The Verge

The newest MacBook Pros are a return to form, complete with more ports. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Each and every day we get closer to Black Friday, the deals keep heating up. There are already a lot of great early Black Friday sales to pore over, and we’ve even gathered retailer-specific deals from the likes of Amazon, Walmart, and Target. The Verge has its own deals going on, in a way, with exclusives offered below, along with our very own giveaway. It’s certainly the season of tech deals, and kicking off today’s sales are discounts on the hottest laptops that just hit the market.When Apple announced its new MacBook Pro laptops, its own site broke under the weight of people placing orders. But not only can you get one now, you can save a little off the total. The 14-inch MacBook Pro is up to $100 off at B&H Photo. You can get a 1... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Microsoft is beginning to roll out the ability to play games via Xbox Cloud Gaming on Xbox One or Xbox Series X / S consoles, Microsoft announced Wednesday. The feature requires a Game Pass Ultimate subscription and will be available in 25 regions “with Brazil coming soon,” according to Microsoft. But you might not have access to the feature right away, as Microsoft says it will roll out first “with our November release to a subset of Xbox gamers” and to everyone in supported markets “over the coming weeks.”Cloud gaming on Xbox consoles could have a number of useful applications. You can use it to try or demo games available on Game Pass without having to fully download them. If a friend sends you a multiplayer invite for a game you... Continue reading…

Photo by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images Amazon will stop accepting payments from Visa credit cards issued in the UK from January 19th, 2022. Customers will still be able to use Visa debit cards issued in the UK, as well as credit cards issued by MasterCard, American Express, and other firms.Amazon is blocking UK credit cards from Visa as part of an ongoing battle over “interchange” fees — levies charged by card issuers to a merchant’s bank for each transaction. Visa’s interchange fees for transactions between the UK and the European Union (where Amazon UK processes payments) were previously capped at 0.3 percent by EU law. But since the UK left the EU, Visa has been able to hike that fee to 1.5 percent.It’s not clear why Visa is being singled out by AmazonHowever, Visa... Continue reading…

The second-generation Sonos Beam soundbar. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Sonos’ latest update contains big news for surround sound fans: the addition of DTS audio support for its home theater speakers. These include not just newer speakers like the second-generation Beam and Arc, but also older devices like the first-gen Beam, the Playbase, and even the Playbar that originally launched in 2013. Even the Sonos Amp is getting in on the DTS action.For those unfamiliar with the technical nightmare that is home cinema audio, DTS is a rival surround sound format to Dolby Digital. So DTS support means that Sonos users can benefit from surround sound across more sources, like Blu-ray discs that use the DTS format. The release of the update comes a week after Disney announced that DTS audio support will be coming to... Continue reading…

Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images The Staples Center, home to Los Angeles sports teams including the Lakers, Clippers, Kings, and Sparks, is getting a new name: “Crypto.com Arena.” Yes, Crypto Dot Com Arena. The cryptocurrency exchange paid more than $700 million for 20-year naming rights, according to the LA Times, making it one of the largest such deals ever. Staples paid $100 million for the rights for 10 years in 1999.The logo will reportedly be revealed on Christmas Day for the Brooklyn Nets’ game with the Lakers, and Staples Center branding should be phased out by June. “In the next few years, people will look back at this moment as the moment when crypto crossed the chasm into the mainstream,” Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek tells the LA Times. “This is just such a... Continue reading…

Fujifilm has announced the Instax Mini Evo, a new digital camera that prints to Instax Mini film. The company describes it as a new Instax flagship that has been “designed with a premium and classical touch;” and it has several retro elements including top-mounted dials and a print control that works like a film advance lever.Like other hybrid Instax cameras, the Mini Evo has an LCD screen to help you frame your digital shots before printing. The Mini Evo includes ten lens effects that can be combined and applied to photos, and Fujifilm says that it has twice the exposure resolution of previous models. Image quality from Fujifilm’s previous hybrid Instax cameras hasn’t been great, so we’ll have to see how this one works out in practice.... Continue reading…

