The Verge

Image: Rimac Porsche is strengthening its ties with Rimac, an electric supercar company, by participating in a $500 million investment round for the Croatia-based startup. Porsche didn’t disclose the exact amount it invested in Rimac, except to say it was “eight figures.” And Porsche won’t have a controlling interest in Rimac, retaining its previously disclosed 20 percent equity stake in the company.Over the years, Porsche has grown closer to Rimac, buying shares in the company and setting up a joint venture to run Bugatti after Volkswagen transferred ownership to the startup. Today’s investment news is the latest indication that Porsche has a positive perception of Rimac’s future. Porsche also owns a controlling stake in Greyp, an electric... Continue reading…

The Forerunner 255 family adds a host of new racing features and multi-band GPS. | Image: Garmin Just in time for Global Running Day, Garmin is introducing two new running watches to its Forerunner lineup: the $349.99 Forerunner 255 and the $499.99 Forerunner 955. Both GPS watches sport multi-band GPS and new racing features, including a race widget. The Forerunner 955 will also come in a Solar version, which, as the name suggests, adds solar charging for even longer battery life.The Forerunner 255 is a lightweight, midrange running watch that builds on the Forerunner 245. It’ll come in two sizes. The standard Forerunner 255 will measure 46mm and weigh 49 grams, while the smaller 255S will measure 41mm and weigh 32 grams. There’ll also be a Forerunner 255 Music and 255S Music variants, which will be able to store up to 500 songs on... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge When the company formerly known as Facebook announced its plan to rebrand last October, it also announced a new stock ticker. At the time, execs said that after ten years as FB, its NASDAQ listing would transition to MVRS for the metaverse. However, after the investment fund listed under META vacated the symbol in January, Meta Platforms quickly confirmed that it would use META instead, while at the same time announcing its first drop in daily active users, ever. Now it has filed paperwork saying the shift will become official before the market opens on June 9th (via CNBC).Right now, people still think of Meta as the home of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, but the plan is to make it into much more than those social media mainstays.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix’s test to crack down on password sharing has reportedly left some users confused, according to a report from Rest of World. The streaming service started experimenting with password-sharing solutions in Peru, Chile, and Costa Rica in March, prompting subscribers in these markets to pay an additional fee to enable streaming for others outside their household who use the same account.When speaking to over a dozen Netflix subscribers in Peru, Rest of World found that most users weren’t formally made aware of the policy change through an email or notification sent by Netflix — not even two months out from Netflix’s initial announcement. The outlet also learned that Netflix’s level of enforcement varied from user to user, with some... Continue reading…

Press-n-go. | Image: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The first time I started a car by pressing a button, it felt too easy and convenient — like I had somehow stumbled into a tax bracket I don’t belong in. “You’re telling me,” I thought, “that I can just leave my keys in my pocket, and the car will let me get in and drive around?”The push-button ignition is one of those buttons that doesn’t really add any new functionality over the thing it’s replacing (in this case, the ignition system that has you insert and turn a key). It exists solely for the sake of convenience, a job that it excels at. You get in the car, press down on the brake pedal and a button, and you’re ready to drive. It’s barely more difficult than unlocking your phone.It’s also, for most of us, anyway, the most raw... Continue reading…

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images A Texas law that would have banned much social media moderation is once again on hold. In a 5-4 ruling handed down today, the Supreme Court vacated an earlier decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, meaning that HB 20 — which forbids banning, demonetizing, or downranking Texas users’ posts based on “viewpoint” — will be blocked while a lawsuit over its constitutionality proceeds. A lower court had already blocked the law in 2021 before the Fifth Circuit unblocked it this May.NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), who filed suit to stop HB 20, petitioned the Supreme Court for a ruling earlier this month — responding to a surprising and unexplained ruling from the Fifth Circuit. Justice Samuel... Continue reading…

