The Verge

Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Uber has no qualms about annoying its customers to pressure them to do something. The latest example is a new feature that will emit a series of chimes until passengers buckle their seatbelts.Previously, Uber drivers would rely on signage to encourage passengers to secure their seatbelts. (Google “Uber seatbelt sign,” and you’ll see plenty of examples.) Now the company wants to cut out the middle man and just use a beeping noise to get the job done.It’s a fairly simple approach: the driver’s app will issue a series of beeps, while the rider’s app will send push notifications reminding them to buckle up. Most vehicles in the US have seatbelt reminders built-in, but that does not typically cover rear-seat passengers. The app... Continue reading…

Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides. | Warner Bros. Looking at the nominations for this year’s Academy Awards, one might say that Timothée Chalamet saw this coming.With Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog being nominated for 12 Oscars and Dennis Villeneuve’s Dune snagging noms for 10, this year’s Academy Awards are shaping up to be an interesting battle between quiet, intimate prestige and big studio spectacle. Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story are both up for seven statues each, and while there are certainly some odd-on favorites in each category, there are also some genuine wildcards in the mix, like Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman’s performances in Being the Ricardos, that are an important reminder of how the Academy can and will surprise you in ways you... Continue reading…

Save on Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV 4K, and other streaming devices for Super Bowl LVI. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge An annual February tradition is once again fast approaching. We want to be sure you’re prepared and help you spend your money wisely. Is it Valentine’s Day, you ask? No, but we’ve got you covered there, too. It’s the day before that, the Super Bowl — also known as the “big game” if you’re an American or an advertiser legally barred from using the trademarked term. Whether you’re into the actual game of football and rooting for the Los Angeles Rams or Cincinnati Bengals — or you’re just there for the commercials, snacks, and halftime show — you want to ensure the stream you’re watching looks good.The Super Bowl may not be broadcast natively in 4K, but you want to have a streaming device that stacks up to whatever performance your TV is... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge How a Black news startup was born from a racial justice reckoning Continue reading…

Animation by Alex Castro India’s instant delivery apps are pushing drivers into accidents Continue reading…

One of Destiny’s biggest seasons is about to begin Continue reading…

Image: Samsung The company promises to ‘break the rules’ at its February 9th event Continue reading…

The openings feature looks to avoid the back-and-forth that often comes with setting up a meeting. | Image: Flexibits There’s a new update to Fantastical, the popular calendar app for Apple devices, which brings along a new “Openings” feature that lets people easily book a meeting with you, as well as an overhaul of the app’s Proposals feature. The update is meant to keep you from having to spend “large amounts of time messaging multiple people to try and find a time that syncs up with multiple invitees and schedules,” according to Michael Simmons, CEO and co-founder of Flexibits, the company behind Fantastical. The new scheduling features are included in Flexibits Premium, the $5 a month ($40 a year) subscription that unlocks some of Fantastical’s most useful features.The headlining feature, Openings, has a similar function to other scheduling tools... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon’s virtual healthcare program, Amazon Care, is now available nationwide, the company announced today. The hybrid service, which pairs virtual care with the option for an in-home nurse’s visit, will be available in 20 additional cities in 2022, according to a blog post. That in-person component is already up and running in eight cities, including Seattle and Los Angeles.Amazon first launched its healthcare service for Amazon employees living in Seattle in the fall of 2019. It made the program available to other companies in Washington state in March 2021 and, at that point, announced plans to expand to all 50 states.Companies like technology group Silicon Labs and Whole Foods Market (which is owned by Amazon) offer Amazon Care... Continue reading…

The Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra will likely be the last proper Note devices that Samsung releases. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Samsung’s first 2022 Galaxy Unpacked event hasn’t started yet, but we’ve already got a strong notion that the event spells the end of the Note series. We know this because Samsung has done everything except shout from the rooftops that the next S-series Ultra will absorb the Note and its built-in stylus. You can even go ahead and preorder it if you want because, truly, what is a phone launch these days? In any case, Samsung is making the right call for its business and its brand, even if it stings a little for the Note faithful.The future of the Note looked dubious last year when rumors of its demise circulated, and Samsung said that the S21 series would offer S pen support. Early in 2021, a Samsung exec expressed doubts about shipping... Continue reading…

