The Verge

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Verizon and AT&T are delaying the rollout of their wider 5G networks after the Federal Aviation Administration warned that the new wireless technology could interfere with the safety systems of some aircraft, The Wall Street Journal reports.The two companies planned to light up new 5G networks that use so-called “C-band” frequencies on December 5th. That rollout will now be delayed until at least January 5th, the companies said Thursday.Verizon and AT&T still currently offer ultra-fast 5G connectivity in specific areas using high-band millimeter-wave technology and much slower 5G over low-band frequencies. But the two companies have been banking on using the C-band — which covers midrange frequencies with good-to-great speed — to... Continue reading…

Jinx in Fortnite. | Image: Epic Games and Riot Games One of the biggest games in the world is getting a character from one of the other biggest games in the world. League of Legends’ Jinx, a star of the upcoming Netflix series Arcane, is the latest gaming character to join Fortnite. You’ll be able to buy her skin in the Fortnite item shop starting Thursday at 8PM ET.

Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight venture Blue Origin has lost out on its lawsuit against NASA over a contract to build the space agency’s next human lunar lander. The judgement puts an end to Blue Origin’s monthslong quest to receive government funding to develop the company’s lander, called Blue Moon, for NASA.Judge Richard Hertling, who oversaw the federal court case, issued a short ruling today, noting that Blue Origin’s motion for judgement had been denied. The opinion has not been issued publicly yet. All the parties involved will propose which parts they want redacted before the opinion is released openly on November 14th.Blue Origin had hoped to be involved in NASA’s ambitious plan to return humans to the Moon, an initiative called the... Continue reading…

Elden Ring, the newest Souls game from FromSoftware, was featured in a livestream event showing off 15 minutes of new footage — the biggest chunk of gameplay we’ve seen yet. The preview debuted some exciting, never-before-seen features like item crafting and a very detailed world map while also giving us a glimpse of what’s sure to be a crowd favorite — the spirit horse.The Elden Ring footage was from a PC build, showing off impressive visuals from the world known as the Lands Between. Instead of bonfires or lanterns, sites of grace are now where Tarnished can rest and replenish their health. Occasionally, touching a site of grace will spawn a beacon that can guide players to their next objective, which will definitely come in handy... Continue reading…

Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Last year, a small company called Backbone Labs released arguably the best iPhone gaming controller on the market right now, the Backbone One. Starting Thursday, you’ll be able to use that controller with many more devices — including Android phones — though it won’t work exactly as you might expect and requires a new Backbone Plus subscription to set it up.Here’s how using the controller with other devices works. The Backbone One is designed to let you slot in an iPhone in landscape mode to a Lightning port on the right side of the controller. To use the Backbone One with a non-iPhone device, you can’t plop it into the controller since it requires plugging into that Lightning port. Instead, you have to pick what type of device you want... Continue reading…

Image: HBO Max Warner Bros. may be putting a solid contender in the annual competition for the worst Christmas movie if the official trailer for 8-Bit Christmas is anything to go by. Picture the kid from Jingle All The Way having to embark upon a wacky adventure to find himself the perfect toy for Christmas, told through a How I Met Your Mother-style framing device, and you’re pretty much there.The trailer sees Neil Patrick Harris narrating a story from one of his childhood winters, in which he and a group of friends compete to win an original NES for Christmas. After all, what could be more festive than a brand-new video game console? And no global chip shortages in sight! Bliss.No global chip shortages in sightAs far as I’m concerned, outside of a... Continue reading…

Image: Google Google is preparing to beta test new search filters in Google Drive, which will hopefully make it easier to find the exact file you’re looking for. Dubbed “search chips,” the feature adds a line of filters to the top of the Drive interface, letting you limit your search by things like file type, last modification date, or which other users are associated with a specific file.Google Drive already has some search filtering options, but they’re relatively basic and hidden in a sub-menu in the search bar. In contrast, the new search chips are presented front and center, and they look set to offer a wider range of filtering options. A similar feature was introduced in Gmail early last year.If you’d like to try out the new Drive search... Continue reading…

