The Verge

Sony's cosmic red" DualSense Wireless Controller is down to $54.99 ($20 off) for a limited time. | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be over, but Sony's ongoing holiday sale lives on, giving you a chance to save on various PlayStation 5 consoles, games, and accessories through January 2nd. Now until December 25th, for example, you can save up to $75 on the newer PS5 slim" (now $424 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target) and the PS5 Digital Edition (now $374 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart).If you already have a PS5 and are looking for new ways to play, the PlayStation VR 2 is currently on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target with Horizon Call of the Mountain for $349 ($250 off), which may be tempting. The virtual reality headset is easy to set up and offers excellent PC-grade immersion, though its lineup still remains somewhat limited nearly two years after its release.Not into VR? It's also a great time to pick up extra controllers, gaming headsets, and other PS5 accessories. Now until December 13th, Sony's standard DualSense Wireless Controller is on sale for as low as $54 ($21 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, while the reflective Chroma" variants can be had for $59. There aren't many PS5 controllers we'd recommend over the DualSense, namely because most third-party options lack the adaptive triggers and haptic engine, which add real tension to mirror your in-game actions.You can also pick up Pulse-branded headsets throughout the same period, including the Pulse Elite, which is down to an all-time low of $129.99 ($20 off) at Best Buy, Walmart, and GameStop. The Pulse Explore earbuds are also on sale starting at $169 ($30 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. Both use planar magnetic drivers, which noticeably impact the 3D audio listening experience, along with a proprietary low-latency codec that works natively on PS5 consoles and Windows PCs with the included dongle.If you're looking to change up the look of your PS5, you can also pick up one of several Console Covers starting at $44.99 ($10 off). A number of games are on sale, too, including the collector's editions of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 for $149.99 ($80 off) and MLB The Show 24 for $49.99 ($10 off), along with Astro Bot for $49.99 ($10 off).More deals to shop this weekend

There's a lot we don't know about what's coming for tech in 2025. AI could save the world, or ruin it, or do pretty much nothing interesting at all. A new US president could change priorities and policies on antitrust fights and privacy rules. Will TikTok get banned? Will the fediverse take off? Will it be the year of Matter? Will Grand Theft Auto VI change society forever? Will the next Mission: Impossible movie be awesome? Look, I didn't say the stakes were always super high. But there are lots of questions.On this episode of The Vergecast, we try and offer some answers - with absolutely no evidence. Nilay, David, and Wall Street Journal columnist (and forever friend of The Verge) Joanna Stern take turns offering their predictions for the year to come.We start with our mildest, most milquetoast takes on tech in 2025, before ramping up to our biggest, hottest, spiciest thoughts. And because we need to be held accountable for our actions, we make a game out of it.Here's how the game works: Each host offers a prediction, and the other two get a chance to either agree with or reject the prediction. At the end of the year, whoever is right about that prediction gets a point.... Read the full story at The Verge.

Sony's PSVR2 controller support may be coming to the Vision Pro through a special partnership. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Vision Pro could gain support for Sony PSVR 2 controllers soon, according to Mark Gurman in today's Power On newsletter for Bloomberg. Apple and Sony apparently planned to announce support for the controllers weeks ago" but have pushed back the rollout. Under this rumored partnership, Apple would begin selling Sony's controllers, which aren't currently available on their own.Sony has apparently been working on adding the support for months, while Apple has asked third-party developers if they would take advantage of Sony's VR controllers. That's potentially great news for Vision Pro owners who wish the headset had more gaming chops. (There are precious few good, native visionOS games - Thrasher, a mesmerizing game where you fling a giant worm / dragon thing around a psychadelic space using just hand movements, comes to mind.)Gurman writes that Apple also wants to use the controllers for more than gaming - the controllers will be able to navigate visionOS, and would offer more precise controls in apps like Final Cut Pro and Adobe Photoshop. Right now, you can pair a standard Bluetooth controller and navigate visionOS - tapping buttons to select things, scrolling with the analog sticks, and so on. They also work for gaming, but you're mostly limited to iPad and iPhone games with controller support or made-for-iOS emulators or that native Virtual Boy one.Will this partnership bear fruit and help games actually flourish on the platform? I'm not immediately hopeful, given the Vision Pro's sales and Apple's track record of support from game publishers.Still, the Vision Pro is fundamentally different from Apple's other devices, and VR is its own landscape. And there are signs the community wants this, with at least one fully-funded Kickstarter project to develop Meta Quest 3-style controllers, called the Surreal Touch, for the Vision Pro. Maybe the Vision Pro will get some great VR games - whether anyone will be around to buy them is another question entirely.

Image: David Pierce / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 63, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, it's a lot of stuff to watch this week, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)This week, I've been reading about clog crime and bright headlights and Robert Pattinson, starting my 564th rewatch of Community, testing Sill as part of my news reading flow, taking copious notes on Mrwhosetheboss' new office setup, watching a lot of videos about sports stadiums for some reason, trying out all of Esquire's best podcasts of 2024, and continuing to eat too much Swedish candy. For journalism, I swear.I also have for you a great new feature for a great to-do list app, a new Peloton app, a comic book series worth your time, a couple of good tech-culture documentaries I think you'll like, and lots more. We're definitely in new stuff to watch on cold evenings" season rather than new apps and gadgets" season, but I'm not mad at it. It is cold out there.(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you into right now? What should everyone else be playing / reading / watching / eating / building / doing... Read the full story at The Verge.

Image: NZXT Gamers Nexus has released a video deconstructing NZXT's defense of its Flex gaming PC purchase and rental program. In it, host Steve Burke says the company is still misleading customers, despite adjustments made in response to his previous video in which he called the program a scam."NZXT said in its response this week that it would clarify details about its Flex program, which Gamers Nexus had criticized for having specs that would change sometimes day-to-day." The company has appeared to update specs and performance numbers for its purchase builds. But Gamers Nexus reports it still spotted issues like inconsistent FPS numbers and a FAQ that implied NZXT's for-sale Player: Three Prime build uses an RTX 4090 graphics card, despite its specs saying otherwise.The FAQ entry Burke mentions seems to be gone now, but as of this writing, there's still an entry titled What GPU is right for me?" that lists the RTX 4090 and its benefits. Such inconsistencies are a problem for potential customers, Burke says.