TikTok’s testing a “clear mode.” Some TikTok users have started noticing a “Clear Mode” option, which lets them watch a video without the UI overlay that usually shows things like the favorite and comment buttons and other info about the video. TikTok confirmed to TechCrunch that it’s currently testing the feature, but it’s unclear how many people have access to it.Those that are in the test group (which includes at least two Verge staffers) can access clear mode by pressing and holding on a video, then tapping the Clear Mode button on the menu that pops up. The same method can be used to exit clear mode, and there’s also a button in the bottom right corner that will return you to the standard UI. Activating clear mode is a two-step process.... Continue reading…

Dell’s 32-inch display comes with a focus on video calls. | Image: Dell Dell has finally revealed the $1,599.99 price attached to the UltraSharp 32-inch 4K video conferencing monitor it previewed at CES (via 9to5Mac). If that price sounds familiar, it’s because Apple’s 27-inch Studio Display costs almost the exact same amount — only Dell justifies the price with the monitor’s size and its camera sensor, while Apple’s sales pitch leans on that still-rare 5K resolution.The Dell monitor (U3223QZ) comes with a focus on videoconferencing, made clear by Dell’s built-in UltraSharp webcam with a 4K HDR Sony Starvis sensor that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help keep you in the frame during a call. This is a bit like Apple’s Center Stage feature used in the Studio Display and other Apple devices, a similar... Continue reading…

Illustration by Carolina Moscoso / The Verge Congratulate your graduate with one of these great gifts Continue reading…

Moses Ingram as Reva Sevander / the Third Sister. | Image: Disney Plus/Lucasfilm In response to a swift and all too predictable wave of racist backlash from Star Wars “fans” dismayed by the idea of Black people existing in space, Disney has issued a statement supporting Obi-Wan Kenobi actor Moses Ingram.Though Obi-Wan Kenobi’s first two episodes premiered only just last week, that was all the time it took for Star Wars obsessives to fixate on Ingram’s character Reva Sevander, one of the Galactic Empire’s Inquisitors tasked with exterminating the galaxy’s Jedi. On the Monday following this year’s Star Wars Celebration event, Ingram took to her personal Instagram account to share a selection from the “hundreds” of anti-Black, misogynist messages she’s received for portraying a fictional villain who does evil things.... Continue reading…

Image: Nomad There are Apple TV Siri Remote cases of all shapes and colors, with the vast majority of them providing a silicone grip and protection against those inevitable plunges from your couch cushions. But if those are a little too tacky for your taste (and remind you too much of those squishy Wii remote covers), Nomad has developed a sleek alternative: a Siri Remote case made out of American leather and — best of all — comes with a hidden AirTag pocket.The case leaves the front of the remote totally open, so it may not be the best option if you’re looking for something to protect the device from spills or falls. It makes up for that in style, though — removing the solid brown backing reveals a discreet pocket where you can place an AirTag. If... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Podcast listeners could not access many of their favorite shows for more than eight hours on Monday night and early Tuesday morning due to an outage on Megaphone, a podcast hosting platform owned by Spotify. The outage stemmed from the company’s failure to renew Megaphone’s security certificate.“Megaphone experienced a platform outage due to an issue related to our SSL certificate,” Spotify spokesperson Erin Styles said in a statement. “During the outage, clients were unable to access the Megaphone CMS and podcast listeners were unable to download podcast episodes from Megaphone-hosted publishers. Megaphone service has since been restored.”It’s a simple mistake with big ramifications. Megaphone, which inserts dynamic ads into episodes,... Continue reading…

Sega / Sonic Team Ahead of Geoff Keighley’s not-E3 but also sorta kinda E3 Summer Games Fest next week, Sonic Team has released an extremely short teaser for Sonic Frontiers.I know there’s a vocal subset of the gaming community that hates when a new, vaguely open world-looking game gets shown and the gaming press calls it “Breath of the Wild meets X,” so I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going to say it looks like Breath of the Wild and Horizon Zero Dawn had a baby with Sonic. (Please don’t Google “X has a baby with Sonic.”)In it, Sonic freeruns across a light-drenched, flower-strewn landscape dotted with futuristic-looking ruins. Even though several games have featured Sonic roaming in a boundary-less world, the aesthetic in Frontiers is so... Continue reading…