A human stem cell. In 2019, the Food and Drug Administration won a major victory when a judge shut down a clinic in Florida claiming to treat everything from back problems to heart diseases with stem cells. The decision was additional juice for the FDA to regulate the growing industry, which sells risky, unproven stem cell procedures as cure-alls.But despite the high-profile success in Florida, the problem has gotten worse. There are more than four times as many businesses in the United States advertising unproven stem cell therapies now than there were four years ago, according to an analysis published today in the journal Cell Stem Cell that used online searches and Google Maps to find clinics. That’s despite a common perception that there’s been an... Continue reading…

An artistic rendering of a potential Earth-like exoplanet | Image: NASA Laying the groundwork for the next few decades of astrophysics Continue reading…

Aurora, the startup that was founded by the former head of Google’s self-driving car project, has officially begun trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol “AUR.” It’s a significant milestone for the AV industry, which has struggled with overinflated expectations, missed deadlines, shuttered businesses, and a host of technological challenges.Last summer, Aurora announced that it would go public through a reverse merger with a special acquisition company, or SPAC, called Reinvent Technology Partners Y. Upon closing this deal, Aurora said it has $1.8 billion in “gross proceeds and cash in hand,” which will help its quest to become a provider of self-driving hardware and software to companies in the trucking and... Continue reading…

Intel’s latest chips fight back against AMD Continue reading…

Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images The Biden administration on Thursday announced a rule that requires private businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure their workers are either vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 on at least a weekly basis. This new push to bump vaccination rates comes after the White House set a rule requiring federal contractors to establish plans ensuring their employees are vaccinated against COVID-19.The new rule (PDF) was drafted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a government subagency under the US Department of Labor that covers about 84 million private-sector employers and workers. It requires that employers provide paid time for employees to go get vaccinated and ensure all unvaccinated workers wear a face mask at... Continue reading…

Our new documentary now streaming on your TV Continue reading…

Image: Amazon If you’re in need of an affordable 4K TV that punches above its price class before the Black Friday shopping craze begins, Insignia’s F50 QLED 4K TV might be exactly what you’re after. Normally $650, it’s just $400 at Best Buy and Amazon. The F50 is one of the company’s latest models, and it’s a big upgrade over its previous Fire TV Edition models. The F50 still features Amazon’s Fire TV software built in, with the ever-helpful Alexa just a button press and ping word away, but it has slimmer bezels, and its panel supports quantum dot HDR technology. With it, the TV should provide better color accuracy, more vivid contrast, and more realistic lighting.Bose’s QC35 Series II over-ear, wireless headphones with noise cancellation have hit... Continue reading…

Image: CBS T-Mobile is once again offering its customers a free streaming deal: starting on November 9th, any T-Mobile or Sprint customer (new or existing) on post-paid cellular or home internet plans can sign up to get a free year’s subscription of Paramount Plus Essential.As always, there are caveats for the deal. The promotion only includes access to Paramount Plus’ Essential plan, which typically costs $4.99 per month and has “limited commercial interruptions.” Additionally, unlike the $9.99 per month Premium plan, it doesn’t include a live feed of your local CBS station, although NFL and Champions League games are still available on the lower tier.For new Paramount Plus subscribers, or customers who are already subscribed to the Essential... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The largest US cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, is testing a new subscription service that reduces its trading fees in return for a monthly fee, The Block reports. The subscription service, which is reportedly being called Coinbase One, waives the commission fee Coinbase charges for trades, but customers will still have to pay spread fees to buy or sell cryptocurrency. There’s currently no word on the cost of the subscription, which the company plans to offer to a small number of users to start.Coinbase confirmed its test of the subscription program in a statement given to The Block. “Customers in the test group will have the ability to buy, sell, and convert digital currencies on the Coinbase platform without a Coinbase fee for each... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google has announced changes it will make to its in-app payments options in South Korea — a significant step back for the tech giant as governments around the world seek to curb the control Google and Apple wield over their mobile ecosystems.In a blog post, Google says it will allow third-party payment options for in-app purchases to appear alongside its own Google Play billing system in Android apps. The company will still charge developers a commission if users pay using a third-party system, but this fee will be reduced slightly as compensation for the costs of supporting alternative payments.Says Google:

