The Verge

Image: Amazon Amazon has announced that it’ll let you easily share video clips showing up to 30 seconds of some of its Prime Video content, right from its iPhone app. The feature will only be available for a very limited number of shows initially, but letting users share video from shows is a very different attitude than the one displayed by some other streaming providers.According to Amazon’s press release, its video-sharing feature will be available on iOS devices. When you’re watching a show, the Share Clip button will show up alongside the rest of your controls. Tapping it will create a 30-second video clip, which you can then fine-tune to make sure it contains the part of the show you’re trying to share. From there, you can share it using... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge MoviePass might be making a comeback soon, after Stacy Spikes (one of the service’s original co-founders) successfully bought back the company out of bankruptcy earlier this week, according to a report from Insider. Spikes is hoping to relaunch the company sometime next year, although there are few details on that yet.“I can confirm that we acquired MoviePass out of bankruptcy on Wednesday,” Spikes commented in a statement to Insider. “We are thrilled to have it back and are exploring the possibility of relaunching soon. Our pursuit to reclaim the brand was encouraged by the continued interest from the moviegoing community. We believe, if done properly, theatrical subscription can play an instrumental role in lifting moviegoing... Continue reading…

A screenshot of Twitch on the Nintendo Switch. | Image: Twitch There’s now a Twitch app for the Nintendo Switch. It’s a free download that’s available now on the eShop.The app is pretty straightforward. There’s a Home tab with recommended streams for you to watch, a Browse tab to look for streams by game or category, and a Search tab. I checked out a couple streams, and they looked great, especially on the Switch OLED’s screen. The app is only for watching streams; you can’t use it to stream your gameplay. Image: Twitch Nintendo’s profile on the Nintendo Switch Twitch app. The Switch Twitch experience is somewhat more limited than what you might be used to from the Twitch website or app. One big change is that you can’t see a stream’s chat on your Switch’s screen or a TV... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A Russian man convicted on wire fraud and money laundering charges for his role in the Methbot digital advertising scheme was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday.The Department of Justice said between September 2014 and December 2016, Aleksandr Zhukov, 41, and several co-conspirators made deals with ad networks to place online ads but used a bot farm and rented servers to simulate users visiting spoofed versions of websites like the New York Times and the New York Daily News. The ads were never shown to human users, but Zhukov raked in $7 million running the fake traffic scam (which became known as “Methbot,” after the name of his phony ad network Media Methane), according to the DOJ.“Sitting at his computer keyboard in... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you still haven’t been able to land one of Sony’s next-gen consoles, Best Buy is giving you another shot right now. The $499.99 PS5 with a disc drive and the $399.99 digital edition are available.Unlike some of Best Buy’s console restocks, this one is available to the general public online and not just for its TotalTech subscribers. Restocks like these may happen more frequently as we get closer to Black Friday. Still, we recommend heading to the link of choosing as quickly as possible to hop in the queue.A few must-haves for PS5 owners Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge On Monday, Discord CEO Jason Citron struck fear (or joy) into the hearts of Discord fans by tweeting a screenshot of what appeared to be crypto wallets in the app, but Wednesday evening, he said the company doesn’t actually plan to ship what he was showing off.“Thanks for all the perspectives everyone,” Citron said. “We have no current plans to ship this internal concept. For now we’re focused on protecting users from spam, scams and fraud. Web3 has lots of good but also lots of problems we need to work through at our scale. More soon.” Discord told The Verge this week that the image was from an internal hackfest.