While we were(n’t) outside touching grass, Bo Burnham has pieced together an entire hour’s worth of outtakes and cut content from his 2021... movie / musical / comedy special / existential crisis, Inside. While a majority of The Inside Outtakes is exactly what it says on the tin (flubs, different takes, and behind-the-scenes clips from the original), there are also some new songs throughout — within the first minute, we hear a new musical piece about Jeffery Bezos, which leads into an absolute earworm of a new song that musically sounds like a downtempo version of “Problematic” and revisits the themes of depression and being stuck inside for days on end. In other words, it strikes just as much of a chord with me as the original, which... Continue reading…

Background: US President Joe Biden presents his national statement as part of the World Leaders’ Summit of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow on November 1, 2021. | Photo by EVAN VUCCI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images The US is doing a pretty horrible job of following through on promises it’s made to tackle climate change, according to two separate new studies. A global ranking of countries completed by Yale and Columbia found that the US now ranks 43rd among 180 nations that Columbia and Yale evaluated in their most recent Environmental Performance Index (EPI). That’s a major plummet since the last time the researchers ranked countries in 2020, when the US was in 24th place.A major plummetWhen it comes to climate indicators alone (the evaluation also considers countries’ progress on other kinds of pollution and efforts to protect ecosystems), the US fell all the way to 101 from its previous spot at 15th place. The US’s ranking was reported by The... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge With the country still reeling from the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, officials are scrambling for more ways to stop mass shootings — and facing hard truths about how ineffective many of our existing tools really are. Digital monitoring technology has come under particular scrutiny after reporting revealed that the Uvalde school district had experimented with a service called Social Sentinel, which claims to identify and alert schools to threats based on social media conversations.It’s an increasingly common service as schools grapple with the chaos of social media, often raising serious privacy and speech concerns along the way. Systems like Social Sentinel promise to give genuine insight into the huge volume of information posted on... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Monument Valley, the picturesque puzzle game series where players must navigate maps full of optical illusions, will no longer be exclusive to mobile devices. The complete Monument Valley Panoramic Collection is set to arrive on Steam on July 12th and gives players a broader point of view that isn’t limited by the vertical orientation of phones and tablets.Ustwo, the developer behind Monument Valley, says it had to make some adjustments to account for a wider perspective, as well as for the transition from touch to mouse controls. Kirsty Keatch, a programmer at Ustwo, said in a behind-the-scenes interview that while they designed the mobile version’s touch controls for “large fingers that might occlude the rotators and draggers,” the PC... Continue reading…

Image: Nintendo Update 1:05PM ET, May 31st: Nintendo’s latest wave of N64 controllers has sold out. Stay tuned for a new drop in the coming days, weeks, or months. We’re admittedly not sure when that will be, but hopefully soon!The official N64 controller for the Nintendo Switch has just been restocked at the Nintendo eShop. This $49.99 controller allows you to experience N64 games the way they were meant to be played — with a big gray controller with an awkwardly placed central analog stick. This offer is exclusive to the Nintendo store and is only available to purchase if you’re a current Nintendo Switch Online subscriber (Note: you can only access the N64 games with the purchase of the Switch Online Expansion Pack).Unlike some restocks for the Xbox... Continue reading…

Cooking Mama: Cuisine. | Image: Apple Apple has lined up a trio of notable Japanese developers for its June additions to Apple Arcade. Today the company announced four games coming to the subscription service next month, led by Konami’s Frogger and the Rumbling Ruins (a sequel to early Arcade game Frogger in Toy Town) which launches on June 3rd. That will be followed by Cooking Mama: Cuisine on June 17th, which mixes up the cooking formula by tasking players with figuring out ingredients instead of just picking a premade recipe.Rounding out the list is Air Twister, which comes out on June 24th from legendary designer Yu Suzuki, who is best known for titles like Shenmue and Out Run. Here’s the official description:

The Google Nest WiFi router needs your home address | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge IssueGoogle Assistant didn’t respond to “Hey, Google, set a timer.”Quick fixReset home address in the Home appThe full storyOver the weekend, my partner and I decided it was finally time to upgrade our Wi-Fi router. We had been contently operating on a relatively ancient OnHub router until we got the warning from Google that it was turning off the controls for the OnHub as of this coming December. We bitched a bit and then bit that bullet and used a Google-offered discount to purchase a Nest WiFi router and point.Having decided on a lazy Memorial Day weekend, we thought that Monday would be the perfect day to finally get around to switching from the old router to the new — and it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes, right?Y... Continue reading…

Iogear’s Upstream 4K Game Capture Card with Party Chat. | Image: Iogear Iogear’s latest capture card offers up to 30Hz 4K gameplay capture or 120Hz 1080p capture for $129.99. That makes it significantly cheaper than Elgato’s equivalent card, the recently announced HD60 X, which has an MSRP of $199.99 and offers similar recording specs. Other features of the so-called UpStream 4K Game Capture Card with Party Chat include the ability to pass through (but not capture) 4K HDR footage at 60Hz, 1440p footage at 144Hz, and 1080p at 240Hz.Capture cards like these are aimed at content creators like Twitch streamers and YouTubers, giving them a quick and easy way to retrieve their gameplay footage ready to be broadcast online. The UpStream 4K Game Capture Card is an external device, so it connects to the broadcast... Continue reading…

Photo by Jon Akira Yamamoto/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images Blood oxygen monitors said that hospitalized Asian, Black, and Hispanic COVID-19 patients had higher blood oxygen levels than they actually did, according to a new study. Oxygen levels are an important indicator of how serious someone’s case of COVID-19 is and what medications they’re eligible for — and that overestimation meant that it took longer for Black and Hispanic patients to get necessary treatment.Pulse oximeters, the standard way clinics and hospitals measure blood oxygen, work by sending red and infrared light through the fingertip and measuring the amount that’s reflected back. (Hemoglobin, the protein in blood that carries oxygen, absorbs more infrared light when it’s carrying oxygen). For years, studies have shown that... Continue reading…

The Barracuda Pro look gargantuan on this person’s head. | Image: Razer Building on the Barracuda X gaming headset it released in 2021, Razer has added two options to the lineup with the new Barracuda and the Barracuda Pro that focus both on dual wireless connectivity (2.4GHz via a USB-C dongle and Bluetooth) and providing excellent sound quality. The Pro sit at the top of the lineup, available starting today for $249.99, and what sets them apart from the midrange $159.99 Barracuda (along with the $99.99 Barracuda X) are a few things: active noise cancellation, plush leatherette ear pads (compared to a more breathable woven fabric), and a built-in THX Achromatic audio amplifier to deliver more powerful, accurate sound.Both of these new models feature bigger 50mm drivers (the Barracuda X and several other... Continue reading…

Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games via Getty Images France’s national linguistic watchdog, the Académie Française, has banned the official usage of a number of phrases borrowed from English to describe the world of gaming.Instead of “esports,” government workers should refer to “jeu video de competition.” Instead of talk of “pro-gamers,” they must discuss the activity of the “joueur professionnel.” And instead of “streamers,” they must refer to the “joueur-animateur en direct” — and so on.The changes, reported by AFP, were made in coordination with the French Ministry of Culture and published in the government’s official legal almanac, the Journal officiel. This makes the changes binding for government employees, though not for the public at large.The Académie Française is tasked... Continue reading…