Image: Arlo If you’re looking to set up a security camera that can keep watch in areas without Wi-Fi, or that’ll still be able to keep an eye on things if your home internet goes out, Arlo’s new LTE-powered camera may be of interest. The $250 Arlo Go 2 LTE / Wi-Fi camera is built to go in somewhat remote places, like on a barn, cabin, or boat dock, and features full HD video recording (though saving that to the cloud will require a subscription, more on that later), weather resistance, and a rechargeable and swappable battery.The original Arlo Go was significantly more expensive at around $400, didn’t support Wi-Fi (and therefore couldn’t use its cellular connection as a backup to your home internet like the 2 can), and also only recorded in 720p.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Maria Chimishkyan The crypto world is full of dangers, with scammers lying in wait for newbies and novices. A recent report from security outfit Check Point Research highlights a potent form of attack: using Google Ads to direct users to fake crypto wallets. In its report, CPR said it has seen roughly half a million dollars siphoned off through these methods in just the last few days.Here’s how the scam works. Attacker buys Google Ads in response to searches for popular crypto wallets (that’s the software used to store cryptocurrency, NFTs, and the like). CPR says it’s noticed scams targeting Phantom and MetaMask wallets, which are the most popular wallets for the Solana and Ethereum ecosystems.The scam is a fairly typical phishing attackWhen an... Continue reading…

Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Nintendo had a relatively quiet quarter for Switch sales, with 3.83 million units shipped between July and September. That’s a big drop on the same period last year, when the company moved 6.86 million units. Nintendo has now sold 92.87 million Switch consoles to date.Nintendo says “the extended impact of both COVID-19 and the global semiconductor shortage creates a state of continued uncertainty” and is revising its Switch sales forecast for the financial year down by 1.5 million units. The company had previously expected to sell 25.5 million consoles between April 2021 and March 2022, but has now set the figure at 24 million. However, Nintendo isn’t altering its expectations for revenue, and actually expects operating profit to be 4... Continue reading…

Forza Horizon 5. | Image: Microsoft Forza Horizon 5 is an absolutely stunning showcase of the Xbox Series X. Cars look incredible, and I’ve loved taking in the game’s lush and colorful landscapes as I’ve raced through the streets of Mexico blasting classical music. On a console that’s largely lacking in big-name exclusives, it’s one of the rare games that really shows what the latest Xbox is capable of. Turns out it’s also a fantastic portable game.Hear me out. Yes, the graphics are amazing and are a joy to take in on a big screen. But Forza Horizon 5’s accessible gameplay and bevy of customizability options means it translates really well to something the size of a smartphone. I’ve been playing the game via console streaming with my iPhone 12 Mini plugged into a Backbone... Continue reading…

Image: Nintendo The major 2.0 update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now available to download, which is somewhat surprising because Nintendo previously said it wouldn’t be released until November 5th. That means you’ll be able to dive into all the new features two days earlier than expected.The free 2.0 update was announced last month in a Nintendo Direct presentation. It includes a ton of expanded functionality including new house exterior designs, boat tours to other islands, more item, storage, a “pro” camera mode, the ability to cook food with grown ingredients, and more. Perhaps the most anticipated addition is Brewster’s coffee shop, a notable omission from the base game.In addition to the free update Nintendo announced a $24.99 expansion... Continue reading…