Image: The Verge X has given Grok a new AI image generator model called Aurora" that seems to create far more photorealistic imagery than Grok's other image generator, with similarly few apparent restrictions on what it will produce, TechCrunch reports. Like Grok, anyone can use Aurora. It lives in a new Grok 2 + Aurora beta" option in the Grok model selector, though you'll only get a few queries before you hit the X Premium subscription paywall and have to wait.TechCrunch found that the model, which X employee Chris Park posted is available this morning, was willing to create copyrighted characters and public figures, including Mickey Mouse and a bloodied Donald Trump," but that it stopped short of nudes." Its lack of restrictions isn't surprising, given our experience with Grok's other model.In another example highlighted by TechCrunch, an X user showed off AI-generated images of Ray Romano and Adam Sandler in the X post below - both realistic, but with some very obvious weirdness when it comes to human anatomy and continuity.

Image: Apple We already knew that the tensions and scares were going to ramp up in season 2 of Severance, and the latest trailer provides a deeper glimpse into what to expect - along with teasing answers to some important (and weird) questions.The show follows a megacorporation called Lumon Industries, which utilizes a new procedure called severance that allows workers to spatially split their brains, creating two selves: one who works for Lumon, and another who lives life on the outside. The new clip shows the return of four Lumon employees - Mark (Adam Scott), Dylan (Zach Cherry), Helly (Britt Lower), and Irving (John Turturro) - who are back in the office after managing to bridge those two different worlds. However, it's unclear if they're actually in trouble for their actions; instead, they've turned into celebrities of sorts.That doesn't mean that the vibes are any less unsettling, though, with the always-intense supervisor Milchick (Tramell Tillman) saying things like, I'm tightening the leash." More than anything, the new trailer promises answers to some of Severance's strangest questions. There's the mystery of what actually goes down in Lumon's basement, which we're told will be remembered as one of the greatest moments on this planet" as well as just what the hell is going on with all of the goats. The trailer also introduces an unexpected new question: how could a child be an office manager?Clearly, there's a lot going on in season 2, and it's not too far off now. The new season of Severance starts streaming on January 17th. In the meantime, here are some excellent new posters. Image: Apple

Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced on Friday it had placed Google Payment Corp. under federal supervision, reports Reuters. Google reportedly filed a lawsuit to block the CFPB's order, which could result in routine inspections and monitoring like those imposed on banks.The agency found that Google's error resolution and fraud prevention processes pose risks to consumers, citing consumer complaints about Google Pay Balance and Google's peer-to-peer payments. Those complaints, which Google's lawsuit claims are unsubstantiated," according to The Washington Post, include that the company didn't seem to fully investigate fraudulent charges and didn't adequately explain" the results of those investigations.The CFPB says its finding that Google should be supervised doesn't mean the company is guilty of wrongdoing." It also notes in its order that Google Pay and the P2P platform were discontinued earlier this year.Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda provided a statement to The Verge:

Image: Epic Games Epic Games is about to let Fortnite creators publish experiences with first-person modes, and to help show what's possible, Epic itself is introducing a tactical FPS shooter that seems like it will play a lot like Counter-Strike or Valorant.The new mode, called Ballistic," is an adrenaline-filled, round-based 5v5 competitive game mode where strategy, tactical teamwork, and individual prowess are essential for victory," according to an Epic blog post. Players will be split into two teams, with one that has to plant the bomb - sorry, I mean the Rift Point Device" - and another that has to defend against that. Between rounds, you'll be able to buy gear for the next one. Teams will switch sides after six rounds, and the first to win seven rounds will be crowned the victor.This isn't the first time Epic has cribbed a game idea for Fortnite: its racing and festival modes both borrow a lot from Psyonix's Rocket League and Harmonix's Rock Band (Epic owns both studios), the Lego survival mode has a lot of similarities to Minecraft, and Epic even admitted that the (now-gone) Impostors mode was inspired by Among Us. Heck, the game's main battle royale mode was actually a spinoff that followed the success of PUBG.But now that Epic is trying to make Fortnite into something more akin to Roblox (another inspiration!), where players are encouraged to sample lots of experiences instead of just one, modes like Ballistic and Reload let Epic experiment with different ideas without changing the core battle royale experience. And since your purchased Fortnite outfits and gear generally work across all of the modes, there's a financial incentive for Epic to add more experiences, too.Ballistic launches in early access on December 11th. Fortnite creators will be able to publish their own experiences with first-person modes that same day.Ballistic is arriving during an already busy time for Fortnite. The game's Japanese-themed season kicked off at the beginning of the week, and on Friday, Epic launched the permanent version of its throwback OG mode.

Image: The Verge There's plenty to consider when it comes to deciding whether you want to engage with the many generative AI bots now available inside our apps. These include the ethics of copyright use, soaring energy demands, and the diminishing of human creativity, to begin with.Something else to bear in mind when engaging with these tools is they're often going to use your flesh-and-blood human inputs to further train their underlying models. While some AI companies make efforts to anonymize this data, it's something you may not feel comfortable with. The good news is, in most cases, you can find a setting to turn the training off.Disabling AI training isn't quite the same as wiping your AI chatbot history, though they are linked. Your chats can still be used for training purposes before they're wiped, and you may well want to keep your chat history in place - but at the same time stop AI companies from using your data for model refinement.Here are instructions on how to turn off AI training on several AI or AI-supporting apps.ChatGPT Screenshot: ChatGPT On ChatGPT, you can refuse to improve the model for everyone." On the webClick your profile picture (top... Read the full story at The Verge.