The Kaira lineup for PS5 has leatherette-covered ear cups. | Razer After releasing a fleet of gaming products geared toward Xbox and PC, Razer is finally giving the PS5 a little love with two new Kaira wireless headsets, the $99.99 Kaira and the $199.99 Kaira Pro. They aren’t carbon copies of the Xbox versions, either. Razer made a color palette swap to a white / black colorway, and there’s leatherette covering the ear cups, as opposed to a piece of breathable mesh fabric. But that’s not all.The more expensive Kaira Pro is the only one of the two models to have HyperSense haptics, which will deliver jolts of vibration to make your games and other content more immersive. Razer recently announced that this feature’s coming to the new (and similarly priced) Kraken V3 Pro that is also made to support... Continue reading…

Getty Images In their meetings, Elizabeth Holmes did most of the talking Continue reading…

Image: Sony Pictures Entertainment The latest trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home has arrived, bringing with it some big surprises for Spider-Man’s latest MCU outing.If you’re trying to go into the latest adventure of the web-slinging hero without spoilers, you’ll probably want to skip hitting play here (or reading the rest of this post).Spoilers for Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home below:As revealed in the first trailer, No Way Home picks up right where Far From Home left off: with Peter Parker’s secret identity as Spider-Man revealed to the world, something that Peter tries to enlist Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) assistance in rectifying. Magical multiverse hijinks ensue.Things appear to go wrong, though, resulting in appearances... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple told The Verge last week that it would be rolling out a software update to iPhone 13 devices to make it easier to replace their screens without breaking Face ID, but it didn’t specify when that update might arrive. Fortunately, we may not have to wait long, as repair experts say they have successfully completed the easier screen swaps on iPhone 13 handsets running the iOS 15.2 beta.Before the update, keeping Face ID working after swapping the screens also required moving over a microcontroller from the original phone to the new one. Doing so is a complex process, and having to do it for every iPhone 13 that needs a new screen could make things difficult for indie repair shops. (You can read all about the issue in an article from i... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Paramount Plus is grabbing back its Star Trek: Discovery series from Netflix, where it’s been streaming to international viewers for three seasons.The series lived on Paramount Plus (fka CBS All Access) for US viewers and on Canada’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel, but the move will bring old and future seasons of the series under a single streaming umbrella for folks outside of those regions. Season 4 of Discovery had previously been set to debut on Paramount Plus in the US, CTV Sci-Fi Channel, and on Netflix elsewhere on November 18th.The show will leave Netflix at 12AM PT in regions where it had previously been available to stream. (It will remain on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and stream on the Crave in Canada.) All seasons of the show... Continue reading…

Applied VR The Food and Drug Administration authorized a virtual reality system as a prescription treatment for chronic back pain, the agency announced today. The therapy, called EaseVRx, joins the short list of digital therapeutics cleared by the agency over the past few years.EaseVRx includes a VR headset and a device that amplifies the sound of the user’s breath to assist in breathing exercises. It uses principles from cognitive behavior therapy, which aims to help people recognize and understand various thought patterns and emotions. The program addresses pain through relaxation, distraction, and improved awareness of internal signals, the FDA said in its statement.The FDA authorized EaseVRx based on data from an eight-week study in 179... Continue reading…

Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge If you’re tired of long shipping times, Samsung is now partnering with Best Buy to offer a “Get It Today” pickup option. This lets you make a purchase on Samsung’s online store and then pick it up for free within just a few hours at your local Best Buy. The “Get It Today” option on Samsung’s website lets you choose a Best Buy store for pickup. Select Samsung phones, tablets, laptops, smartwatches, and portable audio devices are all eligible for same-day pickup at Best Buy. Once you’re at the checkout, just select “Get It Today” from the pickup / delivery options, and then choose the nearest Best Buy location. After you enter your payment information, just keep in mind that the shipping option defaults to home... Continue reading…