The Sonos Roam. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge When Sonos purchased a privacy-focused voice assistant Snips in 2019, it strongly implied that it planned to build an assistant that would “add to our customers’ ease of use and control” instead of going head-to-head with bigger assistants from other big tech companies. Nearly two years later, we might be close to being using the company’s homegrown assistant, as a Reddit user found code in the Sonos app that appears to show voice commands for Sonos Voice Control (via Protocol).According to the code strings, you’ll be able to do things like play and pause music, adjust the volume, and check your Sonos’ battery. The Reddit user also found what looks to be the logo for Sonos’ assistant and evidence suggesting you’ll be able to have it... Continue reading…

Nestled in Take-Two Interactive’s most recent earnings report was information that it was charged $53 million dollars for an unannounced title that has been cancelled.“Cost of goods sold included a $53 million impairment charge related to the Company’s decision not to proceed with further development of an unannounced title in its pipeline,” Take-Two said in a press release.The report did not name the title nor the affiliated studio that worked on it. However, according to a Bloomberg report, the cancelled title is from Mafia III developer Hangar 13. The California-based developer also released the Mafia: Definitive Edition in 2020.The Bloomberg report says that according to sources at the studio, the game was codenamed Volt and... Continue reading…

Notability | Image: Notability Blog Notability developer Ginger Labs announced today that, in a change of heart, its popular note-taking app wouldn’t eventually require current users to switch to a subscription model. This news comes just two days after the developer announced a new subscription model where current app owners who wanted to keep the same features would be forced to start a $14.99 / month subscription by November 1st, 2022.Notability rolled back its original Monday pricing announcement and today posted an update on its company blog addressing current customers:

Photo by Nilay Patel / The Verge It was an exciting moment when Starlink rolled out preorders for its satellite internet service in February since it can potentially provide faster speed and better service to those in rural areas or with spotty internet access. But a single feature on the Starlink site is causing preorders to be delayed by years and there appears to be no fix in sight, an issue first spotted by Ars Technica.“If you don’t already have service and move your address you go straight to the back of the line”According to the report, some users on the r/Starlink subreddit moved their service area by just a few feet using the digital map tool on the site and wound up having their preorder dates moved from late 2021 to as far as 2023. One user wrote, “I moved... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The US Department of Commerce has ordered American companies to not sell their tech to NSO, citing reports that the group’s Pegasus spyware is used against journalists, government officials, activists, and more. In its press release, the regulator says that the company is being added to the Entity List because its tool threatens “the rules-based international order” when its sold to repressive foreign governments.Pegasus is a program designed to infect targets without notice, allowing police and intelligence agencies to get access to a phone’s text messages, photos, and passwords, all without leaving a trace. The Washington Post reported in July that the spyware could infect someone’s phone with a single, invisible text message: a... Continue reading…

An Instagram link preview on Twitter. | Image: Instagram The ice is thawing on a nine-year internet feud. When you share Instagram links on Twitter, you’ll see a preview of the link that includes an image instead of just the URL text starting on Wednesday. The feature is rolling out on Android, iOS, and the web. I didn’t see a preview when I tried sharing an Instagram post on my Twitter feed, so it might not work for you just yet.Both Instagram and Twitter are promoting the change.

Facebook Facebook has found a way to skirt Apple’s 30 percent tax on in-app transactions.On Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook parent company Meta, announced that creators will soon be able to share custom web links directing their fans to pay them for subscriptions using Facebook’s native payments system. If a fan signs up through the link rather than Apple’s in-app subscription, the creator will keep all of the money minus taxes. Facebook subscription feature, which lets creators charge on a reoccurring basis for access to exclusive content, is available in 27 countries and accessible to creators who meet certain eligibility requirements.Facebook is operating in a gray zone under Apple’s rules for the App Store, though a... Continue reading…