People shelter under umbrellas from the wind and rain as they cross a road near Shinjuku train station on October 12, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan ahead of Typhoon Hagibis' expected landfal later in the evening. | Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images GenCast, a new AI model from Google DeepMind, is accurate enough to compete with traditional weather forecasting. It managed to outperform a leading forecast model when tested on data from 2019, according to recently published research.AI isn't going to replace traditional forecasting anytime soon, but it could add to the arsenal of tools used to predict the weather and warn the public about severe storms. GenCast is one of several AI weather forecasting models being developed that might lead to more accurate forecasts.GenCast is one of several AI weather forecasting models that might lead to more accurate forecastsWeather basically touches every aspect of our lives ... it's also one of the big scientific challenges, predicting the weather," says Ilan Price, a senior research scientist at DeepMind. Google DeepMind has a mission to advance AI for the benefit of humanity. And I think this is one important way, one important contribution on that front."Price and his colleagues tested GenCast against the ENS system, one of the world's top-tier models for forecasting that's run by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). GenCast outperformed ENS 97.2... Read the full story at The Verge.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge If I told you that Valve could make a play to dethrone the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox in your living room this next year while simultaneously challenging the Meta Quest as the gamer's VR headset of choice, would you believe me? Because Valve may have a lot of SteamOS hardware on the way.If there's fire where we currently see smoke, Valve is currently preparing a wireless VR headset codename Deckard, a pair of trackable wands codename Roy, a Steam Controller 2 gamepad codename Ibex, and a codename Fremont living room console too. (That last one now looks likelier than it did yesterday.) And Valve has also now seemingly revealed plans for partners to create third-party SteamOS hardware too.It won't be easy to take on Sony, Microsoft, or Meta. Those companies have a lot to lose, and they're deeply entrenched. But the Steam Deck has revealed a massive weakness in each of their businesses that may take them years to correct - the desire to play a huge library of games anytime, anywhere.And while they figure that out, Valve may be building an entire new ecosystem of SteamOS hardware, one that could finally let PC and peripheral makers tap into the huge and growing... Read the full story at The Verge.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Microsoft's first Copilot AI-ready Surface laptop arrived earlier this year, and now Windows Central reports that the rest of the lineup is due for a refresh in 2025.According to the report, we can expect new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop computers - and we've already seen a possible prototype pop up in October - with Intel Lunar Lake chips, that will be Copilot Plus PCs with AI features, just like the current Snapdragon versions.That would make them the first Intel-powered Surfaces with the label after Microsoft didn't extend the label and those features to the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6. Those machines had Intel Metor Lake chips with NPUs that didn't meet the necessary mark. The new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop are also expected to get anti-reflective screen coating, and the Laptop version might get a card reader and 5G options.It also says the Surface Laptop Studio is due for an upgrade from the current model's 13th-gen Intel chips that could use Intel or AMD. Whatever the case, I hope it will have better battery life than we saw in our review of the current model. Meanwhile, Microsoft confirmed to Windows Central that the Surface Studio 2 Plus all-in-one is g... Read the full story at The Verge.

T-Mobile would just love to sign you up on one of its new plans. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge T-Mobile is once again shuffling its 5G internet options, adding a streaming bundle to its priciest plan and introducing a new mid-tier option. The new plans start at $50 per month (including an autopay discount) and become available starting December 11th.Importantly, it seems that prices are staying consistent with T-Mobile's previous 5G Home Internet options - if you're new to T-Mobile. Discounts for existing customers with a T-Mobile voice line aren't quite as generous with the new plans.The new T-Mobile Rely Internet plan costs $50 per month for new customers, which is what T-Mobile charges now for its Home Internet Unlimited plan. Current T-Mobile customers will pay $35 per month, which is $5 more than the $30 a month promo the company is offering now. Unlike the pricier plans, Rely includes a previous-gen 5G router.The next step up is a new T-Mobile Amplified Internet plan that costs new customers $60 a month with autopay or $45 with a T-Mobile voice line. It comes with T-Mobile's newest 5G gateway; the small business version of the plan includes a mesh access point, too. Image: T-Mobile I love a comparison chart. The new top tier plan, All-In, includes the latest router and a streaming bundle with ad-supported Hulu and Paramount Plus Essential. It's still $70 per month to new T-Mobile customers, but current customers will pay $55 per month - again, not quite as good as the $50 per month promotional price on the outgoing Internet Plus plan.T-Mobile spokesperson Katie Brinton tells The Verge There are no changes for existing customers" on the outgoing plans. The Home Internet Backup plan is also sticking around for anyone who just wants an option when their primary Wi-Fi goes down.Wireless carriers in the US are leaning into fixed wireless internet as a way to make the most of the 5G spectrum these companies have acquired at great cost. T-Mobile has been at the front of the pack with 6 million wireless internet customers, according to its October 2024 earnings release. But its net internet customer additions were down year-over-year, something T-Mobile's earnings factbook attributes partially to Increased deactivations from a growing customer base." A fresh batch of internet offers with extra streaming services included look like they're a key part of T-Mobile's strategy to keep pushing forward in the category.

Illustration: The Verge Google is now rolling out the ability to make a digital ID from your passport that you can store in Google Wallet and use at select TSA checkpoints - but only as a generic form of ID. It does not serve as a passport itself, Google spokesperson Liz Schulten tells The Verge: The digital ID can't be used at immigration and border control."Here's how to make the ID, per Google's September blog post where it initially announced the feature:

Illustration: The Verge There've already been renders of Google's yet-to-be-announced Pixel 9A and one real-world sneak peek. Now we're getting yet another look at an early prototype of Google's next mid-range phone. X user fenibook has posted two shots of the phone, and it's got the company's usual markings that designate this as a still-under-development device.These latest images offer yet more proof that Google plans to ditch the camera bar - a visual hallmark of recent Pixels - on the 9A in favor of making the camera flush with the back of the phone. That's a bit surprising to see, but Google's Claude Zellweger told us back in August that designers were likely to reevaluate the ratio of camera hardware to phone hardware thanks to advancements in computational photography.

The Anbernic RG34XX looks inspired by Nintendo's GBA but with a larger screen and more buttons. | Screenshot: YouTube Anbernic announced its next retro handheld today and it's easy to see where the design of the RG34XX draws its inspiration. It appears to be a faithful clone of Nintendo's original Game Boy Advance, although updated with additional action and shoulder buttons allowing games from more recent systems to be played. Pricing and availability hasn't been revealed yet, but the RG34XX will come in transparent red and green colors, as well as the GBA's purple and black.One feature Anbernic didn't carry forward is the Game Boy Advance's LCD screen which lacked a backlight and was notoriously difficult to see unless you were playing outside on a sunny day or cozied up next to a bright lamp. The RG34XX will instead feature a larger 3.4-inch display with a 720x480 resolution. The display will also use the same 3:2 aspect ratio as the Game Boy Advance, so GBA titles should look great, and older games developed for 4:3 TV screens will fit without extensive stretching or pillarboxing. Image: Keep Retro The RG34XX will be available in purple or black colors, and transparent red or green. As with previous Anbernic handhelds, the RG34XX doesn't have a cartridge slot like the Analogue Pocket or the ModRetro Chromatic. It's instead designed to play games through software emulation. Details on the RG34XX's processor aren't known yet, but Retro Handhelds speculates it will be based on the Allwinner H700 chipset the company has used in its other XX series handhelds. If that's the case, you can expect it to play games from older consoles up to the original Sony PlayStation, and even some N64 and Sega Dreamcast titles. Image: Keep Retro The RG34XX will include two sets of shoulder buttons, a mini HDMI port, USB-C for charging, and dual microSD slots. The RG34XX will include Wi-Fi connectivity facilitating online play as well as streaming PC titles through Moonlight, and Bluetooth for connecting multiple wireless controllers for shared screen multiplayer. If that 3.4-inch screen still seems too small, the RG34XX also includes a mini HDMI port for connecting it to a TV, alongside a USB-C port for charging, and a pair of microSD card slots for storing ROMs and its operating system.This isn't the first time that Anbernic has copied Nintendo's homework. Earlier this year the company released its RG35XXSP with a design inspired by the clamshell Game Boy Advance SP but with an improved screen, a more capable processor, and a concerning number of pre-installed pirated ROMs.