If you’ve been following The Verge’s coverage of the Spotify / Joe Rogan / Neil Young / Joni Mitchell stories, you may have decided to change from Spotify to another music service — or maybe you want to move from one service to another for another reason. At any rate, you will find that none of the services offer a built-in way to move your playlists — the ones that you’ve spent months or years building up — to a different music app.There are, however, at least four apps that will help you move your playlists if you want: FreeYourMusic, SongShift, Soundiiz, and Tune My Music.I tried out all four with my own not-very-impressive Spotify playlists to see how well they worked. I have six personal playlists (including one starred and one... Continue reading…

Illustration by Claudia Chinyere Akole Continue reading…

Several retailers are selling the Chromecast with Google TV for $39.99 instead of $49.99. | Image: The Verge The Super Bowl is less than a week away, which means you only have a few more days to take advantage of the streaming device deals currently available (and receive your purchase on time). Right now, you can pick up what we consider to be the best streaming device on the market, the Chromecast with Google TV, at a discount. Normally $49.99, it’s on sale at Best Buy, Target, Adorama, and Walmart for $39.99, matching its lowest price to date.Google’s latest Chromecast offers support for 4K content, Dolby Atmos sound with compatible content, and Dolby Vision HDR, as well as access to all the major streaming services. The streamer also makes it easy to find something to watch, with software that brings together recommendations from a variety... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft will soon allow Xbox Series X / S owners to fully customize the Share button on their controllers. While you’ve been able to use the Xbox Share button to create screenshots or game clips, you’ll soon be able to map it to lots of Xbox features including controlling the TV volume, accessing search, or switching on Night Mode.Xbox Insider testers in the Alpha and Skip-Ahead Alpha rings can now access a new controller firmware update that enables the new customization for the Xbox Share button. You can then remap the button for hold, press, and double tap to the following options:

Illustration by Claudia Chinyere Akole So artists are joining together to fight back Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The world of online creators is increasingly divided on the subject of NFTs, but indie game store Itch.io has taken a firm and clear stance on the topic.“A few have asked about our stance on NFTs,” the company tweeted this week. “NFTs are a scam. If you think they are legitimately useful for anything other than the exploitation of creators, financial scams, and the destruction of the planet [then] we ask that [you] please reevaluate your life choices.”Itch.io’s strong stance is notable at a time when many organizations — from gaming companies to digital storefronts like Itch.io itself — are at least toying with the idea of integrating NFTs. GameStop recently announced plans to launch its own NFT marketplace while games giant Ubisoft... Continue reading…

Spin free little GPU. If you can’t get your hands on a new GPU right now, you could at least have a miniature version sitting at your fingertips. As seen via Tom’s Hardware, a new custom keycap in the form of an Asus ROG Strix brand GPU is now on sale in China. It replaces the right-shift key on your keyboard and comes with three miniature spinning cooling fans (though, sadly, there are no tiny customizable LED lights).It’s not the first novelty GPU keycap we’ve seen. Last year, a custom keycap resembling an NVIDIA RTX 3080 started doing the rounds, and became something of a talisman for gamers struggling to buy the real thing due to the ongoing chip shortage. (And which is now available to buy from places like AliExpress for around $40.)These keycaps are... Continue reading…

Training on the Peloton Tread. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Peloton is replacing its CEO and losing about 2,800 jobs among other cost-cutting measures, according to a press release issued by the company. The job cuts amount to around 20 percent of the former pandemic darling’s corporate workforce, but will not affect the company’s lauded roster of instructors or fitness content. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.Peloton hopes the changes will boost profitability after waning demand for its connected fitness equipment have made it an acquisition target, with Amazon, Nike, and even Apple named as possible suitors. The company, once valued at $50 billion, plunged to around $8 billion last week before takeover rumors began to swirl.Once valued at $50 billion, it plunged to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The UK government has revived plans for porn sites to verify users’ ages — an initiative that was scrapped in 2019 due to technical challenges and criticism from privacy campaigners.The new rules will be part of the UK’s Online Safety Bill, a mammoth piece of legislation intended to reset how digital platforms are governed in the country. The bill originally stipulated that only porn sites that allowed user-generated content (like OnlyFans) would have to verify users’ ages, but this has now been updated to cover all pornography sites.“Parents deserve peace of mind that their children are protected online from seeing things no child should see,” said digital minister Chris Philp in a statement. “We are now strengthening the online... Continue reading…