Microsoft is continuing to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Xbox in style this year with a second themed Adidas sneaker: the Xbox 360 Forum Mid, which, as the name suggests, is inspired by the company’s second console.The Xbox 360 design follows the first Xbox / Adidas collaboration, announced in October which took inspiration from the original Xbox console. The Xbox 360 Forum Mid, however, is decked out in the 360’s white, silver, and green color scheme for a 2005-era look, complete with plenty of subtle details that reference the original design. The velcro strap, for instance, is emblazoned with the disc tray from the 360, while the air vents and Xbox button are featured on the outside. Even the heel is designed to look like the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge What’s 14.545 inches across, weighs one ton (around 907kg or 2,000lbs), and just sold to a group of anonymous crypto investors for roughly $250,000? Why, it’s the biggest tungsten cube ever to be manufactured by Midwest Tungsten Service of Willowbrook, Illinois.Confused? Yes, that’s understandable. But consider this: tungsten cubes are one of the most popular memes in the world of cryptocurrency right now, a realm where value is defined as much by attention as anything tangible. (Call it the stonk market if you like.) Tungsten, if you’re not familiar, is a metal 1.7 times as dense as lead, and since 2015, nerdy types have been able to buy small cubes of tungsten manufactured by outfits like the Midwest Tungsten Service. Owning one has... Continue reading…

Why suffer for a $300 budget 5G phone? Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Biden administration is requiring civilian federal agencies to fix hundreds of cybersecurity flaws, as reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal. As the WSJ states, the BOD 22-01 directive from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) covers around 200 known threats that cybersecurity experts discovered between 2017 and 2020, as well as 90 more flaws that were found in 2021. Federal agencies have six months to patch older threats and just two weeks to fix the ones that were discovered within the past year.The WSJ report points out that federal agencies are usually left to their own devices when it comes to security, sometimes resulting in poor security management. The goal is to force federal agencies to fix all... Continue reading…

GitHub CEO Nat Friedman is stepping down after three years at the company. Friedman originally joined Microsoft after the company acquired Xamarin, which Friedman helped found. He then took over as the head of GitHub when Microsoft acquired GitHub three years ago.Friedman is now returning to his startup roots. “With all that we’ve accomplished in mind, and more than five great years at Microsoft under my belt, I’ve decided it’s time for me to go back to my startup roots,” says Friedman in a GitHub blog post today. “I’m moving on to my next adventure: to support, advise, and invest in the founders and developers who are creating the future with technology and tackling some of the biggest opportunities of our day.”Microsoft’s new GitHub... Continue reading…

Volkswagen revealed the ID 5, a smaller, sportier version of its landmark ID 4 electric SUV that will only be available in Europe. It’s the latest vehicle to join VW’s growing “ID family” of electric vehicles as the company gets closer to its 2035 deadline to stop selling gas-powered vehicles in its home continent.VW is releasing two versions of its new EV: the entry level ID 5, and the more premium ID 5 GTX, with dual electric motors on both the front and rear axel. (GTX is for VW’s ID models what GTI, or Grand Tourer Injection, means for the Golf.) The entry-level ID 5 will be equipped with a single rear-wheel-drive motor with an output of 174 horsepower and a 77kWh battery pack — theoretically enabling over 320 miles of range. (VW... Continue reading…

The Brydge 11 Max Plus keyboard with an 11-inch iPad Pro in it. Following the launch of the 12.9-inch Max Plus keyboard for the iPad earlier this year, Brydge is now releasing an 11-inch version. The new, smaller keyboard has all of the same features as its bigger sibling, including Brydge’s new magnetic mounting system and Instant-On Bluetooth tech, but is sized to fit all generations of the 11-inch iPad Pro and the fourth-generation of the 10.5-inch iPad Air. It’s available starting today, November 3rd, from both Brydge’s online store and Amazon for $199.99.Despite its smaller size, the 11-inch Max Plus’ pitch is exactly the same as the 12.9-inch model’s: it’s meant to provide a MacBook-like experience with an iPad. That includes a full keyboard layout with a function row, plus a large trackpad... Continue reading…