Image: General Motors The Hummer has been resurrected as an electric vehicle, and now its military counterpart may be as well. General Motors is making a prototype vehicle for the US military that is based on the forthcoming Hummer EV in 2022, CNBC reports.The so-called “electric Light Reconnaissance Vehicle,” or eLRV, will use modified versions of the Hummer EV’s frame, electric motors, and GM’s new Ultium battery pack, though it may not look exactly like the consumer version.GM resurrected its defense unit in 2017 and said last year that it believes there’s a $25 billion market for creating new vehicles for the military, including EVs. It has already nabbed a $214 million contract to build infantry squad vehicles for the Army, including one version that... Continue reading…

Image: Patreon Patreon is building a video hosting solution and native player. CEO Jack Conte confirmed the project to The Verge, alongside news that he is joining many executives before him in launching a podcast called The Creator Economy.“We already host podcasts, and now we’re starting to host video, as well,” he says. “We’re building a video product ... So in terms of how we’ve approached our strategy, and what exactly it is that we’re building, we’re building the horizontal architecture for any creator, no matter their medium, or no matter the upload format, to be able to build a business around their work.”Conte didn’t share more details on the product, but it’s presumably a way for creators to host and share video without leaving the... Continue reading…

Image: Dollar General Besides its European expansion, DoorDash is reaching into new areas within the United States via an expanded partnership with Dollar General that’s already available via 9,000 locations. Gig economy services initially proliferated in urban areas, using venture capital money to push the convenience of getting everything from cold medicine to a single candy bar hand-delivered within the hour. However, if you don’t live around tall buildings, the services become fewer and farther between, and so do the shops that work with them.Now the two promise same-day delivery with no time slot or minimum order size required. A pilot program started this summer with 600 Dollar General locations, and a press release states that more than 10,000 will... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Grab the second-gen Apple AirPods at Walmart for just $89, matching the lowest price we’ve seen for these earbuds. This model normally costs around $120 and doesn’t include the wireless charging case. This model of the ubiquitous white earbuds wasn’t a big step forward compared to the first iteration, but our reviewer was still happy with their wireless performance and overall reliability.A pair of Samsung’s best QLED TVs have been marked down at Amazon and Best Buy as part of their early Black Friday deals. QLED TVs aren’t quite as feature-packed as competing OLED models, but they come closer to reaching parity with their brightness and contrast ratios than cheaper LED TVs. The 65-inch QN90A from Samsung is currently marked down to... Continue reading…

Here’s our first good look at the 2022 Subaru Solterra, the Japanese automaker’s first electric vehicle. Coming to the US, Canada, and Europe in 2022, the Solterra SUV will be powered by an electric vehicle platform that Subaru has been co-developing with Toyota.The Solterra will come in both front-wheel and all-wheel drive variants, with either a 150kW (201 horsepower) AC synchronous motor driving just the front wheels or a pair of 80kW (107 hp) motors, one powering each axle, for a total output of 160kW (214hp).Both models sport a 71.4kWh battery beneath the floor of the vehicle, which Subaru estimates will supply approximately 530km (329 miles) of range based on the WLTC standard in Japan. (The EPA rating in the US is likely to be... Continue reading…

‘Lmaoooo 80B do they think we’re fucking stupid?’ Continue reading…

The Elvish Tengwar keycaps | Image: Drop

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft will finally allow Windows users to install PC games from the Microsoft Store or Xbox Game Pass for PC to any folder of their choice with unrestricted access. The move will allow PC gamers to access the folders of games and mod them freely, or let Windows users move games freely to any folders or drives of their choice.Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the changes are part of an Xbox app update for Windows that’s currently being tested internally. The Xbox app update will finally address a big pain point of installing games from Xbox Game Pass for PC, where players would run into issues with the Microsoft Store, the restricted WindowsApps folder, or just the inability to fully control where games were... Continue reading…

Promotional images of the feature released earlier this year. | Image: Apple iOS 15.2’s latest beta adds an Apple Communication Safety feature to the Messages app, MacRumors reports. The opt-in feature is designed to protect children from inappropriate imagery by scanning incoming and outgoing pictures for “sexually explicit” material. Any images meeting this description are blurred, and the child will be warned about its contents and told it’s ok not to view it. The feature, which ties into Apple’s existing Family Sharing system, is also designed to offer resources to affected children for them to get help.The version of the feature that’s released in iOS 15.2’s latest beta has one crucial difference from what Apple originally announced in August: it won’t send notifications to parents if a child decides to... Continue reading…