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has been aware of sexual misconduct allegations at the company for years and has had his own history of harassment and abusive behavior, according to a bombshell report in The Wall Street Journal.The report contains many shocking and previously unreported allegations about Activision Blizzard, which has been under intense scrutiny following the state of California’s July lawsuit alleging the company has a culture of “constant sexual harassment.” The problems appear to go all the way to the top, as the new WSJ report contains numerous troubling stories of Kotick’s awareness of problems and of his own behavior.In one instance, Kotick was aware that a former female employee at an Activision-owned... Continue reading…

Sites and services like Spotify, Discord, Snapchat, and Etsy seem to be recovering after an outage that brought them, and many other sites, down for a little less than an hour on Tuesday.The culprit for the outages appears to have been Google Cloud, and the service’s status page still shows a networking issue is currently causing problems resulting in the 404 errors that appeared on affected web pages. An update to the status page posted at 1:17PM ET says “the issue with Cloud Networking is partially resolved,” and it does seem like most services are coming back to life, albeit with some experiencing a few bugs or long loading times. Google’s status page notes that there currently isn’t an ETA on when the problem will be fully fixed.A... Continue reading…

Windows 11’s new media player. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft has created a new Media Player app for Windows 11, and it’s beginning to test the app with Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel today. The redesigned Media Player app will support both audio and video, and it includes a design that better matches Windows 11’s UI improvements.“At the heart of Media Player is a full-featured music library that allows you to quickly browse and play music, as well as create and manage playlists,” explains Dave Grochocki, a senior program manager lead for Microsoft’s Windows inbox apps team. “The update to the new Media Player will replace the Groove Music app.” Image: Microsoft The new artist imagery in Media Player. The playback view in this new Media Player app includes... Continue reading…

Meta Reality Labs You cannot pet a dog in Meta’s new, high-tech virtual reality gloves. But researchers are getting closer.Meta (formerly Facebook) is known for its high-profile moves into virtual and augmented reality. For seven years, though, it’s been quietly working on one of its most ambitious projects yet: a haptic glove that reproduces sensations like grasping an object or running your hand along a surface. While Meta’s not letting the glove out of its Reality Labs research division, the company is showing it off for the first time today, and it sees the device — alongside other wearable tech — as the future of VR and AR interaction.At a simplified level, Meta’s haptics prototype is a glove lined with around 15 ridged and inflatable plastic pads... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Microsoft started testing x64 emulation for Windows 10 on Arm nearly a year ago, but the company is now limiting the feature to Windows 11. The planned feature allows x64 apps that haven’t been compiled for Arm-powered machines to run, allowing devices like the Surface Pro X to access even more apps.“x64 emulation for Windows is now generally available in Windows 11,” reads an update to a Microsoft blog post today. “For those interested in experiencing this, a PC running Windows 11 on Arm is required.”That means if you were testing the feature on Windows 10, it’s no longer going to ship in any future operating system updates. You’ll need to upgrade a device like a Surface Pro X to Windows 11, instead.Microsoft says it’s still... Continue reading…

Viewers can buy badges, and they’ll appear next to their names in the comments. | Image: Meta Today, Instagram is officially launching its Badges feature, which gives viewers a way to pay and support creators on Instagram Live. Although the feature has been in testing for around a year and a half on an invite-only basis, starting today Instagram will allow any eligible creators on the platform to apply for the feature. Once accepted, viewers will be able to purchase “Badges” during a creator’s livestream to support them financially.Badges are available in three different levels, costing $0.99, $1.99, or $4.99, and show up as one, two, or three hearts next to a commenter’s name during a livestream. Any questions or comments posted by a badge owner will be shown more prominently to a creator, and their Instagram name will appear... Continue reading…

