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Image: Valve Nearly three years to the day after teasing the world with a white version of the Steam Deck, Valve has finally decided to release the normally black handheld gaming PC in that color too. The limited-edition white model is going on sale for $679 on November 18th at 3PM PT / 6PM ET, everywhere the handheld is sold, including Australia and the various regions of Asia served by Komodo.It's no different on the inside than a normal model, says Valve:

Photo by Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images The New York Times' tech employees, who are behind Wordle and Connections among other games and features, will go back to work on Tuesday following a weeklong strike. In a statement published on Monday, the New York Times Tech Guild said union members will march into the office together in the morning as a symbol of what's to come for The Times."The Tech Guild represents the over 600 workers who manage technology across the digital paper. Union members went on strike the day before the US election, raising concerns about whether the NYT's vote-tracking tech, like the Needle, would hold up on Election Day. The union and the NYT will continue negotiating on a contract.The systems and digital products that worked over the election did... Continue reading...

Image: Bluesky Bluesky gained more than 700,000 new users in the last week and now has more than 14.5 million users total, Bluesky COO Rose Wang confirmed to The Verge. The majority" of the new users on the decentralized social network are from the US, Wang says. The app is currently the number two free social networking app in the US App Store, only trailing Meta's Threads.People posting on Threads, on the other hand, have raised complaints about engagement bait, moderation issues, and, as of late, misinformation, reports Taylor Lorenz. And like our very own Tom Warren, I've come to dislike the algorithmic For You" feed that you can't permanently escape, and it certainly seems like we're not alone in that opinion.But the Instagram-bootstrapped... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Signal is making a bunch of improvements to calls so they are more competitive with Zoom and Google Meet, including the ability to share a link to a call.Previously, you could only initiate a call from a Signal group chat, so this new feature should make it much easier to hop on the phone with a friend or co-worker by sending them a link inside or outside of Signal. You can also re-use call links, which could be handy for recurring work meetings or a weekly chat you have with your family. Image: Signal Within calls, Signal is getting some upgrades, too, including a raise hand" button to let people know that you have something to say and emoji reactions so you can spam your emoji feelings. And the app now has a tab... Continue reading...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Amazon says a data breach exposed the email addresses, phone numbers, and building locations linked to its employees, as reported earlier by 404 Media. In a statement to The Verge, Amazon spokesperson Adam Montgomery said the company was notified about a security event at one of our property management vendors that impacted several of its customers, including Amazon."The confirmation follows a report from the cybercrime firm Hudson Rock saying that information posted on the hacking forum includes data from Amazon and 25 other entities, including MetLife, HP, HSBC, and Canada Post.Hudson Rock says the leaked info dates back to May 2023, and it's related to the major security vulnerability in the MOVEit file transfer system that came... Continue reading...

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Once upon a time, Twitter - now X - was the place to get your memes, world news, and pop culture. However, even at the time, being an active Twitter user also required sifting through a daily deluge of toxic characters, bots, and deepfakes. Then the Elon Musk circus came to town and began steadily altering the formerly popular social network, to the point that many of its adherents began bailing by moving to one or more of the new social networks, such as Threads, Bluesky, or Mastodon.Now that the 2024 US presidential election is over, Musk looks like he's going to be at least one of the powers behind the throne. Add to that recent changes that have made X less safe to use, and it's no surprise that there is now a new wave of X users l... Continue reading...

The smartphone-sized Boox Palma is highly portable and lets you read in a variety of apps. | Image: Boox Amazon announced a slew of new Kindles recently, but if you're not already locked into Amazon's ecosystem they may not be the best options. If you're looking for an e-reader that offers more flexibility, our readers can currently buy the Boox Palma at a new all-time low of $234.99 ($45 off) from Wellbots with a free flip-cover case (valued at $16) when you apply the code VERGEBFBOOX45.Unlike many other e-readers, the Boox Palma runs on Android 11 and comes with the Google Play Store built-in, so you can read in a wide range of apps. That's really convenient, as all you need to do is, say, download Amazon's Kindle app, and you'll be able to access your entirely digital library without needing to go through the long, complicated... Continue reading...

Illustration by Hugo Herrera / The Verge Current or former Cash App users who have used the service since 2018 have until next week to claim part of a $15 million settlement that Cash App Investing (and owner Block Inc.) reached as part of a class action lawsuit, The Hill reports. The lawsuit alleged that the companies were negligent in responding to their customers after a former employee had accessed user accounts without permission.You're eligible to claim in the settlement if your account was accessed without your permission or if you have had unauthorized or fraudulent withdrawals or transfers of funds in your account. The eligibility window is August 23rd, 2018, through the notice date of August 20th, 2024.You can file a claim via the settlement notice website for up to... Continue reading...