iCloud for Windows’ password manager in action. | Screenshot: iCloud for Windows A new update for Apple’s iCloud Windows app has added a password generator, as well as support for Apple’s ProRaw and ProRes photo and video formats to the cloud storage utility. The update, which was first spotted by MacRumors, also adds the ability for participants of a shared iCloud Drive file or folder to add or remove other users.The addition of a password generator makes Apple’s iCloud keychain a much more viable cross-platform password manager. It follows an update in August which allowed Windows users to access (but not generate) passwords from their iCloud account. Together with the Chrome iCloud extension Apple released at the beginning of the year, Windows iCloud users now have access to basic password management features... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony is struggling to make PlayStation 5 consoles and has internally lowered its production forecast for the current financial year, according to a report in Bloomberg. While the company was expecting to assemble 16 million units between April 2021 and March 2022, that figure is reportedly now at around 15 million.Sony had publicly predicted that it would sell 14.8 million PS5 consoles this financial year, so while this isn’t a large downward revision, it shows just how tight the supply is likely to be for the foreseeable future. The figure of 16 million units would have allowed Sony to meet that goal while securing additional stock for the following year.Sony is said to be having trouble with logistics as well as the supply of... Continue reading…

Photo by Sean Krajacic-Pool/Getty Images As Kyle Rittenhouse took the stand to answer questions about the sequence of events before he shot and killed a man in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the jury was forced to watch the video evidence play out in miniature — because Rittenhouse’s defense lawyer came up with the wild notion that Apple has “artificial intelligence” that manipulates footage when you pinch-to-zoom on an iPad, and Judge Bruce Schroeder totally bought into that possibility.The word he’s looking for is algorithms, but that’s beside the point“iPads, which are made by Apple, have artificial intelligence in them that allow things to be viewed through three-dimensions and logarithms,” the defense insisted. “It uses artificial intelligence, or their logarithms, to create what... Continue reading…

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carries the Crew-3 astronauts to space | (NASA/Joel Kowsky) This evening, SpaceX successfully launched another crew of four on their way to the International Space Station, marking the fifth time the company has sent people to space. Riding inside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, the spacefarers will now spend roughly the next day in orbit lapping the Earth, before docking with the ISS.The mission, called Crew-3, is carrying three NASA astronauts — Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron — and one German astronaut, Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency. After a number of launch delays, the foursome finally took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 9:03PM ET, launching on top of one of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets. After successfully boosting the Crew Dragon... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix now supports the AV1 codec when streaming to some TVs, the company announced on Tuesday. It’s only available on certain devices to start with, though that list includes any TV connected to the PS4 Pro, so if you have one of those, you can give AV1 Netflix streaming a shot.Netflix shared this lineup of supported devices with The Verge:

Image: Google Google announced it’s updating the Gmail iOS widget with a new one that’s actually useful, showing you the subjects and senders of the emails sitting in your inbox. The company says the new widget will be “launching in the next few weeks,” to replace the previous version that wasn’t particularly well-received. This also means that, as 9to5Google points out, this means that Gmail’s iOS widget will have the same functionality as the current Android one.When the first version of the Gmail widget launched, we pointed out that it isn’t particularly helpful. It really only provides shortcuts to different screens on the app like your inbox and the email composer. Critically, it doesn’t actually show you much information about the emails you’ve... Continue reading…

Photo by Asa Mathat for Vox Media Elon Musk has kicked off a cascading sale of his personal Tesla holdings after recently asking his Twitter followers if he should sell 10 percent of his stake in the company to pay taxes. According to 10 new filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission published Wednesday, the billionaire CEO has sold at least $5 billion worth of Tesla stock so far this week.The filings are likely to keep coming, too, as the few million shares sold are far short of 10 percent of the more than 240 million Musk owns in his company.Musk ran the Twitter poll after increased scrutiny over his wealthMusk is selling these shares after facing increased scrutiny over his wealth, especially from elected officials. The world’s richest man has been... Continue reading…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge It’s November, which means it’s officially the holiday season (according to Mariah Carey, at least), and Microsoft seems to already be celebrating by emailing people gift cards to the Microsoft Store. We’ve seen a few reports on Twitter of people receiving legitimate emails from Microsoft offering gift cards for $10 or even $100, and the Microsoft Store Twitter account confirmed the promotion in a direct message with The Verge.