Microsoft says it’s planning to update Windows 10 annually with any future feature updates. Starting today, Microsoft is releasing the Windows 10 November 2021 update, and the next major update after that will be available later in 2022. This update cadence matches the same used by Windows 11, which will also introduce new features on an annual basis.“We will transition to a new Windows 10 release cadence to align with the Windows 11 cadence, targeting annual feature update releases,” explains John Cable, Microsoft’s head of Windows servicing and delivery. “The next Windows 10 feature update is slated for the second half of 2022.”Microsoft’s commitment to future Windows 10 feature updates comes after the company was quiet about its... Continue reading…

The Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis I mission lifted above the Space Launch System at Kennedy Space Center | NASA/Frank Michaux Last week, NASA announced that it was bumping back plans to send humans to the Moon from 2024 to 2025, but according to a new report, the delays could be even more significant. More realistically, such a landing will probably take place several years after 2024, the report claims.The recent prediction comes from NASA’s Office of the Inspector General, which does periodic audits of the space agency’s various programs. In its latest report, the OIG took a comprehensive look at NASA’s Artemis program, the agency’s ambitious initiative to send people back to the Moon, as well as land the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface.NASA created the Artemis program during the Trump administration. In 2019, then-Vice... Continue reading…

Digital tools like motivational text messages that try to nudge people to do more physical activity aren’t effective for poor people, according to a new meta-analysis. In one of the most comprehensive efforts to tease apart the impact of behavioral change programs on people with different income levels, the study authors showed that apps and wearables only helped bump physical activity levels for people with high socioeconomic status.The finding bolsters arguments that digital health interventions can end up widening health gaps between groups and that they’re designed for people with more money and more education.The new analysis looked at 19 studies that tested whether things like text messages, web-based prompts, or wearable step... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Meta has sold 10 million Oculus Quest 2 headsets, according to Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon at the company’s 2021 investor day, giving the best benchmark yet for sales of Meta’s standalone VR platform since it launched last October.“Our technologies are the ticket to the metaverse,” Amon said, highlighting Qualcomm’s efforts to establish itself as a key player in VR and AR platforms, especially as the tech industry at large is so heavily emphasizing the metaverse concept.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge After a flood of leaks, the company formerly known as Facebook is getting more secretive Continue reading…

Image: Kirsty Griffin / Netflix Stay up to date Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge We’re here to help you save this holiday season Continue reading…

Photo by Amazon Amazon Photos on iOS just got a major redesign, as outlined in a post on the Amazon Photos blog, suggesting that Amazon might be trying to level the playing field with Google Photos.The update aims to bring smoother navigation, essentially placing all options within “a thumb’s reach.” From the home screen, you should be able to singlehandedly access your photos and account information. The home screen also features a customized slideshow that displays a reel of memories, highlighting vacations, photos of the current date from previous years, and a random selection of photos that change on a daily basis.Once you select a gallery, Amazon notes that you’ll no longer have to keep scrolling to find a specific picture — swiping up on the... Continue reading…

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Ohio is suing Facebook | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Ohio is suing Facebook’s parent company, Meta, claiming the social media platform misled the public about the effects its products have on children. The lawsuit, filed November 12th on behalf of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS), is seeking more than $100 billion in damages.The suit alleges that between April 29th and October 21st, Facebook and top executives violated federal securities law when they intentionally misled the public and deceived shareholders about how its products can negatively affect children.“Facebook said it was looking out for our children and weeding out online trolls, but in reality was creating misery and divisiveness for profit,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement Monday. He... Continue reading…

Ruined King. In late 2019, Riot revealed a new publishing label designed to give indie studios the chance to play around in the vast League of Legends universe — and today, the first two Forge games are finally releasing.That includes Hextech Mayhem, a rhythm platformer from Bit.Trip developer Choice Provisions, which is out on the Switch and PC, with a version also coming to Netflix Games in the future. Joining it is Ruined King, a turn-based role-playing game from Airship Syndicate, which was previously revealed in 2019. It’s launching first on the PC, Switch, PS4, and Xbox One, with next-gen versions for PlayStation and Xbox also on the way.Outside of those two games, Riot revealed a new title called Song of Nunu from Rime developer Tequila... Continue reading…