Tom Hanks as Geppetto. | Disney Out of all the modern Pinocchio projects in the pipeline, Disney’s upcoming feature from director Robert Zemeckis has always been one of the odds-on favorites to capture people’s imaginations if only because of the studio’s history with the iconic fairytale. While Pinocchio’s first teaser trailer only gives you the slightest taste of what Zemeckis has in store for audiences, it’s a strong sign that the movie will be able to recreate at least some of the original animated feature’s magic.Pinocchio’s first trailer only features a small look at the titular living toy (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) as his puppet-making father Geppetto (Tom Hanks) first carves him from a block of wood. What you do see, though, is the time, attention, and love... Continue reading…

Sony WH-1000XM4 While Sony’s WH-1000XM5 recently debuted with a higher price and just a couple of improvements, you can pick up the still very good XM4 model for a low price at Woot. Normally $348, the silver model is available new for $259.99. It’s been about six months since we’ve seen a price beat this one. (Amazon sold them for $248 around Black Friday.)This XM4’s color scheme is called “silver” by Sony, but I consider it to be a creamy off-white with gold accents. This model touted features that we were happy to see return in the latest version, like the 30-hour battery life and the ability to pair to two Bluetooth sources simultaneously as well as its automatic play / pause function that occurs when you put on or take off the headphones.You can... Continue reading…

Danica Novgordoff It was a beach date that would transform Chris Michaud, though the memorable parts were neither the beach nor the date but what he saw that day. Both in their early 30s, summer of 2017, Chris had met Gemma recently, swiping on Bumble. They decided to head to the New Hampshire coast, not far from where they both lived in Portsmouth. Before arriving at the beach, Gemma suggested they do a little birding.In a marsh, they spotted egrets, a glossy ibis, and “some other cool stuff.” Later, they went to the beach, as promised, but Chris just kept thinking about the birds. This moment, in birding lingo, is called the “spark,” when a person sees something that inspires them to be a birder for life. (Nearly everyone I talked to for this story... Continue reading…

Fujifilm’s X-H2S camera with the upcoming 18-120mm powered zoom lens. | Image: Fujifilm Fujifilm’s latest X-Summit event is happening today in Omiya, Japan, and it brings several new announcements for its X-series of APS-C mirrorless cameras, including two cameras and two lenses. The headliner is the 26-megapixel X-H2S camera, which Fujifilm calls its new high-speed flagship model. It is the successor to 2018’s X-H1 and will launch on July 7th for $2,499 (without a lens).Joining this camera at release is a new XF 150-600mm super-telephoto zoom lens costing $1,999, with an XF 18-120mm powered zoom due out later in mid-September for $899. Fujifilm also teased another camera, the X-H2, with a new 40-megapixel non-stacked sensor that’s also coming in September.These new cameras are more pro DSLR-like than anything else in... Continue reading…

Save on drones, phones, and other fun tech this Memorial Day weekend | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Memorial Day marks the unofficial start to summer in the US. In addition to using the long weekend of the national holiday for travel and taking some well-earned rest and relaxation, it usually kick-starts lots of outdoor activities — like backyard cookouts, road trips to the beach, and camping trips. It’s also another shopping holiday, with discounts on offer for all kinds of home goods and some great tech, gadgets, and gear.There are plenty of deals on cool outdoorsy gear to take advantage even now, after the holiday — like a DJI Mini 2 drone kit. But there are also still great sales happening on indoor toys as well, like a range of Hisense TVs that are now available for up to $350 off. And let’s not forget travel essentials like Z... Continue reading…