Photo by Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images Republican Congressman Paul Gosar (AZ) ignited national fury this week after tweeting a video portraying himself as an anime character killing other prominent lawmakers. But while Democrats are now calling for his expulsion from Congress and his accounts to be banned, the incident has drawn new attention to Gosar’s long association with far-right meme culture.Gosar first posted the problematic video parodying the opening credits of the popular anime series “Attack on Titan” on Sunday. The video — captioned “Any anime fans out there?” — depicts Gosar as one of the show’s main characters killing Democratic politicians like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden by superimposing their faces onto those belonging to other... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter is dropping the crop on web. This is the same update that banished Twitter’s awkward auto-cropping algorithm on its Android and iOS apps, which means that you’ll see images in their entirety on your timeline as you scroll through Twitter on your web browser.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge After almost two years, the Withings ScanWatch is now available to purchase in the US after its announcement back at the beginning of 2020. The ScanWatch was waiting for clearance from the Food and Drug Administration, which it had received in October for its EKG and blood oxygen measurement features.Unlike its competitors Apple Watch and Fitbit, both of whom can track blood oxygen and have EKG technology, Withings is claiming that the hybrid watch can detect sleep apnea, a sleep disorder charactered by disrupted breathing patterns. The ScanWatch is still a part of an ongoing clinical study for this claim.Unlike Apple and Fitbit’s devices, the Withings ScanWatch also requires medical review. Users are required to gain medical... Continue reading…

Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images Airbnb has updated its search filters and accessibility review process with the goal of making it easier for people with disabilities to find accommodations on its platform, the company announced in a blog post.Hosts can now submit pictures of the accessibility features in their homes, and “a specialized team of Airbnb agents” will review them to determine if they’re suitable for people with disabilities. On its accessibility review page, Airbnb says that this team works “with engineers, designers, and others across the company” but doesn’t specifically state whether they’re trained or how they’re qualified to recognize accessibility features.We reached out to Suzanne Edwards, Airbnb’s head of hosting accessibility standards, for a... Continue reading…

Foxconn has officially agreed to buy the former General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio from struggling EV startup Lordstown Motors, giving the iPhone assembler its first automotive factory and a second chance at establishing a manufacturing foothold in the United States. The Taiwanese conglomerate has spent the last year buying up or partnering with companies in the electric vehicle space in a massive effort to diversify away from laptops and smartphones.The two companies announced Wednesday that they’ve agreed to the framework deal first announced in September, meaning Foxconn will pay Lordstown Motors $230 million for the 6.2-million-square-foot factory. Foxconn has also agreed to contract manufacture Lordstown Motors’ electric... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Spotify quietly updated its autoplay feature with a seriously frustrating quirk. When you play music on your Spotify Connect devices, autoplay is now enabled by default and there’s no way to turn it off. This means that after your album, playlist, or your song selection is done playing on any device other than your phone or computer, Spotify will continue playing recommended tracks indefinitely.Users have voiced their complaints in the Spotify Community forum for weeks, filling an ongoing thread with their grievances. It caught the attention of a Spotify Community moderator, who provided some more information about the issue — which is apparently a feature and definitely not a bug.“We can confirm that Autoplay is the default setting... Continue reading…

Spotify has made it easier to block other users | Alex Castro / The Verge Spotify is rolling out a new feature that will allow users to more easily block others on the platform. Previously, users had to contact customer support to block someone, but now the feature is easier to find on a user profile.To block a user, go to their Spotify profile. Under their username and photo, above their public playlists and next to the “follow” button, click the three dots menu and choose “block,” or on mobile, “block user.” Now that user won’t be able to access your listening activity, your page, or any public playlists. You also can unblock a user you’ve previously blocked at any time. Screenshot: Spotify How to block a user on Spotify. “At Spotify, we’re committed to delivering the best... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Screenshots obtained by Motherboard reportedly show the internal Robinhood tools that a hacker used to access “more extensive account details” for some of the trading platform’s accounts. The heavily redacted screenshots show that hackers had access to buttons labeled “Disable MFA” (multi-factor authentication) and “Add to Trusted Device Email Code Whitelist,” along with information about what devices were logged into the account, and the ACH bank transfers the user had done.Motherboard says it got the screenshots from someone claiming to be affiliated with the hackers. Robinhood told The Verge that its investigation didn’t reveal evidence that the hacker made any changes to accounts. Image: Motherboard One of... Continue reading…