The new modem is rumored to appear in next year's iPhone SE. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Apple's betting that its upcoming in-house 5G modem could help it beat Qualcomm's performance eventually, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple has worked on developing its own modem for years, but the initiative reportedly experienced technical issues and other setbacks despite purchasing Intel's modem unit in 2019.The first Apple modem is rumored to come to the iPhone SE before appearing in the rumored iPhone Slim" and entry-level iPads. Down the line, Apple is reportedly planning to roll out a second-generation modem with mmWave in 2026, putting it in the iPhone 18 line and higher-end iPads. In 2027, Bloomberg reports that Apple hopes to top Qualcomm" with its Prometheus" modem, which could support AI features and next-generation satellite networks."However, its first chip may fall short of Qualcomm's in terms of the absolute highest possible speed for a couple of reasons: lacking support for the mmWave technology available in some cities from carriers like Verizon and supporting four-carrier aggregation instead of six.Those features boost the maximum bandwidth available to multiple gigabits per second, but speeds are typically much slower in the real world, and the current iPhone SE also lacks mmWave support. The new modem will, however, support dual SIM standby, allowing people to have two active SIM cards at the same time.

Image: Microsoft Microsoft is expanding the testing of its new Recall AI feature to Intel- and AMD-powered Copilot Plus PCs. The software giant first released a preview of Recall on Qualcomm-powered laptops last month, allowing Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel to test the new AI-powered feature. Now Intel and AMD Copilot Plus PCs are getting access in a new build today.Recall takes screenshots of almost everything you do on a Copilot Plus PC to make it searchable and easy to recall a memory or retrace your steps. Microsoft has made the AI experience entirely optional, so you can enable snapshots to find what you were working on previously through natural language search or a scrollable timeline. Image: Microsoft The Recall timeline feature. Much like the experience on Qualcomm Copilot Plus PCs, Windows 11 will download the models for Recall and Click to Do in the background once you install the Dev Channel build. You'll then need to enable snapshots yourself. You can control what snapshots are saved and delete them based on apps or much like you'd delete browsing history by date. Microsoft also provides a way to exclude apps and websites from Recall, and the feature also automatically detects sensitive information like credit card details, passwords, and personal ID numbers to ensure snapshots are not saved.Microsoft has made a variety of security upgrades to Recall after researchers raised the alarm over the controversial feature. You now need to use Windows Hello to confirm your presence and access snapshots, and it also requires BitLocker and Secure Boot - both of which should be enabled already on a Copilot Plus PC.Click to Do is also part of this Recall testing. Click to Do can recognize text and images in Recall snapshots so you can use AI-powered actions on them like copying text or saving images out of old snapshots. Microsoft is also expanding Click to Do outside of Recall so you can use it to take actions on images and text by summoning it through Windows key + mouse click.Lastly, Microsoft is also introducing its Image Creator and Restyle Image features to the Photos app for Intel- and AMD-powered Copilot Plus PCs. These devices will also get access to Cocreator in Paint today to let you create AI-powered images directly in Paint.

The Verge Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok is now available to free users on X. Several users noticed the change on Friday, which gives non-Premium subscribers the ability to send up to 10 messages to Grok every two hours.xAI launched Grok last year as a humorous AI assistant," but it was only available to Premium subscribers. In August, xAI added a text-to-image generation feature to Grok, which turned out to be capable of producing some questionable images.TechCrunch reported last month that Musk's xAI started testing a free version of Grok in certain regions. Making Grok more widely available might help it compete with the already-free chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Anthropic's Claude.xAI, which raised $6 billion in its latest funding round, is also considering launching a standalone app for Grok - something ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude already have, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

You should definitely skip the base AirPods 4, which are only $9 cheaper right now. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge The AirPods Pro stole the spotlight recently with an incredible discount that made them even cheaper than the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation. But now the script is flipped and the AirPods 4 are currently discounted to $139 ($40 off) at Amazon. That's a new record low for Apple's newest pair of wireless earbuds and just $9 more than the version without ANC.The AirPods 4 are a substantial upgrade over the previous generation, with better overall sound quality and a stronger bass profile. They also borrow a couple more features from the AirPods Pro, like the Voice Isolation feature that analyzes your voice to separate it and cancel out the environment, resulting in clearer voice calls. Other features include a wireless charging case with a speaker that lets you trigger a sound from Apple's Find My app, spatial audio with head-tracking, and adaptive audio.Active noise cancellation is solid in the upgraded pair, but since there are no canal-sealing ear tips, they won't offer the same dampening. That's where you'd opt instead for the AirPods Pro, which ultimately sound better and offer a few extra capabilities, like more intuitive volume controls and the ability to use them as hearing aids. But if you don't mind making some tradeoffs, the entry-level AirPods 4 offer a lot for the money.Read our Apple AirPods 4 review.A few more deals to kick the weekend off

Beginning in February, health insurer Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield was planning to set a time limit for anesthesia coverage during surgeries and procedures. Now, following days of widespread outrage at the health insurance industry generally, Anthem is walking that policy back, the insurer announced on Thursday.In mid-November, the American Society of Anesthesiologists issued a press release about the policy, which was set to take effect in February in states like Connecticut, New York, and Missouri.If an anesthesiologist submits a bill where the actual time of care is longer than Anthem's limit, Anthem will deny payment for the anesthesiologist's care," they group writes. With this new policy, Anthem will not pay anesthesiologists for delivering safe and effective anesthesia care to patients who may need extra attention because their surgery is difficult, unusual or because a complication arises."The letter appears to have garnered little public attention until this week when several posts on social media about the policy change began circulating. The posts gained traction after the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was shot and killed in New York on Wednesday in what police say was a targeted attack.