The Asus Vivobook 13 Slate OLED has a keyboard and kickstand. | Image: Asus Asus is known for delving into unconventional form factors, and its latest experiment is no exception. The VivoBook 13 Slate OLED is a 13.3-inch Windows tablet with an OLED screen and a detachable keyboard which starts at $599.99.OLED screens are unusual, though not unheard of, in the detachable form factor. Asus claims that this one is capable of displaying 1.07 billion colors, covers 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and has a 0.2-millisecond response time. It’s said to have blue-light levels “up to 70 percent lower than an LCD display” (although many modern LCD PCs also have technology to reduce blue light).Rather than framing the Slate as purely a tablet for artists, though, Asus seems to be pushing it as an entertainment... Continue reading…

The Amazon Echo Show 10 | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Amazon has affirmed its support for the smart home connectivity standard Matter, announcing in a blog post today that it will support Matter over Thread in its Echo devices and Eero Wi-Fi routers. Eero had previously confirmed its support of the standard. Amazon says the announcement is about “further expanding Amazon’s commitment to Matter and reinforcing its smart home philosophy of flexibility, privacy, collaboration, and interoperability.”Additionally, Amazon has joined Apple, Google, and Samsung on the Thread Group Board of Directors — it has been a member for five years. Alongside Wi-Fi, Thread is a primary protocol for Matter. It provides a low-power, low-bandwidth, and low-latency mesh network for smart home devices to connect... Continue reading…

Hear me out Continue reading…

November has come roaring out of the gates with some strong deals and early Black Friday sales. It’s not every year that you can start buying holiday gifts and know you’re getting the best deals possible, even before we push the clocks back, but that’s what we’re looking at here with these discounts on Eero mesh routers.You can pick up a one-pack, two-pack, or three-pack of Eero Pro 6 tri-band mesh Wi-Fi 6 routers at Amazon and Best Buy for all-time low prices. Eero mesh routers are popular for good reason. They offer one of the simplest and streamlined ways to bring a solid Wi-Fi connection to all corners of your house, regardless of its size or tricky layout. And, you can add more routers to your mesh Wi-Fi system later on.When we r... Continue reading…

Pokémon Go. | Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge Creating a follow-up to Pokémon Go is an impossible task. The game was the kind of breakout success that had never been seen before — and might never happen again; it’s hard to overstate how the game was absolutely everywhere when it first launched in 2016. People were trespassing to catch Squirtles as the game set App Store download records. The wish fulfillment that came from seeing pokémon in the real world created a sensation that, even years after its peak, remains one of the biggest games in the world.It was only natural that developer Niantic would try to follow that with something new. But re-creating the lightning in a bottle that is Pokémon Go hasn’t gone quite as planned, despite Niantic snapping up some enviable properties... Continue reading…

The air quality monitor (right) can show information on Echo Show devices. | Image: Amazon Amazon’s latest smart home device is the $69.99 Smart Air Quality Monitor, a small puck around half the size of the latest Amazon Echo that’s designed to keep an eye on the quality of the air in your home. It can track your home’s temperature and humidity, and the presence of dust, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).A key selling point of the Smart Air Quality Monitor is its Alexa integration. It lets you ask compatible Alexa-enabled devices for an update on the air quality of the home at any time or view trends via the Alexa app or an Echo Show device. Importantly, the Smart Air Quality Monitor’s temperature sensor can also integrate with Alexa Routines. That allows it to function as a trigger for things like smart... Continue reading…

Indiegogo and GoFundMe have partnered to form the Crowdfunding Trust Alliance | Indiegogo Crowdfunding platform Indiegogo is changing the way it does business, shifting from an open platform where anyone can raise money for just about any purpose to a closed model where every campaign will receive a manual review before it can go live.“Candidly, we have not always lived up to our backers’ expectations,” said Will Haines, vice president of product and customer trust at Indiegogo. When the company launched in 2008, there were few restrictions on would-be entrepreneurs seeking to raise money from like-minded backers. But Haines says that “open” isn’t what the crowdfunding community really wants now, more than a decade later.“Crowdfunding is not shopping — people generally understand that now — but it also shouldn’t be a leap... Continue reading…