A leaked image, apparently of Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra. | Image: evleaks (Twitter) The Galaxy S22 will likely be the main event, but what else could there be? Continue reading…

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Epic Games doesn’t plan to update Fortnite so that it runs on SteamOS, according to CEO Tim Sweeney, meaning owners of the upcoming Valve Steam Deck will likely have to install Windows to play the popular battle-royale game.In a series of tweets, Sweeney said that the company doesn’t feel confident about its ability to combat cheating in Fortnite when running on custom kernel configurations. Fortnite isn’t on the Steam store in any case, but Sweeney’s comments rule out a Linux version that could run on the Steam Deck.The Steam Deck uses Valve’s SteamOS, which is based on Linux, and makes use of a compatibility layer called Proton so that Steam games compiled for Windows can run on it. Epic has made its anti-cheat software, Easy... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Neil Young has told Spotify workers that the company’s CEO — not Joe Rogan — is the real problem, and is urging them to “get out of that place before it eats up your soul” (via Variety). This comes after Young pulled his music from Spotify, claiming the company was “spreading fake information about vaccines” through Joe Rogan’s podcast.Young’s recent fight against Spotify initially targeted Rogan’s podcast, but now he seems to be blaming Spotify’s leadership instead. In an open letter posted to his website on Monday, Young says that CEO Daniel Ek is all about “numbers - not art, not creativity.”Neil urges people to “ditch the misinformers” in his letter.Young ended Monday’s letter by urging Spotify employees to “be free and take the... Continue reading…

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Graphics giant Nvidia will no longer be spending $40 billion to acquire Arm, parent company SoftBank has announced, citing “significant regulatory challenges.” The news was first reported by the Financial Times.Nvidia will be paying $1.25 billion to SoftBank for failing to go through with the transaction, while Arm CEO Simon Segars is stepping down to be replaced by Arm’s head of IP Rene Haas, who coincidentally used to run Nvidia’s own Arm business many years ago.“[Segars] has decided that at this stage of his career, the time and energy required to take the company public and everything around that was not something he wanted to sign up to,” Haas tells TechCrunch. “So he’s going to step down. I’m going to take over for him.”Arm... Continue reading…

Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost surprised by Alexa’s response in Amazon’s 2022 Super Bowl ad | Image: Amazon Amazon’s Super Bowl LVI ad features real-life celebrity couple Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost, imagining how a mind-reading Alexa could wreck their relationship by revealing unfiltered thoughts to each other.The ad starts at the couple’s home with Jost calling Johansson over to check out a cool smart home command for the big game. “Alexa, it’s game day,” Jost confidently calls out, and the home assistant turns on the TV with football playing on Amazon’s Prime video service, closes the blinds, and, to their surprise, specifically chills the rosé bottles in a smart wine cooler. “It’s like she can read your mind,” they say together.This last action of cooling the bottles is based on a real feature of Alexa called Hunches, where Amazon... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge CoinDesk has fixed an exploit that allowed anyone to view unpublished headlines, create drafts, and edit articles on the website. In a post on its site, CoinDesk says the vulnerability could’ve let “unidentified actors” view non-public information, allowing them to make trading decisions they could profit from.“The issue is now fixed and added safeguards have been put in place”“The exploit, which was brought to CoinDesk’s attention by a white-hat hacker, may have allowed unidentified actors to profit from nonpublic information by making trades ahead of the publication of at least one article,” Kevin Worth, CoinDesk’s chief content officer writes in the post. “The issue is now fixed and added safeguards have been put in place.”While... Continue reading…