EPFL's RAVEN drone trades traditional landing gear for a pair of legs that function similar to a bird's. | Image: Alain Herzog Researchers from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland and UC Irvine have developed a drone capable of landing and taking off in areas that would otherwise leave a fixed-wing aircraft stranded. Their Robotic Avian-inspired Vehicle for multiple ENvironments (RAVEN) trades traditional landing gear for a pair of bird-inspired articulated legs that allow the drone to walk around, hop over obstacles, and even leap into the air to take flight without the need for a runway.Quadcopter drones may offer more flexibility when it comes to where they can take off and land, but most rely on four motors which are less energy-efficient than fixed-wing drones that use a single motor paired with gliding for flight. To expand the capabilities of fixed-wing drones, the researchers took inspiration from birds like crows and ravens which can easily maneuver on the ground using a scrawny pair of legs, as detailed in a paper published in Nature this week. Image: Alain Herzog RAVEN's legs and feet use a simplified design but still offer enough articulation for the drone to maneuver on the ground. Recreating the strength and capabilities of a bird's legs mechanically without adding significant weight to a drone and reducing its operating range required a mix of mathematical models, computer simulations, and experimental iterations."The final design for the legs uses a combination of springs and motors to mimic powerful avian tendons and muscles" while its simplified feet use two articulated structures" plus toes with a passive elastic joint. The toes not only prevent RAVEN from constantly face planting, they're also critical for walking and positioning the drone at the right angle of attack for an effective takeoff.Fixed-wing drones that take advantage of legs for short takeoffs and landings aren't an entirely new idea. In 2019, a South African startup called Passerine demonstrated a drone called Sparrow that used a pair of spring-loaded legs to leap into the air and take flight from a standstill. What sets RAVEN apart is the complexity of its legs that allow the drone to walk across rough terrain, jump over gaps, and hop onto obstacles as high as 10 inches - in addition to being able to leap into flight.RAVEN's operations aren't limited to airports or areas with smooth surfaces, which traditional wheeled landing gear requires. It also doesn't require human intervention to get airborne again. It's capable of landing and exploring areas that may be dangerous or restricted to humans, and then repositioning itself to an area that's safe for takeoff. And it does it all using less power than a quadcopter drone would, giving it a larger operational range.

Image: Amazon Amazon completed its first drone flight test in Italy on Wednesday. The test used its MK30 drone, which can carry up to five pounds (or 2.27 kilograms) of packages through light rain and, in the US, is licensed to operate Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS).Italian regulators ENAC and ENAV, which are like the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), authorized Amazon to carry out the test in San Salvo.Last year, the company announced its intention to expand to Italy and the UK in 2024. Amazon says it plans to launch its Prime Air delivery service commercially in Italy in 2025, pending regulatory approval. According to Reuters, Britain has selected six drone testing projects, including Amazon, however, there's no word on when testing will take place.In the US, Amazon's drone deliveries are up and running in College Station, Texas, and Phoenix, Arizona, with plans to operate in more areas next year.

Image: Netflix Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld's first season feels like a classic monster slaying story remixed for a new generation. Though it has been decades since Buffy the Vampire Slayer's final episode aired, the show's lasting cultural impact can still be felt through the stories being told by people who were impacted by it. Netflix's Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld feels like the kind of show that might not exist if it weren't for the way an entire generation of kids grew up watching a teenage girl fight monsters from week to week. The new Titmouse-produced animated show's world of magic, and its focus on a young warrior who just wants to be a regular high schooler, makes it impossible not to see it as a tribute to Sunnydale's finest.But as often as it riffs some of Buffy's signature beats - teen angst, supernatural love triangles, a town full of normies who kinda know something weird is going on around them - Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld uses them to tell a much more dynamic tale about who gets to be an all-American girl."Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld tells the story of how its titular Chinese American teen is yanked out of her boarding school in South Korea and dragged to a small Texas town to fulfill a destiny she doesn't want any part of. Things are good for Jentry in Seoul, where her friends have basically become her family and people that she can trust with some of her dark secrets. They know about Jentry's uncontrollable ability to start fires and that it is part of why her feisty elderly aunt Gugu (Lori Tan Chinn) sent her to study abroad. But as dangerous as Jentry might be, her friends don't care because they, like Gugu, love her. And with Jentry's powers having seemingly gone dormant since she left the US, she assumes her days of literal bridge-burning are all in the past.All Jentry wants for her 16th birthday is for things to stay as they are and to keep building a new life that feels like it's really hers. But when she's attacked by Ed (Bowen Yang), a Twilight-obsessed shapeshifting vampire tasked with delivering her to his master Mogui (Kenton Chen), Jentry knows that her wish for a blissfully mundane childhood isn't coming true anytime soon.While younger viewers might not initially pick up on just how much Jentry Chau borrows from Buffy, the '90s monster-of-the-week show's influence on showrunner Echo Wu shines through in Jentry's journey back to Texas to enroll in a school run by a paranoid administrator. Jentry's being new-ish in town is all it takes for vice principal Wheeler (Sean Allan Krill) to be suspicious of her sudden arrival, and she tries to keep quiet about her extracurricular monster hunting. But because Jentry's reignited powers lure so many mythological ghouls out of the woodwork, there's enough day-to-day chaos that it's kind of easy for her to pretend she's just another student who can't believe how her high school seems to be situated on top of a hellmouth.The show's monsters - a cavalcade of demons and spirits plucked from Chinese mythology - are a huge part of what makes Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld feel like such an inspired spin on the monster-of-the-week genre. Almost every supernatural creature Jentry faces speaks to the series' focus on exploring her cultural heritage, rather than using its aesthetics as superficial set dressing. Jentry's powers make her formidable, but it's because of Gugu's years of teaching her about Chinese folklore that she's able to outsmart the ghosts she encounters when she journeys into the underworld. Image: Netflix One of the series' funnier episodes follows Jentry and her classmates on a field trip to the Alamo, where a tour guide summons a bunch of dead American soldiers to scold the kids about how rude" it is for them to want to know more about the monument's actual history. It's one of the instances where Jentry Chau more explicitly reminds you that, in addition to centering Jentry's Chinese heritage, it's telling a story about an American girl who has been encouraged to think about her country's past and how that shapes some people's perceptions of her.Jentry has far more interesting things to deal with than racism, like her complicated love triangle situation with her childhood friend Michael (A.J. Beckles) and Kit (Woosung Kim), another mysterious transfer student. But it's clear the show wants you to appreciate that there's more to telling relatable yet culturally specific stories than simply putting a few characters of color onscreen.Even though the Buffy vibes only grow stronger with each episode - Jentry ends up with a Scooby Gang of her own who all have their own supernatural stuff going on - the show remixes them just enough to make this first season feel like a refreshing addition to the Chosen GirlTM canon. You can see that Wu and the rest of Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld's creative team have poured their hearts into this first chapter, and it would be great to see what else they might want to conjure up.Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld's first season is now streaming on Netflix.