An Android phone without Google. No Google apps, no Google Play Services, no peppy Google Assistant. No Google surveillance and data snooping, no incessant ad targeting, no feeling like privacy is a pointless exercise. Some companies, like Huawei, have been forced to figure out how to build this kind of device. A few others have tried for the sake of maintaining your privacy and as a way to fight back against the tyranny of Big Tech. None of it has ever really worked.The team at Murena has been working on de-Googling Android phones for the last few years, starting back in 2017 when Gael Duval created an operating system he originally called Eelo. “Like millions others, I’VE BECOME A PRODUCT OF GOOGLE,” Duval wrote in 2017. He said he... Continue reading…

iRobot has launched a new operating system for its household robot cleaners | Image: iRobot The robots are getting smarter. Two years after releasing iRobot Genius Home Intelligence, an AI-powered platform for its robot vacuums and mops, iRobot has announced its new software platform: iRobot OS. This operating system for its Roomba robot vacuum cleaners will take them to the next level, says Colin Angle CEO of iRobot, providing the household bots with a deeper understanding of your home and your habits, so they can clean both harder and smarter.While at launch the iRobot OS is not immediately adding features to existing products, it is laying the foundation for a larger leap. “The idea of moving from the iRobot Genius to iRobot OS is a declaration that the intelligence of the robot is going to be the primary differentiator of... Continue reading…

Externally, the laptop looks very similar to its predecessor. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft looks set to announce an updated version of its compact Surface Laptop Go, if an early retailer listing from Korea is to be believed.The biggest change with the Surface Laptop Go 2 appears to be its newer 11th-gen Intel CPU (an i5-1135G7), which replaces the 10th-gen model found in the original 2020 laptop. The Go 2 will ship with Windows 11 this time around, and a Google Translate of the retailer page says its webcam will have “improved HD camera performance.” Preorders are set to open on June 2nd, so an official announcement might not be far away. WinFuture previously reported that the laptop could have a starting price of $650.Otherwise, the new laptop appears to be very similar to its predecessor. It still has a... Continue reading…

Heart of Russia was the game’s next planned DLC. | Image: SCS Software Euro Truck Simulator 2 has shelved an upcoming Russia-themed expansion pack after the country’s invasion of Ukraine, its developer SCS Software has announced. In a blog post, the Czech Republic-based developer said that it has cancelled the imminent release of the Heart of Russia DLC pack “so that it is not perceived in any way as being in support of or tolerance of the aggression.”Euro Truck Simulator 2 has become a cult hit since its release in 2012, leading its developer to support it with over half a dozen major pieces of DLC in the years since. These packs have expanded the game’s map and added new countries for players to drive through. When it was officially announced in March 2021, SCS said the Heart of Russia expansion wouldn’t... Continue reading…

Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images Epic Games has announced plans to host an in-person Fortnite competition in November, its first major in-person competitive Fortnite event since the Fortnite World Cup in 2019.The upcoming event, the FNCS Invitational 2022, will take place on November 12th and 13th at the Raleigh Convention Center in North Carolina. “We will be inviting a selection of top FNCS Duos from around the world who will have the opportunity to compete in a single lobby for a share of a $1,000,000 prize pool,” Epic wrote in a blog post bylined by “The Fortnite Team.”However, the company stresses that player health and safety are “the number one priority for holding any in-person event” and warns that it may have the reschedule the event if “public health... Continue reading…

Photo by Mitchell Clark / The Verge Rivian’s Charly Mwangi, its executive vice president of manufacturing engineering and a former Tesla exec, is leaving the company as part of a bigger shakeup splitting up parts of the company, according to Bloomberg. “The reorganization calls for splitting the commercial business, which includes delivery vans made for Amazon, from the retail side of the company that produces the R1T plug-in pickup truck and R1S sport-utility vehicle,” Bloomberg reports. The company’s new COO, Frank Klein, will now oversee “many” senior manufacturing and supply chain employees. The Wall Street Journal also reported on the shakeup.The changes are happening as the company is starting to ramp up production of its in-demand R1T and R1S electric vehicles. In... Continue reading…