Tag yourself, I’m nervous penguin. | Image: Samsung Samsung isn’t expected to launch a new smartwatch at its Unpacked event this week, but it hasn’t forgotten the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. Starting February 9th, both smartwatches will support new health and fitness features like custom interval training, sleep coaching, and the ability to set body composition goals. Oh, and it’s also promising better app compatibility for the new Wear OS platform — but you’re still going to have to wait a bit for Google Assistant.Sleep tracking has been an area where Samsung’s lagged a bit compared to more fitness-oriented trackers. On that front, Samsung is adding a sleep coaching program that seems to take some inspiration from chronotypes — in a nutshell, it’s basically what your... Continue reading…

Signal is rolling out a new feature that allows users to switch phone numbers on their account without losing all their existing chats, groups, and messages within the secure messaging app.In order to add a new number, you’ll still need to be able to get Signal messages sent to your old number. Then, head over to the new “Change Phone Number” option under Signal’s account settings, where you’ll be asked to enter in both the old and new numbers. Lastly, Signal will guide you through the usual registration process for setting up a phone number with one of its accounts. Once you’ve successfully updated your number, contacts you’ve been chatting with in Signal will see a new message inline in your thread that notes that... Continue reading…

Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images FuboTV is temporarily testing a new quarterly format that lumps together three months at once rather than the monthly subscriptions it usually offers. The change conveniently arrives just in time for two of the biggest sports events of the year: Super Bowl LVI and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.The company told The Verge that the temporary pricing, earlier spotted by The TV Answer Man, launched a few days ago and is expected to conclude on February 17th. The test does not affect existing subscribers and isn’t available on every platform, but FuboTV spokesperson Jennifer Press says most of FuboTV’s new subscribers will be prompted to subscribe to the quarterly plans.Most of FuboTV’s platforms are offering the new plans during the... Continue reading…

Image: Valve Valve will finally start selling the $400 Steam Deck gaming handheld on February 25th, after a two-month delay — but you won’t have to wait another minute to see hardware in reviewers’ hands. GamersNexus, Linus Tech Tips, and The Phawx have now published extensive impressions to YouTube with the final version of the Steam Deck, giving us their thoughts on ergonomics, performance, battery life, and more.While you shouldn’t take these as final Steam Deck reviews — Valve only let them test specific games, and they had to stay away from the underlying OS — I’m pretty sure you’ll get useful info from each of them if you’re on the fence.For instance, none of them are seeing quite the battery life that Valve’s been promising, which is kind... Continue reading…

Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images Venture capitalist Peter Thiel is stepping down from his long-standing role on Meta’s (formerly Facebook’s) board of directors. The New York Times reported the news on Monday, and Meta confirmed it in a press release, saying Thiel would continue to serve until the company’s annual stockholder meeting.The Times cites an unnamed source who says Thiel is retiring in order to focus on November’s US midterm elections. Thiel didn’t elaborate on his reasons for leaving in an official statement, nor did Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “Peter has been a valuable member of our board and I’m deeply grateful for everything he has done for our company,” said Zuckerberg. “Peter is truly an original thinker who you can bring your hardest problems and get... Continue reading…

Hulu The Dropout, Hulu’s upcoming miniseries based on ABC’s podcast by the same name about disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, has the unenviable task of dramatizing an already out-there story revolving around a rather unbelievable person and getting audiences to take it seriously. But judging from the serious first trailer, The Dropout might just be able to pull it off.The trailer traces the by-now-familiar arc of Holmes’ (Amanda Seyfried) story that began with her dropping out of Stanford to start what would eventually become Theranos and more recently saw the disgraced inventor being found guilty for defrauding Theranos’ investors. Guided by ambition and a belief that she could will her visions into existence, Holmes crosses... Continue reading…

Warner Bros. Another major studio is facing a lawsuit over the day-and-date releases of a highly anticipated title. Village Roadshow Films, which co-produced The Matrix Resurrections with Warner Bros., is suing WarnerMedia for releasing the film on HBO Max the same day it debuted in theaters.The lawsuit, filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that WarnerMedia “rushed” the release of The Matrix Resurrections from 2022 to 2021 so that the film could debut as part of an internally coded initiative known as “Project Popcorn.” This release model would trade box office revenue for streaming subscriptions, depriving partners of revenue tied to the film’s performance.Throughout 2021, WarnerMedia opted to release its full slate of films s... Continue reading…