A new Turkey Mode coming to GE’s Wi-Fi connected ovens and ranges this week promises to cook the perfect turkey | IMAGE: Kriech-Higdon Photography The smart kitchen is getting a little more intelligent this holiday season. Appliance manufacturer GE Appliances has a new Turkey Mode for its smart ovens that promises to take the prep and guesswork out of roasting that big bird. It arrives on over half a million GE connected ovens and ranges this week via an over-the-air software upgrade.The Kentucky-based GE Appliances gave me a demo of the new tech, and it’s pretty impressive. You put the bird in the roasting tin, pop it in a cold oven, insert the temperature probe built into the oven, push the Turkey Mode button (either on the LCD screen of the oven or in the GE SmartHQ smartphone app), and sit back and relax. Image: Kriech-Higdon Photography GE Appliances... Continue reading…

The latest autonomous vehicle company to tackle the mean streets of New York City will be Waymo. The Google spinoff is bringing a handful of cars to the Big Apple, where they will start mapping the city streets using manually driven vehicles with two people riding inside.Waymo cited New York’s vibrant street life, “unusual road geometries” (which is a nice way of saying utterly confusing), and the likelihood of heavy rain and snow as being among the reasons the company is eager to test there. Presumedly the company is also curious to see how its vehicles will react when down-on-their-luck street hustlers slap their hoods and shout “I’m walking here!”Waymo won’t have more than five vehicles on the street at a time to start out, a... Continue reading…

It can be difficult to figure out what to do when you’re asked to provide a hard copy of a document but don’t have access to a printer at home. While it used to be a safe bet that everyone had a printer at home, that’s no longer the case — but if you don’t have one, odds are that at some point, you’ll come across someone who hasn’t gotten the memo and insists on a hard copy.If you’ve found yourself in this situation, you’ve got options. To help, I’ve researched the various methods you can use to get a document from your computer to whoever needs it and have come up with a few tips and considerations for printing without your own printer.Before I get to that, though, you’ll have to...Prepare to printPresumably, the file you want... Continue reading…

Sophie Mutevelian Marvel’s epoch-spanning epic has too many heroes but still feels empty Continue reading…

US President Joe Biden during the World Leaders’ Summit of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, on November 2, 2021. | Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images On a call Tuesday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rallied Democrats to pass two ambitious bills at the heart of President Biden’s agenda, aiming for a final house vote later this week. But the climate provisions of the $1.75 trillion budget reconciliation bill that progressives want to pass alongside a bipartisan infrastructure bill are newly uncertain after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) pushed to further delay the vote during a surprise press conference on Monday.It’s the latest twist in a long struggle for Congress to pass meaningful legislation in support of the ambitious climate goals President Biden set on entering office. The reconciliation framework released last week puts $555 billion into clean energy, the first major effort to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Who should get paid when big tech platforms aggregate news stories? This was the question that prompted Google to shut down its Google News platform in Spain in 2014, after the country decided the US tech giant should cough up a monthly fee to Spanish papers. Today, though, Google announced that Google News will return to Spain “early next year” after the country overhauled its online copyright laws in line with EU regulation.The big difference from Google’s point of view is that it no longer has to pay a fee to Spain’s entire media industry and can instead negotiate fees with individual publishers. Some may want to charge Google for sharing stories in Google News, and Google can pay them or exclude them, depending on its preference.... Continue reading…

Controversial facial recognition firm Clearview AI has been ordered to destroy all images and facial templates belonging to individuals living in Australia by the country’s national privacy regulator.Clearview, which claims to have scraped 10 billion images of people from social media sites in order to identify them in other photos, sells its technology to law enforcement agencies. It was trialled by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) between October 2019 and March 2020.Now, following an investigation, Australia privacy regulator, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), has found that the company breached citizens’ privacy. “The covert collection of this kind of sensitive information is unreasonably intrusive... Continue reading…