A photo of the Pixel 7 prototype. | Image: eBay listing An alleged prototype of Google’s upcoming Pixel 7 smartphone has been posted on eBay, giving us our first look at the new phone in the wild months ahead of its scheduled fall release (via Android guru Mishaal Rahman).Google just revealed the phone a few weeks ago at Google I/O, and what we can see in the prototype matches up with what Google has already shown. The distinctive camera bar is back, and this year it’s an aluminum bar with cutouts for the cameras. And the alleged prototype’s casing is a deep black that looks just like one of the colors Google showed off at I/O. Image: Google One of Google’s official Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro images — including that deep black. The eBay listing includes a few photos... Continue reading…

Mixed reality forecasts are a big part of TWC’s future. | Image: The Weather Channel The Weather Channel is not trying to win you over by spending big on its version of House of Cards. It’s not bidding on The Office next time it comes up, nor is it interested in NFL games. “Our tentpole is Mother Nature,” says Nora Zimmett, TWC’s chief content officer. “And she’s always delivering weather.”TWC launched a dedicated streaming service this month. It costs $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year, and it is... well, it’s The Weather Channel. The app’s main screen is an always-on stream that replicates exactly what you’d see on cable. That, Zimmett says, is what viewers were actually looking for. “We looked at our audience and heard, ‘where can I get The Weather Channel if I don’t want to pay $200 a month for a traditional bundle?’”... Continue reading…

Nikos Nikolopoulos Welcome to the inner beauty pageant Continue reading…

Image: DeLorean DeLorean Motor Company has revealed the first images of the Alpha 5 electric vehicle (EV), the brand’s attempt at resurrecting the DeLorean name in an all-electric form. Staying true to the classic ‘80s-era DeLorean known for its appearance in Back to the Future, the Alpha 5 comes with those iconic gull-wing doors and can reach 60mph in about 2.99 seconds (or 88mph in 4.35 seconds, if you’re curious).Before we dive into the details, it’s worth noting the company behind the Alpha 5 isn’t actually the same one behind the original DeLorean vehicles — that company went defunct in 1982. An unrelated Texas-based company, which supplies replacement parts to the owners of vintage DeLorean vehicles, snapped up the rights to the DeLorean brand... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge They do not go together like peanut butter and jelly Continue reading…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Amazon is ending support for its Cloud Cam security camera and offering owners a free Blink Mini to replace it. MacRumors noted the change late last week, and The Verge obtained a copy of an email sent to customers announcing the change. Cloud Cam owners will be able to use their cameras and download video until December 2nd of this year, after which all recordings will be deleted and the hardware will no longer function. Customers with the Cloud Cam Key Edition will also lose the ability to connect to smart locks, although they can get a free fourth-generation Echo to replace the functionality.“As the number of Alexa smart home devices continues to grow, we are focusing efforts on Ring, Blink, and other technologies that make your home... Continue reading…

The Pitaka MagEZ Case Pro comes with a magnetic charging puck that attaches to the back. | Image: Pitaka If you’ve wanted MagSafe-style convenient charging on an iPad Mini, Pitaka’s latest case is here for you. The new $79 MagEZ Case Pro for the sixth-generation iPad Mini (aka the iPad Mini 6) has magnetic points on the back that pass power through the iPad’s USB-C port when used with the included pad. Or you can use it with the $129 MagEZ Charging Stand, which elevates the tablet and provides a second Qi charging spot in its base for a phone or headphones.There are some downsides to this approach. Pitaka’s case doesn’t make use of the magnets built into the back of the iPad Mini, and it blocks the USB-C port from access, leaving you with the magnetic pad as the only way to charge the device. Forget about transferring any data over a wired... Continue reading…