The Pixel 6 is getting a few tweaks, and earlier phones get one or two. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales Google is rolling out its February update for Pixel phones running Android 12, which is meant to fix a few camera, Bluetooth, and keyboard issues. The company says that some users will start getting the update today and that the “rollout will continue over the next week in phases depending on carrier and device.” Google’s previous update process was a bit of a fiasco for Pixel 6 owners, so hopefully, this one ends up being more routine.If you’ve got one of Google’s latest phones, the Pixel 6 or 6 Pro, this update contains:

Frontier and Spirit claim they will become “America’s most competitive ultra-low fare airline.” | Photo by Derek Davis/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images Frontier Airlines plans to acquire Spirit Airlines, both of which are known for offering cheaper flights than other airlines, in a deal worth $6.6 billion, the two companies announced Monday. While Frontier and Spirit claim they will become “America’s most competitive ultra-low fare airline,” the acquisition will ultimately remove one airline from the market and potentially create less competition for more affordable flights.That said, it’s not as if the new company will be small potatoes — the combined Frontier / Spirit airline will be the fifth-largest airline in the US, according to CNBC — so perhaps the new company will be able to better compete against bigger rivals with lower prices. But the wireless market hasn’t dramatically... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Internal Revenue Service has announced that it will transition away from the use of third-party facial recognition services for the verification of taxpayers’ identities, effectively ending a contract with facial recognition company ID.me that had received widespread criticism.The announcement was made in a press release published by the agency today. It follows weeks of intense public criticism after the agency announced in January that by summer 2022, ID.me would be the only way for taxpayers to log in when managing tax accounts online, requiring that all users upload a selfie to access their account at irs.gov.“The IRS takes taxpayer privacy and security seriously, and we understand the concerns that have been raised,” said IRS... Continue reading…

Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images The Joe Rogan situation at Spotify keeps getting more confused.As the situation has evolved, so has the company’s treatment of its star podcaster. One day, it says it’s a hands-off platform that treats all creators the same. The next, it admits to having backdoor discussions with Rogan and pulling episodes due to outrage over language used on the show. The whiplash undermines Spotify’s narrative about how it interacts with Rogan and other podcasters and offers a window into the delicate relationship between Rogan and the company that depends on him to stay differentiated. Let’s dive into where things aren’t lining up.Spotify has reiterated multiple times now that it considers itself merely a platform for podcasts — despite paying... Continue reading…

Image by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is finally planning to block Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros by default in a variety of Office apps. The change will apply to Office files that are downloaded from the internet and include macros, so Office users will no longer be able to enable certain content with a simple click of a button.“The default is more secure and is expected to keep more users safe including home users and information workers in managed organizations,” explains Kellie Eickmeyer, a principal PM at Microsoft.Macros can be a security headache for IT adminsHackers have been targeting Office documents with malicious macros for years, and while Office has long prompted users to click to enable macros running, this simple button could lead to... Continue reading…

Photo by Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via Getty Images Ethereum Name Service (ENS) fired its director of operations, Brantly Millegan, over derogatory comments he made about the LGBTQ community, according to CoinDesk. ENS founder Nick Johnson announced that True Names Limited, the nonprofit that backs the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), terminated Millegan’s contract.ENS is the blockchain protocol that converts wallet addresses into custom domain names. It provides nearly 300,000 cryptocurrency users with an easy way to create a kind of web3 username, and is formatted “username.eth.” Its widespread use was part of why Millegan’s years-old comments, made in a tweet, caused an uproar. Several members of the community expressed outrage about his comments and said they hope to keep... Continue reading…

Super Bowl LVI will be played at SoFi Stadium in LA — but it’ll take crucial seconds for the livestream to reach fans who are watching over the internet instead of traditional broadcast methods. | Photo by Jevone Moore / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images There’s a lot that can go wrong for cord-cutters, particularly when it comes to live sports: buffering, crashing, login issues, you name it. It’s almost certain that the next big US sporting event, Super Bowl LVI, will face many of the same hiccups — and that’s especially true for anyone hoping to place bets on the big game.As cord-cutting becomes more common in households, these problems have become entirely too frequent for anyone hoping to stream a live event. Take, for example, the recent 2020 Summer Olympics Games, where even finding specific coverage was needlessly complicated, and streaming didn’t work the way it was promised to.That’s a big problem for interactivity in sports streaming and bet-placing exploding with wider... Continue reading…