Let me climb the tree, Elden Ring Continue reading…

The Digital Legacy program lets users choose up to five people who can access their iCloud account when they pass away. | Image: Apple Apple is solving a complicated problem with its latest iOS update: right of survivorship. Until now, when a loved one or family member dies, there was no easy way to access their iCloud account and absolutely no way of unlocking their phone without knowing their passcode. According to the iCloud terms of service, the deceased person’s data goes with them even with a death certificate.With the new Digital Legacy program, first announced at WWDC earlier this year and arriving in iOS 15.2, you can designate up to five people as Legacy Contacts. These individuals can then access your data and personal information stored in iCloud when you die, such as photos, documents, and even purchases.To activate Digital Legacy, Apple still requires... Continue reading…

Instagram is testing a Take a Break feature to get you off the app | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said Wednesday that the platform is testing the long-awaited Take a Break feature to give users reminders when they’ve spent a long time on the platform.“It does what you think it does,” Mosseri said in a video posted to Twitter. “If you opt in, it encourages you to take a break from Instagram after you spend a certain amount of time on the app; 10, 20, or 30 minutes,” he said.

Apple’s rings are a good motivator, until they aren’t | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge If there’s one thing wearable makers learned during the pandemic, it’s that people are stressed out — and with good reason. It’s led to companies like Fitbit and Apple expanding stress management and mindfulness features in their most recent products and services. But while it’s encouraging to see wearables makers acknowledge that mental health is part of overall health, there’s still one major oversight: modern wearables are fundamentally centered around building and maintaining streaks.Whether it’s hitting your daily 10,000 steps, burning a certain number of calories, or reminders to move every hour, the aim for most wearables is to help you build better health habits. To do that, consistency is key. No one’s denying that. But any... Continue reading…

Valve’s Steam Deck, which has been delayed to February. | Image: Valve Valve is delaying the launch of the Steam Deck, its handheld gaming PC, by two months. The Steam Deck had been set to launch in December, but Valve now estimates that the first orders will start shipping in February 2022.“We’re sorry about this — we did our best to work around the global supply chain issues, but due to material shortages, components aren’t reaching our manufacturing facilities in time for us to meet our initial launch dates,” Valve said in a blog post.One editor at The Verge is now seeing a Q1 2022 estimated ship date for a Steam Deck reservation that was originally slated for the December launch window. Another is seeing a Q2 2022 estimated ship date for an order that was initially going to arrive in Q1. (Both placed... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Uber discriminates against people with disabilities by charging them a “wait time” fee while entering the vehicle, according to a new lawsuit filed by the US Justice Department against the ride-hailing company.These extra fees have “harmed many passengers and potential passengers with disabilities throughout the country,” some of whom may be entitled to monetary damages, the department said. The lawsuit, which was filed in the US District Court for Northern California, alleges that Uber is in violation of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination by private transportation companies.Passengers would incur the fee two minutes after their Uber car arrives at their pickup locationAccording to... Continue reading…