An early image of Google’s upcoming tablet, released earlier this month. | Image: Google Google’s upcoming Pixel Tablet might support the cross-manufacturer USI (Universal Stylus Initiative) standard, allowing it to be used with a range of third party styluses, if a recently-discovered entry in the USI’s list of certified products is to be believed. The entry, which we spotted via NuGiz, lists a device from Google with the product name “Tangor” and the model number “Tablet,” which are presumably placeholder names for the Android-powered tablet Google announced earlier this month.USI is an industry-wide stylus standard that Google joined in 2018. It’s already supported across a range of Chromebooks, allowing them to be used with a variety of styluses from different manufacturers. But while there are plenty of proprietary... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge RealityOS — the name Apple is reportedly using for the operating system running on its rumored virtual and augmented reality headset — has appeared in a trademark filing spotted by Parker Ortolani. Bloomberg News was first to report the “reality operating system” branding back in 2017, and references to the name have appeared in Apple’s software.The trademark application hasn’t officially been filed by Apple, but it’s common practice for large companies to apply for trademarks under one-off company names — like Realityo Systems LLC, in this case — in the state of Delaware for the sole purpose of maintaining anonymity.The trademark application is the latest evidence that Apple is on the cusp of announcing its long-rumored headset. It... Continue reading…

It measures 6.5 feet in length with both blades attached. | Image: Hasbro Hasbro has designed a lifelike lightsaber just in time for the premiere of the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series, one that might be the toymaker’s most ambitious — and expensive — replica yet. The Black Series Reva Force FX Elite Lightsaber costs $499 and measures a total of 6.5 feet long with both blades attached. It’s modeled after the lightsaber wielded by the Third Sister, also known as Reva, a cold and callous Inquisitor set on hunting down Obi-Wan.Just like the iconic lightsabers we’ve seen held by Inquisitors in past Star Wars series, you can take off one of the blades, as well as remove half of the circle in the center of the lightsaber. There are a number of cool lighting and sound effects that you can activate too, and they work... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple’s attempt to dismiss an amended antitrust lawsuit filed by the creator of Cydia, an app store for jailbroken iPhones, has failed (via Reuters). California District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers denied Apple’s motion to dismiss the case on Thursday and is giving the company 21 days to respond to Cydia’s refiled complaint.Cydia developer Jay Freeman (who also goes by the username Saurik), first filed a lawsuit against Apple in 2020. The complaint alleges Apple “has wrongfully acquired and maintained monopoly power” in iOS app distribution and payments, ultimately “depriving” third-party app stores of “the ability to compete with the App Store.” Cydia emerged before the Apple App Store even existed, and allowed users to find and... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple may finally bring always-on display to the upcoming iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. According to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple could introduce the feature with iOS 16, allowing the iPhone to display a limited amount of information even when it’s locked.Gurman says the iPhone’s version of always-on mode could work similarly to the way it does with the Apple Watch Series 5 and up — the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max will drop the lock screen’s frame rate with always-on mode enabled, letting them conserve energy while the display remains powered on. It’s unclear if the new iPhone will use the same low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) display Apple uses in newer Watch models. These low-powered screens play a huge part in... Continue reading…

Image: Aspyr Media Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) II: The Sith Lords is heading to the Nintendo Switch on June 8th, as announced at this year's Star Wars Celebration event. The sequel to the classic KOTOR RPG is supposed to feature some performance enhancements and resolution upgrades, as well as a Restored Content DLC set to arrive post-launch. Image: Aspyr Media As you might’ve guessed, the Restored Content DLC comes with the content that Obsidian Entertainment and Aspyr Media, the game’s developers, left out during their rush to launch the game in 2004. There’s already a fanmade mod for KOTOR II on Steam that restores some of this lost content, but it’s unclear how similar the official DLC will be when it comes out.Y... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter started testing Circle earlier this month with a limited group, and now it looks like it’s starting to roll out to more users (via Android Police). The feature works a lot like Instagram’s Close Friends, as it allows users to send out tweets to a specific group of people rather than all of Twitter.Right now, it’s unclear how many people currently have access to Circle. It looks like more users (myself included) are finally seeing the feature pop up when they start composing a tweet, but some users still report not having access quite yet. Twitter spokesperson Joseph Nunez told The Verge it’s still in testing. “We are still currently testing Twitter Circle with a group of people across iOS, Android and Web globally,” Nunez said.... Continue reading…