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple will now let you share the location of a lost AirTag with other people. The Find My feature, called Share Item Location and available as part of the just-launched iOS 18.2 public beta, will allow you to share the location of lost luggage with an airline, for example.When using the feature, you can generate a Share Item Location link within the Find My app on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Once you share the link with someone, they can click on it to view an interactive map with the location of your lost item. Apple will update the website automatically when the lost item moves, and it will also display a timestamp when it moved last. Image: Apple Apple will turn off the feature once you find your lost item. You can... Continue reading...

Amazon's rumored smart glasses for delivery drivers would have an embedded display, unlike the audio-only consumer version. | Image: David Pierce / The Verge Amazon is developing smart glasses for delivery drivers, Reuters reports. The aim is to give drivers turn-by-turn directions, thereby shaving seconds off of each delivery.Citing anonymous Amazon sources, Reuters says the project is part of Amazon's efforts to increase efficiency in the last 100 yards of a delivery. Codenamed Amelia", the smart glasses are based off the existing Echo Frames platform. Unlike the current audio-only Frames they would have an embedded display that could give a driver more precise directions - for example, turning left or right after getting off an elevator. Amazon is also exploring camera capabilities using that embedded display, enabling drivers to take photos of packages as proof of delivery.... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge; Photo by Rebecca Sapp / Getty Images for the Recording Academy Rebooting the member list, taking the show streaming - is it enough in the age of AI? Continue reading...

Image: The Verge The estate of now-defunct crypto exchange FTX has filed a lawsuit against Binance and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao in a bid to recover $1.76 billion. FTX alleges these funds were fraudulently transferred to Binance, Zhao, and other Binance executives in July 2021 as part of a shares repurchase deal with FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried.According to the filing, the transaction saw Binance sell back the 20 percent stake it held in FTX's international unit and 18.4 percent in its US-based entity, which Bankman-Fried paid for using a mix of FTX and Binance-branded cryptocurrencies. The FTX estate alleges the share repurchase deal was conducted unlawfully because - following massive fraud by Bankman-Fried and other executives - FTX and its... Continue reading...

Image: Digital Eclipse For such a simple game, Tetris has a wild history. Developed in the mid-1980s by Alexey Pajitnov in the Soviet Union, Tetris' global expansion involved a complex web of software copyright, clandestine meetings, handshake deals, and someone stretching a tourist visa to the very limits. It's a story that inspired a feature film - but it might be best explored in Tetris Forever, the latest retro game collection from Digital Eclipse.The studio has made a name for itself with its interactive documentary format. The idea is that, instead of just presenting a bunch of games and supplementary material and leaving it to players to sort through it, the collections put everything into a timeline you can explore in chronological order. This... Continue reading...

Remember the race to 5G? | Image: The Verge Boost Mobile has announced it is on its way to meeting FCC coverage deadlines by the end of the year and says it has earned the title of MNO - Mobile Network Operator - rather than MVNO, which is a virtual network operator mainly reselling service from other carriers. Mission... accomplished? Sort of. It's progress, at least.Boost, you will remember, is supposed to be our nation's fourth wireless carrier thanks to a wonky deal that allowed T-Mobile to buy Sprint. Dish Network - now owned by EchoStar - bought the brand as part of the deal and is required by the FCC to hit certain milestones in its 5G network buildout to hold up its part of the bargain. Last June, it was required to cover 70 percent of the US population; by the end of the... Continue reading...

The first part of Wicked, starring Ariana Grande (left) and Cynthia Erivo (right) will arrive in theaters on November 22nd. | Image: Universal Pictures Barbie producer Mattel has issued an apology after customers spotted its Wicked edition dolls listed an adult website on the packaging. The toy merchandise mistakenly directed customers to the homepage of the Wicked Pictures pornographic movie studio, instead of the correct WickedMovie.com URL.We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this," Mattel said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. Parents are advised that the misprinted, incorrect website is not appropriate for children."Mattel said that the dolls, which have been released to coincide with Universal's film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical, are primarily sold in the US" and that the error was a misprint." It's unclear... Continue reading...