Microsoft Teams share buttons will appear in Windows 11 soon. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft is adding a useful new Microsoft Teams integration into Windows 11 soon. The software maker has started testing a feature in Windows 11 that will allow Teams users to hover over open windows on the taskbar and quickly share the window content on a Microsoft Teams call. It will make screen sharing a lot easier for Teams and other communication apps on Windows 11.Microsoft is testing this initially with Microsoft Teams for work or school rather than the built-in consumer version of Teams in Windows 11. “This means not everyone will see this right away with their Teams calls,” says Amanda Langowski, head of Microsoft’s Windows Insider program. “We plan to bring this to Chat from Microsoft Teams (Microsoft Teams for home) later.”Z... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge DoorDash has agreed to acquire the food delivery company Wolt for €7 billion (about $8.1 billion) with plans to expand its reach to Europe (via TechCrunch). Founded in 2015, Wolt is a Finland-based company that contracts out couriers to deliver takeout, groceries, and other goods to customers in 23 countries mainly throughout Europe.Both DoorDash and Wolt announced the all-stock transaction in separate blog posts, confirming a move that will bring DoorDash to Europe for the first time. Currently, DoorDash is only available in cities across the US, Canada, Japan, and Australia.“By joining forces, we believe we will accelerate our product development, bring greater focus to each of our markets, and improve the value we provide to... Continue reading…

Electric vehicle startup Rivian is now a publicly traded company after executing one of the biggest initial public offerings in history. Rivian shares started trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange Wednesday at around $78 per share. That gave Rivian an overall valuation of nearly $80 billion and helped it net $12 billion in fresh cash, despite the fact that it only just recently started to make and ship its first electric pickup trucks.It’s the sixth-largest IPO ever on a US stock exchange, according to Bloomberg, and it’s hard to imagine the company picking a better time to debut. Tesla has generated an incredible amount of interest in electric vehicles and is now one of the most highly valued companies in the world. The public markets... Continue reading…

What do a Lego store, a beautiful abandoned windmill, a retro bowling alley, a miniature aquarium, and a pair of Venetian houses have in common? They’ve all just become incredibly limited edition Lego sets that you can preorder from the Lego company itself.They started out as candidates for Lego’s Ideas program, got rejected, and now, they’ve been crowdfunded back to life by fans like you through a separate competition called the BrickLink Designer Program that gives creators 10 percent of the proceeds for their work. That means you have a short window of opportunity to snap up these unofficial official sets for yourself.And if you’ll allow me to indulge myself, they are glorious.Atop this post, you’ll spot the $179.99 Modular Lego... Continue reading…

Juiced, the San Diego-based electric bike company known for its extremely fast, extremely heavy, moped-style cruisers, wants you to know that its newest model, the RipRacer, is “fun-sized.” Not like tiny-Snickers-bars-you-hand-out-at-Halloween-fun-size, but like a smaller frame size for a younger generation of riders.Electric bikes are typically marketed and sold to adults, but increasingly, companies are seeing an opportunity around selling bikes to teens and young adults. Juiced is the latest to try its hand at making bikes that are smaller and cheaper than the typical e-bike.The RipRacer may be fun-sized, but it will no less powerful than Juiced’s other hulking modelsThe RipRacer may be fun-sized, but it will no less powerful... Continue reading…

Image: YouTube YouTube has announced that it’ll be hiding public dislike counts on videos across its site, starting today. The company says the change is to keep smaller creators from being targeted by dislike attacks or harassment, and to promote “respectful interactions between viewers and creators.” The dislike button will still be there, but it’ll be for private feedback, rather than public shaming.This move isn’t out of the blue. In March, YouTube announced that it was experimenting with hiding the public dislike numbers, and individual creators have long had the ability to hide ratings on their videos. But the fact that the dislike counts will be disappearing for everyone (gradually, according to YouTube) is a big deal — viewers are used to... Continue reading…

Paramount Plus Paramount Plus has announced a new partnership with Twitter centered around better promoting its exclusive shows and events, in addition to hosting three Twitter Watch Parties with fans for “select highly-anticipated original series.”Or, more practically speaking, Paramount Plus would really, really like its shows to be viral on Twitter, with the kinds of trending topics and engagement that ultra-popular shows like HBO’s Succession enjoy on a weekly basis. And what better way to be popular on Twitter than to cozy up to Twitter directly?A lot of this deal is deeply boring stuff, things like granting major Paramount Plus shows “Twitter marketing support and brand sponsorship sales rights via Twitter’s Amplify program.” ViacomCBS will... Continue reading…