Minor issues aside, these are an incredible value for gamers who need to multitask Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Qualcomm is looking to seriously beef up its PC processors, with the company announcing plans for a next-generation Arm-based SoC “designed to set the performance benchmark for Windows PCs” that would be able to go head to head with Apple’s M-series processors.Dr. James Thompson, Qualcomm’s chief technology officer, announced the plans for the new chips at the company’s 2021 investor day event, with the goal of getting samples to hardware customers in about nine months ahead of product launches with the new chip in 2023. The new chip will be designed by the Nuvia team, which Qualcomm had bought earlier this year in a massive $1.4 billion acquisition. Nuvia, notably, was founded in 2019 by a trio of former Apple... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge From losing 80 percent of your business to an IPO in nine months Continue reading…

Image: Harry Potter/Warner Brothers Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone (or Philosopher’s Stone, depending on your locality) hit movie theaters 20 years ago today. It kicked off the eight-film adaptation of the massively popular children’s book series, which concluded with the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 a decade ago in 2011.In that time, the Potter films have become a magnet for marathoning, driven in no small part by fan-favorite Freeform (née ABC Family) broadcasts of the films. ABC actually picked up the rights to the series just weeks after the first film had even hit theaters, reportedly spending roughly $140 million to be able to broadcast the first two movies.The network spent the next decade collecting the broadcast rights to the... Continue reading…

Photo by Snap Snapchat is adding audio from Sony Music Entertainment to its Sounds library, according to a report by Variety. This means that Snap has now inked deals with all three major music labels: Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group. Aside from the Big Three, the platform also partners with Warner Chappell, BMG, Kobalt, and more.The platform has seen 521 million videos created with Sounds since the feature’s launchSnapchat will also start rolling out Sound Lenses, as noted in a press release on the Snap newsroom, featuring pre-selected songs and visual effects that make the subject look like they’re singing. It plans on adding Cameo Sound Lenses as well, which lets two users appear together in an animated... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Every Tuesday on The Vergecast, we’re pulling apart a different new tech standard that is designed to replace tech standards before it. Last week, we explored the fractious history and fraught future of USB-C. This week, we’re talking about Rich Communication Services, or RCS. Will it replace SMS? Google is trying to make it happen.To really understand why Google is going all-in on RCS, you have to understand that there’s a rich and complicated history of messaging apps at Google and also RCS’s own history that’s entirely separate from Google. On the Vergecast RCS special, Verge executive editor Dieter Bohn walks you through the messy past and uncertain future of the texting standard.Dieter also talks with Sanaz Ahari, senior... Continue reading…

The headphones are selling for a discounted $279 today. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Some of the best noise-canceling headphones you can buy right now are Bose’s QuietComfort 45, and they’re selling at the lowest price we’ve seen yet. Just two months following their release, you can buy them for $279 from Amazon, Best Buy, and Adorama as a part of their early Black Friday sales. It’s a solid $50 price drop.If comfort is key, these are some of the most cozy headphones to wear. Like previous QuietComfort models, these can fold up and be stowed in the included zip-up case. They offer up to 24 hours of battery life per charge — you can even enjoy three hours of usage with just 15 minutes of charging.With the rare combo of being dynamic wall art and a 4K QLED TV in one, Samsung’s unique Frame TV is back down to its lowest... Continue reading…

Twitter has updated its web platform to prevent users’ feeds from auto-refreshing | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has updated its platform to prevent auto-refreshing of users’ feeds that caused some tweets to “disappear” while they were reading them. The platform first announced it was working on the update in September, saying “we know it’s a frustrating experience” when tweets disappeared from view mid-read, and the fix is now rolling out to Twitter’s web platform. Users will be able to load new tweets by clicking on a tweet counter bar that will appear at the top of their timelines above existing tweets in their feed.

Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images Happy Tuesday, peeps. We’re so close to Thanksgiving, I can taste the cornbread casserole. Yes, that is my dish, and yes, I’m from the Midwest. No further questions, please! We have a relatively light one today, which seems to be because many companies are taking it easy through the rest of the year. The social audio companies, however, are continuing to land the deals and make the news. No rest for the startups. Although I have lots of things to say about Spotify’s audiobook company acquisition from Thursday, I’m saving it for hopefully later this week. (If you work in the literary world and have some thoughts on the audiobook market, feel free to reach out!) Otherwise, let’s get to it.The New York Times says COVID misinformation is... Continue reading…

1Password 8 now includes a dark mode for Windows. | Image: AgileBits 1Password is getting its first major design update in more than three years today, with the launch of 1Password 8 for Windows. It includes a new design with a dark mode that better matches some of the recent UI improvements across Windows 10 and Windows 11. 1Password is also now built on Rust, to improve performance.The entire desktop app now looks a lot more like the web or 1Password browser extension interface, with updated item icons, detailed views for items and vaults, and a redesigned sidebar. There’s also a new quick find feature and improvements to search results to make it easier to find the login entry you need. Image: AgileBits The editing experience in 1Password 8 is a lot easier. It’s also a lot... Continue reading…

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Nvidia wants you to know that AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) is a mere pretender, nothing like the Nvidia Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technique its GPUs can use to boost the framerate and/or image quality of your games. To prove it, Nvidia is trying an interesting new tactic by releasing a remarkably powerful image comparison tool called Nvidia ICAT, for free, so that anyone can see for themselves.ICAT, short for “Image Comparison And Analysis,” is a very simple program that lets you view a stack of gameplay screenshots and even recorded videos side-by-side, automatically lining up the frames, and allowing you to fluidly pan across each scene, zoom in and out, on all of those images or videos simultaneously. It’s got a... Continue reading…

Microsoft is changing its Black Screen of Death in Windows 11 back to the original blue color. The software giant originally changed its infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) to black in Windows 11 earlier this year, to match the new black logon and shutdown screens. It was the first major change to the BSOD since Microsoft added a sad face to the screen in Windows 8.That change is now being reverted in a Windows 11 update that’s due to be released any day now. “We changed the screen color to blue when a device stops working or a stop error occurs as in previous versions of Windows,” admits Microsoft in recent patch notes, spotted by Windows Central, for the Windows 11 update.Microsoft first introduced the BSOD in Windows 3.0, offering... Continue reading…

An Amazon Go store in the US in 2018. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Amazon has reportedly landed its first customer outside the US for its cashierless retail technology. According to Bloomberg News, the UK’s second largest supermarket chain, Sainsbury’s, will use Amazon’s system of AI-powered surveillance cameras to power a cashierless grocery store in London.Sainsbury’s own FAQ for the store, which is reportedly due to open to the public on November 29, says that the technology is being provided by an unnamed “third-party supplier.” But Bloomberg says that supplier is Amazon, citing a source “familiar with the matter.” We reached out to Sainsbury’s for comment but the company provided only a generic statement saying it was “currently testing” cashierless tech at the store in question.The shop,... Continue reading…

The “Busy area” label appears when you might encounter crowds. | Screenshot by Thomas Ricker / The Verge Google is adding a handful of new features to Google Maps in time for the holiday season, which collectively should make getting around a slightly less fraught experience. The new features were announced in a blog post today.A new “Area Busyness” feature provides information on how popular neighborhoods are rather than just specific destinations, while the app’s “Directory” tab is rolling out globally to give more info on the stores and amenities inside locations like malls and airports. Google Maps is also expanding its grocery pickup tracking feature to cover more stores across the US, and is attempting to make its restaurant reviews more detailed. Image: Google The Directory tab gives information about stores... Continue reading…

Characters from Naruto Shippuden are joining Fortnite. | Image: Epic Games After a tease last week, Fortnite’s highly anticipated collaboration with Naruto is finally here. Starting Tuesday, you’ll be able to play as characters from the hugely popular anime series Naruto: Shippuden in Epic Games’ hit battle royale. There will be four Naruto characters that are now available in the in-game item shop — Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Kakashi Hatake — as well as a Naruto glider, two emotes, and two loading screens.But Fortnite isn’t just getting Naruto skins. A throwable paper bomb kunai is being added as a weapon to the game. You’ll be able to meet Kakashi Hatake as an NPC on the Fortnite island and get quests from him. And there will be an entire Naruto-themed Creative map you can explore... Continue reading…

The Balmuda Phone has a 4.9-inch 16:9 1080p display. Japanese design company Balmuda today announced its first smartphone at a press event in Tokyo. The straightforwardly titled Balmuda Phone is the debut product from Balmuda Technologies, a new division of the company previously known for stylish, premium home appliances like air purifiers and rice cookers. Balmuda’s toaster in particular has a cult following in Japan.As you’d expect, the Balmuda Phone is quite a bit different to other phones on the market. CEO Gen Terao said on stage that he felt that smartphones have gotten too big and unwieldy in recent years, so the Balmuda Phone was designed with compactness and elegance as the primary goals. It has a very sharp 4.9-inch 16:9 1080p display and is roughly comparable to a 4.7-inch... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge JPMorgan has sued Tesla, claiming that the electric car company owes the bank $162 million related to a 2014 stock warrant agreement. The dispute centers around adjustments the companies made to the agreement following Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s 2018 “[f]unding secured” tweet and the resulting fallout.The lawsuit was filed late Monday in the Southern District of New York. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and has disbanded its US press team.According to the suit, which was first reported by Reuters, JPMorgan purchased a number of warrants from Tesla in 2014 — back when the company was still trying to fund the construction of the original Gigafactory.Stock warrants give the buyer (JPMorgan, in this case) a right... Continue reading…

A major Hollywood union has voted to ratify a pair of contracts to improve labor conditions for production workers — though narrowly — after previously voting to authorize a strike over stalled negotiations with major studios.The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) announced today its members narrowly voted to ratify both the Basic Agreement and the Area Standards Agreement, three-year contracts that included provisions for things like meal times and breaks, increased base pay for the union’s lowest-paid members, and better terms for productions from streaming services. Both votes were extraordinarily close, and the vote around the Basic Agreement, in particular, is contentious.IATSE uses an electoral... Continue reading…

Peloton’s on-demand classes and leaderboard are at the heart of both lawsuits. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Peloton isn’t too happy with its rivals. The company has filed lawsuits against Echelon and iFit, claiming each company violated patents related to Peloton’s on-demand classes, Bloomberg Law reports.The issue at hand is that Peloton says Echelon and iFit are gaining “free rides” from its technology. In court documents, the company specifically pointed to its leaderboards and the ability to participate in live classes with other users. In its case against iFit, Peloton says that before it came along, iFit “only allowed subscribers to follow along with pre-recorded exercise classes on their machines, without any sort of community engagement.” It also takes issue with iFit’s ActivePulse and SmartAdjust features, which automatically adjust... Continue reading…

Yoko Kanno and Cowboy Bebop star Daniella Pineda. | Image: Netflix The early reaction to Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop has been mixed, but there’s one thing that everyone seems to agree on: the soundtrack is killer. Yoko Kanno, who gave the original anime its distinctive jazzy songs, returned as composer on the Netflix series, while her band the Seatbelts performed the tracks. The soundtrack includes a few original songs along with rerecorded classics. Thankfully, it’ll also be available to listen to outside of the show very soon. Netflix revealed that the soundtrack will be on streaming services — that includes Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, Amazon, and Tidal — starting November 19th, the same day the 10-episode series lands on Netflix.In the meantime, you can enjoy this photo of C... Continue reading…