Donkey Kong Country gets a Nintendo Direct showcase on Monday. | Image: Nintendo Nintendo says it's finally going to show off the long-awaited Donkey Kong Country area of Super Nintendo World in a Nintendo Direct stream on Monday at 5PM ET. It's an encouraging sign for the theme park expansion devoted to Mario's first nemesis, the opening of which was delayed earlier this year.Nintendo first confirmed that it was building the area, which will feature a mine cart rollercoaster ride, back in 2021. Nintendo and Universal Studios showed the region off - or a digital render of it, anyway - earlier this year, and confirmed that when the Orlando, Florida version of Super Nintendo World opens on May 22nd, 2025, it will have all of the same attractions as its Osaka counterpart.As for Nintendo Switch 2 news, well, don't get... Continue reading...

Photo by Howard Schnapp/Newsday RM via Getty Images Amazon's next ideas for growing its grocery business could blur the lines between Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh by enmeshing the two businesses' fulfillment networks in a new set of experiments, according to The Wall Street Journal.Amazon has reportedly started shipping Whole Foods products from 26 Amazon Fresh fulfillment centers and plans to build a microfulfillment center at a Pennsylvania Whole Foods Market and stocking it with Amazon Fresh household goods and groceries. Another part of the plan includes an experimental Amazon Grocery" inside a Chicago Whole Foods that offers brands and groceries that the upscale store wouldn't normally carry, according to WSJ.The goal of the tests is to give Amazon customers a way to buy... Continue reading...

Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge Apple has begun selling repair parts for iPhone 16 and 16 Pro phones on its self-service repair store. That includes replacements for commonly damaged parts like cameras, displays, and back glass, and follows the release of official Apple iPhone 16 repair manuals in September, as MacRumors notes.A replacement camera assembly will run you $169 for the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus or $249 for the 16 Pro and Pro Max. And new displays range from $279 to $379, depending on the model. Batteries are either $99 or, for the 16 Pro phones, $119. And if you don't have the tools, you can always rent out one of Apple's heavy, specialized repair kits for $49.Taking on a DIY iPhone repair isn't quite as dicey as it once was, thanks to Apple's gradual shift... Continue reading...

Image: Disney Star Wars spinoff Andor is finally coming back for its second and final season on Disney Plus April 22nd, 2025, Disney announced during its D23 event in Brazil yesterday. And in a clear nod to Rogue One, the 2016 film it's setting up, it has a new logo with the subtitle A Star Wars Story."The new season will complete the so far excellent story of Cassian Andor's (Diego Luna) transformation from street rat to hard-bitten rebel alliance spy in the lead-up to the events of Rogue One. Its 12-episode run will be broken up into blocks of three episodes, each covering three-day events taking place in a four-year period, as TheWrap notes.

Was anyone asking for this? | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge At the risk of stating the obvious, AI is absolutely everywhere lately. There's AI in your car, AI in your messaging app, AI in your glasses. I've gotten pretty desensitized to it all as a hazard of the job, but it was Spotify's AI DJ that actually got my attention.I've listened to a top 40 radio station in the past two decades, so I'm familiar with the concept of a robot picking music for me. In that context, an AI DJ doesn't seem like much of a stretch. But after using it on and off for a week, I'm convinced it's the perfect analogy for our AI-everything moment. It's eerily human, and it plays a lot of music I like. But take it from someone with access to a high-quality local indie radio station - one that employs human DJs! - there... Continue reading...

Image: David Pierce / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 60, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, it's a lot of gaming stuff this week, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)This week, I've been... doomscrolling about the election, if I'm honest. But let's not talk about that. I've also been reading about shipwrecks and in-flight magazines and baseball bat influencers, making a bunch of lists in Listy, dusting off my Bluesky account as Threads becomes increasingly worse, logging a surprising number of hours in VR with Batman: Arkham Shadow, playing with tasks and notes in the Craft beta, seeing if I can replace Gmail with Thunderbird for Android, and trying really, really... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images There is an apparently new iOS 18 security feature that reboots iPhones that haven't been unlocked in a few days, frustrating police by making it harder to break into suspects' iPhones, according to 404 Media.404 Media, which first reported police warnings about the reboots on Thursday, writes that restarted iPhones enter a more secure Before First Unlock," or BFU state. Now, it seems Apple added inactivity reboot" code in iOS 18.1 that triggers iPhones to restart after they've been locked for four days, Chris Wade, who founded mobile analysis company Corellium, told the outlet.The code appears below in screenshots posted by Dr. -Ing. Jiska Classen, a Hasso Plattner Institute research group leader.

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Google Photos continues to get new and improved features on a regular basis, and one of the most recent Android updates has focused on video editing. Even if you don't have the latest Pixel 9 phone (which is required if you want to try out the weird new Reimagine tool), you can now speed up, slow down, and enhance your clips with a few taps as well as trim them down more easily.You can also expect what Google calls AI-powered video presets" on both the Android and iOS versions of Google Photos. After the app algorithm analyzes your clips, you get a choice of effects - trims, zooms, slow-mos - you can apply with a tap. The app takes the role of director and chooses where and how these tweaks should be applied.When the changes arrive on... Continue reading...