(From L to R) ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, along with NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari, and Kayla Barron during a dress rehearsal ahead of flight. | Image: NASA/Joel Kowsky SpaceX is launching another crew to space this evening, sending four astronauts to the International Space Station for a six-monthlong stay in orbit. Traveling inside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, the crew will get an early start on their mission, with liftoff scheduled for 9:03PM ET on November 10th out of Cape Canaveral, Florida.The mission is called Crew-3, and it will carry NASA astronauts Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari, and Kayla Barron, as well as European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer. This will be the first trip to space for Maurer, Barron, and Chari — the mission’s commander. For Marshburn, this will be his third flight to space, and for each of his missions, he’s flown on a different vehicle. His first flight was on... Continue reading…

When the iPhone 13 Pro launched earlier this fall, we said it had the “best camera” in a smartphone. The larger sensor behind the main wide-angle lens coupled with a wider f/1.5 aperture left us saying, “Whoa, look at this photo,” more often than we were used to. But a few weeks later, Google’s Pixel 6 Pro, with its 50-megapixel sensor that is hard-coded to produce 12.5-megapixel images, was finally released, proving a worthy competitor for the iPhone 13 Pro’s 12-megapixel camera. The camera system on the iPhone 13 Pro is a major upgrade. The Pixel 6 Pro has a massive 6.7-inch screen. So this year, in order to settle the score, I set out to take 1,000 photos on each device. I carried them... Continue reading…

Photo by Mitchell Clark / The Verge Today, The Verge is updating our public ethics policy to be clearer in our interactions with public relations and corporate communications professionals. We’re doing this because big tech companies in particular have hired a dizzying array of communications staff who routinely push the boundaries of acceptable sourcing in an effort to deflect accountability, pass the burden of truth to the media, and generally control the narratives around the companies they work for while being annoying as hell to deal with.The main way this happens is that big companies take advantage of a particular agreement in the media called “background.” Being “on background” means that they tell things to reporters, but those reporters agree to not specifically... Continue reading…

Workplace integration into Microsoft Teams. | Image: Meta Microsoft is partnering with Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, to integrate Microsoft Teams into Zuckerberg’s Workplace platform. Facebook Workplace, or Workplace by Meta as it’s now been rebranded, will soon integrate Microsoft Teams to livestream video into Workplace groups.The Microsoft Teams integration into Workplace will also allow employees using Teams or Workplace to view, comment, and react to meetings in real time without having to switch between apps. Image: Meta Microsoft Teams and Workplace by Meta integration. Microsoft is also integrating Workplace into Teams, which will enable Teams users to access Workplace content through an app within Teams. The app will be pinned to the Teams... Continue reading…

This isn’t my house. Skittles operate well outside of the five-second drop rule. The latest (and even the not-so-new) robot vacuums from iRobot tend to cost, at least, a few hundred dollars. The sky is the limit, so to speak, when it comes to how much these can cost. But there’s a fantastic sale happening at Woot on this affordable model from a company called Yeedi. Its K650 Wi-Fi connected model with an 800-milliliter bin costs just $130 right now. It’s currently sitting at $180 from Amazon, to give you a sense of how much it usually costs.This model claims to be great for pet owners, and through its companion app, you can schedule cleaning times, adjust the suction strength, and customize Yeedi’s optional magnetic boundaries, among other things. The Yeedi K650 is compatible with Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa... Continue reading…

Apple’s AirTags were released earlier this year. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Among the features added to iOS 15.2’s second beta is a new option in the Find My app that lets you manually scan your surroundings for AirTags and other Find My-enabled devices that someone might be using to track you. The feature, which is detailed by MacRumors, is accessible via a new “Items That Can Track Me” option listed in the Find My app’s Items menu.Hit the link, and the app will report if there are any devices nearby that aren’t owned by you and which have Apple’s tracking technology enabled. The app can then give instructions on how to disable the device. Alternatively, there’s a “Help Return Lost Items” option for items that have ended up in your vicinity accidentally rather than maliciously, which replaces the previous... Continue reading…