Image: Yeedi Another week, another chance to kick it off with some savings. Let’s start with an exceptional value on some robot vacuums. Robovacs get very expensive very quickly, though there are some lower-cost options worth your time. Today, and today only, you can get the Yeedi k650 vacuum for just $113.99 on Amazon’s deal of the day when you click the on-page coupon for an added $20 discount. This sale knocks $66 off the price of this robot vacuum that tackles pet hair and syncs with Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa to slot into your smart home life. It features an extra-large 800-milliliter dustbin, which is helpful because, in the end, you have to empty it yourself.If you prefer the convenience of a self-emptying robot vacuum, Yeedi’s Vac... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Blame out-of-date legislation and odd notions of public morality Continue reading…

Apple’s upcoming iOS 15.4 software update appears to have quietly added a massive quality of life change for its Shortcuts app: the ability to disable the incredibly annoying notifications for personal automations that users have set up on their devices, as spotted by Fjorden developer Florian Bürger on Twitter.For those who don’t use Shortcuts regularly, the automations feature is one of the most useful and powerful tools that Apple gives its users access to. At its heart, it lets users set up basic “if / then” triggers for a variety of conditions on an iPhone, be it a specific time of day, arriving at a location, getting an email or text from a specific contact, joining a Wi-Fi network, tapping an NFC tag, opening an app, or when... Continue reading…

Photo by Patrick Pleul - Pool/Getty Images The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a subpoena to Tesla over Elon Musk’s 2018 tweet about taking the company private, according to Bloomberg.The news of the subpoena, which was issued November 16th, 2021, reignites a feud between Musk and the SEC that has been simmering for over four years. Musk sent the notorious tweet on August 7th, 2018, in which he claimed to have the funding to take Tesla private at $420 a share. (Tesla has been a publicly traded company since 2010.)Musk said on Twitter that he had “funding secured” to pull off the deal and buy out any shareholders who didn’t want to stick with the company. He published these tweets during the afternoon while trading was still happening, and the company’s stock price... Continue reading…

If you’re looking to upgrade your current webcam or you’re buying your very first one, prepare to be overwhelmed by options. Webcams come in all shapes, sizes, and prices, but not many of them are worth your money. If you just want a few pointers to get better video quality than your average plug-and-play webcam can likely provide, we’ve got you covered.In this video, we dig into exactly why the Opal C1 is a great webcam if you’re someone who values good video quality. What sets it apart from other webcams is its reliance on software and machine learning — not just hardware — to provide a good picture. It’s close to being the ideal gadget for those who can’t put down several hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on a high-end... Continue reading…

Sloclap’s love letter to kung fu won’t be received by everyone Continue reading…

Illustration by Claudia Chinyere Akole In our third installment of Making It Work, The Verge takes a look at how creators and small businesses are dealing with familiar issues: imitations, copycats, and ripoffs. It’s an age-old challenge that has only gotten bigger as artists rely on online platforms to promote and distribute their work.From fashion giants stealing from an independent designer to illustrators finding their work for sale on an unknown marketplace, here are the many ways creators are contending with a problem that keeps popping up in unexpected places. Continue reading…

Illustration by Claudia Chinyere Akole Online sales gave Gee’s Bend quilters control over their work Continue reading…

Illustration by Claudia Chinyere Akole Keycap clones are readily available, affordable, and shameless Continue reading…

Microsoft appears to be working on several new Windows 11 features that the company has not yet publicly announced. References to stickers for desktop wallpapers, the ability to hide the taskbar for tablets, and a sustainability section in Settings have all been discovered in the latest test version of Windows 11. The new features have been uncovered just days after Microsoft announced it would test more experimental Windows 11 features.The new customization feature to bring stickers to desktop wallpapers in Windows 11 has been shared by Windows enthusiast Albacore on Twitter. Screenshots show you’ll be able to pick stickers, commonly found in messaging apps, for a wallpaper and edit them from the desktop. Currently, widgets exist in... Continue reading…