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images A bill that could ban TikTok from the US unless its Chinese parent company divests it is constitutional, a panel of judges for the DC Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled.The decision comes soon before ByteDance's January 19th deadline to sell the popular video app, or face its expulsion from the US. That deadline now falls one day before President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated for the second time - thanks in part to donations from ByteDance investor Jeff Yass. Though Trump sought to ban TikTok during his first term, he changed his tune on the campaign trail this year, saying a ban would just help a different target of his ire: Meta.While Trump allies reportedly expected him to try to halt the ban, the options for recourse are somewhat limited. The law allows for a 90 day extension at the president's discretion, but only if progress is being made toward a spin-out. Trump could direct the Department of Justice not to enforce the bill, but that still leaves app store companies like Google and Apple - tasked with being the gatekeepers to the app - in a precarious spot, should Trump change his mind or a future administration decide to enforce the law.The court decided that the law could survive even strict scrutiny under the First Amendment, and did not find TikTok's arguments that it violates equal protections under the Fifth Amendment compelling. We emphasize from the outset that our conclusion here is fact-bound," Judge Douglas Ginsburg writes in the opinion for the court. The multi-year efforts of both political branches to investigate the national security risks posed by the TikTok platform, and to consider potential remedies proposed by TikTok, weigh heavily in favor of the Act. The Government has offered persuasive evidence demonstrating that the Act is narrowly tailored to protect national security." These risks included both fears that China could use TikTok for data collection and that it could covertly manipulate the recommendation algorithms.The court relies only on evidence in the public record to reach its decision, even though many of the justifications for the bill that led lawmakers to vote for it were presented in classified briefings. The judges add that TikTok's argument that divestiture from ByteDance would be impractical is really the result of the Chinese government's potential resistance - not a function of the law itself. TikTok would have us turn the Takings Clause into a means by which a foreign adversary nation may render unconstitutional legislation designed to counter the national security threats presented by that very nation," they conclude.The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans' right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue," TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes writes in a statement. Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people. The TikTok ban, unless stopped, will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world on January 19th, 2025."Despite Trump's opposition, many Republicans in Congress voted to pass the bill earlier this year. It received overwhelming bipartisan support in both chambers, before President Joe Biden signed it into law. Proponents of the law say that it's necessary protect the privacy of Americans and protect them from foreign influence campaigns. That's because Chinese law lets the government compel companies headquartered there to hand over internal information for national security reasons. And while TikTok has repeatedly asserted its independent operations from ByteDance and says US data is not stored in China, many lawmakers still feared Chinese officials could have a say in what information Americans do and don't see.During oral arguments in September, TikTok and a group of creators also suing to block the law argued that it would stifle Americans' speech, and unfairly limit the information they're able to access. The DOJ defended the law as appropriately tailored to address a national security risk. The three-judge panel that heard the case appeared skeptical of the company's arguments, prodding at the practicality of a more restrained approach.The ruling could still appealed en banc to the full panel of judges on the DC Circuit, and ultimately to the Supreme Court.

Image: Asus via TFTCentral It looks like Asus may be gearing up to release one of the first 4K OLED gaming monitors with a 27-inch display, as reported earlier by VideoCardz. In a now-removed teaser posted to Instagram, Asus mentioned a ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM" monitor, suggesting this display could be a smaller version of its existing Rog Swift 32-inch OLED 4K monitor, which shares nearly the same product name (PG32UCDM).As shown in a reposted version of the ad shared by TFTCentral, Asus doesn't reveal much about the new display other than its name. Currently, most 27-inch OLED gaming monitors sport a 1440p resolution - not 4K.Previous rumors suggest that display manufacturer Samsung Display has already begun work on a 27-inch 4K OLED monitor. Even with a smaller size, a 27-inch 4K OLED monitor from Asus likely won't come cheap, as its 32-inch ROG Swift OLED costs $1,299.99.Aside from this monitor, TFTCentral also mentioned some broader display trends we might see next year, including 45-inch ultrawide OLED displays with better resolution, 500GHz QD-OLED panels, and monitors that use DisplayPort 2.1 connectivity.If Asus is planning on releasing a new monitor, it will probably reveal it during CES 2025, which kicks off on January 7th.

Photo by Julio Donoso / Sygma via Getty Images For years, a fan-run account called Muppet History has been central to the Muppets fandom. It shared little-known facts, memes, and wholesome messages, amassing half a million followers on Instagram and more than 280,000 on X. Publicly, it was a wholesome and sweet platform, a passion project that took off. It became an unofficial ambassador of Jim Henson's iconic cast of characters - inside and outside the world of diehard fans.But on Monday night, a post on the account's Instagram page had an ominous tone. Good Evening," the message started. We wanted to take a moment to address some concerns that have arisen as of late." The vague post - on which comments had been disabled - mentioned overstepped" boundaries, the harm" caused, and that people were made uncomfortable." It did not specify exactly what had happened.Since that post, however, a rough sketch has come into focus. Fans claim that Muppet History's co-runner Joshua Gillespie, who operates the account with his wife, Holly, was sending unwanted sexual messages to other people. Now, it's gone from a bright spot on the internet to another soured piece of online culture, leaving a small community navigating the... Read the full story at The Verge.

Every company is trying to copy Spotify these days. | Image: Google The Google Photos app is rolling out a throwback experience that highlights some of your most memorable moments from this year. The 2024 Recap" presentation feature announced today combines a collection of photos and insights with graphics and cinematic effects that summarize what users have been doing over the last 12 months - a similar concept to Spotify Wrapped.The 2024 Recap insights include information like how many photos you snapped, the longest photo streak length, most photographed colors, who you took the most photos of, and the people you smiled the most with. Google says that select users in the US" who have Gemini enabled in the Photos app can also opt-in to receive a version of Recap that adds personalized captions highlighting the two biggest moments from your year." Gif: Google Here's an example of the Wrapped-like insights that appear in Recap. The Recap will appear in the Google Photos Memories carousel throughout December before relocating to the photo grid in January, and can be shared to messaging and social media apps. There are some caveats though - Recap is only available to Photos users who have the Face Groups setting enabled, which uses facial recognition to identify and group similar faces together. This feature has some regional restrictions, so the end-of-year highlights won't be available globally.

Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for The New York Times OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been saying for years - years! - that artificial general intelligence, or AGI, would be something like a singularity. When we achieve AGI, Altman and others have said, it will fundamentally reshape society.At the New York Times DealBook Summit this week in New York City, Altman said never mind. AGI is coming really soon, he said, but it's not going to be a huge deal. Also this week: OpenAI began its 12 days of shipmas" campaign with a new $200 monthly subscription for its latest model. The stakes are lower, the prices are higher. Strange times in the AI race.On this episode of The Vergecast, The Verge's Kylie Robison joins the show to talk about Altman's about-face, shipmas, and everything else happening in the AI world this week. Google CEO Sundar Pichai had a spicy take on Gemini, Amazon launched some models of its own, and the models just keep making mistakes.But before we get to AI, Nilay and David spend some time talking about the world of subscriptions. Starting with ours! We launched a subscription for The Verge this week, and we're grateful to everyone who has signed up to support us and be part of our community. Thanks also to everyone who has offered feedback, found bugs, and asked for ad-free podcasts. We're still new at this whole subscription thing, but we're learning fast. (And if you have questions, you have a little more time to get them in for next week's episode! Email vergecast@theverge.com or call 866-VERGE11 to get them in.)That takes us into a conversation about the ongoing cable-ification of the streaming world, which this week included Disney bundling ESPN into Disney Plus and Max launching always-on channels for HBO content. You know, like cable.After all that it's AI time. And finally, in the lightning round, we talk about bitcoin, AI browsers, the fediverse, Intel, Spotify Wrapped, and much more. It may be December, but there's still an awful lot going on.If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, beginning with streaming and cable:

Image: Uber Uber launched a robotaxi service with its partner WeRide in Abu Dhabi, its first international effort to make a wide number of autonomous vehicles from different operators available on its platform.Customers who use Uber to book a ride will be presented with the option to hail an autonomous vehicle from WeRide. Fares will be upfront and equal to UberX and Uber Comfort prices. The vehicles will include safety drivers, so it won't be a fully autonomous service at launch. But Uber and WeRide said they aim to offer driverless vehicles to passengers in 2025.The vehicles will include safety driversUber first announced its partnership with WeRide, a startup based in Guangzhou, China, last September. WeRide holds driverless operation permits in the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, China, and the US - though Uber has said it isn't currently considering extending the partnership beyond the UAE.WeRide's autonomous vehicles in Abu Dhabi have been available to customers through the TXAI app. The company was first granted a permit to test and operate AVs on public roads in the country in July 2023.WeRide was planning on listing its shares in the US at a valuation of $5 billion, but its initial public offering has been delayed, with the company citing a need to complete all the documentation.The company also develops self-driving technology that powers shuttle buses and freight equipment. It first launched in Silicon Valley in 2017 and subsequently was incorporated in the Cayman Islands.Since ending its own efforts to develop self-driving cars in 2020, Uber has sought to become a clearinghouse for any company operating autonomous vehicles in the world. In addition to WeRide, Uber has deals with Cruise, Waymo, Motional, and Avride for self-driving cars and Serve, Cartken, and Nuro for delivery robots.

David Sacks speaking at the 2024 Republican National Convention. | Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images President-elect Donald Trump says that VC and All-In podcast co-host David Sacks will be the White House A.I. & Crypto Czar."The appointment of Sacks, who hosted a $300,000-a-person dinner at his San Francisco mansion to fundraise for Trump's campaign, follows the appointment of fellow PayPal mafia member Elon Musk to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency." According to Bloomberg, like Musk, Sacks will be a special government employee" who can serve up to 130 days a year without divesting or publicly disclosing his assets.Here's what Sacks will be tasked with in his role, according to Trump:

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge iFixit now sells genuine Xbox parts you can use to repair your Xbox Series X or S and offers official guides to help with fixes. You can browse what's available from iFixit's Microsoft Repair Hub.We're excited to be working with Microsoft to keep Xboxes running longer and out of the waste heap," Elizabeth Chamberlain, iFixit's director of sustainability, says in a statement to The Verge. We now offer official Microsoft parts and step-by-step repair guides for Xbox Series S and Series X, including both the all-digital and disk drive editions."iFixit's Microsoft Repair Hub also features iFixit's parts for repairing Microsoft Surface devices, which it started selling in 2023. Since we launched our Surface parts collaboration with Microsoft last year, we've been helping our customers repair their own Microsoft laptops and tablets - and it's awesome to be able to offer Xbox owners the same opportunity," Chamberlain says.Microsoft isn't the only gaming company that iFixit has partnered with; iFixit sells nearly every part of the Steam Deck and offers a bunch of repair guides for Valve's handheld PC, too. Microsoft itself offers first-party parts for the standard and Elite Series 2 Xbox controllers.iFixit also offers genuine repair parts for Google's Pixel phones and the Pixel Tablet. The company had sold genuine parts from Samsung, but that partnership ended earlier this year.

Image: Riot Games The League of Legends universe is expanding once again - this time with a physical card game. Riot Games announced today that it's developing a physical trading card game set in the League universe. The game is currently known as Project K," and Riot says it's working with an unnamed partner in China to release the game there in early 2025. As for a global release, Riot says, We are taking our time to find the right publishing partners."There aren't a lot of details available about Project K. According to Riot, the game has unique gameplay and is best when played with friends and in person," and development is being led by director Dave Guskin and producer Chengran Chai. You can get a sense of the game in the images below:Of course, this is far from the first spinoff from League. So far, that has included mobile games like Teamfight Tactics and Wild Rift, the Netflix series Arcane, and the competitive fighting game 2XKO, which is expected to launch next year. Not all of these bets have paid off. In January, Riot announced that it was cutting more than 500 jobs, which included shutting down Riot Forge Games, a publishing label for indie games set inside of League. Also impacted was Legends of Runeterra, a mobile card game that launched in 2020, which Riot said hasn't performed as well as we need it to."The Project K news comes as card games are having another moment, led largely by the new smartphone version of the Pokemon Trading Card Game.

Image: Bethesda The game's most interesting bits are trapped in cutscenes while its boring bits are the stuff you actually have to play out. Read the full story at The Verge.

Two more OS upgrades are on the way for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Owners of Pixel 6-series, 7-series and Pixel Fold phones can look forward to a couple extra years of OS upgrades than initially expected, as discovered by Android expert Mishaal Rahman and confirmed by Google on X. When they were introduced, Google originally promised three years of OS upgrades and five years of security patches for each device, starting from the time they went on sale. But a quiet update to a support page confirms that these phones will get two additional OS upgrades, giving them a full five years of OS and security support that may also include new and upgraded features with Pixel Drops." That, my friends, rules.Google's three-and-five policy wasn't bad, but it wasn't the best either - after the Pixel 6 arrived in 2021, Samsung did one better by offering four years of OS updates for the Galaxy S22. Google got its act together with the Pixel 8, announcing a class-leading seven years of OS and security update support. Which is great! But you wouldn't blame a Pixel 6 or 7 owner for feeling like they were unfairly left behind. Google seems to be making up some of the shortfall by offering these additional OS upgrades, and it's a welcome change.

