subscription to Amazon Prime, Walmart Plus, or Best Buy’s new “Totaltech.” But don’t fall for the notion that these services will go the extra mile for you. In fact, they don’t... Continue reading…

One day you’re just another Brute on the Halo ring minding your own business, and the next you’re a rock star. That’s Craig, Halo Infinite’s infamous Brute that appeared in the notorious trailer last year. He might have originally represented the poor quality of graphics in the original Halo Infinite trailer, but now he has been memorialized as a rock star inside the game in an Easter egg.The Craig shrine can be discovered on top of a giant tower in the fourth campaign mission in Halo Infinite. It includes a greatest hits album and a tour poster with dates for when Craig is holding a Zeta Halo tour. Songs include classics like “The Day You Become a Meme, I Got Tears Last Summer” and “I Smile Inside.” Craig’s greatest... Continue reading…

Otter.ai is adding new limitations to the free Otter Basic plan on the subscription service, which will limit free users to 30-minute transcriptions starting December 1st, down from the current 40-minute limit.The company says that the changes are “due to increased costs and to maintain high standards of service.” Otter.ai is still offering the same 600 minutes of transcription per month to free users, however.The overall monthly limit for free users isn’t changing, howeverThe change isn’t hugely problematic in the long run, given that Otter.ai still isn’t changing the total amount of transcription that free users can do — just the amount that you can have transcribed in a single recording. That means that attentive users can simple... Continue reading…

It has an excellent screen, but some weird quirks Continue reading…

Photo by OLIVER BUNIC/AFP via Getty Images The Food and Drug Administration opened booster shots for the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to all adults today, the companies announced, expanding eligibility outside of the initial, vulnerable groups they were cleared for earlier this fall.Although the COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States are still highly effective protection against severe cases of the disease, hospitalization, and death, protection against any infection or symptoms appears to be weakening. A third, booster shot of the vaccines could restore that protection: Pfizer showed in a clinical trial that the shot was around 95 percent effective compared with people who only had two doses, essentially restoring the same efficacy seen in the... Continue reading…

The regular Cowboy 4 (shown here) is also available in a step-through model. | Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge Cowboy, one of Europe’s premier makers of electric commuter bikes, is now offering a mobile support service in 22 cities with more to follow; 14 in the EU and eight in the US where Cowboy only recently set up operations.Cowboy Care costs €20 / £20 / $20 a month and covers cleaning the bike, tightening screws, replacing parts, and fixing flat tires wherever owners might be. It launches just in time for shipments of the much-anticipated Cowboy 4 and 4ST e-bikes. After some delays to the original September target, the newest Cowboys will begin deliveries next week to people who got their preorders in early, according to Adrien Roose, co-founder and CEO of Brussels-based Cowboy. Image: Cowboy An unlimited number of... Continue reading…

Discord’s new alt text feature in action. | Image: Discord Discord has updated its Windows and macOS desktop clients to let users add alt text for image attachments, the service has announced on Twitter. It’s a helpful accessibility feature for users that rely on screen readers and arrives alongside the ability to preview and upload up to 10 files at a time.The alt text accessibility feature can be found by clicking the small pen icon (“Modify Attachment”) on the top right of each individual preview before sending it in a text channel. Of course, the feature relies on people making the effort to manually add alt text in order for it to be useful. But it’s better than not having the option at all.

Microsoft is now allowing testers to access a new Xbox app for Windows that greatly improves the game install process from the Windows store. As we reported earlier this month, the updated app allows PC gamers to install titles into any folder of their choice with unrestricted access to game files.It’s an option that helps address many of the headaches of installing titles from Xbox Game Pass for PC, and it should also mean you can backup game files and restore them if need be. Previously, Microsoft forced games to install into a WindowsApps folder at the root of a drive, and it was locked down so you couldn’t modify files or freely move them around. You now get options to manage where games are installed to. The... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge It has not been a happy time for researchers at big tech companies. Hired to help executives understand platforms’ shortcomings, research teams inevitably reveal inconvenient truths. Companies hire teams to build “responsible AI” but bristle when their employees discover algorithmic bias. They boast about the quality of their internal research but disavow it when it makes its way to the press. At Google, this story played out in the forced departure of ethical AI researcher Timnit Gebru and the subsequent fallout for her team. At Facebook, it led to Frances Haugen and the Facebook Files.For these reasons, it’s always of note when a tech platform takes one of those unflattering findings and publishes it for the world to see. At the end... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has quietly rolled back its support for Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) on mobile, according to a support page spotted by SEO consultant Christian Oliveira. The support page originally detailed how Twitter would automatically send users of its mobile apps to the AMP version of a page from links posted on the social network. However, at some point since October 21st, Twitter updated the page with a notice saying it’s retiring the feature by the end of the year.According to data from SearchEngineLand, this retirement process appears to have been completed earlier this month. Now, attempting to visit a page from Twitter appears to send users directly to the regular web page, rather than an AMP version that may be available. ... Continue reading…

Halo Infinite is a familiar but different Halo Continue reading…

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images In her own voice Continue reading…

In what may be one of the better pieces of performance art this year, Australian Geoffrey Huntley has created a website that promises to let you torrent an entire blockchain’s worth of NFTs. It’s called, appropriately, The NFT Bay, and it’s an almost exact replica of the famous pirating site (with an added cheeky DMCA takedown link). As a site, it seems to do what it says on the tin, but as a statement it could spark an interesting discussion around what it means if you claim ownership over something on the internet.Pretty much every link on the site (except for the one that’s a Rick Roll) will eventually lead you to the description page, which would look right at home on the real Pirate Bay (according to my friend, who is definitely... Continue reading…

One of 13 remaining copies of the Official Edition of the Constitution. | Image: Sotheby’s A quickly assembled group of crypto enthusiasts who crowdfunded an astonishing $47 million in funds to bid for a rare copy of the US Constitution lost out to a bidder with deeper pockets.The group, ConstitutionDAO, said in an update on Discord that they did not win the auction at Sotheby’s tonight, which sold for a total of $43.2 million. The DAO’s organizers believed they would not have enough money to “insure, store, and transport the document” if they had made a higher bid.The group assembled over the past week, mostly, it seems, because it seemed like a bunch of randos on the internet buying an important historical document would be a funny thing to do. Somehow, they managed to get enough interest to raise a huge sum in Ether. The... Continue reading…

A beta of GeForce Now is coming to some LG TVs running webOS. | Image: LG LG first said in January that Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service was headed to some of its TVs, and now, it’s finally here — though as a beta. LG is rolling out the beta this week for “select 2021 LG 4K OLED, QNED Mini LED, and NanoCell TV models in 80 markets,” according to a press release.GeForce Now lets you play PC games you own on other devices via the cloud, and this new webOS app will make it easier to use the service on a bigger screen. That said, games will be capped at 60fps and 1080p resolution — you won’t be able to play GeForce Now games in 4K via the webOS app. (That feature is currently exclusive to Nvidia’s Shield TV set-top box.)Every GeForce Now tier is supported, Nvidia tells The Verge, including the new tier... Continue reading…

MediaTek has just announced its latest flagship processor: the Dimensity 9000, the company’s most powerful chip ever that looks like it should be able to go head to head with the best chips that more popular competitors like Qualcomm and Samsung offer.Where previous top-tier Dimensity chips (like last year’s Dimensity 1000) were still less powerful than contemporaries like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 or Samsung’s Exynos 2100, the new Dimensity 9000 is coming out of the gate to make a case for 2022 Android flagships. The new Dimensity 9000 is the first mobile chip to be built on TSMC’s 4nm process, in addition to using Arm’s new v9 architecture. It’s also the first announcement CPU to use Arm’s new core designs: a single... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A group of state attorneys general has announced an investigation into “the techniques utilized by Meta to increase the frequency and duration of engagement” of children and teens on Instagram and the negative effects that may cause (via The Wall Street Journal). The group, which includes officials from California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, and Vermont, accuses the company of doing this despite reports that its own research showed its platform could have a negative effect on young people.The research in question was exposed in a report from the Wall Street Journal, which said the company’s own documents show “Instagram Is Toxic for Teen Girls.” It was later discussed in a Senate hearing,... Continue reading…

An offshore oil well platform in the Gulf of Mexico off Grand Isle, Louisiana, U.S., on Wednesday, April 21, 2021. | Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images ExxonMobil’s spending spree during yesterday’s lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico was significant, experts say, because the company might use the area for something other than oil and gas extraction. Experts outside the company speculate that ExxonMobil wants to use Gulf waters for a novel purpose: sequestering captured carbon dioxide.The Biden administration auctioned off vast tracts of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas companies yesterday in one of the largest federal lease sales in recent years. The sale drew sharp criticism from environmental groups, which say that allowing new oil and gas development is incompatible with America meeting its climate goals. But it’s possible that Exxon — the biggest bidder in yesterday’s sale — isn’t... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A year into the computer chip shortage that’s heavily affecting vehicle production, Ford announced a collaboration with chipmaker GlobalFoundries Inc., as The Wall Street Journal first reported.Ford’s press release about the non-binding agreement is light on specifics but mentions plans “to advance semiconductor manufacturing and technology development within the United States.” Without committing to building any plants, the two companies say they will “explore expanded semiconductor manufacturing opportunities to support the automotive industry.” Speaking during an event later in the day, GM CEO Mark Reuss said his company is working to co-develop new chips with many semiconductor partners like Qualcomm, TSMC, and others.Ford’s VP... Continue reading…

Facebook is switching up the News Feed again | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook parent company Meta said it is testing new ways for users to customize the content they see in their News Feeds. The company said in a blog post Thursday that the test, available to a “small percentage” of users to start, would allow people to adjust their preferences to increase or reduce the amount of content they see from specific friends, family, groups, and pages they’re connected with on the platform.Facebook has tweaked the way the News Feed presents content numerous times in the past several years and seems to keep rethinking what content should be prioritized and why. In 2015, it said it was changing News Feeds to favor content from close friends over that from brands and publishers. In 2016, Facebook said again it... Continue reading…

Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Following a bombshell Wall Street Journal report that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick allegedly knew, withheld, and even participated in harassment and abusive behavior, the company’s big console partners Sony and Microsoft are semi-privately expressing their distress. Bloomberg is now reporting that Microsoft boss Phil Spencer has now told staff he was “disturbed and deeply troubled by the horrific events and actions” at Activision Blizzard and that Microsoft is “evaluating all aspects of our relationship with Activision Blizzard and making ongoing proactive adjustments” as a result.“The Bloomberg report is accurate,” a Microsoft spokesperson tells The Verge. Microsoft also shared a generic, completely unrelated statement about... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Update November 18th, 3:55PM ET: Walmart has sold out of both PlayStation 5 consoles and the Xbox Series X. We’ll be sure to keep you updated when we hear of another round of free or paywalled restocks.Console restocks are getting more and more frequent these days — particularly as the Black Friday season heats up and early Black Friday deals continue to roll out — but retailers have been quick to cull the herd of potential customers by putting some stock behind paid subscription services. Walmart has a next-gen console restock happening today at 3PM ET / 12PM PT, though, it’s exclusive to Walmart Plus paid subscribers. You can queue up to purchase a disc-based PlayStation 5 for $500, a PlayStation 5 Digital Edition for $400, or an Xbox... Continue reading…

Illustration by James Bareham / The Verge The US government has seized $56 million worth of cryptocurrency from an admitted participant in the BitConnect scam and intends to sell the coins and use the proceeds to reimburse victims. The Department of Justice says that it’s the largest recovery of cryptocurrency to date — and that it was willingly given up by Los Angeles resident Glenn Arcaro, who has called himself BitConnect’s “number one promoter.”According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), BitConnect convinced people to invest a total of $2 billion by telling them that it had a bot capable of generating incredibly high rates of return from crypto trading. In other words, BitConnect sold itself as a way for people to easily invest in cryptocurrency and to make a... Continue reading…

Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Over 1,000 employees and contractors at Activision Blizzard have now signed and published a petition to remove CEO Bobby Kotick from the company, doubling the number of signatures since the petition was made public.

Apple employees will return to offices February 1st | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple employees will return to offices starting February 1st as part of a hybrid work pilot and will be able to work remotely for four weeks a year. First reported by The Information, employees learned of the news Thursday via an internal memo from CEO Tim Cook. The company had previously offered two weeks of remote work per year but added two more weeks to give “more opportunity to travel, be closer to your loved ones, or simply shake up your routines,” Cook’s memo said.The pilot will start workers at one or two days in the office, then in March, workers will come to the office to work on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. They’ll be able to work from home on Wednesdays and Fridays. Some employees may be asked to come into the office four... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple has completed “much of the core work” on a new processor meant to power its secretive autonomous electric car project known as Titan, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports. The milestone comes as Apple is reportedly now accelerating its timeline for the autonomous car it’s developing, with a new target of launching it in just four years.Apple’s own silicon team designed the chip, which Gurman says is the “most advanced component” that’s been developed for the project so far. The company is apparently getting ready to put the chip through its real-world paces in its fleet of test vehicles in California and hopes to make a vehicle with “stronger safeguards than what’s available from Tesla and Waymo,” according to the report.The goal... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously on Thursday to expand access to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by letting people text 988 starting next year. Text message providers have to support the three-digit code by July 16th, 2022, which is when the code will go into effect. On that same date, people will also be able to dial 988 to access Lifeline following a 2020 FCC ruling. People in need of help before calling or texting 988 is an option can call 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) or get connected to a counselor through an online chat.FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a tweet that nearly 6,000 Americans call the Lifeline on an average day. “As we know from 911, creating an easy-to-remember 3 digit number makes it... Continue reading…