Netflix Arcane's final season puts an even finer point on its story about revolutionary war. Continue reading...

Paul McCartney in 2022. | Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images The Beatles have been nominated for two Grammys - nearly 50 years after the band officially split up. Their final song, called Now and Then," was restored last year with the help of AI, and is now up for record of the year alongside the likes of Beyonce, Charlie XCX, Billie Eilish, and Taylor Swift. It's also been nominated for best rock performance, where it goes up against Green Day, Pearl Jam, and The Black Keys.Released in November 2023, Now and Then" started as a demo recorded by John Lennon in the late 1970s. This recording, as well as Free As A Bird" and Real Love," was given to Lennon's three surviving bandmates in the 90s, with the hopes of including it in The Beatles Anthology project.However, Now and Then" was never... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube's premium subscriptions are about to get more expensive for long-time subscribers with legacy plans in more places. In December, YouTube told US subscribers with legacy YouTube Premium plans (stemming from discontinued services Google Play Music or YouTube Red) they'd need to start paying the current $13.99 per month price in the new year.YouTube Music users in Europe have posted emails they received announcing a price increase for them, too, and just like the US, some report getting three more months at the current price before the hike.In an email to The Verge, YouTube communications manager Paul Pennington confirmed prices are increasing for both YouTube Premium, which removes ads on the streaming videos and includes access... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia. / The Verge Between the Apple Watch Series 10, the Ultra 2, and the second-gen SE, there are more options than ever. We'll help you sort through them. Continue reading...

DJI's $199 Neo selfie drone is going to be everywhere," we wrote in September - while noting that the budget self-flying drone did have two major weaknesses over the competing $350 Hover X1. First, DJI's drone didn't shoot vertical video (a dealbreaker for TikTok and Instagram Reels influencers) and second, it couldn't track our movements nearly as quickly as the competition.But DJI is now fixing both, adding vertical video and dramatically increasing the Neo's flight speed while tracking. According to DC Rainmaker, it's now so fast it can keep up with cyclists, and surprisingly flies faster in tracking mode than it does with a controller.Before the firmware update, the drone wasn't able to keep up with him cycling at even 13 miles... Continue reading...

Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge People across the country received racist text messages in the days after Donald Trump was elected to a second term for president, and now federal authorities are investigating.In multiple states, including Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, Black women, men, and students have reported receiving racist text messages from an unknown source, urging them to report to a plantation to pick cotton," the NAACP said in a press release. Messages said variations of, You have been selected to be a house slave," or You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation," according to screenshots and news reports. They also often instruct recipients on where to go or when to be ready With all of your belongings."CBS... Continue reading...

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge We're flush with great options for noise-canceling headphones that sound good, but if you care most about sound quality (without spending pricey audiophile money) a great choice is the Bowers and Wilkins PX7 S2e - which are on sale for $279 ($120 off) in all five color options at Amazon, Best Buy, and direct from Bowers and Wilkins.The PX7 S2e may not have the most charming sounding name, but they do have a clean design and warm, detailed sound that even competes with the much pricier AirPods Max. In addition to sounding excellent and offering niceties like a transparency mode, they favor proper physical buttons and a proper on / off switch over the touch controls found on some other headphones like Sony's WH-1000XM5. Their 30 hours of... Continue reading...

That Mac Mini SSD is removable! | Image: X user @L0vetodream Apple's redesigned Mac Mini M4 has ditched the previous M2 machine's SSD that was soldered to the logic board, as confirmed by teardowns like this one posted on X showing it has a single removable SSD module. It's not Apple's first desktop computer to go in this direction, as we saw similar modules in the Mac Studio and Mac Pro.

Samsung's Galaxy S24 is just one of the many phones that use Gorilla Glass. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Corning, the maker of Gorilla Glass, is set to receive up to $32 million in funding under the CHIPS and Science Act. In an announcement on Friday, the US Commerce Department said the proposed funding will help Corning increase production of its glass products used in the chip-making process.The announcement comes just days after the European Commission opened an antitrust investigation into Corning over whether it uses exclusive supply agreements to stifle competition. Both Samsung and Apple use Corning's ultra-tough alkali-aluminosilicate glass - or Gorilla Glass - on their phones, tablets, and smartwatches.However, the proposed CHIPS Act funding doesn't have anything to do with Gorilla Glass. Corning will put the funding toward the... Continue reading...