Illustration: The Verge Google is making it easier to switch off personalized search results thanks to an option that sometimes appears at the bottom of the results page, as reported by Search Engine Roundtable. After searching for something, scroll all the way down and look for a link to Try without personalization." Click or tap that and Google will load a new page without personalized results.The link might not be present for you in all searches. Some results for me include a message at the end of the results page that already says Results are not personalized." This might be user error - maybe I have other settings that prevent it from appearing or am not using the right queries. But I did get the option to turn off personalized results much more often for searches on my iPhone than on my Mac, for some reason.This change makes it easier for people to get an accurate understanding of whether their results have been personalized, while also providing them with the opportunity to explore non-personalized results," spokesperson Ned Adriance says in a statement. We also make it easy for people to adjust their personalization settings at any time." Adriance adds that while we previously showed this information in About this result on individual results, this display is more accessible and clear."Adriance also says that the link gives people the option to temporarily view results that aren't personalized" - so note that if you tap the link to try results without personalization, you're not permanently changing your personalization settings.You have already been able to get unpersonalized search results for a very long time; as Search Engine Roundtable reported in 2007, you can see unpersonalized results by appending a parameter, &pws=0," to the end of a Google search URL. You can also turn off personalized search from your Google account settings.Updates, December 5th: Added context from Google.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Following news that foreign hackers may still be in US telecom networks, the Federal Communications Commission proposed a new rule that would require telecom companies to secure their networks from unlawful access or interception of communications." It would also force providers to submit an annual certification to the FCC stating they have implemented a plan to counter cybersecurity threats.On Wednesday, US officials recommended Americans use encrypted apps to make phone calls and texts in response to the ongoing infiltration of telecom networks linked to the Chinese hacking group Salt Typhoon. Deputy national security advisor Anne Neuberger confirmed that at least eight telecom providers have been impacted by the hack, as reported by Bleeping Computer.We cannot say with certainty that the adversary has been evicted because we still don't know the scope of what they're doing," Neuberger said during a press briefing, Bleeping Computer reports. Neuberger added that the attack has been going on for likely one to two years" but doesn't believe any classified communications has been compromised."The Wall Street Journal reported in October that Chinese hackers had broken into AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen's networks and even targeted members of President-Elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris's presidential campaigns. In a letter on Wednesday, Senators Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) urged Department of Defense Inspector General Robert Storch to investigate the DOD's failure to secure its unclassified telephone communications from foreign espionage."If the FCC's proposed rule is adopted, it will go into effect immediately.While the Commission's counterparts in the intelligence community are determining the scope and impact of the Salt Typhoon attack, we need to put in place a modern framework to help companies secure their networks and better prevent and respond to cyberattacks in the future," FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in the press release.

MainFrames. | Image: The Arcade Crew Before we all settle in for The Game Awards next week, this year's PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted had its own assortment of interesting reveals and excellent trailers. It was an indie-focused showcase, which means that there was quite a bit of inventiveness on display; everything from a unique take on TMNT to a platformer where you jump around computer windows. If you missed the show live - which also included some news updates, like PlayerUnknown's ambitious plans for the future - here's a curated list of some of the best stuff that was on display.Moonlighter 2: The Endless VaultThe original Moonlighter mixed action RPG gameplay with the mundanity of running a shop, and the sequel looks like much of the same: only this time, players are transported to another dimension they need to escape. The Endless Vault launches in 2025 on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical TakedownOne of the biggest surprises was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown, from indie studio Strange Scaffold. It's billed as a turn-based take on the turtles, which is billed as an experience designed in part for quick-play sessions that feel meaningful." It takes place in a timeline without icons Shredder and Splinter. Given the studio's history - see Clickolding and An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs - it will hopefully also be weird in a good way. Tactical Takedown launches on PC in 2025.CairnThis rock-climbing adventure / survival game has been looking good for a while now, and you can finally check it out for yourself: Cairn just got a free demo on Steam.Sol MatesThere can never be enough co-op games. This release from Daruma Games supports local and online co-op for up to four players, who are tasked with surviving in the great expanse of space by doing odd jobs through the galaxy." It's also pretty darn cute. Sol Mates launches in early access next year.The Legend of BabooBilled as a heartfelt nod to Middle Eastern fables," this game looks like a potentially great mix of adventure, action, and puzzle solving, with a great big fluffy dog to ride on. In fact, you play as both the boy and the dog, who form a bond over the course of the game. Let's hope it has a happier ending than The Last Guardian. The Legend of Baboo is launching in 2025 on both PC and Xbox.AbyssusThanks to this game, I've learned of a fictional genre called brinepunk," where tech is powered by sea brine. It sounds weird, but this co-op shooter does take place in the fascinating underwater ruins of a long-gone civilization. Developer DoubleMoose says Abyssus will go into alpha on December 6th, with a full release next year.MainFramesAll you really need to know is that this is a platformer where you're jumping across a desktop PC interface, rearranging icons to solve puzzles, and fighting bosses controlled by the OS. It launches on both PC and the Nintendo Switch on March 6th.Deepest FearDeveloped by Variable State, the indie studio behind games Virginia and Last Stop, Deepest Fear is an immersive sci-fi horror title with distinct shades of Alien and The Thing. The developers say that it combines Metroidvania level design in the context of a classic FPS immersive sim, where the game's setting is a puzzle to unravel and where creativity and improvisation are your greatest assets." There's no release date yet, but Deepest Fear will (obviously) be launching on PC whenever it's ready.Blue PrinceIt looks a bit like a more colorful take on Myst, and Blue Prince is described as a game that combines compelling mystery, strategy, and puzzle elements to create an unpredictable journey through Mt. Holly, a peculiar manor with ever-changing rooms." It doesn't have a release date yet, but according to the new trailer, it's due out next spring.

Prologue: Go Wayback. | Image: Krafton It's been a while since we heard from Brendan PlayerUnknown" Greene, best known as the creator of the global battle royale hit PUBG. But now, Greene's studio, PlayerUnknown Productions, is detailing what it's working on - and there are multiple games in the works, all pointing toward a big final project.First up is a game called Prologue: Go Wayback!, described as a single-player open-world emergent game within the survival genre," which was previously teased in 2021. The big hook, it seems, is technical, as the game is being built with machine-learning-driven terrain generation technology, allowing the instant creation of millions of maps." Prologue is expected to launch in early access on Steam in 2025, following a series of playtests. To showcase what players can expect, the studio is launching a free tech demo on Steam today called Preface: Undiscovered World. You can check it out right here.According to the studio, these games are building blocks on the way to a more ambitious game currently codenamed Artemis," which will be a massive multiplayer sandbox experience." Greene previously talked about Artemis back in 2022; it was originally billed as a game with NFT support, though today's announcement has no mention of NFTs. Here's Greene on what players can eventually expect as the studio builds toward its big game: